Something New? or Something very old?

I have been marginally following this Duke Lacrosse team alleged rape story and it honestly I did not want to comment on it. i wanted to stay away from it altogether. However I was over at E. Ethelbert Miller's blog and it inspired me to say something about it.

Lacrosse is a game that I am intimately familiar with, i played throughout prep school and even considered going out for the team while in college. I am equally familiar and intimate with the people who play lacrosse, being that I spent 4 years of my life inside their world. For those who don't know lacrosse is a game that is considered a game of the "elite", if you look at where some of the most successful and accomplished teams are they will represent some of the most high powered and high profile prep schools, colleges and universities in the country. Likewise, the folks who play lacrosee most of the time come from families that represent the some of the most wealthy and powerful families in the country.

I have personally witnessed the fact that the parents of these children have become quite adept at cleaning up their childrens' messes from DUI's in high school, drunken parties on the public and private property, rehab before reaching high school, etc.

I am more than a little concerned that this alleged rape case will 1) turn out to be a farse, 2) will not get the attention it deserves 3) be turned into an opportunity to call into question the character of victim(s), instead of the alleged attackers (read here), or 4) be made to disappear by the rich and powerful parents of the kids involved.

I could say a lot more but that is the beauty of the web I can just link some folks who are saying it better than I am:
Duke Lacrosse Rape Probe
The Gruesome Duke Lacrosse Details
15 Duke lacrosse players had prior charges
Justice 4 Two Sisters- a blog set up to follow the case
Questions arise about alleged gang-rape call
Police release 911 tapes, players deny sex of any kind with dancer at party

Hurston/Wright Writer’s Week July 16 to July 22, 2006

HURSTON/WRIGHT FOUNDATION SEEKS SUBMISSIONS FOR SUMMMER WRITING WORKSHOP

Submissions from African American Writers Needed

Washington, DC – The Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Foundation is accepting applications for its annual Writers’ Week summer workshop for Black writers. It is the nation’s only multi-genre summer writer’s workshop for writers of African descent with a tuition-free component for high school students. The workshop will be held on the campus of American University in Washington, DC from July 16 to July 22, 2006. To participate, writers must submit an application along with samples of their work by April 21, 2006.

The week brings together Black writers from around the United States, as well as Black writers from the Caribbean, Africa, and Europe, who create a nurturing, safe space to discuss their work, its meaning, and unique aesthetics. Hurston/Wright Writers’ Week is distinguished by the diversity of the writers it attracts: published, unpublished, college students, high school students, seniors, retirees, professionals-all chosen to participate in the Week on the strength of their writing.

“The Hurston/Wright Writers’ Week workshop allows Black writers to create a space where our unique story is completely understood,” said Marita Golden, founder of the Hurston/Wright Foundation. “Participants build relationships with mentors and become part of a supportive community that sustains them long after the week has ended.”

All courses during the week are taught by published authors and include workshops on fiction, memoirs, creative writing, and poetry. Confirmed workshop leaders include:
Marita Golden, acclaimed author of 12 works of fiction and nonfiction, including the popular best sellers Long Distance Life, Migrations of the Heart and Don't Play in the Sun. She has been a member of the graduate creative writing faculties at George Mason University and Virginia Commonwealth University.

Wil Haygood, author of Two on the River; King of the Cats: The Life and Times of Adam Clayton Powell Jr.; The Haygoods of Columbus: A Family Memoir; and In Black and White: The Life of Sammy Davis Jr. He is currently a staff writer for the Style section of the Washington Post.

Venise Berry, author of best selling novels, So Good: An African American Love Story, All of Me, A Voluptuous Tale, and Colored Sugar Water. Berry is an associate professor of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Iowa City, Iowa.

Patricia Elam, author of the novel Breathing Room. Her fiction and nonfiction
writings have been published in The Washington Post, Essence, Emerge, Newsday,
and in such anthologies as Father's Songs and New Stories from the South.

Steven Barnes, author of best selling novels such as Dream Park (with Larry Niven), Legacy of Heorot and Beowulf's Children (with both Niven and Jerry Pournelle). His solo novels include Streetlethal, Gorgon, Child, Firedance, The Kundalini Equation, and Blood Brothers. He has been nominated for the Hugo and Cable Ace Awards, and is the writer of "A Stitch In Time," the Emmy-winning episode of Showtime's The Outer Limits.

Tyehimba Jess, a winner of the 2004 Literature Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, and was a 2004-2005 Winter Fellow at the Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center. His first book of poetry, Leadbelly, was a winner of the 2004 National Poetry Series. Jess is an assistant professor of English at University
of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Kenny Carroll, a creative writing teacher at Duke Ellington School of the Arts. For the past 10 years he has been the executive director of DC Writers Corps, a non- profit organization committed to engaging middle and junior high school students in the literary arts.

Participants may choose from a base tuition of $650 or for advanced writers, the tuition is $800. Room and board is available at an additional cost. Qualifying high school students will receive a full scholarship including room and board.

Hurston/Wright Writer’s Week is made possible with the support of American University, Verizon Foundation, Broadway/Doubleday Group, and the generous support of individual donors.

For more information about the Hurston/Wright Foundation and its annual Writer’s Week or to download an application, visit www.hurston-wright.org or call 301-683-2134.

About the Hurston/Wright Foundation
The Hurston/Wright Foundation is a nonprofit resource center for readers, writers and supporters of Black literature. The mission of this literary organization is to discover, develop and honor Black writers for the purpose of preserving the legacy and ensuring the future of Black writers and the literature they create. Since its inception in 1990, the Hurston/Wright Foundation has grown from serving only one segment of the community of Black writers, college writers of African descent, to providing culturally sensitive services and guidance for Black writers and their readers at every stage of their development.

Jazz & Poetry Tuesday Night with Brandon Johnson @ Grace Church

Jazz & Poetry Tuesday Night with Brandon Johnson @ Grace Church

Grace Church is located at 1041 Wisconsin Ave., NW, between M and K streets in lower Georgetown. Free parking is available at Loews Cinema, a block away at Wisconsin & K. Please bring your parking stub for validation. For maps and directions to the church, please visit http://www.gracedc.org.


Tuesday, March 28th join Grace Church for an evening of Jazz & Poetry with Brandon Johnson and guitarist Rodney Richardson, starting at 7:30pm at Grace Church. Enjoy free dessert and Starbucks coffee before and after the reading.

Brandon Johnson, author of The Strangers Between, Man Burns Ant, and co-author of The Black Rooster Social Inn: This is the Place. He has received awards and fellowships from Cave Canem, the DC Commission on the Arts, and the Larry Neal Writer's Competition. His newest book of poetry is Love's Skin.

Guitarist Rodney Richardson has drawn the attention and admiration of Blues Alley, where he has performed with the Rodney Richardson Quartet and Six String Theory. Rodney has also performed with the Howard University Jazz Ensemble and special guests such as Jimmy Heath, Yusef Lateef, Benny Golson, and Grady Tate.

FREEDOM'S CALL Documentary 3/23/06

FREEDOM'S CALL

You are invited to the Washington DC Premiere of FREEDOM'S CALL, a documentary revisiting the civil rights struggle through the eyes of two renowned Black journalists. The film features former Washington Post writer, columnist and editor, Dorothy Gilliam, who was the first female African American reporter for the publication, and renowned photographer Ernest Withers whose photographs have appeared in the black press, The Washington Post and The New York Times.

Thursday, March 23, 2006, 7:30 p.m.,
The Avalon Theater
5612 Connecticut Ave. NW
Washington DC 20052

RSVP - (202) 726-4515; contact@whartongroupinc.com

Black Arts Movement Conference, March 23 and March 24 at Armour J. Blackburn Center

The Department of English hosts a two-day conference revisiting the Black Arts Movement. Some scheduled presenters include Haki Madhubuti, Marvin X, Ed Bullins, Askia Toure, Sonia Sanchez, Amiri Baraka, Barbara Teer. A early registration fee of $15.00 or $20.00 on the day of the conference.

Click here to download the schedule of events

around my way...

Stadium To Debut Without Retail
In D.C., First Phase Of Shopping Area Expected in 2009

By David Nakamura and Dana Hedgpeth
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, March 17, 2006; A01

If a new D.C. baseball stadium is completed as scheduled in March 2008, fans attending games during the opening season should not expect to stop at a restaurant outside the ballpark, shop at a boutique or walk along a pier on the Anacostia River a block away.

Although Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D) has promised a ballpark entertainment district that will include luxury condos and office buildings and create millions of dollars in annual tax revenue, developers said they will need more than two years to complete just the initial building plans.

"Our goal is spring '09 to have the first phases done," said Herbert S. Miller, chairman of Western Development, one of four companies that will create the entertainment district. "Nobody has even designed anything yet. To even get this done in three years would be pretty impressive, but that's our goal." Click here to read more

big ups..

Big ups to my boy Dr. Keith Leonard on the publication of his new book Fettered Genius: The African American Bardic Poet from Slavery to Civil Rights. i have not read it yet, but from what i know of the brother it is sure to be an insightful and enlightening read at the least.

Click here to read more

Womens History Month film events

March 17th The International Women's Day Celebration continues with

Film: THE PERFUMED GARDEN 52 minutes / color / 2000
What: Film Screening
When: March 17th , 7pm
with Special guest Rochelle Davis
Stay to discuss the film and ideas about the global portrayal of women.
Film cost: Free
Location: Spirit House DC
1615 Buchanan Street NW
Washington DC

Film: THE PERFUMED GARDEN 52 minutes / color / 2000 is an exploration of the myths and realities of sensuality and sexuality in Arab society, a world of taboos and of erotic literature. Through interviews with men and women of all ages, classes, and sexual orientation, the film lifts a corner of the veil that usually shrouds discussion of this subject in the Arab world. Made by an Algerian-French woman director, the film begins by looking at the record of a more permissive history, and ends with the experiences of contemporary lovers from mixed backgrounds. It examines the personal issues raised by the desire for pleasure, amidst societal pressures for chastity and virginity.

The film discusses pre-marital sex, courtship and marriage, familial pressures, private vs. public spaces, social taboos (and the desire to break them), and issues of language.

THE PERFUMED GARDEN also demonstrates how the rich legacy of fantasy in "A Thousand and One Arabian Nights" permeates contemporary Arab culture, and shows that this world of pleasure and proscription survives as a form of survival and resistance to this day.

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March 31th Closing of IWD Film Series she sees…

In conjunction with Spirit House DC, Latin American Folk Institute
Film: The Ripple Effect: Our Stories with a panel discussion with the young women of Hermana a Hermana
by Sister to Sister (Hermana a Hermana) 2006/ Color

The young women of Sister to Sister Hermana a Hermana have created a documentary describing what it is like to be a young woman in 2006. The cast are the many faces of youth in Washington DC. Discussing the serious issues of rape, incest, sexism, drugs, teen pregnancy and more. Support our youth as they tell their stories!

Film cost: Free
Location: LAFI
34th and Rhode Island Ave
Mt. Rainier Md
What: Film Screening
When: March 31st 7pm

Thanks Kim Gaines of Sondai Expressions for this info

Click here to read more

Shows (MN8 and others).. you know what time it is!

Click on flyers for larger view
TONIGHT!!! 3.17.06 Friday Tortured Soul and Angela Johnson Black Cat , 8:30pm 14th and S Streets NW $15


also TONIGHT! CROSSRHODES (R.DeVaughn, W.Ellington Felton, Bilal Salaam) @ BAR NUN 1326 You St NW

3.20.06 Little Brother and DJ Stylus WASHINGTON, DC Black Cat 14th and S Streets NW $15

updates

"so the headline for this one comes from the reporter who asked "how do you feel being in egypt" to which i responded, i've always wanted to come to Africa...she giggled and was like 'we Egyptians don't view ourselves as Arabic or African'..i was like well you still on the continent, right..(nervous giggle from her...straight poker grill from me) So here we are in Egypt, Africa" -----from Kokayi's blog. click here to read

Bones....

Poet and writer Geoffrey Philip Talks about the "big man’s game” of Dominos......nuff said

click here to read the story.

big ups..

I should have done this a long time ago.....
Big ups to my boys, fellow poets Derrick Weston Brown (The Unseen) and Alan King (Transfer), both of whom just released chapbooks that are essential reading.

click here to buy Derrick's chapbook, The Unseen

Click here or here to get Alan King's chapbook, Transfer

Video tape rape in Chicago...

I know many of us still bug out when we think of how R. Kelly for the most part has suffered no serious repercussions of his (videotaped) sex acts with a minor, but it seems like Chicago courts just seem to totally regard video tapes. Just recently a group of three men (originally four, but one fled , believed to be in Eastern Europe somewhere), all got acquitted of criminal sexual assault and child pornography charges, despite the fact that there was video tape of the said act. Now i am no legal expert, and i have not hear all the facts, but damn.....I mean a 16 year old girl (she is now 20) gets drunk out of mind, vomits is obviously non-coherent and has consensual sex with four guys....on tape, then according to the article the guys write obscenities with permanent marker on her legs. I don't know somethign ain't right like i said i am not a lawyer, and don't know all the facts in the case but something just doesn't sound right here.

Sources:
blackfeminism.org

averytooley.com

Chicago SunTimes

Chicago Tribune

the plight of black farmers and the failure of the american dream

Check out this essay and photoessay on African American farmers

(source: The Digital Journalist)

updates

"the finger of God will never point you where the hand of God won't protect you..."
-T from Opus Akoben

Kokayi updates on sharing Hip Hop and DC with the world.

"there is sanctity in symmetry even if that means we die..."
-Poet, Yvonne Gilmore of the Cornel West theory on a track called "Stephen"

check this out..Philly folks

This is not the event to miss:
Theodore (Teddy) A. Harris, is one of the dopeist collage artist out there today, so if you are in Philly or planning to go on or about March 16, you might want to stop by Amistad Gallery 3900 Walnut St. Philadelphia, PA 19104 to check him out!
check out some of his work (and folks talking about his work):
http://www.leftcurve.org/LC24WebPages/TedAHarris.html
http://www.ironagetheatre.org/harris.html
http://www.haverford.edu/HHC/gallerywelcome.html

click image to see a larger view

ART FOR A PHONEY WAR:The Truthoscopic Collage Art of Theodore A. Harris

"Teddy Harris' work is the Modernism of everyday perception and rationale. He makes works from vouchsafes and unrealized dreams, lies and advertisements for the nowheres. That is, he takes scrapes of America North and Threads them through his truthoscopic sensibility...."
Amiri Baraka

Opening Reception and Slide Lecture Thursday,
March 16th, 2006 Time 6:30 - 9pm
University of Pennsylvania
W. E. B. Du Bois College House
Amistad Gallery
3900 Walnut St. Philadelphia, PA 19104

House Coordinator, Kathy Smith 215-898-4014
Info Center 215-898-5253

Most of the work in this exhibition, which are now a series of works titled: ART FOR A PHONEY WAR!, began unplanned at 2 a.m. on September 11, 2001 before the World Trade Center, and The Pentagon, were blown apart, by Who, knows what later that day??????????????? These works are my reflections, that I hope will raise questions and have made me face what is in, what James Baldwin called " a most disagreeable Mirror " about what has been happening in our lives before and after September 11, 2001

big ups...

Anyone who knows me knows i am "somewhat" of a jazz fan (anyone who really knows me knows this is an understatment). Sometimes it's kind of hard to find "young" cats that are still seriously interested, not only in listening, but playing the music and preserving the culture. I am even thinking about picking up my trombone again

Well, there is a group of serious "young cats", or Young Lions, rather that are out there cooking up U Street and anywhere else they play and let me tell you they are "killing" (old bop lingo for dope)! The have a cd out go here to check it out. These brothers (the Young Lions) are also part of a band called The Dre King Quartet, too. Jati just recently did a photo shoot with them check it out here

check this out..NYC folks: Rafael Rebollar & African by Legacy, Mexican by Birth Film Screening

click flyer for a larger view

I had a chance to check out some photographs by Ms. Jackson some months ago here in DC at The National Council of La Raza along with a lecture by Bobby Vaughn and bunch of other important folks doing the work of unearthing the African presence in Mexico (check out this link for Bobby Vaughn too ). Needless to say the show was dope, very enlightening and Ms. Jackson's photo's did a good job of giving us all a visual of what Bobby Vaughn was talking about. Anyway, deatils about this event are below.

Wednesday, March 8th. 6.30pm
Rafael Rebollar & African by Legacy, Mexican by Birth Film Screening
@
Caribbean Cultural Center / African Diaspora Institute (NYC)
408 West 58th Street @9th Avenue

www.maschulo.com
www.avjphotography.com

An evening of films by the renown Mexican Director Rafael Rebollar and
African by Legacy, Mexican by Birth artists Ayana. V Jackson and Marco
Villalobos.

Suggested Donation $5.
Members Free Click here to read more

what's on tonight??

FILM SCREENING @ Provisions
After Innocence
Dir. Jessica Sanders (2004)
March 1st and 3rd, 7pm
Admission: $5 Nonmember, Members Free (with valid Screen Pass)

Purchase Advance Tickets:
This Sundance-award winning film tells the story of seven men and their emotional journey back into society and efforts to rebuild their lives after being wrongfully imprisoned for decades and then released after DNA evidence proved their innocence.

Thrust back into society with little or no support from the system that put them behind bars, the exonerees we meet in After Innocence remind us that the human toll of wrongful imprisonment can last far longer than the sentences served. The film raises basic questions about human rights and society's moral obligation to the innocent and places a spotlight on the flaws in our criminal justice system that lead to wrongful conviction of the innocent.

After Innocence is directed by Jessica Sanders, an Academy-Award nominated filmmaker ("Sing!"), and was produced and written by Jessica Sanders and Marc Simon in association with The American Film Foundation. Simon attended the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law and was a student at the Innocence Project.