Aberjhani's Blog: Notes of a 21st Century Digital Scribe, page 12

Tribute to Harlem Renaissance Chronicler Sandra L. West (part 2): Worthy of Our Ancestors' Legacy

Honoring educator, author, & community activist Sandra L. West. Title art graphic by Aberjhani. That the story of two chroniclers of the Harlem Renaissance should have had its beginning in Savannah, Georgia, in the early 1990s, might seem unlikely but it did. Sandra and I met as writers often do: in a bookstore. I was the manager at a now defunct Waldenbooks store interviewing for a part-time worker and she was interested. The interview turned into a two-person literary salon as, somehow...

Tribute to Harlem Renaissance Chronicler Sandra L. West (part 1): Accomplishing Mission Impossible

Honoring co-author of Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance Sandra L. West (1947-2019). Art graphic by Aberjhani based on original book cover which features art by Jacob Lawrence. Somewhere in the digital files accumulated while working with Sandra L. West on Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance is a long poem I wrote--at a time when we were both feeling exhausted by our literary labors--to renew our motivation to finish the book. Having learned earlier this week of Sandra's passing...

Kaleidoscope Moons Reclaim with Compassion the Beauty of Lives Lost Too Soon (part 1)

The original subject scheduled for this post was the 100th anniversary of the "Harlem Hellfighter's" celebratory parade through New York City in February, 1919, following the United States' and allies' successful campaign to end World War I in Europe. For the African Americans who comprised the unit, participation had meant another step toward gaining racial equality and ending unwarranted violence against them at home. With Black History Month only a couple of weeks away and commemorations o...

Summer of 2018 filled with inspired overflow of creativity

Presented with the choice between wholly committing my pen to writing about current waves of shock and awe stemming from political shenanigans on the world stage, or sticking to processes for meeting specific goals, I chose the latter. My choice should not be taken as indifference to what many have interpreted as pow-wows between world dictators leading to accusations of treason against at least one of them whose full name currently begins with POTUS. It is in fact a way of responding to thos...

Elemental's 10th anniversary inspires mindful reflections & renewed hopes (part 2 of 2): illumination

That Elemental, the Power of Illuminated Love, would prove a challenge to get published had always been known. Potential traditional publishers had no problems admiring its bold creativity and uninhibited spiritual intensity. What most could not accept was something traditionally troublesome when it comes to artists and the marketplace: the financial risks involved.

With all respect to healthy doubts and sensible reservations, so far as Luther and I were concerned the years of energy, la...

Elemental's 10th anniversary inspires mindful reflections and renewed hopes (part 1 of 2): remembrance

May is Elemental the Power of Illuminated Love Month at Bright Skylark Literary Productions. (Title art graphic collage by Aberjhani)

"He used the word 'nourishing' to refer to Vann's work. And the more I looked through the work seriously, and took my time, that term [seemed] quite apropos. The art and poetry of Elemental nourishes the soul, the mind, and the aesthetic." 
       --Ja A. Jahannes (from remarks delivered May 29, 2008 at Celebration of Release of Elemental: The The Power of...

International Golden Rule Day Excellent Demonstration of Collective Compassion

“Treat others and the Planet as you would like to be treated.”––Theme for 2018 International Golden Rule Day. My personal observance of National Poetry Month got underway with the poem Inside Compassion’s Golden-Crystal Cottage posted on the Charter for Compassion blog website.  In addition to helping pave the way for celebrations of the annual event, the poem also served to accomplish the following:Commemorate the 10th anniversary of the founding of Charter for Compassion. And:Join the...

Chaos of 2017 sets stage for growth and greater unity in 2018 (part 2 of 2)

“It had been more than a year since the Joker’s conquest of America and we were all still in shock and going through the stages of grief but now we needed to come together and set love and beauty and solidarity and friendship against the monstrous forces that faced us. Humanity was the only answer to the cartoon. I had no plan except love. I hoped another plan might emerge in time but for now there was only holding each other tightly and passing strength to each other, body to body, mou...

Chaos of 2017 Sets Stage for Growth and Greater Unity in 2018 (part 1 of 2)

(Chaos of 2017 sets stage for 2018 Postered Poetics art by Aberjhani)
“Men and women who dedicate their lives to the realization of their gifts tend the office of that communion by which we are joined to one another, to our times, to our generation, and to the [human] race.”
––Lewis Hyde (The Gift)
I am ending the year 2017 the same way I started it: by recommitting myself to life-affirming values and productive best-practices. The hope is such commitment will help me and others continue...

‘Songs from Black Skylark’ Novel No Longer Accessible on Freed Reads, Previous ‘Christmas’ Edition Still Available

Not quite 2 years ago (February 12, 2016) I wrote the following regarding the publication of a new edition of my novel, Christmas When Music Almost Killed the World, now titled Songs from the Black Skylark zPed Player, on the publication streaming site known as #FreedReads:

‘Freed Reads hopes to help combat those problems [associated with illiteracy] by doing for reading what #YouTube and #Netflix have done for viewing. But is such a thing possible? Can books be streamed in a manner that pr...