On my desk is my friend Walter F. Pitts’ posthumously published Old Ship of Zion: The Afro-Baptist Ritual in the African Diaspora (Oxford UP). It was reprinted in 1996, but my copy is dated 1993, and signed by Walter’s partner, the Reverend Leroy Davis. Walter’s funeral, at Mt. Calvary Baptist Church in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, … More Old Ship of Zion
I. Our featured singer this weekend is Corey Harris. I first met Corey in connection with anti-death penalty work and academia, before he had recorded his first album. Should he do a Ph.D. in Linguistics or History of Consciousness, he was wondering – or should he play music? “I think I’ll play music.” II. Today … More Ça chante
The Perceptionists have a great album called Black Dialogue, but this dialogue took place with a whiteman. WM: I would like to work with you. Would you like to work with me? PZ: In principle, yes, but what shall we work on? WM: On my project. PZ: I am working on a different project, so … More White Dialogue
From the photograph on my office wall the face of a man from an indigenous Amazonian tribe looks evenly at me. Contemplating this picture, thinking about colonialism, reason, and reasons of state, a very basic perception came to me, with the requisite sense of déjà vu. This time, however, it settled in differently. The most … More Da Whiteman Speak Wit’ Forked Tongue
A friend took this photograph in Tegucigalpa not so long ago. It is a poster demanding the appearance of evidence about a disappeared person. Relatives and friends demand truth, justice, and in particular, uncensored information: documents of which no portion has been blacked out. NO to impunity, they say. An assiduous commentator points out that … More Exigimos verdad y justicia
I. Another early Almodóvar film is La ley del deseo. One thing I do not like about some of the institutions for which I have worked is, they do as they wish; that is to say, they follow the law as they do or do not desire. They follow the law of their desire, or … More Law of Desire
One of the things I liked about living in the great state of Illinois was that not just one, but several radio stations played rhythm and blues 24/7. I would drive along maple-lined streets, past tidy houses with wraparound porches, and out through the regular lines of industrialized cornfields. The view was one thing, the … More Leaving Union Station
Here is the IMDB’s synopsis of Pedro Almodóvar‘s ¿Qué he hecho yo para merecer esto!! (1984), a film I have always wanted to see but never have. A dysfunctional family in Madrid: Gloria is a cleaning lady, hooked on No-Doze, living in a crowded flat with Antonio, her surly husband, a cabby who adores an … More Early Almodóvar
This is my true picture. I am a detail from the Casa de la Muerte in Copán, which has its own writing system as well. Axé.
When she was 97, my aunt Helen took me to lunch at the upscale Lark Creek Inn. Normally she took members of our family to the Blue Rock, where we would drink gin fizzes, but we went to the Lark Creek Inn because she had been to the Blue Rock the day before. “I am … More Nikolai Bukharin
coldhearted scientist وداد 