I joined Blip.fm so I could share music easily on Twitter and was brave enough to upload "And then the Rain God Screamed for Love" with me on spoken word vocal, words by Aberjhani, and music by Rahkyt after seeing my old friend William F. Devault was uploading his.
I say brave because it's always scary to put your voice out there, even if it's simply speaking and not singing. In this day of high powered spoken word artist, a lowly poet reciting his or her work should tremble. But I did manage to walk up at 17 Poets! earlier this year and read.
Call this posting a blast from the past, 2006. We had hoped to get it up on CD Baby, the whole poetry CD, but ran into technical issues and as always, no advance without finance.
Anyway, here is Rain God, a mystical romance. Kind of fitting since I'm writing this novel with gods and goddesses in our modern world, and I'm procrastinating writing more of that novel as I type this. However, I do have more than the words posted at NanoWriMo.
For the text of Aberjahni's poem, click here. For one of my old goddess poems, click this link.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
And the Poets Trembled, Reading Their Works
Arizona Neighborhood Fights Church on Feeding Homeless
A neigh orhood in Arizona wants a United Methodist Church to stop feeding the homeless. The neighborhood leader on the video says the church should give a hand up not a handout, and it sounds like he's exaggerated some of the claims against the homeless people because he doesn't want them in his neighborhood.
I understand the argument that the church may be violating a city zoning ordinance; however, I'm not sympathetic to this neighborhood having just heard the report today that 49 million people go hungry in this nation yearly, that was 1 in 6 in 2008.
We could see where this neighborhood's heart really is if they'd raise money to build a soup kitchen in the part of the city from which the homeless are being bussed to get meals.
Friday, November 20, 2009
New Orleans Native Michael Lewis and His Book, The Blindside
New Orleans native, Michael Lewis, author of books such as Liar's Poker, Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, and Home Game was in New Orleans last night. He joined actress and New Orleans home owner Sandra Bullock for the premier of her movie, The Blind Side, which opened in theaters today. The movie is based on a Lewis's book by the same name.
While the movie is being criticized by some black bloggers as one more unrealistic tale of a white saviors for black people, the story is true. It is based on ... Please continue reading at at the New Orleans Literature Examiner.
My Big Crush for Old School Friday
I'm trying to stick to my favorite meme, Old School Friday, because it gives me the opportunity to share personal details sometimes about myself, something I usually avoid. This week's theme was kind of hard for me. It's "I Had a Crush On" and it left me in a quandary.
See, the only singer that I went totally crushing insane for was Michael Jackson, and that was when I was nine. After that, for everyone I was more like a huge fan, totally into the voices and music of say, Prince, Luther Vandross, lead singers of the O'Jays and the Temptations, the Dells, the Whispers, Marvin Gaye, Gino Vanelli, Stevie Wonder, Teddy Pendergrass, but I had no singer I dreamed about.
However, I did have crushes on actual men, well back in the day make that boys, and while I won't name the specific male I'm thinking of who later became "the boyfriend" way back when I looked like this, I will share the song that still makes me think of him, "I'm So Into You" by Peabo Bryson.
The bonus is Gino Vanelli. I do recall when he was the King of Bacchus or maybe Endymion down here, and when the float when by I started screaming like a maniac. I didn't even know who went crazy screaming, but I heard this nut and realized it was me.
The creators of the Old School Friday meme are Mrs. Grapevine and Marvalus at Conversations with Marva and has these rules, if you want to join this theme party.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Novelist Bernice McFadden Resists 'Seg-book-gation'
Critically acclaimed author of multiple novels, Bernice McFadden, is celebrating the 10th anniversary of her first novel, Sugar, landing on bookshelves, and she's asking potential readers to save African-American literary writers. ... Read more at the African-American Books Examiner.
U.S. District Court Rules Against Army Corps for Katrina Flooding
It's being called a "landmark decision." A federal judge ruled November 18 in favor of New Orleans residents and one business, the plaintiffs, and against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in a Hurricane Katrina flooding lawsuit.
U.S. District Court Judge Stanwood R. Duval, Jr, decided that the Corps failed to maintain the levees that breached during Katrina, flooding St. Bernard Parish and the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans. The case involved six plaintiffs, two of which are in the same household, and the court awarded $720,000 in compensation to the remaining four.
From the New Orleans Times Picayune/NOLA.com:
In a groundbreaking decision, a federal judge ruled late Wednesday that the Army Corps of Engineers' mismanagement of maintenance at the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet was directly responsible for flood damage in St. Bernard Parish and the Lower 9th Ward after Hurricane Katrina. (Source)Its story includes this language from Judge Duval:
The failure of the Corps to recognize the destruction that the MRGO had caused and the potential hazard that it created is clearly negligent on the part of the Corps." ... "Furthermore, the Corps not only knew, but admitted by 1988, that the MRGO threatened human life ... and yet it did not act in time to prevent the catastrophic disaster that ensued with the onslaught of Hurricane Katrina."
And from CNN's story on the ruling:
"For over 40 years, the Corps was aware that the Reach II levee protecting Chalmette and the Lower Ninth Ward was going to be compromised by the continued deterioration of the MRGO ... The Corps had an opportunity to take a myriad of actions to alleviate this deterioration or rehabilitate this deterioration and failed to do so. Clearly, the expression 'talk is cheap' applies here." (Duval quoted by CNN)
The ruling, with its 156-page opinion, is so unprecedented that the court's website has a message saying that the court has been overwhelmed with phone calls. Consequently, "the court has ordered that any questions concerning the Katrina Canal Breach Consolidated Litigation should first be addressed by Liaison Counsel."
Norm Robinson, the main anchor of a local New Orleans television station, WDSU, was one of the plaintiff's in the case. However, Judge Duval ruled against the Robinson household's claim. That ruling may make it difficult for residents of New Orleans East, the location of the anchor's home, to sue the federal government, said a WDSU reporter. Leading into the story Wednesday night for WDSU, Robinson said the ruling leaves New Orleans East residents in limbo.
However, speaking of how this news vindicates New Orleans residents who have been saying since Hurricane Katrina flooded the city in 2005 that the flooding was not an act of God but man-made, Mayor Ray Nagin told CNN, Duval's ruling will "open the floodgates" for people in the Lower 9th Ward to seek "proper compensation."
The Times Picayune clarifies what "floodgates" may mean:
Duval's 156-page decision could result in the federal government paying $700,000 in damages to three people and a business in those areas, but also sets the stage for judgments worth billions of dollars against the government for damages suffered by as many as 100,000 other residents, businesses and local governments in those areas who filed claims with the corps after Katrina.
If the Lower Ninth Wards sounds familiar to you, that's probably because it is one area of the City of New Orleans that has gotten massive mainstream media coverage since the flooding, a historic but also largely poor and African-American section. It's the section on which actor Brad Pitt has focused his renewal efforts, and it's also the section featured in the HBO documentary Trouble the Water and mentioned frequently in Spike Lee's film When the Levees Broke.
In addition to the Lower 9th Ward, Duval's ruling impacts residents of Chalmette in St. Bernard Parish.
View Larger Map
On August 29, 2005, St. Bernard was devastated by Hurricane Katrina. The storm damaged virtually every structure in the parish. The eye of Katrina passed over the eastern portion of the parish, pushing a 25-foot (7.6 m) storm surge into the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet ("MRGO"). This surge destroyed the parish levees. Almost the entire parish was flooded, with most areas left with between 5 and 12 feet (3.7 m) of standing water. The water rose suddenly and violently, during a period which witnesses reported as no more than fifteen minutes. In many areas, houses were smashed or washed off their foundations by a storm surge higher than the roofs. (Wikipedia)
Unfortunately for St. Bernard Parish, you may be familiar with its being in the news over the years for a housing bias case.
Under "insouciance, myopia and shortsightedness," a phrase from the court document, Your Right Hand Thief suggests you read excerpts from the ruling. The blogger declares, "The word "failure" is repeated again and again in the ruling describing ACoE's relation to it's responsibilities."
Edtilla at the New Orleans Ladder, a blog that consistently advocates for action in the city, has multiple posts on the ruling, of which his Wednesday post is one with video from the Rachel Maddow show. Maddow makes clear in her commentary as the news breaks that district court is on the lower rung of the federal courts system.
In his sidebar he links to this Levees.org video, which asserts long before the ruling that levee failure was an "engineering disaster," not natural. The video further explains why New Orleans is not in the wrong place, but one of the most important ports for the United States America.
Levee.org also has a statement on Duval's ruling. It's founder said, "To me, the reward is helping the American people understand that the 2005 levee failures in metro New Orleans were indicative of a national problem, and not a symptom of local corruption."
The blogger at LipRap's Lament wrote:
Yes, it's damn nice to be vindicated - not just for all of us here and for the New Orleans and Plaquemines Parish diaspora, but for the many other places all over this country that are threatened due to the same sort of neglect the Corps is still exhibiting all over this country (in cities such as Sacramento, for instance, as if California didn't have enough problems already) with regards to flood protection. ... [but considering other issues such as loss of wetlands] ... We've got a long ways to go, people. We must keep on keepin' on, living like we do, spreading this news and putting all our weight behind it like I know we in this city love to do when we wanna. (LipRap)
Yes, expect the U.S. Justice Department to appeal this decision all the way to the Supreme Court.
Father Executes Son, Gunshot to Head, For Weirdness with 3-year-old Sister
I don't know what to make of this story, but BlackVoices reports a man shot his 15-year-old son for lying down on top of his 3-year-old sister. No rape was involved, says the mother, Lazette Cherry, but the son ended up begging Jamar Pinkney, Sr. of Detroit for his life.
"He got on his knees and begged, 'No, Daddy! No!' and he pulled the trigger," she said. "There wasn't nothing that my son wouldn't do for his father. He loved his father so much."Did this father think killing his son was a better choice than getting him the help he needed? The mother says she wanted to get her son help when he "confessed" what he'd done to his little sister. Read more at BlackVoices where Dr. Boyce Watkins has questions.
Jamar Pinkney Sr. is being charged with first-degree murder, punishable with up to life in prison. He is also being charged with three counts of felonious assault for pointing the gun at Cherry and two others before shooting their son.
"I hope he rots in jail," Cherry told the Detroit Free Press. "There's no justification for what he did, you know, downright shoot your child. He didn't rape her or anything. So why did you have to come and take matters in to your hands? We said we were going to get him help." (Boyce Watkins post)
So we go from Shaniya Davis, dead at 5 after being allegedly sold a sex slave by her own mother to this.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Michael Jackson News: Father of First Accuser Kills Himself
This strange but sad story went through the Twitter Stream today:
@taalamacey RT @damnyo4000: RT @blackvoices Father of Michael Jackson's First Accuser Commits Suicide http://bit.ly/1rchV3The link takes the curious to Black Spin at Black Voices and an article that leads with the following:
According to reports, the father of Michael Jackson's most famous molestation accuser has committed suicide. Evan Chandler, the father of Jordan Chandler, was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in his luxury apartment in New Jersey on November 5th.The article ends with a poll, asking readers to vote on whether they think Chandler, who had been estranged from his son, MJ's alleged molestation victim, committed suicide due to a guilty conscience. The former dentist left no note. In addition, the article says Chandler, a "once handsome man" had undergone plastic surgery to keep his identity hidden from irate Michael Jackson fans.
Evan Chandler, the father of Michael Jackson's alleged molestation victim Jordan Chandler, spent his last days in isolation - depressed and estranged from his loved ones - before fatally shooting himself in the head, family members said Tuesday. (Black Spin)
For an exceptional exposition of Michael Jackson's life within the context of one writer seeing the MJ documentary film This Is It, I recommend Aberjhani's Michael Jackson series at Examiner.com, "Work and Soul in Michael Jackson's This Is It: The Existential Spirit."Evan Chandler, 65, the father of a young boy who alleged that he was molested by Michael Jackson in 1994, was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in his luxury apartment in New Jersey earlier this month.
RadarOnline.com reported that Chandler's body was found on November 5 by the concierge at his apartment building.
"There was no note found in the apartment, but officers did find medication in keeping with a serious medical condition," a Jersey City police spokesperson told the site.
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