Cappuccino Soul™

Civic Duty: Registering People to Vote

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia Michele Benjamin) — Wed, 23 May 2012 01:34:00 +0000

Crystal and Sarah
My Voter Registration Cohorts

As you can well imagine, workers for the Obama campaign have swarmed the city of Charlotte, getting reading for the Democratic National Committee convention scheduled to be held here in early September.

I got in on the action last Saturday as a volunteer for Organizing for America, a community organizing project of the Democratic National Committee. Throughout that day and for several weeks to come, volunteers will help register people to vote, as I did, throughout the city.

As a first-time volunteer, I didn’t know what to expect and just showed up ready to sign folks up so they could exercise their right to vote – no matter what party they’re affiliated with.

I met some field organizers in the Habitat for Humanity parking lot on Wendover and was sent to a major retail store in East Charlotte to ask people, who weren’t already registered to vote, to do so. My cohorts, Crystal and Sarah and I, drove to the establishment, stood outside in front of the place and went to work. What we found was that most of the people were already registered. And some weren’t eligible because of their citizenship status and other reasons.

The first woman I registered to vote, Jaimie, had recently moved to Charlotte from Ashville, so yes indeed, she needed to get on the roster. She filled out the registration form, but wouldn’t allow me to take her photo (darnit). She was a really nice lady who said she moved to Charlotte because after four years of working at a job in Ashville, she was not given a raise. She came to Charlotte for a better opportunity. Her mate (boyfriend or husband – I didn’t ask) declined to vote as he was an ex-felon and thought he was ineligible. I tried to explain to him that if you've been convicted of a felony in North Carolina, you only temporarily lose your citizenship rights, including the right to vote. BUT you automatically get those rights back after you serve all parts of your sentence, including probation, parole and restitution. You do not need a special document saying your rights are restored. You just register and vote like any other citizen.

But he wasn’t convinced and walked to his car while Jaimie signed up. I also met a nice gentleman from my hometown of Wilmington, Delaware who was with his two adult sons. Of course, he was already registered in Delaware and couldn’t register again, but I did find out that he used to teach at my alma mater – William Penn High School!

We were at this retail store for only an hour when we realized we were being monitored from the security room of the store. Yes, that’s right – we were being WATCHED! So, as you might guess, the manager of the store sauntered out to Crystal and politely told her that we didn’t have permission to be there and had to leave. “Really?” Crystal asked. “Wow, OK, we didn’t know.” And so we left.

When we got back to the Habitat for Humanity parking lot, Crystal and Sarah joined another volunteer and walked over to some nearby retail stores to register more people, but I had to go and pick up Gigi. So that was my first experience registering people to vote. I’m sure I’ll try it again before the summer is over.

Chuck Brown Took Us to the Go Go

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia Michele Benjamin) — Fri, 18 May 2012 14:14:00 +0000

Y’all didn’t think I was gonna let Chuck Brown’s passing go without a tribute, did ya? I might have been raised in Delaware, but look to the right and check out where I was born. Anyway, Go Go has had its admirers all up and down the East Coast and eventually, the world.

I’ve always known that Go Go has influenced music outside the D.C. area, even though it is an indigenous Chocolate City creation. But after listening to tributes paid to Brown on various radio stations, I’m even more convinced.

What I didn’t realize is how heavily some groups have used the Go Go sound —think, Beastie Boys, LL Cool J, Salt & Pepper, Kurtis Blow, Beyoncé, Jill Scott, and on and on.

Here's the way Randall Roberts of the Los Angeles Times describes Go Go: “Featuring remarkable Afro-Cuban polyrhythms via pounding congas and rototoms, punctuated bursts of brass and Brown shouting out call-and-response phrases alongside grooves that extended many songs to over eight minutes long — and, more importantly, almost two or three times that in a live setting.”

Yes, Brown knew how to get a party started and keep it going all night long. There’s no other music that makes me want to get up and dance as much as Go Go. I’m sure it's my love of Latin and African music that draws me to Go Go, since by Chuck’s own admission, he uses the Latin and African percussion sounds as a foundation for his invention.

After doing several stints in prison for robbery, Brown started working as a professional musician in the early 1960s with Jerry Butler and The Earls of Rhythm. In 1965, he joined the group Los Latinos, a band that played Top 40 music with a Latin flavor.

Brown, born Charles Louis Brown in Gaston, N.C., on Aug. 22, 1936, was raised in poverty by his mother, Lyla Louise Brown, a housekeeper. He never knew his father. Brown remembers: “We’d go to somebody’s house and [my mother] would say, ‘Please feed my child. Don’t worry about me. Just feed my child.’”

He may have been born poor, but he lived a rich, music-filled life that made the world of music a whole lot spicier. Thank you Godfather – and may you rest in peace.

Check out this precious clip from Brown’s interview at the National Visionary Leadership Project, an organization co-founded by Camille O. Cosby and Renee Poussaint.

Here’s “Bustin' Loose" -- Chuck's most popular hit:

Poem: Space

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia Michele Benjamin) — Thu, 10 May 2012 17:49:00 +0000

Space
by Alicia Benjamin

No time to
Birth what I yearn,
Say what I taste,
Devour what I'm hungry for.

Jimmy Scott: ...Like a Motherless Child

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia Michele Benjamin) — Mon, 07 May 2012 21:07:00 +0000

You never know what your children will remember from their early years. I was surprised yesterday when Gigi was drawn to a Jimmy Scott video on Youtube that I was playing. “That’s so sad,” she said, and “he’s so old.”

“Yes, he is,” I told her, “but he’s really singing this song.”

The song was, “Slave to Love.” It’s the very song and performance that introduced me to Jimmy Scott in the late 90s. If you don’t know Scott’s music, you’re missing something powerful. He sings so effortlessly, with such conviction and feeling. It’s hard not to cry as you listen to him croon such songs as “Holding Back the Years,” “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child,” and of course, “Slave to Love.”

When the song ended, Gigi asked me what the singer’s name was. When I told her she screamed, “Jimmy Scott! Jimmy Scott?! Oh, my God.” Then she ran to the closet where we keep our CD collection to find one of his recordings, Bravo Profiles a Master: Jimmy Scott. I used to play Scott’s music to Gigi when she was an infant until she was about four, at bedtime to help her go to sleep.

“I remember Jimmy Scott. He’s a GREAT singer! I can’t believe that’s him...Wow." At least she knows great singing when she hears it.

Scott, who has Kallmann’s syndrome, was only 4’ 11” until he was 37 — he then grew to be 5’7”. The disease prevented him from reaching puberty and left him with a contralto range that causes many to mistake his voice for that of a female. Lionel Hampton gave Scott the nickname “Little Jimmy Scott” because of his small build. Scott, born on July 17, 1925 in Cleveland, is now 86 years old.

In my opinion, he's one of the great ones.

Meditation: Spiritual Account

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia Michele Benjamin) — Thu, 03 May 2012 15:24:00 +0000

This is telling: I have a folder labeled “Spiritual” in my email account. It was empty, but I’m purposefully putting some information in there now, like this for instance:

Meditation is simply placing one’s mind on a chosen object. Through familiarization with this process, numerous benefits manifest and the mind becomes more peaceful as a result.

I’ll give updates on my progress — I promise.

Documentary Explores Spanking in Schools

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia Michele Benjamin) — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 20:10:00 +0000

Would you give teachers permission to use corporal punishment (spanking, hitting, etc.) on your child in school if it were legal? I sure don't! It turns out that in 20 states, including North Carolina, the use of corporal punishment as a disciplinary measure, is still allowed!

The documentary film, The Board of Education, which is scheduled to be released sometime this year, examines the use of corporal punishment (spanking, hitting, etc.) in the U.S. public school system. Director Jared Abrams takes an in-depth and personal look at this controversial issue. In the film, Abrams actually returns to the school where he was hit as a child. Serving as script consultant is Javier Grillo-Marxuach, who has worked as a producer for such television shows as Lost, Medium, and Charmed.

The Board Of Education Documentary Trailer. from jared abrams on Vimeo.

(It occurs to me that these are just the reported cases.)

The Iron Lady: Are You Unwell?

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia Michele Benjamin) — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 20:33:00 +0000

"Are you unwell?/Yes, you are unwell."

"If this is the best you can do, I had better send you to hospital!"

"...and I should do your job, as well as my own, and everyone else's."

-- Meryl Streep puttin' it down in The Iron Lady

(Meryl Streep had me laughing so hard, I was crying during this scene. I highly recommend seeing The Iron Lady, if only for this part of the film when she's sitting in a meeting with all men).

Poem: Grace by Joy Harjo

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia Michele Benjamin) — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 18:58:00 +0000

In celebration of National Poetry month, here's one of my favorite poems by one of my favorite poets.

Grace
by Joy Harjo

I think of Wind and her wild ways the year we had nothing to lose and lost it anyway in the cursed country of the fox. We still talk about that winter, how the cold froze imaginary buffalo on the stuffed horizon of snowbanks. The haunting voices of the starved and mutilated broke fences, crashed our thermostat dreams, and we couldn't stand it one more time. So once again we lost a winter in stubborn memory, walked through cheap apartment walls, skated through fields of ghosts into a town that never wanted us, in the epic search for grace.

Like Coyote, like Rabbit, we could not contain our terror and clowned our way through a season of false midnights. We had to swallow that town with laughter, so it would go down easy as honey. And one morning as the sun struggled to break ice, and our dreams had found us with coffee and pancakes in a truck stop along Highway 80, we found grace.

I could say grace was a woman with time on her hands, or a white buffalo escaped from memory. But in that dingy light it was a promise of balance. We once again understood the talk of animals, and spring was lean and hungry with the hope of children and corn.

I would like to say, with grace, we picked ourselves up and walked into the spring thaw. We didn't; the next season was worse. You went home to Leech Lake to work with the tribe and I went south. And, Wind, I am still crazy. I know there is something larger than the memory of a dispossessed people. We have seen it.

Yummy TCBY Yogurt and Sky High Fun

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia Michele Benjamin) — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 15:54:00 +0000

Yep, this is the flavor I wanted.

Nothing like that first scoop of frozen yogurt.

Fun at Sky High Trampoline Park

Go Go Throwback: Trouble Funk, Still Smokin'

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia Michele Benjamin) — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 05:17:00 +0000

Featured in the film Good to Go (1986), filmed entirely in D.C. This video is from a U.K. show called The Tube:

Michigan Teacher Fired Over Trayvon Fundraiser

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia Michele Benjamin) — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 14:33:00 +0000

Brooke Harris, Pontiac, Mich. teacher

The Raw Story has an excellent post about the case of a Pontiac, Michigan school teacher who was fired after holding a teaching moment with her students about the Trayvon Martin killing and for organizing a fundraiser that grew from the session.

Brooke Harris was a teacher at the Pontiac Academy for Excellence Middle School in Pontiac, Michigan. When her eighth-grade class — many of whom are black — asked her about “the kid who was killed over some Skittles,” Ms. Harris attempted to “bring her students’ lived experiences into the classrooms.”

Her efforts included organizing a “dress down” fundraiser, similar to the One Million Hoodie marches that have taken place throughout the country. Students would pay one dollar to participate, and all proceeds would be donated to the family of Trayvon Martin.

The principal of Pontiac Academy signed off on the proposal. Superintendent Jacqueline Cassell, however, refused. When Ms. Harris’s students asked to make their case for the fundraiser to Superintendent Cassell directly, Ms. Harris passed the request along to Ms. Cassell. Harris says that Cassell suspended her for two days. When two days stretched to two weeks, Ms. Harris asked for clarification regarding the basis for her suspension, and Cassell fired her.

Tulsa Shootings: Hate Crime or No Hate Crime?

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia Michele Benjamin) — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 13:13:00 +0000

Harpers Weekly Review, April 10, 2012:

Police in Oklahoma arrested Jake England and Alvin Watts in conjunction with the murders of three African Americans who were among five shot in the course of seven hours in Tulsa.

The day before the shootings, England posted on his Facebook page that it was the second anniversary of his father’s murder “at the hands of a f***ing nigger.” “It’s hard not to go off between that and sheran I’m gone in the head,” he wrote, referring also to his girlfriend, who had recently committed suicide.

“It is way too early to call this a hate crime,” said FBI agent James Finch.

Some Cousins

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia Michele Benjamin) — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 05:01:00 +0000

Mike and Darren (Chubb)

Kevin (Boo) and Mike

Watching Over Jeffrey

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia Michele Benjamin) — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 05:18:00 +0000

For my dear cousin Jeffrey -- Rest in peace Jay:

Watching Over by Deniece Williams

Why I Write: The Twin Poets at RiverRun Film Festival

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia Michele Benjamin) — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 04:55:00 +0000

"I write for lil girls who must double dutch near bloodstains." -- from poem, Why I Write

Making Delaware proud are spoken word poets and community leaders, Al Mills and Nnamdi Chukwuocha, aka, The Twin Poets. Thankfully, filmmaker Sharon Baker thought enough of their performance and community leadership talent to capture the twins' story on film with Why I Write: The Twin Poets, a 60 minute documentary which will be featured at the RiverRun Film Festival in April.

HBO's Def Poetry Jam featured The Twin Poets several years ago, as they presented probably their most well known piece, "Dreams Are Illegal in the Ghetto."

Presented as part of the festival's With Class series, Why I Write, chronicles the travels of Mills and Chukwuocha in their hometown neighborhoods in Wilmington, Del., including the Riverside Housing Projects, a symbol of some of the city's most decayed and troubled areas. The film shows the twins conducting poetry workhops with young people and encouraging them to use words on paper and in performance to overcome struggles, express and discover themselves, their talents, and dreams.

The film must be a rarity in that it highlights the high crime rate and other sociological ills that are prevalent in parts of Wilmington that serve the drug traffic that flows heavily up and down the Mid-Atlantic corridor.

The RiverRun Film Festival will show Why I Write on April 20, 7 p.m. at the Hanesbrands Theatre, 209 North Spruce Street. Admission is free. The festival runs April 13-21 in Winston-Salem.

Christian Author Promotes Audacity to Believe

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia Michele Benjamin) — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 03:24:00 +0000

If you’ve been knocked down by life and you’re searching for some motivation and spiritual rejuvenation, check out Your Wings Will Grow Back, a Christian motivational book, currently available online.

Christian Speaker and Life Coach, Justin Hegwood, the author of the book, has a knack for giving direct, inspiring, and wise advice in everyday language that’s sure to speak to large, diverse segments of the population.

The book, subtitled, The audacity to believe while feeling inadequate, hurt and rejected, is filled with an abundance of practical advice on how to ward off negative thoughts and pick yourself up after being hurt. The book encourages you to call on God’s help to set you on the path of purpose, joy, and love.

Hegwood’s book is a quick and pleasant read that surely will inspire you to stop feeling sorry for yourself, pray, discover what God has called you to do, and then to “do it all for God.”

Here’s an excerpt from Your Wings Will Grow Back:

Payday Is Coming

No matter what life throws at you, remember that God sees you and payday is coming. God will pay you back for everything you had to go through for Him. Let go of your worries. Take everything to God in prayer and He will make sure that there is justice and vindication for what you were taken through. You’re going to receive double the rewards for your trouble.

Release Your Brilliance

You can heal the world with the brilliance God built within you. Just open up so that people can see that you have what they’ve been looking for. Invest time in finding the places and people that need what you offer, then change the world.

Visit Hegwood’s Website to read the entire book.

Brown Baby, Walk Down the Freedom Road

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia Michele Benjamin) — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 05:53:00 +0000

(For all the Brown Babies in the world.)

Brown Baby
by Oscar Brown, Jr. (Performed by Diana Ross)

Brown baby, brown baby,
As you grow up I want you to drink from the plenty cup.
I want you to stand up tall and proud.
I want you to speak up clear and loud.

Brown baby, brown baby, brown baby,
As years roll by,
I want you to go with your head held high.
I want you to live by the justice code.
I want you to walk down the freedom road.

Brown baby, now lie away,
Lie away sleeping,
Lie away here in my arms,
While your daddy and your momma protect you.
And keep you safe from harm.

Oh, brown baby, brown baby,
It makes me glad that you will have
Things I have never had.
When out of men's hearts all the hate is hurled,
You're going to live in a better world.
Brown baby.

Teaching Soul Culture at Duke University

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia Michele Benjamin) — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 02:05:00 +0000

Duke University students have got it good. If they want to, they can take a course on soul music and learn how it influences contemporary cultural expression. The course, called Sampling Soul, sounds like a blast!

Winston-Salem’s own 9th Wonder, aka Patrick Douthit, a celebrated producer and former member of the Durham-based hip hop act, Little Brother, has taken his love for soul music, hip hop, and African-American culture and mixed it up into an academic offering that encourages students to consider how soul music has influenced American culture (and therefore, World culture) from the 1950s until now. The course also teaches students to appreciate the art of sampling and delves into some of the legal ramifications of sampling within the context of intellectual property law. (Should you really have to pay to sample Soul?)

African-American Studies professor, Dr. Mark Anthony Neal, and 9th Wonder began educating students in the fall of 2011 about the influence soul and hip hop has had on the world, solidifying the historical importance of this cultural expression, and opening the minds of a diverse set of young minds.

"Educating the youth on where hip-hop comes from and the history of it, using the records we use, gives hip-hop a longer life. I decided to become an advocate of that," 9th Wonder told HitQuarters, an online music industry newsletter.

Imagine hearing and learning about the magic of Marvin Gaye, Curtis Mayfield, Al Green, and Denise LaSalle, then listening to how hip hop reawakened our interest in soul. Certainly during the class, 9th Wonder must also talk a bit about his producing jobs for artists like Mary J. Blige, Wale, Jay-Z, Drake, and Destiny's Child.

Go to Mark Anthony Neal’s blog NewBlackManto get a more in-depth look at the course description, including the reading list, which includes The Death of Rhythm & Blues by Nelson George and the provocative, slanguage-rich, Five Days of Bleeding by Ricardo Cortez Cruz.

In 2010, independent filmmaker Kenneth Price documented 9th Wonder's travels for an entire year and released a documentary called The Wonder Year about the musician's excursions. Here’s a clip from the project:

Shutting My Mouth

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia Michele Benjamin) — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 16:28:00 +0000

The older I get the more widsom I've gained regarding when to shut my mouth.

Toni Morrison Says

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia Michele Benjamin) — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 00:51:00 +0000

"Critics generally don't associate black people with ideas. They see marginal people...sociologically interesting people perhaps, but very parochial....We are people, not aliens. We live, we love, and we die."

"Black people have a story, and that story has to be heard. There was an articulate literature before there was a print. There were griots. They memorized it. People heard it. It is important that there is sound in my books--that you can hear it, that I can hear it."

-- From Conversations with Toni Morrison (1994), University Press of Mississippi

Dreaming of Bees

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia Michele Benjamin) — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 21:07:00 +0000

Have you ever had a dream about bees? What could it possibly mean? Seems like clairvoyance, greater vision, illumination, enlightenment, hard work, and a mysterious link are some of the meanings of bees flying and/or buzzing in a dream.

Here's a fairly thorough interpretation of Bees as Dream Symbols. Enjoy!

The Future of Black Film

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia Michele Benjamin) — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 19:36:00 +0000

“I don’t think we need black film per se. I think we need to have our experiences represented. It’s a similar question about black history … We are integral to this country. It’s not -- there’s America and then there’s some black stuff. No, there is no America without the black stuff.”

– Baratunde Thurston, author of How to Be Black

(Thanks to Mark Anthony Neal at The New Black Man for posting this earlier.)

KING: Paris, Amber & Anita, Sing Girls!

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia Michele Benjamin) — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 06:02:00 +0000

These ladies (twins Paris and Amber from Minneapolis, and a woman from L.A., Anita), who call themselves KING, need to get there CD on out there! I just chanced upon their music on Youtube. Evidently Prince, their homie from Minneapolis, Questlove, and Erykah Badu are liking their flavor too, as those three artists have invited KING to open shows for them.

Here are two of the song's from KING's first and as of yet, only EP. Enjoy:
"Supernatural":

"The Story":

Children Starve and Dogs/Cats Get Fat

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia Michele Benjamin) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 13:57:00 +0000

A fifth of dogs and a quarter of cats in America were classified as obese, reported Harper’s Weekly Review on Feb. 7. "I didn't notice the weight creeping on," said an Atlanta woman of her dog, Dodger. "All of a sudden he was just this fat dog."

Apparently dogs eat well while a 2010 USDA report shows that 16.2 million kids in America struggle with hunger and the most current U.S. Census Bureau statistics tell us that 15.7 million children (21.6%) in America live in poverty.

Need I say more?

The River: Duke Ellington and Alvin Ailey

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia Michele Benjamin) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 07:14:00 +0000

Duke Ellington composed The River in 1970 as part of a collaboration between himself and Alvin Ailey, who requested Ellington's assistance after he was commissioned by the American Ballet Theatre to create a ballet for that company. This suite, in seven movements, represents the natural course of a river. The movements are called:

1: Spring
2: Meander
3: Giggling Rapids
4: Lake
5: Vortex
6: Riba
7: Village Virgins

I've seen several ballerinas dance the Vortex section, from Leslie Browne in the Oscar-nominated film "The Turning Point," to an Alvin Ailey dancer, who captured all I believe Ailey wanted that section to be -- visceral, forceful, sassy, sexy, and exhilerating. Unfortunately, I can't find a video of any of the Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre performances, but I was able to find two dancers, one from Baltimore, Jennifer Gelfand, and one from the Czech Republic, Ida Fišerová, who seem to be giving this dance all they have. I have to tell you though, the Alvin Ailey dancer, whose name I don't remember from the mid-90s, had more attitude and HIPS than these ladies. I only hope that I can eventually find it. It's a REVELATION.

Jennifer Gelfand, performing "Vortex" from The River Suite:
Ida Fišerová, performing "Vortex" from The River Suite:
And here's the song "Vortex" by Duke Ellington: