I am about to go downtown & wear a giant gemsbok antelope headdress & march around with a bunch of other animals. See Procession.org, an Olympia tradition.

In general, I am doing good work & experiencing small successes.

by ewuare osayande
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they are pulling our dead out of the dead water now

they are pulling our dead out of the dead water now
like they pulled Till out of the Tallahatchie River
and even if we did place the blame where it belongs
would they get off like the men who murdered Emmett?

while reporters blamed us for staying
refusing to see the chains that tied us to the catastrophe
that was to come
like when they tied Malcolm Little’s dad
to the tracks
and left him for dead
cause they knew the train was coming

they knew the flood was coming
they knew the levees would break
they were warned
but did nothing
they were warned
but did nothing

they refused to prepare
they are pulling our dead out of the dead water now
counting them as if they were tallying votes
but you cannot measure disgrace with a body-count
and no one wins in death

what have we now but our heartbeats?
and tears
and the whys
of our questions keep coming

even Jesus was said
to have fed the poor
with a few fish and some bread
should we not expect more
from the richest nation
in the history of the world?

scabs are being ripped away
like the homes
revealing old wounds
bleeding sores
infected by the toxic scum
of lies we ingest

as the media contrived words to describe the people
when for five days they were treated like slaves

time warped to the days of whips, chains
and names that were not our own

slave ship screams

ancestors haunt in their hollers for help
in front of cameras that don’t care
sending an S.O.S. of sorrow
to a world that looks on in pity and contempt

but hope doesn’t stop hunger
and faith can’t quench a thirst
mouths parched in the parish
surrounded by water
but can’t take a drink

yes, this is hell

the smell of rotting flesh and feces
the stench of death
like Bush’s breath hot with deceit
burning under a Louisiana sun
merciless as a slave master
hysterical heat

gnashing teeth, bleeding gums
and the children
the babies delirious with grief

and still they were trapped by the help that would come
abandoned by rescue teams on Highway 10

the help that didn’t help
the help that held them hostage
at convention centers that became concentration camps

no refuge
no refuge
no refuge
for the women and their children
and the elders dying in their wheel chairs

smuggled to the super dome that became the prison at Abu Ghraib
blind-folded by the darkness
and tortured due to the ineptitude of officials
sinking in a cess pool of paranoia
held hostage by helplessness
how long did it take Africans
in texas to learn that they were free?

we know how slow the gov’t can be
when it comes to we
who are Black and poor

families again severed
like before
when the auction block
was swollen with our blood and tears
the years are of no consequence
and now we wander the country
looking for wives and sons,
daughters and fathers,
nanas, poppas, husbands and cousins and lovers and friends and mothers and nieces, nephews and . . .

tracing the scent of love in hope of embracing them again
on this side

pouring through webpages
hoping to notice a name that sounds like happiness
watching the tv
hoping to recognize a face
that resembles our own

looking for family

longing for home

and I can hear Nina Simone singing
“Mississippi Goddamn” blues
we who picked cotton there
grew families out of the very ground
we never owned
sucked down gristle just to survive
raised God out the dust bowl
and blew life into our bodies
with nothing
nothing
nothing
but the defiant desire to live
and once more nothing is all we have
but the defiant desire to live again

resurrected like the Jeez that is us

who will march a jazz dirge
on down Bourbon Street
to honor those whose bodies still float in the 9th Ward?
who will rebuild the city
that city of saints and haints?
bring the reconstruction that never came after Lee surrendered the war

jim crow knows
let trent lott rot in the rubble of his plantation mansion
for all those that perished unnecessarily

yes there is anger
a raging flood of tears

Bush looted our taxes
sent them overseas
robbed our rights
cracked presidential jokes as the smoke still rose

“the soft bigotry of low expectations” is Bush’s to claim
a smug racism he learned on his mother’s knee

yes, the U.S. is a Third World nation
no corporate press can cover the truth now
where dictators lie, cheat and steal
then kill the poor that would defy them

the emperor has no clothes
his ass is exposed
been stripped naked by his own shame
time to name names

there is a raging flood headed right to the White House

and FEMA can’t rescue you now

what has happened here is a crime
the homicide of an entire city
hear the prophecy my ancestors sung
God showed Noah
by the rainbow sign
said it wont be water but fire next time

the flames are burning!


copied from this page

Thanks to Sufjan Stevens, who I haven't managed to get into, I am in love with this song today. This isn't the best version but it makes me feel better. I am probably going on a gospel spree tonight. I'm near the end of chapter 3, yes!!

Besides use for pleasure, dildos were often used in deflowering ceremonies. In some cases, dildos were attached to statues, as in the case of Priapus, a Greek god of Ancient Greece whose erect stone statue was used to pierce the hymen of young aristocratic women to better prepare them for marriage. Granted it often took a little doing, but with assistance and diligent persistence, the maiden would clamber aboard the erect member and wriggle her way to ecstasy.

Link to read more about the history of the dildo... wow, the conversation of the people at the table next to me is distracting. It's so tesc.

OMG THEY BROKE LIVEJOURNAL

"Did you know... that forage fish (anchovy pictured), which feed the world's great marine predators, are now being removed from the oceans on an industrial scale and fed instead to farmed fish, pigs, and poultry?"

Link to article

Planet Earth volume 4: Ocean Deep had some interesting footage of shark and tuna feeding on bait fish, the whale shark they were hiding behind turning to devour them. I didn't get to watch the series until recently, and only volume 4 so far, but like everyone else I can't recommend it enough. I might have to borrow it again to watch the followup as I'm amazed they could film ocean floor... scavengers and the volcanic fissures, and I wonder how they got that footage.

movies

that will change my life

list them.

OK how about just interesting movies? Come on, I know there exist some... and I am not so into movies (nor do I have social networking movie-buddy whatever, obv) so please comment to recommend good movie!

tia

rip miriam

Finally hearing a great man.


James Baldwin


Black Media Archive podcast seems quite good so far.

in other news, in other news I can only thank G-d for the extra hour, but it does so, so little in comparison to where I'm at now. Hanging on.

Studs Terkel passed away. I recommend listening to him, excerpts particularly good in this article include The Bank Isn't Like a Man and In Praise of Ordinary People. You would get an idea if you didn't know him, and probably you should. An amazingly long and amazing life...

Wikipedia's list of race riots.

...

Apprehension over small lies has built a silence thick & hard to break.. it's so inconsequential, given what little time we have. It's just really hard to pick up the phone sometimes, you know what I mean?

all we got to do

what the fuck WAS this shit.

This is so funny to me. Is that unusual?

and who else LOVED Tracey Ullman? My brief childhood glimpse into the wonders of cable TV left me absolutely enchanted by the woman. I was 12 years old.

It's the last day of this writing for now. Winter will bring a revisitation of the thesis. I miss the sunshine & was called for lunch but I don't go. It seems so simple, her voice on the machine, the very long paper draft, everything seems so simple and easy, is there any excuse for inaction? This is what I was waiting for? at least they still say "let me see your id."


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I suffered a recent binge on a junkie-documentary Intervention. I'll bet we all love that, come on & admit it!

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back to large trees & bike rides & the smell of beach & art & music & lovely books with meaning (oh& lots & lots of nervous planning)
i've had my fill of bias studies.

i always wanted so badly to be liked

Kiki Smith, Born

I really want to bleach my hair, blonde.. not a lot, but some color. I've used henna in the past for red or brown, but henna supposedly does not work to go lighter. I have actually lightened it before at the salon, but it's really expensive that way.

Can anyone recommend a product for lightening that is affordable and won't destroy my hair?