P/ P Essay: Black History Month Begins Today

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Today, Black History Month begins.

In our inner circles and connective conversations, particularly with Black men, the answer to the simple question, “Are you Martin or are you Malcolm?” will shape an African American’s life in relation to how they navigate systemic racism.

I personally like to think of myself as Coretta Scott King. Until writing this piece, I did not feel it appropriate to begin to associate parts of myself that connect with Betty Shabazz (Betty X). But it made me think, maybe I have attributes of both women within me. I learned a lot about her as Mrs. King was an active feminist, she was always available to me in that we had that connection, which I consider to be an important part of my identity.

I wouldn’t be surprised if an African American answered the Martin and Malcolm question with, “I’m a little of both.” But those who truly know themselves know if they are water (Martin) or Fire (Malcolm). We know ourselves pretty well as our natures are easy to access on a primal level. Continue reading →

P / P Influencers: Laiona Michelle – A Connection Through Fate & Failure

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Laiona Michelle as Nina Simone for the new play she wrote and stars in “Little Girl Blue: The Nina Simone Musical,” which opens at opens at the George Street Playhouse in New Brunswick, N.J., Jan. 29, 2019 and runs until Feb. 24.

I met actress and playwright, Laiona Michelle out of fate and failure. I interviewed her a few weeks ago for New York Amsterdam News.  When I went to transcribe the recording of our interview, I realized my recording device malfunctioned and I lost our original interview. As a journalist, losing your interview recording is pretty embarrassing. I had to admit my mistake to her publicist and my editor and humbly re-ask for an interview with Laiona to make sure we got her story published in time to promote the opening of her new play. She was kind enough to oblige.

The second interview was early on a Saturday morning and our conversation was much more light-hearted and fun because we were, at that point, familiar with one another because of our first interview. She was incredibly inspiring, intelligent and kind.

Laiona spoke about her new upcoming play which she wrote and stars in, Little Girl Blue: The Nina Simone Musical:

The show is speaking to all the little girl blues out there in the world. The ones that have the desire to do something that may appear to be unreachable. I know when I was a little girl, I was always drawn to Shakespeare. I remember going to see my first Shakespeare play, which was Romeo and Juliet, and I saw that Romeo was a Black male. I was so shocked. I thought, “I didn’t know we could talk like that.” I thought it seemed so far from me, and I became more attracted to [theater].

When we think about art, oftentimes when you’re young it feels like it’s unreachable. For Nina, in particular, I picked the title because she always wanted to be known as the first Black classical pianist. She was born a child prodigy, and she recognized [musical] notes as a baby. So, that’s all she wanted, and that was one of her biggest heartbreaks. I think the walkaway for this show is for young people to feel, you can have that, too. Art is for everyone. Whether you want to be a ballerina or in opera, art is colorblind. She lived in a time where, it just wasn’t like that. I think now, the word “inclusion” is everywhere, which is very important.

I’m talking for all those little blue, Brown, Black girls and boys out there, or whoever identifies with wanting something that seems unreachable. -Laiona Michelle

Read my full interview with Laiona at New York Amsterdam News here, where she talks about overcoming the entertainment industries resistance towards Black brilliance and playwrights when she was beginning her career.

 

P / P Repost: Read Zora Neale Hurston’s Powerful letter to W.E.B Du Bois About Honoring the Ancestors

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Written and posted by Because of Them We Can

Zora Neale Hurston was putting on for the culture long before the phrase came into existence. Raised in the culturally affirming environment of Eatonville, Florida (the nation’s first incorporated African American town), she was exposed to Black excellence on a daily basis.

She went on to attend Howard University and later become Barnard College’s first Black graduate. As one of the leading lights of the Harlem Renaissance, she used her voice to advocate for the rights and protection of African Americans – as well as challenge her peers.

In doing so, she wrote a letter to fellow luminary W.E.B. Du Bois, the Dean of American Negro Artists, asking him why there wasn’t a cemetery for influential African Americans and challenging him to establish one. See for yourself.

 

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Continue reading →

P / P Master Class Lesson Two: Commitment to Surviving Rejection

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P / P Master Class is a series of writing advice for aspiring writers.

I know there are some writers that, from the outside, make their careers look easy. But attaining, and more importantly, maintaining a professional writing career, whether it be creative writing, nonfiction or journalism can take decades.

I personally began writing as soon as I learned how to write my letters and structure sentences, around the age of 5 or 6 years old. By the time I was 8, I was filling drugstore spiral notebooks with imaginative short stories. The stories ranged from innocent love stories, to fables to scary vampire tales. Once the internet became accessible to the public (1998 or so), I began blogging and building my own websites that functioned as glossily designed journals where I could digitally share my thoughts and youthful perspective of the world with anyone who wanted to connect with my writing.

Nonetheless, my writing career didn’t begin to gel and open professional doors until 2010 when I created a music blog called, TPR-Mag.com, which covered experimental, shoegaze and underground psych rock music from North America, Asia and Eastern and Western Europe.

Stroke of luck – you can network at any age.

In 2009, I moved into an old, refurbished loft building in Brooklyn, NY filled with dozens of young, ambitious, diverse people who were jump starting their creative arts, fashion design, performance and writing careers. We were a community and threw parties, spending as much time as we could together, bonding, making music and using our live/work spaces to craft and further whatever creative pursuits we were chasing at the time. It was a really fertile (and affordable) time in New York City. My neighbor, Isabela Raygoza (who has gone on to edit for MTV, Audible and is currently a regular writer for Rolling Stone), got a job as music editor for Remezcla.com, the largest English language Latin American culture website in the United States. Isa offered me a job as a writer and I jumped at the chance. Remezcla gave me a name for myself as a popular niche writer who covered underground music in Central and South America.

Respecting your paid opportunities.

When I created TPR-Mag.com (TPR was short for a small record label I started called The Process Records in 2008), I made sure I didn’t cover Latin American music on the blog because I wanted to respect my job at Remezcla. I know that seems like a very simple decision, but respecting the boundaries of your paid work opportunities is incredibly important. Continue reading →

P / P Reading List: 10 Books To Help Those Who Are Healing Through Grief

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The holiday season can be the hardest time of the year for those who have lost loved ones. I myself, have friends and family who are going through the grieving process and it inspired me to share some information about how to heal consciously, radically, transformationally and through love and patience. We are all living this life together as human beings. At any time, one of us can exit this Earth, leaving the people who love us sad, but able to keep us alive in their hearts and memories.

I hope you all have a happy holiday season and that you have inner peace, peace with your family and the self love to go on and grieve for as long as you need to. It can be a lifelong process. We at Publik / Private are here to encourage your healing in any way we can.

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Radical Joy for Hard Times

by Trebbe Johnson . North Atlantic Books

It’s OK That You’re Not OK: Meeting Grief and Loss in a Culture That Doesn’t Understand

by Megan Devine. Sounds True; Unabridged edition Continue reading →

P / P Master Class Lesson One: Time Management and Discipline – It’s Not What You Think

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P / P Master Class is a series of writing advice for aspiring writers.

Read tips below on how to sculpt your freelance writing routine

I’ve had a string of emails from young students and aspiring writers asking questions about how I broke into the writing industry. Before I can explain how to become a full time professional independent writer, author and journalist, I have to talk about time management and discipline. Since it’s the holidays and it’s too busy a time to give in person workshops, I’m going to be sharing professional advice on Publikprivate.org.

People who know me now think of me as a “morning person,” but the fact that I consistently get up early was totally circumstantial.

I’ve lived bi-coastalally for at least a decade. I would spend a 2-3 years in California (Los Angeles or the Bay Area) or on the East Coast (New York or Baltimore/DC) working, lecturing and writing. I learned how to wake up early by living in California which is three hours behind/earlier than New York. If my NYC or east coast deadline was noon, my deadline was 9am in California. Back then, there were times when I didn’t write my first draft until the morning of, so I would have to get up between 5am and 7am to write and hand in my article on time.

After a couple of years of having 9am deadlines, I naturally learned to get up early. The process wasn’t forced, it was motivated by the fact that I wanted to keep my job. It wasn’t something I was actively training myself to do. So, when I arrived back on the east coast, I’d get up between 8 and 10 am every morning and was able to focus on my work while living alone.

Now that I live in a family environment with a partner and have access to a larger kitchen and home in general, I began to really focus ro create a disciplined and consistent morning routine that started between 7:30am and 8 am every morning.

Time Management & Discipline – It’s Not What You Think

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Don’t just go with the flow in the morning – even if it is working well, you can always do better.

I started shaping a strict discipline though household management. I’d get up around 8am and immediately make a pot of coffee, clean my kitchen (and sometimes bathroom) and cook breakfast. I know this seems simple and old-fashioned, but if you want to be a freelance writer, you’re most likely going to be working from some form of home office. So, essentially you’ll be going from your bed straight to work without a commute.

I personally started looking at preparing breakfast and cleaning my home almost like a military discipline. Since I don’t jog in the morning or have a formal exercise routine, cleaning is my way of staying in shape, getting my heart pumping while providing a healthy, clean environment for myself and the other members of my home.

By the time I’ve made coffee, cleaned, cooked and took out the trash, my mind is sharp, my body had been active for 30 minutes to an hour, and I am ready to sit down and work on a tedious work project.

Your home IS your office.

If you don’t have a designated place to write and work at home, create one. Buy or attain a desk, and keep it organized. An office with papers, files and mail all over the place is not going to make you feel prepared to truly focus on what you have to do. It’s ok to work in your bed if you enjoy doing that, but make sure you make the bed before you get back in, maybe take a shower. Try not to work in your pajamas. Have accessible, comfy clothes you can change into before you get to work.

Getting up early is essential.

I am very aware of the “night writer” and the “day writer”. Some people are naturally nocturnal, but it is very likely as a freelancer, your editor or project leader works in a newsroom or is active and available to answer emails between 9am-5pm. It’s very important to have your first emails and replies in to your boss between 9:30am and 11am. That’s when they’ve had time to get their coffee and finish their own routines. Continue reading →

P / P Poetry: Three Poems from Alice Walker’s Once

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Once by Alice Walker

I like to ask questions. Many times, I like to request suggestions when it comes to what I read. The suggestions don’t have to be super informed, like a reader knowing the history of a book or the understanding of the way it influenced culture and society. Sometimes, I just want to hear a reader’s pure personal opinion, no matter how simplistic.

I bought this book because a young writer and bookstore staffer responded to my question of which of two poetry collections I should purchase (I won’t reveal what the other book I was considering was because I deeply respect both poets), by simply expressing that she loved Alice Walker. That was good enough for me in that instance. I trusted her admiration. Many people admire Alice Walker, but I knew this person was an avid reader and a good writer, whose work I am a fan of. I began to read the book and was glad I trusted her opinion.

Without further ado, here are three poems I enjoy from Alice Walker’s Once:

WARNING

To love a man wholly

love him

feet first

head down

eyes cold

closed

in depression.

 

It is too easy to love

a suffer

white eyes

godliness &

bronze

in the bright sun. – p. 68

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THE BLACK PRINCE

Very proud

he barely asked directions

to a nearby

hotel

but no

tired-eyed

little village chief

should spend his

first night

in chilly London

alone. – p. 69

Continue reading →

P / P Books: Two Books On Women’s Suffrage & The Ascent of Patriarchy Every Thinker Should Read

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Left: Anarchy and the Sex Question: Essays on Women and Emancipation, 1896-1926 by Emma Goldman (PM Press). Right: The Chalice and the Blade: Our History, Our Future by Riane Eisler (HarperCollins)

There are times when I read nearly a dozen books at one time. Recently, after a long pause from reading profusely, I decided to stock up on several books I wanted to delve into, reading many of them for a few chapters at a time, then moving on to another. I would sit and do this for three to four hours at a time. I have been this way since I can remember. This is not a declaration to incite others to become impressed or even inspired. It’s just what I tend to do.

But there are two books that have stood out for me amidst the myriad of classics, new and contemporary releases, poetry books and informative non-fiction manuscripts I’ve been reading: Anarchy and the Sex Question: Essays on Women and Emancipation, 1896-1926 by Emma Goldman and The Chalice and the Blade: Our History, Our Future by Riane Eisler. While reading them back to back, I realized the books compliment each other very well they exhibit starkly realistic examinations of the history of women (Emma was living the history while she was writing her essays), and a genuine concern for the well-being of women’s lives – anthropologically, socially, politically, sexually and psychologically.

They seem to flow together for me and I want to share my observation for anyone who, not just women and female identified intellectuals, but anyone who wants to learn more about the ascent of patriarchy and how it affects women’s experiences; existentially, tangibly and in several other different ways. I’d like to express that I believe these books will be satisfying.

You can find inexpensive used versions of both books. Anarchy and the Sex Question was published in 2016 as a pocket sized book by the independent publisher, PM Press. The book is sold new for 14.95 USD and can be found used for as little as 6 USD at any independent bookstore that carries Marxist, leftist and anarchist literature. The Chalice and the Blade’s first paperback edition was published by HarperCollins in 1988 and has since been published in 26 foreign editions. It was originally sold for 14 USD and can be found used for as little as 4 USD online or in independent bookstores that sell historical and vintage political science books. Both books are usually filed in the Political Science sections of bookstores.

In conclusion, these books aren’t hard to find, nor are they expensive by any means. I humbly suggest you read these books in unison and learn all you can about the history of women and the brilliant authors who shared their thoughts, research and empathy for the advancement of equality of women and humankind.

 

Publik / Private 2018 Fall & Winter Reading List

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Hunger: A Memoir of Body by Roxane Gay

It’s been at least a year since I’ve compiled a reading list. To be frank, it is because I haven’t been reading as much as I would have liked earlier this year. The beginning of 2018 has been filled with work, travel, family and dealing with my own health issues. I have to admit that I am a bit embarrassed with the fact that I began to read Roxane Gay’s Hunger this month (October), even though it was released in June of 2017.

When I was made aware of the release of Hunger, all I could do was think, “I’m glad she waited to tell her story and address her body on her own terms.” As a writer who understands marketing, demographic targeting and the pressure of the publishing industry, I was so happy Gay wasn’t convinced to make her memoir her debut release. She wasn’t pushed to give everything she had, only to end up emptied and reconnecting with her trauma before her sophomore book. It goes without saying that Roxane Gay’s body is her own, and in waiting to get to a point where her career was mature she had the creative control that gave her the opportunity to reveal her private life only when she was ready.

And when I finally read the book, I was relieved, inspired and comforted. Stylistically, she wrote in a way that I have been criticized for – writing with vulnerability and sensitivity. Many times her sentences were redundant, which showed her how she emotionally struggled to get through every word. Her structure was human, not sterilized and overly polished. I needed to read this book at the time I read it. I would not have been able to sit with it and understand it months ago, before I came to peace with my own body.

Along with Roxane Gay’s Hunger: A Memoir of Body, here are other books I have been reading and will be completing this winter. I highly recommend them. They’re feeding me.

Loose Canons: Notes on the Culture Wars by Henry Louis Gates Jr. Continue reading →