Out On The Stoop

Go On and Catch Some Tail for Yoda's Daddy

2012-01-15T15:22:00.000-08:00

The man put up 93 million dollars of his own money to make an all black action movie? Or an action movie with a black cast? You can say this has my attention. In a few days, the movie Red Tails will open at the box office. A gentleman by the name of Mr. George Lucas has produced a movie that is inspired by the Tuskegee Airmen of World War 2.

As a rule, I do not like war movies, shoot em up bangs bangs or glorified murder. I do like a good story. I am 110% down with encoding our history into the collective but often forgetful memory of this nation.

This is a trailer of the movie:

Mr. Lucus is a little concerned that if folks don't turn out for the flick than will put the kibosh on future multi-million dollar movies staring black folks with white actors in minor supporting roles.

This is a clip from the daily show where he talks about how studios told him they didn't know how to market the movie or that it would not do well internationally because other countries would not want to view "limited appeal" movie.

Dear Mr. Lucas, do not fret about blowing $93 million dollars. I think it is safe to say you are going to recoup that investment in about a 10 hours of the movie's release. Not to mention that as soon as a couple dozen grandmas get wind of the movie a couple thousand junebug grandsons are going to be dragged into the theaters.

But that isn't what the movie studios where talking about, is it? They said they didn't know how to market the movie so that white folks would want to go see it.

Understandable myopia coming from that crowd. Need new blood in Hollywood. Those vampire and zombie movies they keep making have drained what little sense they have about modern audiences.

People will turn out for a good movie, period.

I got my calculator out on this one:

Living WW2 war vets of any ethnicity $$$
Living vets of any war who appreciate military history $$$
Every living Tuskegee graduate $$$$$
Military historians $$$$
People who want to see their history on the screen $$$$$$
Loyal Fanboys and Fangirls who want to get in on the ground floor of a possible new gaming world $ x infinity.

If it is good movie and some white folks can mentally cross that bridge then yeah, whoopie and good on ya. You have a hit.

But if it isn't then it will be okay too. The world will still turn. There are black movies being made and that will happen inside and outside of the current film industry. Looks like it will be outside because even if this is a block buster they will attribute it to Lucas skills as a filmmaker and promoter and not the film or subject matter.

The stories will be told with old tech or new tech. The days of traditional film making filters is coming to an end anyway.

So take a load off G. From the looks of it I don't think it will be flop. I stopped looking toward Hollywood for quality movies a long time ago. I might make an exception for this film but have no expectation of finding a good film to pay $12 for a long time.

Now in your next film if you could do a little something that celibates the slightly older but wiser women with some curves it would be greatly appreciated. If she happened to be driving a space ship that would be very cool too.

Broke Folks Eye Candy or Hold On A Little Longer

2012-01-06T20:27:00.000-08:00

It is like having poison ivy on the back of you knee. I know that I have wailed about buying cheap stuff (Don't do it!) but there are exceptions.

Very limited exceptions. Before I prattle on check out this video from tech site, TheVerge.com, about another Android tablet from China.

When I was a teen I wanted with all of my heart a Nikon camera. I felt that I should have one because it was top of the line and my photos would be sooo much better if I had one. It would have meant that I was not as poor or broke as my reality dictated at the time.

I had to find a way to be connected to a community that I wanted to belong. One of the things that kept me going was reading photography magazines, the torn cover 25 cents versions that I could buy four for a dollar back in the day,

Photographers seem to do things like travel the world, eat strange food and do stuff. I was all for the doing of stuff.

I saved and earned money that eventually I bought a Yashica twin lens reflex that had a 35mm attachment so I could take 35mm snaps. I still have it.

I know my 21st century counterpart wants an iPad or a Galaxy Tab or something. He or she needs it for school, for work or creativity purposes.

This morning I found an Android draw/paint program called Sketchbook Mobile from Autodesk

If I had a craving for an tablet application like that and couldn't by a tablet that would make me obsessively crazy. Like I was about that Nikon.

Anyway, tablets from China and parts unknown are about to come in a bum rush for folks wallets.

Like the video said, the build quality isn't that good, the camera is wonky but sometimes broke folks that do their research before buying and understand that this is a training wheel to the good stuff should consider buying something like this.

Because you don't want the itching to go away. I'm not saying buy just for the sake of wanting. That is not good and it waste money.

But the itching to know and explore, at any age should not be denied.

So I guess I'm saying if you have no money you can save up for the pride and joy hi-tone version. This would be preferred path

But if you truly can't afford to wait and you sniff out the best of the schlocky tablets then go for it. Get the best of the not so good and learn as much as you can.

Re-invention and Change - The White Hut

2012-01-01T14:50:00.000-08:00

I needed down time. I have gotten up at 4 a.m. to write or cobble together items of interest for my blogs and others. I want to create and do things but I was force to realize that I need x amount of sleep and nutrition.

When one or both get out of balance I am not a happy camper.There is other stuff happening that I can't discuss but that life balance thing is kicking me into submission. I got to find writing time that does not involve the pre-dawn hours.

This is a project I've been wanting to finish for chunk of time. I want to mix essays with video. This will not look that different from my other work but my goal today was to post a video.

The Whit Hut was a mom and pop restaurant in the Pasadena area. It closed in September 2011 and word has it that a new organic coffee house will be built. I'm sure that the new joint will not be serving up fat laced Pastrami on Rye.

Part Two

I have to step back and think about what do I want to do. I want to re-claim a bit of my creative writing. I want to really get better working with video. I need a new career but I think what I want to do hasn't been invented yet so I have to pave my own path.

Not a bad idea but it can make a person nervous. Can you re-invent yourself again and again and again?

Yes. You can. It is not easy but I'd rather give it a go than to be among the walking dead.

That is not a zombie reference.

There are people that do the same thing day in and day out because it is safe. No deviation. No curiosity about what went before or what is to come. No hobbies. No vices. No challenges. No goals.

Nothing. They live. The eat. They work. They sleep. It is enough for them.

Now if you are in any form of recovery and you aspire to this type of life go for it. I'm not talking about you. You have already lived a bit and you need routine and stability. Carry on and work your program.

For me, I want more. I want to access the untapped parts of my potential. I can't mess around, I'm coming up on another birthday in a few months and I want something to show for it.

I thought that 2011 was going to be a quiet year and that sucker did everything in its power to prove me wrong. I might need a combat helmet for 2012.

Right now, it is a beautiful day and I have time for a nap, if I want one.

When A Gavel Strikes At Free Speech in Pensacola

2011-12-25T10:01:00.000-08:00

The 1st amendment is not something to mess around with. If we lose it by excess chipping away from city, state or federal governments we are lost.

Americans have the right to stand up to our government and speak out. Lately our various elected officials seem to grow tired of citizens speech. This is the most recent example. It won't be the last.

For the record, he was allowed to come back into the chamber and make his full point.

There seems to be some question if he is a priest. I'm not sure I understand but at some point he was a Catholic priest. He then transition to the Orthodox church in 2009. He is married with two children. http://www.saintbenedictmission.com/staff.html

Anyway, it is an interesting bit of video on where we are today and in the days to come.

There Is Still Much to Say

2011-12-18T12:58:00.000-08:00

There was a time when 999 was the highest amount of posts you could upload on Blogger. I wasn't too worried about it because I didn't think I'd reach 999 posts. I don't think about things like that because they intimidate me.

Here I am. Number 1,000 according to my post log. Dang! I feel good about it.

I wrote long before there was blogging. Use to do an e-mail news letter. Had a old school user page that required HTML. I never warmed up to Dreamweaver but I gave it a go because I had much to say and thought my voice was as valid as some of the others on the World Wide Web.

In 2004 I came to Blogger.

In one of my early post I shared the lyrics to Sky Pilot. There was no way to easily embed video. There was no YouTube and I would not have known about this video from the CBC in Vancouver. This is a video montage created by the CBC performed by Eric Burdon and The Animals:

I have an attacment to this song because I would hear it on the radio. I might have been between 9 and 11 years of age. I don't remember. But I didn't connected the song with the Vietnam war.

I thought of Snoopy and the Red Baron. I was a kid. I related to the world that I knew.

This is such a different place. I now understand about the price of war on human bodies and minds. I understand that there have been other wars and some folks are now shopping for a new one to keep the military industrial corporation going.

"You'll never, never, never, reach the sky."

There was a time when I did not have my face on the blog. In 1999 had read a book about being on the Internet that talked about this guy who was making serious cash money doing web work but it got out that he was a black man.

His work dried up. At that time there were people that would attack you for being "the other."

Not much has changed. There are increasing attacks on women and feminist bloggers.

I have learned that you can't hide who you are. There are people that need to see that an African American woman has a blog. That I write about a variety of issues and concerns.

There is no point in trying to pin me down to a specific topic, not in this blog. One day it is politics, the next is noticing that Brookstone in the mall has a bunch of vibrators on sale for the holidays.

Seriously, not the cheap stuff. We are talking the upper level stroke, stroke, stroke until le petit mort kind of gear.

I get distracted. Too much is going on these days.

I bought a fountain pen. I'm going back to writing on paper first and then uploading. Has more to do with eye and hand preservation. It also has to do with allowing the words to come at a contemplative speed. I want time to think, not just react.

I don't like Facebook but I check in on friends. I like Google+ better but I don't have the time to do more than and comment on friends and followers post. There is some new widget that allows me to copy my post here to my G+ page. I might do that. Not sure.

Twitter, which I didn't initially care for, has been my day to day catch up with folks.

My blog - this is my home ground. My stoop. I know it. I'm okay here. I haven't been posting much because I got stuff going on. I have to make decisions about my life in 2012. What do I want to do? What do I need to do?

No matter what those choices are I still intend to blog. And write. Maybe a video now and then.

This blog is what made the connections with other people possible.

There are days when I get fed up with the stupidity of human beings. The American branch has plum lost their minds. Not sure they are going to get it together, it will take something awful to re-connect with each other.

It doesn't have to be that way but not sure if we can come together. Too many forces profit from keeping us apart.

So I still blog. One post at a time. I hope I remain unpredictable but who knows what changes can happen. Be open to the possible has served me well. I commit to that and the future.

Not Writing The Prescriptive White People Letter

2011-12-18T11:38:00.000-08:00

I have watched and listened as privileged white men tried to help the nation understand the problems and worth of poor black kids. If I am understanding correctly, which is impossible because I use to be a poor black kid, I am incapable of going to work, thinking long term and handling my responsibilities as an adult.

It seems I am unable of understanding my current and future situation in life. I did not know that I require intervention to help me move past my impoverished blackness of being. The fact that I had to use technology just to find out how incapacitated I am is beside the point.

I can't make this stuff up. This is Newt with his view on poor children. Excuse me, very poor children. Like poor needs a superlative.

Gene Marks article at Forbes understands the totality of the inequality but wants poor black kids to know that there is a way out via web apps, sites and technology.

I'm thinking Gene does not have a good grasp of the concept of being poor. There is no money. Food is dicey. You might not have a place to live. There are other concerns at the top of the list. Buying a computer is not one of them.

I have a mind to write a letter called "Dear White People..." I am motivated. These past two weeks have really lit me up to put pen to paper.

Hey, wouldn't such a letter be irresponsible? Would it be extremely biased based upon my limited understanding of the totality of the European American experience. Even thought that experience is pumped into my consciousness each and every day by media, literature and commerce.

Yet I feel compelled to try again. I have a tremendous amount of anger at the embedded racism that is structured in this society. Not only is there embedded racism but if I, as a black woman dare call somebody out on it I get accused of playing some goddamn race card of victim-hood.

I have no race card. With the shit coming out of (some) white folks mouths these past three years I don't need any. Do you hear the ish coming out of mainstream political discourse? Against women, the LGBTQ communities or anybody that is not a white Christian male?

Yet I am suppose to give a calm, rational nuanced response some of the most noxious public thinking that has been romping around the country as political commentary.

Bullshit.

Hmm. Not really where I wanted to go with this. Still too much anger.

I want to write that I am a human being with inalienable rights provided to me by the Constitution of the United States and the 15th Amendment.

Naw, that don't get it either. Bunch of extreme constitutionalists want to revert back to the original constitution. They don't recognize my right to existence anyway.

I can't do it. If I can't write it responsibly, with accuracy, historical perspective, real life experiences and independent documentation to support my point of view then I should not do it.

I can't seem to write without wanting to toss in a couple dozen cuss words. That isn't good.

See, I know that such a letter would hurt people I love, care and respect. It would even hurt people I don't like. There is enough hurt in the world. I have no desire to add to it.

Still that isn't a good reason not to write a prescriptive letter to white people.

Yet people I know might might take offense that I am telling middle class white folks that they don't know how to raise their kids, that they are structurally defective as parents and I, being the 2nd cousin, twice removed from God, have got the scoop on how they could live their lives better if only they would listen to me.

The poor white folks are probably doing the same things as poor black folks, trying to take care of their families the best way they can in these days of denial. Denial being telling folks to get a job but that job has been exported oversees years ago.

Then again, if I am so all powerful knowing that I can solve the problems of millions of people perhaps my time could be better spent fixing the state or federal budget.

Or laying in the infrastruction of a national high speed rail line. Or full high speed Internet access for all, even in the most pastel sections of the country.

You know, If could lay in that rail line by June then I wouldn't have to get in an airplane or spending time in TSA lines.

Change of plan. I need to attend to my areas of interests.

White folks will have to muddle through without my assistance.

Anais Nin's Students A Celebration at Beyond Baroque

2011-12-15T17:07:00.000-08:00

If you happen to be in the Venice or Santa Monica areas around 7:30 p.m. you might want to stop by Beyond Baroque for a Celebration by the students of Anais Nin. If your fingers haven't flipped through Delta of Venus you have got a bit of catching up to do.

If you feel a bit of frost bite in the heart or other regions of the body you really should plunk down money for her books. That is the heathen side of me, paying more attention to the erotic work instead of her other works.

This is Nancy Shiffrin reading a work that you could say was inspired by Nin.

The participants will be Nancy Shiffrin, Leah Schweitzer and Nan Hunt.

For more info or if you are in the Los Angeles area and need a weekly dose of poetical or literary inspiration visit:

BEYOND BAROQUE
681 Venice Blvd.
Venice, CA 90291

Or check out their Facebook page.

Learning From Old Movies - The Animal Kingdom

2011-12-09T06:14:00.001-08:00

I am coming up on my 1,000 post. I tend to think that I haven't don't anything a thousand times. Nonsense, we all have. We just don't think of them. Anyway, I needed an old movie fix. You rarely can go wrong with a Leslie Howard movie.

YouTube Link for The Animal Kingdom

Actually it was Ann Harding. I had seen another movie in which she scopes out a playboy with potential and decides to plot to marry him. It was a lesson on entrepreneurship in the depression. Ann's business was marriage, making her husband look good and keeping him happy. William Powell's business was to avoid marriage and responsibility.

Anyway, in The Animal Kingdom Ann and Leslie were doing the do outside of the bands of matrimony. They were the best of friends, were lovers and no strings. She goes off oversees and Leslie meets Myrna, who does love him but wants to recreate him into a proper rich dude. Which he does not want to be.

Moving on. This was a pre-code film. People talked about sex. Well, you do have to decipher quite a bit about sex in the film. Myrna used a sleeping gown to great advantage. She definitely roped the dope but you can only do that a few time before the dope gets to thinking that the rope is a harness and he doesn't want to be in one.

In other words, juicy gets em crazy but you can't keep it up. Most of the time.

The movie has a happy ending for two of the three leads. From the DVD cover you can get a clue.

When people talk about the simplicity and morality of an early time I'm not sure what time that would be. These weren't bad people. Leslie wanted his friend and his wife. His wife wanted him. His friend wanted to be left alone because she didn't want to be a homewrecker.

Life if complicated. Always has been. Always will be.

Baby It Is Cold Inside or My Body Is Not Happy

2011-12-06T05:50:00.001-08:00

I have the heat on. And my coat. If I could find one of my hats it would be on my head too. It is not unusual to have a chill in the morning. This ain't a chill, this is straight up cold. I feel like it is back east weather.

I personally like waking up to temperatures in the 60 degree range. This ish feels like lower 30s or something.

I'm having to put clothes on the heater to warm them before I'll put them on. That is old school east coast living skills.

Dear Canada. I have great respect for your country. I even watch some of your TV shows like Being Erica on Hulu. Please come get this stray wind pattern. Replants some trees. Restore a wet land, ice pond or something.

Stop the fracking of your land. That may have nothing to do with the weather but I just thought I'd toss that out there in case you are listing.

In the meantime I gotta find my gloves. I need to open the refrigerator.

This Wind Has No Name

2011-12-05T05:53:00.001-08:00

It wasn't the Santa Ana Wind. It has been accused of downing multiple trees in the area. It is innocent. The hit job blast came from Canada and the other wind pattern location hasn't been identified as yet.

It is still blowing outside but not at the intensity of last week. There are fire warnings being issued by NOAA and other weather services. Things are looking kinda normal for now.

Pasadena is still cleaning up. There are trees down on a lot of streets. If you need cheap firewood you are in luck.

Bring your own saw.

The Rinse Cycle by Jan McLaughlin

2011-11-27T08:30:00.000-08:00

I know Jan McLaughlin from the Yahoo Videoblogging Group and as one of the early video folks at Vidlicious. She is a profession sound artist, engineer and creator.

The Rinse Cycle by soundsgoodtoo

Through the Twitterverse she has posted a poem performed with Bruce Weber.

More poetry, less pepper spray.

The Other Side of Being Among the 99%

2011-11-13T11:33:00.001-08:00

It is about the flow of money. Much of that employment flow has been diverted to other states and countries.

If you, you being a wealthy, rich or doing all right person don't understand what people are talking about perhaps you have a better relationship with things.

So here are some things. These are called empty stores. Stores that had an owner and employees. They don't have them any more. When folks are unemployed their discretionary shopping money vaporises. That means they can't go shopping.

No shoppers means no customers. No customers means no business.No business tax. No business to business purchases. Nothing.

You may have all the shopping options you can handle. When a community has lost too many vendors or merchants in an area you have a dying city.Or a bunch of blocks with nothing but empty window.

I have nothing more to add.

It is just a visual observation. Also my Day 12 VloMo video.

Jaming It In Anyway I Can for Day 13

2011-11-13T11:14:00.001-08:00

Today is Sunday. A day of rest. Trying to catch up on my videos and it it almost but not quiet a lost cause. This is a video of me looking out at trouble from the Metro Pico Station. We are suppost to have our Santa Ana winds that cause warm air to lovinging caress the body.

Not these rain clouds.

What rest?

I have cleaned the bathroom, Uploaded 15 videos to the Vlomo Gallery, throwing out trash, trying to finish a blog post and start another and did I mention the kitchen is a wreck?

There is laundry. There is purging of things I haven't used or read in 15 years.

No. I am not complaining. I am stating facts. The fact is this is a good day. Well, except for damn near choking myself because I took too strong of a sniff of PineSol.

Ventilation should never be compromised.

When We Gather In Our Names

2011-11-10T05:17:00.000-08:00

It is a moment and then it is gone. That is why we take photos when we get the chance. Trying to keep up with that road runner known as the Queen of Spain can be a full time job.

Taking the kids to school. Getting herself to treatments. Speaking at conventions about cyberbullying and Lupus. I can just about keep up with her on Twitter. She's got multiple streams going on Facebook.

At BlogWorld Los Angeles 2011 I caught up with Cecily Kellog, Anissa Mayhew and Erin Kotecki Vest. They were finishing their panel and had just got kicked out of the room. Believe me when I say the room wrangler had to work hard to get those dames to stop talking.

Photos and phone slinging commenced. A couple of other folks drift in and out. I want to know how she knows the dude in the kilt?

That guy way everywhere. So this video is for them. And for me.

Meeting the People You Sleep With

2011-11-07T05:50:00.000-08:00

This takes some explaining. I like audio dramas, storytelling, audio theater, old time radio and stuff like that. I got hooked on Philippa Ballantine podcasts of Weather Child and other productions.

Tee Morris, yes. too many to count. I usually listen to podcasts before I go to bed, when I need to mellow out at work or for medicinal purposes.

I attended Tee's presentation at BlogWorld 2011 in Los Angeles. Excellent. He told the straight scoop and didn't try to get me to believe in the fairly money making slot machine of podcasting. I really appreciate that.

Here is my story. Tee did mention that he and Philippa would be in steampunk attire the next day. I didn't think I get a chance to see them but they were standing near the Podcaster Zone. Do yourself a favor and check their web site http://www.ministryofpeculiaroccurrences.com

I did have my digital camcorder, honest. It was hiding from me at the bottom of my bag. I could only lay hands on my mobile phone. Not high definition but you use what you got. I was also going into a mild fan panic of "record you idiot before they get away."

Folks, I must have looked like a dork. I know it. But I got the video.

I am putting on my self-desired holiday shopping list an electronic organizer for my handbag. This, I swear, will never happen again. This is my day 4 video for Vlomo 2011.

Looking Into the Rafters - Day 3 of Vlomo 2011

2011-11-06T07:39:00.000-08:00

I feel like I have walked almost every inch of the Los Angeles Convention Center. I haven't but that joint is huge.

Anyway this is a video that I recorded when I looked up into the rafters of the convention center. I have more but if you are curious about this Vlomo 2011 stuff check out the blog I'm curating at http://vlomo2011.tumblr.com

The Body is Weak or Very Sleepy

2011-11-04T21:07:00.000-07:00

I have been up since 3 a.m. I don't know why. I have been ripping and roaring around downtown Los Angeles for BlogWorld 2011. I have posted videos of the participants of Vlomo2011 and like a fool I thought that I would squeeze one more hour and put mine up.

Ain't gonna happen. Lady MacBeth is going to bed.

Dig you cats later.

Being Myself Is Hard Work

2011-11-02T20:20:00.000-07:00

Somebody has to do it and I guess it is up to me. But the mail that gets stuffed in my mail box is disheartening.

One ad to lose weight. Another for Dish TV. Two ads for Pollo Loco. More ads for losing weight. As near as I can figure it I'm supposed to sit at home all day watching TV and not eating anything.

This is my Day 2 video for International Videobloging Posting Month aka Vlomo2011.

My Spray Candy Experience

2011-11-01T20:18:00.000-07:00

Hello friends and assorted relations. It has been a day. A full day. Not like yesterday because all I remember is coming home and crashing at 4:30 in the afternoon. Waking up at 2:30 a.m.the previous day might have contributed to the experience.

There is a bit of sleep desperation going on. I mean deprivation. It could be a good thing. Really. I'm taking the short cut to everything not requiring deep attention.

I apologize in advance. The reason I'm apologizing is that I watch a man doing the dishes in one of the Vlomo 2011 videos. I was about to make every water based sexual innuendo in that post and then it hit me.

Nooooo! You don't know that man. It is wrong. It isn't funny, it is tacky. This is record of participants, not your boy toy catalog.

Now mind you I was only saved by what little rational mind I have left. I can't blame that on lack of sleep but I can try.

Finding The Story

I was rushing to the store thinking I was going to buy clothing. I didn't buy clothing.

I bought food. And being a good shopper I look up at the top shelves and the bottom shelves. Eye level is for suckers. On the top shelf on a clearance rack was a bunch of spray candy.

I am here to testify, One spritz is all you need. Three or more and there will be trouble. It is a fruit juice concoction with Xylitol, Citric Acid and other stuff.

I am not hating on it. Nope. It will bring you back from the afternoon sleepies. For those of us that really can't drink Red Bull this might be the next best thing.

Unless you had a full night's sleep.

Sleep Is But An Illusion - Pre-Vlomo 2011

2011-11-01T06:12:00.000-07:00

Not that I am comfortable at this time. I am not. But I miss being creative. It seems that my time is being spent informing folks of stuff, which I really like to do, but I don't get to create as much as I want to.

I have been watching the Tate Shorts on iTunes. There is also a Tate YouTube channel. Those things blow me away. All kinds of artists, some pompous, so to the bone authentic. There is a wack job or two but I like them as well.

So long as I don't have to live with them.

The implied point of watching those videos is do it.

So I am going to try to do a video today and for the next 30 days. I'm not an artist. I don't necessarily make great videos. But I like doing it.

That should count for something. I'm rambling. It is the lack of sleep. But not right now cuz I gotta go to work.

I am also going to gather other folks doing the same and post them on at http://vlomo2011.tumblr.com because having a centralized place to see other people's work seems like a good idea.

Where am I?

Whoa, gotta go.

Folks Don't Understand Being Broke

2011-10-29T08:32:00.000-07:00

I was having a conversation with about the Occupy movement came up. My friend said something to the effect that instead of occupation what the young folks should do is collectively buy stocks in corporations and effect change from within the system.

Now, I might be misinterpreting his words or not understanding conceptually what he meant. But I'm going with what I think I heard which is something to the effect of "there can be no change by what they are doing, get into the system and fight."

It is not a bad suggestion. Not a good one either. I get it that he is trying to find his answer.

I did point out to him that many of the people protesting can't find jobs or are locked out of employment. There was a gruff acknowledgement but then he said some of those people that support the movement could do it.

Not Really The Point

When I was broke, busted, unemployed and things where looking kinda dicey I can truthfully say that I did not have money to buy stocks or mutual funds.

I had choices like a bag of discount frozen french fries or toilet paper.
Off code meat or day old vegetables.
Finding soda cans that could get me bus fare to look for work.

I didn't have family to turn to. I did have people that took me to dinner once in a while. Thank Sprint for Craigslist. Other folks gave me good advice. . None of which involved going to a broker and putting a tenth of one percent of share on a company.

Being broke and fighting for survival is a full time job. It is more than just not having income. It is a feeling of being powerless. It is knowing that you are trying your best to do the right thing only to be told that you are a loser.

Gotta tell you that is a cultural mind fuck that hard to overcome.

Bootstrapping Is a Myth

I think people want to understand but we still have that mentality about bootstrapping. First you must have a boot. Then good laces. Then the foot to put into the boot. Libertarian 101 embedded in our fabric of influences.

That is not a bad thing. We as Americans pride or false pride ourselves as being self sufficient. And yet you need a community to support the making of goods and services. You need the infrastructure to be able to buy and sell. Skilled craftspeople are also necessary.

My point is that no, there is no self made anybody. We are interdependent with each other. We can chose the degrees of interdependence, and that is a good thing because there are some folks I want nothing to do with or held at arms length.

Yet applying the bootstrapping metaphore the questions still kick up. What do we do when industrial, manufacturing and many service jobs have been exported overseas? How do folks get a job when technological advancements have eliminated a range of labor and management positions?

You see, there is a space of disconnect that has to be talked about and damn if we are doing our best not to even try.

So no, I am not going to tell folks scared silly about where the rent is coming from next month where to find a good broker.

I want to know more about alternative infrastructures and financial systems. Not to get rid of capitalism but maybe find other systems that helps folks cope a bit better than being told to shut up.

Hey Where Is Poetry In Plain Sight?

2011-10-29T07:42:00.000-07:00

Well yeah, there is a story about that. The poetry readings generally happen at a branch of the Pasadena Public Library. That branch is undergoing renovations. Currently the folks are meeting at Maui Wowie, accross the street from Pasadena City College.

This is a good thing. Visually. And I like the smoothies.

But from an audio standpoint it is a mess. You can hear the blender. You can hear the radio pumping out top 6 hits. You can barely hear the poets.

There is no audio cleaner in the world that can handle that kind of background noise. The renovation continues at the library so there is no expectation of repatriation until many mid December.

Or so. If you are a local poet who want a poetry writing workshop then check out Maui Wowie cuz Don and folks will be there. But from an audible and copyright standpoint, I just can't record.

Libraries and Occupations - Then and Now

2011-10-23T13:32:00.000-07:00

The library nerd in me loves that this video even exists. Matthew Battles is an author and librarian. His book, "Library: An Unquiet History" talks about how libraries constantly are re-invented for the needs of the time.

In this video, Battles talks about the 19th century Chartist movement paved the path toward the public library system we have today. Toward the end of the video Battles makes the point about how the camp libraries of the Occupy movement will also shape how we share information in the days to come.

For more info on the book:

WorldCat Book Information Page
WW Norton's book page with the opportunity to read an excerpt.
Review of the book by John Kennerly
Google Books information page with links of other folks talking about the book.

TOWS NY and Words From Jay Smooth

2011-10-19T20:42:00.000-07:00

I pay attention to what Jay Smooth has to say. Brother can post once every three months and it is all right with me because when he does hit record it makes sense to me. I've been trying to write my own thoughts but I can yank three pages of them cuz Mr. Smooth has scope out part of the signal.

Case in point about Occupy Wall Street New York:

Especially the part about the ringers. The guy from American Spectator that started the ruckus at the Air and Space Museum and all the media pundits, pundi, pontificates and those that cannot see non-scripted reality for the life of them.

Oh yea, oh yea there will be co-opters, on both sides. There will be a voice that will be worthy and then not worthy. I know this. I've seen it. I also know that once a fuze is lit all it takes is some kindling.

The kindling catches and boom, you have illumination and heat. It might take a little longer for the kindling to catch up in Los Angeles but once folks get their iPhone 4S they will be back to normal. Can't do jack with them until they get the Apple fix.

I'm keeping my camcorders charged just in case.

OWSLA or Los Angeles Has A Financial District?

2011-10-17T05:33:00.000-07:00

Los Angeles is a place of contradictions. Thousands of them. Los Angeles does have a kinda sorta Wall Street but the traders have to wake up early to play with the east coast markets. They, I heard told, do not necessarily walk around in gray pinstripe uniforms, er suits.

Los Angeles does have towers of banks and financial institutions that are far up in the sky. Far away from commuters, the homeless population, vendors wanting to buy gold and silver and the other teaming masses.

So no, this march will have no impact on them at all. Still, it happened.

There was this woman who I rode the train with who went to law school, paid $120,000 and can't get a job.

There were people wanting to get rid of the Fed. Not sure if it was the federal government or the federal reserve. I have a flying in my bag about returning to the gold and silver standard as well as the abolition of federal tax system. And forgiveness of all debt.

There were college students and long since college folks who wanted to make a point.

There were people with cameras and camcorders everywhere. The cops had them. The hotel parking folks had them. People who were walking down the street not knowing about the march and took some snaps just in case. Yes, there were some reporters and photographers in the area.

There were actual protesters too.

I have been trying to find a way to write about what I am seeing. There is a struggle because I'm seeing too many things at once. It is the text and subtext kind of thing.

Still trying to work it out.

Two Thoughts and Then I'm Outside for the Day

2011-10-15T08:36:00.000-07:00

Got an e-mail from Barnes and Noble about buying Borders customer data. Thing is, I opted out of Borders e-mail long before the bankruptcy. What I forgot was that I was a Border's member. It appears I can have a limited free membership into the BN premium club until I would have to pay in 2012.

I don't want to pay BN an advance on the books I may or many not purchase. I didn't want to do that before the Nook and I don't want to do it now.

I have another e-mail from Writer's Digest talking about them helping me to bulk up for NaNoWriMo, if only I would spend $125 or so in purchasing articles and books on how to write a novel in 30 days.

I took a class years ago on how to write a book in 6 weeks. The dude talked so fast my ears burned.

Literally, he was going like a house on fire. He was informative but by hour 2 my head was thumping. I bought his guide to how to do it for $40 and stumbled home with a migraine.

Anyway, NaNoWriMo is an endurance event, not a shopping opportunity. Ok, you can buy paper and ink.

So I gotta say I'm feeling pressured to buy even though my rational mind does not want to buy these items.

I'm heading out for what the day will bring. Wish me luck.

To The Person That Almost Ran Me Over

2011-10-09T21:04:00.000-07:00

It is a known fact that there are chunks of Los Angeles that are automotive incompetent to drive a car. There are cities with reputations of having distracted, uncaring and flat out unskilled drivers.

There are also people that transcend geography that have a tendency to piss off 8 out of 10 pedestrians. Now I don't want to cast all those who drive BMWs and Mercedes in a bad light. But I would swear that it is part of the code of automotive arrogance that allow almost hitting pedestrians is a badge of honor.

A few minuets ago I was bringing my laundry home. I don't have a car, I use a small vertical shopping cart. I am two thirds across the street when this car decides to make a turn.

Into me.

At first I thought it would be a rolling stop. Slow way down to allow me to finish crossing even though he was in the wrong turning lane from the get go. If I was an on-coming car he would have almost hit the car. Instead he was trying to hit me.

I'm in-between him and the sidewalk. He does not slow down. I'm covered with light as I scream Stop!

Twice.

He never stops but slows down a bit more as I make my way to the sidewalk.

I am angry. He is half way down the block.

I would have cursed him out for not seeing me. I'm not that spiritual when people aim a car at me. Spirit understands it is one of my many shortcomings.

I would tell that person that he had no place he had to go to that was worth trying to run me down.

I need to know what phone cal or meet-up was so important that it required you to turn into the wrong lane and not see me? Cuz you were in the wrong lane and I know this because the person driving a car in the correct lane could not make the turn because you slunked beside him in the wrong non-existent lane and tried to turn into me.

I hate mobile phones in cars. I hate distracted drivers and most of all I hate the lack of civility that passes for status these days.

There is no place to go or find that doesn't have lunk heads behind the wheel. I re-affirm my desire for $15 a gallon gas and computer driven electronic cars.

Or the functional development of a transporter. If I have a choice, Transporter!

I am fine. I am grateful for a big mouth. And to be typing this. I don't recommend it as a permanent cure for writer's block.

Still, you gotta go with what works.

The BBC, Rastani and My Lack of Sleep

2011-09-27T18:27:00.000-07:00

On September 26, 2011. Alessio Rastani scared the hell out of folks in the UK and Europe. He worked my nerves something terrible. I was so messed up I couldn't even read or do anything worth a damn.

For those folks that can't see the video. he basically said in a clear, assertive voice that traders and brokers don't care about governments or stable societies. They are looking for profit. The next money fix.

This is not news but he said it in plain English. That was news.

And the work that others folks are trying to do to save Greece and parts of Europe aren't worth the effort because traders and financiers are looking for safe ports for their money, even if they have to stick them in U.S. dollars. It isn't about governments, it is about what Goldman Sachs wants and needs for monetary growth.

What has that got to do with me or you?

Business as usual you say. Well, he also said that he has been waiting for the next drop so he can make some serious bank. A drop that will clean out bank accounts around the world.

I can say with painful memory that small depressions are bad enough. The pure hell of 2001 nobody should wish on any group of people. 9/11+Dot Com bust+Enron all in the same year was quiet enough thank you very much.

And this man speaks of that type of event happening like a cash money wet dream. It turns out that Mr. Rastani is not a big time trader. He is more of a dabbler.

Rastani is not technically a fraud but he does not roll with the big boys. The BBC did not fully verify his actual qualifications to appear on the broadcast. He is just a man who loves to talk, he wants to be a public speaker.

Rastani got his big break.

And yet,what Rastani said is the truth.

Not about Goldman Sachs. It isn't just that company. Be real.

We know there are people who would do anything to make huge sums of money. Ethics or societal responsibilities have nothing to do with it. In fact, we are being schooled that no one has any responsibility for anybody but themselves. The rest be damned unless you have money to buy you way out of perdition.

It is the truth that we need to prepare for a serious cosmic money azz whipping or fiscal re-alignment. It is the truth that no one in government or those that aspire to public office has a clue on how to fix this. None. There is no desire to do so.

We are in palliative care mode at the moment. We cling to the side show when the main attractions are just too much to witness.

We need to have alternative sources to our food supply. How are we going handle brown and blackouts? Skills for services or products is going to make a comeback but do most folks have something to trade? Actually no, what do any of us know how to do that does not involve electricity?

You will not catch anyone from this side of the pond say the words that Rastani said to the BBC. He probably will not appear on any of the business or talking head American television programs. Really shouldn't have been on the BBC.

It makes what he said no less true.

That is why I was curled up in my bed trying to sleep with all kinds of thoughts romping through my head. I didn't sleep much at all.

Yes, There Was Chocolate

2011-09-26T04:54:00.000-07:00

I feel like that rabbit from Alice In Wonderland. Running here, late there and mumbling to myself.

I have video but I don't have time to edit just yet. My beloved computer is one foot from the grave and I can't make a decision on the replacement. It is a very personal thing. It has to be just right.

So does chocolate and access to it. Which is why I went to the Los Angeles Luxury Chocolate Salon that was held in Pasadena.

This was the fifth salon and my second one that I have attended. So many people! Seriously. Not near enough space for the chocoholics; of which there were many.

Special shout out to all the excellent chocomakers who participated and sliced, diced and gave to the teeming masses of humanity that flowed by their tables.

I'll have more later but I'm still in recovery from that most excellent choco-chilli morsel that lit up my mouth with a living incarnation of the pleasure/pain principle.

In the meantime, if you want to see some of the folks that presented at the festivities you can catch a glimpse at Chocolate Television on Hulu.

The Edge of Night and Memories

2011-09-15T20:08:00.000-07:00

Before blogging there were web sites and e-newsletters. I started an e-newsletter to keep my computer students and my friends up to date about software programs and the Internet. My friends at the time didn't understand what the Internet was or why I was so jazzed about it. They thought it was something like CB Radio.

I made so many mistakes back then. Spelling, typing, factual; you name it I did it. I kept plugging away at it and I got better. I learned from other people. I learned I didn't have to write a book each time I hit the keyboard.

I didn't want to make money, I just wanted to let people know what was going on and how things were changing. It was a form of self expression. There is nothing wrong with that; despite what other will say about journal writing and blogging.

I was exploring, learning, laughing and connecting with other people who had interests other than what was on the soap operas. Not that there is anything wrong with soap operas or the people that love them. No disrespect intended.

Much love to The Edge of Night

A day in September 2001 changed that. I didn't know if there would be a tomorrow. I didn't trust the Bush administration. I didn't know if the war hawks would bomb first and figure out later.

I knew that I wanted to be of service and help. So I wrote about elephants in the room, emergency preparedness and looking out for each other.

The truth of the matter was that I was alone. I could call people and e-mail folks but for many hours I was by myself.

It was my edge of night in that I could be scared but if I was going out I wanted to do something positive. So, that is what I do.

There have been earthquakes, floods, fires and riots. There have been dark nights of the soul.

Lots of them.

So my memories and lessons about that time carry forward. Be of service. Keep learning. Make more contacts and friends. Limit the negative voices.Live in the day.

I still make mistakes.

It is all right.

Healing Spaces With Junk Mail

2011-09-10T18:37:00.000-07:00

Many folks I know are practicing a media blackout until September 12, 2011. To the extent possible, I do not watch mainstream television and have just about given up on most broadcast news so most of the time I am out of the flow. I will be even more so on Sunday the 11th. I'm reading the book Water for Elephants instead.

I'm going through my junk mail. The PennySaver wants me to know that I can get a lap band if I want to invoke insurance verification.

I don't have PPO insurance. Don't want a lap band either.

Well, I would think about it if involved four men cradling me in their laps as they sung me to sleep. One guy to massage my feet. One man to rub my lower back, one fella for the shoulders and one songbird to sing in my ear.

That is a pleasing visualization. Let see what else I can salvage.

A satellite company want to give me the world and 225 channels for $34.99 including football.

I can't read the block of fine print on the other side. I believe that is intentional on the vendor's part. I can just about make out something like $135 if I don't do something in time or $20 per the remainder of the two year contract.

I'd feel bummed out but I don't watch free TV so why would I pay to watch infomercials and football?

Next ad is another lap band circular, this time telling me that freedom is losing the weight. No, freedom is a state of mind and my mind has the foot guy rubbing a bit on my ankles.

EZ Lube - yes I'm going there. No such thing. It is either goopy or runny and you can't just stick any old substance up the ying yang. You have to read the label to make sure it is compatible with your body.

I'm sad that I gotta think about such things but I have to be prepared for the future. What? I don't have a car. What else could I associate it with?

An insurance company wants to offer me affordable coverage. There is a huge honking apple on the paper. This remind me to tell you the fruit eating thing is working out. Mangos and strawberries work well but cherries are labor intensive.

The rest of the junk mail seems to be more of the same..
I place the papers into the recycle bin of life.

Another September Has Come

2011-09-01T18:07:00.000-07:00

The smoothie of the day is a mixed berry kind of concoction. I would have like to have added a chunk of garlic to it to keep what has been biting me at night unhappy but I can't find the cloves. Too lazy to look for it.

I can imagine it. Some bloodsucker bug looking for an easy meal strolls up to my arm and takes a sniff. Just as he is about to break off a chunk of me he gets a snoot blast of Gilroy's finest garlic.

"Pee-yoo, that is some rank human! I'm not that hungry." He flutters to the nearest tiny crack in the door.

Yes, I must find the clove for the next batch. I don't know how well garlic goes with strawberries and blackberries. I'm adding a tablespoon of Cheap Chuck (aka Two Buck Chuck) to mellow things out. I was saving it for the earthquake kit but I can pick up another bottle easy.

Special shout out to the new east coast members of "Yes, it really was an earthquake" society.

Yo, y'all can't be running outside during a quake. Too much masonry that can conk you on the head. As a public service to quake newbies this is Martha, the Safety Gal. And some rubber duckies.

Don't hate, reciprocate. When California has a hurricane you are free to send me tips and suggestion.

Time Thief or Aging Is A Drag

I can smell the change of weather. I notice less light outside in the evening. Fall is coming.

I have mixed feeling about Fall. I always feel I get cheated out of more summer. I only get three months of official summer and spend the other nine wishing for more sun and heat.

It also means the great plans and life experiences I thought would happen either worked or didn't work.

That can make me sad but this year, no complaints really. I'm actually in gratitude mode. Grateful I can pay the bills, grateful I have outside interests. Grateful I have choices on what I want to do when I want to do it.

Well, no not really. One day last week I tried to stay up for 20 hours. I didn't get enough sleep on day one and I had two projects due on day 2 so I stayed up very late. I got them done but by day three I was a wreck. I came home and I slept 10 hours and could have used three more.

I was the person that could stay up through the Late Show, The Late, Late, Show and the Early movie. I could sleep for two hours then go to school, come home and start it all again.

Those days are gone. Other Septembers have taken my super power away. I'm left with a body that I have to take care of or there will be repercussions. Bad ones.

So for this week I have been good. A hit of garlic and early to bed. There has been slippages but the internal time clock is on my case. The TickTockMan is telling me to repent and I have no choice.

I do not mind being older but man I gotta say some aspects of aging are a stone cold bummer.

Poetry In Plain Sight - Sean Raymond Hill

2011-08-21T15:54:00.000-07:00

Sean Hill has no way of knowing this. I went to school with a roomful of guys with big Afros. I'm sure one of those Afros caused me to almost flunk French.

I came back to the present because it is better in the here and now. Sean is an actor and poet who was one of the guess poets at the most recent get together. This is a poem because today, no matter what day it is, we need a poem.

Poetry In Plain Sight - Don Kingfisher Campell 2

2011-08-21T09:59:00.000-07:00

There are all sorts of ways to say I love you, I know you are present and thank you for affirming me. Poets are always reinventing the message.

It is a one to one to many relationship. Strangers are always included. Don is the ringleader of the San Gabriel Valley Poets writing workshop and poetry readings. His poety blog helps you to keep track of all his doings in the area.

Any poem that mentions the James Mason Thunderbird commercial is okay by me.

James Mason was a fine actor, a classy guy. But he was a real person too. There are times when the money gets funny. You have to do (within moral/ethical guidelines) what is necessary support yourself and your family.

Perhaps the reputation of Thunderbird wine was much different than it is today. From the two times he says "unusual taste" I am guessing no. Mr. Mason classed up the joint but the wine has traveled downhill in an alley near you.

Nasty, wicked stuff.

Smoothies and Vibrators on a Thursday Afternoon

2011-08-18T17:31:00.000-07:00

Yes there are more important things to do in the world. I have chosen to sit at my desk and drink an ice cold Strawberry smoothie.

As I peruse the Tweet stream friends are talking about that vibrator movie. I don't like the name of the movie, Hysteria, but that has more to do with the old pathology of doctors treating women as a literal bag of symptoms.

I like the idea of women going to a place where they can have therapeutic orgasms. So yeah, in theory the movie sounds okay.

As part of BlogHer 2011 swag I got two silver bullet things and a hunk of pink plastic with a disco ball at the end of it.

Thanks Eden Fantasys.com!

Not quite sure what to do with them. I'll figure out something.

Ok, yeah I know what I could do with them. It it is good to have tools in the kit. Diversify and broaden the horizons.

I think I want to put some mango, coconut water and tamarind powder in the mixer. Just to see what happens.

Watching a movie about repressed wealthy Victorian women going to the only place where their sexual needs are met under a cover of "illness" does not make me all gooey. I sure could use a good laugh though.

I remember going to the various on-line vibrator museums in the early days of the Internet. They were a hoot and not at all scuzzy.

Still clogging the tubes are:

Good Vibrations Antique Vibrator Museum at GoodVibes.com
The Vibrator Museum - old school web pages filled with twitching devices

I don't have enough mango left. Added it to the remaining strawberries and ice. Works just as well.

Where was I? Oh yeah. So it is 2011. It is almost okay to admit you have sex toys. But not really. It will make obtaining a new job more interesting. I'm okay at the Salt Mine for now but should I leave it this post could be problematic.

They will look at the two candidates. One will have grey hair and glasses. She'll look like some one's auntie. They run my name and "Oh, my Mr. Zlocknicledo, not her, the woman is to ... public with her opinions."

Too late. I done did it. But I have to speak out loud because women going through peri-menopause and menopause need to know there are options.

Sometimes you have a mate and sometimes you don't. Things have to be dealt with or there are consequences. You want no part of the consequences such as that energy builds up and you not only want to do the seventh fleet but afterwards you want to consign the whole ship to hell.

Intellectually you know that is wrong but intellect has no control over estrogen zipping all over the place and androgen saying "Peek a boo, baby."

You will apologize less if you take care of yourself, how ever you define it.

Me? I'm just drinking a smoothie.

Glen A. Palmer on Jumping In on the Noise

2011-08-14T13:32:00.000-07:00

There are times when people want to jump in and change the direction of what you wrote or want it to conform to what they think you should have done.

It take a lot to be willing to listen not only to the other person but also listening to your internal compass. This is Glen A. Palmer from the blog, The Gentlemen's Standard.Glen 's blog mixes in male fashion, faith, I don't know any other way to say this, man issues, and other good stuff at his blog.

I do encourage you to visit his blog because you will not see him represented in mainstream television or the news media. This is a child of a single parent. Look to see what he has accomplished and continues to create before you slap a stereotype on him.

I may not agree with everything on his blog but I do appreciate that his voice expands the discussion of what African American men are thinking and talking about.

Glen spoke at part of the panel on Authentic Voice at Blogging While Brown 2011 in Los Angeles.

Update 9/16/2011: I made an error. The speaker's name is Glen, not Greg. I don't know who Greg is but he is not Glen. I swear I checked and even visited the blog to make sure I had the right blog address. I did, just not the correct name. I have to fix the video but, yeah. I goofed.

Yvelette Stines on Finding Time to Blog

2011-08-14T09:37:00.000-07:00

This is Yvelette Stines talking about the need to making time to blog. She was one of the three panelists for the Authentic Voice session at Blogging While Brown 2011 in Los Angeles.

Yvelette has a blog called Caming Corners where you can get tips and advice on inspiration, health and beauty topics.

Postscript:
The air conditioner unit in the hotel was super loud. I had to find a software program that reduced the machine noise and amp up the speakers because there was also no working microphone.

It is not the best audio, but trust me, it sounded like she was speaking on the airport runway before I found a solution.

It Was Rush and Then It Was Gone

2011-08-11T08:39:00.000-07:00

I have been to seven BlogHer conventions. Each one has a different personality and tone. The energy and engagement changes from year to year. You should know that each year that I have gone I usually say to myself, "Ok, I've done it no need to visit again."

That last for about eight months and then I want to see folks and give it another go again. Because of the unexpected joy. This is a video from 5secondsformom on a Flash Mob dance at lunch.

It kinda represents what we can get out of the conference. Make it happen. Dance if you want it. You want business and professional sessions? Yes it was there. You want to learn how to make money via your blogs? Had that too.

You want to talk about camcorders and editing options? Righty-O there is a Geek Bar. Need your swag fix? You can be accommodated.

This year I really wanted to meet new folks and I did. I had to put out the effort and push past some of my inner bashfulness. (I'm more introverted than I let on, I just fake it well.)

There were moms. There were women who do not have children. Men folks. Transgendered folks. Most of all there was talking. And some squeeing. I have adapted to it.

If you can't squee at BlogHer then something is wrong in the world. I'm not a squeeker, I tend to ackkk!

Where There Bad Things?

Yes. The San Diego Convention Center Wi-Fi was spotty and non-functional for me at my Geek Bar session. It was for a lot of people. It happens. Folks do not believe that 3,000 Internet savvy women can cripple or knock out their system.

There was a thief who stole 15+ wallets that orbited the exhibition hall.

My knee didn't like the walk from the hotel to the convention center but the body needed to move.

It does seem that more marketers are creeping in the door but on the positive side maybe we can help them understand that not all women are moms, moms are not stupid and that perhaps you need to come to grips that this is now a multi-dimensional community.

Don't roll up bringing tired old scrips. Listen. Talk. Engage.

It takes a while to figure things out. Still processing. Not sure if I will go to New York City again. I'll let you know around April.

The Road So Far and Wide

2011-08-01T05:57:00.000-07:00

I remember back in the day when I would see Leo Buscaglia on television, it seemed all of the time. I have always remembered the story he told about his father asking him, "What did you learn today?"

I woke up this early this morning. My body forgot it was on vacation. I listened to The History Guys podcast on Walt Whitman’s attention to wounded soldiers in Civil War Hospitals.

It was about love, tending and connections. Things I have not felt of late emanating from the public discourse.

I putter though the idiocy of the budget crisis and I just want to disconnect from everything.

Almost. And then I got to thinking. Leo's father's question came up again.

"What did you learn today?"

It is that love thing. We have been fed such as nasty diet of bile and political ickyness that we have no national capacity to love anything or anyone not in our direct tribe or vested interest.

We will sink the nation because there can be no accommodation to consider the greater good. For all of us, not just corporate or power interests. Not just for the poor folk. Not just for foreign national's interests.

So. How do we reclaim our love for our country? How do we non-hate based carbon units not just take it back but embrace and nurture what we believe to be our better self?

There has to be some kind of reconciliation. We are no where need that concept. Not now. I haven't any answers. I just know that I am not built for disengagement unless there is absolutely no hope of change.

There has to be a better way.

Living in the Time of Asperand

2011-07-22T16:39:00.000-07:00

I learned a new word today. Asperand I like saying it but I have to work at remembering how to say the word. There is a lot of competition for my brain cells. Asperand is the actual name for @ now commonly known as the at symbol.

My retention thing has changed from"give me all you got" to "that is it for today, thank you but the storeroom is closed. " I don't like it but some days I gotta shut down open access and monitor what goes in and stays around to mess with my brain.

Here I am standing on the nexus point between what was and what is and all kind of stuff is going on. Av at BlogHer took on the CA Milk Board advertisements about PMS and milk.

Just as that foolishness has been dealt with the Summer's Eve ads that have three, count them, three different ethnic groups of women riled up. This is another video in the series about how 70 percent of us don't know the name or can identify our lady bits.

I got folks e-mail and twittering the heck out of this stuff. It needs a response. It is an video asperand that is a symbolic of what people and companies will do to sell a product.

Well, I'm sitting this one out. I'm just tuckered. My attention this week was across the creek looking at how the News Corporation/empire might fall. I am holding on patiently expecting the unthinkable into reality.

I'm sorry but others will have to take up the slack.

This is the time of the Asperand because we look at, point at, twitter at and have forgotten that there are real people having to co-exist with dumb ass clucks.

Clucks that think they know real people enough to sell them anything if they hit the right emotional and cultural buttons. Pain them and cure them for a price.

And who came up with the bright idea to have Summer's Eve ads before the showing of a Harry Potter movie?

Have at it folks. I am taking a walk from this foolishness. I'll catch up and see what next week will bring but I have limited expectations.

I'm taking a walk and having a confab with a few trees. I've got to shake a few more asperands out of my head.

Cheryl Contee on Networking and Watching The Old Guard

2011-07-17T08:46:00.000-07:00

You learn something everyday and sometimes twice a day. Then again, you can be reminded of things you should have known.

In this clip, Cheryl Contee of JackandJillPolitics.com talks about the importance of networking, paying attention and keeping you eyes on the prior generation politicians who claim to be working on your behalf.

I am an old city girl. I know about the political okey-doke. Apparently, so do members of Congress; including ones you kinda hoped they would do better.

Rashad Robinson on Accountability and Obama

2011-07-16T18:27:00.000-07:00

This is a short video that I recorded during the session Keeping It Real: Political Accountability in the Age of Obama. This was one of many sessions at the Blogging While Brown conference held in Los Angeles.

In this clip, Rashad is talking about how other groups network together to at least get their agenda on the discussion table. What can we learn and emulate is the question.

Rashad Robinson is the Executive Director of Colorofchange.org where 800,000 voice work together to deal with the issues of the day using the tools of technology.

Poetry In Plain Sight - Eli Goitein

2011-07-15T21:26:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since I've posted poetry. My computer and I are trying to hold on until I get a new souped up power gizmo i5 or i7 level computer. Editing on a Dual Core CPU is no longer a joy when you are editing high definition video.

All of the new software is geared toward Windows 7 and, well, production has slowed down when it hasn't flat out choked. My CPU meter is living in the red zone.

It is a knock down drag out fight but we are now in an understanding phase. I understand that I can only have one software program open at a time and it understands that all I want is one short video to edit.

This is the first video under the current truce agreement. Eli Goitein seems to be a man that does many things. One of those things is poetry. The reading took place at the San Gabriel Valley Poetry Reading at the Santa Clarita branch of the Pasadena, CA Library.

The Never Ending Need To Be Touched

2011-07-13T17:28:00.000-07:00

Our time seems to only validate the bad touch. The married politician looking for outside nookie. The celebrity caught with her panties off in front of paparazzi.

What if you want to be touched and no one wants to do it? Or remembers the reason why it is important? I'm trying to make time for the things I like and it seems that poetry is always taking a back seat.

This is a poem called Touch Me by Stanley Kunitz read at the Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival. It shouldn't matter that he is 92 something years old. It does matter that he is speaking a universal truth.

Quick Recap on Blogging While Brown Conference

2011-07-11T05:13:00.000-07:00

I'm stealing a little of my shrinking morning time to say how much I enjoyed the 2011 Blogging While Brown conference in Los Angeles. I do have photos and videos that I will be posting in a few days.

I knew going into the conference my intent was to listen and meet folks. I messed up one time when I found myself talking in one of the sessions but it is the effort that counts.

I feel encourage that there are so many new folks coming on board wanting to use the tools of blogging for advocacy and to generate alternative sources of income. No matter what your purpose is you have to remember the importance of content, good content that will get you to your goal.

And to those misguided souls considering being a payola pimp for products? Nooooooo. Don't do it. Many have crashed and burned following that that path of broken glass.

There were a lot of photos and camcorders at the event so I'm expecting a bunch of good stuff appearing soon. Thanks to the sponsors who made the event possible.

Why I'm Going To Blogging While Brown

2011-07-08T09:21:00.000-07:00

I'm not a blogging newbie. I was on the Internet before blogging was birthed.

I remember when I had to work in HTML and then FTP web pages up to the server only to find that I had goofed on something and had to do it all over again.

I learned things. How to stay out of old school chat rooms that were not moderated. How to write gender ambiguously so as not to have my words dismissed from jump street. To lurk and get the lay of the land to see if it was safe to be my authentic self.

Then came my own blog. Videoblogging. BlogHer. Care2 and so much more. And yet for umpteen years I've manage to miss the Blogging While Brown conference. Mainly due to distance and/or financial constrictions.

Not this time. I have my ticket and I am going!

Here is why:

When dumb ass clucks want to suggest that a black child in slavery is better off than a 21st century free person and a presidential candidate signs off with pride I need to go and anyone who wants to start a blog to do so.

I need to talk with progressive and conservative folks to find the common ground and not light firewalls of division. I'm looking for people open for a dialog. I might find a few at the conference.

I ain't entertaining stupid. I've had my fill of bone stupid people from either side.

I don't care if you write about make-up, sports, power tools or sweetness of Auntie Renee's tea we need thinking, content producing folks, now, right now and soon.

Critical thinkers, for the love of God get to typing!

The crazy has brook loose and starting to multiply. All hands on deck.

Dear New York Times This Is Why I Haven't Been Back

2011-07-01T10:56:00.000-07:00

Dear NYT,

I got your most recent e-mail. Yes, I have cut back on traipsing around your web site. I know that I have 20 free visits. I appreciate that, I do. My friends, relations and colleagues keep sending me NYT links trying to get me to go check out a news story on your site.

I slip up now and again. Yet, like the song lyric says, I'm trying to walk away from a love.

You see, I don't like being made to feel like I am a poacher. I'm not. When you had open access to the Times I'd step in to read an article, find a source to cite or get lost in the photo slide shows from the magazine or your photographers and journalists media projects.

Actually it was Bitman that lured me to the web site and next thing I'd know I am exploring the photo essays. The videos of AO, JD and Sam were growing on me. It wasn't like I'd keep it to myself, I did communicate with other folks who also checked out the site.

And the old school NYT Archives?; totally faboo. Love it and might have mentioned it to a few library folks. I will try to curtail that in the future. I like archive digging but that also eats into the 20 visits per month.

So why haven't I been back?

First of all, this Internet thing does cost me money. I have to pay for the phone lines, the DSL connection and related charges. So do you plus an infrastructure I don't have to carry.

I know it takes cash money to produce a newspaper. Your newspaper is worth it but dang if I can abide or cypher your pricing schemes.

Dude/Dudette, it makes no sense.

$799 for total paper and digital access per year
$499 for digital only access for a year via smart phones and my desktop
$385 for actual weekday paper and all digital access for a year
$390 for Sunday only paper and all digital access for a year
$220 for Kindle only access per year
$195 for Web only (desktop) access
$19.99 for a monthly Kindle only access
$0.99 cents a daily Kindle issue
$1.75 to $2 for the print newspaper, depending on where I bought it.

It boggles my mind.

If I just look at it from a Kindle point of view, I'm not paying $19.99 a month to read the NYT on an six inch e-reader. I just figured out Article Mode but that only works for the text stories. The other features I like are not going to be accessible on an e-ink Kindle or my cheap smartphone because that would be a separate subscription.

I might splurge 99 cents on a day paper purchase but do I get to keep the day or does it disappear at midnight?

Once every other week I do buy the a paper edition. I get to hang on to it and read as much of it as I can. It takes a while.

You see my problem?

It's not you. It is me.

I'm not paying three separate subscriptions.

I don't want the paper version more than once a week. I don't want to start tracking how many times I've been to the site and I don't want to see that little tag that says I have four visits left.

I'm not a poacher, as many current and ex-journalists have cast web visitors like myself. Some of them even work for your newspaper. They should know better than to refer to visitors as poachers.

If they feel that way about it I don't have to come to the New York Times.

I think it is time for a trial separation. I've been looking around. I've even voluntarily gone to, you know, the Los Angeles Times web site.

Sigh, I know.

It's not the same but I need time to think.
I'll let you know.

La Canada Flintridge 2011 Shakespeare Festival

2011-06-24T20:40:00.000-07:00

In the spirit of helping folks find stuff to do for your third year of staycation I have a peace offering to the theater. If you are near the La Canada Flintridge boarder I ask that you give serious consideration to a live theater experience at the La Canada Flintridge Shakespeare Festival.

I've got something for you.

This ain't your pappy's set of dry ole performances. I got the straight skivvy from one of the performers that MacBeth has been reinterpreted:

Inspired by Shakespeare’s Macbeth, After the Autumn is a contemporary tragedy that asks the question: are we fated to be who we are, or do we have the power to change our own path?

I'm not just copying from the web site, one of the salt miner '49s is in the performance.

How many times can you stay at home at watching Mad Men anyway? Don't answer that.

Anyway, there is an opportunity to dine on the grass and experience the play as Shakespeare would have done it, outside under the stars. There are four plays that will alternate so if you don't want to take a chance on Mac there are other items for the selection.

No, it isn't free but it is very affordable. The performances take place at Byrnes Amphitheatre, Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy's campus 440 St. Katherine Drive, La Canada CA 91011.

Bring your sweaters cuz it gets nippy outside after 8 p.m.

Sadly, the inadequacy of the Los Angeles mass transit system prevents me from attending but if you have a car in good condition you shouldn't have any problems.

The 21st Century Political Minstrel Video Show

2011-06-23T17:00:00.000-07:00

Some of my questions have been answered and new ones take their place. This is hopefully my last post on the political media connections to the traditional form of minstrel theater.

It is my exploration. If you don't know what minstrel theater is check out my prior posts on the subject:

Once again, this isn't about white people bashing. Minstrelsy is the mother of burlesque, vaudeville, stand-up comedy, slap stick, Bugs Bunny, Laugh-In and The Onion. It is also the foundation of social media defining a group of people with stereotypes, mis-information and hatred.

Minstrel theater is institutional racism that makes a profit at the expense of other people. It is a living laboratory of prejudice, class and power. It is not just a white/black dynamic. It is an uncomfortable, itchy culturally shared history.

For the record, there were black performers who willingly wore the cork. There were many people who refused.

There are African American performers today who wear the invisible cork and can't deposit money fast enough. There are other performers who refuse and still need two trucks to carry it to the bank.

I've selected this video as the 21st century representation of current political video minstrelsy:

I dogged it back to the source of TurnRightUSA where the creator is very proud and ecstatic that his video has had such as response.

The creator of the video has been supported with comments that ring with hate for anyone with a liberal/progressive point of view, of support of the message of the video and, "Why are black people upset? Have you seen a rap video lately?

Why This Video Is 21st Century Minstrelsy

1. Minstrelsy needs fear. It needs to generate anticipatory fear and make it tasty. Red demon eyes on stripper. That would be a check in the affirmative column.

2. Minstrelsy depends on the presentation of black people as the other. The other is presented as a fool, a grifter or a predator. The other is always lesser than the viewer.

Let's see now, two black fools with money and guns. Check to the second power.

3. Minstrelsy needs an Interlocutor acting as the Voice of Authority guiding the audience into the super secret black world, in this case, two black men and a white woman acting as a stripper.

Instead of proving the allegations the video spends a great deal of time invoking images of assorted criminals flashing across the screen.

It is just a buzzing repetition over and over as our modern day Mr. Tambo and Mr. Bones get busy with a bucking azz in hot pants wiggling in anticipation.

4. That is also a feature of minstrel theater. Sex and violence. The early minstrel shows before E.P. Christy were loaded with stereotypical sex and violence; with black men going stone cold crazy over white women.

Let's see, AK-47, check, flipping fanny being stuffed with money, double check.

5. The big finish is a call to action. Support the one (white) man who can deliver you from evil, skanky stripper women running for congress and gangsters who threaten to take our country.

Epilog

There will be much more sophisticated political videos to come in the current election cycle. There will be more trashy ones too.

If the video or political media messages needs racism, sexism and stereotypes to convey their point of view then yes, they are partying like it is 1849.

All I'm asking thinking people to do is look and see if those communications are applying the minstrel template to sell their message. Sometimes it will be tricky but the template will rat them out most of the time.

Like I said, this is my opinion. I based it on my readings, research and my own understanding of my experiences as an African American woman. For some of you that isn't enough.

To borrow a well known Twitter hashtag from Mrs. Erin Kotecki Vest, #suckit

In a few days or weeks, there will be another video that will make this one look like cotton candy. How will you handle it?

The Make Up Wonder Woman

2011-06-23T05:13:00.000-07:00

Those of use who are nerd/geek girls who read the original comic book have seen Wonder Woman in skirts, shorts, panties and damn near thongs.

Wonder Woman is the icon that made the other female comic super heroes possible. This is advertisement for MAC cosmetics. Diana, Princess of Paradise Island also known as Themyscira has fought many foe but I don't re-call that she used make-up to do it.

The ad was a tie-in to the proposed television series. It appears that NBC has rejected the pilot so the new television show isn't gong to happen for 2011.

This might not be a bad thing.

The Warner Brother Animated Series of Superman, Batman and the Justice League is a wonderful example of animated storytelling. This is a clip from the episode "The Man Who Has Everything" with Supes, Bats and Diana dealing with a very nasty Mongul.

It really was more than a cartoon show. The use of color, design, class-A voice actors and really good scripts took it three levels higher than the pablum fed to today's kids.

There is a generation of folk that have been raised on the later day animated series as their touch point of the characters. A live action series has to rise above this type of visual mythology.

There is not enough commitment, money, scripting or technology to make that happen on a standard live action 22 episode series. The next Wonder Woman series might have to be CGI based or a combination of animation and CGI.

It can't be about the costume or how good she looks in Flame Red #39. After all these years Diana of Themyscira deserves better.

The Minstrel Show - Minstrel 101

2011-06-21T19:30:00.000-07:00

So, in my exploration of how this video, Give Us Your Cash, a racist, sexist low class statement about a politician qualifications came into being? It is too easy to go with the usual answers.

You have to look at the American minstrel heritage to get a better understanding. This is a look at the structure of the performances.

It was a free for all until a structured theatrical format was created. Many of the sources that I read cite E.P. Christy's The Christy Minstrels as the first group that developed the framework of the performances.

One of the performers, G.W. Moore, wrote a book about his theatrical experiences, knowledge of the Ethiopian people and some of the routines of the day. The book is called Bones: his anecdotes and goaks [by] G.W. Moore, the original Christy Minstrel. I accessed the book at the Hathi Trust Digital Library. The book is in the public domain.

I'll let Mr. Moore help you get acclimated with the language of the performance and his opinion on the linguistical skills of the black population:

The black population of the United States, are quite
different from the white, in the way they pronounce the
English language, and also in their actions. I have seldom
heard a negro say yes or no direct; for instance, if you ask a
darkey to have a glass of brandy, (and he wanted it) he
would say, " Pass it 'long," "Han em ober," or "Tote dat
dis wa," but not " yes." Again, should he not want the
brandy, he would say, "Ho's yu torkin tu ? dun did kum
fulin yor time roun dis chile wid dat stuff," bwdt seldom "no."

Imagine that you are in a dark theater. The curtain goes up and you are transported to the 1800s.

Processional Entrance

The performers enter and present themselves to the audience, usually by music and dance. They are arraigned in a semi-circle facing the audience. Mr. Moore elucidates:

As far as I have been able to judge, I think that all the Ethiopian race are full of music. I knew a darkey who was Boots at the
Eagle Hotel, Buffalo, every time he used to sit down to his
meals, and before eating, he would sing—
Dar's music in de frien pan,
Dar's music in de kittel,
Dar's music in de nife an fork,
Wen I'm gwine to ete de wittel.
Brandi wil be brandi,
Anihow yu mix it;
Nigger wil be nigger,
Anihow yu fix it.

Basically you have white men in costume, black face make-up and wigs that are controlled by Mr. Interlocutor.

Mr. Interlocutor:

The Interlocutor was the medium/interpreter that communicated with the performers. Most of the time the interlocutor was also in black face make-up but not always. In this segment of the show the Interlocutor would set up the jokes of the day, songs and jabs. There would be two men, Mr. Tambo on the left and Mr. Bones on the right would respond to the questions using stereotyped expressions to float the joke.

From our text of the day comes an example of a routine that Mr. Tambo and Mr. Bones might share with the audience:

A HEAVY BLOW.
Sam. Sa, Bones, did yu here de news ? "We had de gratest blo doun our wa.
Bones. "Wat a kurry kane ?
S. Yes, wun ob dem kurricanes kum doun, and jus blow eberyting in de vilage hi, lo, Jack, an de game, it blow ebery house up, didn't lebe wun, blow ebery house up but
mine.
B. But yors ! how wus it yure house wusnt blone up ?
S. We had a heaby morgage on it, dat kep it doun.
B. Oh, we had wun ob dem in our vilage.
S. Wat, a blo ?
B. No, we had a firei
S. Afire?
B. Yes, red hot; jus kum in de vilage in de nite, an burn ebery house doun; den it kum in mi house, went up in de sellar, doun in de garret, all ober de furnitur, an neber
spilt a ting.
S. (astonished) Neber spilt a ting ?
B. No, we sabe eberyting in de house but de pianner.
S. Whi coodn't yu sabe de pianner.
B. Bekase de engines coodn't pla on de pianner.

Olio or Specialty Acts

Next, the Interlocutor introduced specialty acts that had longer skits, dance numbers or songs or a combination. This is and example by Cotton and Chick Watts:

The specialty act could be a parody of a play, an extended dance number or what ever the talent could provide on that particular night. Often included in the specialty act was a "stump" speech by a political character who mangled proper English.

The Afterpiece:

This could be a riff on a opera, the musical joy and rapture of being on a southern plantation or an extended walk-around.

According to Mr. Moore, Blacks are a fearful sort of being. I don't want to invoke his wrath at being quoted out of context so I'm going to make sure he has his final say:

I think I have explained enough about the blacks, that
you can appreciate the stories and eccentricities I shall
introduce; and I wish it to be distinctly understood,
that, in all things I may bring forward, no offence is meant
towards those who may happen to be of a different colour to
myself; as I have travelled in many parts of the globe, I beg
most respectfully to state, that I never look upon a man from
what place he comes from, but from the place he is worthy
of, believing He who made the white, also made the black,
and that they will stand the same chance as myself in the
world to come; therefore, all that I introduce will be for
your amusement, and trust the same will meet with your
approbation.

Social Media 1800s Style

I have been using the theater a visual example but minstrel performances were not restricted to just indoors. They certainly would have been included in advertising, medicine shows, traveling independent performers, bars and other public performance spaces.

Sheet music would have been the mp3 player of the day. To be historically accurate there were some black folks selling songs and jokes on the down low to white performers. There were some who snuck on the stage violating state law against blacks and white mixing.

Minstrel shows were entertainment productions with a long lasting cultural impact. The stereotypes, ignorance and prejudice transferred from theater, film, radio, television and current new media.

Next up: My Understanding 21st Century Political Minstrel Videos

Minstrel 101 Resources

Bones: his anecdotes and goaks [by] G.W. Moore, the original Christy minstrel published 1870 located at the HathiTrust Digital Library.

American Minstrel Show Collection with brief history of structure of minstrel shows by Princeton University Library Rare and Special Collections Department.

Lift Every Voice - Music In American Life Albert H. Small Special Collections Library at the University of Virginia.

June Gloom 2011

2011-06-21T04:19:00.000-07:00

It is the middle of June Gloom. It happens every year. It is depressing for those of us that need sunlight.

People that revel in the overcast clouds and morning drizzle are happy. You can tell. They are the ones not complaining about the lack of sun.

Me? I'm miserable. Ok, maybe sun deprived. Same thing. When I am walking around I try to look at the surroundings. What has changed? Is it their any more?

The above photo is the Pasadena Museum of Art. The outside of the museum may have something to do with the current exhibition of California Graffiti art on display until September 4, 2011. The museum also has jazz performances on the roof during the summer so it is a great place to check out.

If you have issues with sunlight and heat, go now. Those that like it toasty, give it another three weeks.

The Minstrel Show - History In a Nutshell

2011-06-19T11:10:00.000-07:00

This is by necessity a conflated history of the theatrical minstrel show. The short version is that since the meeting of Africans and Europeans on American soil there has been minstrel performances and shows.

I'm starting in the 1900s but it goes back much further in time. This is where the tangles of history get complicated. In order for white folks to create theatrical minstrel shows you had to have black people, Christianity and spirituals.

There were former slaves that wanted to convert to Christianity. There were other freed men and women that were strongly encouraged or given no faith based choice in the matter. According to the New York Public Library Performing Desk Reference, the freed slaves looked at churches or religious groups that were similar to their African music practices.

Despite heavy segregation, there was a cross pollination of African and American/British spiritual music influences. Those influence moved from the sacred to the secular.

You also had the performances of the Fisk Jubilee Singers who traveled the world singing and raising money to support Fisk University. Their performances was another introduction to African American performers and music. These performers were talented, professional and presented the highest caliber of musicianship.

Yet, they didn't fit the stereotypical image of black people. According to the Fisk Jubilee Singers web site:

The first concerts were in small towns. Surprise, curiosity and some hostility were the early audience response to these young black singers who did not perform in the traditional “minstrel fashion.”

However, white performers were paying attention. About 1820 or so, a white performer named Thomas "Daddy" Rice observed a black street singer or a black stable hand (could have been the same person, it isn't clear from my readings) singing a song called "Jim Crow."

Thomas Rice put burnt cork on his face and started performing his version of the song. It was a hit and the song becomes an American standard.

Imitation is the sincerest form of making a dollar and other white performers jumped on the minstrel black face cash wagon. Soon almost any white performer with a lick of skill was in black face make-up and traveling the country performing.

Putting on a minstrel show was inexpensive, you didn't need a lot of props and you literally could borrow, appropriate and source your material from freeman performers. In addition, white performers could draw upon their own stereotypical views of what they thought they knew about black people.

Make no mistake, in the context of the time minstrel shows were very popular with both white and black audiences. Rich folks went to the opera, broke folks went to the minstrel shows.

Make that white broke folks. Africans and African Americans were not permitted to perform or be in attendance at a theatrical performance. Unless the theater had a separate performance for the non-white population they would have seen minstrel shows as part of carnivals, medicine shows or traveling troops of performers.

So in essence you had white performers appropriating content or inspiration from black performers and adding an overlay of stereotypical images to perform before a white audience.

Like I said, this is complicated. Ok, next up Minstrel 101 for sure.

Resources for Minstrel History

George Mason University Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media Minstrel Show

History of the original Fisk Jubilee Singers

Library of Congress Minstrel Poster Collection - Al "G" Field

Musicals1o1.com page on Minstrel performances

The New York Public Library Performance Art Desk Reference - The Birth of American Popular Music Pages 239 - 242 and the NYPL On-line search collection for Minstrel Shows

The Minstrel Show or I've Seen This Before?

2011-06-17T16:49:00.000-07:00

I only have a surface understanding of the minstrel show. In the late 1960s and 1970s I was raised during a time of black power, affirmation and determination.

I knew about vaudeville. I knew about white performers in black face. It was a history I could read then walk away. It was gone. There were other things to learn about.

So I thought.

Some of you have no idea of what I am talking about. This is a clip with Slim Williams, performing in black face make-up, his mayoral political stump speech:

Have I Lost My Flipping Mind?

No.

I have been getting mighty steamed up by the constant flow of stupidity, mendacity and flat out hate on hate political expression. It is politics mixed with sexism, racism and the damn near avocation of gender repression in order to fix the economy.

Why I am seeing this inane fear based rhetoric again and again? Something familiar but cloaked in time.

I think I can show that there are contemporary 2011 examples of this old theatrical art form. Or hate speech. Institutionalized power plays at being powerless in a safe fantasy world. Stage craft.

Call it whatever you feel comfortable with but understand that genesis of the minstrel show was based on observation and exaggeration of Africans and African Americans.

It is a theatrical form of bondage and domination where the oppressor gets to play at being a smart happy submissive. Not that I know anything about bondage and domination except for that workshop I sat in on a few years ago by accident.

Very informative. Honest, it really was a good workshop about power and control issues. There is an element of that in the structure of the minstrel show.

I want to look at modern political and entertainment videos that communicate power and control messages. Before I can do that I need to share the reason for doing these posts and the structure of minstrel performances.

This is a difficult exploration. This can be painful and not the ways you might think. My goal is to point out the performance style that is being applied to contemporary videos and by political operatives.

You might not want to come down this path for dozens of really good reasons. That is okay. I guess I'm trying to give a blanket trigger alert but it is impossible.

One more thing. This is not about white people bashing. There are black folks and other types of minstrel shows masked as advertisements and music videos. I saw a young black woman in a wig bathed in infrared light who performed a sexual jig with her amplified white lips.

A straight up minstrel performance. She isn't the only modern performer doing 21st century race based American minstrel performances.

Research Starting Points:

There is a web site that I've been hanging around for a few days. Ken Padgett's Black-Face.com where I've been reading about the origin and history of these types of performances. There is also a YouTube channel that has scenes from a 1951 film called "Yes, Sir Mr. Bones" that showcased some of the white and black performers.

I have been researching other sources as well from a theatrical and sociological perspective. In the next post, Minstrel 101.

My Inner Child Required This Purchase

2011-06-16T16:53:00.000-07:00

I was born with the frugal gene. I come from a long line of women who can indeed stretch a dollar or two. Yes, I have weaknesses but books are more a necessity than an expense.

My point is that I don't spend willing on clothing. Cameras? Yes. Books? Of course. Clothing? Meh.

I'm minding my own business as I am procrastinating up a storm when I see this photo of the t-shirt.

You gotta understand. I had no choice. In the name of Doctors #4, #7, #8 and #9 I had to do it. I can't get to view the tenth or eleventh Dr. Who shows because I don't freaking live in the UK or have access.

Yo, BBC - how is that subscription smartphone app coming along? You and me can do cash business. We don't need no stinking cable operator to hook up.

I don't have an iPad but if you could make it work on multiple Android phones or soon to be Windows OS tables I think this could be a wise investment on your part. Beeb, just let me know which way to go and we can work out the details later.

My t-shirts arrived today. Yes, I got two. One to sleep in and one as a valuable heirloom.

Geek and Nerd girls unite! May the sonic lipstick or screwdriver be with you.

Where The Heck Have I Been?

2011-06-11T07:33:00.000-07:00

I've been down in the dumps. Not a fun place to visit and you don't want to live there. There are legions of people who will tell you that you should fight your way out, just do it.

Move forward and seize the day. Kind of like pull yourself up from your bootstraps. My bootstraps are stressed. I need new boots. My feet ache. Metaphorically speaking.

The phrase loving kindness. popped into my head. I need to apply it to myself. So I have.

I need to have a time out except I can't take one. So I've pulled back a bit. I have given myself permission to only post two things a day. With planning I can contribute to other blogs that I've promised to kick in a word or two.

As for the Stoop, I've been shameful and working on reconnecting. The gurus say my blog should have a focus. I say that my blog is what I need it to be at the time.

It evolves. So do I. I'll try to do a better job of having stuff in the pipe to tide me over when the brain goes on strike.

I am trying to plot out fun time, however I define it. Fun time does not include Samy's camera, that is an obsession and I can only go to the store once every three months or so. This is not hard. I just have to read the ad in the newspaper so that I can confirm to myself that there is no reason for me to be in the neighborhood.

There are a bunch of staycation activities to keep me engage until I can slip out of town.

Anything else? I have one more poet in the video pipeline and a couple of street performances. I'll see what I can do but there is that inner hatter critic that I have to sedate first.

Oh, yeah. I am diddling with the design of the blog. Things are in flux and may change. Or not.

I've Never Been to Me on the Finally Friday Freakout

2011-06-03T18:23:00.000-07:00

I'm still searching for an adventure to juice my imagination. I've become a drone. I was gong to take a cooking class just to experience taking a day long cooking class. It was cancelled.

I just missed out on a photographic workshop in New Mexico. It was happening this weekend. Couldn't do it on short notice. Ah me. Unlike the lyrics of this song, I need to find a bit of paradise so I can get my bearings.

This is Charlene singing her hit, "I've Never Been to Me."

I've made mistakes this week and survived them. Took naps when I needed. Finally faced up to the fact that concepts like organization and planning are not dirty words. I've never been to this part of me that is spending time fighting information and task overload.

I've never wanted to be so organized it would take the spontaneity out of life. I use to be able to hold everything I do in my head. That is past tense. Or just tension cuz I can't do that anymore.

There are reasons why you need to write things down and then make sure you read the list. What got me moving toward being more willing to accept organization skills was iTunes.

I was looking for a podcast to subscribe to and I cam across Merlin Mann's 43 Folders.

Took a listen. Let me forewarn you that Merlin sometimes uses the full breath of the English language. The ancestors would say he "can be a little salty."

This means that he has the potential to cuss up a storm. Sometimes. Only when he needs to get you to focus. Or he is ticked off.

Rooting around the podcast archives there is good stuff about creativity, procrastination and making changes that may or may not involve tools. Merline also calls B.S. if the tool becomes more important than the task.

I like his videos even more than the podcasts. Dude take it to the edge and bring it home more of the time. You should view his presentation at Webstock.

Dang. So yes, go visit yourself and then if you have time check out some of Merlin's videos or podcasts.

One more thing. I now understand that Merlin is a really famous Internet person. Some are gonna say "Duh, where have you been?" "Why didn't you know?" or "For real?"

I didn't. I was not in a time or mental place that I would have listen to a podcast on organization and creativity. Creativity yes, organization, no.

When I was ready I found the right person at the right time.

I Need A Road Trip or Something

2011-06-01T06:00:00.000-07:00

I'm thinking that I need to go some place else. Do something different. I don't necessarily want to take a typical vacation.

I don't want to jump bungee of a bridge either.

I like the idea of a learning retreat. Then again I like the idea of going to a total new city and taking a photography or video workshop. Maybe to New Mexico or Washington State.

I don't know.

I do know that re-creation is important. I'm almost but not quite burned out.

There are a lot of "I" in the above sentence. This is a good thing. I'm usually thinking of what others require of me. What do I have to do to honor my obligations?

The obligations are wearing me down. I've been burnt out before and it takes way too long to recover.

I speak from experience. It is much better to not let it get to that point.

In Memory of Mr. Gil Scott-Heron

2011-05-27T21:38:00.000-07:00

I'm tired. I'm tired of the willful ignorance that is romping around as political discussions. On this day one of the great men of poetry and music has pass to the other side. I speak of Mr. Gil Scott-Heron.

I saw the man perform many years ago. I don't know much more to say. I did a tweet. I wrote 480 words in Facebook.

But my heart wants to write a book and nobody reads anymore, so I am told. This is a poem from the (currently) last album Where Did the Night Go?

I can tell you that one of the first things I did when I got my hands on the Internet was to look for him. No joke. He had been quiet for too long and I was trying to catch up. I wasn't alone.

Eventually the silent collective of those of us caring about GSH found out he was in England. Having some turbulence over there with the chemicals. I had to adjust that the man who made it clear to leave the stuff alone was juiced and volatile.

This is The Bottle

It took about 10 years for the BBC interview video to surface on the web. I could see he had been roughed up by his addictions. Gil was still inside but not the same. Still, the silent collective couldn't let him go. We sent invisible good wishes and petitions up on high on his behalf.

These past two years were very encouraging. I didn't care if he was doing covers of blues songs or small snips of poetry. The man was working and staying focus. As much as he could. Maybe the next album would light into the soul like a B-Movie

.

When folks do a tribute page they want other people to know that this person is important. You should know why we honor this conflicted but talented man. He wasn't perfect. Dang sure no angel.

Scott-Heron made it hard to be a fan.

But for a moment we gather and understood what it was and what it could be in terms of storytelling, poetry, performance and musicianship.

I'm about to crash. I need to sleep. Or be sad. Maybe both.

Zorro Est Arrive on the Finally Friday Freakout

2011-05-27T18:41:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time there was a video jukebox called a Scopitone. It was placed in bars, upper level clubs and places where people got to see the performers of the day do their thing while knocking back a Martini.

I can't do the whole history justice but I highly recommend a visit to the Scopitones blog. There are videos from France, Europe and a few Americans you might recall like Lou Rawls, Della Reese and Brook Benton.

I want to introduce you to a gentleman by the name of Henri Salvador. Henri was a well respected jazz performer and vocalist. He was also a clown in the best sense of the word. I can't speak a lick of French but for this video you don't need to.

We need some fun after the past two weeks. I think you are gonna like this.

Sound familiar? This is not a cover of the song "Along Came Jones." This is the original that inspired the American version of the song.

I got one more for you. Tout ça c'est pas grave which translates to It's All Okay.

I wish the heck I paid more attention in French class but I think I get the gist of it. Some of his videos are pure uncured ham; others are just strange without a translation or cultural background to get the joke.

Mr. Salvador appeared in a couple of French movies in the 1940s and 1950s. Looks like he had a television show too. I have to stress that he wasn't just a prankster; he seems to have the kind of career that allowed him to have the flexibility to try new things and not lock him into one format.

In any case, I blame him for my new Scopitone habit.

I'm Still Here Thinking That You're Not Gone

2011-05-22T10:32:00.000-07:00

Yep. I didn't make the cut. Apparently nobody else did either so I'm kinda sad about that. Really.

There was a whole bunch of people I had hoped that would be removed from the planet in a holding place until it could be explained to them that the concept of Agape or universal love was the goal and not the ranking of "I'm more holy than you."

Come to think of it, if members of that noxious Westboro Baptist Church gets to go to heaven then I don't think I want to go.

Speaking of not going, this is a video I recorded with Rick Hodge who has a book called 2011 Our Destiny Has Arrived.

Folks, no worries until December 12, 2012. That is 12/12/12 aka the Age of the Fifth Sun.

Part 2

I heard a son call his father to check in on him.

"You still here Pop?, yeah, me too."

I think the rest of us want to say that you can't escape life through false prophets who profit on fear. Spirit doesn't operate that way.

Even if you are an Atheist one thing is clear, either you live your life or your don't. It is a choice and praying for your spiritual removal en mass I think violates that freedom of spiritual choice thing.

In other words, I don't think you can make Spirit/God/Jesus do anything. And if we could why would we so willing to commission other people's souls to damnation? Why would you follow a being that tells you to do that?

Last word on the (non) rapture. A special shout out has got to the RaptureHelpDesk. Best dang use of Twitter for humor that I have ever seen. I look forward to October 21, 2011 cuz it is going to be hard to top these tweets. Cracked me up.

Part 3

Yesterday I paid $4.50 for maybe a scoop and a half of Gelato. It was Stratachoco... something but it was good. Dark chocolate laced into vanilla ice cream. This is counter to my normally frugal ways but I had seen the store for years and never went inside.

I liked it.

I am going to try to make it another eight years before I go back to that place. I will not pay $5 for a gallon of ice cream but I have to admit this stuff was tasty.

I should get around to making my bucket list so I can put luxury ice cream on it and then cross it off.

Well, this is just to check in. I'm trying to write another post, edit video, do laundry and possibly dye my hair. I guess this is justifiable procrastination. So much to do and see.

Not enough time.

Never enough time.

Creep on the Finally Friday Freakout

2011-05-19T20:09:00.000-07:00

So he creep, yeah he kept it on down low... Well, how could I not? I have spent days with my fellow salt miners trying to wrap my head around two men, prominent richer than rich men get themselves into so much trouble.

It makes no sense. My saline crew members have evaluated the Creepenator's actions and behaviors to new analytical powers I did not know they possessed. We talked about it so much that we are taking a vow of silence so that we don't talk about it any more.

Cuz really, we'd rather not have certain images in our heads. And with the Rapture/Judgement day coming up we got stuff to do like go to the Red Bull Soapbox Derby or Silverlake Jubilee, which has nothing to do with anything spiritual unless fifty food trucks, a bunch of musicians and a plethora of art activities put you in a higher plane of being.

So hopefully this is the last of it. Let TLC get your attention but remember to creep outside of matrimony is a dang reprehensible action no matter what you station of life is or how much dough you have in the flow.

I present the above reminder to those of you who are thinking about taking a dip into somebody's else hip that is on gold band lockdown.

Don't do it.

The other guy? My fellow miners are content that he went from a $3,000 a night hotel to Riker's Island in New York City. We think the accomodations at Riker's will get his attention that long before this accusation there might have been behaviors that, in hindsight, might have lead him to his new position in life.

Go on and fool with the elementals if you want to. Those forces are patient. Their timing is impeccable. The ultimate booyah. I'm gonna hush up now cuz they don't like finger pointing either.

We send our love and support to a woman who is being stalked by Franco/American media and her life, no matter the truth, will never be the same.

Courage.

Brief Moment with Andy Behrman Author of Electro-Boy

2011-05-18T05:18:00.000-07:00

After the past few days I could be very happy curled up with some Justice League of America cartoons and leave you fool adults to yourselves. I want to write about moving forward and doing positive things and yet I get sucked into Ahnold-land and Anglo-Franco confusion about the "Perp Walk."

Well, the only thing I can do is to share what I've seen these past few weeks. The first Mental Health Day in Pasadena has come and gone but I do have some video of a few of the participants that were nice enough to speak with me.

Andy Behrman is an author who has spent some time dealing with the high and lows of mental illness. He doesn't have access to the media like a certain actor but he does have a story to tell about living in a manic state.

Yes, California can make you crazy but I'm thinking that isn't what he means. This video was records at the first Mental Health Day in Pasadena 2011.

Counting Down the Days Paying Attention

2011-05-14T07:28:00.000-07:00

I listen to a lot of podcasts like The American History Guys. One thing I learned from the fellas is that you respect the people who had to make decisions in a certain space and time.

You can step back and evaluate it from your time frame. You can dig in and try to put a context to what the heck was going on to make folks so nutso crazy (my words, not the History guys) and you can see both sides and understand that the historical picture is complex.

If you have been around me in real space you know I've been keeping track of the end-timers. I got word on three separate dates, for example May 21, 2011, October 21, 2011 and December 12, 2012. I'll add more as time goes on.

Or not.

Now let me be clear. I cannot not nor will not disrespect a person's belief system. If you believe that the end really is here then ok, I think you have more important stuff to do than read this post.

I can however step back and look at people's behaviors, billboards and more importantly how some folks will behave on May 22, 2011.

It has been trippy. People putting bible tracks in my face. I must look like a class-A sinner cuz I get that a lot. The guy walking through Pasadena carrying a really big cross. The up tick in pride of knowing that you are the chosen and I am not.

The selling of everything you own and your home? Oh, my. That is some serious commitment that might be a bit uncomfortable to sleep with on the 23rd.

I mean, the whole conceptual thing is one big dang gummed wow. I'll tell you one thing; it does bust up a good chunk of writer's block. If you can't get a story or poem out of this then lay down the pen and walk away.

So I have to say that I am on high investigative alert. This is my first end-time so I do want to try and document properly. I'm counting this one as a practice because I have two other dates and I'm sure a bunch more will pop up for 2012.

The camcorder is charged up. I have got paper, pen and a spare camera for back-up. I think I'm ready. I'm set either way. I've got relatives in both places.

No worries here.

Javon Johnson at the USC Stage L.A. Times Festival of Books 2011

2011-05-08T10:45:00.000-07:00

I'm walking around the festival doing some people watching when I hear a voice. I follow my instincts and discover Javon Johnson.

This is a tribute poem Javon spoke about his grandmother and needing her strength to guide him in these most interesting times.

Doing a bit of quick searching about Javon I learn that he is a Postdoctoral Fellow teaching classes at the University of Southern California. I can't find a blog or web site for him as yet.

He has appeared on Def Poetry Jam and other media projects. You can watch an interview of him at the USC Trojan Vision channel.

Grace Krilanovich at the Skylight Books Booth

2011-05-08T06:30:00.000-07:00

Grace Krilanovich is one of the people I pointed a lens at during the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. What happened was that I just got on the USC campus and I was overwhelmed by the number of people.

There were parents and babes in strollers. There young women welded to communication devices looking for other friends whose faces were stuck in communication devices. The map challenged and impaired were trying to figure where they were and where they wanted to go.

Then there was the Ben and Jerry Ice Creme Truck. Couldn't get near it. Well, I could but choice not to do so. I was trying to show some kind of restraint.

Grace was kind enough to speak to me about her book The Orange Eats Creeps. I'm a plucky duck but I have no technique for interviewing folks. I'm learning as I go.

Other Thoughts

I kind feel sorry for authors that aren't famous. They need to promote their book. Some writers, not all, want to communicate with other people.

I know this for a fact because some of the authors that I approached (without showing my camcorder) looked at me with a tinge of hostility or disappointment that I was not the kind of reader they envisioned.

I pivot and walk away.

It is hard. I know. Many authors spend time writing, dealing with publication issues and survival. You want the book to be published, talked about and generate compensation for your hard work.

Many writers and authors ain't gronking this social media connection aspect. I am talking about the other authors who's tables I avoided, not about Grace. She was very kind.

If you are finishing writing a book and you intended to sell that book you might want to practice your people and conversation skills. If you are going to spend good money for a booth at this kind of event and you have no flyers, bookmarks or other promotions items to share with potential readers you are in trouble.

If you haven't promoted your book via Twitter or made connections to like minded blogs and web sites why are you at a book festival? You book cannot exist in isolation. It needs to find the communities that want to embrace what you have to say.

Somebody has to say this. If folks look at your booth and there is nothing there but you looking sour and your book we are going to turn elsewhere.

Real people and our wallets will go where we are wanted.

Videoblogging Addendum

Yes. I'm a little late for Videoblogging 2011. I was over-booked. Plus I was truly bummed out about the spamination of the term videoblogging in Twitter. The few of us that tried found out that affiliate marketers, content farmers and diversion maggots poisoned communication by lacing the joint with get rich quick offers. One day there was a bunch of it and the next day gone. Or another content farm gets its minions to pollute the other side of the lake.

I've said what I've needed at my other blog but I hate this part of humanity that sees something good and has to sh*t on it in order to make a profit.

Moving on.

Day Late and A Dollar Short - Videoblogging Week Day 2

2011-05-02T20:48:00.000-07:00

Yep. I scrabbled something up. I have stuff but stuff takes time and I don't have it. I have to be okay with that concept. I can't have and don't want the 27 hour day. I'm sleep deprived as it is.

But I do want to put in my two cents about libraries and not just because I invested educational time and effort. We are still humans. We do need contact with other humans that doesn't require an electronic interface.

Don't get me wrong, I have truly benefited from technology. I have been able to prove many a gatekeeper that they were wrong, I can do it.

We still need the verbal in-person communications. We need to see other people that are different from ourselves. We...

Dang. I just heard in my head the voice of Captain Kirk. I don't know why; I'm a Spock girl.

Actually I do respect actor William Shatner because that man is a case study in survival. However life comes to him that is how he takes it. Typecast, breaks the casts, re-invents himself time and again. His career is like the symbol for infinity. I like Kirk but I respect the endurance and talent of William Shatner.

Where was I? Oh, heck. I forgot. I need my nappy time. Well, the video will explain all or not a lick. I gotta wake up early so dig y'all later.

Thrones on the Finally Friday Freakout

2011-04-29T06:00:00.000-07:00

These are The Dears. Dudes been performing for years. They have guitars and voices. They keep their clothes on as they sing. That is about as much as I know.

This is their song called Thrones.

We can make it to Friday afternoon folks. I know we can. Those that watched the wedding I can't speak for you; do the best you can.

The Day After A Very Sad Day

2011-04-28T05:52:00.000-07:00

It is the day after. You might have calmed down after at the asinine behavior of various members of the citizenry but I haven't. It isn't about Trump. It is about deep, well no so deep, racism.

I said racism and I mean it. Old time, connect the dots "Where is your papers, boy?" racism. My fellow miner at the j.o.b. had to keep reminding me that I was at work.

I couldn't listen to President Obama because it would hurt to hear him have to say those words. I dang sure couldn't keep listen to Trump because I was cussing after he made that statement of victory.

Hence the repeated reminders that I was at work.

I had to turn off my radio because the ass in the wine was ridiculous. Moving on to grades in school are we? Oxy is a low class nothing school? We have a right to know?

It should have said Negro?

Baratunde Thurston is a comic writer, techie and social media doer and thinker. This ain't about politics. This cuts to the bone of my, his and our collective citizenship. If you have not seen this video watch it.

I gotta take the pledge to back up on recommending people to listen to Nina Simone's Mississippi Goddamn. Really, it has become an ear worm that I am trying to shake and cannot.

I hope I am strong enough to stand up to the days to come and the idiocy that is now walking around in the name of taking my country back.

Now that we know how far back they want to go.

Drumtime in Pasadena or Where's My Bongo Baby?

2011-04-24T20:00:00.000-07:00

It was a beautiful day. Temperature just peculating under cozy. Blue sky and dry pavement. Everybody was busting out of the cabin to do something even if it was just to take a walk.

Pasadena had a combo Art and Eco Street festival with information booth and all kinds of stuff. Me, I gravitate toward music and drumming. I also like seeing people do stuff without a power source other than actual community.

This is actually a good example of what people can do when you make learning fun and non-threatening. Yes, we can make music. True, some of them had a little problem with the 2/4 but give it some time. Some of the drummers were still in diapers.

The facilitator's name is John Lacques and this is what he does, get people to drum, use percussion and make with a joyful noise. If you would like more info check out his web site at Drumtime.net

Seeing and Not Seeing the Sign

2011-04-20T19:46:00.000-07:00

Trying to work out a few thoughts. A few weeks back I was in downtown Los Angeles. Mass transit is so much better than it was when I got here. There was a transit infrastructure until the late 1950s when the push for freeways and selling cars became to great to ignore.

By the 1960s the trolleys were gone and bus service was an oxymoron. You had to be a broke or a moron to ride the system. In the 1980s I caught the tail end of that era when some of the drivers really hated the passengers and didn't care all that much more for the RTD.

Not kidding about the hate part. There was this one drive that had an elaborate sign system rigged on the fare box. It went something to the effect that I am the driver, not customer service. The fare is fifty cents, a transfer is 25 cents, step behind the white line and do not talk to the driver.

He meant it. You didn't ask him for nothing.

Time passes, court ordered mast transit reform begins a new phase. There are new non-polluting buses, underground trains and express routes. This is a good thing but looking at that sign makes me queasy.

The water damage is apparent. The concrete has a rust seam and the tiles have seen better days. I try to forget that I'm underground but I notice details like this all of the time. It looks solid but there are fissures.

The train stations are ok. They are kept well for the number of people that flow through it.

It is just that I remember that I put up a mighty verbal fight about stepping foot on an L.A. subway. I got over it because I needed to go some place quick that involved getting money.

I find money is an excellent motivator for me. I do map out the escape doors and pathways so I know I can get out and back up to the street if I have too. I ride the train looking at the pipes and the hidden doors. In case of trouble I'm not staying underground for nothing.

People are talking more and more about escape routes. The number of people blessing me is on the uptick. Normally this is not a problem cuz I need all the help I can get. However, I get the impression there is some kind of quota system in effect.

Something like how many of the heathens can be converted by May 21st, October 21st or an as yet undetermined day in 2012?

I have Octavia Butler's Parable of the Talents on my mind and it is kinda like looking and not looking at that sign. Good people will do bad things and worse people will raise them double or nothing.

Then again, I fully expect just another day. Except for the cracks and fissures.

It Is Friday at 5:28 a.m.

2011-04-15T05:29:00.000-07:00

My brain is mush. I'm supposed to be writing, creating and researching things for other posts. I want to. Really. And then thoughts of paying taxes, filling out forms, getting dressed, remembering not to order fatty foods at lunch and all of the grown-up things I am supposed to do.

It is a frigging drag man.

When does the fun stuff kick in? I mean, doing stuff for the joy of it without boundaries or time limits? When does the part where you have the time and energy for the kind of expansive thinking that embraces you so you can spark it up?

I don't blame my brain for wanting to go on strike. It is just that I need it to get dressed and go to work. Promising my brain the weekend is no longer enough.

The back-up system has taken over but it is clear that only limited tasks will be handled in the order received. I'm screwed.

It is gonna be a long day.

Andre Coleman - Citizen Journalism Session Part 3

2011-04-10T10:16:00.000-07:00

This is the last exerpt of Andrea Coleman's presentation at the 2011 Citizen Journalism Session.

It is a meeting place that all bloggers, reporters and journalists can stand in agreement.

Poetry and Cookies at Altadena Library

2011-04-06T16:32:00.000-07:00

For those of you that are inclined to munch as you read literary works there is a Poetry and Cookies reading at the Altadena Senior Center on Saturday, April 9, 2011 at 2pm in the afternoon.

Alene Terzian is the Altadena Poet Laureate so that will be good for a poem or two. The usual suspects will be slinging along word for word and hopefully new folks too.

The event is free but bring cash money for the purchase of chapbooks, particularly the 2011 edition of Poetry and Cookies, and other assorted goodies.

The festivities take place at the Altadena Senior Center: 560 East Mariposa Street in Altadena, CA. It is National Poetry Month so if you can't make this event there are a bunch more in the pipeline.

Andre Coleman - I'm A Reporter

2011-04-05T17:06:00.000-07:00

I made a mistake yesterday in that my rant about my feelings about bloggers and journalism should have been in a separate post from the actual recording. So I'm just going to err on the side of caution and just let the video speak for itself.

This is the second video of my recording of Andre Coleman's talk at the 2011 Citizen Journalism Speaker Series. Andre Coleman is a reporter/journalist with the Pasadena Weekly.

There are things I agree with Mr. Coleman and things I don't. The truth is I have to acknowledge that I have very strong feelings about newspapers, journalism and blogging.

I invested a lot of nickles, dimes and quarters in purchasing newspapers. I've invest a lot of time participating in blogging and community building. Which is why I have said and continue to say I'm not a journalist.

Unless I record that once in a lifetime video in which case "Yes, I am and pay me."

One of these days maybe I'll whip up a post on the 10 Things Journalists Need to Get Straight About Bloggers and New Media. I'll be able to write that post once I finish removing a number of bias cut logs in my eyes.

This could take a bit of time.

Andre Coleman - Intro to Citizen Journalism Session Part 1

2011-04-03T11:23:00.000-07:00

Update April 5, 8:29PM - Folks I need to make it clear that I made a mistake in not separating my remarks from Mr. Colman's video. Unlike Dogbert's pappy, I do not take down posts once I've written and published them. There was a better way to write this post.

In hindsight, you should have seen what I ditched. Never tweet when angry and never post when your fingers are moving faster than your brain.

Original Post

I am a blogger. I am also a writer. I do a lot of stuff actually so I really don't like labels. But let's say for the moment that I am a blogger. I have to say I'm a little touchy about current blogger/journalist relations.

They suck.

I have had a few days to think about the citizen journalism session. The Pasadena Community Network has weekly meetings on Tuesday nights. The focus of the meetings is to develop journalism skills that can be applied to blogs, web sites, mimeograph reporting or how ever you want to do it.

There is also the Pasadenan which is also citizen driven content with an editor and staff moderating the content. That is cool. Works for me. I have no objection to anyone development better writing or reporting skills.

It is getting better but there is a long road to the junction of peace. This is reporter Andre Coleman speaking at the March 29, 2011 Citizen Journalism Speaker Series that was held at the main branch of the Pasadena Library. Mr. Coleman write for the Pasadena Weekly.

My Thoughts

First of all I support anything a person can do to make their writing better. Many bloggers take workshops, online classes and actively work on developing their skills. I am not a journalist but I do make use of some of the classes and webinars at Poynter's NewsU. Special shout out at the great tutorials at the Knight Digital Media Center.

Good writing and reporting transcend labels.

I do not hate reporters and good journalists. I was raised in a newspaper town with two major newspapers and six or seven alternative newspapers. It truly saddens me that we have lost a huge chunk of the respect and the importance we use to hold for newspapers in this country.

I have people around me that use that term blogger as a pejorative. (Not referring to Andre Coleman. I have other real world examples that like to point with pride the ink in their veins.)

Many of these people are ex-reporters, current reporters and soon to be ex-reporters that do not apply their training to find out what is happening with contemporary bloggers and technology.

You want to lump me in with the fat guy sitting naked at his keyboard? Go for it. That just shows ignorance. That is not a good thing for journalists to display but if that is what you want to do why should I stand in your way? But I am not the one that put the shiv in the back of newspapers.

Newspaper management did it to themselves.

Newspapers in the 1980s and 90s did not want to pay attention to people outside of their chosen proven money demographic. They did not court the next generation. They totally did not get the beginnings of early on-line communities or the Internet.

If you do not talk to me or connect with me in some way why should I buy your product or service?

Some of the current silly rabbits in newspaper management and related media companies think all they have to do is take a person previously known columnist and change the word to blogger and then people will come a running back.

Many in the industry blame bloggers for stealing content from their newspapers yet provide links to stories and want people to tweet the news story. However they don't want others to summarize or add additional context to a news story that omitted an important perspective.

News management wants bloggers to promote newspapers but you don't want us reading your content.

My admittedly limited understanding of the corporate news management perspective is that I should pay for content I do not read or cannot use, such as sports, that I should be grateful that said content exists and that I should not want or need to have any further communication with those that generate said content.

Oh, and don't tell anybody else where I found the content that does not interest me on account they might read it too.

Tell me again why I want to have a relationship with newspapers?

Poetry In Plain Sight - Rex Butters

2011-04-02T09:37:00.000-07:00

Rex Butters is a poet and jazz reviewer in the Los Angeles area; at least that is what the 'Tubes tells me. I had the pleasure of recording one of his poems that appeared in issue #49 of the San Gabriel Valley Poetry Quarterly.

This is Rex's poem, Giving Myself the Finger

Doing a little digging I found out how Rex got started contributing jazz reviews for All About Jazz. I found other poems by Rex at Vscorpiozine called Little Sister Going Down and a poem of his called American Nero on OMEGA, Online Journal of Literary Arts from 2006.

It is National Poetry Month so do your duty and at least read, listen or view a poem and let it stay with you a while.

A Movie Called Poetry on the Finally Friday Freakout

2011-04-01T17:35:00.000-07:00

Back in my waning days of watching television I did try to get into some of the Korean televisions shows. They had more stuff going on in ten minutes than an American soap opera would have in a week. I gave up cuz you do need a cheat sheet to get a grip on the characters, culture and the speed at which shenanigans happen.

What lead me to the Korean television shows what that I saw a Korean movie that moved about the same speed but I knew what was going on because I was witnessing it as it happened. I've forgotten the name of the film; it was a long time ago.

This is to say that I stumbled into this trailer for the movie Poetry. There are a couple of stories here, I can tell. I'd lay dollars to donuts it isn't the one I think it is.

It is National Poetry Month, by the way. I'm sure Mr. Campbell and associates have got events lined up and I expect a video or two will be generated on the topic.

These movie clips reminds me that poetry can dig very deep into a person soul if you let it. It is still a one to one transmission method. You have to find your poem or poet. Not easy in a wham bam so long Sam world.

It is still possible. Poetry can be like holding out for your one true love that may or may not show up.

We keep going but we need attention. A poem can do that for you; provided you with a reason to keep going or understand why. This movie was released in 2010 so finding it might be a challenge. Finding an English subtitle version even more.

If you find out where it is please let me know. This film seems to need attention. Just like poetry.

The Bard Speaks - I Have Sex Video

2011-03-29T05:10:00.000-07:00

This Bard being the students of Bard College. This video was created in support of Planned Parenthood.

You don't have to be a young person to use the services of Planned Parenthood. There are middle aged and older people having unprotected sex. You have to know that sexually transmitted diseases do no respect age or how much hair dye you use.

Planned Parenthood is a resource you can use to get tested for STDs at any age. Let folks know that this is more than about abortion services. It is about access to sexual and reproductive health care.

In other words, sex isn't just for the young folk and if your retirement fund is a little skimpy you might want to have a reproductive health back-up plan.

Citizen Journalism Discussion at Pasadena Library

2011-03-28T16:32:00.000-07:00

The term citizen journalism is often used as a pejorative by mainstream media unless those same citizens make it easier for mainstream and corporate journalist folks to whip up a quick story.

Just got an e-mail that Andrea Coleman of the Pasadena Weekly will be having a discussion about citizen on March 29, 2011 in the Donald R. Wright Auditorium at the Pasadena Central Library. 285 E. Walnut St., in Pasadena starting at 6:00pm.

I happen to think the term is more expansive than the professionals give credit and most times they don't or they are dressed up in carpet bagging clothing. Yes, I have biases and opinions which is not the same as reporting and journalism.

I am a blogger, not a journalist but I have friends all over the joint. If I can find my camcorder and find a way to get home back I'll try to make it but no promises.

I've been burned before by these type of events. I hope it is really is a discussion and not folks betting up on bloggers, non-corporate reporters and independent story tellers.

I'll need 24 more hours to improve my mood anyway.

Poetry In Plain Sight - Gina Bove

2011-03-27T15:13:00.000-07:00

The next poem up on deck is from Gina Bove who is also in the San Gabriel Valley Poetry Quarterly, Issue #49.

Don't forget folks, April is National Poetry Month and there will be all kinds of doings in unexpected places.

Poetry In Plain Sight - Nick Barrett

2011-03-27T14:01:00.001-07:00

Yes, I've been a little slow on the uploading. I'm sorry. This is my way of making amends. First up is Nicholas Barrett and his poem is called Mercy Tree.

For more info check out http://sgvpq.blogspot.com

It is the life/time thing again. I almost bought an iTouch 4th Generation this weekend. I could record and edit via iMovie on the bus and upload as soon as I walked in the door. I couldn't bring myself to do it. $299 and I still would have had to buy a protective case, a mount to steady the iTouch4G and $5 for the iMovie app.

Every time I watch stuff from Majek Pictures it makes me crazy. They have a web series shot on an iPhone4G and have begun editing the video via the iPad2. Sigh.

I almost talked myself into doing it but I just knew that I'd step on it or break it. It is so small. The good news is that I found out from Tom Merritt at TWIT.tv that the older Wi-Fi model is selling for $349. You have to dig for it at the Apple site but that would make more sense.

Except it doesn't make sense.

The Stripper Bookstores and the License to Read

2011-03-27T10:54:00.000-07:00

I don't want to misled anyone. This is not about strippers running bookstores. This is memory about an old bookstore and news vendor practice. On my other blog, Create Video Notebook, I was explaining about being willing to learn when you know nothing about a topic.

As a teen I really wanted to know about photography but outside of looking at Life Magazine there wasn't the information explosion that is occurring now.There were photography books at the library.

Most of those books talked about chemicals, processing charts or lighting concepts. I didn't understand a word or the multiple charts that were in those books. There were art books about photographers. Karsh, Diane Arbus, the photographers on the WPA project. It did not matter I went through those books like a house on fire.

I wanted to do what they did but I couldn't make the connection between their work and the technical photography guides. It was a secret closed language.

I don't know about the rest of the country but on the east coast there were bookstores and magazine stands. A lot of them. They did good business but not everything sold.

What the newspaper and bookstore vendors were supposed to do with unsold items was to strip off the top portion of the cover of a magazine or the full cover of a book and send it back to the distributor or publisher. This would indicate that this item was unsold and disposed of.

I guess there was some kind of credit in place, I don't know.

The reality was that instead of throwing perfectly ok materials in the trash there was usually a back room or pile where you could pick up said items for 25 cents to $1. Being a broke person who generally only had 50 cents to a $1 at a time this was a win-win situation for me.

I could buy the photography magazines. I could buy Harlan Ellison and fall in love with his rants and some of his fiction. I picked up cooking magazines art and design books, Philip K. Dick and whatever else I could put my hot little hands on.

I had to decide between Dirty Duck and Pudge, Girl Blimp. It was stressful because if you didn't pick it up on Friday afternoon it might not be there when you got back to the store on Monday. I had to go with Pudge, that girl was whacked.

Now as long as one or two of them where doing it on the down low there wasn't much of a fuss. When people were opening full scale stripped bookstores is when it got out of hand.

It was understandably from an author and publisher point of view a nightmare. The publisher sells 10 magazines to the bookstore, sells six and loses money on four of them only to have the bookstore make hand over fist money at 25 cents per book or magazine.

I'm not condoning theft. Nope. It was hurtful in the short term view of things.

Except I and many other people were able to sample a variety of content that we might not have risked money on. Because in time I did pay full price for Harlan Ellison's books, photography magazines and other types of reading materials.

This goes back to the HarperCollins 26 e-book lock down being proposed. A library has the ability to expose readers to new content. Placing a license lock on that content restricts access to those who might want to read it.

Maybe that is the point. I don't know. But books and information can't really be sold like a pack of Ding Dongs.

I think the old newspaper and bookstore folks were on to something. It wasn't just the old discounted stuff that sold. Some people bought new books and magazines as well as the discounted items.

Unrestricted access does produce paying readers.

Betty Wright - Clean Up Medley on the Freakout Extra

2011-03-25T18:08:00.000-07:00

Oh my goodness. This was so much fun to watch I might turn around and watch it again. Way back in the day Betty Wright had a hit called Clean Up Woman; a very instructional song about love, attention and opportunistic people willing to recycle your discarded loved one.

Time passes and Betty, who really is a talented woman, re-creates her hit woven with with musical imitations of Patti LaBelle, Tina Turner, Barbara Mason, the O'Jays and Al Green.

I'm petitioning for folks to remember Betty Wright for Women's History Month; the musicians and performers who knew how to command a stage and left you feeling better than when you walked in the door.

No special effects, no gimmicks, just a master making magic on the stage.

Be My Valentine on the Finally Friday Freakout

2011-03-25T00:01:00.000-07:00

Normally I would hesitate to have any reference of that long delinquent love archer on the blog but I am making an exception. First the introductions; the musician is Johnny Blu who is a man with a very pleasing voice.

So why the video? Well, because I like the video and it was shot on a iPhone4. It also has a filter on the video by the 8MM Vintage Camera app (application to the old schoolers).

Can a woman be seduced by technology? This one can. Johnny is right nice looking, don't get me wrong, but I was really was looking at how the app performed. Then I started listening to his voice and it was a win-win kind of thing.

You never know where your passions are going to lead you.

Ellen Snortland Video and Taking A Risk

2011-03-20T10:44:00.000-07:00

Ellen Snortland is a well known columnist at the Pasadena Weekly. She writes about being able to defend yourself, reproductive issues and the concerns of a being a woman in these times.

This video has none of that. Ellen took a comedy class and this is the graduation performance.

I'm posting it because I am about to cross another age marker known as a birthday. I need mentors. I need women my age saying they want to get laid. Let it be known that here is joy to be found in the larger Padumpadumps region of the mature body.

I'm really posting this because she is taking a chance. Going beyond the comfort zone. Age does not exempt you from living or exploring. That is the most important reminder of all.

Go for it.

A Understandable Explanation About Fukushima Reactor

2011-03-18T12:45:00.000-07:00

Professor Martyn Poliakoff is at the University of Nottingham does a great job of explaining science topics to N00bs like me.

I've been watching the Periodic Table videos for a long time. This is a video of what is going on with the reactor, the problems about using salt water to cool things down and what is the deal with iodine tablets.

The professor does a really good job of explaining what is going on with the nuclear reactor in Fukushima, Japan. I don't know about you but every other thought is about that reactor.

When I'm not succeeding about thinking about something else I also am getting mental reminders about the 1954 Sci-Fi classic movie Them!

There may be an ad in front of the trailer. Those of you not into surfer chicks you can skip it in 4 seconds. Those of you that are into surfer chick hold on for about 4 seconds and then enjoy.

The rest of us, do what you can where you can.

Ship of Fools on the Finally Friday Freakout

2011-03-18T11:55:00.000-07:00

It is my weekend. I haven't seen the complete movie Ship of Fools in years. I don't even remember this scene. Looking at it now I can tell you Oskar is hot.

I like it even better that he is hot for Simone. That woman was radiant. You would be took if you had Oskar looking at you like that.

Sorry, I've used up all the intellect I had allocated for the day. Just a cinematic memory of when men were courtly even when they wanted to jump your bones.

Even if those bones had padding.

That is all.

Update on the PBS and NPR Funding

2011-03-18T10:49:00.000-07:00

Most of you know that I am a Contributing Editor at BlogHer. It is a challenge when I have to fit in writing, research and the day job. All this and poetry videos too. In January I wrote a post about do we still need the Public Broadcasting System. So much has happened regarding attacks on PBS and governmental jockeying of resources.

Back in the day our favorite sweater dude, Fred Rogers made a heart felt plea to Congress to fund public television.

Watch the full episode. See more Mister Rogers.

No lie, I miss this dude. I miss what he represented as an adult male public figure. I can't think of a reasonable contemporary successor. There is one but I can't place him at the moment.

Hell, off track again. I do not question the importance of funding public television and National Public Radio. I have benefited and had my world expanded by the programs on both services.

I do wonder if constantly having to go back to a partisan knock down drag out fight each and every year just to ensure survival is the way to go. One of the things that crossed my mind is to perhaps make it similar to the United States Post Office in that it is taken out of the congressional budget, given a dedicated line of funding and allow it to find ways to generate income.

Just a thought.

Those in favor of funding:

PBS Public Funding Information Page
Mary Kate Cary US News What Congress Needs to Know
Ken Burns talks with the SF Chronicle About Public Broadcasting's Value

Those in favor of cutting funding:

The U.S. House of Representatives Vote to Bar Public Funding of NPR
From 2010 Bill O'Reilly PBS Funding Should Be Cut Too
ReNew America Blog We Should Have Stopped Funding PBS and NPR A Long Time Ago

It is up to us. I don't have too much faith in a nation that worships coke-a-holics and jewel thieves and rewards them with adulation.

Maybe the world will end in May.*

But if not, what are we going to do?

*Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you. There is a religious group that believes that the end time is actually May 2011. Some folks have left their jobs, homes and everything because they anticipating the mothership, chariot or the heavenly night train to make a pick-up around that time.

Poetry In Plain Sight - Eleanor Higgins

2011-03-13T12:00:00.000-07:00

About two weeks ago Eleanor and I were sitting on the library bench talking about stuff. We were outside appreciating the beautiful weather. Eleanor was at Cal State Northridge University during the Northridge quake.

The Internet was just still in the GOPHER space, e-mail was king and if you had 56k you were doing pretty good. After the Northridge quake Eleanor told me about folks teaching in their cars and communicating via e-mail. Buildings were destroyed. Everything changed.

We joked about that old erroneous meme about warm weather and earthquakes. Intellectually we know it is not true. Fear and the need for an answer kinda trumps facts. It should not be so but look at America the past two years.

We done gone plum stupid; in my opinion. This poem, however, is not stupid. It is kinda cool.

This is Eleanor's poem about not wanting to be a grown up tonight. It is a fun poem and it is ok to have a bit of fun when your emotional knees are knocking.

One way for people up and down the Pacific Coast can do to help with that emotional knee knocking is re-stocking your Emergency Supply Kit. Batteries, radios, top-up cards for the cell phones, money and the essentials.

Yes, that is a grown-up thing to but in transactional analysis there is the child, the teen and the parent all contained in one body. Let the kid play as the other two of you get busy and stock up on what you need to survive for a couple of days.

To Get You Started:

Ready.gov Recommended Items to Include in a Basic Emergency Supply Kit
FEMA.gov Assemble A Disaster Supply Kit
California Department of Public Health Be Prepared California
Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries Are You Ready page
Washington State Military Department - Emergency Management Division information page

Metropolis (1927) on the Finally Friday Freakout

2011-03-11T18:27:00.000-08:00

I'm branching out the Freakout to include movies I want to view, remember or are inspired by the craft of film making. I still haven't seen this movie, shame on me.

This is a restored and enhanced version of the great 1927 silent movie distributed by Kino.

This is what I call future-casting. Lemme see, wealthy upper class folks enjoying life and culture? Yep. Labor class works and is drained of individuality? Yep.

Mass revolt, destruction and creation of new world view? Sounds about right. I've got to make some time to learn about Fritz Lang. I make no connection to what is going on in the U.S. on the state level.

Y'all can go back to 1911 if you want to: Me? I like the future just fine. We don't have to worry about the end of the world. I'm just trying to make it to the end of each week.

The British Film Institute page on his work is a starting point.

Metropolis1927.com is dedicated to the film, scroll down the page for links and commentary about the film, production and how it took 83 years for the film to be seen as it was originally intended.

Er...I'm in study mode, dig you later.

Poetry In Plain Sight - Ajarae

2011-03-08T19:05:00.000-08:00

It is the last few hours of International Women's Day. I didn't make it to a bridge. It was all I could do not to sneeze. There are some power winds blowing.

These are not my beloved Santa Ana winds. There is no warmth in the wind blowing outside, just forces of nature. Sometimes the forces gang up on you.

You need reinforcements. You might have to reach for a book of poems to brace yourself up. These are two short inspirational poems from Ajarea to help stoke the inner light.

For more information on the doing of the San Gabriel poetry community skedaddle on over to the Saturday Afternoon Poetry blog.

In local poetry news:

Don Kingfisher Campbell has a new poetry mp3 up on Amazon.

Also The Inner Four has a couple of sonnets and whatnots available for purchase.

If you live in Whittier, CA and are a poet you still have time to enter the poetry contest run by The Writers Club of Whittier. They are looking for poems 30 lines or less. For more info check out the Keep A Poem in Your Pocket on Facebook.

Another View About HarperCollins e-Book License

2011-03-06T09:35:00.001-08:00

I'm not sure we are gonna make it to 2012. This year is frisky enough as it is. Mercy! The latest thing to get me all twisty is the HarperCollins e-book flap. In a nutshell, HarperCollins wants to change the buying terms for e-books for libraries. Instead of one book, one reader one purchase they want to change to a license model.

For example, if a library has an e-book that they lend to library users they can only do that 26 times per book. After that time the library would have to pony up for another license for the next 26 readers.

So let's say the e-book in question is To Kill A Mockingbird. The first 26 people get to read the book. The library looks at the purchasing budget already slashed to hell by city and local governments. They don't have the money to get another license. To Kill A Mockingbird is no longer available at that library.

No sweat you say, what about e-book inter-library loan?

You don't think for a moment that the publisher is going to stand for any form of inter-library loan of an e-book, do you? I doubt if they would even consider inter-branch acceptable. Let's not forget about the license fee, the library would pay one way or the other.

The choice is to either not purchase the e-book or repeatedly pay for the right to distribute the e-book to library users.

Wait a minute you say. There is another choice, just plunk down $7.99 for a paperback copy. And you would be right. The library could do that, so long as there is a physical copy to be obtained.

But time changes things. Mimeo paper use to be common. It isn't any more. There may be a time when a physical book is no longer published.

What if the publisher only had e-book copies of certain books? What if the library e-book is in low but steady demand? Does the library still buy the book at $26 a pop when you might loan only three copies a year for five years?

This is getting messy. Would a library invest in one poet e-book or an anthology? Would the library even buy poetry books, essays, philosophy books or political analysis of historical events?

Does the library stock historical cookbooks, wood crafting books or automotive manuals? Does a non-music contain practice books and musical scores? Will the decision be made to have only one physical or electronic copy of a book?

Do you really want to put commercial book publishers in a position of deciding the amount of times a library book can be read? Because that can become content control. That control could be taken away from librarians and libraries.

I'm asking folks to really think about the implications of that question.

Do You Want to Gather Bridge on March 8th?

2011-03-05T05:50:00.000-08:00

March 8, 2011 is International Day of the Women. I can tell you this year has been kinda rough on women and girls and we are only in month 3. Various state and federal proposals to remove pre-school, funding for Planned Parenthood, de-funding PBS and NPR, criminalizing women who have miscarriages and on and on and on.

And that is trivial, so trivial when compared to unarmed women being shot while protesting in the Ivory Coast.

Yes, it is bad when unarmed men get shot too. Here is a thought; y'all can keep the guns and we melt down the bullets. You still can kill but you have to put some effort into it.

Anyway, this is a video about making a symbolic global meet up on a bridge in solidarity with women around the world. Google has a page about the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day Join Women on the Bridge.

I have a bridge near me. I'd be worried I would be the only one on it. Tuesday is a work day. If I do this I might have to develop instant influenza. Then again, that fear of heights thing is kicking in.

Hey, I'm not perfect. I am an earth based being that looks to the stars but is connected to the ground. A better solution might be to hang out at a bridge after work or something. I could find a land bridge. I'll add that to today's mission list.

I know somebody must be working on meeting a virtual bridge. Still, you gotta make time do stuff in the real world.

We are not cyborgs yet.

Johnny Guitar - The Film I Missed That I Shouldn't Have

2011-03-02T16:40:00.000-08:00

This is a school of my own making by the way. Citizen Kane, Forbidden Planet Pressburger and Powell movies and just about anybody's film noir. I may have heard about the movie Johnny Guitar but if I knew that Joan Crawford was in it I would have passed it by.

Independent of her reported personal life I just don't cotton to her as a film star. She is the rough rider. Crawford is either bullet tough or spooky.

Not seeing this movie was a big mistake. Huge. This is one quirky kick-ass movie. It is not a woman's film. This is a film that has women in the lead and the men are in a subordinate character position. And yeah this is a shoot `em up western.

This is a segment of the film where the characters are introducing themselves to the audience. Check it out:

I gotta tell you this is a full flavor western. These women are playing for land, power and control. It is about the railroad, cattle ranchers and the new blood coming into the community.

Cattle ranchers don't like farmers or city folk. They don't want change. They don't want a railroad depot. What would you do to preserve in amber your way of life?

New kid in town sees the future and is getting ready for it. Nobody is going to get in her way. The railroad is the symbol of change, of money and opportunity. It is a way to obtain power and control.

The two lead actresses are fierce. Crawford and Mercedes McCambridge ain't sleep walking through this one. Each one is pitch perfect in their roles.

When you are not focusing on the story the eye notices the beautiful colors, the intensity of colors in the interior and exterior shots. The land is a bright dirt red. The sky a vibrant blue. I'm going to have to watch it again with the sound off just looking at the composition of the shots and the colors.

When we think about the 1950s and films it is brought up as the time of the happy housewife. The time when the men have the adventure and the women stay home waiting tending home and hearth. The movies of that time reflected that attitude.

Not this one. Yes, there is a love object. Sterling Hayden is a fine actor. Subtle. Sometimes he is there in the moment and sometimes he is the focal point of the scene.

I've been mulling this movie over and over again trying to understand the historical place in time, the one in the western and 1954. Much to think about and contemplate.

Anyway this is as good a start as any to Women's History Month.

Poetry in Plain Sight - Angel Uriel Perales

2011-03-01T16:36:00.000-08:00

You learn something every day. If you are open to it. I learned that I should not open my big mouth when I am riled up. I need space to figure out is it me or is it the situation. Most times it is me.

Again.

I keep failing the lesson and it is repeated. Just like the month of January. All the things I wanted to do in the prior year are hoovering like a specter going "Gotcha" before they fade into this years mission. January is the mark of the end and the beginning.

This is a poem by Angel Uriel Perales called January Dawn.

When I looked up Angel's name to find a web site or blog about him I got all kinds of stuff. If you would like to read more of his work you can check out his page at Poetry Diversity.

But learning about his name gets deeper. Apparently there is an anime character who is the Angel of Death. The series called Angel Sanctuary. The images from the video I've seen looks like a goth person with wings to me.

Not to be confused with the Archangel Uriel aka Fire of God, Flame of God or Sun of God. Special shout out to any and all persons, vessels, conduits and channels for entities so named on the other side of the vapors.

Today was a January day in March for me. Listing to the poem again did not make me feel better. But at least there is a realm of understanding.

Gotta start somewhere.

The AFRO American PSA Experiment

2011-02-27T11:18:00.000-08:00

Over at my other blog I was yakking about creating a public service announcement for the AFRO American archive. I wanted to show that you don't need a big time advertising agency to make a promotional video about something that you think other folks should know about.

You might need more talent and design skills than I possess. Actually, you don't. We need to stop talking about doing stuff and just up and do it to the best of our abilities.

This is where I am this day.

I really want to let other people like librarians, genealogists, researchers, historians and those of us with an interest in history to know about this resource.
It doesn't happen much anymore but I had students asking for information for more information Sarah Goode like clock work during Black History Month.

Each one of us is a connection to another person's history and by extension to the national history. That history does not end with the election of a president.

I'm going to keep trying to get it right. Because I will not allow a bunch of low hanging fruit inside and outside of Congress to determine who I am and where I came from. I know parts of my history and I'm working on the rest of it.

It will not be erased without a fight.

Poetry In Plain Sight - Radomir Vojtech Luza

2011-02-23T18:56:00.000-08:00

I'm still looking for my poetry voice. It went into the poetry protection program. The next best thing is to hear someone read a poem that you would have liked to have been able to write.

Not the experience, the skill. I try to only pick one poem for each poet but Radomir made it too tough; his poems can be short but they have a powerful energy. In the two minutes you will spend watching the video he will take you a couple dozen places and move a brain cell or two.

This is a good thing. For more info on Radomir he has a Facebook page and Moonday Poetry has a feature page on him.

He also has .mp3 and books for sale at Amazon.com

Poetry In Plain Sight - Don Kingfisher Campbell

2011-02-23T04:20:00.001-08:00

Don Campbell has a poem that seems to be channeling news from the natural world. This is his poem from the non-human population called The Latest Headlines.

The headlines of the past two weeks have been kinda interesting. Being a woman person I am particularly engaged in those headlines from various governmental bodies in the U.S. that want to control female bodies, health care, sexuality and rights of redress.

What the heck I am I talking about? Please read the BlogHer post by Gloria Feldt about the total cut in funding for Planned Parenthood and Suzanne Reisman's on Open Season on Abortion Providers.

If the past two weeks have been any indication other controls and humiliations on the female form will be hawked up as legislative proposals any second.

I am keeping a steady watch on the amendments to the Constitution. I'm vulnerable, if you catch my drift. We all are.

Spill The Wine on the Finally Friday Freakout

2011-02-16T19:31:00.000-08:00

When I was young all I needed was a thumping bass and percussion. And some guitar, and a lyric I could mangle.

I knew that Eric Burdon sang with a group called The Animals but I never saw the man. I certainly knew about the group War but never laid eyes on them either.

This is the group War and Eric Burdon on vocals riffing on Spill The Wine.

If it wasn't raining I go get some. It is raining outside and inside. I came home to 72 and counting e-mails. I know stuff has hit the fan when it crosses 40.

I'm working my way through them. I don't want to talk about the topics now. My views will be apparent soon enough. Just need the time to write. And calm down.

For this day I am thankful that I get to vent at myself instead of another person. I've been angry at hurtful men this week. Not all men, just the really nasty, toxic, Lawd Jeebus come take these fools off the planet type men.

I don't know how Gandhi did it. Meditation my ass; where is the licking stick!
And that is where I fail in my goal to transmute the anger into positive energy. It is a chasm that is still too wide.

Which is why I need to dance to the video and send anger on its way. I'm no good to anybody when I am this angry about the attacks on women, emotional, physical and sexual this week and every week. But especially this week.

It is so bad I might have to voluntarily clean something.

I might have mentioned that I buy healing and meditative recording from SoundsTrue.

For those like myself that need to be reminded that there are better people that are seeking ways to deal with internal pain and suffering.

There is a free podcast called Insights At The Edge.

You can listen at the computer, download mp3 audio to your media/mobile device or subscribe on iTunes.

After I finish singing a couple of times I'll head over their and see if I can get a glimmer of understanding about taking my anger and using it for a higher purpose than to want to whack somebody upside the head.

I have Kool Aid - the kind that needs sugar. I might have some fruit. Kool Aid Smoothies? I suppose it is possible. I guess that will have to do.