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New Rafi + Dallas Video/ Big Mac Sauce

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“Do you want to live forever or do you want to jump out of the window of deliciousness.” ~Dallas.

Rafi + Dallas have a new video out in the Ghetto Big Mac realm.

Its funny because as I sit here working on those finals, watching those videos all I could think of was of the fatty, salty, tastiness of fast food.

You all know that I am a foodie, but I also think that folks who do work around Public Health be it sex or food need to take pleasure and desire into the equation to have real traction.
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Also, Rafi and I had a two week long conversation on twitter about two months ago on whether soda should be allowed to be used to bought with food stamps. I wish I put those tweets on @storify. 🙁

@Rafikam, why you ain’t eat the big mac? Why didn’t you talk about it on screen?

What do you all think?

I know I want some daggumit fries now, even though they make my heart palpitate after:(

A Response to Jeff Chang and Brian Komar’s “Culture Before Politics.”

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In a new article on the American Prospect site Jeff Chang and Brian Komar argue that:

The Democrats are hurting in a big way after the 2010 mid term elections because they failed to grasp the importance of shaping the narratives through using artists the influence “culture.”

Democrats think that they can focus on policy to move hearts and minds.

“Culture is the space in our national consciousness filled by music, books, sports, movies, theater, visual arts, and media” and that “Cultural change is often the dress rehearsal for political change. Or put in another way, political change is the final manifestation of cultural shifts that have already occurred.”

“When artists tell new stories, they can shift the culture and make new politics possible — cultural strategy is about understanding that fact and empowering artists to do what they do best.”

I couldn’t put my finger on why I was troubled by this article. Talking with Rob helped me to clarify it over email.

Here is what I agree with:

Yes artists have a place in society.

Yes artists can help to create narratives that can help us see new possibilities. The most awesome presentation of “narrative” or a story that I have seen is Danny’s blog “The People’s District” where he goes around DC interviewing people and posting them on his blog. Narratives across race and across age and class, it is one of the freshest things I have seen in a while.

However, what troubles me about the article is that it assumes this kind of top down model of social movement change, instead of a circular one or one of push and pull.

In many ways I see that it is saying, The Democrats need more people, and those people are artists rather than the Democrat’s need to be engaged with basic relationship building and maintenance and doing the things that impact the conditions of the lives of their base (African Americans, Latino’s, LGBTQ folks, Progressive White folks, union folks etc.)

Rob pointed out that in many ways Jeff and Brian’s argument is both pragmatic and rather conservative. Pragmatic because it looks at using existing channels to advance the “Democrats need more people, artistic people” agenda, conservative because it is assimilationist in many ways.

Meaning Jeff and Brian also argue that culture changes first and then electoral politics change.

Whereas I contend that art informs electoral politics/ legal actions and electoral politics and legal actions inform art.

This is what The Culture Wars was about, right?

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Mapplethorpe and the NEA and censorship? (Financial and Government action)

Cheryl Dunye’s Black lesbian film Watermelon Woman and censorship? (Financial and Government action)

Wasn’t an exhibit censored at The Smithsonian last week because of sexual content?

We can even take it back to the Birth of a Nation. I would argue that the hearts and minds are where they are, and then the art comes out of that. The art captures where the hearts and minds of folks are first. This is a real Leroi Jones/Baraka reading of art production that I take from Blues People. The audience then shapes what the artist creates. Keep in mind that corporations/the free market also play big role in shaping what artists produce. Dave Chappelle walked away from $50 million, lets ask ourselves why? A question we should always ask is why are these the stories being presented to us?

Another example that we can take it back to rap music, and NWA specifically. NWA because it represented this moment where Black men, living in post-factory cities, who were swooped up in the crack game, were talking about THEIR day to day lives, their narrative, without the explicit intent on getting rich because back then rappers didn’t get “rich” in the way that some are known to be in Forbes magazine listed today.

I had NWA in mind when Rob asked “where is the counter culture that can push back on the main narrative” because “we used to have countercultures and counterpublic spheres that could operate outside the dictates of the market’s logic, everything is within the confines of capitalism now.”

I thought of rap music, skateboard culture and even some blogs. Where is the counter culture?

Art and music, film, books, television are ALL used to help us make sense of our lives.

But honestly, what good is a counter culture or books, art, film, television when half your hood is unemployed? You have a job but you STILL need foodstamps? The bus or subway is crazy expensive and you can’t get to work? You can’t pay your rent or mortgage. You have no money for Christmas presents.

And, what good is a counter culture or culture when, simultaneously the Democrats and Republicans are looking at giving bailouts/tax cuts/wealth redistribution to billionaires and millionaires and other members of the college educated elite when you are barely making the rent, or your child’s college tuition is due, or you need more post-op physical therapy but all your sessions have run out, or you are working but you don’t have enough money to pay back Sallie Mae for your school loans and they are calling you twenty times a day.

Perhaps what we need isn’t just “more artist’s” changing the narrative but the political will to invest in the food, clothing and sheltering, education, and health caring of human beings.

Do Democrats need more artists?

Why not focus on the fact that bailouts for everyday working people is what is needed?

How can Democrats use culture when the free market will take anything, repackage it and sell it right back to you? For example Ice Cube going from NWA to Disney.

On Not Controlling Outcomes

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This post can also be titled, “Dear Mercury, You evil little _____.”

Last week, I told MF Kennedy that things were going fine regarding the end of the semester, but that the hardest part of doing this work for me is the intense stretches of solitude. I went on to say that  I was  still chugging along with my to do list and making it crack off, and was happy with how upbeat I was.

In response, he sent me this video nearly a week ago.

I had not watched it until tonight, at which point I broke down in tears.

Why?

I because I felt read, read all up in my bone gristle.

When Professor Cornel West said:

“It takes more courage to look into the corners of your own soul than it does for a soldier to fight on a battlefield…”

“Courage is the most enabling virtue for any philosopher, for a human being…”

“To philosophize is to learn how to die. You can’t talk about truth without talking about learning how to die….the conditions of truth is to allow suffering to speak.”
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@ 5:53 “There is certain pleasure in the life of the mind that cannot be denied. Its true that you might be socially isolated because you are in the library or working at home…if you read…Ruskin, or Twain or Melville, you almost have to throw the book against the wall because you are so intensely alive that you need a break.”

Read?

Read like how my 96 year old Black woman neighbor read me this summer saying “Honey I can tell you LIKE to believe in the good in people, but some folks want to tear you down just to see you in pain. Now you can admit this or not, but based on my talking to you, you probably won’t because it just don’t seem in you.”

The fact that I knew that they were riding down Broadway in NYC, in the clip, having walked those streets many of times just kinda was like a 1,2 punch. Feel me?

Tears because in a conversation with BG today I was reminded that I don’t control outcomes and as much as I know that with my mind, my heart don’t be knowing it. And as I plan to get my knee taken care of  in January (those miles on the BK bridge did it) it is hard  to have that area of my life unstable when there is another part of me knowing that the stability may be  more comfortable. Holding on or back out of fear has never been a good look for me. So I’m just going to ask for help as it arises, and listen real close to messages.

If I have learned or was reminded of anything this weekend, is that honey, when its time its time and it ain’t shit I can do about it.

Daggumit Mercury. You remind me that I am not the boss of anyone except for myself. ROAR!

You been read lately?

Mercury bring you a message you would have RATHER waited for?

As a writer does the solitude agree with you?

“Choking Women During Sex”: The Life of a Meme.

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Justin Timberlake tug’s on Ciara’s chain in the Love Sexy Magic video.

Various conversations have been generated around Jay Electronica’s comments and $20K bet with Nas on whether “All Women Like Being Choked During Sex.”

Crunktastic wrote a post at Crunkfeminists, “Why Jay Electronica Can Choke on His Own Words.”

Then Latoya cross posted it on Racialicious.

Then Davey D linked to the post on his blog and made an interesting comment.

First he said,

all women deserve respect and maybe you with hold it when u get disrespected.. This aint a situation where folks need to jump through hoops to earn respect per se especially when they haven’t done wrong…

Because there is systemic violence against women all over the world simply because they do have vaginas and hence aren’t considered equal with men, then we should recognize that sort of oppression and counter.. ie there’s a woman in Iran who is getting stoned for some male defined transgression..

The gray text is a good working definition of gender based oppression concisely explained in 34 words. I appreciate Davey D for saying this. Makes my work a bit easier.

On Crunkfeminists, a commenter provides context for why conversations about “non vanilla sex” are important and the writer emphasizes the fine line between choking and non consensual sexual domination.  Commenter MtnTopFeminism writes,

While we do have to challenge ourselves not to have gut reactions against kinky or nonnormative modes of sex, that fact doesn’t get all forms of sex off the hook. It is critical that we engage in discussions that focus on the varying levels of sexuality and how pleasure cannot be restricted to vanilla norms. At the same time, it is also important that while we are open to new expressions of sexuality, we never lose sight of the dangers associated with them.

…Within a BDSM relationship trust becomes the main component. It isn’t just about “I like to get slapped around.” There is much more there. Without that open communication and honest dialogue, many practices, including erotic asphyxiation, are highly dangerous and even deadly. Not only that, but it isn’t just women who like to have such things done to them…a fact which is often ignored. Without discussing the three main tenets of BDSM—safe, sane and consensual—we head toward dangerous territory by merely accepting any discussion on kinky sex at face value.

Latoya cross posted Crunktastic’s post on Racialicious. And peep game. The sister of the woman who was at the concert and spoke up read the post and left a comment. (The internet amplifies offline sound and light, via @afrolicious).

Speaking of @afrolicious she mentioned this in the comment section around having expectations for artists gender politics. She writes,

I learned a long time ago not to trust an image, especially that of a rapper. As much as I want hip hop to respect me as a woman, I don’t get that often, even from the best of the creators. Additionally, I don’t expect progressive gender politics from most people, so to some extent I’m not disappointed.

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It’s not a perfect rationale, but it’s how my filter works.

I hear her rationale,  and it is most certainly useful. I also believe that some statements can’t go unaddressed.

Another comment is from Rob, my colleague and a blogger at the Liberator (peep game here) wrote,

So here’s one of my initial reads: left-of-center hip-hop head blogosphere/twitterverse latched to jay because he’s a throwback to the golden age of conscious, Nation of Islam infused, east coast centric rapper who cares about his craft. However,the other side of all those early 90s dudes coming out of the NoI/NGE tradition is that when talking about women they were paternalists at best, if not outright misogynists. I don’t think anyone from that era escapes indictment.

I know lots of people have already made that connection, but I thought it bares repeating not to excuse what he did, but to historicize the comment and the evolution (or lack thereof) of gender politics in “conscious” hip-hop?

I responded saying,

I hear you on historicizing Jay Elec. However, I wonder if you or anyone would be willing to do the same thing in the face of White racism. What I am getting at is, in the last 24 hours, you are the second Black man to bring up the history out of which a Black man is rooted to contextualize their misogyny, the other time occurred in a conversation about Jim “I chase women out of windows” Brown last night.

I mean…I don’t hear people saying well you know…The Tea Partiers come out of a very particular history…..feel me? While I am not saying that Jay, the Tea Partiers or Jim Brown are analogous..I am certainly thinking of HOW and WHEN we deploy the “lets historicize” for a minute Renina steez. I guess this is me interrogating the historicizing…which is what your comment asked for.

He then explained that historicize is not the same as rationalize. I was relieved and I felt where he was coming from.

Our responses to Jay Electronica’s posts are influencing how I shape my research. I realize this after watching this meme evolve and, especially after a meeting with my professor Wednesday and hearing her tell me that I need to asks questions that give Black women the space to talk about desire, pleasure and danger. She felt that I was letting the interviewee’s off by going into pop culture and not asking them directly about #desire and #pleasure.

In responding to Jay’s comments I have read about women talking about their experiences. This is a positive outcome of this conversation.

Thoughts?

Why does sexual conversation’s send people into rigid randy mode? Hella defensive?

See any good meme’s lately?

Thinking About Grief & Kanye’s Monster Video Trailer

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This is for the little Basquait or Frida toiling somewhere in South Africa, Brazil or Mississipi. We are ready for you.

I am not certain what to make of this.

Earlier this week, I had a long Twitter conversation with@BritniDwrites about this video clip of Kanye’s new Monster video trailer.

Britni was  seemingly concerned with the presence of the White women models and  she questioned why such a video would be made in the first place. She wanted him to be less “Van Gough” and more “Basquiat.”

I was concerned because the video is dark. Real dark.

There are White women hanging from the ceiling and Kanye hugs and maneuvers White women’s seemingly comatose bodies that are laying in the bed with him in one of the scenes.

Given this countries historical treatment of sexual imagery, and the IDEA of sex between Black men and White women, I don’t know if he is being provocative and attempting to exploit this history or just kinda imploding right before our eyes or a combination therein.

When I watch this video I think of how after Reconstruction (1865 and after) mainstream culture said that Black men wanted White women sexually and responded by terrorizing Black men (Birth of a Nation) and Black communities as a whole by lynching them. The reality is that Black women were being sexually assaulted by both White and Black men, frequently with impunity.

Emmitt Till.

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Bigger Thomas. (Yes, its fiction but it is timeless because of its treatment of gender, race and sexuality.)

Would Kanye make a music video with Black men hanging from the ceiling?

In this video, I see a man in pain. A lot of pain. Trust me, seeing Oakland turn from pretty west coast, mulitiracial, industrial city to the crack hub of the Bay Area, I learned to recognize pain at a young age.

Two years ago I wrote Why People Hate 808’s and Heartbreak and I talked about how in one year Kanye West lost his momma and broke up with his lady friend. I am concerned about him as I am concerned about the mental health of many folks.

A couple of weeks ago writer and mental health advocate Bassey Ikpi wrote about Kanye on The Root saying,

I want to challenge the idea that Kanye is just ego and boasting. When I look at Kanye, when I watch that painful “interview” with Matt Lauer, when I see this man seemingly unravel in front of our eyes and the talking heads poke and prod and needle him for every …  single … misstep … , I don’t see a man with a big head and no redeeming qualities. I see a hurting. I see a man who loved his mother more than his very life and who is still dealing with the loss of the one person whom he knew loved him unconditionally.

As a mental health advocate, I’ve seen people crumble under lesser triggers. Losing your mother and your base and your support is the ultimate trigger. Yes, Kanye brags often about his riches, but I’m willing to bet my own baby boy that he would gladly give that all back just to have his mother for an hour, for a second.

Reading this video within the context of Bassey’s comments and within the context of the United States down right violent reaction to mixed race dating, something is amiss and I am concerned.

Thoughts?

Video gave you the heebee jeebees?