Mark Anthony Neal's Blog, page 952

T.J. Holmes Carves African-American Spot In Late Night

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Haiti Struggles to Cope with Food Crisis

Al Jazeera English  Haiti is facing yet another crisis. A hurricane in August destroyed most of the country's rice crops, adding pressure to a food shortage, and increasing prices of the country's main staple food. The government has begun importing an extra 300,000 bags of rice to ease the situation. But the response to the problem is only short term. Al Jazeera's Tom Ackerman reports.[image error]

The Color Blue: Remembering the Death of a Child

The Color BlueToday is the 6th anniversary of the death of our daughter, Sophie.  Some 12 hours after we first met, she would succumb to an infection, dying right as we sat powerless.  In an instant, we had lost our child; we had joined so many other families worldwide who have lost children.
The day and our loss still haunt me.  I wrote about this part of my life here:
Each and detail of that day remains with: a graduate student dropping me off at the hospital; how sick my wife looked when I entered the room; the muted cries when she was born; the concerned look on our doctor’s face. More vivid and painful are the memories of me sitting on the floor when she went into cardiac arrest, the clothes I was wearing, the hospital smell, and the sounds of “code blue.”  Almost weekly, the sight of a helicopter prompts thoughts, painful memories of the 60+ mile trip I took in the dark as we searched for someone to help her.  I was so close to my dying daughter yet unable to help or hold her. 
These sights and sounds remain with me.  The fear that paralyzed me as sat in a hospital at 2 AM hoping, praying, and begging for her to get better, is still with me. Six years hasn’t quieted these visual memories, although time, family, and friends have been immensely helpful as we work to move forward with these memories.   The process of moving forward with these memories, with Sophie, was not an easy process.  I don’t even think about “healing” as it has never been about getting better but instead of taking steps forward with these memories, with our love for her, and with her being present in my life.  Therapy really helped in the process, allowing me to process my feelings about vulnerability, life and death, and a sense of powerlessness.  Writing has also been really important for me.  Her death led me to start writing spoken word pieces as a way to express my pain and sorrow.  With this in mind, I decided to share with you this piece, which entitled “The Color Blue”
The Color Blue
Blue SkiesLighting my daySandy beaches, smiling under the hot sunny, blue skies
Blue waterWhether the Pacific Ocean or a calming lakeChildhood memories of a family splashing and merely enjoying the blue water
My Blue shoesCertainly not suede, but my first pair of JordansWhite with blue trimLooking fly with my Dodgers jersey and hat, ballin in blue before I know how to ball Looking fly with my Dodgers jersey and hat, rockin in blue before I know what to do [with life]
Blueberry pancakesThe perfect remedy to a cold Sunday morningThe smell intoxicates the house; sweet and hot, comforting on even the dreariest day
I use to love blueEven the bluesBecause through other’s expressed pain I found my happiness
Not nowI am the bluesI have the bluesI am defined the blues
Because of the pain of the blues
No longer blues skies or pristine blue waters reflecting off the sun
No longer about fly blue gear or comfort food on the bluest of days
But blue as painBlue as despairBlue as the beginning of a new lifeAnd Blue as the end of several lives
Code Blue Code Blue
Blue sirens blazinAs the doctors race to save her lifeWearing their blue scrubs
Code Blue Code Blue
Blue sirens blazin“She’s not breathin,” they yellShe’s turning blue
Code Blue Code Blue
Blue sirens blazinNo longer pink and innocentHer skin turns blue with each comment without the nourishment of Oxygen
Code Blue Code Blue
Blue sirens blazinIfs that not enough, the needs and medicine leaves bruisesDark blue, the color of those once comforting blueberries
A deathly blue
Code BlueCode Blue
For her or meBecause my blues define meAre meYet unlike my Sophie’s blue, my blues won’t kill me
***  David J. Leonard is Associate Professor in the Department of Critical Culture, Gender and Race Studies at Washington State University, Pullman. He is the author of the just released After Artest: Race and the War on Hoop (SUNY Press) as well as several other works. Leonard is a regular contributor to NewBlackMan, layupline, Feminist Wire, and Urban Cusp. He is frequent contributor to Ebony, Slam, and Racialicious as well as a past contributor to Loop21, The Nation and The Starting Five. He blogs @No Tsuris.

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The BBC Presents Bill Withers in Concert (1973)

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"Guns Are an Idea Whose Time Has Passed": Nikki Giovanni on Anniversary Va. Tech Massacre

Democracy Now 
Amy Goodman sits down with activist, poet and scholar Nikki Giovanni at Virginia Tech, where Giovanni is a distinguished professor of English. Giovanni recounts her experience of the 2007 massacre and shares her thoughts on gun control. She briefly taught Virginia Tech shooter Seung-Hui Cho poetry before demanding that he leave her class over disruptive behavior. In a memorial address the day after the massacre, Giovanni told mourners: "We are strong, and brave, and innocent, and unafraid. We are better than we think and not quite what we want to be. We are alive to the imaginations and the possibilities. We will continue to invent the future through our blood and tears and through all our sadness."[image error]

Form vs. Content: Ella Fitzgerald Scats "One Note Samba" in NOLA (1969)

Ella Fitzgerald in NOLA (1969) accompanied by Tommy Flanagan on piano. This performance is reminder of theorist and critic Stuart Hall's point that "style" is not mere husk, but also the substance of Blackness.[image error]

MacArthur Genius Winner Junot Diaz Discusses New Book 'This is How You Lose Her'

AtGoogleTalks  Junot Diaz stopped by the Googleplex on September 14th, to discuss his latest book: This is How You Lose Her . Our moderator is Rick Kleffel, editor of The Agony Column (http://bookotron.com/agony/index.html).

Junot is a 2012 recipient of the MacArthur Fellows Program.  [image error]

Left of Black S3:E3 | Where Are the Discussions About Poverty and Youth Violence in the 2012 Presidential Race?

Left of Black S3:E3 | October 1, 2012
Where Are the Discussions About Poverty and Youth Violence in the 2012 Presidential Race?
Left of Black host and Duke University Professor Mark Anthony Neal is joined via Skype  journalists Rahiel Tesfamariam and Mychal Denzel Smith in a discussion of youth violence and poverty in the United States and the lack attention given to these issues in the 2012 Presidential Election.
Tesfamariam is founder & Editorial Director of the on-line magazine Urban Cusp and a blogger and columnist for The Washington Post and The Root DC, and Smith is a freelance writer, social commentator, and mental health advocate whose work has been seen at The Atlantic ,  The Nation ,  The Guardian , Ebony ,  Huffington Post , The Root and The Grio .
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Left of Black is a weekly Webcast hosted by Mark Anthony Neal and produced in collaboration with the John Hope Franklin Center at Duke University.
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Episodes of Left of Black are also available for free download in  @ iTunes U [image error]

Nas on the "Power of Voting"

WatchOurTime

Feel the same power Nas does: register to vote at http://www.ourtime.org/vote[image error]

Farai Chideya - On Connectivity & Net Neutrality

Future J Project  Farai Chideya discusses connectivity and net neutrality issues and how they impact journalism.[image error]