Falling in Love Again
“Nothing to it but to do it.” The phrase went back to the beginning of the last century at least, made popular by the bodybuilder Ronnie Coleman before attempting and succeeding to lift 800 pounds with his legs.
He said that when he had trained in the past he would overthink the process. She could so relate to that. Just in the sheer simple but not simple task of trying to live and love and breathe and work and respond and struggle and create. She had to remind herself of the simplicity of daily tasks, the multitude of baby steps, day after day after day, with the words like a mindfulness mantra to be chanted to herself when she got stuck, “Nothing to it but to do it.”
It was a journey back to her raw nature, her inner child, so to speak. And it was a kind of journey to the center of the earth’s core, which was strong, the sparklingly beautiful truth of pure joy and love motivating everything and anything she had always wanted, a joy and love so strong and what she had felt when she was around 7 or 8 running into the chill Pacific surf, overwhelmed by the crashing waves, shrieking with delight together with her friend. That full body high, exhilarated by the universe, in this case the clash of skin and elements, the glorious back and forth of gravity and levity, which alternately embraced and released, her, but rocked her lovingly.
Even if she would never be able to describe it perfectly, it didn’t matter. She was ecstatic. She was in love with life again.
New Moon Rising
This new moon
part one
I bathe in the soft waters
of the Mokelumne
rushing through the pipes
The water clears me
Neutralizes
The radiation
and frustration
creating an even
energy flow
an equilibrium
in my inner being
a magnetic force inside
which holds me
enough so I can hold space and expand
One full breath at a time
EST. 1966 (by Jerry and Bobbie)
These are my amazing parents. Glad they came together in the Sixties (although I really don’t think they wore anything like this!) to make me.
Everything’s a Remix
Everything is a Remix is an excellent documentary that explores the notion of the act of
combining and editing existing materials to produce something new and expands the definition
of remix to encompass all creativity. I loved it, and it is liberating to realize that this is what creative people do.
I also respect how Kirby Ferguson makes a distinctionLed Zeppelin’s blatant cultural appropriation and theft of African blues artists and the artists who actually pay homage to the artists they copy and/or remix.
On a similar note, see Jared A. Ball’s blog, iMiXWHATiLiKE
This is some powerful journalism. I have so much reading to do!
In Beauty
Thank you, Joy Harjo, for this beautiful poem, which I’ve come back to over
the years.
To me, her words help me to understand purpose and reverence in everyday life.
Eagle Poem
To pray you open your whole self
To sky, to earth, to sun, to moon
To one whole voice that is you.
And know there is more
That you can’t see, can’t hear;
Can’t know except in moments
Steadily growing, and in languages
That aren’t always sound but other
Circles of motion.
Like eagle that Sunday morning
Over Salt River. Circled in blue sky
In wind, swept our hearts clean
With sacred wings.
We see you, see ourselves and know
That we must take the utmost care
And kindness in all things.
Breathe in, knowing we are made of
All this, and breathe, knowing
We are truly blessed because we
Were born, and die soon within a
True circle of motion,
Like eagle rounding out the morning
Inside us.
We pray that it will be done
In beauty.
In beauty.
Joy Harjo, “Eagle Poem” from In Mad Love and War. Copyright © 1990 by Joy Harjo. Reprinted with the permission of Wesleyan University Press,
Sign the Petition on Crime of Genocide Against African People in the US
When the Uhuru Movement first referenced United Nations to address the historic crimes of Europe and white society and charge the US government with genocide, I thought it was brilliant. Now this question will travel the Internet to bring this issue to you. Based on all the evidence, are we going to keep denying this truth?
Click on the image below to sign the petition:
Fred Hampton
I attended a December 4th event commemorating the life of Fred Hampton.
This was at the end of 1992 at the Uhuru House in East Oakland. That was
the year of the verdict acquitting the 12 Los Angeles Police Department in the
beating of Rodney King. It was the year I joined the Uhuru Movement.
I was hooked on the Uhuru Movement on that day of the same year in October, when I’d attended the Conference Against Genocide at the Uhuru House that October and heard the widow of Fred Hampton speak as well as the son of Fred Hampton, Alfred Johnson at the time.
Fred Hampton Jr. was just like his father. So as the reality of the military defeat of the Black Revolution was made real by the presence of Fred Hampton’s widow and the December 4th event sealed the deal. I became a part of history.
Listen for yourself. Fred Hampton was a brilliant leader, assassinated by the US government because they were trying to push back the resistance of African people.
Blue Angel Across the Way
I have a blue Angel who lives across the street.
She has the most beautiful bluest blue house like the sky and the sea.
She has a wild garden in the front and back.
She has. like me, profound sorrow for the world and cares deeply about the future.
I love her and she’s the Blue Angel. Not those other military ones.
Revolutionary Solidarity
The African People’s Solidarity Committee has, I feel, the most principled stand in solidarity with the oppressed peoples’ struggles and the African Revolution because they serve accountable to its leadership.
I find so much in the work of Brene Brene, a social researcher and storyteller, that we could apply to a method of bringing white people closer to the African freedom and anti-colonial struggles.
From Rising Strong
“Revolutionary change transforms our thoughts and beliefs…and how we engage with the world.”
Brown mentions “changing the narrative,” much in the same way that Omali Yeshitela does in An Uneasy Equilibrium. I’m ready to talk to friends about a vision where we could open up a center where white people and others “engage with the outrage,” a space where the dialogue can be more neutral and people can feel comfortable grappling in their own way about the crimes of white society and find their way to responsibilty.
There could be a space for poitical dialogue geared towards supporting the revolution. Of course, it would hold amazing fundraisers that supported the revolution.
I have an friend, still in her Thirties, who used to be involved in Uhuru that had a similar idea. I wonder if she still has this idea to open such a space? I will seek her out to start that dialogue.
Blue Dream 