The World's 1st Free 1-Gig Email Service

Looks like SpyMac beat Google to become the world's first free 1-Gigabyte service for the masses. GMail will probably overtake them once it launches; especailly since SpyMac is a haven for us MacHeads.

The Life of Piri Thomas Highlighted

Down These Mean Streets was an eye-opening read when I was a teen. Piri Thomas articulated many of my feelings. Especially being a Black child with a Latino grandfather -- albeit, through marriage. It's good to see this premiering tonite on PBS (in the NYC area, check local listings):

Every Child is Born a Poet

An incendiary mix of documentary, poetry, storytelling, drama, and performance, Every Child is Born a Poet explores the life and work of Piri Thomas, the 75 year-old Afro-Cuban-Puerto Rican author of the classic autobiographical novel Down These Mean Streets (1967). The film traces Thomas' path from childhood to manhood in New York City's Spanish Harlem, El Barrio, from the 1930's through the 1960's: his parents' immigrant experience, home life during the Great Depression, membership in barrio youth gangs, his struggle to come to terms with his mixed-racial identity, travels as a teen-age merchant marine, his heroin addiction, his notorious armed robbery of a Greenwich Village nightclub, his six years spent in prison, and his emergence as a writer. Thomas' coming-ofage story is counter-pointed with verité scenes of his on-going work of forty-five years as an educator and activist empowering marginalized and incarcerated youths. A stylized, genre-spanning production, Every Child is Born a Poet includes rare archival footage & still photographs and provocative mixed-media artwork, as it examines Thomas' use of creative expression as a means of confronting poverty, racism, violence and isolation. Pulsating with an original Latin Jazz score, Every Child is Born a Poet is a riveting portrait of a life lived through struggle, self-discovery, and transformation.

I'm sooo late with this, so you'll have to check your local PBS listings. I'm sure it will play a few times. Seeing the doc mentioned on a list-serv jogged my memory about this unlinked event tomorrow:

Poet Willie Perdomo will be reading and signing at the Barnes & Noble Main Store (didja know they had one?!) for his second collection of poetry, Smoking Lovely.

Like his first collection, Where a Nickel Costs a Dime, the book includes a CD of Perdomo reading his poetry. It's a feature that I enjoy, being able to hear the inflections and rhythms of the actual poet, not just my own imagined reading.

The event begins at 6:30pm and I'll be there a bit early. This B&N is located at 105 5th Avenue, on the corner of 18th Street. Email me if you plan to attend.

Kola Boof: The Beautiful One

Several months ago I was at Keith Boykin’s site and noticed many quite provocative comments from a poster named Kola Boof. Little did I know then that she would become a mini-obsession of mine. (No, not in a negative light.) I was immediately intrigued by her story and her artistry. Over many months we’ve corresponded with each other from time to time and I knew that she would be the inaugural interview on { a burst of light }. Read a mini bio at her site, and peruse her work and other information on this Woman Warrior.

Kola, when your poetry collection "Every Little Bit Hurts" was released in North Africa in 1997, Osama Bin Laden called you on the telephone and said: "If I had the time to waste, I would come and slit your throat myself.” Now in 2004, that original collection along with 25 new poems has just been released in America under the new title Nile River Woman. Why did this little poetry book cause so much anger when it was first released?

In Osama's case, he thought some of the poems were about him, which they aren't. And he also thought I was being trashy and vengeful, writing about slavery in Sudan, which back then no one was willing to acknowledge. He thought it was disgusting of me to celebrate my sexual autonomy in the poems. In general, I was seen from the very beginning as a threat to Islamic law and the image of Arab social mores. I was the very embodiment of the disobedient wife that African cultures speak against.

Many American Blacks remain unwelcoming of your sexual images and your portrayal of yourself as a representative of African women. You get enormous flak from Black American women for being topless on the back of your books and for admitting that you once slept with powerful men to get parts in Arab films and to get power, politically.

No one loves and respects Black American women more than I do, but they make me sick sometimes with their obsession with "respectability" and "appearances." It really gets on my nerves, because I don't apologize for who I am and I am not ashamed of being a Black woman. I have been the Black man's wife, queen and concubine for 26,000 years. I don't see why I should be silenced or have my image whitened and Americanized. My mother was a pure Oromo Gisi-Waaq. I am from the Nile River, not the Mississippi. I come from Black women who proudly bared their breasts for 26,000 years in honor and praise of the Creator. I won't back down from my own image and my own understanding of womanism. I am very proud of my image.

On a similar note, many African artisans and politicians constantly attack you for embracing and supporting Gay Rights. In particular, your assertion that homosexuality in Africa has always been there and that it is normal.

Long before there was Christianity and Islam, the African people had their own religions. I don't know how anyone can deny this. Homosexuality was often a part of those religions. Especially in Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia. Homosexuality, since the beginning of time, has been a natural, normal component of the ritual and intellectual society. I write about that in my work and I don't understand the outrage that other Africans express towards me because of it. There's a gay wedding in my next book, Flesh and the Devil: A Novel, which comes out in May. People are upset about the gay warrior couple during the African portion of the book. But how can I write about the sensual world in a book as sexy as "Flesh and the Devil" and not explore homosexuality?

Kola, who inspired you as an artist, activist and a writer the most?

Quite a few people. Egypt's great feminist writer Nawal El Sadaawi was one of my chief influences. Alice Walker is like my mother. She is my model. Toni Morrison is my favorite writer. Gayl Jones is the writer that I most resemble as a stylist, I think. I loved Diana Ross when I was a kid, because she was flamboyant, sexy and glamorous and she refused to fit the churchy image that most Black women entertainers embraced. I wanted to have a glossy, sensuous image on purpose, because Black women are not supposed to be goddess figures in America. But I come from Africa where many women really are goddess figures. I loved Sherwood Anderson, Richard Wright and James Baldwin’s work. I wanted to create something new on the American landscape.

Your work has caused your life to be threatened. Are you still living in hiding?

I'm not in hiding anymore, but I do live under very strenuous security measures. I am protected by the United States. I am a definite target by many Arab Muslim fundamentalist groups and probably a few other groups. Anti-abortion people have sent me threatening letters, because I've spoken openly about having an abortion. A lot of bi-racial people despise me, because they think I'm against them, even though I'm not. They seem to forget that I am an African woman, so it's normal for me to want to give birth to my own Black children and to be with my own natural mate: the Black man. They seem to think that we Africans are just an ingredient for a salad and not a people. My work seems to anger people very deeply.

The poems in Nile River Woman are really raw and emotional. People are really affected in some way by this book. Which of the poems in the collection are your favorites and why?

Well, obviously, I like "Kola Boof IN Person," which expresses my loyalty to my womb, my children, instead of to Black men. And then I love "Black Beauty's Totem" because it expresses my undying love and appreciation of black men, but not at the expense of loving myself. And then I really love the final poem, the one that really upsets white people the most, "Fly Away Sleeping," because it expresses that I am a Black woman who believes in revolution and that I am willing to kill even God to make a better world for my Black babies. That poem is what I feel being a Black woman in America should be all about. This poetry collection is so powerful that it'll be five years before I put out another one, so I'm extremely proud of it. People like Joe Madison and Bev Smith have already proclaimed it to be a "masterpiece" and a "classic." It's by far the most personal book I've ever written, and if people really want to know Kola Boof, then Nile River Woman is the way to do that.

You recently issued a statement while in Israel supporting that nation. It was also seen as an inflammatory statement against Palestinians, their own state and/or Arabs. What is your take on the controversy and/or your response?

People in the United States, and to my surprise, African American people in particular, have almost no knowledge of what it is like to be a Black African in North Africa. They have some ridiculous notion that we get along with Arabs and Mixed Race Berber peoples who enslave, torture and oppress us. These Arab people, Arab nations and Arab groups, which most definitely include the Palestinians, have been our worst enemies for more than a thousand years. The Palestinians purchase slaves from Sudan, they refer to Black Africans as "Abeed," and because the Black Americans are rich, powerful and light skinned, these Arab people treat them differently than they treat Africans, because they can use the Black Americans for political clout and for other support. But I make no apologies for my condemnation of the evil deeds that the Palestinian people carry out against Black Africans in their ranks; especially Black African women, on a daily basis due to the fact that they are color struck and fear that association with Africans will lead them back to their original color. Israel has been the only ally and friend that the Black Non-Muslim Sudanese have had. The Israelis provide us with guns, ammunition, food, medicine and moral support as fellow family members of Prophet Ciisa (Jesus Christ) who was a Black man and a Jew. If it were not for Israel, the Black Sudanese would be dead and destroyed by now. The Black Americans forget that there are 2 million Black Jews in Sudan, another 2 million in Ethiopia. We have a very strong bond with Israel because more than half of the original Cushite people were Hebrews. We are the mother of both the Arabs and the Israelites, but we consider Israel to be our good child who honors us. The Arabs rape, kill, enslave, and disrespect Africa. They hate blackness and the only people they are fooling with their rhetoric is the Black Americans. I support Israel because I am a Black mother from North Africa. I will continue to support Israel 100%, regardless of their shortcomings, because let's face it, America is no better than Israel. But I have a vested interest in seeing Israel be successful. Without Israel, the Black nations will never rise, because the Arabs are jealous of Blacks and they are determined to keep us on the bottom.

Back to your work. You describe Flesh and the Devil as “26,000 years of Beautiful Love.” Why exactly?

Well, the book details the "romantic need and love" between African people from the day of creation all the way to modern day Black America. Even gay love is adequately presented, and not gay sex, but gay LOVE...is presented in the book as a normal, natural reality in the culture and history of Black people. I wanted to tell the story of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade and to remind Black Americans at the same time of the great nobility they come from and the great love that existed between their mothers and fathers. They were not just sweaty black slave chattel with no magic and no history. They were intensely magical people, filled with need, spirit and wonder. The book showcases the love and humanity of all Black people. Which is now 26,000 years old according to my people, the Nilotics of Sudan. We were here 20,000 years before the final race, the Caucasians, appeared.

Please speak freely on any subject you would like: your work, other writers and warriors, politics, your life, your plans/goals, etc.

I would like people in the media to stop demonizing me and to stop expecting me to behave as, and to react as an American. I come from a very different set of circumstances, from a foreign culture. I have fought tooth and nail against my own assimilation, because unlike most African immigrant artists, I do not believe that assimilation is the right example for me to set for Black Americans. They need to see their own unique spirit in me. They need to see me, whether they like it or not, as an African woman representing a more Afrocentric authenticity, as best as I can duplicate on American soil. I am eccentric and have a very sinful past. SO WHAT!! That's all the more reason to appreciate my truth and my willingness to share it. Has no one noticed that Cleopatra and Nefertiti were pagan sluts? Why do American Blacks "romanticize" Africans and expect us to come here and instantly have American values? I know Americans don't like the "N" word, but I think that millions of Blacks in Africa, in America and all over the world…really are niggers. I feel it's stupid when people purchase my work expecting to "like" me. That's not what art is about. Art is about understanding and gaining perspective. It's about being changed or making up your mind about something. I wish people would stop expecting me to be a good, sweet lovable earth mother and wisdom woman from Africa. What good is glorifying some ancient woman like Nefertiti if you're not willing to become her? And Nefertiti wasn't a damned thing like Coretta Scott King and Claire Huxtable. She was more like me.

Editor's Note: Kola Boof has another important work that should be read -- Long Train to the Redeeming Sin: Stories About African Women

Maybe I Need a New Category, 'Obsessions'

Current obsession: "Ralph Carter's Ass"

[ audio & lyrics, not to mention DVDs ]

Couldn't find the Planet Soma rant, but have been on a tear downloading images, songs (yeah, it gets annoying after a few times) and trying to find the whereabouts of my fav Good Times character. My best friend from Dewey claims he rented a room in her Mom's Bed-Stuy brownstone some years ago.

Current Read: The Lover
Next DVD: The Lover (one hot movie!!)
Current Music: American Song by Andy Bey an American Master.

Tabula Rasa

In the course of deleting old emails (some new, but mostly from months and months ago) from four accounts, bloglines posts (nearly 400!!) and, cleaning up biz work (including gathering tax paperwork, receipts and updating info), I decided to stay away from the 'net another few days. I feel bad for not reading some of my fav sites and not participating in some good convos all over the place.

Once I really get back, I'll post one of my annoying Big Ass Update thingees.

Now go out and enjoy watching the cullud folk in their Easter finery. ;-)

Your Mission, Should You Accept It...

While assholes on the Right are trying to make Kerry appear first in a Google search for "waffles," Kos and others want to highlight President George W. Bush's list of flip-flops.

Here's a campaign you can join, if you're so inclined: Google Bomb the abject failure occupying the White House. But this time make it creative and fun at the same time. Create a link to a wonderful new site, Blacks for Bush, with this URL, http://www.blacksforbush.org.

Blacks for Bush, cuz he's so deserving.

I Hate the IRS!!

Every year I owe! Every got-damm year!! I thought I finally had two refunds headed my way. No such luck. I owe the feds $29 and NYS/NYC owes me $35. So I get a grand total of $6 back. In the wise words of Derrick "such wasted talent" Coleman: Whoop-de-damn-dooo!

23/5 (Remixed)

[ VIA George, because I can't remember where I read it first at Jay's spot ] :

1. Grab a book (a fav, current read, etc.)
2. Open the book to the page that matches your age. For me, 36
3. Find the # sentence, where # = your fav number. For me, 10.
4. Post the text of the sentence on your blog.

She is holding a proud, grinning Julia by the hand, and here, Julia is bareheaded, with her hair curled, and with a ribbon in her hair, wearing a white middy blouse and a black pleated skirt, and those flat patent-leather shoes which button on the side. -- from Just Above My Head by James Baldwin

And here's the original meme:

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 23.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the sentence on your blog.

I answered that what I wanted more than anything else in the world was to write, nothing else but that, nothing. -- The Lover by Marguerite Duras.

I'm starting my own meme next week. They're so much fun. Although you'd never know from my blog. I rarely participate.

Fighting Mad

Donald of anziblog responds to Oprah's irresponsible behavior of late with:

Fighting Hell and Misrepresentation

We are your brothers, fathers, uncles, cousins, teachers, bosses, assistants and your best friends. And some of us have taken the responsibility for raising the children that our communities tend to forget. Be bold and present the similarities of our lives. We love the women in our lives; we love you. Don't use us to regress back into a sensationalism that is beneath you - prove that you can see all of us, who we are wholly, our highs and our lows, our entire lives. True, it is up to us to tell our own stories, but we depend on you to tell the truth from your vantage point. Oprah, I beg you to do everything you are empowered to do to tell the whole truth.

I haven't watched the show, so I can't respond with any coherence. If I can, and I'm going to try, I will write to Oprah. I doubt I'd ever receive a reply, but I'll writer nonetheless.

Saul Williams Reading

I probably won't be able to see poet Saul Williams reading at the Barnes & Noble Main Store (5th Avenue at 18th Street) at 6:30pm for , said the shotgun to the head, his latest collection of poetry. Reminds me that I still haven't watched Slam, nor read his previous works such as She and The Seventh Octave.

Which also reminds me that I've never read The Alphabet Verses: The Ghetto, Jessica Care Moore's followup to The Words Don't Fit in My Mouth which has a fantastic cover that alludes to probably her best known poem, "Black Statue of Liberty"

I stand still above an island, fist straight in the air
Scar on my face, thick braids in my hair
Battle boots tied, red blood in the tears I've cried.
Tourists fly from all over just to swim near my tide
Or climb up my long flight of stairs.
But they trip on their shoe string lies.
Piece by piece they shipped my body to this country
Now that I'm here, your people don't want me.
I'm a symbol of freedom, but I'm still not free
I suffer from class, race and gender inequality. (excerpt)

And since I mentioned book covers, Tracie Morris also has a great one for her book of poems, Intermission.

Stay tuned Friday for a special announcement in commemoration of National Poetry Month. (Y'all did notice my attention to/mention of poets this month, right?!)

Black Radical Congress Statement in Support of the Right to Gay Marriage

Black Radical Congress Statement in Support of the
Right to Gay Marriage

The Black Radical Congress stands in total solidarity with gay and lesbian people residing in the United States as they affirm their human right to marry under U.S. law on an equal basis with all others who enjoy the rights and benefits of marriage in this nation. We say that human beings who live as family, love each other as family and want society to perceive and treat them as family should be entitled to precisely the same legal acknowledgments granted to heterosexuals. Current efforts to deprive gay and lesbian people of equal marriage rights are an ultra right-wing attempt to deem "illegitimate" any family that does not conform to narrow-minded, religious fundamentalist doctrine. These Republican efforts are also timed to distract voters form the critical issues facing all of us: rising unemployment, lessening access to healthcare, and endless spending on war.

Since ancient times, homophobia has in various ways proscribed the freedom of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people to live their lives openly and on a par with others, and denials of freedom are something we Black people know a lot about. During slavery, family members could be separated on a master's whim, never to see each other again. Indeed, although the word "family" does not appear in the U.S. Constitution, U.S. law evolved to include numerous supports for family connections in reaction against the destruction of family wrought by the institution of slavery.

The BRC cautions all Black people being called upon to oppose gay marriage to resist such calls. Given our own history of suffering and exclusion, we have no business assisting anti-democratic forces in their disgraceful campaign to deny marriage rights to a sector of the population that wishes merely to have their families accorded "equal protection of the laws." Whether the pretext is color or class or gender or sexual orientation, a denial of civil and human rights to people on the basis of who they are is unacceptable. The time was yesterday when we should realize that our overall struggle against racial oppression requires us to confront and fight against homophobia, not only on principle because it can limit and destroy Black people's lives, but also because it has harmed the lives of Black people, past and present, who are vital actors in the overall struggle. Have we forgotten James Baldwin, Bessie Smith, Audre Lorde, June Jordan, Langston Hughes, Marlon Riggs, Barbara Smith and countless other lesbians, gay men, bisexual and transgender Black people who HAVE lent their voices and bodies to the ongoing movement for justice, even as they were being dissed and dismissed by their own sisters, brothers and associates? How can we continue living in denial of the fact that color is not the only layer of oppression that burdens many Black people? How can we, with our retrograde attitudes and actions within our own communities, continue making their burden heavier?

We could only shake our heads in sadness when a Black minister in Chicago was quoted as stating that "if the KKK opposes gay marriage, I would ride with them." That is precisely the kind of confused and misguided sentiment among many Blacks that right-wing forces are hoping they can marshal for their arsenal. While the right-wing claims to be attacking gay marriage out of "moral" concern for the welfare of American families and communities, morality is not the real issue here. If the right truly cared about the welfare of families, they would abandon support for the economic and political policies that daily challenge family survival -- wages inadequate to sustain families; inadequate health care; lack of affordable housing, etc. The assault on gay marriage rights is a cynical ploy aimed at directing anger toward an historically oppressed group and away from the real threats to security around the world.

In these times of dwindling employment, rising poverty, corporate corruption and foreign military adventures brought about by the desire of economically powerful forces to make even more billions than they already have, the Black Radical Congress decries the scapegoating of ANY sector of the people to divert attention from the total collapse of honest and humane governance in this country, and the looting of public coffers. We stand with gay men, lesbians, bisexual and transgender people of all colors in their quest for full and equal human rights, including the right to marry, raise children and sustain family life.

Black Radical Congress Coordinating Committee

(reminder VIA Bernie Tarver's blog, BEJATA)

Project Apollonia

Project Apollonia

About Project Apollonia

Project Apollonia is the Dream of Grupo Utopia Founder David Anderson and children's book author Nancy Gilliam. The purpose of the project is to provide Costa Rican school children with access to high quality English language books for grades K-6. Project Apollonia is named for Apollonia Anderson Calderon, David's youngest daughter, born December 4, 2003.

English has always been an important part of the school curriculum in Costa Rica and is an important part of the learning process. Recent cuts in government spending have affected the government's ability to purchase and maintain English language libraries.

The Goal of Project Apollonia is to donate 1,000 children's books to Costa Rican schools by June of this year (2004), and 10,000 by the end of the year. To that end, A group of parties in the United States and Costa Rica have organized Project Apollonia as a non profit organization based in San José, Costa Rica.

Our plan is to donate the first batch of books in June of 2004 to the Costa Rican Ministry of Education. Our focus is to donate the first thousand books to the poorest schools in Costa Rica, and we have selected Limon, the poorest of Costa Rica's seven provinces to receive the first of the books.

[ more info ]

The shipping address is:

Project Apollonia C/O
David Scott Anderson
Grupo Utopia International
1601 NW 97th Avenue
SJO 23432
Miami, FL 33172-2053

Spike Lee 5ive

1. Do The Right Thing - A classic that still feels true, raw and to the heart. Bonuses: Robin Harris's ad-libs; Ernest Dickerson's shimmering cinematography; and (in the Criterion Collection edition) St. Clair Bourne's, The Making of Do The Right Thing.

2. Get on the Bus - Watching this sometimes makes me regret missing the Million Man March.

3. Summer of Sam - Forgot that Berkowitz' last shooting occured on my 10th birthday. Uneven, but great for all the repressed memories it brought back.



4. Malcolm X - Only for Spike's audacity. There's no way a single movie could do justice to Malcolm's life.



5. 25th Hour - finally saw this about two months ago and I really, really enjoyed the last 25 minutes or so, not to mention the opening montage that paid homage to the victims of the 9/11 attacks. While the pacing would bore a snail, it was a nice surprise from Spike.



Bonus: She's Gotta Have It - I loved this movie when it first came out. It highlighted my beloved Brooklyn, esp. Fort Greene Park which I visited often one summer when I was a summer camp worker. It was also refreshing to see Blacks in a movie that I could relate to and not cringe about in the company of white folk.



Bonus, Part Deux: We Are Family - Nile Rogers, the legendary music producer reached out and got a group of celebs together to remake the Sister Sledge hit. Directed by Danny Schecter, but the included music video was directed by Spike.

2nd Apple Store in Japan, This Time in Osaka

I read somewhere about a father-son pair that travels to each Apple retail store opening. If I had the money and time, I'd travel to Osake this fall:

Apple's Osaka retail store to sport suspended spiral staircase

Continuing to raise its profile overseas, Apple Computer is proceeding with plans to open its second store in Japan in Osaka during the fall of 2004. The flagship store will be large enough to sport a number of architectural advancements that won't be found in any of the company's U.S. locations, sources tell AppleInsider.

[ ... ]

The Osaka location is reportedly spacious enough to allow Apple to adorn the store with a wide, spiral staircase that otherwise would not be ideal in its North American stores. According to sources, the stairs will mostly consist of glass panels, while the stringers (the sides of the stairs that hold up the treads) will likely act as primary support for the structure.

Current plans indicate that the staircase will descend from the second story, suspended from its landing at the top. "The structure will not reach the floor below, and instead will be suspended off the first floor by the height of one riser, completely hung from the floor above," one insider said. "You couldn't really do a staircase exactly like this in most parts of the US because in most jurisdictions there, you can't have open risers on your stairs any more due to life safety codes." [ more ]

Ben & Jerry, & Mac Too!

I enjoyed the free cone giveaway last year. This year will be special with the added bonuses:

Ben & Jerry's sweepstakes has iPod, iMac, 50,000 iTunes By Peter Cohen pcohen@maccentral.com

Tuesday, April 27, 2004 is bound to be a busy day at Ben & Jerry's Scoop Shops. That's the company's 26th annual Free Cone Day. The first 50,000 customers in the U.S. who sign up for a sweepstakes at this year's event will also be able to get a code redeemable for a free song at Apple's iTunes Music Store. The sweepstakes grand prize winner gets an iPod, an iMac and a trip to Ben & Jerry's headquarters in Vermont to become an honorary "Flavor Guru," where the winner gets to make a batch of their own personal flavor of ice cream.

Ben & Jerry's expects the iTunes promotion and the free ice cream to be popular with young people. This year the company is also teaming up with Rock the Vote in an effort to help drive voter registration and encourage young people to become politically active. Starting on Free Cone Day, you can register to vote at selected Scoop Shops. Ben & Jerry's plans to hold additional voter registration days at specific shops this May through September.

Although voter registration and the free iTunes songs are something specific to the United States, Free Cone Day is something that happens at Ben & Jerry's Scoop Shops worldwide -- the company has more than 230 shops in the US, Canada, the UK, Spain, German, Korea, Hong Kong, Belgium, Ireland, The Netherlands, Israel and France.

Ben & Jerry's advises that free iTunes downloads are limited to one per person. Free songs will be available until all codes have been distributed.

Even if I don't win anything, not even a free song download, it should be lots of fun. Just hope the NYU students around the corner from my fav B&J behave themselves this year.

Mickey on the iTMS

From the website of the badasses at MacAddict magazine, one of the most clever (OK, it's actually quite pedestrian) Mac-related headlines:

M - I - C -- See Ya on iTunes

K - E - Y -- Why? nobody knows. Last time we checked, Hell was unfrozen as ever, so we have no explanation for today's announcement that the entire catalog of Walt Disney Records—including soundtracks—is available exclusively for purchase at Apple's iTunes Music Store.

Surprising given Apple's/Job's recent spat with the Mouse company over Pixar. Not really. The iTMS is a behemoth and the industry leader. Disney will benefit from additional income.

Brooklyn Love

Former VIBE Editor-in-Chief Danyel Smith guest blogs at Anil's spot for her book More Like Wrestling

Brooklyn (pretty much) Rules

Ft. Greene is the bomb. And the surrounding areas—North Flatbush, Brooklyn Heights, Park Slope, Prospect Heights, Cobble Hill, Boerum Hill—are interesting and seductive as well. I walk all over these streets. It all seems like one big neighborhood. There is no rhyme or reason to my travels—I just go.

I pretty much do the same thing when I travel Planet Brooklyn alone. I'll pick a random subway stop, or favorite locale and will visit and just walk from there wherever my feet take me. It's not unusual for me to walk hours on end, turning this way and that way, discovering new shops, diners, and hidden treasures like greenspots and such.

NYC Bloggers to meet at SoHo Apple Store May 3

Originally, I wasn't planning to attend this event:

NYC Bloggers to meet at SoHo Apple Store

Gothamist has organized a New York City Bloggers event, which will be held at the SoHo Apple Store on Monday, May 3 at 6:00 p.m. At the event, writers and publishers behind some of the most popular blogs will talk about the technical, editorial, and business issues affecting blogs.

More than likely I'll be in attendance and hope to meet up with some of you in the New York City area. My email addy is near the top and to the right if you want to make semi-formal plans.

{ reminder courtesy of Andre, friend of James of J-Notes fame. }

Steve Jobs Among the TIME 100

In a special issue of TIME magazine, 100 personalities and ideas are profiled. Among them is Apple's CEO:

The Steve Jobs way

Jobs co-founded Apple Computer with Steve Wozniak in 1976, and a year later launched the Apple II -- the first desktop computer to have a built-in keyboard, built-in sound and could produce color graphics when hooked to a color television.

He was also the force behind the Macintosh, another of Apple's groundbreaking personal computers, only to be ousted from the company in an in-house power struggle in 1985.

But Jobs returned to Apple in late 1996, and began the process that restored the company to profitability.

There are a few other people I'll write about either this weekend or early next week.

Still a Delight at 25

( VIA Jay Smooth's blog ) :

Hip hop = one big bang

Twenty-five years ago, Jimmy Carter was president, a gallon of gas cost 90 cents, and Wonder Mike, Big Bank Hank, and Master Gee were the kings of hip-hop.

I remember the big to-do when the record first came out. Everyone had to have a copy. Of course Moms beat everyone to the punch. We played that ish soooo much I think we had to get a second copy. It was the hit of Big Howard's b-day bash and for a (short) time I hated it because it kept me up many a-nights!

Bonus | Music — The Showdown: The Sugarhill Gang Vs. Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five

"[T]his collection .. achieve its goals: by showcasing the Sugarhill Gang — who emphasized the party groove from which rap came — and the extended Grandmaster Flash family — who saw themselves as social messengers (pun intended) — side by side, the album brings to light the pair's differences and groundbreaking creativity." -- Randy Silver

iPod Mini: Perfect Fit for Consumers

This Mac Rumors post shows the little MP3 player is a perfect fit for most music lovers

1000 Songs - Just Right?

A Jupiter Research survey reveals some interesting statistics about consumer interest in portable audio players.

According to their survey, 90% have no more than 1000 songs on their computer, while 77% of consumers would be interested in purchasing a portable music player with a 1000 song capacity.

Top features listed of interest to consumers include rechargable battery, small device size and computer connectivity.

Obvious comparisons are made towards Apple's most recent iPod Mini which appears to fit well with these desirable features.

Results of Meeting with Details Magazine

( VIA a list-serv I subscribe to - unedited and w/o hyperlinks )

From: Monica Taher [mailto:taher@glad.org]

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This is an update from GLAAD's API LGBT Media Activist List
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Yesterday Gay Asian & Pacific Islander Men New York (GAPIMNY) co-chair John Won and members Jih-Fei Cheng and Alain Dang, APIHR advisory board member Pauline Park and GLAAD's POC Media Manager Riley Snorton held an extremely successful editorial meeting with Details Magazine. Dan Peres, Editor-in-Chief, Claudia Chung, PR consultant for Fairchild, Patrick McCarthy, Editorials Editor and Chairman of Fairchild Publications, and Andrea Kaplin, Fairchild’s Communications Associate were present.

In our meeting, we made very clear the damaging effects the "Gay or Asian" feature had on the LGBT API community, explaining how the piece made gay APIs feel like they had to choose between the two communities, how it made them feel invisible, and how it exacerbated homophobia in the API community while playing on racial stereotypes in the LGBT community and mainstream society at large.

We spent the bulk of the meeting discussing solutions and presented a national effort, a letter signed by LGBT API organizations across the country including [see below] story ideas for future fair, accurate and inclusive coverage. Dan Peres, the Editor-In-Chief was actively engaged and expressed a real interest in some of the ideas we presented to him. He assured us that:

1) Details Magazine will move forward in a more sensitive manner and that there will be TANGIBLE results for our community to see in the next 6-8 months.

2) He shared that Details will be running a full page apology as well as many letters from organizations and individuals that expressed concern with the piece in their June/ July issue.

3) He also told us that we can look at the section "The Next Big Thing" in upcoming issues as a place where our story ideas for features and profiles of gay API entertainers and artists may appear.

4) He also felt that our specific concerns and demands for more
inclusive images could be addressed in the "Power Issue" when they discuss
the 30 most powerful men of the year, coming out in October.

5) Lastly, he encouraged us to "call him out" if he does not follow through on his commitment to more sensitive, inclusive coverage, and suggested a possible follow-up meeting in 6-8 months to hear feedback about Detail's coverage.

We are confident that Dan Peres & Details Magazine have an understanding of the "line that was crossed." However, be assured that we will be continue the dialogue to ensure that there is fair and accurate coverage of the API LGBT community.

NATIONAL API LGBT LETTER PRESENTED TO DETAILS MAGAZINE AT THE MEETING AND ORGANIZATIONS THAT ENDORSED IT – THANK YOU TO EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU!

April 21st, 2004

Dan Peres
Editor-In-Chief
Details Magazine
7 West 34th Street
New York, NY 10001

Dear Dan:

The Asian Pacific Islander (API) lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender [LGBT] community and their allies are outraged by the sensationalism in the piece “Gay or Asian” published in Details Magazine’s April issue. Whitney McNally’s attempt to manipulate racial and sexual stereotypes only conveyed Details inability to be sensitive, fair, and accurate to minority communities.

The relationship that exists between stereotypical LGBT images and the increase in discrimination, prejudice and hate crimes that LGBT people endure is no secret to anyone. In fact, just last year, the Anti-Violence Project reports that in 2003, there were 1,968 hate incidents against LGBT people. Three-percent (3%) of these victims identified as API. While “Gay or Asian” plays on the stereotype of the effeminate Asian male, this startling increase of victims who may not identify as LGBT can also be an indicator of the harm that this piece can do.

However, we are here to begin a dialogue with you about the impact these images have on our community and how “playing” with social stereotypes can be extremely damaging and have very dangerous consequences for those who are made the subjects of that humor. In an effort to help mend the controversy, we are presenting you with a series of story ideas that your publication can use to help mend the controversy by looking deeper into the LGBT API community. We are confident that your staff will utilize these ideas in the very, very near future and will make the American Society of Magazine Editors’ inclusion for a “National Magazine Award for General Excellence” – a just and fair nomination.

* A profile of an artist/ activist who does work in the API community and is also gay or bisexual.
* A feature story on a famous, openly gay artist or entertainer.
* A feature story on gay API images in mainstream media, common stereotypes, sensationalistic coverage and how experts assure that these only promote more discrimination and hate crimes: talk about what angered your readers about the “Gay or Asian” piece.
* A profile on a gay API couple and its tribulations on seeking to legalize same-sex marriage.
* A feature story on a bi-national male API couple and the problems one of them faces when asked to leave the U.S. because of his undocumented status.
* Profiles of openly gay API professionals [lawyers, doctors, etc.]
* A feature story on homosexuality and the API community.

Respectfully,

- Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD)
- Gay Asian & Pacific Islander Men of New York (GAPIMNY)
- Massachusetts Area South Asian Lesbian and Gay Association (MASALA) - Boston
- Asian/Pacific Islander Queers United for Action (AQUA) – Washington, D.C.
- Gay Asian Pacific Alliance (GAPA)- San Francisco
- Asian Pacific Islander Community AIDS project (APICAP) - San Diego
- API Family Pride
- Asian Pacific American Coalition for Equality (APACE)
- National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum (NAPAWF) – Washington, D.C. Chapter
- MOTHRA, Ann Arbor, Michigan
- Al-Fatiha, Queer Muslim LGBT organization
- Queer Asian pacific Alliance (QAPA) – Boston & New England

This is not a contest (Entry # 500)

In commemoration of National Poetry Month, Black Lion Publishing presents it's first book giveaway. The title up for grabs is Nile River Woman: The Very First Poems by Kola Boof.

Waiting on Ha Jin

Favorite Ha Jin work

Ocean of Words: Army Stories

Next in the reading queue

Waiting
New York Times Bestsellers

The (Continual) Rise of B. Smith

Now's the time for B. Smith to make her move.

At Home With B. Smith: A Move Up (Martha Who?)

When she was perceived as a phenomenon in a niche market, as an African-American tastemaker, she was allowed her success. But she has been confronted, in correspondence and on the telephone, by people who object to a mainstream lifestyle expert who is black. And, she said with trademark savoir-faire, "There are one or two people who think I'm too white."

Ms. Smith said she believed she was winning the day.

"They're finally not calling me the African-American Martha," she said. "I'm B. Smith." Recalling past rejections from retailers and manufacturers, and reminding herself of opportunities that seemed to appear for others, like Kathy Lee Gifford and Kathy Ireland, but not quickly for her, Ms. Smith asked: "Why did I have to work so hard to prove myself? You know, I get a little emotional about it, when I think about it like this."

Although it's a little scary how meek she appears in the presence of her husband.

Happy 1st Birthday, iTMS

Jobs to speak on iTunes Music Store anniversary

Apple announced today that it will be holding an iTunes Music Store Anniversary Conference Call this Wednesday, April 28 at 11:30 a.m. ET. Apple CEO Steve Jobs will update media and industry analysts on the iTunes Music Store one year after its launch.

I wonder if they met Steve's goal of 100 million downloads within a year. The beginning of the month they were just slightly past the half-way mark. Not sure if the Pepi iTunes giveaway was or was not supposed to be included. Estimates are in the neighborhood of 30 - 40 million and they (the iTMS) were selling about 2.5 - 3 million downloads a week.

No matter if the goal was reached, IMMHO, the iTMS is a huge success and its competitors will have to come correct if they want to succeed alongside, let alone, topple this music giant.

Poem On Your Blog Day

* UPDATE: May is Project Apollonia Month

From a list-serv I subscribe to comes this great idea:

Poem In Your Pocket

The City of New York and The New York Times invite you to join us on April 30, 2004 for Poem in Your Pocket Day. April is National Poetry month and there is no better way to culminate this tradition than a citywide celebration of poetry and literacy. New Yorkers are encouraged to carry a poem in their pocket and share it with friends, family, coworkers and classmates. Public schools throughout the five boroughs will highlight poetry on this day through readings, poetry workshops and specifically designed lesson plans. Tuck a poem in your pocket and see what surprises may come your way. What will your poem be?

I thought it would be a great idea if bloggers did something similar on April 30th:

To commemorate the end of National Poetry Month, blog about your favorite poem and provide at least one link to other poems and/or a bio of the poet.

Since I have several poets that I love (and to publicize my reinvigorated business site), I will post several poems and Black Lion Publishing will give away books by at least two poets (poets to be determined).

Support Same-Sex Marriage Among Asians

( from a list-serv I subscribe to )

An Important Letter and event from the Chair of GAPA

Recent events of anti marriage demonstrations by Chinatown and Sunset Churches has made the need for the Gay Asian community to make a stand in unity. We have recently been invited by the mayor Gavin Newsom to celebrate Asian Pacific American Heritage month at City Hall on Thursday at 12pm at the Mayor's Rotunda Balcony 2nd floor.

R.S.V.P. 415-554-6164

I encourage all our members, brothers,sisters and supporters to come out and be proud of being asian and gay during this month. Also I feel it would be great to support to such a progressive mayor who seems to care about our needs no matter what obstacles stand in his way, just by making your presence known and letting him know you are behind him.

I look forward to seeing you there and your contribution to supporting such a worthy cause. For more information how to get involved contact: gary@gapa.org

GAPA Chair
Gary Chen
PO Box 421884
San Francisco, CA 94142-1884
http://www.gapa.org
gary@gapa.org

*****Please forward invite to friends and organizations that are concerned

New York's African Roots

Just read the BBC article:

The African foundations of New York
By Jane Beresford, BBC producer of I Too Am America

The remains of 20,000 African men, women and children have lain beneath the busy streets of New York for 300 years, waiting to tell their stories on the extent of slavery in the city.

In March 1992, leading African-America archaeologist Michael Blakey arrived at the burial ground in downtown Manhattan.

"I had read about these people documented as chattel, " he said. "Now I was going to learn about these Africans in New York as human beings."

A haunting sight greeted him. Being winter, work was taking place under a translucent plastic tent.

"I'd really never seen an excavation like that one," he said. "There were mini excavators working and kerosene heaters going."

"By the time I got there, about a dozen burials were in the process of being exposed. One could see very clearly the positions that were meant to put them at peace when they were buried."

Many had their arms crossed. One female skeleton had tiny bones by her side, suggesting a woman cradling a new born child. [ more ]

Keith Boykin Reviews The Closet

I was planning on buying the DVD, but was distracted and kinda don't want to right now. Thankfully, Keith offers his insights on The Closet

Black gay television has taken a huge step forward with the release of the new television series, The Closet, which opened this weekend at the New York Film Festival. Billed as "the world's first black gay drama series," the show takes us into the lives of an interconnecting circle of black gay and bisexual men in Baltimore. It's a powerful story that's never been seen on television before, and it's about time. [ full review ]

P. O. Y. B. Day Image

Gwen Harlow adds her two cents about Poem on Your Blog Day:

It'd be cool if photobloggers did theirs with illustrations.

And she was nice enough to create an image for the day.

iTunes 4.5?

Following a thread from SpyMac, TheMacMind claims:

New iTunes Features, Early!

The features posted in the new Music Store, who will be celebrating one year in service on April 28, are:

-Browse iMixes
-The Single of the Week
-Audio Charts
-Unlimited CD burning of songs (burn any playlist up to 7 times)
-Play your music on up to 5 machines (Macs or PCs)

These are all new features with exception to the the two latter, where I if I'm not mistaken, unchanged playlists can be burned 10 times and music played on up to 3 Macs or PCs.

I expect most of that will be true, with some added features and maybe a pretty big announcement. And, of course, Jobs will report on whether or not his goal of 100 million downloads during the first year of the iTMS was reached. I suspect not, but who knows (especially if the Pepsi iTunes Giveaway is counted).

P. Y. O. B. Image & Code

A hearty, hearty thank you to Gwen as she makes it easy to link and show support for Poem on Your Blog Day.

May is Project Apollonia Month

I recently decided to declare May as Project Apollonia Month. David Scott Anderson has a wonderful, progressive, feel good idea and I want to support it as much as possible.

The inspiration came about because of the reaction to Poem on Your Blog Day. I really did not think that many people would respond and participate. And I've been proven wrong. So far, there are more than a dozen trackbacks to the original post, there's a li'l gif for the project (thanks Gwen!), and some blogs are already posting poems. It gives me tremendous hope that Project Apollonia will be a huge success. Whether or not you are participating in P.O.Y.B. Day, please think about supporting Project Apollonia in any way possible.

I have to wait till early next week to see if my employer can assist me. If they can, I think it will be a piece of cake to accomplish David's goal of sending 1,000 books by the first week of June. No matter what, I want to personally get books for a decent-sized classroom in Costa Rica.

Next Friday I hope to have more information and insight into a plan of action for the project. Stay tuned.

Don't Make Me Laugh

While attempting to dwindle down my favorite poems to a single one for P.O.Y.B. Day, I thought it would be a hoot to post some excerpts of some of my poems (I nearly self-published a collection started in a poetry course at Hunter College. Thank g-d for common sense!):

The stout Brown man" Fingers snapping, head rolling, they eyes solemn. Keeping pace, like Monk to an inner rhythm rising.

Black into green.
Red into gold.
The idea keen
as Jazz for a sunday mourn.

The jazzman coming,
roots African,
branches Brooklyn.

-- from Blue Light (Just Like the Jazzman)

That was dedicated to pops. He's a major jazzhead. He'd get together with his best friend Walter and talk jazz the entire time. And they had this game where they'd tried to outwit each other, guessing the personnel playing smooth sounds on each other's vinyl collection. I thought Dad had a large collection. Uncle Wally put him to shame: he had an entire room just for his collection. Dad had maybe 3000 - 4500 in total. Walter's had to be at least 3 times the lower end of Dad's collection. He was/is a perfection illustration of obsession.

This poem was partially inspired by the poetry of Lorna Goodison who I was lucky enojgh to exchange letters with after my then professor sent her my review of her poem "For Don Drummond."

* * * * * * * * * *

Because memory is the wine of quiet humiliation:

From the leaving, trouble.
The bumble-bee run wearing a mas' of defiance--
"Not on duty."

The funkysteelrockinhorse led us on.
Bringing down the prince of Trini-Town.
His ruby crown a'gone!!

How I suppose to know six is a slow, slow man?
Four/Five a mad, mad rush?!

-- from I Remember the Chinese Pavilion

That was inspired by a first date with a colleague at B------- G------ more than a dozen years ago. C. had a crush on me and the attraction was mutual. She (yes, I wrote "she" dammit!!) was a sweet, somewhat naive cutey and I was just beginning to break out of my shell. Anyway, I wanted to treat her to a nice, adult dinner for her birthday. She was not use to be treated like a lady and going out to a "goo" restaurant. The date was a disaster. We both worked that day and I had to make arrangements to switch schedules with some co-workers and change into something nice from my funky security guard uniform. I was pretty much not feeling the day but changed my mind after seeing how beautiful C. was. She was practically glowing. My mood would constantly be changed throughout the night.

First, we couldn't catch a cab. Where's Danny Glover when you need him? Then the restaurant — which I've long since forgotten — had a long ass wait and she convinced me to go to settle on a dingy little Chinese hole-in-the-wall across the street. The food was less than mediocre, halfway through a roach joined our party and the waitstaff was kinda...no, downright rude to us.

Anyway, the poem is a play on that night as re-imagined through the view of a Carribbean couple I saw on the platform across the Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall stop from me as I returned home — alone and horny! — that night. For some reason I always have a difficult time getting home late at night from Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall station. So, my imagination runs wild and I instantly thought they (the Caribbean couple) must have had a bad date as well. However, you could tell that they were a long-time couple by their body language and familiarity with each other.

Real poems tomorrow, although I promise to highlight just one as part of P.O.Y.B. Day.

No Images by Waring Cuney

No Images by Waring Cuney

She does not know
Her beauty,
She thinks her brown body
Has no glory.
If she could dance
Naked
Under palm trees
And see her image in the river,
She would know.

But there are no palm trees
On the street,
And dish water gives back no images.

I was thinking about using a poem by Langston Hughes whose poetry I've read countless times. But I figured that there'd be tons of bloggers who'd use him. Then I thought about posting a poem from a former Hunter College classmate, Tracie Morris, but I think much of her work has to be heard and experienced in person to really get it. That reminded me of probably my favorite young poet, Willie Perdomo who provides a CD of himself reading his poetry. Then I remembered that Saul Williams has an intriguing, powerful new book-length poem. But it's book length and I wanted to post an entire poem, not just an excerpt. That's why I couldn't post my favorite Jessica Care Moore poem, "Black Statue of Liberty."

When James posted about participating in P.O.Y.B. Day, I suggested he post a poem that was turned into a song. That's when I knew I had to post "No Images" by Cuney. His most well-known poem has been performed by several artist, probably most notably by Nina Simone (the song is entitled "Images."). However, I first heard it as a song by Sweet Honey in the Rock. That was my introduction to not only the song (and by extension, the poem), but to this fantastic group.

Once I read the lyrics and realized it was a poem, I found an old copy of Cuney's poems somewhere and was saddened by my ignorance of someone considered a notable poet of the Washington (D.C.) New Negro Movement. It still saddens me to see so many girls of color who 've yet to realize that they're naturally beautiful and don't need others' images to fit in.

Special Note: Don't forget that starting tomorrow, May is Project Apollonia Month.

I'm On My Way

With hours to go before the official start of Project Apollonia Month, I'm getting my rugged running shoes ready. Like my neighborhood's (Bedford—Stuyvesant) motto, it's "Do-or-Die" time.