Oil Painting, growing beautiful flowers and plants, Writing-- which is more first than third, but this isn't that kind of list, is it?; Subverting pop culture; Knitting (which I used to do at 28 yrs old in bars after setting up for a gig during the long wait before we went on stage); Philosophy; the origins of Literature and how they are intertwined with the Bible and Christianity; Critical anaylysis of Christianity (the faith)and American Christianity (the culture) and defining the difference and separation between the two ; Redefining and widening the perception of what being black means in America
Music
U2 Forever! (Since I accepted a blind date in 1980 so I could see them play at a bar called The Red Creek and they didn't play after all-- couldn't get a sound check with everyone out of the room. I couldn't get away from my date to go to their tour bus)
Jeff Buckley, Catherine Wheel--and any "shoegazer" music, Earth Wind and Fire, Michael Knott Michael Knott Michael Knott, The 77s, Kathleen Wilohite, Joni Mitchell...70s UK punk 70-80s US punk aka Ramones, early Psych Furs, Ultravox, Tony Mansfield's New Musik, Ride, COCTEAU TWINS, Massive Attack, Brian Eno, Genesis, Gentle Giant, Crosby Stills Nash and Young (in all their various configurations), The Pretenders, any psychedelic 60s music (the trippier the better), the Magnetic Fields, Daniel Amos, Joy Division, Bauhaus, Peter Murphy, Erasure, The Charlatans UK, Jimmy Cliff, UB40, The Specials, Liz Phair, Throwing Muses, Lush, Vigilantes of Love, Bob Mould, The Chi-lites, Curtis Mayfield, Sly and the Family Stone, Parliment Funkadelic, early Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd circa Syd Barrett, (any "Mod-60s" sounding music)
Movies
La Femme Nikita, Crooklyn, Tarnation, Trainspotting, Ju Do, Raise the Red Lantern, Farewell My Concubine, Red Sorghum, The Committments, Out of Africa, Nowhere in Africa, Rest In Piecies, SICK, The Green Sky (Eric Rohmer), The White Rose, The original, Norweigan "Insomnia" with Stellan Skarsgard, Repo Man, Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle ...I am a movie fanatic...so this list is extremely incomplete.
Television
HBOs Oz and The Wire; Project Runway (always reminds me of how much I hated Fashion College); any program that doesn't have commercials...except infomercials.I used to love watching Monty Python when I was twelve...still haven't grown out of that when I can find it on the tele. Also love Doctor Who ("Docca WHOOOO"), Absolutely Fabulous
RADIO: Like books, is radio a dying medium to the average American? Not to me. I love This American Life, Fresh Air, To The Best of Our Knowledge...sometimes On The Media. I listen to them on the radio and online. To listen online, just go to www.npr.org/programs
Books
...geez...can't go there yet. Ok...I will.
Russell Banks, "Rule of the Bone" and the collection of short stories, "Trailer Park";
Elizabeth Bishop Collected Poems; Don Lee's short stories, "Yellow";Tony Hoagland's "What Narcissism Means to Me";
Flannery O'Connor's collected Short Stories;
Any book of Literary Theory;
Victorian erotica by anonymous authors;the Bible- my introduction to literary interpretation and the concept of lyric as well as the sound of language--I don't think I would have been a writer had I not spent so many years reading the Bible; Hortense Spillers' essays, "Black and White in Color"; "The End of the Earth Poems" by Charles Bukowski; Collected Poems of Audre Lorde; Sandra Cisneros short stories, children's books; poems by Li-Young Lee, a fellow SUNY Brockport drop-out...although techinically, I transferred
Heroes
Anyone who has lived the way they intended to live despite the pressure from outside forces and anyone who has produced something wonderful (from a painting or a poem, to a child) despite extreme odds.
Flannery O'Connor, Aubrey Beardsley, Audre Lorde...and people who have never been known by anyone other than their parents and a neighbor. Like them, I refuse to give in to anyone else's definition of me. Their definitions are based on what I look like, or what I do, but the only true definition is I am.
About me: I was born left of center, the child of a Jamaican immigrant and a sharecropper's daughter (and that's the truth), with an inclination for the arts.
--Sang myself to sleep at night as a child, drew pictures on the back of my tests (could never resist trying to fill up a blank page), and learned how to write cursive by tracing my older sister's writing on the back page of her essays.
--Played in my first band at 15, my first "real band" at 18-19, opening for the Dixie Dreggs (and running from the Dregg's red-shoed bass player)
--Lived in Atlanta for a year in an attempt (successful at that) to wrench my sister from an abusive relationship while she finished up her PhD. (At 5'4, I can be pretty evilly persuasive when the situation demands it.)
--Played in several other bands, but the one of most note was bURING iCONS, a group that was active at the cusp of the Alternative Music explosion (ie, a couple of years before "Alternative" went mainstream). We almost got signed, but almost doesn't count.
--Finally gave up the band thing (I'm on a 9 year hiatus)and fell in love with poetry and French, which was better at convincing me to go to college (at 30-something) than parents or friends ever were.
--Graduated from college in 2004, fell in love with painting two years after falling in love with my husband. Fortunately, the two get along quite well. He doesn't mind having a "weird" wife.
--While debating (although with less ferocity now) whether to go for an MA or MFA in something anything, or do another undergrad term for a BFA, I am writing, writing, writing, painting, and submitting for publication (the latter also with a lot less ferocity than should be afforded it).
And now, I'm doing The Blog Thing.
Who I'd like to meet: Bono of U2. I once had a dream many years ago that I was on a particular venue with him and we chatted quite warmly back stage. But then again, I'd rather not meet him. I might not be myself and that would totally defeat the interaction I'd want to happen if I met him.
So let's just say I don't want to meet anybody.
New Musik performing "Sanctuary"
well, I guess, of course, if ya know Jim Schreck, then you must be well acquainted with Larry; any friend of Larry's is a friend of mine... ..thanks for the add on Linda
thanks for the photo comment. I really didn't have much to do with the flowers in the garden...they all came up on their own and I just made sure they all stayed in their own little spots lol. My mom planted a huge veggie garden, though. Jacob and I had a great Saturday. He had his last baseball game and he got a base hit and pitched well! Then we went out on our friend's boat to fish and Jacob caught 3 perch. We finished up the day with dinner at another friend's house. *phew* I am exhausted :). Hope that your Sat. was good as well. Say hi to Mark for us. Love ya!!
thanks, Linda. It really means a lot to me to know that you are praying for me. Every Saturday from Sept. 6th - Oct. 4th, Jacob has a baseball game at 10 am at the Greece Little League Complex so if you're ever in town, give me a shout! Love ya!!
the gig was sloppy as shit, but i had a good time seeing my friend. you can listen to it at www.oddsort.com there are mp3's you can download for free, there is some stuff we did in practice...but i warn you, it's very loose and sometimes dangerous!....i will send a copy to the danielson duder. i didn't at first because i looked on his site and wasn't really into the music, and thought..."i don't really fit here.",....but i'll send it along for shits and giggles....(isn't this a bitch of a comment?!) i just finished watching Malcolm X....what's your opinion linda linda???.....oh and i got exempt from the finals for my class....!.....hope you are well lady!!!!
Hope your summer is starting off well. Are you getting overwhelmed with your garden yet? Here, with all this rain, everything is so darn tall and floppy and the weeds are starting to wage war! Hope you are faring better! ~C
Thank you for your comments, here and on my blogspot page, Linda. You have always been such a good friend to me.
I am so excited you're set for grad school! An MFA, then? Which school? YAY! (Perhaps this is all in your blog... I'll look now. I am behind in everyone's blogs). Hugs, Julia
lol...I don't know what all that Zone stuff means :P. I am guessing that my zone is better?? I need to get out there now that the sun is back out, but it can wait til the weekend lol.
Happy Spring to you and your family! I bet you are excited to see your garden babies popping up! I'm trying to start a small wintersown farmer's market herb business this year and have about 250 containers outside already. More to go... : ) How about you? Growing anything new this year? Love, ~C
