November 2008
1 post
Muse.
I have to put my feelings in check all the time.
I am super-sensitive, and the smallest things have me asking myself a thousand questions about my worth. The thing that helps me cope with this obviously neurotic disorder is that I know that I am responsible for the way I feel. I try not to make others feel responsible for my shit. No matter what effed-up madness others throw my way, I can...
October 2008
5 posts
This Thing Called Race in America
In Christianity, the fundamental role of a prophet or one with a prophetic voice is not to foretell the future or make predictions. The prophet, first and foremost, must name the sins of which the people are guilty before the prophet can lead the people into a better land. Racism has been the force which dares not speak its name in this campaign. Let us stop for a moment, name the sin, and...
The 2008 Man Booker Prize Goes To...
Aravind Adiga (The White Tiger)!!!
Man Booker Prize Shortlist
Sebastian Barry—The Secret Scripture
Aravind Adiga—The White Tiger
Amitav Gosh—Sea of Poppies
Steve Toltz— A Fraction of the Whole
Philip Hensher—The Northern Clemency
Linda Grant— The Clothes in Their Backs
Best of Luck!
*m
Thank You, Kara Walker
Responsible Faith
(posted from my iPhone, so please forgive the errors)
This morning I worshipped with a lovely group of Unitarian Universalists. They were warm, friendly and honest in their quest to live peaceably with all of creation. I left the service feeling renewed and encouraged. I know that my responsibility as a member of the human race is to learn create harmony and balance. I have to be worthy of the...
September 2008
8 posts
This is Your Nation on White Privilege
M, please read this amazing essay by Tim Wise, author of White Like Me.
For those who still can’t grasp the concept of white privilege, or who are constantly looking for some easy-to-understand examples of it, perhaps this list will help. White privilege is when you can get pregnant at seventeen like Bristol Palin and everyone is quick to insist that your life and that of your family is a...
David Foster Wallace, We Speak Your Name
“I feel unalone — intellectually, emotionally, spiritually. I feel human and unalone and that I’m in a deep, significant conversation with another consciousness in fiction and poetry in a way that I don’t with other art.”
~David Foster Wallace (1962-2008)
Ro
The literary world has lost one of its greatest...
Farewell, David Foster Wallace
M,
A while back you sent me a great quote from Wallace about why he reads fiction, about how it makes him feel connected to other humans. If you still have it, please post in memory of his work.
Ro
* * * * * * * * * *
Miles to Go Before We Sleep
Ro
My weekend was exciting.
Saturday, I attended a community discussion on race and politics at Busboys and Poets DC. The discussion was facilitated by Dr. Melissa Harris-Lacewell, Associate Professor of Politics and African American Studies at Princeton University. Dr. Harris-Lacewell asserts that the 2008 election is a collective referendum on white supremacy, and collectively we were able...
Hear, Hear
I agree with everything you said. I am more saddened by the people rallying around Palin than by the woman herself. There will always be self-righteous bullies in the world. I hate that I live in a country were at least half the population seem to prefer arrogance over intelligence in their leaders.
On a cheerier note. I bought a painting today. From this super cool artist. I’m jittery...
The Powerful and Obnoxious Odor of Mendacity
Ro
I knew it was time for us to talk politics; thanks for the conversation starter.
Sarah Palin is a “cocky wacko.” She is a liar, and she scares me. Since her nomination announcement, I have had nightmares in which she hunts me much like the way General Zaroff hunts Rainsford in The Most Dangerous Game.
Governor Palin did not oppose the infamous “Bridge to Nowhere,”...
Cocky Wacko
Former GOP senator calls Palin a ‘cocky wacko’. Indeed.
You Are Brave
To my loving, contemplative, capable and brave friend, Ro
We both seem slightly out of touch lately; each of us visiting places deep within ourselves—looking for meaning, strength and courage.
Sometimes things really feel out of sorts;sometimes our best decisions don’t feel good; sometimes the world is moving too fast, and we just want to get off. But, remember the tree and what it...
“You play. You win. You play. You lose. You play.”
– Jeanette Winterson
August 2008
24 posts
M,
I’m having one of those days, weeks really, where I’m questioning every major decision I’ve made. I’m looking at my career, my relationships, my home, or rather my lack of a home — I’m between places this week — and wondering if I’m living the life I want to live. I don’t think I am.
I wish I were brave.
Ro
oh, and I know you are going...
What did you decide to do?
Call me.
Ro
This week (and always) I am celebrating the genius of black women!!! I miss Octavia E. Butler so much. Here is the link to one of her last interviews.
Octavia E. Butler talks to Michael Silverblatt
*m
———-
M,
I have been meaning to respond to your post about Dr. Matilda Arabella Evans. I love that you will put her picture in your classroom to inspire both you and and your students. Her life story puts things into perspective really quickly.
During my college years, there was a book that came out about African-American female heroes. I can’t remember what the publication was called, but it...
3 tags
Good Morning
He took me and made something beautiful out of my life. He took me and made something beautiful out of my life. He took a wretch, a wretch like me, and showed his love divine And by his grace, he saved my life My all and my all I cannot let him down, For he’s the one that made Something beautiful out of my life
~The St. Mark A.M.E. Zion Church’s Doris Fryar Singers / Circa 1987
...
We Speak Your Name
Ro
The woman in the photo, Matilda Arabella Evans, graduated from the Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania in 1897. She was the first African American woman licensed to practice medicine in South Carolina.
Dr. Evans practiced obstetrics, gynecology and surgery; she cared for patients in her own home until she established the Taylor Lane Hospital (the first black hospital in Columbia,...
M,
It’s funny that you bring up the church search because I had a conversation about this very thing yesterday. I went to services at the Bahai center again and had lunch with a new friend afterwards.
She feels much like you do. That the benefits of going to a place of worship on a regular basis and being part of a church community outweigh the discomfort that comes when you disagree with...
Rediscovering Faith: My Church Search
Ro
I am kind of a Transcendentalist/ Christian / Buddhist / Unitarian Universalist.
Since I can’t seem to find any religious communities that actually cater to my eclectic form of religious observance, I have decided to join a Christian church in order to satisfy my deep desire to be a part of a religious order.
I once thought that committing myself to one church or another meant that...
The Gadgets are Coming
Ro
Going into the Apple Store can be a bit overwhelming; Steve Jobs and his minions have been known to have adverse affects on the undecided. All those people, each with her own tech-issue, would probably cause me to run for the hills as well.
I have to admit, I am a fan of the new iPhone. Although I am not a person who has to have every new computer thingamijig, I am considering severing my...
Hanging Up
M, the woman who didn’t have a cell phone when you met her four-and-a-half years ago almost got an iPhone 3G today. Almost.
I was standing in the Apple store and my head was aching. I couldn’t seem to attract the attention of any of the Apple Geniuses, who all seemed frazzled and overwhelmed by the throngs of people crammed into the place. The tween to the left of me was pouting...
Concurring
I read The Root occasionally. I like it.
I haven’t read Grigsby Bates’ piece on restaurant etiquette, but I agree with you.
Most of the time, if I’m with friends, I ask the server to divide the check by the people present. Who wants to nickle and dime their way through life?
Still, there are times when dividing the cost of the meal by the number of diners is unfair, like...
Check, Please
Ro
Do you read the blogs on The Root (dot com)?
I visit The Root almost every day, and often the brothers and sisters who post on The Root have insightful things to say. Today, Karen Grigsby Bates has a piece about restaurant etiquette. In short, Grigsby Bates discusses the folly of haggling over a bill during group dining experiences. She offers tips on how to keep the peace when folks start...
2 tags
Nashville and Newspapers
NASHVILLE:
Ro
Ahhh, Nashville, Tennessee (Vanderbilt University)— our meeting place. Sometimes I revisit the memories of our time together: Do you remember when we discovered that we could use our lunch cards to buy books at the Vanderbilt University book store? LOL. I was one starving sistah… LOL.
Needless to say, I am delighted to be able to participate in this conversation with...
One recovering journalist to another
M,
It looks like my old paper is finally offering buyouts with layoffs to come. There is a small item buried on its Web site today. I wonder how things are going at your old spot. It looks like we got out just in time.
It makes me sad to see the newspaper industry foundering.
The sad part is that everyone loses when there are fewer beat reporters monitoring officials, parsing public...
Musing and chanting, er, I mean, chatting.
Awww, thanks for the image, M.
Just looking at that tree rooted in the earth reminds me to pay attention, breathe, sit up straighter.
Thank you also for agreeing to participate in this public exchange with me. We’ve come a long way since that winter in Nashville almost five years ago. Remember haggling over Today’s News while the less opinionated folks in the room squirmed in...
In the Spirit of Womanhood
Ro
Thanks, friend, for posting that quote from my FAVORITE poem, Mary Oliver’s Wild Geese!
The poem begins, “You do not have to be good. You do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the desert repenting. You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.”
God, I love this poem!!! I still have to remind myself that I am enough and that I don’t have to...
“Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world...”
– from Wild Geese by Mary Oliver