Famed for her contralto voice, Anderson was honored on a U.S. postage stamp with first-day-of-issue ceremonies at the Washington venue where the singer was once denied a chance to perform because of her skin color. {more}

"Even in the darkest times in our history,
people of extraordinary character have lived
among us, showing us a way out of the deplorable
cycle of hatred and aggression. They exist this very day.
It is to these people that we can turn in order to replenish
our encouragement, hope, and inspiration."
The Future of Peace, Scott A. Hunt

i finally got a chance to watch hotel rwanda ..it is those kind of movies where you leave wondering whether you can call yourself a humanbeing, or simply a clone..but, i won't get into much details, incase you haven't watched it.

can i display courage and fortitude in the midst of violence which is directed not just to me but also, those whom i love. what about strangers, folks who i don't know, never seen and most probably will forget about, once they turn the other corner.

division, or perceptions of division are always there. i can think of myself as being better than an akata, or walalau, white. asian. shit, if i really wanted to separate myself from anyone, i could. and very easily..yet, its just a pack of lies. an illusion, sense of mirage..

ten years have passed since the genocide & now, i realise i am letting myself feel the ramifications of it. rwanda isn't any different from kenya, or the burrios or anywhere else in these world. what was poignant about rwanda was how similar the forces where like in kenya. the killing instruments where day to day tools..machetes..pangas..things you wouldn't think of as agents of fear.

i thought about what it means to be african..not african american, latina or latino, or asian..what it means to be born, raised and living in the continent..and even though i am not there physically..at the end of the day, i am african. and truth be told, there is a difference of being african as compared to other peoples of color. our injustices are stemmed from the same source: plunder & abuse.

i can't explain though how in the scheme of things, at the end of the people of color scale, the black wo/man is the lowest common demoninator.

however, i cannot let that define who i am, how i see the world and navigate through it. before i am anything, i am woman. i am black. i am queer who adores men and loves woman. i am bitchy and child-like & an angel in between. i am spirit, enclosed in flesh. i am sweetness when touched and volcanic when transgressed against. i am all these and more. and nothing. i am fluid. i surprise myself.

Rwanda Estimates 1 Million Face Genocide Charges

Movie Review

there are lovers & committed lovers..
[marianne williamson]

almost the month is over and i haven't done the new yr resolutions. it's not that i am devoid of any new desires i'd like to do..simply put, i can't fuckin' believe i'm exhausted & the year has just begun.

last year ended with drama. the man and i are no longer yorked at the hip & it pains me. a great deal. this is like history all over again, ...subtract a few years: i began the year single, heart wrenched. working nights. osciliating between moments of anguish and mania. finiancially challenged & still clinging to hope.

i insist on hope, like then, and now.

i insist that all these has to be worth something. something intrinsic. of value. of purspose. of pleasure. of sweetness. of anguish. committment

im begininning to understand is where all this falls in..separates us from those who finish the race & those who fall on the side walk to begin it all over again..

the time when i was in this place, my valley of immediate singlehood. i was younger and devasted that a lover wasn't feeling the love jones as i had. i didn't understand the male psychic as such. he was a lover that had preceeded a woman i had been with..and there was all these residual estrogen energy hovering around. women for me are special..thats a post for another day..

& so , with mr. lover man, i was engaged in intense healing of the body. stuff that i now recognize a masculine energy would be capable to bringing out. there is that synergy that is translated when men and women embrace..maybe its the possibility of bringing forth a new creation..that tip of magic that hovers around creating a bubble..i learnt with him how to be present in my body. to touch my toes and fingers. to oil the folds of my body as a lover would..& having not been present in anything in my life, the experience was intoxicated..i began to desire security..

i've spent this last couple of weeks figuring out whether intentional heterosexual relations are for me..i like men, no i adore men, like the next woman..but i want it in slight increments..kidogo..kidogo...i also like space, to be with myself..then an ephipany moment.. its no longer about the form by which the love teachers arrive, it whether i can be honestly and completly be present in the moment of love..

A coward is incapable of exhibiting love;
it is the prerogative of the brave.-Mohandas Gandhi

When My youngest child, Asaad, was about four years old, he said something that brought tears to my eyes.. My daughters Hana and Laila walked into the hotel room where my wife, Lonnie, and I were staying in Los Angles; Asaad was playing with his mother on the bed. It was summer, and Asaad had been swimming all week, so his skin had gotten darker. When Laila walked into the room and saw him, she picked him up and gave him a big hug and a kiss. She then innocently said, “Wow Asaad, you sure got black today!” Asaad replied, "I'm not black, I'm clean!"

From THE SOUL OF A BUTTERFLY

kenya.. & we don't stop...

' shocked.. why? ' ^&(*HP*)JY){{_)L+

No African country has ever staged an Olympics and only four nations outside Europe and North America have ever won the right to do so. Kenya has four years to prepare its bid because the vote on the host for the 2016 Games will not be made until 2009.

bbc.

The Icarus Girl

[ courtesy of the guardian ]

The story of the precocious, mentally unstable daughter of a Nigerian mother and English father, The Icarus Girl is a moving study of alienation. While holidaying in Nigeria, Jess befriends TillyTilly, a ghost (or just an imaginary friend?) who follows her to England. At first a blessing to the intensely lonely Jess, TillyTilly becomes increasingly destructive. It emerges that Jess had a twin who died at birth; in Yoruba culture, twins inhabit three worlds, the bush (a "wilderness of the mind"), the normal world and the spirit world. "The bush is a world that doesn't have the same rules and the same structure as our world," explains Oyeyemi, "and TillyTilly comes right from that world. As a kid I was scared of everything you could be scared of - ghosts, aliens, the IRA. I didn't differentiate between these different fears and the threat of TillyTilly is that she can't really be categorised."

the guardian

Sudan leaders sign historic deal

[ courtesy of bbc ]
its about time that this happened. 20 plus years is a long time. we only hope that this peace agreement will be kept by all sides. remember congo..its still washy washy on the issue of the sudanese government being charged with genocide. who knows. the un has raised concern on the harassment of their workers in darfur.

Head of Medusa. Flemish Artist, 16th Century. Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy.

December 31, 2004
Sovereign Female Wisdom
Medusa

In ancient times, great goddesses were the cornerstone upon which spirituality rested. They reigned supreme until their clans were overthrown by those intimidated by feminine power. Throughout history, no mythical symbol of womanhood has been more deeply misunderstood than Medusa. Her name means 'sovereign female wisdom' in Sanskrit and, though she has been erroneously represented as the archetype of the terrible woman, Medusa was the ultimate personification of feminine wisdom, power, and creativity.

As are we all, Medusa is dual-natured: As a young woman, she represents fertility, but as a crone, she represents the liberation of death. She reflects harmony in nature; the circle of birth, life, and death; and a primal energy that is neither good nor bad, but simply powerful. Her power over life and death was controlled and tamed as nature was tamed by humanity and the goddess clans were vanquished.

Yet all that she represented is still valid and timeless, for the need to create and to achieve balance lives on within every woman and man. Perseus may have destroyed Medusa in a single myth, but her mystique survived. Terrible or beautiful, she remains a potent aspect of womanhood and an example of overcoming stereotyping and oppression. Meditating on Medusa can help you find truth, strength, and wisdom.

Just as she is a mysterious force, grounded in eternal transformation, so is it possible for each of us to call forth wisdom in the face of opposition, and to tear down the walls that shield us from truth.

Kenya!

& a happy new year to you too

a few more hours and 2004 is no more. as i type this, snoop dogg is on radio. i am not a fan of hiphop, but this year i certainly have experienced my fair share of this genre. mos def. nas.tupac of course..

through blue, i got to listen to john legends' new cd. i'm happy with myself that im still flexible with music tastes, at least, i kid myself im not too closed out of the world, as yet..(mwahahahahaha).'

& so, my dears, i thank you for your love & support. even with my erratic postings and half hazzard thoughts..i wish you love, peace and happiness and to quote ms wangari maathai, thank you for giving this african woman a chance.