Obama's "decision-making process under intense stress," as described in the Times:
"He appears deliberative and open to debate, but in the end, is coldly decisive. "
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Black Studies & Technological Possibilities
I’ve always thought of those folks who began organizing what eventually became known as black studies as exceptionally imaginative and even visionary. So I wonder if they could’ve imagined a scenario like the one presented in the image pictured above--a class on Langston Hughes taking place in a virtual world.
The image is a snapshot from an African American literature course taught by Bryan Carter that I was sitting in on during the course of this past spring semester. I attended a presentation by Professor Carter and his avatar back in December, and he invited me to sit in on his classes, many of which he teaches online.
Professor Carter utilizes a range of new media and technologies such as live, online broadcasts, chat rooms, blogs, voice threads, and Second Life. I took the snapshot pictured above on Second Life during one of Carter’s discussions of Hughes for his African American literature course.
Carter’s courses provided me with all kinds of ideas and inspiration for expanding my work with African American literature, black studies, and technology. I was moved by how students were building their knowledge of African American literary art at the same time that they were becoming more tech savvy.
Related:
Black Studies and Digital Humanities
Monday, June 14, 2010
Huey vs. Riley
Any of you out there been checking for the current season of The Boondocks? The season is about 7 episodes in, and several folks (and I'm especially thinking of folks in the conscious circles) have been complaining about the absence of the intellectual and militant Huey Freeman in more of the main story-lines. More episodes, it seems, have highlighted the exploits of Huey's younger brother Riley, a figure obsessed with the excesses and problematic qualities of hip hop.
Admittedly, I was one of the folks wanting to see more episodes featuring Huey. He's the protagonist that first drew me to the comic strip and then the cartoon, so I'm always tuning in to see how the show's creator McGruder positions the activist-minded 10-year-old against various adversaries.
After watching the most recent episode where Riley channels the spirits of various gangster movie personas in order to run a fund-raising scheme, I've become open to some alternatives. Riley is not conscious like Huey, but in television representations at least, he does make it possible for McGruder to explore a variety of ideas.
Initially, I thought that McGruder did his best work when he was using Huey as a mouthpiece to critique the injustices of racism and the problems of some aspects of black culture. But, could another useful approach to raising consciousness involve dramatizing the absurd actions of a character like Riley?
Rather than concentrate on the heroism of Huey, McGruder seems interested in utilizing the problematic bravado and willful anti-intellectualism of a Riley to convey ideas about the dangers facing black America today. I'm still working out answers to the question of whether Huey or Riley works best in the service of raising consciousness.
Related: A Notebook on Aaron McGruder
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Redmond, Angelou, & Artistic Encouragement
[Recent additions to a developing notebook on the Eugene B. Redmond Collection]
This summer, I’m at the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) providing instruction duties for the African American Literatures and Cultures Institute, a summer program that encourages and assists rising seniors in their preparations to pursue graduate study.
On Friday, reference librarian Tara Schmidt and rare books librarian Juli McLoone organized a hands-on archival activity at UTSA’s library and special collections. Our institute fellows received an opportunity to look through materials from the Sterling Houston Papers. Houston (1945-2006) was an actor, writer, and musician from San Antonio whose thirty-career professional career in theater empowered him to provide a range of social commentary.
I was unaware of his work until the archival activity at UTSA for our institute fellows; I’m thankful that Schmidt and McLoone brought Houston to our attention.
Maya Angelou was one among the many artists that Houston collaborated with over the course of his expansive career. In 1995, he adapted a play based on Angelou’s poem “On the Pulse of Morning for a cast of nine speakers and four singers, which was then presented in concert with Dr. Angelou.”
I only became aware of the collaboration between Houston and Angelou as I was looked over the shoulders of our institute fellows browsing through the materials. A group of the students stopped in surprise and delight when they recognized a few letters from Angelou to Houston.
At one point in the letters, Angelou urges Houston to keep raising “consciousness.” And what really caught my attention appeared toward the end when Angelou wished “strength” to Houston’s art. Angelou’s particular phrasing echoed a familiar closing line that I have received from Eugene B. Redmond, whose massive collection of writings, photographs, and correspondences are currently being organized and cataloged as the Eugene B. Redmond Collection at SIUE's Lovejoy Library.
When Redmond writes recipients who are artists and writers, he often closes his letters by wishing “strength to your writing hand.” Redmond and Angelou have been good friends for more than 30 years now, and I imagine the voicing and encouragement of strength for artistic purposes among their circle of friends over the years. The appearance of a similar line in Angelou’s and Redmond’s correspondence is likely just a glimpse of common habit among these two writers to regularly send lines of artistic encouragement to fellow artists.
So far, they have received varying degrees of attention for the poems they write, for instance. But what about their short correspondence/writings encouraging other writers to continue and expand their artistic endeavors? What artistic encouragement between black writers and black writers tells us about the development of African American literary art might be intriguing to investigate.
Related:
Understanding the EBR Collection
This summer, I’m at the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) providing instruction duties for the African American Literatures and Cultures Institute, a summer program that encourages and assists rising seniors in their preparations to pursue graduate study.
On Friday, reference librarian Tara Schmidt and rare books librarian Juli McLoone organized a hands-on archival activity at UTSA’s library and special collections. Our institute fellows received an opportunity to look through materials from the Sterling Houston Papers. Houston (1945-2006) was an actor, writer, and musician from San Antonio whose thirty-career professional career in theater empowered him to provide a range of social commentary.
I was unaware of his work until the archival activity at UTSA for our institute fellows; I’m thankful that Schmidt and McLoone brought Houston to our attention.
Maya Angelou was one among the many artists that Houston collaborated with over the course of his expansive career. In 1995, he adapted a play based on Angelou’s poem “On the Pulse of Morning for a cast of nine speakers and four singers, which was then presented in concert with Dr. Angelou.”
I only became aware of the collaboration between Houston and Angelou as I was looked over the shoulders of our institute fellows browsing through the materials. A group of the students stopped in surprise and delight when they recognized a few letters from Angelou to Houston.
At one point in the letters, Angelou urges Houston to keep raising “consciousness.” And what really caught my attention appeared toward the end when Angelou wished “strength” to Houston’s art. Angelou’s particular phrasing echoed a familiar closing line that I have received from Eugene B. Redmond, whose massive collection of writings, photographs, and correspondences are currently being organized and cataloged as the Eugene B. Redmond Collection at SIUE's Lovejoy Library.
When Redmond writes recipients who are artists and writers, he often closes his letters by wishing “strength to your writing hand.” Redmond and Angelou have been good friends for more than 30 years now, and I imagine the voicing and encouragement of strength for artistic purposes among their circle of friends over the years. The appearance of a similar line in Angelou’s and Redmond’s correspondence is likely just a glimpse of common habit among these two writers to regularly send lines of artistic encouragement to fellow artists.
So far, they have received varying degrees of attention for the poems they write, for instance. But what about their short correspondence/writings encouraging other writers to continue and expand their artistic endeavors? What artistic encouragement between black writers and black writers tells us about the development of African American literary art might be intriguing to investigate.
Related:
Understanding the EBR Collection
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Rare photo of Slaves
Art historians believe that the above recently "discovered" photograph is from the 1860s and shows two "children who were either slaves at the time or recently emancipated."
A New York collector purchased the photo and several other images and documents at a sale in North Carolina.
Photographs of slave children are considered rare. In addition, it's reported, "What makes the picture an even more compelling find is that several art experts said it was created by the photography studio of Mathew Brady, a famous 19th-century photographer known for his portraits of historical figures such as President Abraham Lincoln and Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee."
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