Top (L-R): Geoffrey Gardner, Drew Tewksbury, Joanne Griffith, Allison Samuels, and Zachary Slobig
Steele said he is "done" talking to the White House, saying he thinks Obama "has got a little thing about me, that I haven't quite figured out what that is." When asked if he was jealous of Obama, Steele was incredulous: "What would I be jealous of?" adding, "I'm chairman of the RNC, so, what’s your point? We both have leadership responsibilities and roles. I'm not equating the two. My point is: you are on your track. I'm on my track. You do your thing. I do my thing."I realize where I've seen Michael Steele before. He played the Black Knight in a 1974 Monty Python movie. Check it out and see if you agree with me!
March is Women's History Month. One way that the month is being honored is thru the Diversity in Science Carnival: Women in STEM - Past and Present.
Dr. Maya Angelou is a remarkable Renaissance woman who is hailed as one of the great voices of contemporary literature. As a poet, educator, historian, best-selling author, actress, playwright, civil-rights activist, producer and director, she continues to travel the world, spreading her legendary wisdom.
We decided to take a moment to sit quietly under the village's baobob tree to learn more about some of the powerful bloggers of African descent out in the afrosphere.
tion and smooth delivery. While he's been writing poetry on and off since the age of 6, he says his style was born when he first met Sonia Sanchez. Upon hearing that he wrote poetry, she told him to forget the poems of old and write new words. Ever since, his style changed to something more natural, strong, and exciting. I was one of the geeks. Definitely. I was insecure, imaginative, and intelligent. It was an interesting mix, really.Q2. Name a famous historical figure, living or deceased, you would like to meet and tell us why.
Living, Muhammad Ali. For a good year and change, I did so much intense research on that man. He lived life with such passion and fervor, and had an insatiable drive. Dead, Arturo Schomberg. I'd probably ask him some of the questions you're asking me now.Q3. Name a person in your community who is relatively unknown to the rest of the world, who you believe is significant in some way, and that you would like the rest of the world to know more about.
I'd say Fr. Jack Podsiadlo. Fr. Jack Podsiadlo is a Jesuit priest whose life's work consists of helping underprivileged Black and Latino youth become great men. Personally, I can say he was a father figure for me at a time when I needed that uplift as a youth. He also served as president of the Nativity Network, a collection of schools based on Nativity Mission Center, a small Catholic middle school on the Lower East Side. He didn't found the center, but his efforts to spread the message about that model have translated into hundreds and thousands of young men and women getting the opportunity of a lifetime.Q4. What are two items in your 'bucket list' ... things you want to do or accomplish before you kick the bucket?
I'd like to travel across the world, and I'd like to write a really good book. Simple, yes, but not easy.Q5. Describe your first experience on the Internet?
I want to say my first experience on the Internet was through my public school. We were writing an e-mail on the computer. As a matter of fact, I think it was on a Mac. I remember getting weirded out by this scraping and beeping noise in the background when my teacher told me, "Oh that's just the sound of a connection being made." Ah, the bad old days.Q6. Tell us about your current blogging career and how you got into it.
I started out in Xanga in 2003 under ComoSeLlama. I first used it as a journal ofQ7. Who are the two bloggers you read the most and why? Include their links and tell us why we should subscribe to their feeds.sorts, jotting down parts of my life that I found interesting. As I started to build an audience, I started ranting on whatever happened for that day. I found myself particularly vested in blogging when I was unemployed and searching for another venue to entertain myself. But as I got a little older (and got a job), I too had to grow, and so I bought up my own domain and started blogging under my own name from 2007.
-checks my Google Reader- I can without a doubt say my two most read blogs are NYC Educator and Electronic Village. NYC Educator has always been my blogging hero, and with his trusty sidekick, Reality-Based Educator, they give you the realest coverage of education topics and financial / politics news you'll read on the web now. Electronic Village has a way of posting the news without sounding too much like they're preaching at me. It's informative, but not over-bearing. That's important.Q8. Where are you taking your blog over the next 2-3 years?
I'm taking it wherever life takes me. I'm working on a few projects, one of which we'll see the release of in 2010, a book on the future of teaching. Another book, one I'm working on by myself, is hopefully coming out 2011. The blog itself will probably chronicle my life as it changes not just as an educator, but also as a writer. I've always been the writer who tries to fill in the gaps, and that seems to work well for my readers.Q9. What is your 'killer post' over the past year ... the post you are most proud of?
Oh wow. My proudest post over the last year (counts 365 days back) has to be my post "Howl If You Hear Me," my uber-dedication to Allen Ginsberg in whichQ10. What is your 'biggest noise post' over the past year ... the one that you took the most heat over from your readers?I asked various bloggers to contribute one line to the first stanza of my remake of his poem. I'm sure to some I made that post look easy, but I probably worked on it all day. Obviously it was also successful in its own right, but it also elucidates the power of collaboration amongst creative individuals.
I can never get enough of this "controversial post" business. I have a few of them actually, but if I had to pick just one, I'd pick the "My Ballot or My Bullet" post. In it, I played Devil's Advocate in response to the fandom for Barack Obama. I understood the excitement that Barack generated, but when I looked at the lessons of Malcolm X (who always stirs up some controversy even posthumously), I wondered how much people really thought about what he was saying in response to elected officials. Some people wouldn't even speak to me for a good couple of months. Then again, I generate one of those "I can't even talk to you right now" posts at least once a month.You can reach Jose on Facebook, LinkedIn Network or Twitter. I hope that you enjoyed this Q&A session with Jose. Share any of your thoughts or remembrances of Jose or his blog if you have time or incination!
"In the Fargodome, thousands of people gathered not to watch a football game or a rodeo, but to fill sandbags. Volunteers filled 2.5 million of them in just five days, working against the clock, day and night, with tired arms and aching backs. Others braved freezing temperatures, gusting winds, and falling snow to build levees along the river’s banks to help protect against waters that have exceeded record levels."
We support the Am I Not Human? blogging campaign that takes place on the 27th of each month. It is our effort to raise awareness of human rights abuse taking place around the globe. My hope is that all villagers will support this effort in some manner via your blog, Twitter or discussions at home or work.
I encourage villagers to join with Amnesty International to call on the Department of Homeland Security to make U.S. immigration detention standards enforceable, and to use alternatives to detention in a meaningful way.Amnesty International has a 56-page report, entitled Jailed Without Justice that shares horrific stories of detention abuse and mismanagement here in the United States. For example, Mr. N, a Buddhist monk, fled to the U.S. after he was tortured in Tibet for his religious beliefs. When he arrived in New York, he was immediately detained and never had a chance to argue for his case before a judge. After 10 months in detention, he was finally granted asylum.The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) could issue
new regulations that would quickly solve many of these problems. But instead, just three weeks ago, the office in charge of these policies testified before Congress that it plans to detain almost a hundred thousand more immigrants this year than last.
We welcome the new vision the Obama administration brings to Washington and to America. But this vision can only become a reality if we make it so. The State of Black America 2009: Message to the President, is an essential part of the National Urban League’s effort to bring about this vision by working with the new Administration to tackle the nation’s deepening domestic challenges. I hope that it encourages and inspires each of you to join us in working to help President Obama fulfill the promise he made to us last summer “to build a nation worthy of our children’s future.” - Marc H. Morial, National Urban League President & CEO
I hope that y'all enjoy these blog safaris. I post them every week or so to point out some talented bloggers and creative blog posts to interested villagers. Follow my Rhino-Guide (she needs a name!) on this journey thru the cyber-jungle. Enjoy the flow!!
"These investments are not a wish list of priorities that I picked out of thin air – they are a central part of a comprehensive strategy to grow this economy by attacking the very problems that have dragged it down for too long: the high cost of health care and our dependence on oil; our education deficit and our fiscal deficit."
The Republican Party is deeply in trouble. We shared the top ten blunders of GOP leader Michael Steele earlier this month. Now we have a member of Steele's Republican Party who wants to bring back the hanging noose. [SOURCE]"Look at recent history, like in South Africa, when apartheid was abolished," LambusIt is truly a sad state of affairs for the Republican Party that they have a candidate who fails to understand the evil history of lynching in our country.said in a recent interview with The Associated Press. "Blacks went on a crime spree. Other blacks got tired of it ... and they formed vigilantes and they killed people. It brought the crime down."
His pistol nearby as he peered out a window at his decaying Jackson neighborhood, Lambus added: "When you cut your yard, carry a gun. When you go to church, carry a gun. When you go to school, carry a gun."
4,260 U.S. servicemen and women and hundreds more from coalition countries have been killed in Iraq since the war began. Tens of thousands have been physically and mentally wounded. In fact, suicides among Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans "may exceed the combat death toll because of inadequate mental health care."
According to Iraq Body Count, nearly 100,000 (maybe more) Iraqi civilians have lost their lives because of the war. Nearly 5 million Iraqis have either been internally displaced or left the country."I did everything I could to guarantee my voice would be where I wanted it to be, where it should have been, but Mother Nature just said, I don’t think so," Franklin told host Michel Martin.Sis. Franklin plans to provide the original hat worn at the inauguration to the Smithsonian to be installed in the presidential library. Villagers can pay $179 to order one directly from the hat's creator, Luke Song, who has been making hats for 25 years at Mr Song Millinery in Detroit.
We decided to take a moment to sit quietly under the village's baobob tree to learn more about some of the powerful bloggers of African descent out in the afrosphere.I would say I was a strange child. At nine, I wanted to be Dr. King. I wanted tomake history. I realize this might come off as arrogant, but I was a sensitive child who could not understand injustice and mistreatment of anybody. While I couldn’t articulate it, very early on I knew I wanted to be involved in civil rights, human rights. When I say I wanted to make history, it wasn’t about personal fame but a desire to make a difference. When the “I have a Dream” speech played each year, I was awestruck every time. I wanted to help realize the dream. I wanted to a lawyer, teacher, writer or activist- any vocation that would allow me to serve others. I have been interested in social justice, diversity, multiculturalism and the arts my entire life.
Well, I think I just made it pretty clear who was one of the earliest influences on me. Others would include Shirley Chisholm, Barbara Jordan and Benazir Bhutto. Each of these political figures dared to speak and act on their convictions. I quote Chisholm a lot because her actions and ideas resonate with how I try to live. When I was in eighth grade, my social studies teacher gave me a biography of Barbara Jordan. Ms. Jordan was a force to be reckoned with. She spoke her mind and a Black woman out of Texas? Do I need to say more? Bhutto believed so much in her country and its right to be a free democracy she was willing to die for it. She remained politically active knowing it could cost her life and it did. That is courage and conviction.
The foot soldiers of grassroots of organizations are folks you can’t google even if I shared their names. I will name an organization that matters to me, and that is Alternatives For Girls. It’s where I run the library. The work AFG does is important and we need all the support we can get. The agency provides outreach services, prevention services and houses a shelter for at risk girls in the city of Detroit.
Establish and run my own literary arts for youth nonprofit. Establish a legacy fund for young people.
I’ve been online more than a decade. I’ve witnessed the evolution of communities from listserves to message boards to IM messaging, websites to blogs. I dug my roots online with a black poetry site out of Chicago and a diversity forum based out of Florida. I became a permanent fixture in both communities. You’re not a member unless you are truly active in a community.
Q6. Tell us about your current blogging career and how you got into it.
I started blogging in order to teach Color Online members how to use technology to express their art and views, to inform potential supporters about our efforts and to inform readers about writers that they might not otherwise ever learn about or read.
We are a literary community, so the blogs I read most are literature focused. Color Online is also about community service and activism so I read blogs that promote empowerment and activism. Limiting it to two is really difficult. I check in on average fifteen to twenty blogs daily but if you insist, I recommend Fledgling (BBR #1599)written by Zetta Elliot, a Black feminist, writer and educator. I also read The Bottom of Heaven (BBR #1626) written by Claudia and Frieda, two articulate Black women who focus on Black culture.
I’d like to see readership increase, but I’m not interested in being popular as much as my goal is to make an impact. I want to impact young people. I want to spread the message a
bout the importance of literacy. It is beyond me why there isn’t a real focus on getting our kids to read and write. We have all kinds of youth programs and too many of them of missing the mark by failing to stress literacy, and literacy in the broader sense means having cultural awareness. Knowing how to read and write is not what it means to be a literate individual. It is the awareness of the world around you, an ability to communicate your ideas and views effectively. It is a desire to be connected with others. I want Color Online to inspire young people to become active in their communities. I want Color Online to be a literary portal, a place where readers, educators, writers and activists engage one another, share information and support projects and works that empower women of color, which in turn means empowering communities.
Q9. What is your 'killer post' over the past year ... the post you are most proud of?
I don’t think I have a killer post because my aim isn’t a single shot but a cohesive, consistent flow of information that provides readers and educators with works that are relevant to their populations. I think it is important to share with readers that Color Online is a tool I use to promote literacy. In addition to publishing the blog, I run our physical library at a local nonprofit, which means book acquisition, operating the library, soliciting donations, hosting events and workshops and mentoring young women. I also run our online discussion forum. The feature I am most proud of is our Potpourri quiz. It is a fun, easy way for me to provide information about women of color writers and other women who have made important contributions to society.
Q10. What is your 'biggest noise post' over the past year ... the one that you took the most heat over from your readers?
Our blog is still in its infancy stage. While our group was formed in 2005, the blog was created the end of 2007, and we’re just now really getting a solid footing. I’d say I have stirred the pot more on a few occasions as a participant on other blogs. Most recently I expressed an unpopular opinion during a discussion about a book about rape. I criticized the tone and direction of the discussion, which I felt was dismissive and counterproductive. I knew saying so wasn’t going to be well received (there was a barrage of complaints) but that didn’t matter. I felt it was important to speak up. And for me, it isn’t about being right or convincing others of my point of view, it is about speaking up. Audre Lorde wrote our silence does not save us so it’s best we speak our truth. The goal isn’t to convince others to agree with me and I don’t want others’ approval. The goal is dialogue, the exchange of ideas and considering other perspectives. As long as we’re challenging the message and not attacking the messenger, there shouldn’t be any censorship.
"As people in South Carolina struggle with this recession, Governor Sanford has decided to stand in the way of the help," said Rucker. "It's obvious even to Republicans in South Carolina that this has nothing to do with what's best for the state -- it's all about scoring political points."The group noted that Black South Carolinians, nearly a third of the state's population, will be hit particularly hard by Sanford's decision to reject stimulus funds. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that Blacks in that state are twice as likely as whites to be unemployed. The state's jobless rate, at 10.4%, is second highest in the country.
"Schools in South Carolina can’t afford for thousands of teachers to lose their jobs, and neither can America’s economy," Rucker continued. "But it seems like Governor Sanford thinks that currying favor with the far right of his political party is more important than stopping the economic bleeding."
Crystal wrote, "The Loop is a daily news analysis site written from a Black or minority perspective. We cover economics, politics, social and cultural issues and race.I encourage villagers to take a moment to truly explore The Loop. It has more content than most blogs you will find in the afrosphere. I look forward to future collaboration with Crystal and her partners over at The Loop.
We also have a citizen journalism component called Speak Out in which people can post their opinions and comments about the issues and news in our world today.
We think the goal of The AfroSpear is to engage people around topics that are important to us all - Black progress, race, politics and our history. The group would serve as a platform as well as an information source for news. The Loop would contribute by engaging in conversation and updating everyone on the issues we are writing and talking about. We have special reports in which we write a series of content on a particular issue impacting the Black community. We are all about Black opinion and conversation."
"We are a nation built on the strength of individual initiative. But there are certain things that we can't do on our own. There are certain things that only a government can do. And one of those things is ensuring that the foods we eat, and the medicines we take, are safe and don't cause us harm."Watch the weekly address below to learn more about the President's measures to make the food that lands on our dinner tables safer.
