Lost Stories of the Powerful Black Image (Just No to More Black Violence Pornography)

I wrote this in a comment response to Ian Mair, who posted Snoop's reaction to the airing of the new Roots on the History Channel on his Facebook page.  Ian shared why he felt watching Roots (the remake) was not aligned with his energetic preferences. 

Within the ensuing  comment thread - supporting and opposing points were made by a few of us, regarding Roots and also cited  Twelve Years A Slave, the effects on collective thinking or subjective feeling, the Hollywood system and the projects supported within it, the image and history of Africans and the diaspora in Western media, comparisons between this and that of other groups who have suffered genocidal atrocities in history such as the Jews, and so on.  I offer this for context for what you will read below - which I share with few grammatical  alterations to the words I typed in responsive flow on Facebook.  

___________

Comment:   

"Until the lion learns how to write, the story will always glorify the hunter". Yup Yup Yup.  

 I remember the first time I heard this proverb it was uttered by the late Komla Dumor (BBCAfrica) in his TEDtalk Telling the African Story. Like many of these kinds of talks we see on bigger platforms these days - it resonated like a loud thunder clash for me, not just as a black woman, but as a West African growing up in Jamaica where I was teased at school for having black gums and assumed to live in trees when I visited family in Sierra Leone and the Gambia. No one believed we had houses and cars and stoves and clothing, with zippers!  I learned from a very young age what limited or slanted information does to the mental and emotional confidence of people WITHIN the diaspora - much less outside of it.  I also had National Geographic to thank for a lot of exhaustive education I had to provide others as a child.  Yes.  True story.  And still today. 

Let's not get it twisted - this is a CONTEXT issue.  I hear Snoop and Ian on this big time. 

And for sure I too will never be a fan of the "get over it" movement - too much of a 'Know and Be Empowered By Your History' advocate for that.  

Two protests I had with 12 years a Slave, and all other content that promulgates the very singular view of black history. 

1) I watched that movie - and from an artistic standpoint (and I am an artist) - I thought it was a beautifully made film, cinematography, casting, performances, editing, the silences and their use in driving the visual content… all powerful.  BUT what pissed me off was the absolute recognition that yet another epic slave film was still the only kind of feature film that Hollywood was and still is comfortable funding .  

2) I am not knocking the lovely and now (thank the LORD!) iconic Lupita for her Oscar - but a complex aspect of her winning for that role fresh out of school with no other body of work to access, also had the markings of a head pat by Tinseltown establishment to say "See black people, we see you.  There there now."  Please note what followed with black films released thereafter, and the two year in a row #OscarSoWhite - if this point seems doubtful.  

A hard ideas for some - and I agree SO much with Barbara on this - is that every black woman I feel would have it in their (epi)genetic memory to conjure up the pain offered in that performance, to offer the complexity of otherness in a scene of being whipped by your rapist who punishes you for being so irresistibly and confusingly regal in your natural beauty.  Yes I said it. 

Now…for good measure, I am so grateful she did win that Oscar - and it did actually serve beyond her, in that her clout is every bit the reason Producers could be convinced to fund Eclipsed on Broadway which I just saw - a show written by, about, and performed by an all black/African woman ensemble which is  now nominated for 6 Tonys .  Who would care otherwise?  No one - that's who. And that is the current truth. 

I get the point you make Marlon James - but I don't think that is what's being said here.  Or at least that's not the point for me.  To Noella Constable's point - Jews have waged a VERY successful campaign for holocaust victims that indeed has whooped the world into near deferential subservience when speaking about their people and customs.  Kudos for sure.  But why have they been successful in this campaign is what matters.  And here we arrive at Context.  

Who controls the media?  And what else do we know about Jewish history?  Much more than we do African/Black history!  How much more financial control over place and image do the Jewish people have in society at large as opposed to the Black Diaspora, and again why?

Having the balance of who a People are in the fullness of their history allows the rest of our human family to full grasp the land were were kidnapped from and what was TAKEN from Africans and Afro-Descendants. You cannot fully empathize with a story when you only have the gruesome fragments of it, or a dehumanized view of the people who suffered the assault. Human beings relate to loss.  Plain and simple.  And most of the world still has NO clue what was lost.   

Most people do not know of the Kingdoms and Empires of Africa; the religions, mythologies, and languages of the continent; the epic sagas of family, love and war; the scholarship or monuments; the artistic, cultural, gastronomical, and technological impact the continent had on the world through exploration, travel, and innovation LONG before European interference - neigh existence.  And why? Because that information was destroyed or denied dissemination …and to our discussion here, still is, by the distinct lack of funding of such stories ...in Hollywood, our educational institutions, our governments...   

Full series on avail by DVD on Amazon

There is zero shortage of the same in many other cultures but especially the Euro-colonial culture we have all been raised in, so relativity and catharsis seem easier to conjure for many, and thus more profitable for information institutions. Just look at the rage we are contending with in this country now, among all 'races' and cultures - this is not just borne of violent history, that is maintained by a lack of complete information to humanize that history. 

And so - to say one wishes to (and I hate to use this now hackneyed word) curate their experience by taking in more positive pan-African information kept from us prior, is not a rejection of the history of slavery, it is the invitation of seeing the bigger picture from which to understand the full atrocity of it.  

By all means - make and see more Roots - but can we also dig for deeper ones than Kunte Kinte?  I strongly believe it is there that the diaspora and all other cultures of the world will come to really understand who WE are! 

(Sorry for the blog post on your thread Ian - lol)

____________



...touche. :-)

Phone Life

After I saw this, I put down my phone and didn't pick it up for the rest of the day... A touching 2 minute video about the sad reality of why we are not living in the moment.
Posted by Sahil Khan on Tuesday, 7 January 2014

These distracting electronic companions not only cut down on our empathy close up, but also further away. They give us all this information about each other that we are overwhelmed to keep up with, and thus desensitized to act on. And what's more, the support system for our gadgets comes from extracted resources in the poorest countries worldwide to give us longer battery life, so we can keep ignoring our family members and friends along with broader issues of socio-economic equity. Yet we will use these same gadgets to #Occupy comment threads of protest about the cold inequalities of global connectedness. It's all just plain nuts. We are living the ultimate dissonance. #ExistentialQuicksand I call it. And so simple a thing to just turn the phone off. Remarkably our lives don't end when we do! This is why it is becoming so radical to courageously live the way our grandparents did - plugged out. Even now I feel anxiety typing this here. But is blogging one in the same? No, right?  Ugh...deep guilty sigh.

Paging Batman! Gotham is spiralling!

I've been saying to people that if we are not careful - he may just win - there are enough voting jackasses to ensure as much.  Maybe that's a bit of a panic - but most of America's voters cast their ballot as applause for entertainment, not from long deliberation as to what is best for the country as a whole.  Yes I said it. 

I have not publicly engaged in much fodder about this bored, entitled, ego-maniacal, racist, misogynistic mad man - simply because I don't want to add to the popular energy vibrations he keeps attracting with every post we share. But for real guys - if you like ANYTHING that has changed in the world in the last 4 years and wish for the world to keep those changes - WAKE THE FUCK UP and fill your platforms with talk about candidates who will keep us evolving rather than devolving. 

Remember puppet President Bush spoke exactly about taking us to Iraq for war ON his campaign trail. I remember that very clearly and was not at all surprised when the September 11th tragedy segued straight to that.  At least it can be said there was organized madness behind that though - most of which Bush had no control over.  

Don't laugh at this dude though and what you hear him saying. Take him VERY seriously. He's an idiot to some - but he's no idiot really - he understands how to entertain the fear-mongering and the ignorant; he knew very well he'd succeed in Alabama to add to his political engine. And now the supremacists are all hoopty-do excited about him.  He states the Bible as his favorite book as a (transparent) means of promoting his own "second favorite" book.  

While I was in Washington DC a couple months ago I drove past one of his newer real estate acquisitions - the Old Post Office located at 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue - a convenient new office location.  

The man truly believes anything can be bought and reorganized according to his rogue whims.  Luckily he's a real liability to the Republican party.  They don't like rogue.  They're still trying to shake off the Bush years, the Tea Party, and Palin.  He's done the rest of us a favor - by reminding us that half of America would rather tank the country on account of discriminatory ideals of capitalistic, imperialistic, racist motivations than to grow this nation according to its ONE solid ideal stated in the constitution: We the People.  And at this point one thing is quite clear… ANYone else right now looks better than this Joker.

Update Dec 2015: Perspective Update from the BBC

Displaced Reactivity

Call them migrants, immigrants, refugees, resettlers, illegals, aliens, asylum seekers, the stateless, the displaced...whatever you want, they all fit under #HumansWithoutHomes...and there are now over 60 million of them Worldwide due to conflict, war, or persecution - not to mention those who flee areas due to drought, disease, flood, famine, or other natural disasters. And of course everywhere is shoring up borders with a governmental claim of an 'inability' to absorb them, adding that these people "aren't our problem".  Oh?!

Interesting.      Unsettling.      Infuriating.       Exhausting.

SOURCES: UNHCR/US News 

These numbers are the equivalent of nearly a third of the US population, about 20x Jamaica's population, or pretty much all of the United Kingdom...for some comparative perspective. How can this NOT be our problem???

SOURCE: Internal Displacement article from Aleteia

I remember screaming in online posts 5,6,7 years ago or longer when the prices of wheat, water, and milk were riZing to an all time high  and what that signaled. And before that when "I Am Not A Plastic Bag" totes sparked off the trend to get people to think consciously about the environment.  Note - we needed a fashion trend for that and now EVERYONE has a brand tote to prove their environmental concern!   Yeah, the dots started to connect ALL the bullshit of how we got here.  Consider the spiritual spanking we all faced, again: that had we not been busy fighting for more precious resources, or to be better or right about some ideology or another, that we wouldn't BE in the position of waiting for rain to fall, or fleeing floods caused by melting ice caps, or arguing over amnesty and border control. There would not be millions of people gathering at all the shores and ports of the world with nothing left to lose who are hungry and desperate. If this all seems like an imaginative leap to connect all our world challenges then we're still very much asleep.

The critical mass of awakening protests that spread world over in 2011 exposed the dirty panties of many a covertly powerful and exploitative system to the average Joe, but here we are in a world of leaders who still fight the ones that push to make life a little more fair for the masses. I never thought I would live to see the day that I hardly watch, read, or discuss the news anymore, or no longer blast a statement in my little corner or on my blog.  I confess, I've been stunned these last couple of years into a strange silence which is troubling. 

Information overload?  A bit.  But I won't say it's all that.  I saw someone call this 'compassion fatigue' the other day.  I'm not sure if that's it either.  More like helpless, displaced reactivity is more like it. I literally don't know what to do.  But here I am in what is now a rare blast of exasperation because no headline is a simple one - they pass through the filters of every other headline or story that I've paid attention to for years; listening closely and witnessing struggles; trying in my own way to understand them.


"Migrant 'chaos' on Greek Islands" is the link below that kicked off this blather...and all I could do was link it to DR/Haiti, Sudan, Syria, Calais, Mexico, Central Africa, Australia, Iraq, Ukraine, Columbia... ... ...  Sigh.

SOURCE: BBC News - Migrant Chaos on Greek Islands

I have had some hardcore chats over the years with members of my family who work for the various arms of the UN and other Humanitarian orgs about the state of the World - and it appears that while there are many reports, there are no institutional answers or solutions, not without us anyway. 
UNHCR, Care, Save the Children, the IRC, Médecins Sans Frontieres, WHO, Oxfam, IMC, Red Cross, AAH, FEMA - etc etc etc et al, are all overwhelmed.  Of course, because the problem wasn't the disasters to begin with!

So all I can say is someone PLEASE explain to me how anyone can possibly believe this is not a collective issue?! -and a spiritually #collective one at that!!   Explain to me how we can come to fully understand that the problem was never a #lack of anything for all the living to enjoy, but rather an #abundance of #greed that created an unjust and fearful fight for #life in the first place.

I know. Heavy.  Like we need anymore heavy.  I just had to let this off here because MY WORD this ish is CRAZY!!
My hope lies in only ONE thing now, our capacity for #Love.

Love can't feed and clothe and house all these poor people, I know that, but it's the only thing that can change the system that creates these desperate and unfair conditions.  Right?!

Justice Reform discussions with NAACP and POTUS: Long Game

Back to the grassroots of community organizing to address Justice Reform.  "Back to" I say -  if you actually thought Obama ever left.  I've always thought he was busy gathering and establishing and clearing grounds of power to check some political mates.  Impatience always obscures the view of many and often creates disconnected forgetfulness or... selective memory. But for a few there is that thing called The Long Game.




And here we are now…tackling the problem of the School to Prison Pipeline.  Going down the VERY long list of judicial issues and injustices visited upon the Black and Latino population in particular.  We cannot expect any effective change in equalizing opportunity for education, growth, or sustainable success - or at least a shot at it, if the way we apply law and punishment isn't also equalized.

"If you are a parent, then you know there are times when boys and girls are gonna act out in school. So the question is: are we going to let principals and parents deal with one set of kids while we call the police on another set of kids? That's not the right thing to do." - President Obama




I find it interesting that we live in a country and a time where much of the fodder around this latest headline speech is that our President is becoming what we feared he'd become... Huh?  

#schooltoprisonpipeline #stopthecycle #newdayslavery #disciminatoryincarceration #massincarceration #mybrotherskeeper #juvenilesentencing #futurecitizens #notsustainable #HumanRights #EqualRights #mandatorydiscretion #JusticeReform
#logic

Pride and The New Norm: Equal Rights

I grew up IN JAMAICA in an African/British influenced household run by two lawyers; one, an atheist and the other, a practicing Catholic. We had a constant influx of visitors from around the world, many of whom hosted us in their homes when we traveled.  Among our guests were committed gay couples who are together to this day. 

Because of how my parents socialized me - it frankly never occurred to me that there was anything different or untoward about "Auntie and Auntie" or "Uncle and Uncle" compared with "Auntie and Uncle".
(Note: In my culture - out of respect we address our elders as "Auntie" and "Uncle"  even when they are not blood relatives.) 
They were our family of friends and THAT was THAT.

In all the years that followed when living out in the World and encountering other view points - I was constantly shocked that anyone saw my Aunties and Uncles any differently because they were gay.  Being a total ham and hag - I amassed my own gay friends, and many, and frankly felt no need to explain this to the few confused objectors in my life - except to point out that their philosophy of love was flawed if they missed the beauty of a soul based on righteous principle. 

Without realizing that I had inherited a wide emotional girth of activism from my parents, this issue almost immediately spilled onto the pages of the first college papers I wrote with indignant vehemence. (Along with issues of global acceptance of multiculturalism and the legalization of weed.)  I argued that couples in the #LGBTIQ community had the right not only to marry, but to adopt children.  I smile at this now, as adoption was at issue for gay couples in the late 90s; just this year I attended the baptism of two beautiful natural children of a gay friend…just to illustrate our growth since then. 

Every #pridemarch I've gone to in different cities, or to conferences I've been lucky enough to attend, I strongly believed of course in the fight for #equalrights and supported it with a clear heart, but I must admit that I wondered how this would work in a World so bent on the isms and religions which pronounce what is right or wrong.  In the last year especially, I confess to an unusual phase of quiet that came over me from the numbing shocking wave of fear-induced violence and hate in every sphere across this globe.  And no doubt there is a lot of work still to be done. But I am sucker for reinforcements.  We all are.  I weep ecstatically that I am now old enough to speak like my parents have in saying -
"I never thought I would live to see the day that the World could shift this significantly while I am energetic enough to participate in the new norm." 

The New Norm. 

The fact that THIS in ways unseen opens further rights and protections to the full extent of the law for people, for families... is what was at stake here!! Families!! The  fact that this shall become so ordinary a truth and way of life that the Labels we separate each other and ourselves with can, must, and will fall away. That our differences will only be details of delightful interest to be celebrated.

Yes.

WE are on our way.
On our way back.
To the beginning.
To ourselves.

I congratulate and celebrate EVERY HUMAN BEING. 
What we see evidenced before us, WE can manifest again and again if we just reMember to Love.

#LOVEWINS along with mutual #RESPECT.

#enlightmentisabigbang #offwego  #tippingpoint #criticalmass #letskeepthisgoing #loverevolution #theonlyway
#excusemewhileIlightmyspliff

A Letter to Rachel Dolezal

Dear Rachel Dolezal,

As I have posted online countless times, I will offer again, in such times, my deferral to the inimitable James Baldwin:

"White is a state of mind" baby!

Meaning, as I'm sure you know, - RACE is a state of mind.  I am not mad you lady; confused by you, but not mad at you.  So you wanted
to be ME, and play a black woman in this world.  Okay.  You certainly could have chosen easier ways to practice your vocational work in civil rights and liberties efforts, an easier way to do the job as it were.  And from what I understand, you've been doing a great job, which you were not given due to any privileges.  So, this matter is a personal one then.  As far as I see it, you have not hurt the cause, or my cause, nor created any potholes in my lawn.  In fact, you may have helped in some indirect odd way.  Who woulda thunk it - a blondie that supposedly gentlemen prefer now wants to be ME!! Well I'll be.

As far as your identity issues, well - keep exploring. If most of us dig deep enough - we can relate.  After all, we are ONE right? And this is the journey we're all on really...to move from the illusive self...to an integrated self. Just keep it honest would be my only advice. People get really upset about lying you see.

And don't you agree that we should get back to the real business at hand - like flooding platforms with vehement comments and the streets with urgent cries on picket signs about the dire humanitarian crisis that is going on at the DR/Haitian border AS WE SPEAK?!  You know - that racial cleansing, stateless sanctioning, reverse forced exodus of a people just a few miles south - the Palestine of the Western Hemisphere dare I be so harsh???!!! 

I know, I know, Facebook needs this fodder, and those TV appearances and book deals are flooding in, soon to buff your bank account, but aren't you just itching to get to get back to some real work here for the true effective betterment of our black brothers and sisters?  Yeah, me too.

To the cause!! And let the forum of idle chatter scatter you transracial poster child you! But I won't call you a bad mamma-Jenner though. Nope. Don't see the connection.

Oh and nice tan and perm by the way - fooled us all, but - it cost us nothing, so over and out.

~  Sincerely from the Monuments of MLK

"If we are to have peace on Earth, our loyalties must become ecumenical rather than sectional.  Our loyalties must transcend
our race, our tribe, our class, and our nation; and this means we must develop a world perspective."

Berette Macaulay

Spoken Word: fake deep by Cecile Emeke

My favorite find of sisters this year.  Been watching other posts but this one

I had to repost.  


Multidimensional Consciousness.  Yes.  This is where I am.   These are 

my questions and ponderings... 


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"Fake Deep" is a poem written by Cecile Emeke and performed by (in
order of appearance): Michelle Tiwo, Emma Carryl, Stephanie Levi-John,
Naomi Ackie, Nneka Okoye and Modupe Salu.

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Director/Writer/Cinematographer: Cecile Emeke
Sound: Jimmy Allen

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TV Interview: Spotlight on Cocooning Catharsis

PBCJamaica "Spotlight" TV Interview Originally aired January 2014
for the solo photo-Based exhibition Cocooning Catharis at HiQo Gallery, Kingston, Jamaica
(Dec 19 - Jan 13th, 2014)


This was thankfully a casual but in depth discussion on the inspiration behind the work, and some of the methods used to make the pieces.  It was a great hang with the crew too.

Select works available at HiQo Gallery






Related links and articles:

Smile Jamaica/TVJ Morning Interview

Petchary Blog Review

Arc Magazine Release

The Gleaner

Another Robin Hood Capitalist Goes to Africa

“This is a relationship that could bring us all the things we desire,” Jeffrey Wright said. [from NYT Article]
 Will it really?  Not from what I can glean.

Michael Christopher Brown/Magnum, for The New York Times

A few days ago a dear friend sent this New York Times Magazine Article: Jeffrey Wright's Gold Mine, and I had to sit with it for a bit because quite frankly I didn't want to express too soon my innermost reactions of utter distaste.

I am all for the worldwide excitement that now swirls around Africa; I'm overjoyed and inspired by the throngs of Afropolitans who are relocating  there in record numbers to reclaim and rebuild. They, we, have her best interest at heart in investing in her growth and resurgence as the power that she always was - due to her most abundant bossom and talented children.  And make no mistake, this is a very significant event that has created such terms as "reverse migration" or "reverse brain drain" which are being used to describe a very specific socio-economic effect.  Once the Westernized educated classes of third world nations would leave their countries to help build the already powerful industrial nations from which capitalist driven standards hailed.  The effect of this was brain drain (human capital flight) which often left the poorer nations struggling to compete effectively in any international industry due to a lack of skilled work forces.  In turn this would of course affect a nations GDP (gross domestic product) growth.  Now for the first time in the LONG and (still debated) complicated history of world economics, the reverse is occurring.  The wide significance of this can be sourced to many publications and statistical reports, not least of which by the World Bank citing in 2013 that the fastest growing economies belonged mostly to African nations - and Sierra Leone is sustaining her top ranking position on this list.  Time Magazine and The Economist actually had the

same Africa Rising cover issue titles when reporting this phenomenon! There is no coincidence in the fact that the(current) race for Mama Africa (headed by China over 10 years ago) reawakened Europe's interest, and now supposedly 'concerns' that of the USA; - a crazed rush of which her own children are keenly aware.  Africans want ownership interest in her future - OBVIOUSLY.  No child of hers wishes to see her raped and robbed again!  Which brings me back to the responsibility of the individual, and this move by actor Jeffrey Wright and his gold mining project - which sorry, does not have the appearance of real interest in development or profitable investor growth FOR MY country Sierra Leone.  It looks like just the opposite.  

Is it me, or does his pet gold mine project have all the earmarks of the old imperialist model of exploitation for industrial and western profit?! And worse still because he does it under the guise of his right and spiritual destiny as a black man coming to do his part to help rebuild a chosen African nation which he has tricked himself into believing he has interest in!  How can it be real interest if you offer partnership to outside investors (he included) for profits to be removed from the very country you dig up for your personal enrichment?  Unless I'm misinterpreting something here - it seems he's recycling damaging strategies that put Sierra Leone in the very mess he proposes to be aiding to clean.  What fucking hypocrisy!

There are many well-meaning celebrities who have put their face, and sometimes time, effort, or money into charitable pots created by humanitarian organizations - and sometimes unfortunately to little avail.  The model of charity is indeed being reexamined as one that doesn't ultimately help to lift a troubled nation out of poverty. The old adage is true - better to teach one how to fish.   “Charity degrades those who receive it and hardens those who dispense it.” [from NYT article].  Agreed.  Wright cites this quote  in the article - and yes this is true in many cases, but certainly the alternative is not to repeat models of exploitation behind the cloak of a radical Robin Hood capitalist digging for gold instead of diamonds.  And especially not if you're robbing the poor you propose to be educating and empowering Jeffrey! Hello! Ugh - this man, this artist is in the specific performing profession of the empath - that's what you do as an actor, but all I see from this article, as I frankly have seen in some of his performances, is one of an arrogant self-appointed massah.

"Sierra Leone was one of the world’s most failed states. And it is ringed by war-ravaged Liberia and by Guinea, whose government was fast collapsing. To all but the most intrepid, Sierra Leone’s gold didn’t seem worth the gamble." [from NYT article].  And being among the most intrepid gives you no credibility in my book if you can go into such a state nonetheless and take resources and personally control trade in the name of nation rebuilding.  It absolves you of nothing.

Guess I still haven't cooled off yet...

Thank you Bea - this woke me from my personal silence. xo

"The narrative will always glorify the hunter until the lion learns to write."
Just like you said Komla Dumor
#VoiceOfAfrica 

Full New York Times article here

illusive self is now alive!

Curating this show #illusiveSelf was an unforgettable experience to be expanded on when I stop moving around so fast.  The past 10 weeks since I was moving out of the NYC apartment have been so dense with experiences  that I have to accept that reporting fully on any of them will come way after - when I'm sitting still in Jamaica over the holidays...preparing for the last leg of this journey:  to Sierra Leone. 

But after all the hard work and challenges of this past week - the show is open and up, and the opening night was by all accounts a success!

For me the greatest rewards as curator are:

1) the artists are happy and feel proud of the show they are in.
2) the visitors sense the thematic continuity of the show and are intrigued, moved, and provoked by its content
3) the gallery director and other art professionals see a future in the concept and offer opportunities for expansion.

Well... Check.  Check. CHECK!!!

What more... what more could I possibly ask of God and Mother Universe for curatorial debut in New York City?  Nothing!   Well... hmmm... an NYT review would be nice...LOL

And now to packing, shipping, and preparing for the next show in Jamaica...as an artist... ;-)

Post by SeBiArt i•ma•gine | e•volve.

The Journey Foreseen...

How's this for a send off?!  

After a 3 week run of intense activity of moving out of my apartment (what a job THAT was!), AND prepping for shows, I've had to switch gears immediately into prepping for travel.  I was running around today doing last bits before heading to the airport, which included of course a completion of a creative jaunt... I had to document images of a wheat paste session I did on a side street with my buds last night.

I still had to turn in my cable box and close out my account. Yup...just a couple hours before leaving the country.  I was online at Time Warner on 96th + Broadway with a ticket number that was sure to take at least 30 minutes to come up on the screen.  I took a chance by jumping on a bus heading over to the East side - the opposite side of town - to the little side street where we pasted up our prints.  

While rushing to archive our handy wheatpasting work,  I thought, "maybe I should catch a cab back across  on the main avenue to save on time or I may not make it...".  Within moments of this boggle, this man walks by...looking at me casually yet quite intently.  

As he passed in front of my camera he asked,  "Do you need a cab?" and gestures towards his yellow. I immediately said yes and acknowledged internally the fortuitous timing and his seeming ability to read my mind!   

Now understand people - this NEVER happens in New York city. Not with yellow cabs at least.  Maybe Livery cabs (the black town cars that recently turned that god aweful lime green) once in a while, but not yellows.

Anyway, he was double parked so we had to jet. 

It was a completely silent and peaceful ride to the other side of town. 

As I was getting out he calmly turned to the back and a pro po of nothing he said, 
"You are being watched closely right now....by your grandmother... Yes," he paused to confirm, "... not by your uncles or your cousin who are helping you, but by your grandmother.  You are on the right path. It's not going to be easy, but it will be good.  Very good work. You will be fine, and you will do just fine."

Needless to say I sat there shocked, my jaw dropped...just staring at him...blinking blankly. He was looking at me calmly chewing at his toothpick with a knowing smile only detectable in his eyes.  I began to say "If you knew the momen...", and he cut me off saying, "I know the moment. It is a very good and meaningful moment. You will be fine African daughter."

I balked again but quickly composed myself to ask his name.  "Malik from Mali" he said. "Berette from Sierra Leone" I said, "and thank you Malik for that." We took each other's hand, we smiled, locked one more momentary gaze and then off I went. 

I ran across the street into the Time Warner praying I didn't just screw myself with the timing.  The counter was at #233 and my number was #234.

I went up to the counter ready to pay my final bill, and was told, "You never cashed in on our promotion before canceling your account, so we owe you money.  The credit will be sent in the mail."

What?!! lol

And...when I got to the airport just now, the seeming major issue I had with Air Berlin and their baggage handling fee that I'd griped about just days before on was all cleared up without a hitch.  And I found a new hippie friend from behind the counter to boot!

Wow. That's what you call Bon Voyage Bless Ups - wouldn't you say?!

Floored.  Grateful.  Smiling. Ready.