E. Amato's Blog: Zestyverse, page 5

30/30 Zesty Style!

Yes - we are a lot of poets in here. Yes, it's National Poetry Month. Yes, there is such a thing as writing 30 poems in 30 days, which we've nicknamed the 30/30 and NaPoWriMo.

If you're looking for E. Amato's 30/30 - look here.

For Angelique Palmer's 30/30 sign up here.

(Yes, you have to sign up and ask to be added.)

Quote of the Week - Mosley

"We are not trapped or locked up in these bones. No, no. We are free to change. And love changes us. And if we can love one another, we can break open the sky. "

~ Walter Mosley

I so often feel trapped in these bones. But Mosley's words seem to make flight possible.




Image is of the embracing skeletons found in Italy.

Groove Theories: this is pizza boy.

by Sean Morris

Last fall, when scads of hip-hop fans were jizzing in their pants over Run the Jewels 2, I looked down at my Bart Simpson leggings and wondered why they were (relatively) dry. Part of it was that Mike and El released the album’s best song as the lead single, but mostly it was because of pizza boy. The self-proclaimed “premier struggle rapper” released his futility. EP the same day, brimming with impish gallows humor, manic techno trap beats, and shrewd self-analyses. That beats another nun in a cumshot any day.

Two seasons later, it’s happening all over again. Dr. Dre’s latest protege has the so-called rap game in a tizzy, while I nod appreciatively and think, “hmm, this is very good, but it’s no pizza boy.” this is pizza boy. combines the introspection of futility. and the filth flarn filth of no tip necessary. with frequently brilliant results. Every track is titled “this is me, ________,” and considering his entire recorded output is still shorter than your average Oscar bait, allow him to re-introduce himself as many times as he wants.

“reception of this album might be pretty lukewarmand it would be completely my fault…but now is the time to bet on myselfwith everything to lose, shit better go well”
Posdnous of De La Soul once famously declared “every word I say should be a hip-hop quotable,” and pizza boy. turns this boast into sage career advice. The fact that he immediately posts all of lyrics on genius.com shows how proud he is of his writing, as well he should be. He claims his “voice is grating… just say when,” but I disagree. Besides, pinched over-enunciation has served many a superstar MC quite well. After listening to this is pizza boy., there should be no question regarding his rhyming skill. He navigates over different tempos, styles, and topics with enviable ease.

“Get off my lawn” hipster hop heads may not be ready to acknowledge that Madvillain is now over a decade old and ripe for appropriation, but pizza boy. rips a loop of the “Raid” intro to shreds on “this is me, technically speaking.” Apart from the obvious MF DOOM name drop, he also addresses rap’s growing generation gap, ponders why homophobia continues to linger, and asks for some dildo batteries for his Game Boy. And that’s just the second verse.

Compulsive masturbation is generally treated either as a joke or a pitiful affliction, but hardly ever as both at the same time, and here again pizza boy. shines. There are references to blacked.com, Bree Olson’s fake orgasm noises, and a “porn advocator” interlude imparting the wisdom, “fap to what you fap to.” Meanwhile, “this is me, air drying my soggy knees” thoughtfully details his relationships (or lack thereof) with actual women.

“I know you’d love to call me Jaleel Whitemeets Marshall Mathersnot realizing I'm playing charactersI'm not your ‘nice guy,’ nerd, or misogynistI don't think I'm entitled to shit; calm your tits”
pizza boy. gives his contradictions some of the best hugs I’ve witnessed in ages. As a young Melanin-American who has more of a chance ending up like Michael Brown than Raven-Symone, he realizes pursuing a rap career is predictably quixotic, but that’s not going to deter him.
“I don’t have a laneso I’ll get down and pave a way.”
Sonically, this is pizza boy. is all over the place in the best way possible. Like the rapper who they’ve furnished their beats to, none of them are anywhere near being household names but make strong cases for themselves as up and coming forces to be reckoned with. Ian Ewing laces the wistful “this is me, crushing on her” with jazzy piano, and it segues surprisingly well into Ghostfish Goon’s hyphy-tacular “this is me, flexing on your bitch ass.” The lyrical and production centerpiece is undoubtedly “this is me, trying not to be an edutainer,” as much this album’s mission statement as “atlas shrugging” was futility.’s. pizza boy. and producer Drones deliver the Three 6 Mafia-tronica song Kanye wishes he could make (prove me wrong, So Help Me God). The fuckboy-taunting chant is a nice nod to RTJ, while the rhymes indict the bro culture that has embraced them.
“Why you white-washed this rap thingso I couldn’t see a speck of dirt in this crowdWow, I’m the only black one at this rap showAnd somehow that makes me the asshole”
The first time I listened to this brutal gut punch of race-baiting and dick measuring, I listened to it five more times after that. While the majority of this is pizza boy. falls into backpacker Nintendocore territory, this is a bonafide club banger. At the same time, it drives home a point that hasn’t been made since House Party . Even upwardly mobile youth who occasionally bump militant rap music just want to finish school and dance with their hands on whoever’s ass is the prettiest. Hopefully this is the song that gets pizza boy.’s foot in whatever door he catches slightly ajar. A friend asked me if she thought pizza boy. was going to “make it,” and I immediately thought of Chuck D’s closing words on The Roots' Illadelph Halflife:
“their concept has not yet blown upand it is quite possible it won’t.”

I am quite certain pizza boy. should. I spend an obscene amount of time and money on already established artists struggling to remain relevant, but I am also willing and able to do the same to support someone struggling to exist as a musician. Here's hoping he finds more listeners willing to do the same.
Listen/download pizza boy.'s music on:
BandcampSoundcloud

Zestyverse's resident Music Geek Sean Morris is an SF Bay Area native with a photographic memory and encyclopedic knowledge of popular culture. He is a graduate of UCLA's School of Theater, Film, and Television, a former Los Angeles Slam Team member, part of the collective Art 4 A Democratic Society, and a music blogger for The Owl Mag. Find him on Twitter, SoundCloud, and YouTube.

Quote of the Week - Reichl

“When a person has lived generously and fought fiercely, she deserves more than sadness at the end.” 
~ Ruth Reichl,  Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise
I love Ruth Reichl. The way she writes about food as life and life as food - it's as though everything she writes is a good meal - simultaneously comforting, enticing, inspiring, tantalizaing and satisfying.
It's Monday - stay in the fight; get what you deserve.
Be unapologetic.

Women You Should Know - Practivist Nafeesa Monroe

Women You Should Know:Practivist Nafeesa Monroe
[Editor's note:  We've combined a Women You Should Know with a feature for our Practivist series. Practivism is pragmatic, proactive, promotable activism. Nafeesa Monroe certainly qualifies as a practivist, by taking her art, craft and training to the next level with the Classics in Color project. You can be a practivist, too, if you like her mission, you can support the project via Fractured Atlas.] 

How old are you, if you don’t mind? 

AAAAHHHH! The one thing I CAN'T SAY! I've been in the theatre for more than twenty years.

What is the main focus of your practivism at this time and how does that manifest? 
Making theatrical classics (including Shakespeare and what might be considered other classic works for the stage) accessible and relatable to a culturally and ethnically rich community. It manifests itself through the creation of Classics in Color: A Theatre Company, which  is in its inaugural season and fundraising stage. 
Classics in Color focuses on producing vibrantly-cast classical works for the stage, expanding the perception of classical theatre. As a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic ensemble, Classics in Color embraces the theatre of inclusion, on stage and off, opening up and extending the understanding of classic tales. Classics in Color: classical theatre for all the people, by all the people.
Currently CIC is co-producing an ethnically diverse production of the play "Proof" by David Auburn. This shift in the ethnic background of the family in this play allows a different audience base to see themselves on the stage in this story. It also expands the conversation about women and math to include women of color and what challenges they face in math and other STEM programs.
We could use your help to make it happen. Your financial support is tax-deductible. Every little bit counts and makes a difference!

What route did you take to get here?
I have been performing on stage for more than 20 years. A few years ago, I received my MFA in Classical Acting from The Shakespeare Theatre Company's Academy for Classical Acting at The George Washington University. This led to teaching Shakespeare primarily in public schools to young people who did not see themselves represented on the stages they attended. I decided to do something more pro-active, and thus created the theatre company. It's still growing, as am I and its mission. It's a challenge, but worth it.

Quote of the Week - Adichie

"This was love: a string of coincidences that gathered significance and became miracles."

~ Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Half of a Yellow Sun

Reading this beautiful book strung with these beautiful sentences. It's a wonderful thing to be in the hands of a great writer.

How did I not know there was a movie version of this already? It's Monday - let's not go to the why of that question. Let's stay positive.

Women You Should Know - Sylvia Robinson by Angelique Palmer

Women You Should Know:
Sylvia Robinson

by Angelique Palmer
My prayers are usually silent ones: I have a conversation with a god I don’t call god. I admit I am not in charge. I ask that I be made powerful enough to handle my day and that the good people of the world catch a break.
I live in Manassas, VA. It is too far from Washington, DC to be so close. It is also too close to DC to be so far. So DC will start to claim you, and it will insist you know the best parts of its spoken word scene. Speaking spots, slightly off the beaten path and famous for it: Bloombars, Will Work for Food, and the Legendary Spit Dat.
Spit Dat- smack in the middle of Howard University campus, inside the ECAC on Euclid Ave- is more like a church than most poetry spots; there’s more call and response, more material in the raw and more of a patented respect. As a result there is a set of devout followers that call Spit Dat home, and they know Sylvia Robinson as something a little more than human.
Just ask them. A simple, informal Twitter poll, “Who is Sylvia Robinson?,” will yield the good word from the DC spoken word underground:  

“[A] soldier. An example. A preserver. A champion. A cornerstone. A quiet giant,” 

says Nicholas Lampkin, part of the innovative clique known as #infinigrind. 

“Someone who said they were glad I was part of their community when they didn't have to,” 

said Jenny V., “Someone who loved me when I didn't.”  

“An angel who provides sanctuary” says proofreader and publisher Stephanie Chapman, “... a gift from God.” 

Spit Dat host, Dwayne Lawson-Brown credits her with the show’s longevity, 

“She is singlehandedly the woman who saved Spit Dat. My hero.” 

And graphic designer and writer Tisean Bell summed up the mood, 

“She is the curator of a space that brought me back to God and Myself.”

That space is the Emergence Community Arts Collective a place where one could find community gardens and capoeira classes, knitting circles and salsa dance parties, glimpse sof art’s future and a portal to the past. When it comes to the ECAC, she’s the bookkeeper, haymaker, chief cook and bottle washer. So while Angel and Ride-or-Die gets thrown around liberally among her fans, the ECAC website describes Ms. Robinson as, “Executive Director… the founder and visionary for the mission ECAC now holds.” She’s in charge of the vision, and that vision is community.
There’s a book that goes around the room as a performer is featuring on the finished pine boards of the third floor room-turned-sanctuary. Everyone is asked to sign it and it is sent home with the feature. I treasure mine. The lovely comments can send an artist kite-high one day, and dig that same human out of a funk a week later. Printed in the book is the timeline of the building. A history of community service, and shared work; of educators, womanism, and how this tough tall brick house still stands. Inside its covers one can easily discern how the spirit of the old school, the very essence of the ECAC is in fact Sylvia Robinson. She souls the foundation, spines the climbing stairs, and embraces everyone with her solid columns. As another #infinigrind member Chris Harvey explains it, “she is a champion. A beacon for the lost. A pillar of positivity. Warmth and iridescence. Understanding. Love”
Late last year a lot of us learned by way of a GoFundMe campaign that Ms. Robinson had fallen ill. Cancer had come where it was not welcome, and would not be tolerated. Cancer hit a brick wall!
We spoke briefly on Valentine’s Day, Sylvia and I. She said she is feeling better, but not her best. She is happy I am writing about the ECAC and maybe too bashful to be interviewed. I understand this; keep your glasses on and your cape tucked in – this is how superheroes move. 
My prayers are usually silent ones. I pray that the good people in the world catch a break. I pray for Sylvia Robinson a lot more lately. She’s good people doing good things.

Angelique Palmer is a Performance Poet and Educator from New Orleans now living in North Virginia. A former television news producer, she was the host of Silent Treatment Entertainment’s weekly open mic, “Spirits and Lyrics” in Manassas and is the curator of The Lock’d & Loaded Cash Slam. She's all about pancakes, Ska music, and answers to Artsy, Nerdy, and Ang.  Find her on Twitter or Facebook.  ( Women You Should Know - Judith Jamison )




Zesty has been running the Women You Should Know series every March since 2012 - to look at previous posts, use the blog archive on the right of this page.

Quote of the Week - Nelson

Why don't I have this shirt?

"...with every tweet I am concerned about the ramifications, the blowback from living my politics in an unbounded public space. It feels professionally and personally risky to simply speak the truth of my life."

~ Robin Nelson 
Yes! YES! Yessssss!
This quote is from a great article on the risks of public feminism. Post-gamergate, I think it may be time to face the fact that there are risks and personal trauma associated with being a feminist out loud. 
Nelson goes on to say, "However, increasingly, I am finding that this kind of conservative self-policing is not worth it ..." I want to believe her. I want to believe she will keep speaking, you will keep speaking and I will keep speaking the truth of our lives.
And really - why don't I have that shirt? And yes, Willow Smith is m style icon of the moment.

Women You Should Know - Marianne Moore by Siofra McSherry

Women You Should Know:
Marianne Moore
(November 15, 1887 – February 5, 1972)

by Siofra McSherry

An adopted native of New York, Marianne Moore was one of the greatest American modernist poets, admired with an unusual unanimity by her peers, from Gertrude Stein to John Ashbery. A graduate of Bryn Mawr, Moore edited the modernist magazine The Dial in the 1920s, a position that placed her at the centre of international modernism, a taste creator and a maker (and breaker) of reputations. She lived with her mother in Brooklyn until the latter’s death in 1947. Her attachment to her birth family led her to fulfil Virginia Woolf’s injunction to woman writers—that we must have a room of our own—with a significant caveat: the room was shared, not with a husband or children, but a nonetheless demanding and loving companion. Moore was sexually indeterminate and resolutely chaste for her entire life: she considered marriage, in fact, to be a dangerous institution it took a woman all her “criminal ingenuity” to avoid.

As a poet, Moore emerged a clean original. Her succinct style, almost taxonomic precision, esoteric subject matter and scattergun interests formed an unprecedented combination. The product of her writing gave her pause when she was asked to describe it as poetry; she allowed that what she wrote was, at least, closer to poetry than anything else. Moore loved to recount the details of the surface of an object, whether a Chinese enamelled plate or the side of a glacier, and adored odd, armoured and strange animals like pangolins and armadillos. Poetry, she states in her most famous poem, is supposed to give us “imaginary gardens with real toads in them,”,something that stands between the raw and the genuine.


Moore has long been one of my favourite poets, and it is probably impossible to break down the attributes of something one loves in order to explain that love to others. I admire her virtuosity and wit and her incredible eloquence, and there is an ascetic, almost Quaker-like philosophical slant to her thought that appeals to me. When it comes down to it, though, I love the precision of her work, the time and attention she paid to everything she came across, and the fact that so much of the world and its endlessly various phenomena seemed to her to be worth thinking and writing about. She paid as much attention to the rules of baseball as an etching by Dürer. This is the essence, to me, of a mind that is fully present and appreciates living.

Despite the difficulty of her poetry, Moore was one of the best known and respected poets in America at the time of her death. She appeared on the Today show, was photographed for Vogue, and threw out the starting ball of the season for her beloved Yankees. Her popular profile has faded somewhat in recent years, and I would love her name to come as easily to mind as Stein’s or Eliot’s when discussing modernism, or great American poets, or even 20th century literature. I hope this might find some new readers for her: she repays time spent with her a hundredfold.


The contents of Moore’s Brooklyn apartment, along with her papers, are preserved at the Rosenbach Museum in Philadelphia.
Siofra McSherry is a writer, researcher and doctoral scholar. She has published her poetry widely and writes art reviews for thisistomorrow.info.

The First Taste: Charred Broccoli & Pesto Pasta Recipe

Charred Broccoli & Pesto Pasta Recipe
Gluten-Free, Vegan

by Alicia Ying

Sometimes I get really bored of salads and want some other kind of veggies. I was talking to my girl friend on the phone while walking through Ralph’s whining about how I needed to switch my greens up. As I was perusing the produce section, I noticed that the broccoli was on sale. “Broccoli is on sale for 99 cents,” I tell my friend.

“Ooh!” she exclaims. “Make some charred broccoli!”

“Huh? How do you do that?”

She described how she just threw it in the oven on high heat and that it was super simple to make. She told me how the tops get really crunchy and how delicious the almost burnt pieces tasted. I said, “Why not?” and threw some broccoli into my basket.

I went home, cut up the pieces, tossed them in some EVOO (extra virgin olive oil), garlic salt and popped them into the oven. Several minutes later, I took them out, and DAMN-- they were delicious! The charred parts added this smokey flavor that I immediately fell in love with. It did need some acidity, so I scrounged through my fridge and found a lime. I squeezed the juice on top of my broccoli and WOW-- perfection! I was obsessed. This was my new favorite side dish!

Broccoli packs 11.2 grams of protein per 100 calories so this is a total winner for vegans and vegetarians! For a little easier math, 1 cup of broccoli has 31 calories and 4.2 grams of protein. I ended up chomping down on 2 cups of my charred broccoli giving me 8.4 grams of protein for lunch, keeping my energy levels up for the rest of the day.

Now, what to fix for my main dish? I had some organic brown rice pasta and decided to make a pesto garnished with sun-dried tomatoes. These two dishes together made the most satisfying lunch! Not only was this a healthy meal, but it was incredibly affordable too. And took me minutes to make.

Try it out and let me know what you think by commenting below!

What creative ways do you cook your vegetables? I’d love to hear about your tasty treats as well!


Thank you for reading and come back next week for more tips on how to make tasty food that is healthy and affordable!

Much Love,

Alicia




Charred Broccoli Recipe

Ingredients

1 whole head of broccoli
3 tbsp EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)
2 tbsp garlic salt
1 tsp black pepper
½ lime


Directions

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Line a baking tray with aluminum foil.

Chop the broccoli head into small pieces of florets. Put into a bowl.

Toss the broccoli in the EVOO, garlic salt, and black pepper.

Lay the broccoli evenly on the pan.

Pop into the oven and bake for 15 minutes. **If you want it extra charred, leave in for an additional 5 minutes.

Take out and place onto your plate.

Squeeze ½ a lime on top of your broccoli.


Enjoy!



Pesto Pasta with Sun-Dried Tomatoes

Ingredients

8 oz. organic brown rice pasta
3 tbsp pesto
2 tbsp sun-dried tomatoes
salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Boil some water in a pot. Add a sprinkle of salt.

Pour in pasta and cook for 7 minutes.

Take out and drain.

Add to a bowl and toss in your pesto. Mix well.

Add the sun-dried tomatoes on top. Mix well.


Serve and enjoy!


Alicia Ying is a professional baker, born and bred in sweet, southern Georgia. A world traveler, Alicia enjoys eating delicious global cuisine and savoring a good cup of coffee. Also a blooming actress and producer, she has been seen on "Days of Our Lives," "Young & The Restless," independent films, and multiple web series.
Alicia's passion is to create dishes that are healthy and affordable. Connect with her on Twitter and Facebook. More adventures in food and travel on her blog: yestotheying.com.