Big ups.....

Big ups to my girl Tayari Jones! She has a booksigning coming up March 20 at BusBoys and Poets
2021 14th St NW Washington DC 20009 Ph 202-387-7638 Fax 202-387-6138 ww.busboysandpoets.com

5:30-7:30 PM Author Event: Tayari Jones will read from and discuss her second novel, The Untelling, published in 2005. The Untelling is the story of a family struggling to overcome to aftermath of a fatal car accident. When asked why she chose to focus on a particular family in this work after the sprawling historical subject matter of Leaving Atlanta, Tayari Jones explains, "The Untelling is a novel about personal history and individual and familial myth-making. These personal stories are what come together to determine the story of a community, the unoffical history of a neighborhood, of a city, of a nation." Upon the publication of The Untelling, Essence magazine called Jones, "a writer to watch." The Atlanta Journal Constitution proclaims Jones to be "one of the best writers of her generation." In 2005, The Southern Regional council and the University of Georgia Libraries awarded The Untelling with the Lillian C. Smith Award for New Voices.

RIP Octavia Butler....

http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&hs=XYQ&lr=&client=
firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official_s&tab=nn&ie=
ISO-8859-1&filter=0&q=octavia butler&btnG=Search News
Octavia Butler, brilliant master of sci-fi, dies at 58

By Emily Heffter
Seattle Times staff reporter

For more than 30 years, Seattle science-fiction novelist Octavia Butler dreamed up fantastic worlds and religions, made-up creatures and futuristic plots. Then, in her stylistic prose, she used them to tackle the social issues she was most passionate about.

"Parable of the Talents," a futuristic story about a utopian community ravaged by civil war, explored modern-day issues of intolerance, the growing gap between rich and poor, and environmentalism. In her first novel, "Kindred," she plunged into racial issues when a modern-day character was transported into the body of a pre-Civil War slave.

"What [Ms. Butler] was writing for the first time was a kind of woman's-eye view, a very smart woman's-eye view, of say, 'Brave New World' or '1984,' " said writer Harlan Ellison, Ms. Butler's friend and mentor. Click here to read more

Damon Wayans trying to trademark the word "nigga"

Maybe if people had to pay Damon Wayans to say it or put it in print, people would stop saying it....I suppose at some point I will blog more about this.....

Read the story here

The actor Damon Wayans has been engaged in a 14-month fight to trademark the term "Nigga" for a clothing line and retail store, a search of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's online database reveals.

Wayans wants to dress customers in 14 kinds of attire from tops to bottoms, and use the controversial mark on "clothing, books, music and general merchandise," as well as movies, TV and the internet, according to his applications.

But, so far, his applications have been unsuccessful. Trademark examiner Kelly Boulton rejected the registration dated Dec. 22, citing a law that prohibits marks that are "immoral or scandalous." A previous attempt by Wayans was turned down on identical grounds six months earlier.

"While debate exists about in-group uses of the term, 'nigga' is almost universally understood to be derogatory," Boulton wrote to Wayans' attorney, William H. Cox, according to the application.

big ups...

Jati's work on display in G'town...

Opus Akoben abroad in Bahrain
click here and here for more


More from K'Alyn in Addis Ababa
(Read the blog section, pics here)

Prison Poetry by Kymone Freeman
One show only buy tickets here

more soon...

By the way many of you probably already know but Gilles Peterson did a dope tribute to J-Dilla on his weekly Wednesday show. Listen here

"renlentless" street "literature"

February 14, 2006
Street Lit With Publishing Cred: From Prison to a Four-Book Deal
By COREY KILGANNON

On a recent Saturday night, Dewitt Gilmore, 41, stepped onto an idling bus waiting to make the trip from Columbus Circle in Manhattan to the Groveland Correctional Facility in Sonyea, N.Y., near the Canadian border. Dressed in a flashy warm-up suit, he squeezed down the aisle past women and young children clutching pillows for the overnight trip.

Mr. Gilmore, a writer who goes by the pen name Relentless Aaron, was there to sell books.

"For those of you who don't know me — where you're going, I was there for seven years," he told the crowd. "A lot of you have been buying my books for your husbands and for yourselves. I started here selling my books out of my knapsack, and now I have a six-figure deal with St. Martin's Press." Click here to read more

Some good thoughts on "the writing life"...

excerpts from this article by Margaret Atwood


What is writing for? Writers -- unlike dentists, bricklayers and other practical folk -- are always being asked why they do what they do; asked, in effect, to prove their usefulness. It's an odd question, because language and mathematics are the two most potent and useful tools human beings have ever invented.

Sometimes, as a writer, you forget this. You can get stuck; you can start believing in your own superfluity. As you crumple up the first paragraph yet again and heave it into the wastebasket, you may feel that you're living in a paper house and speaking into a void.

and

"...we said that writing, like sewing, took one thing and made it into another; and that writing, like sewing, was always for someone, even if that someone was yourself in the future. Writing was a way of sending your voice to someone you might never meet."

read the whole joint here

Theater: Staged reading of Driving Down the Price of Honey

Driving Down the Price of Honey
Host: The Collective
Location: Howard University, 2455 6th Street, NW, Washington, DC
When:Monday, February 13, 7:30pm
Phone: (571) 267-0927
There will be a reading of a new play called Driving Down the Price of Honey on Monday, in the Environmental Theatre Space at Howard University. The reading will be directed by Martin Damien Wilkins and will feature,

Renée L. Charlow
Bruce Allen Dawson
Henri Edmonds
Karen L. B. Evans
André Manly

Set in southern Georgia in the mid 70's, Driving Down the Price of Honey, written by M. A. Robinson explores the lives of five people trying to reconcile their passion with their faith. Robinson has penned an ambitious succulent drama that exposes the contradictions within tight knit communities regarding alcoholism, sexuality and faith.

National Park Service takes over at Carter G. Woodson house

Although, i am happy that the Woodson's home is going to be saved (managed by the National Park Service) and not have to be torn down, I am a little bit irked because i am not sure that it had to get to this point. Carter G. Woodson, was member of Omega Psi Phi Farternity, whose Alpha Chapter (is founding chapter) is here at Howard University. His only is only a few blocks away from the campus itself. I find it unbelievable that The Omega organization would allow the property of such and important person not only in African American History, but more specifically their farternal history come to such a state; surely with so many conspicuously wealthy “Ques” , “Ques –Dawgs”, or “bruhs” (as they like to call themselves) , around they could have made sure that this important landmark was preserved. If I were a member of such an organization I would be embarrassed to allow the property to how come to such disrepair.
Read here for more

This raises another concern particularly in light of Coretta Scott King’s recent passing. The National Park Service stands to gain control of another artifact of African American and indeed World history, by way of the King Center in Atlanta.
For all of the wealth that we have acquired (or apparently acquired), why don’t we (especially those who invoke the names to which such property or artifacts belonged) see the importance of ensuring the preservation of property and artifacts that are central to the African American experience. Is anyone else more than a little ashamed that in the most affluent African American settlement in the country that such would the status quo?

Read here and here

what do y'all think? Speak upon it!

AOL and Yahoo to charge for email?

AOL and Yahoo put price on e-mail
By Saul Hansell The New York Times
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2006
NEW YORK Companies will soon have to buy the electronic equivalent of a postage stamp if they want to be certain that their e-mail will be delivered to many of their customers.

America Online and Yahoo, two of the world's largest providers of e-mail accounts, are about to start using a system that gives preferential treatment to messages from companies that pay from a quarter of a cent to 1 cent each to have them delivered. The Internet companies say this will help them identify legitimate mail and cut down on junk e-mail, identity-theft scams and other scourges of users of their services.

The two companies also stand to earn millions of dollars a year from the system if it is widely adopted.

AOL and Yahoo will still accept e-mail from senders who have not paid, but the paid messages will be given special treatment. On AOL, for example, they will go straight to users' main mailboxes and will not have to pass the gauntlet of spam filters that could divert them to a special bulk e-mail box or strip them of images and Web links. Click here to read more

Artists' Housing: artists in search of affordable live/work space

If you are an artist and are looking for affordable live/work space (like the Mather Studios, down at 9th and G Sts NW); these two information sessions could be for you. check them out:

Cultural Development Corporation will host two Live/Work Housing
Information Sessions in February.

LIVE/WORK HOUSING INFORMATION SESSIONS

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 6:30-8:30 PM
or
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 1:00-3:00 PM
Both sessions will be held at the Mead Theatre Lab at Flashpoint: 916 G Street, NW, convenient to both the Gallery Place and Metro Center Metro stations.

CALL 202-315-1324 TO SIGN-UP OR FOR MORE INFORMATION

SEEKING LIVE/WORK SPACE IN DC?
o Wondering what affordable options are on the horizon?
o Curious about eligibility requirements to purchase or rent live/work
space?

Join the Cultural Development Corporation (CuDC) and fellow artists to
learn about CuDC’s current live/work housing opportunities and the
home-purchasing process. For more information about CuDC's live/work
housing programs please visit www.culturaldc.org

also

Artist Housing Survey

Cultural Development Corporation (CuDC) partners with developers to create affordable space for area artists and their families. Currently, CuDC is hard at work cultivating new artist live/work housing projects in the District of Columbia and we need your input. As we begin to consider design specifications, amenities, and renting/owning expectations, an increased understanding of artists' specific needs is critical to the success of these projects. Please visit http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=967751627739 to take this important survey. Please share this survey with anyone you think may be interested.