Aberjhani's Blog: Notes of a 21st Century Digital Scribe, page 11

Exploring the Wonder and Enigma of Flannery O'Connor (part 2 of 3)

From the time when her first short stories and novel were published, O’Connor was identified as a writer with a rare kind of gift. Her specific brand of genius allowed her to adapt powerful religious principles, aesthetic technique, and social observances to create highly original and often shocking literary art which leaned heavily toward the Gothic and grotesque.

She painted with words in the same manner she painted with colors. Stroke by carefully-rendered stroke, she created...

Floating along: A Review Essay on Duncan McNaughton’s Somewhere in the Stream (part 1 of 2)

(Postered Chromatic Poetics title art graphic by Aberjhani) Just before I took off running from Hurricane Matthew as it slammed the southeastern United States in 2016, presumably courtesy of the still-raging global climate crisis, I wrote the following notes on Duncan McNaughton's contemporary poetry classic, Valparaiso (Listening Chamber publishing, 1995):

As seen through the lens of this reader's experience of his work, McNaughton is a hunter and gatherer of significant meanings, and...

Proven Practices Yield Gratifying 2019 Results, Increase Potential for 2020

(Postered Chromatics title art graphic by Aberjhani C2019)In my exchanges with the Dalai Lama on Twitter, we sometimes address the importance of cultivating such practices as exercising compassion and expressing gratitude. My stance regarding compassion has long known per numerous blogs on the subject at Charter for Compassion and elsewhere. I hope my belief in the value of acknowledging thankfulness is also evident not just because Thanksgiving is upon us but because it has long been a...

A Hidden American Treasure Comes to Revelatory Light (part 3 of 3): Sweating out a Poem

Title art-graphic with Suzanne Jackson, Rachel Reese, and Alonzo Davis on stage at Telfair Museums Jepson Center for the Arts. The screen above them is showing archival images from the Suzanne Jackson Five Decades art exhibit. (photo by Aberjhani for Bright Skylark Literary Productions) Having refrained for years from attending any kind of party at all, I relaxed my self-imposed tension by mixing in a little work with a lot of fun. In a room next to the kitchen (which itself resembled a...

A Hidden American Treasure Comes to Revelatory Light (part 2 of 3): Jazz, Art, & Partying

More than a decade after our first meeting, one afternoon I turned the radio on to catch some jazz music on WHCJ 90.3 FM, Savannah State University's celebrated multi-platform multicultural station. To my surprise, I heard Jackson discussing music with the station's legendary former director of programming, and Jazz Festival Hall of Fame member, Theron "Ike" Carter. Their voices were soon joined by that of the great sculptor and Indigo Sky art gallery founder, Jerome Meadows, and those...

A Hidden American Treasure Comes to Revelatory Light (part 1 of 3): Geography & History

Anyone  on June 27, 2019, attending the opening of the Suzanne Jackson Five Decades retrospective at the Telfair Museums' Jepson Center for the Arts in Savannah, Georgia (USA), or involved in its production prior to that historic evening, could tell something exceptional was happening. In addition to the mesmerizing kind of vibrant textiles and stunning canvases one might expect to discover at such an opening for a contemporary artist, there were seven vitrines (display cases) filled wi...

How 2019 Turned into a Big Year for Literary Productions (part 2 of 2)

"Tears of the Children of the Sun" artwork by Aberjhani C2019. Some of the publications at Issuu, like CONNECT Savannah, are simply digital editions of magazines for which I've written feature stories or poetry. Others employing my writings are new to me. What probably amazes me more than anything else is the scope of their ideological --from politics and social justice issues to spirituality and the creative arts--application of the works.

More often than not, their assessments of certai...

How 2019 Turned into a Big Year for Literary Productions (part 1 of 2)

"Migration of the Weary Blue Dreamers" artwork for title graphic by Aberjhani C2019. What has been dubbed the second Golden Age of Television, the continuing growth of independent technology giants like Netflix and now Amazon, and independent digital media platforms have increased available outlets for adaptations of literary titles.  That observation only matters if such titles themselves are also available. For the purposes of this discussion, it matters a great deal because of an abu...

Reaping the Rewards of Best Practices and Sweet Serendipity

"Best Practices & Sweet Serendipity" art graphic by Aberjhani. I'm a big fan of those moments when a proven best practice confirms its value by yielding the kind of positive results I like to refer to as: sweet serendipity.

The best practices in this instance are revisiting, revising, and relaunching a promising book project which stalled for one reason or another. The concluding sweet synchronicity is that instead of engaging readers this summer with just the single newly-released nonfic...

Springing Forward with Dreams of the Immortal City Savannah

"Simply by allowing its darker-hued brothers and sisters to openly discuss ideas without having to constantly justify, defend, or survive the color of their skin, whether in classrooms of the great Sorbonne or while walking un-hunted down a boulevard, Paris [France] made a crucial contribution to what would become known as the Harlem Renaissance and to the legacy of African-American intellectual traditions in general." from Dreams of the Immortal City Savannah quote, art graphic, & new 2019 b...