Aberjhani's Blog: Notes of a 21st Century Digital Scribe, page 16

Christmas Gets a Valentine's Day Weekend Reboot

At its core, the novel Christmas When Music Almost Killed the World has always been about lovers attempting to reconcile the demands of their mysterious almost-mythical destinies with the ache-filled longings of human hearts. That enigmatic core, however, is only one of the drivers behind the book’s Valentine’s Day reboot with this new title: Songs from the Black Skylark zPed Music Player.

Another is the opportunity it presents to participate in a bold new global publishing platform, Fre...

Harlem Renaissance Notebook for National History Day and Black History Month

1984 USPS Black Heritage Series stamp featuring Carter G. Woodson, often referred to as "the father of Black history." (stamp portrait art by Jerry Pinckney)
The Harlem Renaissance has long been a favorite subject of discussion and exploration during Black History Month. One of the reasons that make a lot of sense is because the observations of African-American history first proposed by historian Carter Godwin Woodson (1875-1950) were started during the Harlem Renaissance. In more recent...

Dancing with David Bowie 'under the Serious Moonlight'

The late visionary rocker David Bowie with wife Iman. (Getty Wire Photo by Ron Galella)Dance is a political strategy that says “yes” to life as opposed to the corporate and terroristic manipulations that so eagerly promote polarization and glorify violent entries into death. Simply put, that is one important reason David Bowie’s 1983 Let’s Dance video (directed by David Mallet) is one of my all-time favorites. Through its subtle acknowledgment of the plight of Aboriginals in Australia, the la...

Giving Hope and Compassion a Chance in 2016

S14 Painting copyright by Tomas Alen Kopera with animation by George RedHawkAstonished might be the best word to describe my response to the extraordinary gif featuring the reportedly blind Native American George RedHawk’s amazing animation of Polish artist Tomasz Alen Kopera’s 2014 oil on canvas titled “S14.” That it had been posted by the TedX Colombo chapter along with the following quote from The River of Winged Dreams doubled the intensity of my surprise:

Hearts rebuilt from hope resurrec...

The Haunting Splendor of Marie Uchytilová’s Memorial to the Children of Lidice

“If the idea of loving those whom you have been taught to recognize as your enemies is too overwhelming, consider more deeply the observation that we are all much more alike than we are unalike.” 2015 quote and art by Aberjhani (from Splendid Literarium: A Treasury of Stories, Aphorisms, Poems, and Essays) Art inspired by original sculpture by Marie Uchytilováe After learning about the amazing works of the late sculptor Marie Uchytilová (1924-1989), especially her masterpiece “The Memori...

For Love of Paris and a More Compassionate World (Part 2)

"This fire that we call loving is too strong for human minds. But just right for human souls." Aberjhani (from ELEMENTAL, the Power of Illuminated Love. Poster art by FamilyShare.com) You can enjoy part 1 of this article by clicking here. Part 2 begins now :

Impressive 21st-century technological advances notwithstanding, we have no reasons at present believe our modern global version of the Tower of Babel is about to crumble and then reconstruct itself any time soon. Terrorists, warlords,...

The 2015 Bid for Power and History in Savannah

Diva Magazine photo of Savannah (Georgia, USA) Mayor Edna B. Jackson. (http://www.divabydesignonline.com/das... Patricia C. Stumb, in a 1999 Connect Savannah news magazine story titled “Peace, love & blessings…,” wrote of how I “found worldly consciousness in the heart of [my] hometown.” Her observation was surprisingly precise because during that period while living in Savannah, Georgia, I had indeed become more aware of my hometown on th...

10 Books Keeping One Writer’s Company During the 2015-2016 El Nino Winter

Among the many literary marvels for which the world can be grateful to Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison are the numerous interviews she’s given over the years. Her inspiring genius sparkles as brilliantly in conversation as it does in her novels, librettos, children’s books, and lectures. In one such interview conversation, she expressed as her biggest fear that of being stranded somewhere without a book of some substance to keep her company. That makes flawless sense to those of us addicte...

Many Inspired by Amazing Grace of Brotherhood Advocate Semaj Clark

Advocate for brotherhood and nonviolent conflict resolution Semaj Clark. (photo courtesy of GoFundMe)The cost of the public health crisis of gun violence in America grows more expensive by the day. It has surpassed even the mega-millions of dollars that gun advocates such as members of the National Rifle Association casually spend to counter efforts to implement the most basic sensible forms of responsible gun legislation.

The greater cost is in that of lives lost or irreparably damaged. Somet...

When the Lyrical Muse Sings the Creative Pen Dances

Article art graphic featuring black & white images of musician Nina Simone, Sonny Rollins, author Pat Conroy, author & editor Susan L. Taylor, King of Pop Michael, poet & educator Ja A. Jahannes, Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance, actor Danny Glover, artist Luther E. Vann, and more. (Bright Skylark Literary Productions)If you’re a regular reader of my national African-American cultural arts column, you may have noticed that I have not been posting articles as frequently as I once did. Th...