4.28.2007

When My Writing Grows Up

Toni Morrison is just about the only author who forces me to think about every word I'm reading, feeling, seeing unfold before my eyes. She is the only author, at this moment, who has made me cry while reading a story. I've come close with Arundhati's God of Small Things. I've experienced sorrow, loss and anxiety while reading the novels of Olympia Vernon. I have read all of her novels and have found a few short stories online but must admit that A Killing in This Town was hard, very hard. But so far, can't nobody do me like Toni.

I read and re-read Ms. Morrison's novels. I've read Beloved 6 times, Jazz 4 times and The Bluest Eye twice, I think. Her novels are like the Bible, with each read you find something new (perhaps depending on the point and time you are deep or wading through life). I read the Song of Solomon, years ago. The first time, I admit to skipping a few pages. Afterwall, Morrison tends to go on and circle around and around an event, description, etc. But my first read of Song of Solomon was at a much younger age. Recently, I re-read it again (#3). Once again, I found myself feeling, almost becoming, the characters. I cried with Pilate . . . found myself pressing the book to my chest when I arrived at pages 316 - 319, particularly when she bursts into the funeral home shouting, "Mercy!" as though it were a command. . . Her earring grazed her shoulder. Out of the total blackness of her clothes it blazed like a star. The mortician tried to approach her again, and moved closer, but when he saw her inky, berry-black lips, her cloudy, rainy eyes, the wonderful brass box hanging from her ear, he stepped back and looked at the floor. "Mercy?" Now she was asking a question. "Mercy?":
"My baby girl." Words tossed like stone into a silent canyon. Suddenly, like an elephant who has just found his anger and lifts his trunk over the heads of the little men who want his teeth or his hide or his flesh or his amazing strength, Pilate trumpeted for the sky itself to hear, "And she was loved!"


So that is why I say, when my writing grows up, I want it to be like Toni Morrison's. I can't be her. Nor can I be Ms. Vernon or Roy. I admire them as writers so very much. But within my own right, I can aspire to be as great (if not greater).

4.24.2007

Oh, Of Course!!!! Russell Simmons has a book to sell

"We recommend that the recording and broadcast industries voluntarily remove/bleep/delete the misogynistic words 'bitch' and 'ho' and the racially offensive word 'nigger'," Simmons and Benjamin Chavis, co-chairmen of the advocacy group Hip-Hop Summit Action Network, said in a statement. Monday's statement changed course from another one by Simmons and Chavis dated April 13, a day after Imus' show was canceled, in which they said offensive references in hip-hop "may be uncomfortable for some to hear, but our job is not to silence or censor that expression." Hip-hop's Simmons wants to remove offensive words


It took a white man calling black females "nappy headed hos" (I guess its all in how you use nappy as to whether it is considered derogatory) for Simmons to speak out against the author's of hardcore/porn/violent rap music? Too bad the likes of Two Live Crew, 2 Short, etc. didn't sway him. I don't like censorship and I don't particularly care much for today's version of hip hop music (nor some from the "old school"). I didn't listen to it much back then and I turn the radio off or to another station when I hear or at least feel like something's attempting to disrupt my beautiful day/life. The difference between music today and the music my parents listened to was that certain songs weren't played on the radio and when the music was play in my home, we had to go to our rooms (my sisters and I). There were times, when the grown folks were entertaining, the children had to leave the room. This leaving the room came when a 1) certain kind of joke was to be shared or 2) a certain type of song was played --- all of this was done to protect out impressionable minds (lol). So we'd leave the room, angrily, in a huff, swearing in our head (never out loud!). But today, you can hear it all! on the radio!! I'm not going to argue the point.

Changing one's mind is not necessarily a female thing (never really has been). But then again, he has a book to promote and sell --- released TODAY! (April 24, 2007).

How convenient!

4.21.2007

Sticks and Stones

Alec Baldwin's message to his daughter

Truly I can somewhat relate. Being a parent I understand the frustrations that accompany parenthood. At times it feels as if your concerns fall on deaf ears and that you are simply SOME THING rather than a loving, protective parent the child runs to only when she is in need of something. But NEVER have I resorted to calling my daughter derogatory names, especially to leave it on a recording where the child is able to play it over and over again - especially an eleven year old girl, not to mention that her mind will play it over and over again. After I heard the message, I was afraid for the child. He's screaming and hollering as if she's his woman and he got stood up for a date, for goodness sake!

The last thing an impressionable minded child needs is to hear name calling and threats from a parent --- over a missed telephone call. The world and its playground of fools are primed and ready to call you, especially a female, many many terrible names -- but to have your father do it is sad. I know from experience because my daughter's father has called her names - he even called her a "nigga" once. And I wanted to wrap my hands around his throat and squeeze the life out of his body. I can't believe a man would not know, would not realize the damage he is doing to his daughter's heart, soul and mind when he can't be adult enough to step back, take a breath and deal with the situation like a sane person. Being a parent is terribly difficult (but we have to remember that being a pre-teen is just as difficult).

I read on a friend's blog, his support of Alec Baldwin's comments, stating that its a family thing. Perhaps for men it is okay to call your loved ones names (or even beat them). Because it is a family thing. I've read countless articles showing women how not to berate their husbands. Yet, men can't seem to keep their playground mouths shut when it comes to wives, children, girlfriends (or female basketball teams). There are people who believe that beating your wife and calling her names is a family thing too. I don't remember my parent's ever resorting to such tactics yet I recall a time when my great-grandmother called me a "fast little heifer" because I'd stayed out too late with friends. I was eleven years old. And it was my first time out with a friend from school and her older siblings. We'd gone to a high school football game and afterwards everyone wanted to go to the school dance. I didn't want to go but didn't protest. I arrived home later than anticipated and my mother had gone looking for me. When I arrived home, I was greeted by my great-grandmother whom we called Bigmomma (and she wasn't even big). She hit me, yelled. I hit her back, not to hurt her (because the only thing that hurt was her yelling at me). My hitting her back was more out of reflex and surprise. She was shocked too and hit me again. It was the first and only time she'd ever confronted me in such a manner. Now that I'm an adult, I understand the worry and concern the adults must have experienced when I didn't arrive home at the appointed time. Not until my mother arrived home was I able to explain that it didn't dawn on me to call, I assumed she knew I was okay. And too by the time my mother arrived home, she was calm and no longer worried with fear and anger and was able to hear me.

That's why its best to calm down before you speak. I've learned to do that, because I hate apologizing (apologies are lukewarm compared to what precedes them). When you blow up -- especially over something petty - there's no taking back the damage. When you blow up over something small, when and if the big crisis happen in your child's life, she won't trust that you can handle it and help her. You can't undo what your words have done, especially when the words come with the sound of violence and a threat. If the pen is mightier than the sword --- it is the words that are the bullets.
Cuz you can't unbreak what you break

4.13.2007

Shame on Al Sharpton

. . . is media spotlight more important than keeping previous commitments . . . more important than debating, and talking about the seriousness of social issues, among intellectuals/scholars/students/community? Apparently so . . .
The panelists at Wednesday's State of Race forum argued against the use and the banning of offensive racial slurs - without the Rev. Al Sharpton, who was conspicuously absent from Wednesday's forum.

Sharpton was scheduled as a panelist but did not attend for unknown reasons, according to College Council President Bryan Mashioff. The other panelists were Harvard law professor Randall Kennedy, Emory journalism professor and Pulitzer Prize-winner Isabel Wilkerson and Emory's Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost Earl Lewis.

The seventh in the annual series, the event was sponsored by College Council.

Sharpton appeared on "Larry King Live" later on Wednesday evening. State of Race organizers said they were disappointed that it seemed he had skipped his commitment at Emory to appear on the show.

"No one can really say, except for him, why he did what he chose to do," College Council Vice President Jason Bradford said, "but it certainly wasn't very professional."

Mashioff said he was still pleased with the event.read more

4.11.2007

Is McGuirk Next?

Hardcore hos vs. Nappy-headed hos. The offense was calling them hos. So.

Why fire one and not the other (producer Bernard McGuirk)?
Black female celebrities, such as Oprah Winfrey and Aretha Franklin, are invariably put down as ‘black hos.’ Funny? I don’t think so. Rumors of a relationship between Whoopie Goldberg and Ted Danson struck [producer Bernard McGuirk], to the roar of the white male locker room, as ‘jungle retardation.’ Upon hearing his boss cite a black woman defending Imus against my criticism, McGuirk, in his best Amos ‘n’ Andy voice, mocked, ‘You ain’t no racist, Mister Imus, nah suh. No, thank you, I don’t want no watermelon!’" entire story

In fact he has a long list of defamation crimes, just google him.

4.08.2007

A Breast is an Offense but Calling Someone a "Nappy Headed Ho" Is Not!

Remember when Janet Jackson had the wardrobe malfunction and her breast flashed upon the screen for a second (if for that long). Folks were outraged and offended over a breast (a mammary gland) - which is considered a sexual object but was created to provide nourishment for babies. For this mistake, the network was fined and people reprimanded.

Flash forward to Don Imus referring to the Rutgers women's basketball team as "nappy headed hos" after McGuirk called them - "Some hardcore hos." I'm not surprised but really where is the outrage! Why is it that women, in this day and age, continue to be abused and verbally assaulted particularly by, supposedly, educated men? Hilary Clinton is the only candidate referred to as a "bitch" -- search the Cafepress site and you'll find a t-shirt that reads: "Life's a bitch so don't vote for one." Let us not forget the cyberbulling and death threats made against Kathy Sierra. Pure terroristic sexism!

But get this, black women are doused with sexism AND racism. When I was a little girl I recall hearing two jokes: 1) of a white man who'd run his finger underneath his nose every morning and say "oooh lah lah." The black man asked "why do you do put your finger underneath your nose, then say ooh lah lah?" The white man replied: "Each morning before I leave for work, I kiss my wife at the door and feel her up a bit so that I'll have something sweet to recall while working hard all day." The next morning, the black man kisses his wife at the door while reaching underneath her gown. At work, he runs his finger underneath his nose, then frowns and says:" Ooh shit god damn!" 2) A white woman sits at her vanity every morning combing through her long black hair. While she combs she sings: "Nearer, my God, to thee, nearer to thee!" with each stroke. Her maid, a black woman, decides to do the same. At home she stands in front of the bathroom mirror and begins to comb through her hair, singing: "near. near. near."


George Cook of Let's Talk Honestly, is calling for a boycott of the NBC network.

Al Sharpton and others are calling for Imus' resignation:
"This is not some unemployed comic like Michael Richards," Sharpton said, referring to the "Seinfeld" actor who used the N-word and referred to lynching in a rant last year. "This is an established figure, allowed to use the airwaves for sexist and racist remarks." continue reading
I don't know if forcing him to resign is the answer, it doesn't change what's in his heart, plus he pandering to a particular audience (white, male) who seems to enjoy what he has to say and teach.

My Lord

(17)Now as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside and said to them, (18)"We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death (19)and will turn him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be raised to life!" Matthew 20:17-19.

mary

This morning, I'm listening to Brian McKnight's When Will I See You Again -- its so beautiful to me:

. . . You died for us, once before
Sacrificed your life upon the cross
Oh Lord will you be coming in
The noon day sky
Or will you arrive
like a thief in the night

Lord since you’ve been gone,
everythings gone wrong
Just like you said that it would do
But Lord I still believe
You're coming back for me
To take me home to live with you
Waiting day and night,
for you to crack the sky
I know we're coming to the end,
tell me when
Will I see you again,
my Lord
Tell me when,
will I see you again . . .