Don't Apologize!

As huemanity continues, it appears to me that people are becoming less HueMANe and way more politically correct. The politeness that our mothers taught us when we were young seem to kick in when we feel the most guilty or the need to address issues we don't really know how to handle.

Now my statement above may seem like mere speculation...but when I read the news [I'd like to thank CNN.com for my blog inspiration] and see that The House desires to apologize for the enslavement of millions of West Africans, AND THEN there are these privileged-insensitive albino mutant kids in South Africa that feel laden with superficial guilt for making a tape that mocked black housekeepers and serving them stew seemingly laced with urine...[which is nothing more than embarassment from public slandering] I realize that these apologies are utterly flat.

*(please excuse me if that was a run-on passage)

Now granted the representatives for Tennessee and the other states are not "slaveowners" themselves , but the damages to the African-American psyche and the American socio-political construct are irreparable. An apology without action is FUTILE, FLAT, SUPERFICIAL ...AND JUST PLAIN DUMB! The house states that they will stop "the occurrence of human rights violations in the future." But that peace word is not good enough for me or the members of my community.

We need the illegitimate & brutal law enforcers acquitted of their jobs. We need funding for our public school systems...especially the ones in Florida.
What about the fan fare that went on for Jena 6...then silence...or the injustice to Amadou Diallo...then silence...Mumia Abdul...Sean Bell...Rodney King 2.0...OH my Lord, the list goes on! It's the the quiet things that happen in "intimate" settings that go unaddressed.

So I am not pleased with an apology. Although it's awfully cute.

Native Americans have been apologized to,given the opportunity to run government regulation free casinos but direct financial/proper housing from the GOV. still hasnt come their way. So many of them continue to live on reservations that make 'hoods look like Beverly Hills. Come on now AMERICA!

I guess reparations just are not in the budget.

I don't know what you want to do with this bit of information. I just thought I'd add a little fire to the inherent angst existing within all of us.


-Johnston Michaels

The New New: Vinnet Bradshaw

This weekend I met a photographer by the name of Vinnet Bradshaw. This guy is as dope as fauxtographers get!!! With the charm of a southern gentlemen and the style of a west village hopster, Vinnet stole my heart! He, Myself, Du-Art-E, Bianca Balenciaga and her boy toy all had dinner at Spice in Chelsea. Then spent our night in the usual spot... Union Square! While there we ran into some interesting broke and bougee kidds... I must say they were PHUN... in every since of the word!!! They stopped us and asked if we had a dollar because they were broke. I told them we had no cash, yet we had some left over calamari and chicken pad tai and they could have that. They were stoked (yea my new new phrase)! Then the magnificent Vinnet asked them if he could take a few shots and those kidds went OFF... I mean I felt like i was at ghetto street photoshoot with porn stars ready to rock out with their cocks out!!!! CRAZYYYY!!!! Anyway Vinnet takes great photos and check him out at his website www.geniushatescompany.com

-Sweet Georgia Brown

U Betta Not Tell a Sole...

This is a secret... Im telling you because I trust you...

((Im currently listening to Alice Smith "Secrets"// vibe along))

I feel like some people have to use a microscope just to 

--find themselves--

But I didn't have to look hard cause everyday I

--see inside myself--

And since god lives in me

all I had to do was try

--myself--

Then rolling over

seeing your eyes

breathing in your divinity

I have proof ((love)) is ((real))

Because God=Love AND You=God AND

       ((It does not get more REAL than you))

Their is a truth to the tale

of the essense of the black male

Their is fact in the fact that he is

The Perfect Black

OSIRIS, reincarnated to eject knowledge and wisdom

giving birth to my understanding

Im trying to birth a nation, so u can put it on ur back

laugh father time in his face and tell him mother earth has won again.

That she has done it... again.

But this mockery is no sin.

Somtimes I don't even know where to begin,

so I guess I will start with the kiss...

Yet even that I barely can remember,

cause your touch was so much more clever

I got lost in the flick of ur lash

the height of ur cheek bones

the essense of ur smile

I caught myself ((lost))

in the moment of you

drifting off in the moment of you

how dare you catch me up in a web of you

hell I barely even know you...

Wat makes you think you think I wanna believe in you???

Then I feel asleep... you told me to wake up when I was ready...

Bet you didn't know I stay woke...

-The Hip Hop Mona Lisa

ADD Ferentz to your LIBRARY and your PLAYLIST!

Quite a few members of the arts collective are currently matriculating at the esteemed Eugene Lang College ,New School for liberal arts. [Du ART...e ,Georgia Brown...and Dr. Mother Covert to be exact].

My dear friend, Georgia Brown put me down with the writings of one of her professors,Ferentz Lafargue, who is the assistant professor of literature. She tells me to check out his book "Songs in the Key of my Life". So I do. I bring it home...and it rests on my table. I had every intention to read it eventually.
But, having a startling dream and waking at 5:30 am, I find it hard to drift back into any kind of slumber so I pick up the book.
Folks, I have just completed the first chapter and with sincere exclamation I must say " it moved me!" I believe that just like huemens energy and consciousness brings certain things into fruition along with people into our space...the effects are the same with books; we either attract the kinds of readings that our hearts need at a point, or we adapt a reading to couple our emotional demands.

I am shifting. I am shifting to another area of focus, and love devotion. I am also intensely concerned with honing my creative writing craft. Lafargue scrathches beyond the surface & excites the imagination with connections he makes between songs and experiences; between nostalgia, his heritage and the intitial impact of instrumentaion. Each chapter is titled by a song, which he seemlessly expounds upon and dissects in that section.

Not only for the lover, and once loved but this book also explores the power within music.

Please put this book on your "TO BUY" list.

Join me on this path!!! LET US SUPPORT OUR ARTISTIC BLACK BRETHREN! The book is $12.95 [for all you frugal consumers] and is only 173 pages for all you non reading people. LOL.

BUY IT! BUY IT! BUY IT!
...and over the course of your journey with this book, I suggest adding the songs he incorporates into his story- to your playlist. It will enhance your literary-musical experience.

Shalom-mubaraak*

-Brother Johnston Michaels

I'M NOT GONNA WRITE YOU A COOL SONG!

i look in the mirror
asking myself, "how do i write a story?".
a song is nothing but a story organized to have pulse & pitch, right?!
and as often as we read them
& dance to them,
& allow old white men to offer us childhood fables to be enchanted by
& sing the "abc's" to figga out what letta comes afta 'p'...
well,
Its STILL such a daunting task to create my own.
the tales of my [daily] darkening skin
and the reason i wipe sweat from my brow cannot be notated.
they cannot be marked with trills
or broken into measures.
i experience no long trains of thought-
sooo i guess it makes me "Crazy" like Cee-lo
and my COLDEST WINTER EVER was definitely "HOTTER THAN JULY"
but it doesn't mean I can write a stevie hit.
maybe i'll just mumble on paper...
all too often we feel pressured to share with the world cohesive thought
well,
i choose to give you my fickled-fumbled-5 yr old stream of consciousness

NOW YOUR TURN?!

-Johnston Michaels

BLACK GENOCIDE...the Keys are in the S.Y.M.B.O.L.S.

This is the work of one of our collective members: Olatunji Ojore,depicting the black man as a shooting target. This sculpture speaks volumes so my commentary is unecessary . However, as an artist of color I urge that you read "The Isis Papers :The Keys to the Colors" by Frances Cress Welsing [African-American psychiatrist]. It will challenge all that you've been groomed to trust, and affirm things you may've always speculated. It dissects the system of White Supremacy , Black genocide and the psychology behind it. It's a must read for all persons of color...not just those of African descent.

Beginning is G.O.O.D.

So I recently turned 20 years old, and with aging another year comes assessing self.
And FOLKS , I grew extremely depressed! Whether you want to call it "mid-MID LIFE Crisis" or just disappointment, I felt that for the last 365 days my strides to be an incredible artist had been futile.
I then took inventory of my accomplishments over the past year & noticed that I did a lot of STARTING; When I had a vision I brought it to fruition. My dreams came to life not only by my wise work but with support from PEOPLE.
I no longer felt like a failure. Visions just should not sit. I know that this is the season to carry them through. That's what separates the FLAKE from the ambitious creator.

I don't write this passage with a self centered spirit, but for utter encouragement. I know that as HUEmens we get awfully discouraged by our own dreams...and not because they are not brilliant; but because once we breathe life into them and feed them water of diligence and time-we still dont see the growth we would like. In order to be the moguls and trailblazers we all envision ourselves as...we must BEGIN.

I am here to let you know that you are not alone.
NO artist walks alone. There are a million of us out here birthing, weezing, lactating, and crying!!!
So flash your pearly whites and keep working wise!

shalom-mubaraak*

-Master Johnston Michaels