Thanks for the Dialogue

Aerin, thanks for the dialogue. I wrote this last week about today...

The Day After

As the 2008 Presidential campaign draws to a close, I've become increasingly less concerned about the specific outcomes of election night and more concerned by what we will have positioned ourselves to accomplish the day after. What are our prospects for success in meeting the tremendous challenges we as a country now face, when we've painted our countrymen and neighbors out to be devils and villains? How do we commit ourselves to meaningful action for the good of all God's creation and not become immobilized in our bickering over who is most right? I'm almost afraid that too much damage has been done: the fear mongering and race-baiting and name-calling and prejudice rationalizing. How do we begin to engage one another and work together if indeed I am (by your definition or my own) a tree-hugging, homo-loving, abortion-permitting, other-embracing, terrorist-empathizing, socialist-leaning un-real black man, whom you've been socialized to resist at all costs?

As I write, a song invades my consciousness, refusing not to be heard. I believe it echoes a way forward through this mess we’ve made for ourselves. The song is "Belfast to Boston," by James Taylor (listen). It's been my prayer for peace for about two years now…

There are rifles buried in the countryside by the rising of the moon.
May they lie there long forgotten, 'til they rust away into the ground.

It's a song of grace: blood bought, divinely inspired, blessed assurance that as followers in the way of Jesus we are not condemned to give as good (or as poorly) as we get. We can give better. Yes…

Who will bend this ancient hatred: will the killing to an end?
Who will swallow long injustice: take the devil for a countryman?

We can. This is the grace that is ours. "Freely you have received; freely give," Jesus says.

continue reading on GP>>>

Sing That Funky Music White Kin!

Artistic ramblingS

I just published an Home-Training essay on GP about the Rene Marie controversy and the importance of artistic contribution (Part 1 / Part 2). This marks the first time I've liked the almost inevitable title change better than my own. My working title was "Artistic ramblingS," which my editor changed to "Good Art Gives--but Doesn't Always Sell." You go, Ryan!

Worth Reconsidering

To presume is human, to reconsider sublime. At least that's what I'm beginning to believe as a father of three. Fatherhood asks one to do a great deal with often incomplete, misleading, and sometimes outright false information -- from arbitrating disputes to meting out appropriate consequences to picking cereal. I am loathe to admit the number of times I've rushed to judgment or totally misunderstood something as a dad. Sometimes the only thing that spares me from acting on dubious presumptions are a loving pair of deep mahogany eyes staring up at me, begging me to reconsider.

Art functions in a quite similar fashion. It asks us to reconsider our biases, our preferences, our intuitions, our world. That's what Barry Blitt was doing when he inked the cartoon, "Politics of Fear," which made the front cover of The New Yorker this month. And, yes, I join the ranks of Clarence Page and Jon Stewart believing that Blitt did a pretty good job.

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The Assassination of Hillary... [and] Barack

Assuming the best (until evidence to the contrary surfaces), I think this is brilliant! Disturbing, yes—intentionally so (not for children)—but BRILLIANT...

www.theassassinationofhillaryclinton.com

www.theassassinationofbarackobama.com

Story by NY Times blogger Sewell Chan

"It's art....It's about character assassination—about how Obama and Hillary have been portrayed by the media."

-Yazmany Arboleda, 27-year-old Boston-born performance artist

theGuild

This is a creative project some friends and i are doing. Right now we're publishing to God's Politics (which defines our primary topic as justice). We're just getting started. Stuff we've published will appear in the NOTES section. You can find more (on a broader range of topics) at members individual pages and sites.

The first post is mine. It's satirical op-ed--thus the purpose is to ridicule and provoke, while advancing a definite point of view (this isn't 'fair and balanced'!). Sadly, I am not much of a humorist :-(. But that is only one style of creativity to be explore.

Check us out. Become a FAN!

Why Georgia?

...as it relates to artistic sympathy, john mayer is my metaphysical twin.

There's Nothin' Like Good Music

I found this on a fellow vagabond's website. It reminded me how much I love fun music, particularly indie artists. Enjoy!



Her name is Imogen Heap. I love it partly because when I am inspired myself, snapping, patting, clapping and verbal sound effects are all I can muster: I can't play any instruments. It's good to see that's catching on :-P. In some tangential way it took me back to 1991, Shanice and I Love Your Smile--go figure! (I think that was the first song I consciously admitted to liking because it was fun--that was a big step for an insecure 18-year-old male.)

These next two I love just because AD is the truth...





Folks have forgotten how to throw parties like those.

This next one is a human voice band headed up by a friend of mine. It was shot live on a Paris subway. These brothas are nice...



What's even more amazing is to know that these guys (Naturally 7) never use instruments (even in the studio) and every thing is done live--no loops, overdubs or sampling. So when you watch the slick music video remix of "Feel It", it's still all voice, just better sound equipment!

Most recently, I've been diggin' my girl Angie Stone and my man Wyclef. So I'll end this musical homage with a little sump'in for the season.



If you've got some good vibes to share, holla at ya boi!