#pan Caribbean consciousness

[jahbillah]

On role of the Deejay

Dominant and subversive versions of Africa and African history reproduced the dynamic outlined above but on an international scale. In Britain in the 1980s imperial relations were being re-imagined in the context of humanitarian aid. Black youths in Britain wielded their African heritage as a tool to build their communities and give voice to their analysis. Meanwhile the mainstream press, and…

[dailyhistoryposts]

Aimé Césaire

Aimé Fernand David Césaire (1913-2008) was a poet and politician notable for the Négritude movement.

[Césaire]

Born in Basse-Pointe, Martinique, France, a small island in the Caribbean Sea, to lower-class parents who struggled to provide for his education. Césaire, like the rest of Martinique, spoke French but considered himself to be Igbo and a son of Nigeria.

He attended school at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand in Paris on an educational scholarship, where he and two others founded the literary review L'Étudiant noir (The Black Student). This was essential to initiating the Négritude movement.

Négritude (French, a literal translation would be something like 'Blackness', and was a reclamation of the derogatory 'nègre') is a framework of critique developed by francophone intellectuals of the American diaspora during the 1930s. Its goal was to raise a "Black consciousness". It followed the Black radical tradition and followed Marxist political philosophy, disavowed colonialism, and argued for a Pan-African community among worldwide members of the African diaspora. Artistically, Négritude was influenced by Surrealism and the Harlem Renaissance.

In 1937, Césaire married Suzanne Roussi, a writer, anti-colonialist, feminist, and Surrealist also from Martinique. Together they returned to Martinique, where they were active throughout World War II. They founded the literary review Tropiques and continued to write poems. In 1939, Cahier d'un retour au pays natal (translation Journal of a Homecoming), a poem the length of a book and Césaire's masterwork, was published. It missed poetry and prose to discuss the cultural identity of Black Africans in a colonial setting.

[a younger Césaire]

In 1945, with the support of the French Communist Party (PCF), Césaire was elected mayor of Fort-de-France and deputy to the French National Assembly. He would later resign from the PCF and found the Parti Progressiste Martiniquais, with which he would dominate the political scene on the island. He would remain deputy for 47 straight years before voluntarily stepping down.

During his political career, Césaire continued to write. Notable workers include Une Tempête (The Tempest), a reworking of Shakespeare's play for a Black audience and Discours sur le colonialisme (Discourse on Colonialism), a denunciation of European colonialism and racism. Discours sur le colonialisme says that White colonizers, not the people they colonize, are savages. Césaire argues that modernism, slavery, imperialism, capitalism, and republicanism are linked and act as oppressive forces to empower colonizers. The text also argues that Nazism and the Holocaust was not a singular event in European history but a continuation of the tradition of barbaric colonialism.

Négritude, and Césaire's contributions to it, continue to resonate across the world. Afro-Surrealism, Creolite, and the Black is Beautiful movement all continue the tradition of Négritude.

[militantinremission]

The Myth of 'Flat Blackness'

For The Record, Black America is not monolithic. We don't just come in different Shapes, Sizes, Skin Tones, & Hair Textures; We have different Spiritual (Religious), Political, Sexual, & Philosophical beliefs. What we All share in common, is the Cultural Experience of being American Descendants of Chattel Slavery. Despite Our differences, THIS is what binds Us. We can All look back to an Elder Matriarch & Patriarch that dared to dream of a better Life for their Family, & future generations.

Our Family in Afrika, South America, & The Caribbean also share an experience of Slavery, & the atrocities associated w/ it. That said, The Black American/ ADOS Experience is unique. While Our Family throughout the Diaspora experienced Revolution, Freedom, & (some degree of) Sovereignty [i.e. A Flag], Black America did not. While European Immigrants were 'given' Millions of Acres of Land, We received 10Yrs of Reconstruction, followed by 90Yrs of 'Black Codes' & Jim Crow. Then came 10Yrs of Affirmative Action, followed by 45Yrs of Social Engineering & Criminalization. Our Legacy, is one of perpetually fighting the forces of White Supremacy.

Over the last 35- 40Yrs, Society has amalgamated Black Immigrants into Black America; Jesse Jackson's classification of 'Afrikan American' in 1988, only helped the effort to place Us under one umbrella. While the designation is genealogically true, it was a cultural misstep. Black America didn't push back @ this designation, because We were in the midst of a Black Consciousness Movement that celebrated Pan- Afrikanism. Plus, Black Immigrants lived in Black American Communities, & made significant contributions to the Collective over the Years.

Arturo Schomburg, Marcus Garvey, Dr. Yosef Ben- Jochannan, Kwame Ture (Stokley Carmichael), Shirley Chisholm, & Minister Louis Farrakhan are just a few of the Black Immigrants that aligned w/ Black American Culture. They are celebrated & revered by Black America as Icons of Our Culture. The American Government had a problem w/ that. In the mid- 1970s Henry Kissenger used The U.S. Information & Educational Exchange Act, (currently known as The Smith- Mundt Modernization Act of 2012) to put Afrikan, South American, & Caribbean Nations 'On Notice' regarding their relationship w/ Black America.

Using this 'Act', the U.S. Gov't depicted Black Americans globally as uncultured criminals & deadbeats, while simultaneously indoctrinating the immigrants that were issued Visas. By 1980, We began to see a Cultural shift. People that were 'Black & Proud' began to wave flags, & tout where They came from. On College Campuses, Black Student Unions fractured into Black, Caribbean, Latino/ Hispanic, & Afrikan Student Organizations. We celebrated the Cultural Diversity of the Black Diaspora, but over time, competition w/ & critique of Black American Culture grew.

While Black American Communities struggled w/ Unemployment, lack of Resources, & fewer Opportunities under 'Reaganomics'; Immigrant families that already had the financial means to relocate to another Country, were given access to Affirmative Action Programs meant specifically for Black America/ ADOS. These programs meant 2 'level the Playing Field' 4 Black America, now went to newcomers seeking their own 'American Dream'.

By the 1990s, a New Wave of Black Immigrants appeared in America w/ preconceived ideas about Black Americans. They were rude, disrespectful, & wanted nothing to do w/ Us. They began to cluster in enclaves, like European & Asian Immigrants. While this is by No Means the actions of Every Immigrant, it was a Group Collective effort. As Black American/ ADOS Communities suffered from Neo- Liberal 'Benign Neglect' & 'Tough on Crime' measures that:

Incarcerated hundreds of thousands of Black Men

Broke down Family structures, forcing Black Women 2 'Carry the Load'

Caused an 'Exodus' of Black Middle Class families that drained Communities of Mentors, Role Models, & Tax Dollars- creating an environmental & moral cesspool Nationally

Manufactured Poverty, which opened Communities up 2 lawlessness by Cops & Criminals- opening the door 2 gentrification

Elevated Drug & Gang Activity

Created Nutritional (Food) Deserts

Created a Homelessness Epidemic

Immigrant enclaves prospered, as Home & Business Ownership rose. Black Immigrants reinvested in their Communities, & the increase in Tax Dollars ensured proper Services (Roads, Water/ Sewage, Sanitation, ect...) & Political Representation were consistent.

This is NOT a knock on Black Immigrants- They R living 'The American Dream'. What I want to point out, is how skewed the #s get, when Statisticians include Black Immigrants into an overall Black American narrative. Our experiences R different. It makes Black America/ ADOS look better off than We really R. It may B due 2 their sovereignty, but Black Immigrants have more autonomy than We do. The Truth is that Black Immigrants R outperforming ADOS on nearly Every Level. In a 40Yr span, roughly 8 Million Black Immigrants have amassed more assets than 20- 30 Million American Descendants of Chattal Slavery have in 144Yrs. THIS didn't happen by accident, or because they 'work harder' than the people that literally built America.

The disrespect comes from those Black Immigrants that believe that They R somehow superior 2 ADOS, when in fact, They stand on Our shoulders. They call Us Lazy, Stupid, 'Cotton picking N-s' [Akata], & say that We lack Discipline & Culture. All of this, while taking advantage of 'Diversity Initiatives' that were never meant 4 Them. Black Immigrants were less than 1% of the [Black] population during the Jim Crow Era; most came after 1980, so what exactly R They being rewarded 4? They R conveniently 'Black' when it's time 2 take advantage of what is meant 4 ADOS; but R flag waving, hyphenated Americans the rest of the Time. Truth IS Truth.

As ADOS demands Reparations from the American Gov't, (some) Black Immigrants feel that They R also entitled 2 whatever We receive. Black Immigrants dominate the Congressional Black Caucaus, so politicians like Sheila Jackson Lee R trying 2 shift Reparations talk 2 a Trans Atlantic discussion. ADOS has No Standing in CARICOM, so why should others get a position in what We R due? They R living 'The American Dream', while We continue 2 experience the American Nightmare. Where is the solidarity?

Barack Obama & Kamala Harris R touted as 'The 1st Black President' & 'The 1st Black Vice President', but neither have a Black American Experience. Both R more aligned w/ the aspirations of many Black Immigrants- Suburban Life, Private Schooling, & little 2 no contact w/ Everyday Blackfolk. Again, this type of amalgamation skews the data of Black American Life. Black America/ ADOS has a Culture of 'Fighting The Power', while the majority of Black Immigrants gravitate 2 the Mainstream Culture. They 'get in where They fit in'. As a result, 2nd & 3rd Generation Black Immigrants R the 'Black' faces that We see the most in Mainstream Media.

As a result, too many 2nd & 3rd Generation Immigrants try 2 speak 4 Black America/ ADOS; but they lack the Cultural Experience 2 do so. People like Roland Martin, Candice Owens, Stephen A Smith, & Joy Reid R accomodationists, that care more 4 their personal well being, than the Black American Collective. They R condescending when speaking 2 Blackfolk, taking their cues from White Racists that they try 2 impress. This is not 2 say that every Black Immigrant behaves this way, or that there aren't ADOS out there that behave the same way. It just seems that over the last 30Yrs, America has only allowed this personality type entry into the country.

The concept of 'Flat Blackness' is simply false, because ADOS & Black Family from Afrika, South America, & the Caribbean R All Culturally different. By virtue of Our 'Region', We have different perspectives. White Supremacy understands that 'diamond cuts diamond', so Flat Blackness is a tool used 2 dilute the ADOS Experience, & Our ultimate demand 4 Reparations. It appears that The Goal, is 2 replace Us w/ immigrants, who R simply happy 2 live the American Dream that we have been denied. They seem 2 B unaware that once we're nullified, They will become The Target.

ADOS have tried the 'Kumbaya Coalition' time & time again, only 2 get disrespected by Our 'Partners'. I say, let Black Immigrants B 'Minorities', & POC/ BIPOC. ADOS needs 2 stand alone, so EVERYONE can clearly see what Our Experience looks like. The Black Immigrant experience, resembles the experience of other immigrants more than it does ADOS. Flat Blackness diminishes their accomplishments as much as it diminishes Our perceived Oppression. Contrary 2 what is being said, Black America/ ADOS has a rich Culture that The World mimics, but doesn't acknowledge. We also have a legitimate demand 4 Reparations that can't B ignored. Shame on Everyone that dares 2 deny Us.

[imagitory]

D-Views: Muppet Treasure Island

Hi, everyone! Welcome to another installment of D-Views, my on-going written review series for films that fall under the Disney umbrella, as well as those that were influenced by those films! For more reviews for movies like Mary Poppins, Treasure Planet, and The Prince of Egypt, please consult my “Disney Reviews” tag and, of course, if you enjoy this review or any of the others, please consider liking and reblogging!

Today’s film is one of my childhood favorites, starring a cast of some of my favorite people, as well as frogs, pigs, and even whatevers. This is Muppet Treasure Island! (Thank you for your votes, @the-alexandrian-alchemist, @silvvergears, @extremelybears​, @livinlifelikeishould​ and @karalora​!)

Ever since 1976, the characters of the Muppet Show have been American pop culture icons. The show itself won a total of 21 Emmy nominations and four television awards over its long run, and by 1990 its cast had also starred in several critically acclaimed films (The Muppet Movie, The Great Muppet Caper, and The Muppets Take Manhattan) and the very popular animated TV show Muppet Babies. And all of that wouldn’t have been possible without the Muppets’ creator, Jim Henson.

Like at the Walt Disney Company, the loss of their leader in 1990 hit Jim Henson Productions very hard. One silver lining, however, is that just like with Walt Disney, Jim Henson was memorialized not just by the characters he created, but by his many achievements and the many friendships he’d made in life. He received a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame alongside Kermit the Frog; was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame; earned a memorial in his hometown Hyattsville, Maryland; was posthumously named a Disney Legend; was the focus of the heartfelt TV special The Muppets Celebrate Jim Henson; and was laid to rest with two formal funeral services complete with performances of some of his favorite songs. And just like the Walt Disney Company, even after the death of someone who meant so much to them, Jim Henson Productions got back up and promised to do more in the memory of their lost leader. Jim’s son Brian Henson took the reins and directed the Disney-co-produced Christmas movie The Muppet Christmas Carol in 1992, before he moved on to their next project and today’s subject, Muppet Treasure Island.

So, here’s the thing -- I have a LOT of nostalgia for this movie. I will be upfront about that. But even with that acknowledged, I was sort of stunned when I found out how lukewarm the reaction to this movie was, when it was released in theaters. Sure, I knew it hadn’t broken the bank, but even if it earned about $34 million worldwide, it received no honors or awards, only hit third at the box office opening weekend behind the movies Broken Arrow and Happy Gilmore, and even now only boasts an average 73% rating at Rotten Tomatoes. Critics at the time criticized how it was more “Treasure Island” than “Muppet”, with Roger Ebert calling it “less cleverly written” and Gene Siskel even more coldly deeming it “boring.” Although I’ll readily acknowledge that reading those reactions makes me want to run outside and scream “FUCK YOU, GENE SISKEL” at the top of my lungs, I promise to give a more rational review of this movie instead, one hopefully that acknowledges any possible shortcomings, but also will celebrate this film and how completely NOT boring it is.

One of the best things about this movie hits us in the face right off the bat -- the music, written by scoring giant Hans Zimmer and Nick Glennie-Smith. As much as I enjoy a lot of Muppet musicals, I attest that Muppet Treasure Island has the most cohesive score overall of any Muppet production. The Muppets were always creatures of the short, sweet vignette -- of the variety show -- of many disparate pieces sewn loosely together into a whole like a patchwork quilt. Even though The Muppet Christmas Carol’s soundtrack comes very close in its cohesion and I would say The Muppets (2011) -- my personal favorite Muppet movie -- is truer to the spirit of the Muppet Show in its music while also paying tribute to old-fashioned movie musicals, Muppet Treasure Island just paints a full-bodied picture from the off-set, building on refrains that return and morph over the course of the picture. From the very beginning, we get that this venture is NOT a standard Muppet movie. Like The Muppet Christmas Carol, the Muppets’ humor will only be part of the story told -- in TMCC, it takes a backseat to sincere emotions like love and redemption, while here in MTI, it takes a backseat to adventure and swashbuckling action.

The score also seamlessly flows into our first song, “Shiver My Timbers,” which just screams “pirate!” I’ve loved pirates ever since I was a little kid, and Muppet Treasure Island was one of the main reasons why. I was okay with Peter Pan, but Muppet Treasure Island was what really got me excited about pirates. They were rough, ruthless, and dangerous, but it was exciting to face off against them in an epic musical adventure, even if your only weapons were a couple of artfully thrown starfish. In the 90′s, pirate films weren’t really “in” -- it wouldn’t be until 2003 with the release of Pirates of the Caribbean that they became popular again -- but I think Muppet Treasure Island, through its music, really embraces the fun, action-packed thrills that Disney would later capitalize on in the Pirates films.

After our prologue, we meet Billy Bones (played by the perfectly cast Billy Connolly) and, of course, our hero, Jim Hawkins, played by newcomer Kevin Bishop. Kevin was the very first of a hundred kids who showed up for the audition to meet the casting agents, and he was selected for the part then and there. Sadly post-Muppets he moved on to stage and television, but for what it’s worth, I quite like Kevin in the role of Jim. He’s distinctly depicted as a boy, complete with a pre-puberty “boy soprano” singing voice (which I acknowledge is an acquired taste, but I personally enjoy), but that characterization only serves to accent how large of an arc he goes through over the course of the film. He starts off as smart, sincere, honest, and dreamy, but also very innocent and trusting, and over the course of the story, he learns to ground himself in who he is and what he believes in, to the point where he has to sever ties with someone he once considered a friend and mentor. Accompanying Jim in his journey are Gonzo and Rizzo, who largely serve as comic relief but do still serve as good friends and companions to Jim, as evident by the three characters’ “I Want” song, “Something Better.” Yes, Gonzo and Rizzo are sidekicks, but they’re still distinct personalities that bounce well off each other and “straight-man” Jim. Originally the filmmakers had considered simply having Gonzo and Rizzo being two characters called “Jim” and “Hawkins” respectively (splitting the part in two, not unlike what they did with Statler and Waldorf in The Muppet Christmas Carol), but due to concerns that the choice would result in a lack of heart in the finished product, that idea was scrapped. I think it ultimately was the better decision to leave the drama to the humans -- it’s not that the Muppets can’t conjure sincere emotion (just look at “Pictures in my Head” or “Man or Muppet”), but I still think having any of the existing Muppets fulfill the “coming of age” narrative the original Jim Hawkins goes through would’ve been a bit of a stretch. Even in The Muppet Christmas Carol or non-Muppet-show Jim Henson production Labyrinth, the main characters with a story arc are played by human actors who are able to ground the picture despite the cast of colorful, irreverent characters.

One of the main criticisms that critics of the time lobbed at this movie is that it feels more “Treasure Island” than “Muppet”, and in a way it’s a decent point, if not phrased very badly. Unlike in other Muppet projects, the humor plays second fiddle to the plot and the characters are not the characters we know from the Muppet Show with their Muppet Show backstories and consciousness. In The Muppet Christmas Carol, the film could very easily be seen as a “production” being put on by the Muppets, even if it’s never overtly stated as such, thanks to Gonzo (as Charles Dickens) constantly breaking the fourth wall. In Muppet Treasure Island, however, Gonzo and Rizzo have their own non-Muppet-show history as friends of Jim Hawkins way before ever meeting the other Muppets like Kermit and Sam the Eagle, and Kermit and Miss Piggy have a whole soap-opera romance that involves a wedding and getting marooned by pirates (we’ll get to that later). So yes, this is more “Treasure Island,” but it’s not less “Muppet” -- it’s less “Muppet Show.” These Muppets have different histories, but they’re the same characters despite this. Gonzo is an eccentric thrill-seeker -- Rizzo is a cowardly cynic -- Kermit is a soft-spoken pacifist -- Fozzie is a lovable dimwit -- Piggy is a self-centered diva. Think of Muppet Treasure Island as a Muppet AU fanfiction -- these may not be exactly the characters you know, and yet...they are! They’re the exact same big personalities with the same quirks, strengths, and weaknesses, just in an alternate universe. And honestly, I think it’s really cool, to see these sorts of characters so exclusively used for comedy in a world that’s not flat-out comedic -- one that’s kind of dirty and rough around the edges, with swashbuckling action and real danger around every corner.

The nice thing is that although yes, the comedy isn’t the central focus anymore, there is still really good humor in this film, a lot of it thanks to the shift in tone. There’s just something so very, very funny to me about Billy Bones’s death scene being followed up by Rizzo, Gonzo, and Jim just flat-out freaking out and dashing out of the room screaming like stupid kids, or the tense action scene where the pirates storm into the inn being punctuated by Rizzo trying to help Gonzo load the gun, only to spill the bag of bullets, or the epic entrance of the illustrious Captain Smollett’s carriage ending with the tall, solemn coachman stepping aside to reveal the Captain himself, played by Kermit the Frog. I think it plays into the ideas of subverting expectations and building up a punchline properly before delivering the joke -- as each scene is built up, we’re left constantly unsure if the film’s going to play things straight or just be completely irreverent, and the contrast is what can make a joke much funnier than in a purely, solely humorous scenario. There are a few points where the contrast can become a bit labored, but I laugh so much more during this movie that I ever have watching my favorite reruns of the Muppet Show, no matter how much I enjoy them. It’s something that, again, the Pirates of the Caribbean films would capitalize on much later. (Too bad they couldn’t incorporate that humor into any catchy musical numbers! Disney, where’s my Pirates of the Caribbean musical?)

Aha, and now we come to the brightest of the shining stars in this film -- our villain, Long John Silver, played by the amazing Tim Curry. I’m sorry, it’s an incontrovertible truth that Curry is a unique, magical ingredient that, when added to any movie, just elevates the cinematic dish to a whole new level and leaves you drooling for one more scene with him. I remember someone once saying that Curry is sort of like a Muppet in human skin thanks to his outrageous, yet likable acting, and...yeah, it makes it so that he fits perfectly in this movie, where he has to interact so closely with the Muppets. The nice thing is, though, that he also has a lot of chemistry with his human co-star Kevin Bishop, to the extent that you sincerely feel for the relationship that forms between Jim and Silver even if you know Silver’s intentions from the start. I particularly like their exchange in the ridiculously catchy “Sailing for Adventure,” as well as their scene at the front of the ship where they discuss their fathers and the stars.

Just as the adventure is getting going, however, it stops dead with the wind’s abandonment of the Hispaniola. Out of nowhere, the ship breaks out into the most ridiculous, most “Muppet” of all of the musical numbers, “Cabin Fever.” The song was one of my favorite parts when I was little and it’s always made me laugh, but it’s definitely the biggest detour of the movie that up until that point lived in its own pirate-centric world. It’s a very short-lived detour and as I said, it’s ridiculously funny, but it doesn’t have any bearing on the plot and I could see how people might find it kind of pointless, particularly since it doesn’t even feature three of our main characters, Jim, Silver, or Smollett. One other critique I will give the film is that some of the effects nowadays don’t look very real, like the Hispaniola being composited over still matte paintings -- there are points where the production values remind me a bit of the old Wishbone TV series, where they have to angle the shot just so or get creative just to try to make the ship look as big as it should be. But honestly, there were points where Wishbone impressed me with those same sorts of layering and green-screen effects despite its limited budget, and those cheaper effects don’t look tacky or out-of-place, so I personally don’t mind them that much.

Because this is a Muppet movie, it’s unsurprising that our Mr. Arrow (played by Sam the Eagle) isn’t really killed, instead just being tricked off of the ship by a manipulative Silver, but it says something that, even with that softened plot turn, the stakes are not completely dismantled. We still see the pirates as a legitimate threat when they kidnap Jim and take over the Hispaniola, even when they burst into song. Tim Curry’s “only number,” “A Professional Pirate,” is a perfect expression of his expert, charming showmanship, which in my mind truly can’t be matched by any other performer in Hollywood, past or present. No one gives a performance like Tim Curry. It makes it so that even when I was a bratty kid getting irritated about Silver calling privateer Sir Francis Drake a pirate and using “buccaneer” as a synonym for “pirate,” I would sing this song at the top of my lungs, trying to even reach 75% of the energy Curry put into his vocals.

At long last, Miss Piggy makes her grand debut as “Queen Boom Sha-Kal-a-Kal,” a.k.a. Benjamina Gunn. Although the diva doesn’t end up getting much screentime, she certainly gets a grand entrance, complete with an elephant steed decorated with flowers and a full musical number complete with a tribal chant and ethereal vocalizing. And true to form, when she lays eyes on her one true love, Kermit...she smacks him so hard that he’s thrown backwards off his feet and into a gong. What’s particularly interesting about Piggy in this movie is that although she and Fozzie are voiced by Frank Oz as always, both she and Fozzie were actually puppeted by Kevin Clash, as Oz was unavailable during this film’s production, and Oz’s vocals for both characters were added in post-production. Despite the difference in puppeteer, however, both characters are just as likable as ever -- I’d honestly had no clue that they weren’t performed by the same person! The film even got to use the full-bodied remote-controlled puppets for Kermit and Piggy for the love duet “Love Led Us Here,” which is kicked off by an Evita joke I never got as a kid but as an adult makes me grin like a friggin’ idiot. Fortunately the duet is inter-cut with Silver and the pirates finding the treasure, rather than it being chock-full of romantic flashbacks or prolonged looks between the two lovebirds, giving it a lighter tone than it would’ve had otherwise.

With a much reduced crew comprised only of Rizzo, Gonzo, Squire Trelawney, Dr. Honeydew, Beaker, and the newly returned Mr. Arrow, Jim comes to Benjamina and Smollett’s rescue and returns to Treasure Island to face Silver and the pirates. The action scene is full of humor, but because of the world established in the rest of the film, I would argue it still has stakes. The blows still hurt and there’s still a threat of defeat and danger, most notably when Long John Silver prepares to fight. Even if you don’t think the Muppets are going to die persay, you still feel the suspense in wanting to see what’s going to happen next. And when Silver surrenders, he himself can see the real treasure Jim found on his adventure -- a family...a group of people Muppets who will support him and encourage the very best in him.

Silver’s escape scene is a beautifully heart-wrenching scene -- one that could only have been earned by two excellent performances over the course of the film by Kevin Bishop and Tim Curry. Even though both Silver and Jim know that they’re different people and they could never walk the same path, it doesn’t mean that they don’t still greatly esteem and care about each other. In Jim’s case, it’s especially difficult, given that in parting ways with Silver, he has to cut loose of a very poor potential father figure who would’ve only dragged him down in the long run, but who was so likable in his own damaged way. It proves to be a very bittersweet scene sprinkled into a very happy, cheerful ending, complete with the chipper island-inspired end credits bop “Love Power.”

Muppet Treasure Island is -- in my opinion, at least -- one of the best Muppet movies ever made. It broke away from quite a few Muppet conventions, like the characters breaking the fourth wall and being aware of themselves being in a movie or TV show, and embraced a much less humorous tone in both its writing and cinematography. Yes, it reimagined a classic book like The Muppet Christmas Carol did, but this movie took the next step, embracing the world of the original novel as well as the set-up and immersing the Muppets’ cast of characters in it. Although I can see why some people would be more partial to the original Muppet movie formula and love it a lot myself, I really, really respect Brian Henson and the rest of this film’s crew for taking the Muppets in such a different direction. It was an entertaining, action-packed, funny pirate movie before those sorts of movies became popular again, and it remains my favorite “pirate” movie of all time, as well as my personal favorite incarnation of the Treasure Island story (barely beating out Treasure Planet). I know childhood nostalgia can play a role in what media can give you joy as an adult, but I truly don’t think it’s the only factor here -- it’s also just a really good movie, and I can only hope that more people will consider giving it a chance and have just as much fun Sailing for Adventure as I did!

[wwnortonlibrary]

Patsy, by Nicole Dennis-Benn

Nicole Dennis-Benn's second novel, Patsy, is the August pick for the "Read With Jenna" book club on the Today Show! “It’s a story about resilience and there’s some broken-heartedness," Jenna said. "But 'Patsy' is a book that will open a lot of minds."

As with her masterful debut, Here Comes the Sun, Nicole Dennis-Benn once again charts the geography of a hidden world—that of a paradise lost, swirling with the echoes of lilting patois, in which one woman fights to discover her sense of self in a world that tries to define her. Passionate, moving, and fiercely urgent, Patsy is a prismatic depiction of immigration and womanhood, and the lasting threads of love stretching across years and oceans.

Nicole recently wrote about the inspiration behind the book:

“I remember traveling with them in the early morning hours on the number 4 train from the Caribbean immigrant neighborhood of Crown Heights, Brooklyn to Manhattan. They were workers—men in their construction gear, nursing thermoses filled with coffee, their usual Clarks replaced by Timberland boots; women wearing sensible shoes and buttoned coats over uniforms, clutching their oversized bags packed with lunches. Each person quiet in their own meditation. Some read the Bible, some closed their eyes and hummed the tune the Trinidadian steel-pan man always played on the subway platform. Others laughed and chatted, their Caribbean accents thick, perhaps familiar with each other from traveling the same route at the same time each day for many years. I carried a vintage leather briefcase, en route to my first teaching job at the College of Staten Island. They stared at me with either unremitting distrust, curiosity, or admiration. They reminded me of the people I grew up around in Jamaica, in my small working-class community of Vineyard Town, Kingston. It was clear that they all had their steady jobs—the men working on buildings they could never afford to live in; the women working in people’s homes, mothering other people’s children or caring for somebody’s aging parent. Above our heads were the ads beckoning us to escape New York City’s winter to places with white sand beaches and palm trees—places most of us had left behind in hopes of better opportunities in this country.

I fell in love with the people I observed on the train because they reminded me of home. I felt compelled to capture them as they were in the quiet of the train. I began to write. Did they leave themselves behind? Who am I looking at now? Patsy answered.

Patsy’s story came to me as a confession—a relentless stream of consciousness of a woman, a mother, who deliberately seeks to reinvent herself in America and revel in the freedom it offers her to love the way she wants to love. Hers is a story I wanted to explore—a story that goes against everything we thought the immigrant story to be: altruistic. It’s easy to see now that Patsy’s story is my own in that I, too, chose America to redefine myself. I had always felt like an outsider as a lesbian woman in Jamaica, where homosexuality is taboo and opportunities for the working-class are limited. I wanted to simply be, to find a home in myself elsewhere.  Every day on the Staten Island Ferry, for three years, in clear view of the Statue of Liberty, Patsy spoke to me. I caught sight of my fellow travelers sitting by themselves, staring quietly at the picturesque view. They seemed haunted by loss. Or perhaps I was projecting. For freedom comes with a price, a loss of something—culture, memory, loved ones, a whole country. It was then that Patsy’s story transformed into something more urgent, real, driven by one question: What do we lose when we choose ourselves?”

—Nicole Dennis-Benn

 Follow Nicole Dennis-Benn on Twitter or Instagram for more news/updates.

[blouisparadise]

Upon request, here is a list of bottom Louis fic recs where Harry and Louis are already in a relationship. There are a lot of good ones for this list, so this is only part one of the list - part two is here.

Happy reading!

1) Precious Little Diamond (I’ll Give It All To You) | Explicit | 2044 words

Alpha!Harry/omega!Louis PWP written for this textpost: Established relationship H/L with alpha!Harry just popping his knot in omega!louis and it’s his favourite part; just laying down and cuddling as they mate but louis just wriggles around in his lap until he can grab his xbox controller and starts playing video games with Harry still inside him and Harry’s like “??!?????!???!!!???” And louis’ like “oh shush it takes forever” and scores a goal on the game

2) Tie You Up and Make Me Scream | Explicit | 2166 words

AU where Harry teases Louis and it becomes a game until they cant handle it anymore and escape to have tent sex while the rest of the boys are in the other tents.

3) True North | Explicit | 2575 words

Note: This fic is locked and can be read by AO3 users only.

Altered-canon non-au set between November 2012 and January 7th, 2013.

4) What’s Yours Is Mine (What’s Mine Is Ours) | Mature | 2982 words

Prompt: Something about Louis always waiting until the last minute to pack his bag for tour so one time Harry does it for him and then they’re thousands of miles away by the time Louis figures out Harry hasn’t actually packed anything useful. Whether it’s because Harry is just genuinely useless at packing for other people or because he wants Louis to be forced to wear his clothes is up in the air. Also Louis refusing to wear Harry’s clothes out of pure spite until Harry makes it up to him.

5) Double Dog Dare Ya | Explicit | 3411 words

The one where the boys play some truth or dare and Harry has a one track mind.

6) A Touch Of Your Love | Explicit | 3856 words

Harry’s physical training has been intense. He wakes up before the sun to run. He spends long hours in the gym boxing and lifting weights.

Louis usually likes working out with Harry when they’re on tour, and even now he enjoys going on a run or boxing a bit with Harry. But Harry hasn’t seemed to stop moving since he accepted the role in Dunkirk. And it’s not that Louis always needs to be the center of Harry’s attention, but he very much wants to be.

7) It’s Your Soul That I’m Caught In Yet You Don’t Hear Me Call Your Name | Explicit | 4433 words

The one in which Harry goes out for a run in the early morning rain without telling Louis and Louis wakes up alone, cold and needy.

8) Hook’s Intention | Explicit | 5156 words

Harry hadn’t realized what, exactly, being the Captain Hook to Louis’ Peter Pan would entail.

9) But I Want You | Explicit | 5200 words

After their successful night at the VMAs, Harry can't keep his hands off Louis for long.

10) A Gentleman’s Arrangement | Explicit | 5205 words

Harry has been in the countryside, Louis has been trapped in town awaiting the London season, and three months apart is far, far too long.

11) ‘Cause Lately I’ve Been Waking Up Alone | Explicit | 5667 words

“Ow ow ow ow,” Harry continues cursing, hopping back and forth on the balls of his toes and trying uselessly to cradle his dick.  Louis’s eyes fall to the sink, where he can see a torn-open package and what looks like a sheet of instructions.

“Clone-a-Willy?” he reads out loud, not sure he’s reading right.

...or, Harry gives Louis a very special sex toy for an early birthday present, and Louis uses it on Skype when Harry's in LA.

12) Power Inside | Explicit | 5861 words

Louis wrinkles his nose and pokes Harry again. “You want a baby,” he repeats.

Again, Harry frowns. “Uh, yeah, Lou, I want a baby. So do you.”

Where is this even going. Harry honestly has no clue.

Abruptly, Louis stops frowning and practically throws himself off of Harry, splaying himself out on his side of the bed, arms spread wide. “Okay. Let’s make a baby, then.”

Can eyebrows get permanently attached to a hairline? Harry has a feeling he’s going to find out. “You do realize - ” he starts.

“Yes, Harry, I realize,” Louis says, stroking his fingers over the inside of his own thigh, ruking his shorts up. “You gonna shut up about it and give me a baby or am I gonna have to go out and find someone else to fulfill my deepest desires?”

He’s a nutjob. He’s a complete nutjob. Harry’s in love with a complete nutjob.

13) We’ll Stumble Through Heaven | Explicit | 6504 words

Louis likes to be a good boy for his alpha.

14) You Drive Me Wild (You Know You Do) | Explicit | 6632 words

Their management informs them that they have an interview right before the ARIAs, and it isn't until he's in a suit, seated on a couch between Liam and Zayn, that he gets the idea.

The interviewer, Angus, smiles at them, right before the cameras roll on, and a metaphorical light bulb goes off inside Louis' head. He's perfect. Well, not as perfect as Harry, but enough. He's attractive, attractive enough to drive Harry crazy, and he doesn't even think of the consequences of his actions, just decides right then. It's all Harry's fault anyway. Louis should be allowed to have a little fun.

15) I’m Broken, Do You Hear Me? | Explicit | 6957 words

Louis starts acting weird and distant around Harry, and it takes Harry a little while to put together what's wrong. When he finally does, he's determined to help Louis see just how much he loves every piece of him.

16) Back Where I Belong | Explicit | 7217 words

Harry’s trying to have a conversation with Nick, who he hasn’t seen in nearly three months, but the way Nick’s eyes keep darting over his shoulder every few seconds is quite distracting.

It’s ironic, because at least a quarter of the reason that he’s even talking to Nick in the first place is because he needs a distraction. He’s all too aware of exactly what’s going on behind his back.

Nick is the one who finally brings it up. “Do you think he’s doing it to spite you?”

“He’s definitely doing it to spite me,” Harry answers tightly, resisting the urge to crane his neck around so he can see. He clutches his drink a little tighter, trying to keep his tenuous control over his own movements.

17) Call Me Shallow But I’m Only Getting Deeper | Explicit | 7367 words

The one where Louis is a brat so Harry spanks him with a riding crop.

18) Rated R | Explicit | 7635 words

Louis gifts Harry with a surprise sex tape, and it accidentally makes its way into Harry's family Christmas party. Ridiculousness ensues.

19) Under the Vanilla Sky | Explicit | 8006 words

Who the hell wears a hat like that on a yacht?  That's one of the things Louis thinks when he sees Harry from across the deck of the most expensive, ridiculous boat he's ever been on.  He also thinks he'd like to get closer.  Just to see what's under those aviators.  Just to verify that, yes, in fact, those white swim trunks might be a little see-through when wet.  Just to see if someone could really be that hot in real life.  On a yacht.  In the Caribbean sea just off the coast of St. Barts.  

Here's what really happened on that yacht.

20) Love To Make Him Moan | Explicit | 8106 words

Note: This fic is locked and can be read by AO3 users only.

They fuck like they're sex starved, when they're really, really not.

21) Give It Up To Me | Explicit | 8134 words

"You're going to end up making me come with all the boys in our lounge," he finished, his tone softening the longer he spoke.

"And?" Harry murmured, placing his palm over the crevice of Louis' arse, keeping the plug nice and tight inside of him. "What if I wanted you to?"

22) Love Me in Between the Future and the Past | Explicit | 10991 words

Set during the 2013 VMAs.

Harry's scared of history repeating itself.

23) Read You For Some Kind Of Poem | Mature | 11969 words |  Sequel

He likes to imagine that he’s always aware of Harry’s eyes on him, but the spark that flashes across his body at how often Harry licks his lips while looking at his throat doesn’t feel like something he’s explicitly and consciously acknowledged before, but it feels familiar. Usual. Right.

24) In A World Apart | Explicit | 11973 words

During their off time in LA, Harry is reminded just how much he loves Louis.

25) End Of The World Tonight | Explicit | 12069 words

“You remember when you told me that you wanted to live with me for the rest of your life?” Louis asks. His voice trembles a bit, exposing exactly how much he hates what he’s about to do. How much he wishes that he wasn’t about to do it.

“I remember,” Harry says. His expression is a little lost, like he thinks that they’re about to have a fight and he’s not sure what they’re supposed to be fighting about. Louis closes his eyes because he has to, has to take a second to regain his courage. He can’t keep doing this. He can’t keep suffering, can’t keep killing himself trying to hide this. He’s ready. He’s been ready for a long time.

26) Know You Got That Thing (That I Like) | Explicit | 15798 words

In all the ways he thought about their reunion going, watching Louis finger himself open was not on the list.

27) 210 Days | Explicit | 16341 words

Harry is in the army and Louis is back in New York. Together, they get through Harry's six month leave by sending a series of letters back and forth. They've done it before, and they can do it again.

28) Temporary Tattoos, Hotel Hearts, Horizon Homes | Explicit | 17965 words

Note: This fic is locked and can be read by AO3 users only.

Louis is just 18 and ends up in 2015 for one day at Harry’s request, one day to make sure his spirit is strong and hopeful enough to take him to the X Factor and end him up where he’s supposed to be. Aka, the one where Harry makes sure Louis knows how amazing he is.

29) Can’t Fool Me | Explicit | 30162 words

AU where Louis hates fraternities and would never be into a frat boy. And one of these things is definitely not a lie.

30) Drowning In Your Eyes | Explicit | 45140 words

The Pirates of the Caribbean inspired au where Harry is a fierce pirate who holds the heart of a beautiful merman.

31) Such Good Luck | Explicit | 66205 words

Louis smiles at Harry’s words, leaning into his touch. “Tell me again.”

Smiling, Harry takes Louis into his arms. Pressing gentle kisses to his face, Harry murmurs, “In six months’ time, I will have my twenty-fifth birthday.  On that day, my portion of the inheritance will become legally mine. And I plan that very day to announce to my family that I have found love.” Harry chuckles as he runs his lips lightly along Louis’ cheekbone. “That, in fact, I found love when I was twenty-one years old, and that I have loved and been loved every day since.”

Check out our other fic rec lists by category here and by title here.

[thesinglesjukebox]

CARDI B FT. BAD BUNNY & J BALVIN - I LIKE IT

[8.12]

If you're looking for the sidebar, Cardi, it's in the other direction...

Stephen Eisermann: A song that feels like that family party at your tios house, with those cousins who are fucking locos, but you only see once every couple of years so you're willing to look past their problematic practices. It's like, yeah, they say some wild stuff that you totally disagree with, but they're your primos and there's tequila, y nos quedamos festejando hasta las seis de la mañana, bailando y chismeando todo el tiempo. And then the night is over and you're in line waiting to cross back at the border, shaking your head at all of the ridiculous shit that was said and done over the weekend, but you can't help but smile because this kind of Latino magic is just so uncommon in your day to day and it's good to remember your roots; but, most of all, it's fucking fun. [8]

Leonel Manzanares de la Rosa: Cardi B's "I Like It" is perhaps the Latin urban single of the year so far, not only on the grounds of being a banger but on how important it is. It's important in the sense that Ms. Almanzar is taking over American pop culture and claiming her Dominican heritage while trojan-horsing Latin trap and reggaeton into the hip-hop consciousness. The very sample this track is based around is Pete Rodriguez's 1967 boogaloo classic,"I Like It Like That," one of the very first examples of Latin music sneaking its way into mainstream America. Cardi's boss mannerisms and sheer charisma could easily sell the whole track, but both Boricua Trapster Bad Bunny and Colombian don J Balvin get equal space to shine, the former even referencing the legendary sample's bassline (Bobby Valentín really was the absolute chingón). This is really one for the culture. [8]

Julian Axelrod: On paper, this feels like a craven bid for Song of the Summer: from the infectious boogaloo sample to the inclusion of Latin trap luminaries Bunny and Balvin, there's a wary sense of risk management that "Bodak Yellow," its unassuming, world-conquering predecessor, lacked. But when I listen to the song, it feels fun and spunky and alive. If this was subjected to focus group meetings, they probably took place at a block party instead of a boardroom. The track is a series of relentless attacks on your pleasure centers, from the bubbling beat to J Balvin's goofy Gaga line to Cardi's nearly radioactive levels of charm. One of my best musical memories of the year is hearing "I Like It" in a packed club the day after Invasion of Privacy came out. Somehow everyone already knew every word, and we proceeded to shout it at the top of our lungs. At the end of the day, isn't that all we want out of a summer banger? Say what you will about the music industry machine, but sometimes their calculations pay off. [8]

Will Adams: It's one of those concepts that seems blindingly obvious in retrospect -- boogaloo sampled in a thwacking trap song -- but everyone involved acts like they've just struck gold. And justifiably so; if "Despacito" got the ball rolling on multi-lingual, world-conquering pop, "I Like It" is the flag planted at the summit. [9]

Nortey Dowuona: A clanging sample of Pete Rodriguez's "I Like it Like That" swings right into the tingling synths and pumping drums while Cardi strides through it; Bad Bunny hops, backflips and slides over it; and J Balvin creeps in under it. [7]

Josh Love: Thanks to teeth-rattling bass and Cardi's endless supply of #winning catchphrases ("I run this shit like cardio" jumps out most forcefully here, though perusing the lyrics opened up my world to the tremendous "Eating halal, driving the Lam'"), "I Like It" somehow manages the seemingly impossible task of salvaging a song that heretofore existed in the popular American consciousness almost exclusively thanks to a fucking Burger King commercial. And it's only like maybe the fifth or sixth best song on Invasion of Privacy! [7]

Jonathan Bradley: I was introduced to Cardi through "Red Barz," and even more than the "bloody moves" of "Bodak Yellow" did, that terse street single's gang aesthetic rooted her in my consciousness as a tough-minded brawler, steely and ruthless. She is multi-dimensional, however -- one of the joys of the "Finesse" remix was the opportunity it offered her to be playful -- and "I Like It" accentuates another aspect of her Bronx-hewed personality: her Dominican heritage. Her guests on the track are Puerto Rican and Colombian, and the beat draws from Cuban rhythms, creating a pan-Latinx outlook untied to any specific national tradition -- other than an American one, that is. For much of her verse, Cardi's flow isn't much removed from her "Bodak" one, but even as a retread, she asserts an easy authority, a preternatural focal point. J Balvin, whose sly insinuations I often enjoy on his own music, struggles to match her; Bad Bunny, however, does just fine. This is a song of elements strengthened through proximity to others that are alternately complementary and conflicting; yes, Cardi is at her best when she's at her most New York. [8]

Jonathan Bogart: When, not long after I entered my thirties, I was swimming around in radio pop like I had discovered it for the first time, a song that got spun a couple times on a Phoenix pop station, and maybe the Latin pop station too, sank its hooks into me. It was with distance a fairly silly song, a past-their-prime Cypress Hill plus a not-yet-entirely-worldwide Pitbull, with token respectable performer Marc Anthony belting a hook derived from an old Crosby, Stills, and Nash tune, but I was still a fresh enough listener to all popular music that I had residual affection for "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" and was naïve enough to be charmed rather than irritated by the naked obviousness of the flip. When, a year later, I catalogued my favorite songs of 2010, it was still #2, behind only "TiK ToK." (And I had totally forgotten I Amnestyed it.) It's in that spirit that, eight years on, I still thrill to the naked obviousness of a beaten-into-the-ground 1960s sample source when Cardi B flips this most standard of boogaloo standards into Latin trap and has two of the biggest and so most demographically advantageous performers of urban Caribbean music jump on it with her. In a year when the fever-swamps of poisonous discourse and xenophobic hatred are way past critical levels, this celebration of a few of three Latinx stars' favorite things stands out all the more for its full-throated self-regarding glee. Dominican-American Cardi B's rubbery Bronx vowels rattling off conspicuous consumption, Puerto Rican Bad Bunny throatily moaning the nationalities of ladies he's into, Colombian J Balvin mumble-bragging that a year later "Mi Gente" remains inescapable -- and Pete Rodriguez's 1966 horn section unspooling curlicues throughout -- all add up to possibly the only decent party song yet this year for anyone who knows anything. (Abolish ICE.) [10]

[Read, comment and vote on The Singles Jukebox]

[guidedpapers]

READ: "Richard B. Moore and Pan-Caribbean Consciousness," Chapter 3, City of Isl

READ: “Richard B. Moore and Pan-Caribbean Consciousness,” Chapter 3, City of Isl

READ: “Richard B. Moore and Pan-Caribbean Consciousness,” Chapter 3, City of Islands  READ & WATCH:  https://www.npr.org/2016/06/14/481794431/the-chicago-freedom-movement-then-and-now  Do a 10 pages Presentation�� Questions to consider: 1.) Compare and contrast Richard B. Moore’s political activism in New York and the Caribbean with the activism of members of the Chicago Freedom Movement for fair…

[elanrmakeup]

READ: "Richard B. Moore and Pan-Caribbean Consciousness," Chapter 3, City of Isl

READ: “Richard B. Moore and Pan-Caribbean Consciousness,” Chapter 3, City of Isl

READ: “Richard B. Moore and Pan-Caribbean Consciousness,” Chapter 3, City of Islands  READ & WATCH:  https://www.npr.org/2016/06/14/481794431/the-chicago-freedom-movement-then-and-now  Do a 10 pages Presentation  Questions to consider: 1.) Compare and contrast Richard B. Moore’s political activism in New York and the Caribbean with the activism of members of the Chicago Freedom Movement for fair…

[figure-my-heartt-out]

READ: "Richard B. Moore and Pan-Caribbean Consciousness," Chapter 3, City of Isl

READ: “Richard B. Moore and Pan-Caribbean Consciousness,” Chapter 3, City of Isl

READ: “Richard B. Moore and Pan-Caribbean Consciousness,” Chapter 3, City of Islands  READ & WATCH:  https://www.npr.org/2016/06/14/481794431/the-chicago-freedom-movement-then-and-now  Do a 10 pages Presentation  Questions to consider: 1.) Compare and contrast Richard B. Moore’s political activism in New York and the Caribbean with the activism of members of the Chicago Freedom Movement for fair…

[fishbug87]

READ: "Richard B. Moore and Pan-Caribbean Consciousness," Chapter 3, City of Isl

READ: “Richard B. Moore and Pan-Caribbean Consciousness,” Chapter 3, City of Isl

READ: “Richard B. Moore and Pan-Caribbean Consciousness,” Chapter 3, City of Islands  READ & WATCH:  https://www.npr.org/2016/06/14/481794431/the-chicago-freedom-movement-then-and-now  Do a 10 pages Presentation  Questions to consider: 1.) Compare and contrast Richard B. Moore’s political activism in New York and the Caribbean with the activism of members of the Chicago Freedom Movement for fair…

[indomitablekushite]

This is what I find so repulsive about this so-called Consciousness that African people claim they are experiencing. You drag the Brother for liking white woman and talking about Afrian Women and that's as it should be. Yet, you have not erased the European beauty standards out of your own mind and actions. Do you know how ridiculous you look being Pan African talking about a brother who idolizes white beauty standards and you are doing the same thing?? you are literally the definition of white supremacy black face in pan-africanism. This is why I'm personally done and serious sovereignty seeking Africans should be with this whole Consciousness fad. Real talk, it's just for likes and ego-boosting and has not produced any tangible results. The fact of the matter our predecessors done more with Christianity and Islam then we have done with all the crystals, yoga, voodoo, and social media combined. I see and understand why brothers and sisters abandon his or her race I used to think it was only due to the influence of so-called white supremacy. but sooner or later we have to take responsibility for the toxic culture that we call African and African-American and realize what it is and why would anybody want to reproduce this b*******. I seriously believe now that you have a distinct difference between people born in America people born in South Africa people born in the Caribbean and people born in Africa. I don't know if it's psychological, genetic or socially conditioned whatever it is it's real. I give less than a damn if you call it white supremacy colonialism or whatever. we've been hollering this s*** for how many years now and nothing has changed. so who or what is the problem.

[qualityhomeworkanswers]

Article writing homework help

Article writing homework help

 READ: “Richard B. Moore and Pan-Caribbean Consciousness,” Chapter 3, City of Islands

READ & WATCH:  https://www.npr.org/2016/06/14/481794431/the-chicago-freedom-movement-then-and-now

Do a 10 pages Presentation

  Questions to consider:

1.) Compare and contrast Richard B. Moore’s political activism in New York and the Caribbean with the activism of members of the Chicago Freedom Movement for…

[a---z]

Wysing Polyphonic: The Ungoverned

An online programme of mixes and soundscapes in August and a special online event with poetry reading and performance on 5 September at 6pm

“Collective minds exploring a positive present and rewriting the past.”

3 to 31 August

An online programme of mixes and soundscapes from CRYSTALLMESS, mobilegirl, LYZZA, AUDINT, Hannah Catherine Jones.

Saturday 5 September, 6pm BST

A special live broadcast on twitch.tv/wysingartscentre of poetry readings with Whiskey Chow, Rachel Long and Tanaka Fuego followed by a newly commissioned performance from Maëva Berthelot and Coby Sey.

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/wysing-polyphonic-the-ungoverned-tickets-112830150016

Wysing Arts Centre are delighted to invite A---Z (Anne Duffau) to curate the eleventh edition of Wysing Polyphonic, our annual festival of music and sound.

The Ungoverned looks at how we can deconstruct normativity through collaboration, exchange, texts, ephemeral gestures and other languages. This year’s programme emphasises the importance of difference and diverse ways of communicating: the morphing of words to choreographies, soundscapes, dialects and voices.

For the first part of The Ungoverned, five international musicians have created mixes and soundscapes experimenting between sound, music and spoken word and responding to the idea of being ungovernable and defying norms. These recordings will be presented on WysingBroadcasts.Art over the month of August and will present collective minds exploring a positive present and rewriting the past.  

The festival’s second part will be presented as a special live broadcast of readings from three international artists, writers and poets and will be followed by a newly commissioned performance from choreographer and dancer Maëva Berthelot and musician Coby Sey.

The broadcast can be accessed on Wysing’s website and WysingBroadcasts.Art.

The Ungoverned will be presented in partnership with The Wire, Tank Magazine & Noods Radio.

Trailer by Wysing Digital Producer Hen Page 

Mixes: 

Christelle Oyiri Aka  CRYSTALLMESS  is a Paris-based multidisciplinary artist. She also goes by the moniker CRYSTALLMESS when she operates as a composer and DJ and released music on experimental electronic music labels such as PAN or Country Music in 2019, and self-released her EP Mere Noises in 2018.   “The mix INTROLUDO is built around Interludes and Intros - sonic interstices that often allow musicians to be their most vulnerable and reveal the psyche behind their project.”  Her work highlights the intersection between forgotten mythologies, memory and alienation. Whether she explores black french music erasure with her film and performance Collective Amnesia : In Memory of Logobi (2018), reflects on the idea of progress and linearity of time with Necessary Evil (2019) or dives into her own family history and indulges in sonic hauntology with Kiss & Tell (2020), music always occupies a place of choice in her work. During a residency at Wysing in August 2020 she will be working on her new sonic piece Poison Paradise 0, demystifying the supposed heavenly nature of the French Caribbean life.  

mobilegirl is a Munich-born-and-raised and Berlin-based DJ and producer.   Her endeavours are best described as a constant stretch of the comfortable and the finding of a new comfort therein.  Reflecting a general personal stance, as well as a result of her upbringing, mobilegirl's inspirations draw from a broad pool that makes her rather difficult to categorize.   Being quite uninhibited but thoughtful in her selection, her style behind the decks is focused on a highly energetic dancefloor but allows for emotionality, for softer moments but also attention-demanding breaks. A refreshing combination that gained her traction very early on in her career, playing CTM festival and international events within the first year of moving to Berlin - the second year of making music. She has later been signed to DISCWOMAN.   With her own productions mobilegirl has made a name for herself with club edits of R'n'B classics; a predilection for which draws through all of her work and the only one more prevalent influence being video game scores of various kind. The latter accordingly set the foundation for her debut EP "Poise" released in 2017. A string of tracks that seemed untypically mellow but were created in an effort to decelerate and invite the listener to do the same.   This project turned mobilegirl's inspiration into praxis as it opened up the doors for her to work on scores of films and art installations the years after.  

Brazilian producer and vocalist  LYZZA “has risen to become one of electronic music’s most promising young avant pop producers” - Beatport. In the last few years she’s familiarised herself with the alternative music scene and has worked herself from Amsterdam, where she spent her teenage years, to London where she currently lives. LYZZA   is a Producer/Vocalist & DJ recognised by platforms such as Pitchfork,  Subbacultcha and The Quietus. LYZZA is resident on NTS Radio and was named 'One of the artists shaping the future of music' by Crack Magazine. While teaching herself how to produce in her bedroom and working towards what would be her first release ‘Powerplay’; LYZZA kickstarted her career in 2016 playing DJ-sets at vogue balls in Amsterdam, but quickly paved her way into international clubs all over Europe & Asia, eventually becoming a resident at Amsterdam’s favourite club: De School, and Mykki Blanco’s tour DJ after the two connected.  Since her debut EP, Powerplay, exploded in 2017 (and has been used as soundtrack by CHROMAT and Mugler in their runway shows), LYZZA has been one to keep up with. IMPOSTER, her second EP released in 2018 solidified LYZZA as an composer, lyricist and more than just a club kid. 2019 has seen LYZZA take herself into a more poppier music realm and broke her tracks into Radio-waves with her latest 6-track release “DEFIANCE”. Which includes a collaboration with Hot Chips’ Joe Goddard and Jungle’s Tom McFarland. Her previous releases had already set her up as a brilliant singer and songwriter, but they were darker, less spacious, and mostly club focused. 

AUDINT is a sonic research group exploring the weaponization of vibration, developing cartographies of liminal waveformed perception (unsound), and investigating the ways in which frequencies are utilised to modulate our understanding of presence/non-presence, entertainment/torture, and life/death. In 2019, AUDINT published Unsound:Undead (Urbanomic), a collection of essays, featuring texts by prominent artists and theorists, on the topic of sound. More information can be found at www.audint.net. 

Hannah Catherine Jones (aka Foxy Moron) is a London-based artist, scholar, multi-instrumentalist, radio presenter and DJ (BBC Radio 3 - Late Junction, NTS - The Opera Show), composer, conductor and founder of Peckham Chamber Orchestra – a community project established in 2013. Jones is currently an AHRC DPhil scholar at Oxford University for which the ongoing body of work The Oweds will be presented as a series of live and recorded audio-visual episode-compositions using disruptive sound as a methodology of institutional decolonisation. 

5 September: 

Poets: 

Rachel Long is a poet and the founder of Octavia - Poetry Collective for Womxn of Colour. Rachel's poetry and prose have been published widely, most recently in Filigree, Mal, Granta and The Poetry Review. She is assistant tutor on the Barbican Young Poets programme. Her Forward Prize-nominated debut collection, My Darling from the Lions, is forthcoming from Picador in August 2020. 

Whiskey Chow  London-based performance artist and Chinese drag king, Whiskey’s art practice engages with broadly defined political issues, covering a range of related topics: from female and queer masculinity, problematizing the nation-state across geographic boundaries, to stereotypical projections of Chinese/Asian identity. Her performance is interdisciplinary, combining embodied performance with moving image and experimental sound pieces.   As an artist-curator, Whiskey launched, led and performed in Queering Now 酷兒鬧 in 2020 (as part of CAN Festival). Queering Now is a curatorial programme amplifying marginalized voices of Chinese/Asian queer diaspora in the West.  Whiskey has been involved in feminist and LGBTQ activism in China since 2011. She contributed to and performed in For Vaginas’ Sake 將陰道獨白到底 (2013)’ (original Chinese version of The Vagina Monologues), and curated the first Chinese LGBTQ music festival, Lover Comrades Concert 愛人同志音樂會 (2013), Guangzhou.  Whiskey's recent performances include: The Moon is Warmer than the Sun, Queering Now, Rich Mix, London (2020); Unhomeliness, Tate Modern, London; Whiskey the Conqueror, Tate Britain, London (2018); Purely Beautiful New Era (ft. Haocheng Wu), Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Great Conversation, Uppsala Konstmuseum, Uppsala (2017). 

Tanaka Fuego is a slam winning, multi published, international spoken word artist. Who has performed to sold out shows at Edinburgh’s Fringe festival and at Vault festival, has worked  with British Vogue and given diversity and inclusion talks to the likes of Recorded future. Fuego is a BBC Extra words first alumni, a Roundhouse Slam finalist  and also a roundhouse poetry resident, alongside being commissioned by the BBC. He is a black, queer artist whose poems cross leaps and boundaries throughout his Identity.  

Performers: 

Maëva Berthelot   choreographs, performs and teaches.   Her mode of working unfolds along the threshold between experimental, performative and collaborative approaches.  Drawing from improvisational and somatic practices, her research is rooted in a movement practice which is an ongoing inquiry into the themes of consciousness, transformation, healing, death and rebirth. Her interest lies in creating cathartic spaces in which the emotional and sensational states related to loss, grief and change can be explored, processed and assimilated into conscious experience.  Drawing attention to the tension between conscious/unconscious, rehearsed/improvised, visible/invisible and on the play between material/immaterial realms, her work explores ways to steer the body into trance, dreamlike and self hypnotic states with an emphasis on the importance of preparation in order to access those states in which the body can be utilised as a sensitive, awakened and connected vessel.  Maëva was born in L'Haÿ-les-roses, Paris in 1985 and lives in South London.  She has practised in companies and institutions such as Royal Opera House, Hofesh Shechter company, Batsheva & Riksteatern, Emanuel Gat company, Sadler's wells, Clod Ensemble, Rambert, Laban and The Place. 

Coby Sey is a vocalist, musician and DJ from South East London who offers a shifting, disorienting vision of club music.

Curator:

Anne Duffau is a cultural producer, researcher, and founder of A---Z; an exploratory and nomadic curatorial platform that explores artistic practices and knowledge exchange through collaborations, presentations, soundscapes, screenings and discussions. A---Z shares discursive practices that challenge preconceived ideas of race and gender identities, and challenges the powers that have shaped our (hi)stories. Anne is co-curator of the Dark Water event series, with artist Tai Shani, and co-founder of the night programme Décalé, with Chooc Ly Tan. She has collaborated with a range of projects and organisations including ArtLicks, Southwark Park Galleries, Mimosa House and Danielle Arnaud Gallery, London Please Stand By, or-bits .com, PAF Olomouc Czech Republic & Tenderflix. Anne has previously run the StudioRCA Riverlight, London programme (2016-2018) and is currently a Tutor at the School of Arts and Humanities, and is the acting Lead in Critical Practice, within the Royal College of Art’s Contemporary Art Practice Programme. She has performed live music through a number of projects and collaborations and has previously played at the Wysing music festival.

[fandomvariousness]

A Good Catch

Henry Turner

Mild shock, fluff

Fandom: Pirates of the Caribbean

Request: "Could you write a Henry fic where the reader is floating on a piece of driftwood and they pick her up but when she wakes up she's a real badass and like accidently hits Henry and cute anf full of fluff and stuff"

Word count: 746

gif is not mine.

Everything happened so fast – it seemed to be another sunny day in your coastal village, but you can never be prepared to meet these savage pirates.

They robbed and burned everything in their way, leaving nothing but dust, ash and splinters behind. You thought you were going to be killed there, because one of the filthy looking burglars chased you until another canon struck, sending your chaser to damnation and you – somewhere to the water.

From the frying pan into the fire – just as you thought you got away from all the ruckus, you couldn’t navigate in water at all, because there was a thick coat of black smoke on the surface. You started to cough and search for any leverage, until you grasped a piece of driftwood. Positioning yourself onto it, you started to steer away from the disaster as quickly and as far as possible, until you were completely out of strength and lost the command of your own senses.

Meanwhile, the Dying Gull sailed the seas, as young man Henry Turner noticed something further away in the water.

“Jack, I think I see something.” He spoke, squinting his eyes at the horizon in attempt to discern an unclear shape.

“If it’s not rum then it doesn’t matter.”

Henry didn’t respond to Jack’s witty remark as his suspicions grew – they were immediately approved of when Henry realized it’s an unconscious person on a driftwood!

“Jack, there’s a person! On a driftwood!”

Jack joined Henry to stand by the railing, but the former was much more ignorant than the latter – while Jack debated on whether or not to save the person, Henry was already doing that.

He jumped into a rowing boat and approached the driftwood, realizing that it’s a girl of about his own age. Dreading about her life, he dragged her into the boat and rowed back to the ship, afterwards asking Jack for assistance to get him and the girl onto the ship.

“It’s a girl.” Jack wondered while regarding your unconscious frame with an inquisitive look. “You sure she’s not a witch?”

Henry looked at Jack with his brows a bit furrowed, wondering whether the legendary pirate is really so dense.

Henry then kneeled down to your level and proceeded to listen whether you’re breathing or not. After a second, he paid Jack a quick terrified glance. “I think she’s not breathing!”

“Well, go on then, do the thing! Kiss her!”

Just as Henry was going to try and blow some air into your lungs, your eyes ripped open.

The regaining of your conscious was so sudden, thus you couldn’t comprehend what’s going on right away. The alarm bells rang in your head when you saw a handsome boy’s face dangerously close to yours, and no matter how handsome he was, your primary instinct was to slap the guy.

“Oh! She’s awake!” Jack chirped happily.

“Thank God,” Henry muttered as he regarded you rather confused, but relieved.

“What do you think you’re doing you bastard?” You murmured trying to stand up, which was quite a hard thing to do due to the fact that your head was still spinning.

“Uh, I was going to—”

“Kiss me? An unconscious girl?? What the—”

“N-No! No, I was going to—”

“Kiss you.” Jack interrupted Henry, making the latter and you turn your heads to him for a brief moment.

“No, I was trying to save you. To get you to breathing.” Henry finally finished, waiting for your reaction.

It took you a few seconds to settle down and realize that you just aggressively jumped on a boy that wanted to save your life. “Oh,” You breathed out, staring idly into nothing in particular. “Well, uh, t-thank you, then, and I’m sorry.”

Henry failed to sustain a small smile that flashed on his face. “It’s alright, what matters is that you regained your consciousness.”

“Well, this probably wouldn’t have happened if you wouldn’t have taken me onto the ship? I assume you’re the one who did that…” You were beginning to blush by now, taking in his appearance and sweet disposition.

“Well, yes, I spotted you—”

“Thank you.” You yelped, failing to control the blush as twinkles in your eyes. “Mister..?”

“Henry. Henry Turner.”

“Pleasure.” You smiled. “I’m Y/N.”

“Look at that, lads,” Jack whispered to the few other crewmen that were on the deck quietly enough so that you and Henry wouldn’t hear. “Young Turner just fished himself a girl.”

[teacher-lavin]

Shared Histories, Shared Nightmares, --An Awakening

The Shout: “Once free, el Cimarron seizes the opportunity to shout out. The Cimarron poets have regained their liberty and they shout in harmony. There can be no threat, now that the word is invented. El Cimarron knows the freedom to create a new world” (my translation). ---Sergio Ugalde, from La Poetica Cimarron

Pablo Picasso’s painting (image above) accompanied Aimé Césaire’s poetry portraying Martinique’s African heritage (1950).

“When I read the poems by this Black writer from Martinique, I felt that he knew the misery that I had experienced in Mexico City many years later. I felt that he spoke for me. I felt that he had given me a voice. I felt that I had to learn French to read his actual words and to know them” (my translation).

--Sergio Ugalde, Interview Comment, June 16, 2019

At a Symposium held in Mexico City last month on the life and writing of James Joyce, I searched for the Mexican scholar and professor whose book had brought me there. His name: Sergio Ugalde. His book: La Poetica Cimarron, --a study of Aimé Césaire, the poet from Martinique who founded the movement known as Negritude, or Black Pride, celebrating the African heritage of people throughout the Caribbean, the Americas and Africa. Dr. Ugalde’s book had shown me how poetry can create what he calls “a safe space for creative minds to reflect and to take risks, to be spontaneous, like jazz musicians working their voices into the beat” (my translation from Spanish). The book had fascinated me because, indeed, it is a teacher’s job to create spaces and environments for students to observe and to spontaneously grow and to solve problems the way the jazz musicians or great artists do. I had learned so much from this insightful book on African/Caribbean achievements in literature. I had so many questions. All week, I searched for the writer, Ugalde. People knew him. They didn’t know where I could find him. 

On the final day of the Conference, held at the City's Casa Universitaria del Libro, I went to hear Professor César A. Salgado speak about connections between James Joyce and Cuban novelist, Jose Lezama-Lima. Dr. Salgado told the tale of a group of intellectuals, Origines, whose ideas instigated radical intellectual conversations and reflected changes in Cuban life.  He revealed how James Joyce and Lezama-Lima’s minds merged in the form of novels and other writings. I wondered what kinds of connections existed between the Negritude Movement and Origines. 

The Salgado talk ignited images in my mind of a time in history when the Black Pride Movement was standing up to the racist practices of the French colonialist system, and Lezama-Lima with the members of Origenes were questioning the Church’s authority, and James Joyce was writing stories that challenged nationalist fervor and war.  

Dr. Salgado, as co-editor of the 2014 book, TransLatin Joyce, had abundant information about how the world had changed and how writers from the Caribbean and Ireland and across the globe had responded. As he spoke, I decided to ask him a question --not where to find Professor Sergio Ugalde. I had given up. I decided to ask about connections between Origenes and the Black Pride movement in Martinique and other Kreyol and French-speaking nations of the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. 

The Q & A came at the end of his talk, and, with La Poetica Cimarron in hand, I asked, “Do you see connections between Black writers from the Caribbean like the Negritude founders described in Ugalde’s Poetic Cimarron and the Cuban literary group, Origenes?” And, then, “Are there figures like James Joyce awakening from the nightmare of history in all of these movements?” The question sounded so extravagant when I asked it. 

When Professor Salgado smiled and nodded and began talking about heroic figures like Puerto Rico’s Arturo Schomburg who devoted his career to saving and collecting the works of the emerging Pan-African leaders from around the world including inventors, composers and thinkers as well as women and men like Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston who became dedicated to organizing African heritage peoples to tell their stories and to effect change in the world, I knew that a fascinating discussion, one that James Joyce may never have imagined, had begun. I  took notes blending my ideas into the professor’s and felt a deep commitment to advocate for schools and students to see and learn from the peoples of the Caribbean, people whose legacy comes from Africa as well as Asia represented in a seamless human narrative, a shared stream of consciousness. As readers and as writers, as researchers and as problem solvers, we can learn pride and hope from these Caribbean intellectual traditions because, as we read and study them, we become members of a commonly recognized human community. Yes. I took notes at a feverish pitch.

When the meeting ended, the man sitting in front of me in the audience turned around and said, “Hola, soy Sergio.” And I said, “Hola Sergio, soy John.” Then, he laughed and said with glee, “I’m Sergio Ugalde, the author of the book you’re holding there.” I had found him at last. 

The next day, June 16th, I interviewed Professor Ugalde in Mexico City’s Cafe Toscano.