10/13/2010

Always Do the Write Thing

Hey, when it comes to writing, I'm no pro, that's fo sho. So... when it comes time to write, I'll admit that I'm-- alright, as a writer. Sometimes I can be clever, but other times I'm whatever. I can rhyme and be cheesy but that shit is easy, believe me!

Credit is due to the great writers in history, who change worlds, propel movements, teach, inspire, and affect people, from ancient through modern times. Some people be writing marvelous things, and it's all based on what they see and their experience of the Uni-verse, so I'd like to share are some illuminating writings by Talib Kweli and Langston Hughes.
The question was rhetorical, the answer is horrible
Our morals are out of place and got our lives full of sorrow
And so tomorrow comin later than usual
Waitin' on someone to pity us
While we findin beauty in the hideous
They say money's the root of all evil but I can't tell
Youknowhatimean, pesos, francs, yens, cowrie shells, dollar bills
Or is it the mindstate that's ill?
Creating crime rates to fill the new prisons they build
Over money and religion there's more blood to spill
The wounds of slaves in cotton fields that never heal
What's the deal?



If you haven't heard the song, it's very good and I recommend it--the beat is crazy, and Def's verse is one of my favorites of all time. I think street literature is a worthy topic of study. Even if you've heard the song before, I think it's worth another listen because you'll still like it, and the way you hear it and understand it changes over time. I've been bumping the Black Star album on repeat (again) recently, and it's potent stuff.

Here's some other important stuff, a short poem that says so much with each line, by Langston Hughes:



What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore--
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over--
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

These got me thinking about who's oppressed THESE days? Who's having their dreams deferred? Who's rights are being held back? Is it really necessary? This got me thinking of DREAMers, HOPErs, and people of different sexualities. I'm thinking of low-wage families and single graduates at the forefront of class struggle, and high-potential students left behind in classroom struggles. Does it all really come down to money?

Well, like in every crisis, there is opportunity. For every problem, there are a number of solutions. For every hole, there is a way out. Ways to emerge from darkness, like Chilean miners. It might take time, but I find that it's most advantageous to work positively with people, not negatively against them. Lots of collaboration and some compassion keeps lives smooth and harmonious.

Sooooo...........I just wrote a quick poem called
"Collaboration."
You can attack my name and
Stay mad, be hatin,
I know the game some bastards playing.
But I'm way past the game and
I will just keep collaborating,
no time to deal bad with Satan.
Be acting sane, don't act insane.
You catch what I'm sayin'!

If your actions are slave,
then master your brain!



Other real-event news:
Apple patents anti-sexting app for the iPhone, for parents to protect their kids.
But the kids'll just make up new words, that's how slang gets made. People trying to communicate discreetly under other (usually more authoritarian) people. A lot of black slang was coined that way, no surprise!



links used: 
-http://www.lyricsfreak.com/b/black+star/theives+in+the+night_20019524.html
-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LQiuQ1xIBM
-http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/10/13/chile.miners.voices/index.html 
-http://www.cswnet.com/~menamc/langston.htm
-http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/mobile/10/13/apple.sexting.patent/index.html
-http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/recordDetail?accno=ED051353