Author: whodeanny

Fumbling Memories

 

For some reason, I recently started thinking about my
stages of listening to Sarah McLachlan. It has been an odd roller coaster ride moving from disdain to love to virtual irrelevance.

 

In the mid 90s, my girlfriend gave me the worst possible introduction to Sarah's music. The GF basically told me that she was
justified in being a selfish ass because of a Sarah M. lyric. What the %*@^? It didn't make sense but it did leave me with a sour impression of Sarah M. (As well as with the soon to be ex-GF!) I had no interest in finding anything more about this music. 

 

Yet, the very first time I listened to Fumbling Towards Ecstasy I was blown away. Discovering the album was actually just a happy accident. My roomie at the time
came home and started playing the album, not noticing that I was napping. I woke up pissed at his thoughtlessness but it only took a couple songs for me to forgive him entirely. (Thanks, EZ.) In fact, it wasn’t long before I came to love Sarah McLachlan!

 

That voice! Those lyrics!
The musicality!

 

In 97, my girlfriend Gwen and I saw Sarah @Lilith Fair in Vancouver and it remains one of the best concert experiences I’ve
ever had. For awhile, listening to Sarah's albums became a kind of default for us. If we couldn't quickly decide on what music to play, we went to the well of McLachlan. In fact, her Surfacing album was the first joint purchase Gwen and I ever
made. 

 

But now it’s been ten
years since her album Afterglow, the last one I bought. Now, I mostly think about Sarah McLachlan in conjunction with the horrifying ASPCA commercials that feature the song "Angel" and prompt everyone in my house to race for the remote control. At this point, Sarah may as well be Frankie Beverley and
Maze for me. It's great music that belongs strictly to my past. There's just no
resonance to my current life.

 

But on those rare occasions when I decide to listen to "Mary", "I Will Not Forget You" or "Fallen", I smile at both the songs and at the past.

 

 

FDO  

 

 

My Gold

 

Fools gold is a misnomer

I feel fairly certain


The gold we claim as our own

Without thought to its purity

Is exactly what we need it to be at that moment


And without another’s eyesight

And judgment

The gold remains


Perhaps it’s only our desire

To please others

That reveals us as fools

 

 

© Gayle Force Press 2008

 

 

Heart Touch Time

 

It’s heart touch time again

For me, now watching you

Attending to your smile

As you comfort the crowd

Of open throated mouths

Straining for ‘notice me’

With every different word

 

You always share that smile

And gentle, listening ear

Graciously, without pause

Holding on to their griefs

And sometimes shared delight

Dearly close to your heart

Warming them for return

 

It’s heart touch time once more

At night, when none can see

You always seem to know

In speech or by silence

What my words fail to say

And how you can heal me

With the gift of your smile

 

©
Gayle Force Press 2011

 

 

 

Trash Day

 

 

The strong, nearly intoxicating

Smell of burning trash

Comes to me past a state park,

an ancient river that gave this
place its name,

3 creeks,

a gorgeous pond,

and half a medium-sized city.

 

 

At least

That’s what my imagination tells
me.

I want to believe that if the
trash burners truly exist

They live in spheres separate from
mine

There can be no points of mutual
reference

No chance that I’ll take the
parking spot they covet

Or that they could snag the last
copy of the Gazette where I stop

For my coffeedonutpaper

No.

Not those folks.

People who are my bogeymen

These fearsome apparitions.

 

 

I know all about the east side of
this not so large town.

The pond I’ve heard about,

Those several creeks that may be
only a windy one,

The valley where a river ran dry,

And the state park I’m afraid to
visit.

 

 

© Gayle Force Press 2002

 

 

February 22 Booker T. Washington

 

This Black History Month I’m Grateful for Booker T.
Washington

 

 

“No race can prosper until it learns that there is as much
dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem.”

 

-Booker T. Washington

 

 

Booker T. Washington is a complicated and towering figure in
the history of Black America. Although Washington was born a slave, he died as
the most prominent Black person in America. In the interim, he created a
previously unmatched legacy of accomplishment.

 

 

Washington is most closely associated with Tuskegee
Institute, the school he led from its inception until his death. Tuskegee is
located in the deep southern state of Alabama and continues to exist as an Historically
Black College (HBCU). Founded in the Jim Crow era, Tuskegee specialized in
skilled labor training (a fact that eventually drew the ire of people like WEB
DuBois who wanted Blacks to explore the liberal arts) in an attempt to make
Blacks more economically valuable. The school eventually became one of America’s
pre-eminent Black colleges. Washington himself was a graduate of Hampton
Institute, another HBCU, where he was trained as a teacher. Washington’s career
served as a model for many Blacks as he transitioned from poverty to Tuskegee.

 

 

The most significant public moment of Washington’s career
was 1895’s Atlanta Address. In this speech, Washington seemed to accept Jim Crow
segregation policies and restrictions on voting as long as Blacks were granted
a measure of economic and educational opportunity. Washington was challenged by
DuBois and others who wanted to press for increased social justice but
Washington seemed convinced that Black safety was in constant jeopardy as seen
by the dramatic rise of the Ku Klux Klan and increase in lynchings after
Reconstruction.

 

 

Although Washington is frequently viewed as too accommodating
to White supremacists there is a strong line of argument that suggests his
public statements were an attempt to minimize the White fear of social change.  It is now known that Washington spent years secretly
raising and funneling money toward legal challenges of the Jim Crow regime.  

 

 

Washington became generally perceived as the leader of Black
America after his Atlanta speech and became connected with important leaders in
business and politics. Many of these relationships helped lead to the
foundation and perpetuation of schools for Black children throughout the
country. Eventually, there were more than 5 000 schools funded through Washington’s
network of donors. Tuskegee also received incredible financial gifts and
attention. Tuskegee’s successes led to a visit from President William McKinley.

 

 

After his 1901 autobiography Up From Slavery, Washington
became even more widely known. One of the fruits of this success was an
invitation to dinner from the new President, Theodore Roosevelt. Washington was
the first Black to be so honored. Roosevelt invoked the wrath of White America
by hosting Washington in the White House and both men received intense
criticism for this interaction.

 

 

The legacy of Booker T. Washington continues to be a
challenging one, filled with interpretive possibilities. If nothing else, it is
clear that Washington created an important institution and attempted to create
the best possible future conditions for his race and for his country.

 

 

Today I am grateful for Booker T. Washington. You should be
too.

 

 

FDO

 

 

February 21 Malcolm X

 

This Black History Month I’m Grateful for Malcolm X

 

 

"I don't favor violence. If we could bring about recognition and respect of our people by peaceful means, well and good. Everybody would like to reach his objectives peacefully. But I'm also a realist. The only people in this country who are asked to be nonviolent are black people."

 

– Malcolm X 

 

 

Malcolm X is a critically underappreciated and tragically
misunderstood figure in American history. Often, he’s still tarred with the
kind of labels J. Edgar Hoover used to describe him. What many people fail to
recognize is that Malcolm X worked relentlessly to improve life for Black
people in America. That was his focus.

 

 

Malcolm used his role as a minister in the Nation of Islam
to preach a message of Black love and self-reliance that was truly radical in
the early 1960s. While many Blacks viewed their relationships to Whites as being
permanently imbalanced, Malcolm began convincing us that no one else held the
key to our destiny as a people. Publicly decrying America as inherently,
institutionally racist was a revolutionary step. The Black Power movement,
Black Liberation Theology and Afrocentric theory owe Malcolm the deepest of
debts.

 

 

Many are now convinced that Malcolm X was an advocate of
violence because of the dichotomous relationship presumed between he and Martin
Luther King Jr. The two men had many important differences but their
similarities were much deeper and more profound.* While he rejected King’s
stance on passive resistance, Malcolm never suggested that violence was a
solution to turmoil, only that every person has the right to self-defense. The
image of a Black man encouraging his followers to stand against violence was
terrifying to a population accustomed to seeing Blacks as willing victims of
violence.

 

 

Sadly, none of us were able to see the ultimate evolution of
Malcolm X. He was assassinated soon after his hajj to Mecca during which he
discovered that Whites of good will existed in large numbers and could be
important allies in his fight against American racism. The shift from Malcolm X
to El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz was on the verge of changing the world once again.

 

 

Malcolm rejected much of the delusional race theory of the
Nation of Islam and preached about the possibilities of Black people. He
refused to focus on being a victim and demanded his adherents decide to live
their lives fully and well.

 

Today, on the anniversary of his assassination, I am particularly grateful for Malcolm X. You should be too.

 

 

FDO

 

 

*- Hopefully I’ll be encouraged to write more on the
subject.