Geoffrey Philp

November 4, 2009

My Heroes

A few days ago as I was getting ready to take my daughter to her new job at Starbucks, I looked up and saw the Morning Star hovering over the top of the Poinciana that stands like a sentinel at the top of our street. In that moment, I considered all of the travelers through the centuries who have been guided to and from home and for whom the Morning Star was a constant. And although I do have my Zen-moments when I say to myself, "The only thing permanent is impermanence," it's comforting to think of the Morning Star in that way.

Unconcerned about either departures or arrivals, the Morning Star's message seems to be: "Wherever you are going, you can count on me." There are very few things or very few people about whom this can be said, and I count myself among the fortunate to have known a few people who have been my Morning Stars or heroes: Dennis Scott, friend and mentor; Melvyn Smith, family friend and supervisor, and James Carnegie, teacher and scholar.

These three men personified what it meant to be, as Mr. Carnegie often reminded me at Jamaica College, a "Jamaican gentleman." That phrase stuck with me. As someone who came of age in post-Independence Jamaica, I grew up in revolutionary times in which the idea of resistance, especially to British colonialism, became my raison d'être. The emotional zeitgeist of this era has between captured somewhere between the poetry of Mervyn Morris and Ralph Thompson, but in Trust The Darkness: My Life as a Writer, Anthony C. Winkler describes the dilemma:

The blueprint of what a man should be like is implicit in the culture of every nation. Boys unwittingly study it and absorb its details by observing and mimicking the behavior of men around whom they admire…As the boy grows older and becomes more self-confident, he will shed those adopted traits that do not fit his particular personality and keep those that do, and out of the lump of clay that was his boyhood will eventually emerge the figure of as solid, unique man.

The problem Jamaican boys of my generation faced was that the English had scorned and denied our culture for so long that the Jamaican blueprint for manhood had become scuffed-up and blurry. Stilted Englishmen, who were as conspicuously different from us as penguins are from pea doves, were the strong and available role models. But for many boys of my generation, these men smelled like the enemy, and to emulate them with their emphasis on class, protocol and snobbish language was to become a patchwork creature that some might call "colonial" but was definitely not Jamaican.

We had examples of what we weren't supposed to be, but what and who never had a clue about what we should be. After we assumed the reins of power, we were left with the questions: What are we going to build? How would we define ourselves as men and women or as fathers and mothers? What would become our blueprint for these roles? Or would we slip into the default mode of nature, "red claw and tooth," while rutting ourselves into eternity in our playground of sand , sea, san sun with copious amounts of weed and rum thrown in for good measure?

Who would be our Morning Star(s)?

I saw my trinity in these men, Melvyn Smith, James Carnegie, and Dennis Scott, whose lives showed me what a father, scholar and poet could be--that my life didn't have to be hemmed in by the stereotypes.

Melvyn Smith was an excellent provider and administrator at the Collector General in Jamaica, where I had my first job; James Carnegie was an outstanding assistant principal at Jamaica College and his encyclopedic knowledge of history, cricket and the names of nearly every boy in the school endeared him to us; and Dennis Scott, poet, playwright, and Director of the Jamaica School of Drama, showed me that a poet did not have to be the consumptive, fever ridden model that we inherited from our reading of British literature. From their lives, I saw possibility. They demonstrated a way to become successful men and fathers, and I've tried to emulate then as much as I could--even if it meant waking up early in the morning to take my daughter to work.

As we drove along Biscayne Boulevard, their memories travelled with me. And when my daughter got out of the car, I looked at her and suddenly realized how much she had grown and how proud I would have been to show her off to these men and to my own father had they been alive. For I often speak about them to my children and I'd like to think that some time in the future they may look up at the Morning Star and muse about me as I did about these men who became my wayshowers.

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Photo by :
Mila Zinkova

November 2, 2009

The 3Es of Sustainable Artistic Communities

For the past twenty-six years, Miami Dade College and the Miami Book Fair International have sustained reading and writing communities in South Florida and have earned the reputation as the “nation’s premier literary gathering.” From its inception at the Wolfson Campus with the partnering of Dr. Eduardo Padron and Mitchell Kaplan, the MBFI has grown into one of the largest and most prestigious book events in North America. This has not been an accident. Indeed, with the addition of the Florida Center for Literary Arts, Cultura del Lobo, and the Miami Film Festival, Miami Dade College has created several sustainable artistic communities and has become a model in this endeavor by offering encouragement, entertainment, and education to artists and residents of Miami.

Perhaps, the most important factor in an artist’s growth is encouragement. It gives the artist the assurance to try new things and the confidence that she is recognized for her talent. MBFI has been a pioneer in recognizing local talent in South Florida and continues this tradition each year with the Write Out Loud series. This encouragement has not only been with words or with providing venues for exposure. They have also provided economic support. As Robert McCrum has stated, “Writers have always needed enlightened patrons.” Both MBFI and MDC have certainly been “enlightened patrons.” Through the many workshops and classes that the FCLA offers, many South Florida writers such as Les Standiford, Lynne Barrett, and Emma Trelles have been monetarily rewarded for their talents. Many of the writer/professors who contribute to the literary life of Miami have earned their tenure with Miami Dade College: Ricardo Pau-Llosa, Joseph McNair, Preston Allen, Ivonne Lamazares, Steve Kronen, Michael Hettich, CM Clark, Sandra Castillo, and a Jamaican writer/blogger whose modesty will not permit me to disclose his name.

It is no surprise then that the MBFI because of its close relationship with the college has been educating many of our residents about regional and culturally significant writers. Whether its with the Big Read, One Book, One Community, or Story Time, South Florida residents have participated in events that have celebrated the work of Zora Neale Hurston, Louise Erdrich and Amy Tan. MBFI has also been a great supporter of Caribbean writers and throughout the years under the leadership of Mervyn Solomon, writers such as Derek Walcott, Kamau Brathwaite, Junot Diaz, Edwidge Danticat, Wayne Brown, and Paule Marshall have been invited to read for the Caribbean writers program.

Yet, without the third element, MBFI would be just like any other niche book fair. The MBFI has a wide appeal to many audiences ranging from crime/mystery writers to environmental activists. The fair also has its famous Children’s Alley where children’s authors introduce youngsters to the world of imagination and wonder. And if that wasn’t all, there are always minstrels, jugglers, clowns, mimes, and actors dressed up as literary characters bumping into patrons as they make their way from one event to another. But the event that’s always worth staying for is the band, The Rock Bottom Remainders: Dave Barry, Stephen King, Cynthia Heimel, Kathi Kamen Goldmark, Sam Barry, Ridley Pearson, Scott Turow, Joel Selvin, James McBride, Roy Blount Jr., Barbara Kingsolver, Robert Fulghum, Matt Groening, Tad Bartimus, Greg Iles, as well as ringers Josh Kelly on drums, and Erasmo Paulo on saxophone. And believe me, it’s always a sight to see Maya Angelou shake her tambourine.

Miami Book Fair International and Miami Dade College have been an integral part in creating networks of writers, readers, educators, and sponsors who been essential to our growth as a community. More importantly, they have provided the material/economic support so that many artists have had the chance to live and work in Miami. In this its twenty-sixth year, the MBFI’s paradigm has proven to be a success because of the enormous economic and cultural benefits that we have seen in South Florida.

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November 1, 2009

Mark Your Calendar: Nov. 8 – 15, 2009

Book lovers, get ready to celebrate because the 26th edition of the nation’s finest and largest literary gathering, Miami Book Fair International (Fair), is just around the corner. Presented by the Florida Center for the Literary Arts at Miami Dade College (MDC), the Fair will take place Nov. 8 – 15 at the college’s Wolfson Campus, 300 N.E. Second Ave., in downtown Miami.

The Fair will again treat book lovers to more than a week of cultural and educational activities, including author readings, book signings, the beloved Evenings With series, the IberoAmerican Authors program, the popular Street Fair Nov. 13 – 15 featuring hundreds of vendors on the actual closed streets of downtown Miami surrounding the campus, Children’s Alley, Comix Galaxy, and much more.

Its signature Evenings With series kicks off on Sunday, Nov. 8, at 5 p.m. with Elizabeth Alexander, who wrote and delivered President Barack Obama’s inaugural poem, “Praise Song for the Day.” Admission to this event is free and does not require a ticket. Seating is limited. Please note all other Evenings With events have a $10 admission fee. The events will be held at the Chapman Center, Building 3, Room 3210.

In addition, many other renowned authors are slated to attend, including Sherman Alexie, Margaret Atwood, Roy Blount Jr., Robert Olen Butler, Meg Cabot, Alan Cheuse, Susie Essman, Mary Karr, Mike Farrell, Nobel Laureate and former Vice President Al Gore, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Barbara Kingsolver, Jonathan Lethem, Jacquelyn Mitchard, Ralph Nader, Richard Powers, Nobel Laureate Orhan Pamuk, Francine Prose, Ruth Reichl, Senator Bob Graham, Wally Lamb, musician and performer Iggy Pop, Melvin Van Peebles, Jeannette Walls and many others.

Confirmed Spanish-language authors include Roberto Ampuero, Carmen Posadas, Alvaro Vargas-Llosa, Boris Izaguirre, Angela Becerra, Juanita Castro, Edmundo Paz-Soldán, Jorge Ramos, Fabiola Santiago, Jaime Bayly and others.

EVENINGS WITH SERIES

• Elizabeth Alexander, is the author of the inaugural poem Praise Song for the Day -- Sunday, Nov. 8, at 5 p.m.
• Margaret Atwood is the author of The Handmaid’s Tale and finalist for the Booker Prize -- Sunday, Nov. 8, at 7:30 p.m.
• Ruth Reichl is the Editor-In-Chief of Gourmet Magazine and former New York Times food critic -- Monday, Nov. 9, at 6 p.m.
• Barbara Kingsolver is the bestselling author of The Poisonwood Bible, and short listed for the Pulitzer and PEN/Faulkner Awards -- Monday, Nov. 9, at 7:30 p.m.
• Jeannette Walls is the New York Times bestselling author of Glass Castle --Tuesday, Nov. 10, at 7:30 p.m.
• Richard Powers is a critically acclaimed novelist and winner of a National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize Finalist – Wednesday, Nov. 11, at 7:30 p.m.
• Isabella Rossellini, famed actress, model and beauty icon, is the author of four books – Thursday, Nov. 12, at 7:30 p.m.
• Orhan Pamuk (Turkey) is the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature – Friday, Nov. 13, at 7:30 p.m.

Thanks to the support of sponsors, there will be a nightly reception called Twilight Tastings prior to the evening presentations on the fifth floor terrace in Building 3. Also, people paying the admission to the evening sessions are eligible to receive a $5 discount on any of the authors’ books at anytime during the Fair or toward the purchase of any book prior to Dec. 31 at any Books & Books location. This does not apply to complimentary tickets.

MIAMI DADE COLLEGE AND THE ARTS

Miami Dade College has a long and rich history of involvement in the cultural arts, providing South Florida with a vast array of artistic and literary offerings including The Miami Book Fair International, the Florida Center for the Literary Arts, The Miami International Film Festival, the Cultura del Lobo performing arts series, The Cuban Cinema Series, the Prometeo Theatre, the Miami Leadership Roundtable speakers’ series, a renowned art gallery system, several campus theaters, and the nationally recognized School of Entertainment and Design Technology. It is also home of the National Historic Landmark Miami Freedom Tower. With an enrollment of more than 170,000 students, MDC is the largest institution of higher education in the country and is a national model for many of its programs. The college’s eight campuses and outreach centers offer more than 300 distinct degree programs including baccalaureate, associate in arts and science degrees and numerous certificates. In 2006, MDC admitted its 1.5 millionth student.

For regular updates, times and more information, please visit www.miamibookfair.com, call 305-237-3528 or email wbookfair@mdc.edu.

Media-only contacts:

Juan Mendieta, 305-237-7611, jmendiet@mdc.edu, MDC communications director

Sue Arrowsmith, 305-237-3710, sue.arrowsmith@mdc.edu, media specialist

Tarnell Carroll, 305-237-3359, tcarroll@mdc.edu, Media Specialist

Alejandro Rios, 305-237-7482, arios1@mdc.edu

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October 30, 2009

Just Published: OCHO #26 (The Travel Issue)

OCHO #26 (The Travel Issue), edited by Emma Trelles, has just been published and contains poems by Emma Trelles, Jacob Saenz, Geoffrey Philp, Nikki Moustaki, Jesse Millner, Alexandra Lytton Regalado, Jen Karetnick, Stacey Harwood, Michael Hettich, Susan Elbe, Denise Duhamel, and Didi Menendez.

You can read the poems here(Ocho #26) or you can buy the Print Companion here: CreateSpace--MiPOesias Print Companion

Either way, enjoy the poems and have a great weekend!

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October 28, 2009

A Tribute to Mervyn Morris, O.M.

A Tribute to Mervyn Morris, O.M.

by Fragano Ledgister

Mervyn Morris has been the face of Jamaica’s academic and scholarly poetry for more than four decades. His voice and pen, more than any others’ has come to define a large part of the national literature of Jamaica since independence.

From his office at the University of the West Indies, he has been able not only to send forth to the public collections of his poetry, but some of the most important anthologies of West Indian literature published since the 1960s. He has been friend and mentor to more than two generations of writers, not only at Mona but throughout and beyond the region.

In Jamaica, through the 1960s and 1970s, however, he was better known as a champion tennis player. I recall a piece in the Gleaner, in the early 70s, perhaps by Cedric Lindo, the tone of which indicated that readers might be surprised to learn that in addition to being one of the country’s top tennis players he also enjoyed a reputation as a poet.

That he was. He was also willing to read the juvenilia of students who begged for his time, and asked for his opinion of their work; even if, as in my case, they weren’t his students. He was a ferocious and firm critic whose love of language communicated itself very clearly. So did his humour: of one frankly sexual metaphor in a poem of his he quipped “I took the image from quick-drying cement.”

His first edited volume of poetry, Seven Jamaican Poets, an anthology published in 1971 was a kind of history in miniature of post-World War II Jamaican poetry. It included work by R.L.C. McFarlane and Basil McFarlane, both undeservedly forgotten these days, who were already established figures in the 1960s, and the magisterial A.L. “Mickey” Hendricks, a man whose poetry absolutely deserves re-examination, then the elder statesman of Jamaican letters. It also marked the entry onto the literary stage of Mervyn himself, Dennis Scott, and Tony McNeil, the three most important poets of the early post-independence era; the men whose work at least one foolish youth hoped vainly to emulate.

Mervyn’s first collection, The Pond, published in 1973 marked him as a serious, lyrical writer. His poetry was spare, taut, tight, each word doing multiple duties, each word almost bowed beneath a freight of meanings. The language, whether Oxonian or Kingstonian, managing to be both bright and wry.

I would not have expected a poet who celebrated the senses as thoroughly as Mervyn does to have written his next collection, On Holy Week. The punning title is wholly Mervyn, however. Each of the poems is written in the voice of a participant in the story of the death and resurrection of Christ. These are poems intended to be read, and Alma MockYen was able to corral an extraordinary range of people to record the poems for broadcast on JBC over Easter 1977. I recall Hugh Morrison as Pilate, Leonie Forbes as Pilate’s Wife, a young dread from JBC as the Malefactor on the right, and me as a priest (“The chap’s a madman rather than a liar”).

The collection that followed, Shadowboxing published in 1979, has a title that is, again, punning. Mervyn takes language very seriously, and plays with it with extraordinary skill. I enjoyed his explanation, after the book came out, of what a shadowbox was, and the meaning of curiosa, one of the words in the title poem. Such subtleties were lost on the Trinidadian critic Victor Questel, who found the collection wanting. Questel’s review, which relied on the best-known meaning of “shadowboxing” as its operating metaphor, led to a poetic reply, using the same metaphor. With a punning title: “For Q.” One best read aloud. In private.

Such publications as the anthologies Jamaica Woman, published in 1980, co-edited with Pamela Mordecai, and Focus 1983, which brought to the public eye a new (and sometimes not so new) generation of writers not to mention the academic writing, and the prose anthologies, such as West Indian Short Stories, meant that Mervyn published no book of his own poems during the 1980s.

Examination Centre, which came out in 1992, takes up the threads of his earlier work, with taut reflective poems, and sharp wordplay. Though now there is in the verse less humour (although the humour is there) and more sadness. As the closing poem in the book notes “memory ketch yu/ like a springe.”

His most recent collection, published in 2006, I Been There: Sort Of, is both a new work and a selected poems. It demonstrates that he has not lost his touch, nor his sure sense of language, either standard or Creole. It also includes a bow in the direction of the new formalism, a demonstration that he could be a deft hand with the heroic couplet.

What I wish, and I hope Mervyn will indulge those of us who know about them, is that his limericks (to speak about another traditional form) might be preserved. I grant that the limerick is not the most exalted of forms, and is frequently associated with vulgarity, but these were clean enough to be published in the Sunday Gleaner; under a pseudonym, true, but still available for all to read.

I’ve mentioned Mervyn’s role as a mentor, for myself and others. Perhaps his most important act of mentorship was the launching of the Creative Arts Centre Arts Review, when he was Acting Secretary of the CAC (now the Sir Philip Sherlock Centre for the Creative Arts) while John Hearne was on leave in 1976. In today’s Jamaica where the internet is increasingly available, and where the Calabash Festival and Small Axe both do a great deal to promote serious writing, it may be hard to appreciate how few outlets there were for the young writer back in the 1970s.

Mervyn’s generosity with time, energy, and friendship to young poets – and to a wide variety over the years – has been truly legendary. The pleasure he takes in his friends and the enduring nature of his friendships is also the stuff of legend.

From the 1960s to the twenty-aughties, from Tony McNeil to Kei Miller, Jamaican poetry has been stimulated, encouraged, and awed by Mervyn Morris. When the Jamaican government got around to granting him the Order of Merit, the question on my mind was not “Why?” but “How dem tek so blasted lang?” As a poet, as a scholar, as a teacher, Mervyn has made an immense contribution to Jamaica’s cultural and intellectual life.

Fragano Ledgister was born in London, moved to Jamaica at the age of 12, and was educated at St Elizabeth Technical High School, Munro College, UWI Mona, New York University, and the University of California, San Diego. He has worked for the Jamaica Daily News, The Gleaner, CANA, Efe News Agency, as an office temp, as a college professor, and, once upon a time, as a radio actor.

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October 26, 2009

How To Use Symbols

Many young writers, who after they’ve read poets such as T.S. Eliot, often think that they need to “put some symbolism” in their work. They think that if they add a dash of imagery and a few tablespoons of symbolism, the path to literary immortality will suddenly appear. For my young male poets, the ambition is even more grand: seventy-two virgins will sweep them up into literary nirvana.

As tempting as the vision may be, I’ve often had to tell them the sad truth: symbols can’t be “added” to a poem. Discovering symbols in one’s work is a process. Writing is a recursive activity and symbolism in a literary work is the result of the intellectual and emotional state of the writer before and during composition.

But let’s say, for the sake of argument, that you’ve begin to write a poem and as you are following the words across the page, you find this gem nestled between the thorns of two commas. At this point, you have at least two options.

You can stop writing and do some more research if you think you don’t know enough about the symbol, or you can finish the poem and go with the intensity of the emotion that was the spark for the poem.

Either way works.

I usually choose the second option because I never know what will survive with revision, and I’d prefer to have a workable draft of a poem than pages and pages of Wikipedia downloads with nowhere to go.

Now assuming the gem has survived the first cut and you feel that the poem has not fully explored most of the connotative possibilities of the symbol, ask yourself these questions:

What is the origin of the symbol?

Should I learn more?

How has the meaning of the symbol changed over time?

Which other writers have used this symbol? How have they used this symbol?

What are the religious, intellectual, and cultural connotations?

Is the symbol relevant to the poem? Why?

Does the symbol grow organically from the poem?

Why does the symbol appeal to me?

How is the symbol re-imagined in my poem?

The last question is important because that’s where the creativity of the poet will be demonstrated in the re-imagining of the symbol.

I’m thinking of symbol, of course, in the Jungian sense as standing “for something that is unknown and that cannot be made clear or precise.” Or in the spirit of Ferdinand de Saussure, the signifier may remain constant, but the signified may change depending on the context.

It is this arbitrariness of the signified that creates the opportunity for artists to reinterpret myth and symbols as T.S. Eliot and James Joyce did throughout their careers. In fact, T.S Eliot’s essay, “Ulysses, Order, and Myth,” confirmed Joyce’s “mythic method”--a method Eliot had used in diagnosing the spiritual ills of Europe in The Wasteland.

The use of myth as a contemplative method suddenly became clear. But I did not want to re-heat Western mythology. The myths would have to speak to something that was happening right in front of me, so I began searching. My quest ended with The Arrivants by Kamau Brathwaite. After I read that collection, I knew what I had to do.

Brathwaite's seminal trilogy made me realize the many displacements of Yoruba mythology in the Caribbean. This became one the major themes in my work: the rediscovery of African heritage in the Caribbean, which as Brathwaite has asserted is essential to the psychic wholeness of Caribbean peoples.

For if we continue to denigrate this heritage; if we do not honor this inheritance, then the cycle of self-hatred, the wound of the Middle Passage will continue to fester. We will never be healed and all the symptoms of this dis-ease with ourselves will continue to manifest as the various social ills, especially the high murder rates in Jamaica, we see all around us.

Looking around Jamaica and the Caribbean, I saw Xango at a stoplight geting angry with the car in front of him; Erzulie on a Friday night getting in a taxi to go to a nightclub; Papa Legba sitting on the street corner cracking jokes and telling the children riddles.

These archetypal symbols became the means by which I could interpret Caribbean life, even as many of my compatriots continued to act out the characteristics of these loas without knowing it. Indeed, it may be said that some of us are being “ridden” or possessed by Eleggua and we don’t even know it.

And sometimes we want to be ridden by the loa and begin with a meditation on the symbol—the process that Brathwaite used extensively in his collection, Words Need Love Too.

This was the approach I used in the composition of the poem, “oshun,” when I learned about the death of James Byrd, Jr. in Jasper Texas on June 7, 1998. His death was so horrific and I was filled with a hate that needed to be exorcised. That is when I remembered Michelle Cliff’s poem to Oshun and I knew only the love of Oshun could save me from my own hate:

oshun

(to michelle cliff)

this morning i could have sworn i saw oshun
rise out of the water – “she who makes her people one.”

i needed to see her this morning after james byrd junior,
my brother, was dragged to death by a truck in jasper,

texas; for i need to believe this morning – i don’t want
to be a tongueless bell – i don’t want to be burnt

up like a useless limb by my own simmering hate.
oshun, guardian of our dreams and our spirit,

lover of our dark hands, dark bodies, dark skin--
healer of wounds made by our enemies and our weapons

aimed at ourselves--my sister, protect us in this dread
hour until anger passes – wash your coolness over my head.

“oshun” needed very few revisions. I already knew about her through Michelle Cliff’s work and my own research, so that when the poem came, I was ready.

But this perhaps leads me to the penultimate question about archetypal symbols: Do we choose them or do they choose us?

Words from flickr created by kastner (Erik Kastner)

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October 25, 2009

Blog of the Day: “You are Killing our Artistes and Celebrating it!”

“You are Killing our Artistes and Celebrating it!”: Derek Walcott

In the Caribbean you’re more likely to wake up one day in summer and find it snowing than find a writer or poet who believes that the way to get ahead in the book trade and the literary field is to look to the governments for support. That’s no surprise considering the number of aspiring writers who, over the years, have felt compelled to leave their homeland in despair for the greener pastures of the USA, Canada and the UK.

[More @ Caribbean Book Blog: “You are Killing our Artistes and Celebrating it!”]

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Mark Your Calendar: October 29, 2009

In commemoration of the awards bestowed on Ms. Norma Darby and the Hon. Mervyn Morris on National Heroes Day in Jamaica, the Friends of Norma Darby and Mervyn Morris, will be hosting A Celebration of Two Jamaican Icons at the Episcopal Church of the Holy Family on October 29, 2009 at 7:00 p.m.

A Celebration of Two Jamaican Icons will feature readings by local writers, Malachi Smith, Donna Aza Weir Soley, and Geoffrey Philp, as well as performances by the Jamaica Folk Revue and Tallawah Band.

A Celebration of Two Jamaican Icons

18501 NW 7th Avenue, Miami Gardens, FL 33169-4441

October 29, 2009 @ 7:00 p.m.

Contribution: $10

For more information, please contact Friends of Norma Darby and Mervyn Morris, 18501 NW 7th Avenue, Miami Gardens, FL 33169-4441, Tel: (305) 652-6797, Cell: 305-302-5365.

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If you have enjoyed the work of either artist and would like to contribute to the event, please use the secure PayPal button located at the top right sidebar on this blo.

October 23, 2009

350 & You: Day of Action

Blog Action Day has come and gone, but the real challenge of raising awareness about climate change and global warning has just begun.

This blog will join thousands of other blogs for a Day of Action on October 24, 2009, to spread the word about 350. But what is the significance of the number 350?

Here is a snippet from 350.org:

And what does this 350 number even mean?

350 is the number that leading scientists say is the safe upper limit for carbon dioxide—measured in "Parts Per Million" in our atmosphere. 350 PPM—it's the number humanity needs to get back to as soon as possible to avoid runaway climate change.

If we're already past 350, are we all doomed?

No. We're like the patient that goes to the doctor and learns he's overweight, or his cholesterol is too high. He doesn't die immediately—but until he changes his lifestyle and gets back down to the safe zone, he's at more risk for heart attack or stroke. The planet is in its danger zone because we've poured too much carbon into the atmosphere, and we're starting to see signs of real trouble: melting ice caps, rapidly spreading drought. We need to scramble back as quickly as we can to safety.

It’s not too late to join the Day of Action.

Join us today

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At the Graveside: Norma Lumley-Manderson (1931-2009)

To be graveside at a Jamaican funeral in America is to enter a parallel world where the only constant between here and then is the break in the circle around a gaping hole soon be filled with a rain of petals falling in a constant downpour like the evening thunderstorms that bind South Florida and the archipelago to the south.

The refrain of familiar hymns, “When The Roll is Called up Yonder” and “Face to Face,” tumble across the lawns puckered with headstones. And under the trees that are always green, the beautiful altos of my nieces (we are a family of singers) are balanced by the baritones of my cousins and a surprising tenor from a nephew I haven’t seen in over twenty years.

The lyrics of “In a Little While” pass over our lips, the bread that crumbles in our hands, too weak to hold anything but the blessings of a life that we have been privileged to know--for her laughter was sunlight. Her faith as sure as the promise which the earth has already made.

And then the terrible moment—the acknowledgment that we will never hold, laugh, cry or quarrel with her again. That even the most bitter fights were filled with the awareness of our communion--a presence that will be remembered in the marrow, the soft cartilage of our throats--in our singing, cursing, praising: the breath that passed between us.

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October 22, 2009

Small Axe Literary Competition: Winners

Small Axe announces the winners of its inaugural Literary Competition

In Short Fiction:

First Place: Ashley Rousseau, of St. Andrew, Jamaica

Second Place: Alake Pilgrim, of Dabadie, Trinidad

Short List: Rhoda Bharath, Joy Campbell, Ariane Cruz, Emille Hunt

In Poetry:

First Place: Monica Minott, of Kingston, Jamaica

Second Place: Tanya Shirley, of Kingston, Jamaica

Short List: Danielle Boodoo-Fortuné, Delores Gauntlett, Ishion Hutchinson, Ann-Margaret Lim, Damian Femi Rene, Obediah Michael Smith

The winning entries will be published in Small Axe 32 in July 2010.

The deadline for next year’s Literary Competition is April 2011. Details may be found at www.smallaxe.net

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Mark Your Calendar: Saturday, October 24, 2009

Arts at St. John's: SEASON SHOWCASE - RETROspective

Join us for some of your favorites, such as local Jazz legends Mo Morgan & Madafo, comedian Ralphy Love, vocalist Dr. Julie Silvera, the choreography of Charmille Walters, and the music of Talent Quest Miami's winner Pianist/composer Rachel Currea.

And this is only the tip of the iceberg! Other performers include Raymond Yanez, Nydia Noriega, Rachel Faro, and Geoffrey Philp.

Not only can you expect a great show on the stage, but the evening includes an extraordinary reception with gourmet nibbles from Tawanna-Patrice, live music, an art gallery, cirque performers and other amusements that you won’t want to miss!

Come out and support your local artists on Saturday, October 24 at St. John's on the Lake, 4760 Pinetree Drive in Miami Beach. The show starts at 7pm sharp, but come early and browse Miami Beach's most famous pumpkin patch and get your fall gourds!! A good time is guaranteed by all!

Saturday, October 24, 2009
7:00pm - 10:00pm

St. John's on the Lake
4760 Pinetree Drive
Miami Beach, FL

TIX: $20 gate ($15 senior/student/online)
Buy discounted tickets online at: www.artsatstjohns.com

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October 21, 2009

Interview @ WPBT: Geoffrey Philp

Geoffrey Philp, author and professor at Miami Dade College, talks about his latest book Who's Your Daddy?

Philp will be reading at the 2009 Miami Book Fair International on November 15, 2009.

Please follow this link for the interview: Interview @ WPBT: Geoffrey Philp

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Blog Disclosure

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.

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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. We 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.

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No part of this blog may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the author (geoffreyphilp101@gmail.com),except in the case of brief quotations.

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