Haiku #21
A great feat to write;
even greater to live and
write to tell it all.
5.29.2006
A Great Feat Indeed
We all have certian goals we leave unsaid. Here, not in so many words, is one I hold dear.
Haiku #21
A great feat to write;
even greater to live and
write to tell it all.
Haiku #21
A great feat to write;
even greater to live and
write to tell it all.
5.21.2006
Lucky Day
I woke up this morning feeling like absolute and utter crap. I've been on a rollercoaster of emotions this week and it has left me exhausted. The silver lining is that I've reconnected with a person who is extremely dear to me. Each morning, or anytime I've felt myself falling into a slump these past few days, this friend has completely turned my day around and made it lovely, regardless of the distance that is separating us right now (thank goodness for text messaging and email!).
I've been doing mental cartwheels through fields of gold because of you and thought I'd let you know, even though I think you know that already. I dedicate this to you (I know it's corny and sounds silly cuz I'm bad at rhyming poetry, but it's the thought that counts--I hope!)
I've been doing mental cartwheels through fields of gold because of you and thought I'd let you know, even though I think you know that already. I dedicate this to you (I know it's corny and sounds silly cuz I'm bad at rhyming poetry, but it's the thought that counts--I hope!)
Lucky Day
Looked at the sky, it was crystalline blue,
with pink cotton clouds that looked so sweet.
A stray black cat crossed over my feet,
but when I looked up I saw you.
I almost bought the whole rack.
When I got outside I stepped on a crack,
so I called my mom who laughed with unruffled sails.
A stranger bought me some lovely flowers.
I picked each of its petals for fun.
“Loves me not,” they said; you smiled like the sun.
That night, we star gazed and held each other for hours.
Before bed I looked in the mirror;
It shattered and my face turned bland.
But you entered the scene and took my hand;
now I see myself much clearer.
Hope you like it and that it conveys what I feel. Thanks for being in my life.
5.18.2006
5.17.2006
A Little Ditty
This was sent to me from a poetry magazine that is interested in publishing a piece of mine. I thought it was thought provoking and cute.
Triolet on a Line Apocryphally Attributed to Martin Luther
A.E. Stallings
Why should the Devil get all the good tunes,
The booze and the neon and Saturday night,
The swaying in darkness, the lovers like spoons?
Why should the Devil get all the good tunes?
Does he hum them to while away sad afternoons
And the long, lonesome Sundays? Or sing them for spite?
Why should the Devil get all the good tunes,
The booze and the neon and Saturday night?
Do you believe in the Devil...?
Triolet on a Line Apocryphally Attributed to Martin Luther
A.E. Stallings
Why should the Devil get all the good tunes,
The booze and the neon and Saturday night,
The swaying in darkness, the lovers like spoons?
Why should the Devil get all the good tunes?
Does he hum them to while away sad afternoons
And the long, lonesome Sundays? Or sing them for spite?
Why should the Devil get all the good tunes,
The booze and the neon and Saturday night?
Do you believe in the Devil...?
5.09.2006
New Shoe Is a Racial Misstep
A a lover of gym shoes both common and rare, and as avid follower of race relations, I found the following article of great interest, seeing as how both are discussed on this rare occasion. Thanks for this one, Miykie!
New Shoe is a Racial Misstep
By Jabari Asim
Monday, April 17, 2006; 12:01 AM
WASHINGTON -- During the 1980s, in the black neighborhood where I spent much of my time, a pair of rumors became as familiar as Jheri curls and that hideous red jacket Michael Jackson wore in his "Beat It" video. Both tales involved a couple of clothing lines that included sneakers among their products. One brand was said to have a logo that served as an acronym for "to rule over oppressed people." The other was widely believed to conceal a racial slur in the insole of each shoe. Both clothing lines have faded from prominence, and since the rumors were untrue, I won't name the manufacturers here.
I mention them merely to show that minority groups have occasionally voiced suspicions that clothes, sneakers and other commercial products can function as agents of racism. Asian-Americans expressed such sentiments in 2002, when Abercrombie & Fitch stocked their shelves with T-shirts bearing contemptible images of Asians and such infuriating slogans as "Wong Brothers Laundry Service -- Two Wongs Can Make It White."
A year later, the Urban Outfitters chain ticked off African-Americans by selling Ghettopoly, a racist board game created by David Chang.
Several readers wrote to me at that time, asking if I would have opposed the game if it had been created by an African-American. I responded that I would, and that I was just as disgusted by equally brainless products introduced by blacks, such as Pimp Juice, the brainchild of the rap star Nelly, and Rilniga jeans, sold by a black-owned company in Cincinnati.
I am no less disturbed by a new sneaker that Adidas has introduced as a limited-edition product in its "Yellow Series." A black shoe adorned by three gold stripes, its tongue is festooned with the face of a cartoon character with buck teeth and slanted eyes. Nearly as over-the-top as the Cleveland Indians' grinning logo, the image is lurid and confrontational. According to news reports and Internet chatter, the face on the $250 shoes has upset some Asian-Americans. Other Asian-Americans, however, have defended the footwear. The mixed response can be traced in part to the racial identity of the man who designed the shoe: Barry McGee, a San Francisco-based artist, happens to be half-Chinese. He says the image is based on his own appearance as a child.
Conventional wisdom suggests that some group behavior -- and other alleged characteristics, such as facial features -- can only be ridiculed from within the group. Therefore, a joke told by Dave Chappelle may be considered brilliant, while the same joke told by David Letterman would be deemed offensive. In a similar vein, African-Americans often seem reluctant to criticize racist language used by black performers, citing their ironic intent and attempts -- however feeble -- to remove the power from such words.
The irony is often lost on many blacks when others invoke similar arguments. David Chang tried to defend his Ghettopoly game in such terms. "I'm not trying to single a race out," he explained. "The whole point of me doing this is not so much stereotyping people, it's poking fun at stereotyping. It's meant to be satirical." Some of the same African-Americans who timidly tolerate black performers' obnoxious lyrics roundly denounced Chang's rationalizations. No doubt Asian-Americans confront similar dilemmas when they encounter creations like McGee's.
In a statement issued by Adidas, McGee said he never thought the image was racist and that he is "sorry to those people who perceive it that way. All I remember is having Stan Smith's face on my Adidas when I was young, and was elated to put a caricature of myself on a shoe when presented the opportunity this year." His motives may indeed be pure, although his defense of them is somewhat shaky. Unlike McGee's provocative design, the tennis champion's screen-printed visage on his namesake shoes couldn't possibly be described as satirical or stereotypical.
Nor did Smith's portrait carry as much potential to harm. Images such as McGee's are complicated by the wider, whiter world and its population, whose knowledge of racial minorities often remains inexplicably limited. Perhaps Adidas' puzzling decision to market the shoe -- and even more puzzling, to include it in its "Yellow Series" -- derives from its own circumscribed intelligence. Or perhaps the company was focused so intensely on profit that it was blind to everything but green.
2006 Washingtonpost. Newsweek Interactive
New Shoe is a Racial Misstep
By Jabari Asim
Monday, April 17, 2006; 12:01 AM
WASHINGTON -- During the 1980s, in the black neighborhood where I spent much of my time, a pair of rumors became as familiar as Jheri curls and that hideous red jacket Michael Jackson wore in his "Beat It" video. Both tales involved a couple of clothing lines that included sneakers among their products. One brand was said to have a logo that served as an acronym for "to rule over oppressed people." The other was widely believed to conceal a racial slur in the insole of each shoe. Both clothing lines have faded from prominence, and since the rumors were untrue, I won't name the manufacturers here.
I mention them merely to show that minority groups have occasionally voiced suspicions that clothes, sneakers and other commercial products can function as agents of racism. Asian-Americans expressed such sentiments in 2002, when Abercrombie & Fitch stocked their shelves with T-shirts bearing contemptible images of Asians and such infuriating slogans as "Wong Brothers Laundry Service -- Two Wongs Can Make It White."
A year later, the Urban Outfitters chain ticked off African-Americans by selling Ghettopoly, a racist board game created by David Chang.
Several readers wrote to me at that time, asking if I would have opposed the game if it had been created by an African-American. I responded that I would, and that I was just as disgusted by equally brainless products introduced by blacks, such as Pimp Juice, the brainchild of the rap star Nelly, and Rilniga jeans, sold by a black-owned company in Cincinnati.
I am no less disturbed by a new sneaker that Adidas has introduced as a limited-edition product in its "Yellow Series." A black shoe adorned by three gold stripes, its tongue is festooned with the face of a cartoon character with buck teeth and slanted eyes. Nearly as over-the-top as the Cleveland Indians' grinning logo, the image is lurid and confrontational. According to news reports and Internet chatter, the face on the $250 shoes has upset some Asian-Americans. Other Asian-Americans, however, have defended the footwear. The mixed response can be traced in part to the racial identity of the man who designed the shoe: Barry McGee, a San Francisco-based artist, happens to be half-Chinese. He says the image is based on his own appearance as a child.
Conventional wisdom suggests that some group behavior -- and other alleged characteristics, such as facial features -- can only be ridiculed from within the group. Therefore, a joke told by Dave Chappelle may be considered brilliant, while the same joke told by David Letterman would be deemed offensive. In a similar vein, African-Americans often seem reluctant to criticize racist language used by black performers, citing their ironic intent and attempts -- however feeble -- to remove the power from such words.
The irony is often lost on many blacks when others invoke similar arguments. David Chang tried to defend his Ghettopoly game in such terms. "I'm not trying to single a race out," he explained. "The whole point of me doing this is not so much stereotyping people, it's poking fun at stereotyping. It's meant to be satirical." Some of the same African-Americans who timidly tolerate black performers' obnoxious lyrics roundly denounced Chang's rationalizations. No doubt Asian-Americans confront similar dilemmas when they encounter creations like McGee's.
In a statement issued by Adidas, McGee said he never thought the image was racist and that he is "sorry to those people who perceive it that way. All I remember is having Stan Smith's face on my Adidas when I was young, and was elated to put a caricature of myself on a shoe when presented the opportunity this year." His motives may indeed be pure, although his defense of them is somewhat shaky. Unlike McGee's provocative design, the tennis champion's screen-printed visage on his namesake shoes couldn't possibly be described as satirical or stereotypical.
Nor did Smith's portrait carry as much potential to harm. Images such as McGee's are complicated by the wider, whiter world and its population, whose knowledge of racial minorities often remains inexplicably limited. Perhaps Adidas' puzzling decision to market the shoe -- and even more puzzling, to include it in its "Yellow Series" -- derives from its own circumscribed intelligence. Or perhaps the company was focused so intensely on profit that it was blind to everything but green.
2006 Washingtonpost. Newsweek Interactive
5.04.2006
Quote
My quote for the past month or two is really plain, simple, and quite narcissitic. It makes me laugh every time I think about and puts a little swagger in my step. Although many people (including me) have said it, thought it, and/or lived believing it, I read it in What Remains: A Memoir of Fate, Friendship, and Love, by Carole Radziwill.
"Remember, it's all about me." - Carolyn Bissett Kennedy
Nothing wrong wit being a little self-absorbed every once in a while...right?
"Remember, it's all about me." - Carolyn Bissett Kennedy
Nothing wrong wit being a little self-absorbed every once in a while...right?
5.02.2006
Trace Your Roots
Trace Your Roots to Africa and Go There for Free or on a Shoestring Budget
A friend of mine sent this to me the other day, and it made me want to search for my African roots. A girlfriend of mine did this for her father as a Christmas present last year and I thought it was a great idea.
Ewing, NJ - April 2006 -- As concerns over the downturn spiral of the economy continues to grow nationwide, many people are trying to find innovative ways of cutting costs without cutting corners. Out of this need, emerges the Roots Recovered Website (www.rootsrecovered.com), the only site on the Internet devoted to African Heritage Travel. Everything you need for African DNA Tracing, Genealogy and African Heritage Travel is at this website. It is devoted to helping Africans in the Diaspora find their way back to Africa.The author, James White, of “Roots Recovered” was very pleased with the airing of the brilliant PBS documentary “African American Lives” by Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates. White said while he was very pleased with the show he wants the opportunity to explore one’s African heritage to be accessible to the “not so rich and famous”. He said, “the website and book makes African travel and using DNA to trace your roots accessible to the working person.” “Oprah Winfrey, Chris Tucker and Whoopi Goldberg have the wealth and resources to easily explore their African roots.” The website and the book helps the everyday not so rich and famous do what they did on the documentary on a shoestring budget.”
White said the book and website are intended to educate the reader about Africa; to dispel misconceptions about the continent; and to encourage the people to think critically about his or her perception of self in relation to Africa. It also demystifies African travel to encourage people to travel there to experience Africa for himself or herself. “Roots Recovered” contains information that ranges from African history, psychology, obtaining passports and visas to very specific country information. “However, unlike other African travel books or travel websites, the purpose of ‘Roots Recovered’ is to use African travel as a vehicle to open the door for understanding our psychology, history and to develop a positive Black self-concept for future growth,” said White, who holds a bachelor’s degree from Howard University and a law degree from New York Law School.White, who is married to a Senegalese woman, has used DNA technology and traced his roots to the Mende people of Sierra Leone and the Fulani people of Guinea. He is an African art enthusiast and has a penchant and knowledge of African history and culture and regularly travels there. He was inspired to write the book after a trip to Africa in 2003.The book, which was published in January 2004, has been featured by some prominent critics; and has been enthusiastically received by such people as Tavis Smiley on National Public Radio; The Africa meets Africa radio broadcast on Pacifica Radio with Angelique Shofar and CN-8 News plus numerous radio interviews and lectures. The author most recently appeared in Columbus Ohio with Dr. Rick Kittles of African Ancestry at an event sponsored by the Young Professionals Association of the Columbus Urban League.“This book, ‘Roots Recovered’ is the guide for anyone of African descent who wants to travel to Africa,” White added. “I’ll eliminate all your excuses for not going back to the Motherland.”To learn more about Roots Recovered, visit the author's website at www.rootsrecovered.com ()The book can also be purchased at the author's website or at www.barnesandnoble.com, www.cushcity.com, www.amazon.com, or ordered directly from the publisher at www.booklocker.com. It also can be ordered at any bookstore.
CONTACT: James WhiteADROIT DIVERSIFIEDEmail: rootsrecovered@aol.com (mailto:rootsrecovered@aol.com)Website: www.rootsrecovered.comTelephone: 609-638-5383
A friend of mine sent this to me the other day, and it made me want to search for my African roots. A girlfriend of mine did this for her father as a Christmas present last year and I thought it was a great idea.
Ewing, NJ - April 2006 -- As concerns over the downturn spiral of the economy continues to grow nationwide, many people are trying to find innovative ways of cutting costs without cutting corners. Out of this need, emerges the Roots Recovered Website (www.rootsrecovered.com), the only site on the Internet devoted to African Heritage Travel. Everything you need for African DNA Tracing, Genealogy and African Heritage Travel is at this website. It is devoted to helping Africans in the Diaspora find their way back to Africa.The author, James White, of “Roots Recovered” was very pleased with the airing of the brilliant PBS documentary “African American Lives” by Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates. White said while he was very pleased with the show he wants the opportunity to explore one’s African heritage to be accessible to the “not so rich and famous”. He said, “the website and book makes African travel and using DNA to trace your roots accessible to the working person.” “Oprah Winfrey, Chris Tucker and Whoopi Goldberg have the wealth and resources to easily explore their African roots.” The website and the book helps the everyday not so rich and famous do what they did on the documentary on a shoestring budget.”
White said the book and website are intended to educate the reader about Africa; to dispel misconceptions about the continent; and to encourage the people to think critically about his or her perception of self in relation to Africa. It also demystifies African travel to encourage people to travel there to experience Africa for himself or herself. “Roots Recovered” contains information that ranges from African history, psychology, obtaining passports and visas to very specific country information. “However, unlike other African travel books or travel websites, the purpose of ‘Roots Recovered’ is to use African travel as a vehicle to open the door for understanding our psychology, history and to develop a positive Black self-concept for future growth,” said White, who holds a bachelor’s degree from Howard University and a law degree from New York Law School.White, who is married to a Senegalese woman, has used DNA technology and traced his roots to the Mende people of Sierra Leone and the Fulani people of Guinea. He is an African art enthusiast and has a penchant and knowledge of African history and culture and regularly travels there. He was inspired to write the book after a trip to Africa in 2003.The book, which was published in January 2004, has been featured by some prominent critics; and has been enthusiastically received by such people as Tavis Smiley on National Public Radio; The Africa meets Africa radio broadcast on Pacifica Radio with Angelique Shofar and CN-8 News plus numerous radio interviews and lectures. The author most recently appeared in Columbus Ohio with Dr. Rick Kittles of African Ancestry at an event sponsored by the Young Professionals Association of the Columbus Urban League.“This book, ‘Roots Recovered’ is the guide for anyone of African descent who wants to travel to Africa,” White added. “I’ll eliminate all your excuses for not going back to the Motherland.”To learn more about Roots Recovered, visit the author's website at www.rootsrecovered.com ()The book can also be purchased at the author's website or at www.barnesandnoble.com, www.cushcity.com, www.amazon.com, or ordered directly from the publisher at www.booklocker.com. It also can be ordered at any bookstore.
CONTACT: James WhiteADROIT DIVERSIFIEDEmail: rootsrecovered@aol.com (mailto:rootsrecovered@aol.com)Website: www.rootsrecovered.comTelephone: 609-638-5383
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