January 31, 2013

African American Read-In: R. Dwayne Betts



Miami Dade College,
North Campus

Presents

The Seventh Annual African American Read-In

Many Backgrounds,
Many Stories…

One American Spirit

Featuring
Mr. R. Dwayne Betts


Monday, February 4, 2013
Lehman Theatre, Room 5120
10:00 a.m.

For more information, visit the Social Sciences Department, Room 2256.
(305) 237-8111.



January 25, 2013

"Jamaica Talk": Broward College, South Campus





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***

Disclaimer of Endorsement


The documents posted on this Web site may contain hypertext links or pointers to information created and maintained by other public and private organizations. These links and pointers are provided for visitors' convenience. I do not control or guarantee the accuracy, relevance, timeliness, or completeness of any linked information. Further, the inclusion of links or pointers to other Web sites or agencies is not intended to assign importance to those sites and the information contained therein, nor is it intended to endorse, recommend, or favor any views expressed, or commercial products or services offered on these outside sites, or the organizations sponsoring the sites, by trade name, trademark, manufacture, or otherwise.

Reference in this Web site to any specific commercial products, processes, or services, or the use of any trade, firm or corporation name is for the information and convenience of the site's visitors, and does not constitute endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by this blog.

January 23, 2013

Happy Birthday, Derek Walcott



And I answer, Anna,
twenty years after,
a man lives half of life,
the second half I memory,

the first half, hesitation
for what should have happened,
but could not, or

what happened with others
when it should not.

~ Another Life

I first heard that fragment from Another Life when I was living in Jamaica. It was on a radio show produced by John Figueroa. Every Sunday afternoon, I would wait by my mother’s transistor radio to listen to the work of a leading Caribbean writer. When I heard Derek Walcott, I was twenty-one and in love. I also wanted to be a writer.

I scribbled down the name of the book and all the information I could gather. The next day, I went to the UWI bookstore and bought my cop of Another Life on January 15, 1979.

After reading Another Life cover to cover several times, Walcott became the model for my verse. Through his poetry, I saw the Caribbean in a new way: its landscape, people, and Light. I also learned that love changes us by awakening us to the details of our lives: “At the touch of love, everyone becomes a poet.” And despite the terrible price of heartbreak, the bounty from paying attention to the texture of experience, yields the inestimable reward of a life well-lived.

Happy Birthday, Mr. Walcott!

 ***


Enhanced by Zemanta

Poetry is an Island: Derek Walcott



Teaser for the highly anticipated documentary about Derek Walcott. He even 

reads "Love After Love."



***

We are petitioning President Barack Obama to exonerate the Right Honorable Marcus Mosiah Garvey. http://signon.org/sign/exonerate-marcus-garvey?source=c.url&r_by=4631897

January 22, 2013

The Lie Continues...




Whether it's Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. saying "somebody told a lie oneday," or Colin Powell speaking about the "dark vein of intolerance," the venomous racism, which began when the first African bound by chains stepped on the wet sand of the Americas, continues to poison us.

And although some believe that we've suddenly become post-racial because there's a Black family in the White House--I, too, would love to believe this--there's much work to be done as Dr. King suggested until people of African descent "sign their own Emancipation Proclamation."

But how do we, as Dr. King further advised, "Reach down as into the inner resources of our soul?"

The answer as I have advocated has always been by educating ourselves in the work of our ancestors such as Marcus Garvey, whose philosophy may be summed up in the phrase: "Self-help through education and economics."

For if racism is a poison, Marcus Garvey is the antidote.

If ever there was a time when Garvey's words were more apt, it is now: "Rise up ye mighty people."

***


We are petitioning President Barack Obama


and the US Congress


to exonerate the Right Honorable Marcus Mosiah Garvey.

January 21, 2013

"One Today" by Richard Blanco



"One Today"

One sun rose on us today, kindled over our shores,
peeking over the Smokies, greeting the faces
of the Great Lakes, spreading a simple truth
across the Great Plains, then charging across the Rockies.
One light, waking up rooftops, under each one, a story
told by our silent gestures moving behind windows.

My face, your face, millions of faces in morning’s mirrors,
each one yawning to life, crescendoing into our day:
pencil-yellow school buses, the rhythm of traffic lights,
fruit stands: apples, limes, and oranges arrayed like rainbows
begging our praise. Silver trucks heavy with oil or paper -- bricks or milk, teeming over highways alongside us,
on our way to clean tables, read ledgers, or save lives -- to teach geometry, or ring up groceries as my mother did
for twenty years, so I could write this poem.

All of us as vital as the one light we move through,
the same light on blackboards with lessons for the day:
equations to solve, history to question, or atoms imagined,
the “I have a dream” we keep dreaming,
or the impossible vocabulary of sorrow that won’t explain
the empty desks of twenty children marked absent
today, and forever. Many prayers, but one light
breathing color into stained glass windows,
life into the faces of bronze statues, warmth
onto the steps of our museums and park benches 
as mothers watch children slide into the day.

One ground. Our ground, rooting us to every stalk
of corn, every head of wheat sown by sweat
and hands, hands gleaning coal or planting windmills
in deserts and hilltops that keep us warm, hands
digging trenches, routing pipes and cables, hands
as worn as my father’s cutting sugarcane
so my brother and I could have books and shoes.

The dust of farms and deserts, cities and plains
mingled by one wind -- our breath. Breathe. Hear it
through the day’s gorgeous din of honking cabs,
buses launching down avenues, the symphony
of footsteps, guitars, and screeching subways,
the unexpected song bird on your clothes line.

Hear: squeaky playground swings, trains whistling,
or whispers across cafe tables, Hear: the doors we open
for each other all day, saying: hello, shalom,
buon giorno, howdy, namaste, or buenos días
in the language my mother taught me -- in every language
spoken into one wind carrying our lives
without prejudice, as these words break from my lips.

One sky: since the Appalachians and Sierras claimed
their majesty, and the Mississippi and Colorado worked
their way to the sea. Thank the work of our hands:
weaving steel into bridges, finishing one more report
for the boss on time, stitching another wound 
or uniform, the first brush stroke on a portrait,
or the last floor on the Freedom Tower
jutting into a sky that yields to our resilience.

One sky, toward which we sometimes lift our eyes
tired from work: some days guessing at the weather
of our lives, some days giving thanks for a love
that loves you back, sometimes praising a mother
who knew how to give, or forgiving a father
who couldn’t give what you wanted.

We head home: through the gloss of rain or weight
of snow, or the plum blush of dusk, but always -- home,
always under one sky, our sky. And always one moon
like a silent drum tapping on every rooftop
and every window, of one country -- all of us --
facing the stars
hope -- a new constellation
waiting for us to map it,
waiting for us to name it -- together


Source: http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-inauguration-2013-richard-blanco-poem-20130121,0,5626688.story


***


We are petitioning President Barack Obama to exonerate the Right Honorable Marcus Mosiah Garvey. http://signon.org/sign/exonerate-marcus-garvey?source=c.url&r_by=4631897

Congratulations, President Barack Obama!



Psalm 91

1 Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High
    will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
2 I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress,
    my God, in whom I trust.”
3 Surely he will save you
    from the fowler’s snare
    and from the deadly pestilence.
4 He will cover you with his feathers,
    and under his wings you will find refuge;
    his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
5 You will not fear the terror of night,
    nor the arrow that flies by day,
6 nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,
    nor the plague that destroys at midday.
7 A thousand may fall at your side,
    ten thousand at your right hand,
    but it will not come near you.
8 You will only observe with your eyes
    and see the punishment of the wicked.
9 If you say, “The Lord is my refuge,”
    and you make the Most High your dwelling,
10 no harm will overtake you,
    no disaster will come near your tent.
11 For he will command his angels concerning you
    to guard you in all your ways;
12 they will lift you up in their hands,
    so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
13 You will tread on the lion and the cobra;
    you will trample the great lion and the serpent.
14 “Because he loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him;
    I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.
15 He will call on me, and I will answer him;
    I will be with him in trouble,
    I will deliver him and honor him.
16 With long life I will satisfy him
    and show him my salvation.”

***

January 18, 2013

Dr Tony Martin, Ibà á şẹ



Dr. Tony Martin


When an elder dies, a library burns.”

The death of Dr. Tony Martin is a tremendous loss to Caribbean scholarship and the Pan-African movement. Dr. Martin’s groundbreaking work, Race First: the Ideological and Organizational Struggles of Marcus Garvey and the Universal Negro Improvement Association, provided the intellectual framework for many scholars to comprehend the genius of Marcus Garvey and the UNIA. His other works From Pre-Colonial Origins to the Present (2012) published by Pearson Education; Amy Ashwood Garvey: Pan-Africanist, Feminist and Mrs. Marcus Garvey No. 1, Or, A Tale of Two Amies (2007), provided a context for Garvey’s personal life and his times. Literary Garveyism: Garvey, Black Arts and the Harlem Renaissance, recommended to me by Garvey scholar, Ras Don Rico Ricketts, helped me to understand Garvey’s role in the Harlem Renaissance.

Dr. Martin was also a generous man. When I was doing research for a children’s book, I emailed him for clarification on some details of Garvey’s early life. I didn’t expect an answer. To my surprise, Dr. Martin answered my email and in a subsequent email, pointed me in the right direction. I will be forever grateful.

Rest in Peace, Professor Martin.


***

Professor Tony Martin dies at 70


Trinicenter.com - Professor Tony Martin dies at 70: "Dr. Tony Martin, former Professor Emeritus at Wellesley College, has passed over tonight, January 17th 2013 in Trinidad & Tobago at West Shore Medical Hospital. Trinidadian-born Dr. Martin taught at the University of Michigan-Flint, the Cipriani Labour College (Trinidad), and St. Mary's College (Trinidad). He has been a visiting professor at the University of Minnesota, Brandeis University, Brown University, and The Colorado College and also spent a year as an honorary research fellow at the University of the West Indies, Trinidad."


Professor Martin has written, compiled or edited 14 books including Caribbean History: From Pre-Colonial Origins to the Present (2012) published by Pearson Education; Amy Ashwood Garvey: Pan-Africanist, Feminist and Mrs. Marcus Garvey No. 1, Or, A Tale of Two Amies (2007), Literary Garveyism: Garvey, Black Arts and the Harlem Renaissance (1983), and the classic study of the Garvey Movement, Race First: the Ideological and Organizational Struggles of Marcus Garvey and the Universal Negro Improvement Association (1976).

His work on Marcus Garvey was featured on the curricula of many African studies programmes around the world and he was a well-known lecturer in many countries.


http://www.trinicenter.com/tnt/2013/1701.html






***

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The documents posted on this Web site may contain hypertext links or pointers to information created and maintained by other public and private organizations. These links and pointers are provided for visitors' convenience. I do not control or guarantee the accuracy, relevance, timeliness, or completeness of any linked information. Further, the inclusion of links or pointers to other Web sites or agencies is not intended to assign importance to those sites and the information contained therein, nor is it intended to endorse, recommend, or favor any views expressed, or commercial products or services offered on these outside sites, or the organizations sponsoring the sites, by trade name, trademark, manufacture, or otherwise.

Reference in this Web site to any specific commercial products, processes, or services, or the use of any trade, firm or corporation name is for the information and convenience of the site's visitors, and does not constitute endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by this blog.

Book Launch: Marcus Teaches Us by Eleanor Wint



An Invitation to YOU
 wherever you are 

ONLINE January 21st, 2013

 
Marcus Teaches Us  is the first and only book of its kind. It portrays the teachings of the Hon. Marcus Mosiah Garvey in language and pictures that all kids will love. It is bright with innovative colouring activities, uses simple language and gives children the opportunity to practice cursive writing. Marcus Garvey is a monumental, internationally acclaimed Black philosopher who has influenced the independence movement of every black nation in the world. Children worldwide should each have their own copy as they deserve to have the knowledge captured in this attractive book on Marcus Garvey’s teachings.



***


Blog Disclosure Policy


Geoffrey Philp’s Blog Spot receives a percentage of the purchase price on anything you buy through links to Amazon, Shambala Books, Hay House, or any of the Google ads or Google Custom Search.

***

Disclaimer of Endorsement


The documents posted on this Web site may contain hypertext links or pointers to information created and maintained by other public and private organizations. These links and pointers are provided for visitors' convenience. I do not control or guarantee the accuracy, relevance, timeliness, or completeness of any linked information. Further, the inclusion of links or pointers to other Web sites or agencies is not intended to assign importance to those sites and the information contained therein, nor is it intended to endorse, recommend, or favor any views expressed, or commercial products or services offered on these outside sites, or the organizations sponsoring the sites, by trade name, trademark, manufacture, or otherwise.

Reference in this Web site to any specific commercial products, processes, or services, or the use of any trade, firm or corporation name is for the information and convenience of the site's visitors, and does not constitute endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by this blog.

January 14, 2013

Malachi Smith to Perform at African Caribbean Diaspora Presidential Inauguration Ball



Jamaican dub poet Malachi Smith is billed to perform at the African Caribbean Diaspora Presidential Inauguration Ball on January 21 in Washington, DC.

The gala is one of many events marking President Barack Obama's inauguration that day in the American capital.


Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/entertainment/Malachi-Smith-for-inaugural-ball_13383570#ixzz2Hyo9IVrZ



***


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Geoffrey Philp’s Blog Spot receives a percentage of the purchase price on anything you buy through links to Amazon, Shambala Books, Hay House, or any of the Google ads or Google Custom Search.

***

Disclaimer of Endorsement


The documents posted on this web site may contain hypertext links or pointers to information created and maintained by other public and private organizations. These links and pointers are provided for visitors' convenience. I do not control or guarantee the accuracy, relevance, timeliness, or completeness of any linked information. Further, the inclusion of links or pointers to other Web sites or agencies is not intended to assign importance to those sites and the information contained therein, nor is it intended to endorse, recommend, or favor any views expressed, or commercial products or services offered on these outside sites, or the organizations sponsoring the sites, by trade name, trademark, manufacture, or otherwise.

Reference in this Web site to any specific commercial products, processes, or services, or the use of any trade, firm or corporation name is for the information and convenience of the site's visitors, and does not constitute endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by this blog.

"Jamaica Talk" with Amina Blackwood- Meeks



SaturdayFeb.2nd, 2013 
2:00-5:00 p.m.
South. Regional -Broward College Library,
7300 Pines Blvd, Pembroke Pines, Fl. 33024
Tel: Office: (954) 201-8834 

The L.B-C Reading Festival is proud to present the eminent folklorist, story-teller and cultural icon, Amina Blackwood-Meeks at the 6th Annual celebration of the Hon.Louise Bennett-Coverley's life and contribution to our society. This is an opportunity to see hear and inter-act with, one who has been touted as one of Miss Lou's "heir-apparents", and should not be missed.

This year's topic is -“Jamaica Talk" - (Speaking Jamaican-Talking Farrin) 

The keynote speaker , prominent Jamaican storyteller, Amina Blackwood- Meeks is an  alumna of the University of the West Indies, who has done post-graduate research in Cultural Studies “reaping stories from her every experience.”  Widely acknowledged as the leading female storyteller in the Caribbean, Ms. Blackwood- Meeks has been instrumental in the renaissance of the art-form of traditional Caribbean storytelling in the region.  She strives to entertain her audience while relating direct messages about politics and culture of the Caribbean and worldwide.

She is also a St. Andrew's High School Alumna, and her educational background includes government, theatre and education, from which she draws much of the material in her varied performances.

She has been referred to as "One of the most dynamic and charismatic proponents of storytelling; a special and rare talent"; and  is the founder of "Ntukuma" - The Storytelling Foundation of Jamaica, founder/artistic director of Likkle Story Fest- a storytelling festival for children; is a workshop facilitator and motivational speaker.

The event moderator will be Dr. Susan Davis (Dr.Sue) and will include entertainment by the Jamaican Folk Revue Singers and the Tallawah Mento Band

Please share this information with family, friends, business associates, church and community groups - all who have a healthy curiosity about the true nature of our language -"speaking farrin" - communicated in the tradition of the African griot. 

As is customary, we are seeking the support and sponsorship of our local Jamaican companies, Alumni Associations and associates. 

For information and sponsorship opportunities, please call/contact Valrie Simpson - (954)-201-8834; Bridget Edwards (305)879-3942;or any of the Committee members listed above, before Jan 19th, 2013, for acknowledgement in promotional material and program.Norma Darby - anansigyal@bellsouth.net).


***


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Geoffrey Philp’s Blog Spot receives a percentage of the purchase price on anything you buy through links to Amazon, Shambala Books, Hay House, or any of the Google ads or Google Custom Search.


***

Disclaimer of Endorsement


The documents posted on this Web site may contain hypertext links or pointers to information created and maintained by other public and private organizations. These links and pointers are provided for visitors' convenience. I do not control or guarantee the accuracy, relevance, timeliness, or completeness of any linked information. Further, the inclusion of links or pointers to other Web sites or agencies is not intended to assign importance to those sites and the information contained therein, nor is it intended to endorse, recommend, or favor any views expressed, or commercial products or services offered on these outside sites, or the organizations sponsoring the sites, by trade name, trademark, manufacture, or otherwise.

Reference in this Web site to any specific commercial products, processes, or services, or the use of any trade, firm or corporation name is for the information and convenience of the site's visitors, and does not constitute endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by this blog.

January 11, 2013

Poetry Friday: Cynthia James


Malpeque 

I was searching for two equal halves of shell, 
the tide was out, the sea had disappeared, 
so I could walk far out the ocean floor - 
two matching cups, flesh-coloured 
on the inside, shaped by what they once held. 

No need to dig, these chip-chip were on the surface, dead;
but so many of the outstanding were unhinged,
and even those un-afflicted in the head were badly 
frayed, battered, left behind in the spume’s wake –
some big, some small, not text-book pretty, but different -
Ask Rihanna … all cut along the selvedge,

some bronzed, some bevelled, some striated, 
some the colour of donkey-eyes, 
some fat and black like Orinoco sea coconuts,
some pale, transparent, shaped like  Douens’ hats, 
some like hanging fingernails, white chips from an enamel posy, 
(dented just at the upturned lip, near the curved ear-grip) – 

yet all were heirlooms, antiques, unusual; 
with a whiff of Balandra, curry-chip-chip, steamed 
down in coconut milk with a blade of stinging nettle 
(aka chardon beni), on top, a blood orange scotch bonnet. 
Vat 19! Something to “Awake the Spirit!”
You’d know it when you saw it.

Yes, many seemed to have it, until I picked them up.
Clutches of Malpeque shells, I picked up 
to find a right side to match a left side, 
fine Muscovado clawed all up under my finger nails;
and the further out I got, more bosey my back bent;
until I heard something like a conch blast and looked back. 

So far I’d come?  And no exact match? 
Nothing whole, nothing that made sense?
I’d never thought much before of the mounds I had despoiled; 
tide in - tide out, facing the Atlantic chip-chip was always there. 
Now just a clutter of so-called good halves in my hand -
Should I drop everything and go back? But go back where?

©Cynthia James 2013



About Cynthia James





Cynthia James is a Trinidadian, living for the past 3 years in Toronto. She writes poetry and fiction and her work can be found in publications such as Callaloo,Caribbean Writer and The Oxford Book of Caribbean Verse.




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Geoffrey Philp’s Blog Spot receives a percentage of the purchase price on anything you buy through links to Amazon, Shambala Books, Hay House, or any of the Google ads or Google Custom Search.


***

Disclaimer of Endorsement


The documents posted on this Web site may contain hypertext links or pointers to information created and maintained by other public and private organizations. These links and pointers are provided for visitors' convenience. I do not control or guarantee the accuracy, relevance, timeliness, or completeness of any linked information. Further, the inclusion of links or pointers to other Web sites or agencies is not intended to assign importance to those sites and the information contained therein, nor is it intended to endorse, recommend, or favor any views expressed, or commercial products or services offered on these outside sites, or the organizations sponsoring the sites, by trade name, trademark, manufacture, or otherwise.

Reference in this Web site to any specific commercial products, processes, or services, or the use of any trade, firm or corporation name is for the information and convenience of the site's visitors, and does not constitute endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by this blog.

January 8, 2013

Marcus Garvey Foundation Research Fellowship



FELLOWSHIP ANNOUNCEMENT:

Marcus Garvey Foundation Research Fellowship
This fellowship looks to support doctoral candidates doing primary research in the humanities and social sciences on topics related to Africa and the African diaspora. Those doctoral candidates using archival collections and/or conducting oral histories are especially encouraged to apply. Research fellows receive grants of $500 to help defray research expenses.
(DEADLINE: MARCH 7, 2013)
APPLYING FOR THE FELLOWSHIP
***All applications & attachments must be received before midnight on March 7, 2013*** Decisions will be announced on April 22, 2013
While proposals are welcome on a wide variety of research topics (and in a wide variety of disciplines), proposals will be evaluated based on their relevance to key questions in the field of African and African diaspora studies and on the basis of their unique contribution to scholarship.
Required application materials:
                         2-page summary of the larger research project
                         1-page description of the specific research to be carried out with the grant, along with a line-item budget (for up to $500.00) and research timeline
                         Curriculum Vitae
                         One recommendation from an advising professor

All application materials (including recommendations sent directly from advising professors or from a dossier service) must be sent as Microsoft Word or PDF attachments by the deadline of March 7, 2013 to: GarveyFoundation@gmail.com
For more information, please contact us at: GarveyFoundation@gmail.com, or at: Marcus Garvey Foundation
P.O. Box 42379 Philadelphia, PA 19101
http://www.GarveyFoundation.com 


***


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Geoffrey Philp’s Blog Spot receives a percentage of the purchase price on anything you buy through links to Amazon, Shambala Books, Hay House, or any of the Google ads or Google Custom Search.

***

Disclaimer of Endorsement


The documents posted on this Web site may contain hypertext links or pointers to information created and maintained by other public and private organizations. These links and pointers are provided for visitors' convenience. I do not control or guarantee the accuracy, relevance, timeliness, or completeness of any linked information. Further, the inclusion of links or pointers to other Web sites or agencies is not intended to assign importance to those sites and the information contained therein, nor is it intended to endorse, recommend, or favor any views expressed, or commercial products or services offered on these outside sites, or the organizations sponsoring the sites, by trade name, trademark, manufacture, or otherwise.

Reference in this Web site to any specific commercial products, processes, or services, or the use of any trade, firm or corporation name is for the information and convenience of the site's visitors, and does not constitute endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by this blog.

January 7, 2013

The Next Big Thing: GARVEY'S GHOST




Andrew Blackman has tagged me in this meme The Next Big Thing, in which writers answered questions about their next books.

I've just finished writing GARVEY'S GHOST, so I'm very grateful to Andrew for giving me this opportunity of pre-publication publicity.

What is the working title of your book?

GARVEY'S GHOST.

Where did the idea come from for the book?

"How will I negotiate the African presence in my life?" According to the historian, Roy Augier, this is one of the most important questions that we in the Americas must ask ourselves.

How we answer this question will affect how we see ourselves, how we speak, our food, dress--everything about us.

I thought it would be interesting to set the story in Miami, a place at the crossroads of the Americas that is still creating its own cultural identity.

Here are some of the characters:

Kathryn Bailey: Her father is a black Jamaican and her mother is East Indian. Kathryn grew up in Miami after her parents left the island in the great Jamaican exodus of the seventies.
Jasmine Bailey (Kathryn's daughter): Her father is a white American.
Jacob Cooper: Black Jamaican, RastafarI, and Garveyite. He has fallen in love with Kathryn.
Tony Samuels: A Black Jamaican who passes for white. He is also a gigolo.
Russell Davenport: African American Garveyite who conducts seminars: "For Black Women ONLY."

What genre does your book fall under?

I guess I should call it literary fiction because it ain't Fifty Shades of Grey.


Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

Thandie Newton, only because I'm in love with her, could play the role of Kathryn. It would be an ideal opportunity for many Jamaican/Caribbean actors to be discovered. I really wouldn't want to hear any Jah-Fake-an accents.


What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

A mother searches for her runaway daughter.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

A few of my books have been self-published, but most of my books have been published by Peepal Tree Press. I am very grateful to Peepal Tree for all the help they have given me over the years, and I hope they will publish some other books that I have in mind. I believe, however, that GARVEY'S GHOST needs an American publisher, so I am seeking an agent and/or publisher for the manuscript.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

It took me a year to write this version. GARVEY'S GHOST had previous incarnations, but when I learned about the death of Trayvon Martin, it sparked a sense of outrage that fueled the writing to the last page.

This is not to say that GARVEY'S GHOST is an angry or hateful book. At its core, it's a love story about two people grappling with issues of trust.

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
There aren’t many books to which GARVEY'S GHOST could be compared. It does have several references to the myth of Persephone, Ulysses by James Joyce, and "The Song of Solomon" in the Bible, which is why it could be defined as literary fiction.

Who or What inspired you to write this book?

 Besides the literary references, other events from real life inspired me to write GARVEY'S GHOST:

·       The death of Trayvon Martin
·       The re-election of President Barack Obama
·       The exoneration of Marcus Garvey
·       A Miami gigolo who was passing for white

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

Besides a mother's search for her daughter who is trying to negotiate her racial identity, Kathryn falls in love with a Rastaman, Jacob Cooper, who challenges her notions of race and ethnicity.

Next up

According to the rules of the meme, I have to tag five other writers:




Thank you, again, Andrew. I'm looking forward to reading A Virtual Love.

Image Source: http://solidearth.com/2012/11/29/after-nar2012/next-big-thing-sign/



Blog Disclosure Policy


Geoffrey Philp’s Blog Spot receives a percentage of the purchase price on anything you buy through links to Amazon, Shambala Books, Hay House, or any of the Google ads or Google Custom Search.


*** 

Disclaimer of Endorsement


The documents posted on this Web site may contain hypertext links or pointers to information created and maintained by other public and private organizations. These links and pointers are provided for visitors' convenience. I do not control or guarantee the accuracy, relevance, timeliness, or completeness of any linked information. Further, the inclusion of links or pointers to other Web sites or agencies is not intended to assign importance to those sites and the information contained therein, nor is it intended to endorse, recommend, or favor any views expressed, or commercial products or services offered on these outside sites, or the organizations sponsoring the sites, by trade name, trademark, manufacture, or otherwise.

Reference in this Web site to any specific commercial products, processes, or services, or the use of any trade, firm or corporation name is for the information and convenience of the site's visitors, and does not constitute endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by this blog.

January 6, 2013

Petition Congress: Exonerate Marcus Garvey




A few weeks ago, I had the honor of speaking with Queen Mother Dr. Delois N. Blakely about the petition to exonerate the Right Honorable Marcus Mosiah Garvey. Along with her blessing, she invoked the memory of the ancestors Queen Mother Moore, Mwalimu Dudley Thompson, and Mwalimu Dr. Julius Nyrere, and instructed me to broaden the scope of our petition.

In Queen Mother Blakely’s view, those of us who live in the United States should contact our representatives in the House of Representatives to reintroduce HB 24, which was presented by Representative Charles Rangel to the Congress in January 2007. She also stated that Representative John Conyers would be a worthy ally in our cause.

I have acted on her advice. Here is the petition:

http://www.causes.com/causes/809819-congress-exonerate-marcus-garvey/actions/1722148

This petition should only be signed by US citizens. If you are not a US citizen, please use this opportunity to start petitioning the countries of which you are a citizen.

Queen Mother also suggested that signees in all other countries should contact their governmental representatives urging them to join together for the exoneration of the Right Honorable Marcus Mosiah Garvey. She made a special emphasis in mentioning the Honorable Portia Simpson-Miller and the Honorable Edward Seaga of Jamaica and said they could be extremely helpful in getting the support of CARICOM and African Union members.

We will also need help with any Black organizations, fraternities, and sororities that will be willing to assist with the original petition. Let’s start a Marcus Garvey network so that WE can support ALL Garvey efforts!

Let's put this dream to reality.

One Love



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