The radio just played a mountain song, accompanied by a banjo, sung in a minor key. It was first heard during the Civil War, but white caskets are also coming home now.  Activities continue abroad, at black sites. Axé.

I was born and raised in the country, Mama but I’m stayin’ in town. That is a fragment of Pig Meat. Now playing, however, is the Bourgeois Blues, composed around 1935, when Leadbelly also played the MLA Convention in New York. Two of the Leadbelly songs I have had running in the back of my … More Huddy Ledbetter

Now singing is Lupe Fiasco, who is Black, Muslim, from Chicago, and named Lupe. (Which is short for Guadalupe, which is Mexican.) My student said I would like his music, and I do. But I am also very impressed with his website. Click on the street signs, and see how they flicker. Axé.

It is time to thank the Unapologetic Mexican and his marvelously creative site for permission to use the images of Emiliano Zapata and of the UFW flag which now appear in my sidebar. If you click on these, you will go right down the rabbit hole, and end up somewhere very interesting. In honor of … More Take This Hammer

Yesterday in class I learned that there is a rap lyrics database, the Original Hip-Hop Lyrics Archive. This fascinates me because while the electronic sound of rap is not my favorite, I am interested in rap lyrics and narrative structure. Now I can read them, like poems and stories. Rap styles, as we know, are … More Nice White Lady