Nothing about pain Except that it is cloistered like a madonna in heat and at the finest impulse grasps and embraces me The little dog that looks from behind a nearby tree Nothing cleans the scab of a healed scar It sleeps warm and comfortable intertwining legs Its desolate silence freezes my strength It casts … More Nada sobre el dolor
Joanna found this article at the Black Electorate, and everyone should read it. Some near random snippets: Among American Conservatives, of any race, it has become a common practice to make derisive reference to so-called “race hustlers”, “racial arsonists”, “shakedown artists”, and “professional victicrats.” The usual targets include Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, and Louis Farrakhan. … More On “Race Hustlers”
The Stupendous Woman has inspired me to take the Everything Test, which claims to be the “one test to rule them all.” I do not necessarily agree with the results, but since I am getting some personal questions and the usual insinuations about not being “what I claim to be,” and since these results were … More The Everything Test
In underreported news: 1. There is a complicated civil war taking place in northern Uganda. Children at risk of being pressed into unpleasant service by the Lord’s Resistance Army (see also this piece , and this one) have to hide at night, and are thus known as “night commuters.” There were peace talks and hopes … More Night Commuters
Looking back on my state of mind at the time, I am reminded by analogy of the enormous power of Christianity to convince the believer of his fundamental and never-ending guilt; I also stood (we all stood) before the Revolution and its Party with permanently bosed head, and so I gradually became reconciled to the … More Milan Kundera II
This is a tondero danced by students at the José María Arguedas National School of Folklore. I think it is beautiful. In reality, of course, I am posting it because I am a “professional race hustler indoctrinating young minds with […] simplistic ideas […].” No, I am not linking to the site that says that; … More Tondero Peruano
I am still Lima-oriented, and I consider it a good sign. Here is Alicia Maguiña on “Viva el Perú y Sereno,” with images of the city in the late nineteenth and I believe early twentieth centuries – not entirely different from what it is now. Meanwhile, this evening’s featured posts are from Lenin’s Tomb – … More Alicia Maguiña
Nicomedes Santa Cruz is brilliant, and this is a landó from his 1970 album Cumanana. A cumanana is a certain kind of verse composition and rhythm whose investigation will lead to an eye-widening realization of the fascinating complexity of Afro-Peruvian music. A glance at the Wikipedia entry on the tondero gives an idea. Axé.
A new, and I project very interesting book is Denise Ferreira da Silva’s Toward a Global Idea of Race (Minnesota, 2007). From the publisher (emphasis added): [W]hy, after more than five hundred years of violence perpetrated by Europeans against people of color, is there no ethical outrage? Rejecting the prevailing view that social categories of … More Toward a Global Idea of Race
Melissa reminds us that the U.S. invasion of Baghdad took place four years ago today. There will be impeachment rallies nationwide April 28. Here is the New Orleans information: The festivities will kick off with an impeachment bike ride on Friday, April 27. Meet at Jackson Square at 7:00 PM. E-mail nola_criticalmass@yahoo.com. And if you’re … More On the Former Iraq
coldhearted scientist وداد 