what up oka's, last year around this time i posted "good books, anyone?" and we got over 100 replies with suggested readings and a few discussions on some...one person recommended i read armah's book and since then ive read 'the healers' and 'the beautyful ones are not yet born'...lets start our dialogue here for those who appreciate (or dont) the works of ayi kwei armah...also, list any other suggested readings..
put it this way, a lot of people are saying Kelley will be the next Cornell West.....in my opinion he already is, and hes gone beyond......
On the fourth day God was riding around Harlem in a gypsy cab when he created the people and he created these beings in ethnic proportion but he saw the people lonely & hungry and from his eminent rectum he created a companion for these people and he called this companion capitalism who begat racism who begat exploitation who begat male chauvinism who begat machismo who begat imperialism who begat colonialism who begat wall street who begat foreign wars and God knew and God saw and God felt this was extra good and God said VAYAAAAAAA On the fifth day the people kneeled the people prayed the people begged and this manifested itself in a petition a letter to the editor to know why? WHY? WHY? que pasa babyyyyy????? and God said, "My fellow subjects let me make one thing perfectly clear by saying this about that: No . . . . . . . . . . . COMMENT!" but on the sixth day God spoke to the people he said . . . "PEOPLE!!! the ghettos & the slums & all the other great things I've created will have dominion over thee" and then he commanded the ghettos & slums and all the other great things he created to multiply and they multiplied On the seventh day God was tired so he called in sick collected his overtime pay a paid vacation included But before God got on that t.w.a. for the sunny beaches of Puerto Rico He noticed his main man Satan planting the learning trees of consciousness around his ghetto edens so God called a news conference on a state of the heavens address on a coast to coast national t.v. hookup and God told the people cool and God said Vaya . . .
Miguel Pinero From The Book of Genesis according to St. Miguelito
The military and the monetary Get together whenever they think its necessary They have turned our brothers and sisters into mercenaries, They are turning the planet into a cemetery.
The military and the monetary Use the media as intermediaries. They are
Ayi Kwei Armah's last book "Osiris Rising" is a definitely a book you want to read as well. IMO, it does not have the flow or 'lyricism' of The Healers or 2000 Seasons, but it is more of a conversation on living a life involved in the struggle for change.
Osiris Rising is a re-telling of the Osiris "myth", set in modern Africa. A young scholar activist, Auset, leaves the US and goes to the continent in search of an old college friend/flame, Ausar. Ausar is involved in the liberation struggle on the continent and another classmate of theirs, Set(h), has ascended to Minister of security and views Ausar and his comrades as the greatest threat to the regime.
8. "Some Suggestions" In response to Reply # 6 Mon May-05-03 03:22 AM
The West and The Rest of Us- Chinweizu The Decolonization of The African Mind- Chinweizu The Falsification of Afrikan Consciousness- Amos Wilson Black Spark, White Fire- Richard Poe Blueprint For Black Power- Amos Wilson Notes For An African World Revolution- John Henrik Clarke Who Betrayed The African World Revolution?- John Henrik Clarke The Sex Imperative- Mwalimu Baruti http://www.geocities.com/afrikandieli/Baruti.html Excuses, Excuses- Mwalimu Baruti Negroes and Other Essays- Mwalimu Baruti The Sankofa Movement- Kwame Akoto http://www.geocities.com/afrikandieli/Akoto.html Nationbuilding-Kwame Akoto http://www.geocities.com/afrikandieli/Akoto.html Afrikans and European Holidays(Books I& II) - Ishakamusa Barashango The Peculiar Institution- Kenneth Stammp Let The Circle Be Unbroken- Marimba Ani*
9. "i've read this three times already" In response to Reply # 0
i use it to keep me from getting too demoralized. i had to repurchase it again last week cuz i'm feeling it again.
i'm starting it again tonight.
however, it is one of those books that i have begun to believe that most of the people who read it do not get. i can't state it clearly now, but i often look sideways at people who've said they've read it.
i saw the author speak once & it was bizarre. he is against most hierarchies, especially those regarding age. he said so repeatedly, but the people hosting the event kept calling him elder & talking about baba this & baba that. it was sick.
this book, that man is hardcore. he has started a publishing house in senegal. it is run primarily by solar energy because it is difficult to maintain a current where he lives. it also serves as a community resource center. i don't know how well developed it is now. but i'll research how we can support it.
if you can't find the book then order it. he has had problems with his previous publisher ( the little orange book) & wouldn't even sign copies of it at his engagement. the newest edition is being published by his own company.
This spot in Atlanta has all of the new Armah books, including his new book, KMT. Per Ankh, the publishing collective he is a part of, now publishes 2000 Seasons and The Healers.
the Prologue of 2kS (2000 Seasons) is a lyrical snapshot of the current state of the world. "The desert" that Armah refers to in the prologue is Western Civilization, with the "Springwater", referring to people of Color, Africans in particular. Armah doesn't try to beat you over the head with polemics (although many folks will disagree on this). You will see as you get into this, that in contrast to his earlier work (Beautyful Ones...) he does not try to draw you into the specific characters- they are all pieces to a huge landscape. Outside of the core group of characters you will meet, the majority of the characters fall under the categories that Armah begans to introduce in the Prologue: Seers, Hearers, Killers, Predators, Zombies, Utterers, etc.
The beauty of this technique is that even in the prologue, the abstract lyricism places his themes outside of the time period the actual story is set within; thus the prologue can be taken and applied to ANY stories of oppression you are familiar with and you will recognize these patterns.
18. "RE: TWO THOUSAND SEASONS thread starts here..." In response to Reply # 0
Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
It is an entire life account of a man searching for truth and ultimate understanding of life. Very interesting. When reading this, I becamse very calm and serene and became much more aware of everything around me. I am still thinking about the story in my mind.