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History Carnival #38
"For both nations and inviduals have sometimes made a virtue of neglecting history; and history has taken its revenge on them." -- H. R. Trevor-Roper "The Past and the Present: History and Sociology" (1969), cited in Tosh, ed. Historians on History, p. 197.
Welcome to the September 1, 2006 edition of history carnival. I'm finally hosting a carnival with a number as high as my age! In honor of the quotes meme making the rounds, I'm going to use my personal quotation file as, um, decoration around the rich collection of material in this carnival. As usual, I'm making up categories as I go along: anyone who treats them as strict or comprehensive cataloging gets what they deserve!
The Earliest
"Chronology, so the saying goes, is the last refuge of the feeble-minded and the only resort for historians." -- Joseph J. Ellis
Geological History (and souvenirs): John McKay recounts a visit to an erratic rock and discusses the geology, the glory of seeing natural history in situ, and the tragedy of souvenir hunters.
Jared Diamond gets another look at Salamander Candy.
Jim Davila at PaleoJudaica takes us on a photographic tour of Vindolanda "an early Roman fort near Hadrian's wall which is important for its Latin epigraphic discoveries. Vindolanda is also the setting for Barabara Bell's Minimus books -- Latin primers for children."
Military Lives
"Historical awareness is a kind of resurrection." -- William Least Heat Moon
Grant Jones presents a WWII hero and Tim Abbott presents his grandfather's story as a US Navy Surgeon in the South Pacific at Walking the Berkshires
Sayaka presents a discussion of the historical documentary ari no heitai [ant soldiers], about Japanese revisionism about the war in China, particularly the post-1945 anti-Communist campaign
Only Two Rs relates a discussion between military historians about soldiers past and present.
Miland Brown explains that "Falling into Aztecs hands in war time was a not a good idea...".
Lively Discourses
"And this is a matter of which no historian can afford to be simply a dispassionate chronicler and analyst. However great his intellectual and moral detachment, in the last resort he is committed to the values, and to the society, that enables him to remain so detached. He is a member of the polis and cannot watch its destruction without himself being destroyed." -- Michael Howard The Lessons of History (1989), cited in Tosh, ed. Historians on History, p. 187.
Brett Holman sent me Dan Todman's A step too Farr? was one of many discussions [Ed. Roundup by Brett Holman] of the proposed posthumous pardon for WWI deserters.
Trillwing's excellent post about one woman in science history at The Clutter Museum included a lament for the paucity of female history bloggers. Ralph Luker responded with a remarkable collection of women history bloggers which spurred much discussion. Here goes: I'm disappointed at the paucity of Asian History Bloggers outside of Frog In A Well....
As Ralph Luker says, "Donald Rumsfeld already has nominations for the next Bad History Carnival from Derek Catsam, Kevin Drum, Hiram Hover, and John Prados." I suspect we'll miss Rumsfeld when he's gone. I'd like to find out.
Orac took some time away from his vacation to strike back at an anti-Darwinist argumentum ad nazium posted at Respectful Insolence. Sergey Romanov also got his licks in, as did a few other folks.
An Artistic Interlude
"Literature is mostly about having sex and not much about having children. Life is the other way around." -- David Lodge, British Museum (1965)
Callimachus reveals his boring old postcard collection. His description, not mine; I'm the one who picked it for the carnival!
Another one I'll admit to: John McKay's brief history of Fantasy and Science Fiction.
word into art 4 at Verbal Privilege is a dramatic demonstration of the power of modern art when it uses historical material and themes (see more here). The final piece in that post is stunning; even if (especially if) you have doubts about politically engaged modern art, look at it.
Brett Holman suggests David Tiley's art, life, terror, the fascinating tale of a women whose artistic talent allowed her to survive the Holocaust and then go on to become a Disney animator, but whose art is being held [that's carefully chosen words, there] by the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum.
Teaching, teaching, teaching
"A bashful person cannot learn, nor can an impatient one teach." -- Hillel
Dave Fagg's iHistory Podcast Project deserves a serious look for anyone interested in new technology teaching tools.
In honor of the new semester, Alan Baumler and I discuss our history syllabi. This is an ongoing series at Frog In A Well, and we'd love to see more folks join in: there's lots of syllabi on the web, but not a lot of discussion of syllabi content and course organization. There should be more.
"I wonder why we hate the past so." -- W.D. Howells to Mark Twain
"It's so damned humiliating." -- Twain's reply
Scott McLemee suggests YouTube as an Oral History archive. Why not: some scholars already use eBay as a source of manuscripts, etc.
Martin Rundkvist raises a more troubling issue: E-mail migration and the loss of data.
Jennie W. of American Presidents Blog shares some of Lucy Hayes' Civil War Letters and pictures.
Natalie Bennett's Diarist Lady discusses Touching the King's Evil, in great (historical!) detail.
Kevin Levin's discussion of Ken Burns in the classroom was worthwhile.
Alan Baumler shared a fascinating Han-era document we've both used in class.
Language and history
"If the evidence that existed always spoke plainly, truthfully, and clearly to us, not only would historians have no work to do, we would have no opportunity to argue with each other." -- John H. Arnold, History: A Very Short Introduction, p.13.
How should historical fiction writers deal with archaic terminology? Carla explains her common-sense approach
Amanda McCloskey presents an etymology of biliary atresia, drawing on folklore, comparative linguistics, history and medicine.
Speaking of etymologies, Callimachus does a brief examination of fascism and it's modern applications. Popular topic these days: Shertaugh guest-blogs on it at Eric Muller's place.
Violent Death
"If you want the present to be different from the past, study the past." -- Baruch Spinoza
sepoy sent along Martyrification, a brief history of a woman sniper and her memorial.
Nene Adams is doing a series of crime recapitulations, including a fascinating example of blood libel stymied by forensic pathology and a contemporary of Jack the Ripper.
David Noon presents Nat Turner's Uprising saying, "for professional and personal reasons, my blog has been reduced to a daily recounting of horrific anniversaries -- this entry, I think, is one of the better ones in the series.... It also happens to coincide with the day Bernard Lewis stupidly predicted the world would be cast into a lake of fire...." I can't improve on that.
Scholarly Life
"Education is when you read the fine print. Experience is what you get when you don't." -- Pete Seeger
Ralph Luker shared a piece of his own research, a lovely example of how a simple footnote can be an education if you take it seriously and do it right.
Tim Burke offers a dilemma of historical writing from his own work in You Can't Tell the Players Without a Scorecard (also here), and discusses the dynamics of the end of Apartheid. Finally, in a challenge answered by far too few (I'll get to it after this carnival is up, really!), he asks about the cleavages and battlefields of our respective subfields.
Finally, Brian Ulrich waxes nostalgic for the "cutting edge" scholars of the past
Politics, of course, means bad history
"At a certain point one ceases to defend a certain view of history; one must defend history itself." -- E. P. Thompson
Konrad Lawson examines George Will's Yasukuni essay and finds it historically lacking. I thought the concluding point comparing Yasukuni visits with the Confederate flag issue was good, though. In related news, Yasukuni's got fiscal issues and PR problems, to boot.
Another Damned Medievalist found Creationist Beowulf, apparently a common element in hard-line Christian homeschooling
Sergey Romanov takes on The Ugly Voice denial videos at Holocaust Controversies. When he's not doing that, he's going up against David Horowitz, whose web projects have featured a hard-core Holocaust denier (and don't miss the George Soros debate, either).
Speaking of the Nazis, apparently some people can't tell the difference between an opportunism and conspiracy. Happens all the time.
Thoroughly Unclassifiable
"Children who tell adults everything are trying to make them as wise as they. Just as children who ask questions already know why the sky is blue and where the lost kitten has gone. What they need is confirmation that the odd and frightening magic which has turned adults into giants has not completely addled their brains." -- Richard Bowes, "The Mask of the Rex."
Mum to Laura guestblogs at Autism Street and attacks pseudoscience by using blindness as a metaphor for autism. It's an interesting exercise in counterfactualism as satire.
Joe Kissell presents a geographic absurdity, a group of islands off of Newfoundland which are French territory. As usual, I have another ITOD post which I think is worth reading, particularly for the mystery.
Until Next Time!
"Not only are there no happy endings, there aren't even any endings." -- Neil Gaiman, American Gods (2001: 483)
In sad news for the Carnival (a minor side effect of momentous happy news in real life), Caleb McDaniel, after hosting HC #37 is going out of blogging on a high note, while he embarks on fatherhood and assistant professorhood. There'll always be space for him in the HC!
That concludes this edition. If you think you can do better, volunteer to host an upcoming edition. Or just submit blog articles to the next edition of history carnival, to be hosted at Cliopatria (Update: The High Cliopatriarch Himself, Ralph Luker, will host!), using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blogcarnival.com index page or our very own homepage.
"History teaches us that men and nations behave wisely once they have exhausted all other alternatives." -- Abba Eban
Many thanks to those who submitted their own posts, those who submitted other folks' work, and those bloggers who I've shamelessly selected on my own authority.
Technorati tags: history carnival, blog carnival.
9 Responses to "History Carnival #38"
Excellent carnival, I've submitted it to Reddit.
Thanks for th list. It's always an honor to turn up in one of these.
I had been looking for great, pithy quotations to throw into my US survey syllabus, but this Carnival appeared one day too late. Thanks for nothing! ;-)
Nice round-up of posts — I especially liked your adoption of the quotation meme! :) Well done.
Thank you very much for the listing. It's quite an honor!
How can I submit my website to History Carnival?


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Paternity tests are mother's milk to 'Maury'
STAMFORD, Conn. Behind a backstage door, Maury Povich leafs through papers and listens to his producers brief him on that day's paternity mysteries. He checks the pronunciation of a name or two, tries to get straight which man is claiming a childhood testicular injury. Then he's ready.

subset: commoncrawl


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One married military couple has come up with the most amazing way to help out fellow soldiers… and their best friends. The last thing soldiers want to worry about before deployment is if their dogs will be cared for, so the couple created the website Dogs On Deployment to help match military pets with loving foster parents.
This video from The Queen Latifah Show shows US Soldier Jess reuniting with her best friend, Emma, after a year, and it is an absolute tearjerker. What an incredible way to give back to our hardworking military men and women! Make sure you watch the entire video… the way Emma reacts to seeing her Captain mama is absolutely beautiful! Please SHARE this wonderful story!
Source: YouTube


text: Freshman Baylee Voigt connected on a pair of home runs as Midwestern State continued to slug home runs at a record pace Thursday afternoon to earn a split with Oklahoma Christian at Mustangs Park. The Mustangs dropped the opener 10-8 then recovered to take the nightcap 11-4 to move to 4-3 on the season. Midwestern opens the Holiday Inn at the Falls Invitational play Friday afternoon against Rogers State (Okla.), then take on Southern Arkansas and Northeastern State Saturday at 1 and 5 p.m., respectively. The Mustangs close the weekend with game against Northeastern State and Rogers State at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Sunday. All games are set for Mustangs Park. MSU senior Kim Jerrick led off Game 1 with her fourth homer of the season and sophomore second baseman Shelby Carter ripped an RBI-double down the left-field line to give the Mustangs an early 2-0 lead. MSU tacked on a run in the third inning on freshman Krisha Hamm's RBI single to center field, while sophomore Katelyn Vinson delivered a sacrifice fly in the fourth to give the Mustangs a 4-3 edge through four innings of play. But Oklahoma Christian struck for a run in the fifth, four in the sixth and two more in the seventh to jump out to a 10-4 advantage. Midwestern fought back courtesy of Carter's three-run homer in the seventh while Voigt crushed her first long ball of the afternoon to pull the Mustangs to within two runs. OC's Taylor Mosher came in to record the final two outs to earn the save and make a winner of Shea Coats, who allowed eight runs on 10 hits in 6 1/3 innings. Jerrick paced MSU's 10-hit attack going 3-for-4 with a double and a homer, white Carter went 2-for-4 with a homer and four RBIs. Freshman Katlyn Holmes took the loss to fall to 2-1 on the season. The right-hander permitted eight runs -- seven earned -- on 10 hits in 5 1/3 innings. The Mustangs used four consecutive doubles by Haley Howerton, Vinson Carter and Katy Vandewater to fuel a three-run first inning then added another run on Howerton's deep sacrifice fly to the right field fence in the second inning and Voigt blasted a two-run shot to center field in the third in support of sophomore Kat Batey, who was making her first start of the season in the circle. Batey limited the Eagles to four runs with one in the second, two in the third and one in the fourth to claim the victory. The Plano product yielded 13 hits while logging three strikeouts and two walks in the complete game. Hamm highlighted a three-run fifth inning with her first homer of the season on a two-run shot to left field while Carter and Vandewater recorded RBIs in the sixth frame. Jerrick, Vandewater and sophomore Chelsey paced MSU's 11-hit attack in the second game with two hits each. Midwestern State has slugged 19 homers in seven games this season as 11 different players have now hit home runs. Oklahoma Christian evened its season record at 1-1.


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Tiberius String Quartet performing in Piedmont Chapel Oct. 6
The Tiberius String Quartet from Romania is making its debut performance at Piedmont College with music by Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, and Haydn. The quartet has traveled throughout Europe and Japan since being founded in 1994 at the Academy of Music in Cluj, Romania.
The concert will begin at 7:30 p.m., in the Piedmont Chapel on Central Avenue in Demorest. Admission is $10 for adults and $5 for students and seniors. Piedmont students, faculty, and staff are admitted free.
The four members are Tibor Molnár, violin; Károly Lokodi, violin, Józef Molnár, viola, and Elod Zágoni, violoncello. Since being founded, the quartet has attended many master classes in Hungary, London, Budapest, and Amsterdam. During the master classes, the group works privately with professional musicians to master their trade.
Every year, the Tiberius Quartet hosts their annual "Tiberius Week" International Chamber Music Festival in Targu Mures, Romania, where they perform with quartets from around the world. This is the only event of its type in Eastern Europe.
Group Member Bios
Tibor Molnár, violin
Born in Ghoergheni, Romania, Mr. Molnár began playing the violin when he was five years old and graduated from the Targu Mures School of the Arts in 1994, when he co-founded the Tiberius Quartet. He won prizes in many Romanian young artist violin competitions and played during this period as soloist nine times with the Targu Mures Philharmonic Orchestra. For three summers he participated in the master class at the Hungarian Jeunnes Musicales under Eszter Perenyi. He graduated from the Academy of Music in Cluj, Romania in 1999.
Károly Lokodi, violin
Born in Targu Mures, Romania, Mr. Lokodi graduated from the Targu Mures School of the Arts in 2000. Among the many Romanian young artist violin competitions he won were the 1996 Oradea (First Prize) 1997 Ploiesti (Jury Prize) and the 1998 Calafat Competition (First Prize). He performed during this time four times as soloist with the Targu Mures Philharmonic Orchestra. He graduated from the Academy of Music in Cluj. In 2007 he joined the Tiberius Quartet after five years as first violinist of the Lokody Quartet, which participated in many masterclasses including at West Dean College with the Chilingirian Quartet and at the Tiberius Week Festival with Stefan Metz and Sandor Devich.
József Molnár, viola
Born in Odorhei, Romania, Mr. Molnár graduated from the School of the Arts in Odorhei and performed with the Satu-Mare Philharmonic Orchestra and the Credo Quartet, with which he had many concerts in Europe including Berlin, London, and Budapest, under the guidance of Gabor Ferenc. The quartet represented the Cluj Academy, where he finished his studies, at the Bayreuth International Festival. He became a member of the Tiberius Quartet in 2002.
Elod Zágoni, violoncello
Born in Satu Mare, Romania, Mr. Zágoni is the youngest member of the quartet. He began studying the cello at the age of 13 in Satu Mare. Three years later he continued his studies in Cluj-Napoca (Klausenburg) with Gabriela Todor. Later he graduated from the "Gheorghe Dima" Music Academy in the same city under the guidance of Dr. Vasile Jucan. In his final year of studies he was admitted into the Targu Mures State Symphony Orchestra, where he was section co-principal in 2009. He has collaborated with different orchestras and chamber orchestras, including the "Csíki" Chamber Music Orchestra, the "Székelyföld" Symphonic Orchestra from Odorheiu Secuiesc, "Classica" Symphonic Orchestra Cluj-Napoca, and the "Dinu Lipatti" State Symphonic Orchestra Satu Mare. He won First Prize at the "J.S. Bach" national competition in Cluj-Napoca and a Special Prize at the international competition there.


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Upcoming EPA Special Events
Fountain Farmers' Market
Wednesdays, 3-7pm
EPA & Tasker
This year we'll again be joined by Fruitwood Orchard, Berry Patch Farm and Green Aisle Grocery. Our farmers will be offering locally-grown produce, cheeses, honey, cut flowers, breads, baked goods and more. We'll also have live music every first, third and fifth weeks, including the Eric Eckhart Jazz Duo on opening day.
Food Trust Farmers' Market
Tuesdays 2-7pm
Broad & Snyder
The Solly Brothers Farm offers fresh fruit, veggies, preserves and baked goods.
QOTA at Cantina los Caballitos
Monday, August 25, 6-9pm
Help us say adios (almost) to another fun summer at QOTA at Cantina Los Caballitos! We'll have drink specials including $5 house margaritas and $3 Dos Equis and Corona Light drafts + lots of homemade chips & salsa to snack on.
The Philly 10K
Saturday, September 6
The Philly 10K is a 6.2 mile road race through the heart of the city starting and ending on East Passyunk and running through a dozen Philly neighborhoods. The race is sold out but please join us at 11th & Tasker starting at 8am to cheer on the runners as they cross the finish line. All are welcome to the post-race festival around the Fountain from 8-11am.
Antique/Vintage Flea Market + Sidewalk Sale
Saturday, September 13, 8am-4pm (rain date September 14)
Parking Lot between Tasker & Morris
Shop from antique and vintage furniture, housewares, clothing, jewelry, knick knacks, memorabilia and more. This year we'll also be hosting a sidewalk sale between Morris and Mifflin filled with Avenue retailers offering special sales.
Lucky 13 Block Party
Sunday, October 19, 12-7pm
1820 S 13th Street
Stop by Lucky 13's block party for live music, vintage vendors, food & drink, and good times!
Witch CRAFT Beer Crawl
Wednesday, October 22, 5:30-9:30pm
Various EPA Bars
Witch CRAFT Beer Crawl returns to East Passyunk Avenue! Grab your brooms and fly off to over a dozen of the city's top bars and restaurants. Admission of $6.66 includes $3 craft beers, witch hat and a chance to win over $300 in gift certificates to bars/restaurants. Other tricks and treats this year include great brews and prizes from Victory Brewing Company, costume contest for title of "Witch of East Passyunk" and Best Costume.
Fall Fest + Spooky Saturday
Saturday, October 25, 11am-4pm
EPA & Tasker
Celebrate fall with live music, crafters brought to us by Nice Things Handmade, street eats and drinks + activities for kids including free pumpkin decorating, costume contest (this one is for doggies too!), dancing and trick or treating down the Avenue.
Photos from Past EPA Special Events
Flavors of the Avenue
Special thanks to everyone for making the 2014 Flavors of the Avenue the most successful yet! And thanks to philly.com and Philly Mag for the great photos!
Flavors of the Avenue
Check out video from our 2013 Flavors of the Avenue
Easter Egg Hunt
This event is all about the kids – but the adults seemed to have a pretty fun time, too.
Flavors of the Avenue
Held in late April, Flavors of the Avenue is our premier food event of the year and offers a true taste of the Avenue.
Car Show and Street Festival
With 150 show cars, trucks & motorcycles, crafts, vendors and live music on every block, the Car Show heats up summer on EPA!
Holiday Celebration
We had a great time with Santa on the Avenue!


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The Rockies finally won their 50th game of the season last night thanks to a big home run from an unlikely source.
Things just went from bad to worse for the Rockies organization on the injury front.
Betancourt has been using the team's facilities to aid in his recovery from Tommy John surgery and is now officially under contract.
Top reliever Matt Belisle talks to Purple Row about pitching in Colorado,
Ray Guilfoyle ranks his top 40 closers and middle relievers for Week 21 of the MLB season.
An MRI has revealed a full UCL tear in the Rockies reliever's right elbow. Given his age and the recovery time involved, it may mean the end of a long, successful MLB career.
A few notes from around the league - Rafael Betancourt, Jose Abreu, Michael Cuddyer, and Ryan Braun
Rafael Betancourt may be done for the Rockies, but his impact on the franchise should not be overlooked.
As a first year manager, Walt Weiss has had his ups and downs. This is a look at how the team has done in close games this year with him at the helm.
Colorado's closer landed on the DL for the third time this season. If his injury is as bad as the team fears, the 38-year-old right-hander might not return.
Betancourt will have to undergo Tommy John surgery if he tore his UCL.
In another disappointing season, it's nice to see Wilin Rosario maintain his edge at the plate.
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Rushville Republican
---- — "The Three Musketeers" will be brought to life on the Laughlin Center stage at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday. "The Three Musketeers" is being performed by the RCHS Advance Theater program under the direction of Jennie Tague. Tickets are $7 each with reserved seating available. Tickets may be purchased from any cast member or by e-mailing Jennie Tague at email@example.com or by calling her at RCHS at 932-3901 ext. 258.
Veteran director and teacher for the theater and advances theater classes at RCHS Jennie Tague says, "The updated version weaves the heroism of Athos, Porthos and Aramis (the three musketeers) with a fresh take on stage comedy."
The cast and crew of "The Three Musketeers" called on sword experts during rehearsals of the production to insure that the action is equal to the comedy and the drama audiences are invited to enjoy this weekend. "To help sell the believability of the many sword fights that take place throughout the play, we're working with stage combat experts from Ball State," Tague said. The students were taught the basics of stage fighting and how to use fencing swords as well as other weapons. The students participated in several workshops to prepare for the show."
Costuming for this show has been helped along by the graciousness of RCHS choral director Paul Grizzard and his Madrigal students. The authenticity of the time period will be well represented through costuming for the entire cast.
This adaptation of "The Three Musketeers" is based on the timeless swashbuckler by Alexandre Dumas, a tale of heroism, treachery, close escapes and above all, honor.
The story, set in 1625, begins with d'Artagnan, a young Frenchman from Gascony, who sets off for Paris in search of adventure. Along with d'Artagnan goes Sabine, his sister, the quintessential tomboy. Sent with d'Artagnan to attend a convent school in Paris, she poses as a young man – d'Artagnan's servant – and quickly becomes entangled in her brother's adventures.
Soon after reaching Paris, d'Artagnan encounters the greatest heroes of the day, Athos, Porthos and Aramis, the famous musketeers. After blundering into each of them in turn, and challenging them to duels on the same night, d'Artagnan joins forces with his heroes to defend the honor of the Queen of France. In so doing, he finds himself in opposition to the most dangerous man in Europe, Cardinal Richelieu, as well as his henchman, Rochefort, Captain of the Cardinal's Guard. Even more deadly is the infamous Countess de Winter, known as Milady, who will stop at nothing to revenge herself on d'Artagnan – and Sabine – for their meddlesome behavior. Little does Milady know that the young girl she scorns, Sabine, will ultimately save the day.
The cast for "The Three Musketeers" include:
L.J. Conrad as D'Artagnan
Nate Hoeing as Athos
Zack Cramer as Porthos
Bryce Conrad as Aramis
Austin Tielking as Cardinal Richelieu
Perry Boles as Rochefort
Megan Clifton as Stanley
Logan Mahan as King Louis XIII
Keith Tressler as D'Artagnan's father and Duke of Buckingham
Tanner Leisure as Basille
Lilli Spaeth as Fache
Kylee Hickmott as Treville and the innkeeper
Catie Liggett as Ravanche and Abbess
Leah Noe as Debris and D'Artagnan's mother
Sarah Hershberger as Sabine
Abbey Whitaker as Milady
Jessica Miller as Constance Bonacieux
McKenzie Conrad as Adele
Lauryn Payne as Sister at School
Caysi Johnson as Queen Anne
Emilee Rogers as Elise
Jen Latner as Mother Superior
The student director for this production is Catie Liggett. Assistant director is Meagan Hearne.
Tickets are available at the door or call today to at 932-3901 ext. 258 and reserve your seats for all the swashbuckling drama at the RCHS production of "The Three Musketeers" Friday, Saturday and Sunday on the Laughlin Center stage.
—Rushville Republican


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Goat 4 Sale is an entry in the Doritos Crash the Super Bowl contest. Filmmaker Ben Callner, Moose the goat, and goat owner and co-writer Steve Colby visited with the Good Day crew on Wednesday.
Check out some of the photos!
Callner and crew need your votes to win the Doritos Crash the Super Bowl contest. To find out how, click here!
WDCA My20 & my20dc.com5151 Wisconsin Ave NWWashington, DC 20016Phone: (202) 244-5151Email Us


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PIERRE, S.D. (AP) - Five Republicans competing for the party's nomination for U.S. Senate will debate next month in Pierre. The South Dakota Newspaper Association says it will host a 90-minute debate on April 12 at 10:15 a.m. at the Ramkota Conference Center as part of its annual convention. The debate is open to the public. Watertown Public Opinion publisher Mark Roby will moderate. Questions will come from a panel of three South Dakota newspaper journalists. Seeking the GOP nomination are former Gov. Mike Rounds, state Sen. Larry Rhoden of Union Center, state Rep. Stace Nelson of Fulton, Yankton attorney and Army Reserves Maj. Jason Ravnsborg and Sioux Falls physician Annette Bosworth. The June 3 primary winner will join Democrat Rick Weiland and independent Larry Pressler on the November 4 ballot.
(Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)


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I know it's only pre-season, but Reid already looks like a stud when he lowers the boom and he kind of reminds of me how Dwight Hicks used to play free safety in his prime. Surely you remember Dwight Hicks & The Hot Licks? If you don't, ask your old man or Sourdough Sam. It was Hicks, Eric Wright, Carlton Williamson, and Hall-of-Famer Ronnie Lott that formed the core of a ferocious secondary back in the 1980s that helped the 49ers win Super Bowl after Super Bowl.
From 1981 to 1984, Hicks was probably the best free safety in the NFL, being voted to four straight Pro Bowls. He also lead the NFL in interception return yardage in 1981 and interceptions returned for a touchdown in 1983.
Now I wish I could say Reid could be the next Ronnie Lott, but in today's NFL, even Ronnie Lott couldn't be Ronnie Lott... not with Roger Gotohell as commissioner. Lott would be penalized, fined, and suspended for the way he hit in today's NFL.
That's why I think a more appropriate comparison would be to Hicks who had an uncanny ability to get to the ball and stop plays dead in their tracks. I could see Reid being that guy for a long time and if defensive pre-season stats are any indication of what's to come this year, get ready for Eric Reid & The Dirty Deeds!


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I am look forward to use iGMLC to create some useful location based service, my question is.
(1)Is it possible to use iGMLC API 3 to create an emergency services ? (Emergency Services MT-LR without HLR Query : specify in 3GPP TS 03.71 v8.7.0)
(2)If I send an emergency request to the iGMLC, this request shold be bypassing the privacy manager?
If the "Emergency" request still need to verify password and Client_ID by the privacy manager,it's look like non-make sense.
any other suggestion to achieve "Emergency Service"?
appreciate any help!


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By Ken de la Bastide
With the overnight temperatures hovering in the teens and snow covered streets and sidewalks local organizations that assist the homeless are realizing an increased demand for their services.
Most area residents don't have to worry about going home to a warm place to stay on cold days and nights when the temperature and wind chill falls below freezing.
The Kokomo Rescue Mission and Coordinated Assistance Ministries provide a place to sleep, warm clothing and hot meals to those Howard County residents in need of assistance.
Sally Ripley, director of development for the Kokomo Rescue Mission, said there has been a marked increase of men staying in the shelter during the month of December. She said in December 2011 there were 1,210 nights of lodging. In December 2012, the number increased to 1,631.
"The average number of men staying per night was 39 in December 2011 and was 53 in December [2012]," she said. "The colder temperatures came earlier last year."
The men's shelter has a capacity for 63 men. She said Open Arms, the women's shelter, was at capacity in December and early January.
Ripley said the average number of men staying in the shelter through the first week of January has been more than 50.
"If we have to we find them a place at another location [we will]," she said.
Ripley said the Kokomo Rescue Mission tried to avoid turning anyone away who needs shelter.
"We have options available to put people up for a night," she said. "We have couches and we can put mattresses on the floor and there is room in the chapel."
Ripley said on cold nights it's important for people not to be left out.
On cold days, the dining room is kept open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. for people to have a warm place to stay.
Ripley said the Kokomo Rescue Mission provides two hot meals a day, 365 days a year.
Ruth Lawson, CAM director, said more people are coming for coats, scarves and warm clothes in recent weeks.
She said the men's shelter can house 12 men and is currently at capacity.
"We make sure we find a place for them to stay," Lawson said. "If necessary, we take them to a shelter in Logansport."


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Evangelist Sabarah Israel – an extraordinary life
Evangelist Israel had a high facility for artistic drawings, floral and architectural design. Given a kinder social landscape, she might have been the first Black woman to be employed in the aerospace, architectural or automotive design industries.
She was a fond collector of Egyptian artifacts. In her youth, she worked as a collector specializing in commercial law. This required good judgment, decision making and accuracy. She later worked for the U.S. Postal Service as a quality control officer, and belonged to Local 6.
In later life, she gave herself over to the work of evangelism and embraced her authenticity as a Hebrew. For her kind community service, she was given a Special Service Award from Terrace Convalescent Hospital as a stellar volunteer group leader.
Evangelist Israel's remains were undertaken by Grissom's Mortuary of San Lorenzo and are interred at Mount Eden Cemetery in Hayward. She received a formal Hebrew Khametic gravesite and Oceanside service by her daughter, Dr. Luticia Santipriya-Khonsu of New York City, who can be reached at Box 1442, Jackson Heights, NY 11372.


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News: Suge Knight Doc Greenlighted By Showtime, Tupac Biopic Director Hops Aboard
Wednesday, Sep 28, 2011 12:00PM
Premium cable channel Showtime has reportedly agreed to feature an upcoming documentary based on the life of former Death Row Records owner Marion "Suge" Knight, directed by from Antoine Fuqua.
Details of the new documentary film emerged online this week.
Controversial Death Row Records co-founder Marion "Suge" Knight Jr. is the focus of a documentary that will be produced by and broadcast on Showtime, the network announced Tuesday. Tentively titled "Suge Knight," the film will be directed by Antoine Fuqua ("Training Day," "Brooklyn's Finest") and co-produced by Fuqua and Bradley J. Fischer ("Black Swan," "Shutter Island," "Zodiac"). Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and former Times reporter Chuck Philips is also one of the film's co-producers. Showtime said the Knight film is the first in a series of documentaries for the network from "talented and prestigious filmmakers" that "will spotlight iconic and controversial figures." (The Los Angeles Times)
Co-producer Bradley J. Fischer has released a statement confirming the deal.
"Suge Knight's reputation and rise to power in the music business has become the stuff of legend, and he remains one of the entertainment industry's most provocative and enduring myths," said Fischer. "But while his name elicits an immediate and powerful reaction from people around the world, very few can legitimately claim to know the man. Antoine Fuqua and I are thrilled to be partnering with SHOWTIME to tell this remarkable story and take audiences behind a curtain that most have been terrified to even approach." (Statement)
Last month, Knight made headlines for getting convicted in a suspended license case.
Former Death Row Records boss Suge Knight has been sentenced to 36 months probation for driving on a suspended licence. The rap mogul was convicted after police pulled him over and impounded his black truck in Beverly Hills back in February. He pleaded no contest to the charge and was given three years unsupervised probation. This is the second time the rap mogul has been caught driving on a suspended licence. (NME News)
Knight is most known for signing late rapper Tupac Shakur plus Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre to Death Row Records in the 1990's.
The rap world is no stranger to controversy, but the vast majority involves its recording artists, and perhaps an occasional outbreak of violence at a show. Yet, few industry figures ever attracted the kind of notoriety that Death Row Records label head Marion "Suge" Knightdid. A particularly flamboyant and visible executive, Knight built Death Row into the biggest hip-hop label of the early '90s, thanks to a stable of talent that included Dr. Dre, Snoop Doggy Dogg, and 2Pac. Death Row brought gangsta rap to the top of the pop charts, and made the West Coast into the epicenter of '90s hip-hop. (All Music)
No further details have been revealed as of now.
Check out some past Suge Knight footage down below:


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the revolution will be shaped by queersPosted: June 19, 2013 Filed under: Uncategorized 1 Comment
Straight men
they always try conflate our power with ego
Accusing us of narcissism
when we fight for ourselves
in these spaces
in revolution
trying to carve out room
in the crampness
of their straightness
and misogyny
we try to work with our brothers
so that they may understand
that their own liberation
is connected to our struggle for wholeness
our struggle to shed objectification
through the wage
through the gaze
and force of empires
on our land
and in our intimacy
we struggle to be free
and we will not apologize.
they say we are selfish
not understanding the patriarchy that clutches at such accusations
You say im selfish
because you expect a certain kind of womyn in the movement
that self sacrificing, positive, femme
working thru the back doors
of your male dominated struggle
as you stroke the cock of the next ego filled man 'runnin shit'
I say my truth is my power and I use it for my people
and you will not break it to hold on to the white mans power.
you will not.
brothersPosted: January 6, 2013 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a comment
I feel for my brothers
especially my queer brothers
who feel so much
for other brothers
moved so much by other brothers
because my brothers feel deeply
hurt deeply too
as we all do
underneath this system
but my brothers
my brothers are robbed of feeling
but are forever feeling
the weight of the world
against him.
where i come fromPosted: August 7, 2012 Filed under: Poetry, Uncategorized Leave a comment
Choosing your own name is a righteous tradition
for black people
a movement
closer to Africa
to our ancestors.
I've thought about it
but I've always secretly liked my name.
chosen by my mother
my strength
taken from my great grandmother
whose great grandmother was a slave.
the 'blackymore maid'
an african womyn
who rebelled against her slavery
during the transatlantic trade.
My name comes from warrior womyn
who guided large bodies of water
against currents of domination.
Freedom in their movement
in their determination to live
and I have gathered enough years on this soil
to want more than just living.
I want to feel in my whole self
what it might be like
to know love.
A spell of love and healing for the full moonPosted: July 2, 2012 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a comment
These are times of great shifts, emotionally and physically, which can take quite a toll on the spirit. I wanted to share a spell I crafted for a close friend to help ground them through times of uprooting. Surviving within this system is nearly impossible. We cannot forget who we are and where we came from.
Grounding/Healing Purpose
This is a healing spell, and for me healing means achieving or reconnecting with a sense of wholeness. When we are seeking healing, physically or spiritually, it is because there is some type of disconnection or rupture within our vital life energy that runs throughout our body and mind. For an example, when we break a bone we get a cast to mend it back to the skeleton so it will be a whole foundation again. When we feel depressed and emotionally broken we seek out therapists or self-medicate in order to feel whole or at least reclaim some kind of self-control. Capitalism keeps us in a constant state of disconnection; disconnection from ourselves and each other. The separation between the healing of the body and the healing of the mind reflects this disconnection. Therefore we must also strive to be in a constant state of healing in order to stay strong as a community so that we may achieve our revolutionary tasks of liberation and wholeness. Spiritual awakening and reconnection with our ancestors plays a role in struggle; our spiritual struggles within as well as against the system.
This is a healing spell birthed out of love, conceived under the rising sun, and to be completed under the illumination of the full moon. The sun represents vital life energy that keeps our bodies strong; solid foundations to house our spirits. Its light, reflected against the moon, grounds us in the present and now, while the moon draws us back into the past through connecting with our feelings. The moon radiates our emotional centers; the parts of ourselves that rest deep within. Together they represent our totality. Our origins and our present. The spirit, which helps us be self-actualizing people.
Spell Materials
One gold pouch mixed with sacred herbs: Mugwort, sage and lavender. I broke the herbs up and mixed them using my mortar and pestle. After that I blessed them in ceremony, which involved the burning of sweet grass and cannabis, and prayer song of healing and love. When the ceremony is done I place the mixture in the pouch.
Purpose/Significance of Materials
Container: The gold pouch represents the ankh and the sun, which is sacred to our ancestors, because of its connection to life energy and overall health.
Sage: Offers protection. Helps clear the air and remove negativity. Brings clarity to our thoughts.
Mugwort: Also a cleanser and protector, it helps stimulate our creative center and flow of life energy. A strong healing herb that promotes vivid dreams and visions. It will nurture intuition and psychic abilities.
Lavender: Stimulates love and calm and brings peace and health.
Place the pouch of herbs under your pillow or near your bed to protect you from bad spirits and help conjure healing visions of transformation. Hold on to these visions until the full moon, where you will release them in ceremony into the universe to be manifested.
With love and magic
-Chaka Z
Black magic in sound: To Miles DavisPosted: June 8, 2012 Filed under: Uncategorized 1 Comment
In honor of Miles Davis, whose birthday recently past on May 26th, here are some thoughts, a poem, and the legend himself. Constructed freely out of inspiration from the art and the struggle.
My Gemini brother. The messenger delivering new mental landscapes in sounds. Music cosmic in its effects; revolutionary in its purpose. Miles Davis nourishes your soul. The moving's of the people creating and then moving people, bits of consciousness bursting forth practically, materially in the changing of the times, spiritually in our hearts and energy. The ebbs and flows of struggle producing art producing struggle. Miles's spoke to this movement, helped guide it. Jazz spoke to black power and black power spoke back, all the while people begin to see themselves as valuable. Not value quantified in paychecks and profit. The value of being from the earth and universe. Something more cosmic and irrelevant to the commodities and slave chains of this system. They. Whitey. The ruling class. They feared jazz. The darkness. The power within mystery. They tried to tame it and chain it but the people move in rhythm and riot.
Music, like all art, is manifested through the spirit and limbs of the people. Physical embodiment of ones own useful labor manifested for the purpose of survival and revolution. This is the communist understanding of what art should be; its focus and effect. Entertainment is the bourgeois manifestation of art; its sole purpose and use wrapped up in exchange value. Money. The bourgeoisie does not care about ones spirit; its rule is based on denying that from us; we are manipulated and molded into workers and producers of our oppressors opulence. Our wealth lies within our consciousness; within our abilities to create more than just the ruling class's profits. We cast visions of new worlds, carrying these visions in practice through art and struggle. The ruling class socializes us in Eurocentric cultural norms and aesthetics. Their art is sterile and lacks dialogue and action. Our art moves. Our art is the vision. Our art is revolution.
Revolt. Overthrow. Rebuild.
We honor Miles Davis, whose ever-expanding love of the art and the people created new sounds and thoughts for our ever-expanding struggles for liberation. It is the love that brought me in. Romancing us through ballads painted blue and lavender. I remember first being held by Mile's horn. 'It never entered my mind' from the legendary first generation of the Miles Davis Quintet off of the 1956 Workin' With the Miles Davis Quintet. I understood what emotion could sound like. What it could feel like. Capturing that late night aching for love. The composition is crafted by John Coltrane. The innovator himself. Transcending jazz onto a spiritual plane that could heal and move. Coltrane begin to develop as an artist through his early collaboration with Davis in the quintet. Coltrane's desire to experiment was in sync with Miles's improvisational bebop roots. They would both go on to evolve and become freer in their sound, although not within the same group. Coltrane's work as a leader was significant to the development of free jazz, demonstrating the revolutionary potential of art. Coltrane's deepening spiritual development led him to transcend harmful divisions within himself and others through music. As he began to find wholeness within himself through spirituality he begin to see the interconnection between us all and the ways music can connect and express that emotion. These are communist values that do not exist under the current system. It is no coincidence that Coltrane was developing these ideas amidst a backdrop of struggle taking place all across the world. Struggle's for wholeness and love. Righteous struggles that Coltrane supported. Miles speaks to these qualities of his brother quite lovingly here,
"Trane's music and what he was playing in the last two or three years of his life represented, for many blacks, the fire and passion and rage and anger and rebellion and love they felt…..Coltrane was their pride – their black, revolutionary pride…..When he died it was much like when Bird died for a lot of bebop musicians who looked to him for directions….it seemed a lot of what he stood for musically died with him."
Miles nurtured Coltrane and was inspired by him too. Although less avant-garde than Coltrane, Davis drew from the blues tradition as well as the more experimental musical laboratory of bebop. Miles was always seeking to go beyond the norm. This was apparent in the 60's with the formation of the second great Miles Davis Quintet. Released in 1967 during a time of worldwide black rebellion, the album Nefertiti represents a freer more complex sound. A type of explosion in consciousness. The quintet was fire. Some of the best musicians of the times: Wayne Shorter (tenor sax), Herbie Hancock (piano), Ron Carter (Bass), Tony Williams (drums), and Miles (trumpet). Miles was building upon the work he started in the 50's with his collaboration with Coltrane and others. Miles on this formation,
"I wanted the music this new group would play to be freer, more modal, more African or Eastern and less Western. I wanted them to go beyond themselves…if you put a musician in a place where he has to do something different from what he does all the time….He has to use his imagination, be more creative, more innovative, he's got to take more risks……I've always told the musicians in my band to play what they know and then play above that. Because then anything can happen, and that's where great art and music happens."
Below you will find some tracks off of the albums mentioned above, as well as a live performance with Coltrane of 'So What' off the classic Kind of Blue. And a poem I wrote out of love and inspiration.
Rest in Power
May 26, 1926 – September 28, 1991
For Miles
Born in western soil
my mind resides elsewhere
In Africa
In the branches of ancient redwoods
In the tired arms of my grandmother
Who weaves black magic
within tales of our ancestry
An expression of the dreams of the people
our imagination
our determination
cosmic in its scope
earth shattering in its effect.
the people create and the creations move the people
we are anew
reborn through the fires of struggle.
through Miles's rhythms
enticing our synapses
glimpses of possibilities denied to us
because we are still not free
but the music
the music sends messages
if our minds and hearts stay open.
Spiritual awakening
through the horn
through the drum
the piano
the bass
the consciousness
For that is the substance of revolution itself.
If you cannot hear it you are not awake.
Beats across the diaspora: Hybrid sounds of Jorge Ben JorPosted: May 28, 2012 Filed under: Uncategorized 1 Comment
As a mixed black person I am always interested in showcasing the intersections of art and culture; the blending of identity that has occurred with colonization and the development of capitalism globally. Race is a social construct that exists out of the need to compartmentalize people within capitalist society. I am black, but I am also African. Indigenous to, but removed from, a land that my ancestry was stolen from, and then placed on land stolen from the indigenous peoples of the Americas. I am also mixed. Portuguese from Cape Verde and the Azores. I am othered. Placed within the margins of a system that socializes people into identities that meet the need of a profoundly oppressive and exploitative division of labor, which provides the foundation and engine of capitalism. What does it mean to be black? What does it tell you about a people? Anyone black growing up in this country can speak to the diversity of the experience, but the bourgeois racist ideology that socializes us fetishizes this history. It doesn't reveal how that identity was birthed out of the rape of Africa and the Americas. It doesn't speak to the fluidity of that identity; how blackness transcends borders. There are African american, Afro-Brazilian, Afro-Latin, and Afro-Carribean people all across the Americas. Growing up mixed and poor politicized me and and lead me to question much of what was presented to me in school and in society. My consciousness was nurtured through black history, struggle and art; all material manifestations of consciousness. It gave me the courage to confront my own alienation in practice through creating art and participating in struggle.
As a way to transcend the material and spiritual divisions of society and race, I like to feature artists and art from all over the diaspora. I appreciate seeing the intersections of one's own identity and culture expressed through their art. The interaction and relationship between oppressed people has always been expressed through struggle and new art forms, all interacting and strengthening each other. I have written about this before when looking at Fela Kuti and Afro beat, and its relationship to American jazz and funk and African music. Or the Cape Verdean musical genre morna and its connection to the blues and the Portuguese fado, made popular through the music of Cape Verdean singer Cesaria Evora. Today we will explore the fusion of samba, funk, tropicalia, and rock through the music of popular Brazilian musician Jorge Ben Jor.
There is a large African presence within Brazil, one of the largest populations throughout the diaspora. Like the majority of black people in the states, black Brazilians live in poor conditions. United States or South America, black is still associated with poor under capitalism. These are the results of slavery: generations of black and brown people living with less access to material wealth. Our lack of access exists so that others may dominate and use it for their own opulent rule and lifestyle. Jorge Ben Jor was born March 22nd 1945 and grew up in Rio de Janeiro among working class Brazilians. His mother was African with Ethiopian origins. He begin making music as a teenager performing in clubs that would eventually lead him to recording success. Known as a musical alchemist, his style was grounded in hybrid sounds that mixed rock n roll with traditional samba, and bossa nova, which is a fusion of jazz and samba. Ben Jor released his first album in 1969 amid the rise of Tropicalismo. He collaborated with Gilberto Gil, but was not actively involved in the development of Tropicalia as a cultural and political movement. However, the 1970's marked an experimental turn in in his career, where he released several albums, the most noteworthy being 'Africa Brasil'. The record is an incredible explosion of funk, samba, Afro-Brazilian beats, and guitar. It is a classic and often hailed as one of the best Brazilian recordings from the 1970s. When I listen to it I hear other musical genre's, such as funk, soul and disco, enmeshed within the Brazilian sounds. I see this piece as an important contribution to funk music, black music, and music in general. It demonstrates arts abilities, like revolutionary struggle, to convey truth and connect people. Below are a few samples from the album: the raw opening track Ponta de Lanca Africano and my favorite the seductive Xica da Silva. Both tracks have a lot of rock n roll energy with guitar riffs centralized throughout both songs. It reflects the influence of rock on funk music, and the origins of the blues running throughout it all. Africa Brasil reminds me of the american funk classic "Maggot Brain' by Funkadelic. Released in 1971, Maggot Brain is known for its mixing of rock n roll and gospel within its funky sound. Xica da Silva is a perfect example of the many layers of musical styles interacting to create a sensual yet funky atmosphere. The track opens to the scratch of a bass strum leading into a grooving guitar riff, which crashes into the Afro-Brazilian percussion that greets Jorge Ben Jor's intimate and alluring vocals. A song you must feel in your body. It also tells the story and myth of Xica da Silva an Afro-Brazilian slave, who was freed by her Portuguese lover, and able to acquire material wealth in society through their union. There are many opinions around her that are reminiscent of La Malinche in Mexico. She is seen as a powerful symbol of racial justice or as a loose woman who used sex to achieve more social power. The truth lies somewhere in the middle. Or within the margins…Below you will find the two tracks from Jorge Ben Jor, and to honor some of his influences I have included the classic, Can you get to that, off of Funkadelic's Maggot brain. Enjoy!
The Power Behind the GazePosted: April 17, 2012 Filed under: Uncategorized 5 Comments
Malick Sidibe is a West African photographer from Mali known for his portraits of youth and youth culture in the capital Bamako. When I first looked at one of his photographs my body vibrated with complex emotions of love and frustration. Love because of the beautiful images of blackness staring confidently into the camera's gaze; exuding life and power. It was a different representation of African people; one that veered away from the colonial images of Africa, as object, reflected in western culture and media. It made me realize how so much of my early exposure to Africa has been through a western and Eurocentric gaze, which treats Africa and African's as objects to be observed, studied and exploited for the western viewer/reader. Africa has often been presented to me through the thoughts and gaze of White people. This, of course, effects the outcome of the work. For an example, when I look at photographs of Africans in the National Geographic there is a sense of distance between the subject and the photographer that feels cold. I believe that this is due to the material and cultural divisions between the subjects and their foreign photographers, who are there for their own purposes. There is no organic connection to the community; and they are not trying to build one that would support the self-determination of the community. Sidibe's portraits, on the other hand, radiate a warmth that comes from the relationship between the photographer and his subjects.
During the imperialist scramble for Africa France seized Mali, where it ruled until 1960, when Mali achieved it's 'independence'. The European domination of Mali, like all colonized land and people, created an antagonistic, oppressive and exploitative relationship between the indigenous Africans and the European colonizers, who now controlled everything. African's did not have access to luxury items, such as cameras. And the European ruling-class, who did, chose not to photograph the humanity of African people. That would go against their own colonial ideology, which justifies their dehumanizing actions. Sidibe had the talent and intellect as well as good luck to be able to study at a university and work for a French photographer, where he was able to get practical experience and access to a camera. At the time it was rare for a European photographer to sell a camera to one of their African employees. In 1958 Sidibe opened up his own studio in Bamako, where he immediately got work taking photographs of the youth and their friends, parties and other gatherings. Sidibe was able to capture the movement of the people within the country during a revolutionary anti-colonial/post colonial period.
Sidibe has been doing photography since the 1950's, and continues to work in the same little studio. However, it was only in the 1990's that his work got any recognition in the west. This explains why I heard about him only a year ago, and why his photos immediately stood out in stark contrast to the sea of commodified images expressed in cultural anthropological studies and documentaries. Why is this so often the case? Because this is the legacy of imperialism. People, especially men, of European descent are given more privilege in society; even amongst the working-class, and this is due to western/ European Empire. The development of capitalism throughout the world was/is through force that violently uprooted people from their lands, and either proletarianized them or enslaved them. In order to prevent class struggle developing among the different sectors of the oppressed (enslaved indigenous people, enslaved Africans, European indentured servants and proletarians) the concept of 'race' was invented by the bourgeoisie helping to define a hierarchical division of labor. For an example, Africans/black people were defined as 'inferior' 'lazy' and 'stupid'. This justified their enslavement and continual lower position within the division of labor post slavery. Materially, poor whites were not always much better off than black people, but often had more access to material opportunities and better paying jobs. This was, and is, at the expense of the oppressed brown and black people.
The division of labor is still incredibly hierarchical, and the fundamental conditions aren't much different. People of color, who share an indigenous and colonial history, are still positioned within the bottom layers of the working class and unemployed. They make the least money, are the most vulnerable to state violence, fill up the numerous prisons, and continue to live in impoverished and oppressive conditions that are only getting worse with the economic crisis. White people have more material wealth and therefore more movement in society. They are able to travel and vacation in foreign lands. They have more access to privilege institutions, such as universities, where they are able to study abroad. I am not implying that people of color do not go to college; but the fees/tuition hikes, along with cuts to financial aid, are effectively pushing out working-class people of color.
My focus on the white university student and their relationship to the colonial gaze was sparked up again recently after I read through a debate between my comrade Crunch and a mutual acquaintance about whether white college students should be able to go to Africa or not. Crunch was speaking to the material privilege white grad students have in bourgeois society, and how it gives them access to move more freely in this world, and the emotion that that stirs up in black people, who long for such a journey, but lack the capital to get there. The acquaintance seemed to take the position personally, disagreeing with Crunch's comments, and asking him if white academics should only study in Europe, thus reproducing a Eurocentric view of history. Crunch was not trying to reproduce borders; rather he was trying to place the influx of white academics in Africa within the context of a colonial history and white supremacist capitalist system that has given white people more material and social privilege in this society, and therefore more privilege. I believe Crunch sums up the emotion and politics quite well below in an excerpt from the debate,
"White kids (the grad students going to Africa) have the privilege of accessing a land that is sacred to me and my people because of our connection to it and the trauma surrounding our removal from that space and the oppression of that space, on all levels, by the White Imperialist nations since they looked down and realized it was there to conquer. These kids, who usually have vestiges of white privilege because we are all socialized and have our own vestiges of the old society within us that need to be transformed, go to Africa with their White gaze and analyze, in some part from that, they then have the privilege of coming back and becoming an authority gaining social status, economic benefits or just "get into heaven" (anti-racist) points from everyone. And they, most times, have faulty- racist- or other wise incomplete and problematic analysis.
A lot of Black kids, from all over the Diaspora, don't have that privilege because Black people, globally, have become mules to White Supremacist Capitalism and the permanent mascots of the under classes- meaning getting the worse material/spiritual/psychological treatment from the society. They cannot, or must work 10 times as hard as the white kids to access a land that should be free for them to access and would provide a kind of spiritual healing and knowledge. It would also heal the Diaspora in many ways.
Also, Africans need to speak for Africans. I don't want to read someone elses study of shit. And if we say that those people don't have the means of creating that study and having it seen then we must ask ourselves why? Which means we must confront White racism and the rape of Africa by the White imperialist West which is still murdering, raping, colonizing, and otherwise fucking up the country. White people need not go to Africa! Period! I thought this discussion was done when we acknowledged Sarah Bartman and Apartheid."
The university is a product of the capitalist system, and therefore reflects the bourgeois social relations of worker/boss, master/slave, that structure the world creating an antagonism between who owns the means of production and wealth in the world, and who doesn't. The objectification of the African through colonization is reflected in the university. The academy is not about reproducing revolutionary subjects; Its about reproducing and maintaining the structures of the ruling class. Sometimes this results in community programs and direct services too, but all this does is maintain the status quo. People of color have always been objectified within the academy, reflecting the objectification that occurs within society and has been occurring since our lands and bodies have been appropriated by the European ruling class. When white Phd students go to Africa they are representing these institutions and politics. And even if they personally disagree with them they must be mindful of them, because if that privilege is not understood then it will continue to be reproduced within our social relations. And that is not revolutionary.
Art, as an expression of the people, has always been a powerful weapon to inspire and nurture, and Sidibe's photographs reflect that. It is so important for the oppressed to express their own truths and narratives, because we must understand and feel the power within them and our own agency. This will not be felt through the academic studies conducted by white grad students, which often leads to further silencing and invisibility. Through the sharing of our stories through words, visual art, theory and struggle, we become closer to each other. When we become closer to each other we develop understanding and compassion for our similarities and differences, while learning how to support each others own power together collectively. This work is revolutionary, because we live in a system, which denies us the opportunities and tools to do that. When we are alienated from each other we will divide and conquer ourselves, while the system reaps the benefits. This work is revolutionary, because when we come together on the basis of expressing each others truths we begin to see the truth about the system, and perhaps decide that such a harmful system is no longer necessary, because we have found each other. And finally, this work is revolutionary, because not only does it help us understand what we are against, but, most importantly, it helps us collectively cast visions for what we are for.
Poetry with teeth: Rest in Power Adrienne RichPosted: April 9, 2012 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a comment
I love the political freedom poetry and art can provide. The ways it can function as theory inspiring and invoking us to act. This should be its primary use. I never could understand 'art for art's sake'. I don't understand what that statement means, because it is not my reality. And theory that fails to change our reality is a waste of my time, and time is what I don't have thanks to our 'illustrious' oppressors that rob us of it. When we look to the people's history, and the development of humanity across time we see societies destroyed and rebuilt through cycles of struggles. As people act against their conditions they are not only changing the structures of society, but also themselves in the process. Art and culture have an important relationship to this revolutionary process. Art, as a part of culture, influences people's consciousness, and consciousness guides our actions. Artist warriors have always inspired me; nurtured and affirmed my thoughts about this world and helped me express them through various forms. One artist and thinker, who has inspired me as a revolutionary/feminist/ artist is womyn warrior poet Adrienne Rich, whose life and work is the subject of this post.
During reflective times I find myself turning to Adrienne's work. The way she always speaks from her own experiences but within the context of something larger than herself, such as oppression, is what resonates with me. Her approach to writing, whether it be theory or poetry, is always concise and grounded in the righteousness of her own truth. It is confrontational. She is not writing to just analyze herself or the world; she is questioning it; envisioning something different. Interacting with her work compels you to do the same. This is where the power of her work lies; not just in the naming of our truth, but the carrying of it in practice. Art is a revolutionary practice. Adrienne Rich embodied many of these values in her work and in her life. When reading her bio recently I stumbled across this quote from 1997 when she refused the National Medal of Arts,
"I could not accept such an award from President Clinton or this White House because the very meaning of art, as I understand it, is incompatible with the cynical politics of this administration." She went on to say: "[Art] means nothing if it simply decorates the dinner table of the power which holds it hostage."
Poetic. Truthful. Revolutionary. "[Art] means nothing if it simply decorates the dinner table of the power which holds it hostage." This is a deep and powerful truth. We need art that can fight. Art that speaks to the enslavement of the people under this global patriarchal white-supremacist capitalist system. Art that strengthens the power of the ruling class over our lives is shallow and means nothing as Adrienne says. Her writing is also excellent and poetic in it's form and content. I like the arrangement of the words and the skillful way she incorporates metaphor in the themes and visuals of her pieces.
Rich spoke of lesbianism, race, and gender in a way that did not disconnect it from the imperialist world we live under. Second wave feminism, and it's lacking of race and class analysis, often had the privilege of naming and defining feminism and patriarchy in a way that continued to erase the subjectivity of a lot of us, mainly, working-class/queer/womyn of color. This had a direct influence on the development of third-world feminism. Although Rich comes from a middle-class, European background, her consciousness transcended bourgeois conditioning and privilege. Rich understood the multiple of layers of self; and the way these layers are divided from one another and regulated by the system. Radical third world feminism has always been grounded in a reclaiming of self through understanding the intersections of our identity and how it relates to our total oppression. I believe the only way to get whole is through struggle to fundamentally change the system we live in so that it no longer harms and divides our mind, body and spirit. These ideas have not always existed in our social movements though. We are indebted to Adrienne Rich, Gloria Anzaldua, Audre Lorde, Assata Shakur, and the womyn warriors before us, who helped name our truths and validate our realities. Adrienne Rich's book of poetry Dream of A Common Language is personally very important to me, because of the openness of lesbian desire and relationships running throughout it. In a world that supports male power, womyn community, partnership, and comradeship is not suppose to exist. This helps enforce the alienation that is real and material. Rich's work confronts this power within her work, drawing out and affirming what is often forced into hiding under these oppressive conditions.
"We may feel bitterly how little our poems can do in the face of seemingly out-of-control technological power and seemingly limitless corporate greed, yet it has always been true that poetry can break isolation, show us to ourselves when we are outlawed or made invisible, remind us of beauty where no beauty seems possible, remind us of kinship where all is represented as separation."
The overcoming of alienation is so important in developing a revolutionary movement that is grounded and sustainable. We must learn how to come together on a healthy basis, and overcome the material divisions that the ruling class imposes on us. We must come together so that we can direct our power against the ruling class and rebuild society. Sometimes the emphasis on coming together and breaking out of isolation, becomes the main political strategy and fails to become revolutionary. Breaking out of the alienation is not the final goal, but it is a necessary part of our political praxis.
The poem below, Hunger (For Audre Lorde), comes from Dream of A Common Language. It captures, in poetic form, the particular suffering and oppression that is a product of capitalism, and the particular way that women experience it, as mothers, as queers, as sex workers, as colonized women. Hunger; starvation; we struggle for the basic necessities of life and that is not a way to live. As womyn, especially working class/womyn of color, our particular place in the division of labor, as mothers and wives, (a role that all women are trained to accept regardless if your queer or not), leaves many women and their families in a precarious state. When budget cuts defund daycare and after school programs, it is often the women, who must worry over who is going to watch their children when they are at work. It is often the womyn who must figure out how to pay the water and gas bill every month so they can have running water and heat in the home. It is often the womyn, who must figure out how to provide nourishment for themselves and family when the food prices keep going up while the paycheck rate stays the same. We are expected to tie up the loose ends, and we have been making a dollar out of 15 cents for centuries now.
I post this piece with honor and respect to Adrienne Rich, whose conscious body has left this world, but whose spirit lives on in our own.
May 16th 1929-March 27th 2012
Hunger (For Audre Lorde)
A fogged hill-scene on an enormous continent,
intimacy rigged with terrors,
a sequence of blurs the Chinese painter's ink-stick planned,
a scene of desolation comforted
by two human figures recklessly exposed,
leaning together in a sticklike boat
in the foreground. Maybe we look like this,
I don't know. I'm wondering
whether we even have what we think we have–
lighted windows signifying shelter,
a film of domesticity
over fragile roofs. I know I'm partly somewhere else–
huts strung across a drought-stretched land
not mine, dried breasts, mine and not mine, a mother
watching my children shrink with hunger.
I live in my Western skin,
my western vision, torn
and flung to what I can't control or even fathom.
Quantify suffering, you could rule the world.
They can rule the world while they can persuade us
our pain belongs in some order
Is death by famine worse than death by suicide,
than a life of famine and suicide, if a black lesbian dies,
if a white prostitute dies, if a woman genius
starves herself to death to feed others,
self-hatred battening on her body?
Something that kills us or leaves us half-alive
is raging under the name of an "act of god"
in Chad, in Niger, in the Upper Volta–
yes, that male god that acts on us and our children,
that male State that acts on us and our children
till our brains are blunted by malnutrition,
yet sharpened by the passion of our survival,
our powers expended daily on the struggle
to hand a kind of life on to our children,
to change reality for our lovers
even in a single trembling drop of water.
We can look at each other through both our lifetimes
like those two figures in the sticklike boat
flung together in the Chinese ink-scene
even our intimacies rigged with terror.
Quantify suffering? My guilt at least is open,
I stand convicted by all my convictions–
you, too. We shrink from touching
our power, we shrink away, we starve ourselves
and each other, we're scared shitless
of what it could be to take and use our love,
hose it on a city, on a world,
to wield and guide its spray, destroying
poisons, parasites, rats, viruses–
like the terrible mothers we long and dread to be.
The decisions to feed the world
is the real decision. No revolution
has chosen it. For that choice requires
that women shall be free.
I choke on the taste of bread in North America
but the taste of hunger in North America
is poisoning me. Yes, I'm alive to write these words,
to leaf through Kollwitz's women
huddling the stricken children into their stricken arms
the "mothers" drained of milk, the "survivors" driven
to self-abortion, self-starvation, to a vision
bitter, concrete, and wordless.
I'm alive to want more than life,
want it for others starving and unborn,
to name the deprivations boring
into my will, my affections, into the brains
of daughters, sisters, lovers caught in the crossfire
of terrorists of mind.
In the black mirror of the subway window
hangs my own face, hollow with anger and desire.
Swathed in exhaustion, on the trampled newsprint,
a woman shields a dead child from the camera.
The passion to be inscribes her body.
Until we find each other, we are alone.
A few small poems from the depths of a big heartPosted: March 20, 2012 Filed under: Uncategorized 4 Comments
Cracked mirrors
I am a queer reflection
of the contradictions of society.
They fetishize me
because I remind them of the truth.
Soft firmness
As the distance between us widens
with the stretching of time
my heart softens
and I wonder how you been.
To be freePosted: March 5, 2012 Filed under: Uncategorized 1 Comment
I like my body when it is with your body.
I like the familiarity of our limbs
the warmth and comfort they provide.
I like the feelings of ease
feelings some take for granted
feelings that are often denied to us.
Loveless systems breed repression
We are not suppose to exist
there is no language to help navigate our movement.
we fumble through the dark
building our own paths
finding our tongues along the way.