Just How Inclusive Do We Want To Be?

I want to talk about about something that is hard for a non-academic person to articulate let alone try to put into a public post. What does inclusive mean anymore in a public space?

This posts is not about feminism, Miley Cyrus, Fast Company, Twitter or the patriarchy. They do play a part in this musing but not really what I want to talk about.

It is about the audience. We are the audience except when we are not, as in not seen or acknowledge. It is kinda like sanctified pussy. Meaning, you want your cake and eat it too without repercussions.

Who do we perceive as the audience? Bloggers are not exempt musing but this post is mainly about mainstream media publications and content makers.

I think many on-line, off-line publications and mainstream media still believe that the demographics in their media kits totally define who their target audience is or who they desired it to be.

Allowing just demographics to define your audience in 2013 might not be the way to go.  But what do I know? I'm part of the invisible people.

Still, for giggles let's look at the Fast Companies media kit demographics:

Readership is 66% male/34% female
Median Age of Readership is 45+ for print version and 35+ for web version.

Median HHI is $175,275 for print readers
Median HHI is $72,907 for web viewers
Primary readership is managerial/professional level

Would I be perceived as a Fast Company reader? Would an Latino man working in IT be perceived as one? How about an Asian woman working in management that isn't paid the same as her Anglo male co-worker but does exactly the same job?

And even if we were perceived as readers would the expectation be that those of us that don't fit the above demographic profile would come for the content that was tech influenced or connected to business or the intersections of tech, culture and money?

Would we automatically accept that our respective cultures would not be reflected in the publication?

When they came up with that 25 Smartest Women on Twitter listical they had it coming and they got it.  And I'd lay cash money (up to $1) that they still don't know why.

True, Fast Company responded with a second posts that included more diversity and actual Twitter users but yeah, not sure they totally got it enough to be more inclusive on a regular basis.

When this type of question was asked in the 1960's, 1970s, 1980's....(Yes, this is a long dodged question by publishers, television producers and filmmakers. ) 2000s up to the 2013 the usual response has been:

"Sure, we love all of our audience. But we are just one "insert the blank" and we have an obligation to our advertisers and our primary audience which is "insert the blank."  We do what we can to be inclusive but..."

And mainstream media makers got away with that bullshit for a long, long time. That time might be ending. Or not. But change is being forced upon them.

With Twitter and Facebook in play, mainstream publishers cannot put up a wall between themselves and their total audiences. Publications and media outlets are now being called up on the shim-sham.

If they are lucky. Those are the people that care. Angry, but they do care. These are the folks that are telling media makers that you cannot pretend that "the other" does not exist.

The audience stake-holders are talking back.  For example, when ABC News had an expert explain Twerking people became unhinged.

We expect a news channel to aim a little higher than the anal clef. It is a diminished expectation sure, but folks were a little put off just the same. Yes, exercising your butt and thighs is good for you but this is a news item?

African-Americans were rightfully up in agitation because Cyrus not only did not perform the dance correctly but is anatomically ill-equip to compensate for a lack of dance skill. It was another dose of cultural appropriation and it still is distasteful.

And yet, Miley Cyrus name is permanently attached to Twerking by mainstream media and not Big Frieedia.

A moment for the obligatory Big Fredia video. Those with conservative constitutions should not watch this video.  Those who don't want to see true dancing or ass flipping are also cautioned against viewing.

I am not responsible if you get up out of your chair and try this at home without warming up first.





Eh, where was I. Oh, yeah.

Who was the intended audience? Those that voluntarily watched the VMAs. Not me. I'm still not and will never be but it was forced upon me none the less.

It isn't necessarily just about race, gender or affinity. We had black folks acting the fool as well. Russell Simmons was quickly corrected.

I think we underestimate just how strong a pull a male dominated society influences the American culture. When certain white women feminists choose to defend Hugo Schwyzer over women of color that were being victimize by this man for calling him on his shit then we gotta look at the possible reasons why:

In my subjective opinion:

1. A white male ally is worth more television and print time than the value of a black, Latino or Asian woman's voice.
2. Who was the audience they wanted to reach? Not an inclusive one but an audience that fit into their perceived demographic of power. Hugo was the emblem that pushed their agenda and made it palatable to certain viewers.
3. Do some people's voices have to be subjugated in order to advance the cause? That is what some (a fractional few to be sure) have advocated.

Oww. Which lead to more questions like:

• How Inclusive are we in our silos?
• Is it a silo or a bunker mentality? You know people get a little freaky in the bunker right?
• Can we be inclusive and still maintain our identity?
• Can we lean to use citation when appropriating another cultures art forms?

 
There are so many more questions but I have to lay this burden down for a while. 

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Past as It Plays Itself Foward In Time

It wasn't like this. It was gritty. Dirty. There was a smell, sometimes. There was people selling vegetables in boxes on sidewalks or in half stall stores. There were winos and bums and people who had no place to go. People stood around talking all day long. They didn't need talk radio to keep a conversation going.

There were people going to work or to school. The streets were filled with busy people.

It was filled with motion.

There were no tables or chairs outside. No place for them. The sidewalks were narrow then.

There were belching cars and trolleys trying to get some place. Everybody was trying to get some place other than where they were.

Me included.

No, it didn't look like this. I tramped up and down those streets and what I knew is gone. I only have the memory of it.

I remember the good pretzel place where you had to wait for a hot one because they sold out quick. You could have plain with mustard or extra salty. Small, or freaky big. A couple of stores down from the pretzel place was my home away from home bookstore.

The bookstore, I think it was called Robin's, is where they sold alternative comic books. Where I could get a copy of High Times for a quarter. I was more interested in the hydroponics than the weed.

I was a strange person.

I must have been the only person to buy High Times for the articles and to check out Vaughn Bode's comic called Cheech Wizard. Bode was the only cartoonist I knew that celebrated big behind women.

There were days when I'd have just a dollar and have to choose between a photo magazine and three other candidates. If you didn't buy it when you laid eyes on it it could be gone.

One day I found this book called I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream. Paperback. It was right next to the Ice Berg Slim books . My arms where loaded up but I flipped to a few pages and thought this dude Ellison was on to something.

I fell in love with his writing. I fell in love with how he would talk to you in the fourth wall breaking pages before the start of a story. I didn't care for his gangster books. Gangsters were getting shot up all over town and making the tabloid covers every other day. Fiction couldn't trump that Goombah reality.

I kept my radar out for anything else he wrote. One day when I was able I paid full price cash money for a paperback that had the original script of the City on the Edge of Forever. Then I bought his other books with covers intact.

So when I heard that Harlan Ellison was going to be in Hollywood I thought I could go see him in person. I needed to make amends for buying those first stripped books when I was a teenager.

But meeting inspirations can be tricky.

So this is the past that you need to known to put context to the future that was.

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Not The Buddha or Be Careful of What You Quote

I'm puttering along half doing the dishes, quarter cleaning the bedroom and totally not writing as I should when I find this quote on a web page that I printed out on September 1, 2001:

“Your work is to discover your work and then with all your heart give yourself to it.”  Attributed to Buddha.

I like it. Sounds about right.  But then I say it again and it doesn't feel right. I run it though the Googlenator. On the surface all kinds of sites are linking and promoting this quote.

Except one. I am led to this web site called Fake Budha Quotes.com and I start reading.

Oh dear.

Bodhipaksa did the research to make the case that this is a possible misinterpretation of a bad translation.

If it sound good we as humans want to share it. I almost posted this quote to Twitter. I would have been in a long line of people to have done so. It wasn't with malice or evil intent. Still in all the Buddha didn't say it.

Yet this is how lies become truths or at least accepted paths of thought.

Early this morning I got yanked back into a post about the high number of single African American women who have children outside of marriage. I read the original post 10 months ago.

To me this was just one person expressing an opinion based on limited to no facts. I suspect that the author has other agendas besides equating a racial lack of moral compass with her perceived alternative options.

Yet folks read that posts and started to co-sign with what was written. 





If folks went to the New York Times article written in 2012 and looked at one of the sources cited,  Nonmarital Childbearing in the United States, 1940–99 by the National Center for Health Statistics, that report was an attempt to look at this issue spanning decades.

It is 40 pages of information, statistics and history that (in my opinion) due to society pressures may be a bit distorted or skewed. 

If you look at the data every group of women from every racial and ethnic backgrounds have had children outside of marriage. There are times when the numbers jump. There are periods when certain groups are not reported.

The report is not a quick read. If anything, you could use it as a question springboard to what was going on in the 1940 (War comes to mind. Soldiers on leave. Fear and the need to affirm life?)

Like in the above video from 1947 when the fellas want to shun the "bad girl" that comes to the table. She wasn't in the back seat of the car by herself. They can't even articulate the double standard so hey, let's blame the girl.

Compare that time to the 1960s.  Culturally, what was going on then?

See where I going with this? You have to understand the context and the people of the time.

What are the real facts, not the ones that make you feel good or sounds like it is plausible.

It is tricky. It is sticky. The only confirmed fact is that when most men stick their dicky into a fertile vagina without birth control there is a good chance of conception.

I so long for the day when information literacy become a fad that people won't let go of.

Maybe there needs to be a song about critical thinking got them crazy and they won't let go, naw they can't let go.

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Memories Eating Below the Line

This past week there has been various folks participating in a campaign called Live Below the Line to bring awareness to living on $1.50 a day.

The goal is to experience what it is like to ration your money to buy food. Not good food, not healthy food.

Just food. 

I feel somewhat detached. Now anything that will help a child get near nutrition needs is okay with me. It is just that...well, I remember being a kid in that situation.

And because I remember I don't think the people trying to live on $1.50 a day for five days really get what is going on. What a life can be like and what decisions go into your head when you don't have enough to make it from one meal to the next.

Yes, it is one thing to say you are spending $1.50 a day when you have shelves full of spices, seasonings and pantry food.

If folks really took it seriously then when they went to the store they would find out about limited choices. Nutrition is not one of them. You can't do $1.50 at Whole Foods; well maybe if you are feeding yourself and you buy an eight of an ounce of beans and a quarter-pound of rice.

Nope, you need to go to the broke folks food store and work the numbers. They are not in your favor.

Childhood Eating Memories

As a kid I've eaten dinner when there was nothing in the house to but a half box of oatmeal and hot water going on day three of it.

Or rushing to nab the hot dog and a portion of a can of beans before one of your brothers snatches an extra one for himself. No time for slackers at a limited food table.

How about when you are handed a $5 bill and you are a told to go to the supermarket to get something for dinner for six people and you are expected to bring change back home. I had a lot of experience with that scenario. 

For the record, I usually stuck with the cheapest pasta and imitation Ragu type tomato sauce I could buy.

Or it could have been a loaf of bread and ground beef. With some of the butchers in the old neighborhood there wasn't that much beef in it. Plenty of gizzards though.

Notice I didn't mention veggies or organic choices or unprocessed meats. They were not affordable options. Potatoes if they were on sale; maybe.

It Isn't Just About The Food. 

It is also watching television and seeing all this food you do not have access to. It is being reminded that you don't have the right to a whole range of foods, taste and experiences. 

It is watching Julia Child on television and watching her make a wonderful meal and not connecting to the reality that some people really do eat that well.

I'm glad I watched her show because it inspired me to want to taste new things. Yet there was a disconnect. I remember being that kid biting into a chicken bone to get at the marrow (chicken use to have marrow in their bones back then) while she was making Coq au Vin.

I and many other kids had no breakfast.  Or it might be that lunch was the meal of the day. Depended on how the day went for the parents; if there was day work, temp work or any kind of work. 

It isn't about the food as much as it is about infrastructure and what do we expect grown people to do when they can't be crowbared into programing, technology or service jobs?

How do you make a living?

How do you take care of the family if you have no money?

How do we keep pretending that we can turn a whole society back to pre-industrial wages and have no clue that we are hip deep into the future?

I don't know.

I do know I was doing a bit of disassociation when I saw tweets about the campaign. It is the kind of hunger you just don't forget. Or want to remember.

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When A Song Reminds of Of A Ruckus Memory

Accidents happen because of circumstance or carelessness. And then there is that dang song. Awesomely Luvie and company put a hurting of truth and humor on what should have been left the song writing notebook. Scribbles, yes. Song, no.

I didn't want to pay attention to the verbiage about the Accidental Racist song. The resurrection of the symbols of genocide as badges of honor do not interest me. I'm getting worn out about stepping up to the soap box to once again remind people that slavery was not a life style choice or a hangover of regret for a bad weekend.

You can't put it behind you if you can't recognise some of y'all are doing the same shit that your ancestors use to do. Like voter suppression. Like controlling women fertility and what she wants or needs to do with her choices and options in life.

There is blood on that Rebel flag. Which isn't even the correct version of the Confederate flag. If you are going to bring up history get it straight.

I know people do not want to talk about slavery in terms of genocide but if you take people involuntarily from their home country, pack them into ships and then force them into labor, sexual abuse and cultural indoctrination then you got to figure on some people being killed because they did not want to go or they did not want to be in bondage.

Most people don't. 

Anyway, I didn't want to talk about the song as much as bring up fragments of an Uncle Ruckus memory.

Uncle Ruckus does not like black folks. Even though he is one himself.  I have met a Ruckus or two and it rings true to my experience.

The speech is wiped clean of any inflection or intonation that could remotely be associated with the African American experience. This does NOT make a person an Uncle Ruckus. No, no and no!

(I'm a little sensitive on this point for reasons I choose not to go into at this time.) But it could be a teeny-tiny clue if other elements are in place.

We are talking about a person who makes such an effort to speak in an un-accented neutral English that he make Tom Brokaw sound like he's dropping slang.

Uncle Ruckus can be immaculate in his attire. No hair on his head that would be allowed to be in any form of a curl or a kink. Whoops, forgot about those that are aiming to emulate Dean Martin's hair from the 70s.

It can go either way.

Uncle Ruckus finds safety in dressing as someone from 1965 and it isn't because he is a hipster. Dude lives in culturally neutral clothing.

Uncle Ruckus does not associate or allows himself to be seen with other black folks. Socially, he can be forced into it but he don't like it and will bolt on over to the other side of the room if white folks are present.

He will tell you he is not African American. He is American. Not of African decent.

Seriously, I've had this conversation with the Ruckuses. My understanding is that they feel it is a self imposed limitation they do not want to be associated with; an association that can cause them to be distant from their families of origin even if they are living in the same house.

Politically, Ruckuses can be Republican. However, not all black Republicans are Ruckuses. And  Uncle Ruckus wouldn't associate with black Republicans anyway. Even hanging with Black Tea Party folks would make him uncomfortable.

It is just that extreme.

He is not a white man trapped in a black body. He is a black man who is doing all he can to be white and racist against African Americans.

It is a puzzlement but there you go. So when you co-sign to sing lyrics on a song like:

I’m just a white man
(If you don’t judge my do-rag)
Comin’ to you from the southland
(I won’t judge your red flag)
Tryin’ to understand what it’s like not to be
I’m proud of where I’m from
(If you don’t judge my gold chains)
But not everything we’ve done
(I’ll forget the iron chains)
It ain’t like you and me can re-write history
(Can’t re-write history baby)

You gotta take a pause. You have to ask yourself why would somebody sing those lyrics? Why would you put your gold chains higher than the suffering of the ancestors?

I'm just remembering people from long ago and yet not so far away.

Accidents can happen. By circumstance or they are caused by carelessness.

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Is It Over Yet?

I mean the holidays. Which are no holidays for me when it is culturally jammed down my throat that you must be happy. You must be with loved ones. You must buy, buy and buy some more.

My peeve of the year? People who got royally pissed when someone said "Happy Holidays." Because Hanukkah or Ramadan or Winter Solstice don't count; this is a Christian time of year and we demand that you say it!"

Sez who? There is not a person living who knows for sure when the Christ Jesus was born.

Sigh, why bother.

I have no desire for fights of faith. It seemed like every dang day in 2012 was a fight of faith. One faith trying to have dominion over women's bodies. One faith trying to maintain guns over the safety of citizens with people still dying from legal and illegal use of weapons.

I did spy Valentine's stuff at two different stores. It is December 30th. What madness is this? We don't have time for President's Day anymore? No Martin Luther King acknowledgement?

Damn.



This is the opening scene of the 2001 version of Waiting for Godot.  I been intrigued by the various actors who perform this play and change the energy of the piece. Some actors go for the comedy while others hug the tragic elements. The best is when the company straddles the fence.

If you want to go on a head trip watch the full version of the play.

I am not straddling the fence. I wish it was always summer. That's right. I'd wipe December off the map with no hard feelings.

Which is why I am not in charge.Who am I to say when people should break out and celebrate whatever they want?

I strive for tolerance when it gets on my last dang nerve. I hold on most of the time and then I get to repeat the lesson again the next year.

No, I will not be celebrating on New Year Eve either. I will be shaking off the last remnants of "I have failed, I've wasted another year, I've got to do better..."

Sad. No, more like SAD as in Seasonal Affected Disorder. Not the clinical kind but the kind that makes me long passionately for summer.

A summer day that allows me to breathe the smell of orange blossoms and Jacaranda trees. Where there is no holiday and I love the day I am standing in because I am a part of the universal tie that binds. A day of nothing-ness that is glorious because it is and I am in it.

Anything else that happens is gravy.

So if you made it this far in the cycle I encourage you to hold on a bit more until we get to summer time again.

We need to survive the dark times in order to appreciate the light.

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The Older Women In the Room

Well that title will scare off a bunch of people. I know my gray hair did at the conference. But that isn't the whole story. I want to tell the whole truth. I was in transit when I heard that President Obama would speak at BlogHer.

Once I got settled into the hotel, I went to a Duane Reed drugstore and bought hair dye. I was not going to be in that ballroom with the President without flashing some reddish hair. I was going to do it. Until I realized that there was no way for me to clean up hair dye in a hotel room.

I wished I had worked this out before spending $9 on Natural Instincts. Or getting the fact straight that he was doing a live video presentation from the White House.

Still, Little Miss Aging Affirmative got stuck in the hoopla of appearance phobia.

Then I went the other way. Washed and picked out my natural hair. It is gray and brown and dark brown and whatever else ancestor want to put a word in. to the mix.



It was like I opened a can of Raid or something. My friends and on-line acquaintances that knew me embraced me like a long lost friend. Newbies and those women under a certain age kept their distance.

There is a reason for that, check out the video.

I walked a lot in New York City. I saw many a woman stroll down the street styled perfectly. Young, old, trendy. They were wearing the perfection suit of invisibility. Attractive enough to approach but only if you could reach the bar of acceptance.



Time and living have raised the bar on me and I didn't know. Or want to know. I kept on walking and looking at the images of Park Avenue mannequins, the ones in the window. Alabaster white, sleek and implacable in the seller's point of view.

To be fair, there were some onyx mannequins that did little more than hold up the status of tight clothes on young ridged bodies.



Brand identity and storytelling they call it. But it leaves a lot of people out of the narrative.

My bodies story isn't being told. This is not acceptable. Really, it is not.

The video clips are excerpts from my recording of the Blogging Into MidLife session at BlogHer 2012 NYC.

Ann Dunnewold writes about aging issues on her blog at VibrantNation.com
Darryle Pollack blogs at http://blog.darrylepollack.com
Patricia Patton hangs her shingle at http://www.boomerwizdom.com

I'm working on uploading the full session, hope to have it up soon.

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Flipping Out One Page At A Time

I have this magazine in my hand. It should be thrown out, it was printed March 2011. I keep meaning to re-purpose it, re-contextualize and interpret its missives according to my view of life.  Which is a pack rat's way of saying "I'm not sure I want this but there might be some good in it so I can't take the chance of letting it go."

I don't want to mention the name. I don't hate the magazine but I'm not for promoting it either. It is easy enough to figure out with article titles of "The Most Exciting Thing You Can Say to A Man!" "How to Perfect the Sexy Pout!!" "Lust Up Your Underwear!!!"

Once a year or two I buy this mag to find out how much of a sex pot I am not. I know for a fact I don't stand in doorways and peel open my blouse to show my breasts.

Wouldn't work anyway. I wear turtlenecks. And padded bras. Because apparently you can show breasts but you cannot show nipples. Nipples freak certain people out.

July 9, 2012 is supposed to be No Bra Day. I'm all for it if I'm home but I know most of us will contract unwanted and unasked for attention if we try let our girls roam free outside.

Y'all do what you want but I'm not going to be rocking left and right in a white t-shirt down Colorado Boulevard.

I don't have a white t-shirt.

Back to the magazine.

Page two. Don't have blonde hair. Don't need the miracle hair dye to enhance my blonde coloring.

Page three. Skinny jeans. Not skinny, lean or remotely within the realm of size 6.

Page four. More blonde hair dye with puffy lips. I have the puffy lips but they came with my body which is not size 6. Do I get credit for that?

Page five. Blonde girl in sexy black dress. I'm sensing a trend.

Page six and seven. Blonde girl has hands in her hair as a bunch of make-up is displayed on the next page. Four tubes of lipstick and three tubes of foundation for that oh so natural look.

Sigh. Skipping to page 11.

Brown hair girl giving a lip lock to abdominal six pack. What a relief.

What Have I Learned?

In the first 11 pages I have learned that blond women need a lot of make-up, hair dye, skinny jeans and black dresses.

And brown hair girls wear polka dot panties and suck face.

This is a lot to take in. I'm gonna have to meditate on this for a spell.

Okay, I'm done. 

I'm going out into the real world.

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This Is Bullying and We Are Responsible

I have been trying to post to Twitter and it won't let me. It is just as well. I have a lot to say and I might have left too long a comment at Lynette Young's G+ page. I want to put in my two cents about what happened to Karen Klein.

This woman is a school bus monitor who was subjected to ten minutes of abuse by kids, pre-teens, teens it doesn't matter. The little haters let their mouths run wild and free.



I can't get past more than three minutes of it. It get's worse.

I'm going to incorporate some of my comments that I posted on Lynette's page and more thoughts as well.

I know everyone is extremely angry and rightfully so. There is no excuse. None. But who wants to take a bet that some of the little demons go to church? Get good grades? Present one face to mom and pop and another to their friends? There is a lot of stuff happening in that video. Crowd mentality, No internal filters, playing to the crowd.
 
Pre-teens and teens are not good at considering anyone other than themselves. They are still growing up. Short term thinking. If not for the video they might not even remember that they did this.

You hope the lessons parents try to drill in their skull take hold. For some parents it is all they can do to get their children to wash themselves and not stink up the room. Parents do the best they can but sometimes normal kids do profoundly stupid things.

Yes, there needs to be discipline, as in invoking a personal discipline as a life long tool, not necessarily invoked with a switch, belt or whipping stick. Empathy, which seems to thought of a sissy skill or weakness in our culture needs to be taught.

Again, in no way am I condoning what these proto-terrors have done. They need to be held accountable. Seriously accountable. Wanting to beat the snot out of them is understandable. We have a sustained culture of bullying. What do we choose to do about that?

We caused this. We allowed this. With every politician demonizing the other. With our behavior in the mall or supermarket. In our television programs, games, media we have said the other is lessor and it is okay to "beat them down."

Last week Anita from Feminist Frequency was attack by people claiming to be gamers that she had no right to voice an opinion on the female tropes in video games. To say she was cussed at would be an understatement. It was nasty.

What makes it okay to do this? What makes it okay to spew this level of hate? I don't even think hate is the right word. It is the wicked side of power and control being implemented by people who have none.

 The MarySue has a good write up and summary of what happened and the positive result.

The video below is of the real Karen Klein. She talks about the experience and you can tell her spirit operates on a much different plane. Get over the gray hair and get to the person.

Nobody should have had to have endure what she did.




I was bullied as a kid. It was hell. I do know there is a part of our culture that loves the idea of fairness and the exchange of ideas. But when you are bullied you begin to wonder what is so good about living?

Life is not easy but bullying adds a dimension of hell that is not necessary. If you can survive it (and please do) a piece of you goes into an internal witness protection program. Takes a lot to want to be around people.

Change.

It is almost a quaint notion. It doesn't have to be but we can't go on this way. This means we will need to change how we talk about politics, other people, gender, sexuality, religion.

There will be some that will state that they hate political correctness. Not talking about that at all. If I feel that you are full of shit I will continue to tell you so.

I am just saying we have to model different behaviors. We just got to.

Because I ride the bus too.

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When Worlds Intersect Is that A Good Thing?

I am a long time traditional comic book reader. Old school when ten cents got me the latest issue of Batman. I love libraries. Movies. Animation. Sex. Literacy. Reading, Creativity. And usually they are compartmentalize and each is in their own silo.

Sometimes there is an overlap. One or two intersections is okay but this...this is popping brain cells. Once upon a time eh, 1999,  there was a comic book called Birds of Prey. Later, there was a television show by that name. It didn't last long but I watched it.

No complaints. It had Shemar Moore.Why be greedy?

Soooo, I'm checking my Tweet stream and somehow wind up at Bleeding Cool where I see Birds of Prey XXX. A Parody.  This trailer is safe for work. Only words are exchanged and only one of them is heated. Can't trust that Huntress for nothing. She does drop a F-Bomb.



How? Why? Nooo!? Well, maybe. It is like the Star Trek Enterprise XXX parody. On the one hand is nothing sacred? On the other hand I have always had half a lobe to do Picard.

Which is wrong, wrong.

For the record, I have only seen the Star Trek Enterprise XXX trailer. It seems like they tried to be respectful. I have never seen any of the XXX parodies and don't think I am going to be able to for quite some time. Not high on the bucket list.

Back to the Birds of Prey. So they have Oracle in the wheelchair. Oracle is gonna get busy later and not just floating through Ethernet cables either. She is neither PC or Mac, Oracle's rig is custom built.

(Okay, quick recap on the back story: In an alternate dimension, Oracle is a later day Barbara Gordon who got the hell and the use of her legs beat out of her by The Joker. He might have done other things but that depends on the interpretation by the specific artist who wrote the book at the time.

I hate that guy. Straight up hate The Joker. Nothing funny about that damn clown.

Barbara, who was a librarian reclaim her mantle as crime fighting Information Mistress of the Digits. Then the other Birds of Prey, The Huntress and Black Canary, get to chase and capture villains and make Gotham or New Gotham a grand place to live. )

Hence, my dilemma. Oracle still a librarian fighting crime from a wheelchair (this is important for story continuity. Later on DC had Barbara walking again to resume being Batgirl. The Wheeled Sisters did not take kindly to the change).

Oracle is getting some non-combat action and it ain't with Richard Grayson. Double score. Except that she is bonking a detective in a nookie film. Let us not forget that her pop is Commissioner Gordon.

Why must I be tormented so?  I love Batman, I do. Iconic character.  But dig it, there are the comic books, the 1960s series, movies starting from the 1940s on up. Major props to the animated series. That isn't a typo. You have Batman, the Animated Series, The Brave and The Bold, The Batman, Batman Beyond not to mention all the action he's got in Justice League.

Batgirl has is third season appearances in the early 1960 Batman shows, the cancelled series and guest star shots as an adult in some of the animated series.

DC come on! This is the only full length live action movie with a super heroine. It is a movie that most people can only watch when the lights are low and the Two Buck Chuck is chilled.

So I have been told.

There should be a Black Canary animated movie. You can have Ollie (Green Arrow) in it but let the girl clear her pipes. I know you made a Wonder Woman animated movie that didn't make bizillons of dollars but I don't think you advertized the movie that well. I would have bought it if I could have found it at Target. Water over the bridge.

Dang it, forget that there are 14 to 18 year old boys for a moment. Girl people like action movies too. I am not against the action in the parody but you know what I am saying?.

What am I saying? I lost track.

I'll watch the trailer one more time just to cement that I saw it. It might be important one day. You never know. This isn't wrong. But it is just not right.

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In Memory of Fred and Tears of Remembrance

Each generation brings something new to the party. What we held true 20 years ago gets pushed to the past and then evaporated. It is hard to understand until you live it. I have my memories and they can't really be touched by re-inventors.

Most of the time.

This is a re-mix video by PBS Digital Studios called Garden of the Mind. It is some words and moments  with a neighbor.



It has been a good long while since Fred Rogers has passed on. Certainly a icon in children's television and as an advocate of quality television.

I remember seeing Mr. Rogers talking to Congress about the need for a national educational television system. In that quiet powerful way the real Fred Rogers got the money.


I've seen Fred parodied by comedians and some were less than kind.  You had to work hard to find people who would publicly said they didn't care for the man or his show. Sure, they would have had to been a couple of folks. But not many.

On of my favorite stories is when his car was stolen on day one and on day two it was returned with an apology because they didn't know it was "his car."

Truth be told, I barely hear the music in the video. I think what struck me was his reminder to be creative, to explore, to be open.

To be kind. Civil. Engaged.

I'm tearing up again. That man has me in tears and it is not logical.

I gotta brace up and get on with the day.

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Lessons We Need to Understand–Part 1

It has been a week of extremes. Excitement and disappointment. Sometimes it happens at the same time. I have facts but the interpretation of those facts I’m not sure I can do justice. I can tell you what I have seen and observed.

The ZeFrank Lessons

Once upon a time there was a web series called Le Show with ZeFrank. The two people below are not ZeFrank but part of the community at the time that participated in introducing the show. Roll that tape...


It was before Jon Stewart and Colbert and the show was a mix of whimsy, politics, audience collaboration and what ever can down the road. It lasted a year before Ze pulled the plug.

Last week Ze put out the word on Kickstarer that he wanted to resume the show and was looking for backers to fund it. He is going to, among other things, buy a new camera and hire an editor.

He asked for $50,000. Keep in mind that his show lasted only one year that ended in 2007. There were other sporadic appearances by Ze via Time Magazine and other places but folks had moved on.
As of this writing, Ze has $122,282 with four days to go in the campaign.

Ze has asked his backers what they would like to see in the new show. In full disclosure, I did chip in some cash which makes me a non-Hollywood fractional inconsequential non-power playing mogul.

• Most want him to do what he did before. Exactly the same things.
• Some want him to talk about religion.
• Others emphatically do not want him to talk about religion
• Those that want him to rip into the current political climate of yuck.
• Those that want a respite from the political climate of yuck and want him to make music or design or anything that is happening in the current world.
• And there is a fractional few that says “I trust you enough to let you go you way and see what you come up with.”

This is the creative community "put your money where your support is" type of participatory media. I keep telling folks that what we were raised up on is not how it is always going to be from this point forward.

There is events happening that we can’t continue to pretend it does not have an impact on our lives.  Like a broken record I keep saying this and I need to find a better way of communicating it or shut up.

I have it on good authority I can’t shut up.

Here is the thing. As traditional broadcasters look to restrict access to their content and at the same time create destination portals on the Internet we need to really step up independent content.
I don’t think it needs a Kickstarter campaign but you do what you got to do.  If you are good and people like what you do you will be supported.

We don’t have to be dependent on mainstream content. I’m not saying to totally give it up cuz that new Sherlock Holmes on the BBC has got a bunch of Baker Street Doxies going nuts.

I’ve moved to audio podcasting and video from non-traditional sources to replace television. I do watch traditional shows once in a while on the Internet but they do not fill my needs.

A new model is being established. ZeFrank is not the first person to do this; there are other producers who are doing the same things.We needs to pay attention.

That is all I’m saying.

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Trying to Understand Shamrock Socks in February 2012

I have no love for Valentine’s day. In this case, I mean I do not have any guy I’m going to be snuggling up to come February 14th. I am okay with that reality. At peace with the world. Tra, lah, trah, lah.

Okay, not not really.

It is Black History Month aka African American History and Heritage Month. The flag waving permissible issms are at a all time high and show no sign of dipping below the legal legal of sanity. The only grace I can take hold of is the the debates for the Republican contenders for the White House are taking the month off.

For the record, I am not associating the GOP contenders with Target.  The fact that the GOP contenders have tried to make people that look like me targets for their bile is beside the point.

And I do have one.

I was in Target. Target has black hair care products that I generally have to ride a bus three hours to get to a store that has the same stuff at a huge mark-up. I can get it $15 cheaper at Target.

Target has food, mostly processed food but the one near me has some fresh items. Target has clothes that fit potions of my body in a price range I can afford.

They have Valentine’s day stuff that is just about to go to half price. They have St. Patrick socks. Well, socks that have shamrocks on them.

I know what they don’t have. A decent affordable stand alone .mp3 player. A topic for another time. They also don’t have anything about celebrating African American History or Heritage Month. 

There are no banners. No placards. No streamers.  Not a balloon. Not fond of balloons anyway so that could be a plus.

I’m looking at those St. Patrick influenced socks and I am trying to figure out why are they putting the shamrock stuff out in February? I’m standing there internally scratching my head. 

Then it comes to me. Beer. 

On St. Patrick’s day everybody wears the green. Folks having no genealogical peeps from the island will be fixing corned beef and cabbage or at least reading about a heart healthy version in a magazine or newspaper.

There will be big parades that will be inclusive and exclusive. At least here in California. There will be beer drinking and some will even drink beer that is colored green.  Oh, and there will be green peppermint McFlurries and shamrocks on cookies.

You can sell St. Patrick’s day. 

You can’t exactly sell Black History Month. It is problematic.

If this was the 1970s you could move red, green and black socks.  It is not the 1970s anymore.  How about some “Remember the Dream” socks?  Well, perhaps not.

You could have posters in the stores with photos of historical ancestors but I’d be kinda worried which ancestor’s poster would wind up hanging in the toilet paper section.

Then you would have those folks that would complain. There is always somebody to complain but these particular people would complain that "there isn’t a White History Month so why should anybody recognize Black History Month?"

These same folks will be also be complaining through Women’s History Month, Latino/Hispano/Chicano/Mexicano Heritage Month and Asian and Pan Pacific Heritage Month. Some of those whiners will be debating again in March.

Really Not Picking on Target

We are told that everybody wants to wear the green for a day. Watch your local papers and advertising  circulars. A stereotypical green having nothing to do with living people to be sure but it is celebrated and sold with enthusiasm.

It involves food and beer and, well, that is about I know about the day.

Authentic Irish and Irish American history is fascinating, complex and is woven into the building of this nation. That isn’t what the commercial St. Patrick’s day is about but we do a strange form of let’s pretend.

Authentic African American history is fascinating, complex and is intractably woven into the building of the nation. It seems that folks would rather let the days go by.

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Go On and Catch Some Tail for Yoda's Daddy

The man put up 93 million dollars of his own money to make an all black action movie? Or an action movie with a black cast? You can say this has my attention. In a few days, the movie Red Tails will open at the box office. A gentleman by the name of Mr. George Lucas has produced a movie that is inspired by the Tuskegee Airmen of World War 2.

As a rule, I do not like war movies, shoot em up bangs bangs or glorified murder. I do like a good story. I am 110% down with encoding our history into the collective but often forgetful memory of this nation.

This is a trailer of the movie: 



Mr. Lucus is a little concerned that if folks don't turn out for the flick than will put the kibosh on future multi-million dollar movies staring black folks with white actors in minor supporting roles.

This is a clip from the daily show where he talks about how studios told him they didn't know how to market the movie or that it would not do well internationally because other countries would not want to view "limited appeal" movie.



Dear Mr. Lucas, do not fret about blowing $93 million dollars. I think it is safe to say you are going to recoup that investment in about a 10 hours of the movie's release. Not to mention that as soon as a couple dozen grandmas get wind of the movie a couple thousand junebug grandsons are going to be dragged into the theaters.

But that isn't what the movie studios where talking about, is it? They said they didn't know how to market the movie so that white folks would want to go see it. 

Understandable myopia coming from that crowd.  Need new blood in Hollywood. Those vampire and zombie movies they keep making have drained what little sense they have about modern audiences. 

People will turn out for a good movie, period.

I got my calculator out on this one:

• Living WW2 war vets of any ethnicity $$$
• Living vets of any war who appreciate military history $$$
• Every living Tuskegee graduate $$$$$
• Military historians $$$$
• People who want to see their history on the screen $$$$$$
• Loyal Fanboys and Fangirls who want to get in on the ground floor of a possible new gaming world $ x infinity.

If it is good movie and some white folks can mentally cross that bridge then yeah, whoopie and good on ya. You have a hit.

But if it isn't then it will be okay too. The world will still turn. There are black movies being made and that will happen inside and outside of the current film industry. Looks like it will be outside because even if this is a block buster they will attribute it to Lucas skills as a filmmaker and promoter and not the film or subject matter.

The stories will be told with old tech or new tech. The days of traditional film making filters is coming to an end anyway.

So take a load off G. From the looks of it I don't think it will be flop. I stopped looking toward Hollywood for quality movies a long time ago. I might make an exception for this film but have no expectation of finding a good film to pay $12 for a long time.

Now in your next film if you could do a little something that celibates the slightly older but wiser women with some curves it would be greatly appreciated. If she happened to be driving a space ship that would be very cool too.

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There Is Still Much to Say

There was a time when 999 was the highest amount of posts you could upload on Blogger. I wasn't too worried about it because I didn't think I'd reach 999 posts. I don't think about things like that because they intimidate me.

Here I am. Number 1,000 according to my post log. Dang! I feel good about it.

I wrote long before there was blogging. Use to do an e-mail news letter. Had a old school user page that required HTML. I never warmed up to Dreamweaver but I gave it a go because I had much to say and thought my voice was as valid as some of the others on the World Wide Web.

In 2004 I came to Blogger.


In one of my early post I shared the lyrics to Sky Pilot. There was no way to easily embed video. There was no YouTube and I would not have known about this video from the CBC in Vancouver.  This is a video montage created by the CBC performed by Eric Burdon and The Animals:



I have an attacment to this song because I would hear it on the radio. I might have been between 9 and 11 years of age. I don't remember. But I didn't connected the song with the Vietnam war.

I thought of Snoopy and the Red Baron. I was a kid.  I related to the world that I knew.

This is such a different place. I now understand about the price of war on human bodies and minds. I understand that there have been other wars and some folks are now shopping for a new one to keep the military industrial corporation going.

"You'll never, never, never, reach the sky."

There was a time when I did not have my face on the blog. In 1999 had read a book about being on the Internet that talked about this guy who was making serious cash money doing web work but it got out that he was a black man.

His work dried up. At that time there were people that would attack you for being "the other."

Not much has changed. There are increasing attacks on women and feminist bloggers.

I have learned that you can't hide who you are. There are people that need to see that an African American woman has a blog. That I write about a variety of issues and concerns.

There is no point in trying to pin me down to a specific topic, not in this blog. One day it is politics, the next is noticing that Brookstone in the mall has a bunch of vibrators on sale for the holidays.

Seriously, not the cheap stuff. We are talking the upper level stroke, stroke, stroke until le petit mort kind of gear.

I get distracted. Too much is going on these days.

I bought a fountain pen. I'm going back to writing on paper first and then uploading. Has more to do with eye and hand preservation. It also has to do with allowing the words to come at a contemplative speed. I want time to think, not just react.

I don't like Facebook but I check in on friends. I like Google+ better but I don't have the time to do more than and comment on friends and followers post. There is some new widget that allows me to copy my post here to my G+ page. I might do that. Not sure.

Twitter, which I didn't initially care for, has been my day to day catch up with folks.

My blog - this is my home ground. My stoop. I know it. I'm okay here. I haven't been posting much because I got stuff going on. I have to make decisions about my life in 2012. What do I want to do? What do I need to do?

No matter what those choices are I still intend to blog. And write. Maybe a video now and then.

This blog is what made the connections with other people possible.

There are days when I get fed up with the stupidity of human beings. The American branch has plum lost their minds. Not sure they are going to get it together, it will take something awful to re-connect with each other.

It doesn't have to be that way but not sure if we can come together. Too many forces profit from keeping us apart.

So I still blog. One post at a time. I hope I remain unpredictable but who knows what changes can happen. Be open to the possible has served me well. I commit to that and the future.

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The 21st Century Political Minstrel Video Show

Some of my questions have been answered and new ones take their place. This is hopefully my last post on the political media connections to the traditional form of minstrel theater.

It is my exploration. If you don't know what minstrel theater is check out my prior posts on the subject:

• The Minstrel Show - Minstrel 101
• The Minstrel Show - History in a Nutshell
• The Minstrel Show - I've Seen This Before
  

Once again, this isn't about white people bashing. Minstrelsy is the mother of burlesque, vaudeville, stand-up comedy, slap stick, Bugs Bunny, Laugh-In and The Onion. It is also the foundation of social media defining a group of people with stereotypes, mis-information and hatred.

Minstrel theater is institutional racism that makes a profit at the expense of other people. It is a living laboratory of prejudice, class and power. It is not just a white/black dynamic. It is an uncomfortable, itchy culturally shared history.

For the record, there were black performers who willingly wore the cork. There were many people who refused.

There are African American performers today who wear the invisible cork and can't deposit money fast enough. There are other performers who refuse and still need two trucks to carry it to the bank.

I've selected this video as the 21st century representation of current political video minstrelsy:



I dogged it back to the source of TurnRightUSA where the creator is very proud and ecstatic that his video has had such as response.

The creator of the video has been supported with comments that ring with hate for anyone with a liberal/progressive point of view, of support of the message of the video and, "Why are black people upset? Have you seen a rap video lately?

Why This Video Is 21st Century Minstrelsy

1. Minstrelsy needs fear. It needs to generate anticipatory fear and make it tasty. Red demon eyes on stripper. That would be a check in the affirmative column.

2. Minstrelsy depends on the presentation of black people as the other. The other is presented as a fool, a grifter or a predator. The other is always lesser than the viewer.

Let's see now, two black fools with money and guns. Check to the second power.

3. Minstrelsy needs an Interlocutor acting as the Voice of Authority guiding the audience into the super secret black world, in this case, two black men and a white woman acting as a stripper.

Instead of proving the allegations the video spends a great deal of time invoking images of assorted criminals flashing across the screen.

It is just a buzzing repetition over and over as our modern day Mr. Tambo and Mr. Bones get busy with a bucking azz in hot pants wiggling in anticipation.

4. That is also a feature of minstrel theater. Sex and violence. The early minstrel shows before E.P. Christy were loaded with stereotypical sex and violence; with black men going stone cold crazy over white women.

Let's see, AK-47, check, flipping fanny being stuffed with money, double check.

5. The big finish is a call to action. Support the one (white) man who can deliver you from evil, skanky stripper women running for congress and gangsters who threaten to take our country.

Epilog

There will be much more sophisticated political videos to come in the current election cycle. There will be more trashy ones too.

If the video or political media messages needs racism, sexism and stereotypes to convey their point of view then yes, they are partying like it is 1849.

All I'm asking thinking people to do is look and see if those communications are applying the minstrel template to sell their message. Sometimes it will be tricky but the template will rat them out most of the time.

Like I said, this is my opinion. I based it on my readings, research and my own understanding of my experiences as an African American woman. For some of you that isn't enough.

To borrow a well known Twitter hashtag from Mrs. Erin Kotecki Vest, #suckit

In a few days or weeks, there will be another video that will make this one look like cotton candy. How will you handle it?

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The Make Up Wonder Woman

Those of use who are nerd/geek girls who read the original comic book have seen Wonder Woman in skirts, shorts, panties and damn near thongs.

Wonder Woman is the icon that made the other female comic super heroes possible. This is advertisement for MAC cosmetics. Diana, Princess of Paradise Island also known as Themyscira has fought many foe but I don't re-call that she used make-up to do it.



The ad was a tie-in to the proposed television series. It appears that NBC has rejected the pilot so the new television show isn't gong to happen for 2011.

This might not be a bad thing.

The Warner Brother Animated Series of Superman, Batman and the Justice League is a wonderful example of animated storytelling. This is a clip from the episode "The Man Who Has Everything" with Supes, Bats and Diana dealing with a very nasty Mongul.



It really was more than a cartoon show. The use of color, design, class-A voice actors and really good scripts took it three levels higher than the pablum fed to today's kids.

There is a generation of folk that have been raised on the later day animated series as their touch point of the characters. A live action series has to rise above this type of visual mythology.

There is not enough commitment, money, scripting or technology to make that happen on a standard live action 22 episode series. The next Wonder Woman series might have to be CGI based or a combination of animation and CGI.

It can't be about the costume or how good she looks in Flame Red #39. After all these years Diana of Themyscira deserves better.

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The Minstrel Show - Minstrel 101

So, in my exploration of how this video, Give Us Your Cash, a racist, sexist low class statement about a politician qualifications came into being? It is too easy to go with the usual answers.

You have to look at the American minstrel heritage to get a better understanding. This is a look at the structure of the performances.


It was a free for all until a structured theatrical format was created. Many of the sources that I read cite E.P. Christy's The Christy Minstrels as the first group that developed the framework of the performances.

One of the performers, G.W. Moore, wrote a book about his theatrical experiences, knowledge of the Ethiopian people and some of the routines of the day. The book is called Bones: his anecdotes and goaks [by] G.W. Moore, the original Christy Minstrel. I accessed the book at the Hathi Trust Digital Library. The book is in the public domain.

I'll let Mr. Moore help you get acclimated with the language of the performance and his opinion on the linguistical skills of the black population:

The black population of the United States, are quite
different from the white, in the way they pronounce the
English language, and also in their actions. I have seldom
heard a negro say yes or no direct; for instance, if you ask a
darkey to have a glass of brandy, (and he wanted it) he
would say, " Pass it 'long," "Han em ober," or "Tote dat
dis wa," but not " yes." Again, should he not want the
brandy, he would say, "Ho's yu torkin tu ? dun did kum
fulin yor time roun dis chile wid dat stuff," bwdt seldom "no."

Imagine that you are in a dark theater. The curtain goes up and you are transported to the 1800s.

Processional Entrance

The performers enter and present themselves to the audience, usually by music and dance. They are arraigned in a semi-circle facing the audience. Mr. Moore elucidates:

As far as I have been able to judge, I think that all the Ethiopian race are full of music. I knew a darkey who was Boots at the
Eagle Hotel, Buffalo, every time he used to sit down to his
meals, and before eating, he would sing—
Dar's music in de frien pan,
Dar's music in de kittel,
Dar's music in de nife an fork,
Wen I'm gwine to ete de wittel.
Brandi wil be brandi,
Anihow yu mix it;
Nigger wil be nigger,
Anihow yu fix it.

Basically you have white men in costume, black face make-up and wigs that are controlled by Mr. Interlocutor.

Mr. Interlocutor:

The Interlocutor was the medium/interpreter that communicated with the performers. Most of the time the interlocutor was also in black face make-up but not always. In this segment of the show the Interlocutor would set up the jokes of the day, songs and jabs. There would be two men, Mr. Tambo on the left and Mr. Bones on the right would respond to the questions using stereotyped expressions to float the joke.

From our text of the day comes an example of a routine that Mr. Tambo and Mr. Bones might share with the audience:

A HEAVY BLOW.
Sam. Sa, Bones, did yu here de news ? "We had de gratest blo doun our wa.
Bones. "Wat a kurry kane ?
S. Yes, wun ob dem kurricanes kum doun, and jus blow eberyting in de vilage hi, lo, Jack, an de game, it blow ebery house up, didn't lebe wun, blow ebery house up but
mine.
B. But yors ! how wus it yure house wusnt blone up ?
S. We had a heaby morgage on it, dat kep it doun.
B. Oh, we had wun ob dem in our vilage.
S. Wat, a blo ?
B. No, we had a firei
S. Afire?
B. Yes, red hot; jus kum in de vilage in de nite, an burn ebery house doun; den it kum in mi house, went up in de sellar, doun in de garret, all ober de furnitur, an neber
spilt a ting.
S. (astonished) Neber spilt a ting ?
B. No, we sabe eberyting in de house but de pianner.
S. Whi coodn't yu sabe de pianner.
B. Bekase de engines coodn't pla on de pianner.

Olio or Specialty Acts

Next, the Interlocutor introduced specialty acts that had longer skits, dance numbers or songs or a combination. This is and example by Cotton and Chick Watts:



The specialty act could be a parody of a play, an extended dance number or what ever the talent could provide on that particular night. Often included in the specialty act was a "stump" speech by a political character who mangled proper English.

The Afterpiece:

This could be a riff on a opera, the musical joy and rapture of being on a southern plantation or an extended walk-around.

According to Mr. Moore, Blacks are a fearful sort of being. I don't want to invoke his wrath at being quoted out of context so I'm going to make sure he has his final say:

I think I have explained enough about the blacks, that
you can appreciate the stories and eccentricities I shall
introduce; and I wish it to be distinctly understood,
that, in all things I may bring forward, no offence is meant
towards those who may happen to be of a different colour to
myself; as I have travelled in many parts of the globe, I beg
most respectfully to state, that I never look upon a man from
what place he comes from, but from the place he is worthy
of, believing He who made the white, also made the black,
and that they will stand the same chance as myself in the
world to come; therefore, all that I introduce will be for
your amusement, and trust the same will meet with your
approbation.

Social Media 1800s Style

I have been using the theater a visual example but minstrel performances were not restricted to just indoors. They certainly would have been included in advertising, medicine shows, traveling independent performers, bars and other public performance spaces.

Sheet music would have been the mp3 player of the day. To be historically accurate there were some black folks selling songs and jokes on the down low to white performers. There were some who snuck on the stage violating state law against blacks and white mixing.

Minstrel shows were entertainment productions with a long lasting cultural impact. The stereotypes, ignorance and prejudice transferred from theater, film, radio, television and current new media.

Next up: My Understanding 21st Century Political Minstrel Videos

Minstrel 101 Resources

Bones: his anecdotes and goaks [by] G.W. Moore, the original Christy minstrel published 1870 located at the HathiTrust Digital Library.

American Minstrel Show Collection with brief history of structure of minstrel shows by Princeton University Library Rare and Special Collections Department.

Lift Every Voice - Music In American Life Albert H. Small Special Collections Library at the University of Virginia.

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The Minstrel Show - History In a Nutshell

This is by necessity a conflated history of the theatrical minstrel show. The short version is that since the meeting of Africans and Europeans on American soil there has been minstrel performances and shows.

I'm starting in the 1900s but it goes back much further in time. This is where the tangles of history get complicated. In order for white folks to create theatrical minstrel shows you had to have black people, Christianity and spirituals.

There were former slaves that wanted to convert to Christianity. There were other freed men and women that were strongly encouraged or given no faith based choice in the matter. According to the New York Public Library Performing Desk Reference, the freed slaves looked at churches or religious groups that were similar to their African music practices.

Despite heavy segregation, there was a cross pollination of African and American/British spiritual music influences. Those influence moved from the sacred to the secular.

You also had the performances of the Fisk Jubilee Singers who traveled the world singing and raising money to support Fisk University. Their performances was another introduction to African American performers and music. These performers were talented, professional and presented the highest caliber of musicianship.

Yet, they didn't fit the stereotypical image of black people. According to the Fisk Jubilee Singers web site:

The first concerts were in small towns. Surprise, curiosity and some hostility were the early audience response to these young black singers who did not perform in the traditional “minstrel fashion.”

However, white performers were paying attention. About 1820 or so, a white performer named Thomas "Daddy" Rice observed a black street singer or a black stable hand (could have been the same person, it isn't clear from my readings) singing a song called "Jim Crow."


Thomas Rice put burnt cork on his face and started performing his version of the song. It was a hit and the song becomes an American standard.

Imitation is the sincerest form of making a dollar and other white performers jumped on the minstrel black face cash wagon. Soon almost any white performer with a lick of skill was in black face make-up and traveling the country performing.

Putting on a minstrel show was inexpensive, you didn't need a lot of props and you literally could borrow, appropriate and source your material from freeman performers. In addition, white performers could draw upon their own stereotypical views of what they thought they knew about black people.

Make no mistake, in the context of the time minstrel shows were very popular with both white and black audiences. Rich folks went to the opera, broke folks went to the minstrel shows.

Make that white broke folks. Africans and African Americans were not permitted to perform or be in attendance at a theatrical performance. Unless the theater had a separate performance for the non-white population they would have seen minstrel shows as part of carnivals, medicine shows or traveling troops of performers.

So in essence you had white performers appropriating content or inspiration from black performers and adding an overlay of stereotypical images to perform before a white audience.

Like I said, this is complicated. Ok, next up Minstrel 101 for sure.

Resources for Minstrel History

George Mason University Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media Minstrel Show

History of the original Fisk Jubilee Singers

Library of Congress Minstrel Poster Collection - Al "G" Field

Musicals1o1.com page on Minstrel performances

The New York Public Library Performance Art Desk Reference - The Birth of American Popular Music Pages 239 - 242 and the NYPL On-line search collection for Minstrel Shows

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In Memory of Mr. Gil Scott-Heron

I'm tired. I'm tired of the willful ignorance that is romping around as political discussions. On this day one of the great men of poetry and music has pass to the other side. I speak of Mr. Gil Scott-Heron.

I saw the man perform many years ago. I don't know much more to say. I did a tweet. I wrote 480 words in Facebook.

But my heart wants to write a book and nobody reads anymore, so I am told. This is a poem from the (currently) last album Where Did the Night Go?



I can tell you that one of the first things I did when I got my hands on the Internet was to look for him. No joke. He had been quiet for too long and I was trying to catch up. I wasn't alone.

Eventually the silent collective of those of us caring about GSH found out he was in England. Having some turbulence over there with the chemicals. I had to adjust that the man who made it clear to leave the stuff alone was juiced and volatile.

This is The Bottle



It took about 10 years for the BBC interview video to surface on the web. I could see he had been roughed up by his addictions. Gil was still inside but not the same. Still, the silent collective couldn't let him go. We sent invisible good wishes and petitions up on high on his behalf.

These past two years were very encouraging. I didn't care if he was doing covers of blues songs or small snips of poetry. The man was working and staying focus. As much as he could. Maybe the next album would light into the soul like a B-Movie

.

When folks do a tribute page they want other people to know that this person is important. You should know why we honor this conflicted but talented man. He wasn't perfect. Dang sure no angel.

Scott-Heron made it hard to be a fan.

But for a moment we gather and understood what it was and what it could be in terms of storytelling, poetry, performance and musicianship.

I'm about to crash. I need to sleep. Or be sad. Maybe both.

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