I've been thinkin a lot lately about this blog thing. I've figured out that I am not a "blogger." What I mean by this is not that I don't think I can be good at writing cute things for everyone to read. I can do that.
What I do mean is a little complicated and as usual with me there is a story to tell. Around about 1999 I was really well known for my writing of poetry which I would read at Speakfire and other open mics round about Atlanta. Then I stopped. In a moment of disgust I realized that I could not, while maintaining respect for myself and the medium (poetry) in general, continue to participate in the over-exposed, comercialized forum of "open mics." My biggest concern was aggravated when people started accusing me of being a "spoken word artist."
I hate spoken word. Why? Because I noticed that every black girl with seemingly no clue about the English language nor an iota of capacity as a writer or a poet had taken up pen and pad and started to call themselves "spoken word artist." I decided that the movie Love Jones was mostly to blame and wrote off the form completely. I have not looked back. I could not bare to hear another black girl talk about the flowing rivers of honey between her thighs! Even more I grew to anticipate with great trepidation the angry fuck-it-all, what-do-you-mean-I-need-therapy-?- "poetry. "Nor could I stomach the brother-man-bravado speak about the prowess of his penis delivered in the trite sing-song pseudo rhyme of Tigra and Bunny. Don't get me wrong, I like the cars that go boom too! But I would never sit idly while Tigra and Bunny defined what they do as poetry. I could abide less the insistence by the queues of college freshman, scorned men and women, and self proclaimed love doctors, that they too are poets.
Thus I have begun referring to "spoken word" as "chittlin circuit poetry." I, subsequently avoid open mics and other spoken word venues like the proverbial plague.
This brings me to Blogging. I discovered it a little late and decided that it would be a great low pressure way for me to deliver some of my ideas into cyberspace. I did not care who read my blog and thus blogged like I did not care. Anything that was on my mind became the topics of my blog post.
I found that I was doing it wrong. You see, what I have discovered is that there is a predetermined model of Blogging for Black gay men. The essential components are as follows:
-A super-model aspiring Black fag
-Glamour shots of myself to post on the face of my blog
-Glamour shots of myself to ad to every new post
-An adequate suply of "artistic nudes" of myself for every other post
-A huge predisposition toward self promotion
-A heavily celebrated but mediocre writing ability
-At least 60 black educated butch-queens who profess to want to mentor me that secretly actually are hoping to bed me once I have become to myself, like them, undesirable because of age and body image issues.
I and my blogging have been found lacking. I have thus ignored my blogg with the same disdain that I have ignored spoken word.
What I believe about both is that they have become the forms of people with underdeveloped social skills who are unable to act out their dating dance in realtime and the real world and thus result to the passive pandering of their own sexuality through spoken word and blogging.
What do you think? I'm interested in hearing from bloggers. Particularly those who have wallpapered their bloggs with glamour shots and "artistic nudes."
Wednesday, March 01, 2006
Thursday, August 18, 2005
Al Sharpton leads a campaign, Farrakhan hugs Boikin and Kanye loves His Cousin
"It's such a change
For us to live so independently
Freedom, you see, has got our hearts singing so joyfully
Just look about
You owe it to yourself to check it out
Can't you feel a brand new day?
Can't you feel a brand new day?
Can't you feel a brand new day?
Can't you feel a brand new day?"
Click Here for FULL Brand New Day Lyrics
Are you queers serious?
I can see the scene playing in my head as I delete 13 forwards of the Kanye West story, 11 forwards of the Al Sharpton story and 7 or so emails emploring me to get involved with the planning for the Millions More March.
That ever illusive nod.
46% - "The Sky Is Falling! The Sky Is Falling!"
HIV Prevalence, Unrecognized Infection, and HIV Testing Among Men Who Have Sex with Men --- Five U.S. Cities, June 2004--April 2005
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5424a2.htm
http://www.geocities.com/mjloundy/
"So Goosey Poosey joined Cocky Locky, Henny Penny and Chicken Little, and they went along as fast as they could."
Remember the folk tale Chicken Little? Well I have been living a Chicken Little nightmare for the last 10 years or so. A lot of Black gay men have AIDS and HIV. So what else is new? Well, a study published in the most recent MMWR in which 46% of Black gay men in 5 cities were found to be HIV positive, that's what's new. Now, Chicken Little, Henny Penny, Cocky Locky and Goosey Poosey all have articles, open letters, social marketing campaigns, and subsequent research designed to address this new and emerging issue. How sweet. The only crazy thing is that this is not a new and emerging issue!!
As recently as 2004 an article published in MMWR suggested that a third of Black MSM at an Historically Black College somewhere in the Carolinas were HIV positive.
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5332a1.htm
In 2002 we heard about young Black MSM in six cities who tested positive: Out of a total 920, 150 tested HIV positive! That's 16% and nearly all of them were unaware of their status.
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5133a1.htm
Remember in 2000, in response to an MMWR article, Chicken Little (All Ya'll), Penny Henny yet in tow, was busy again running to tell the king that the sky was falling.
Again in 2000 we heard that racial and ethic minority men were accounting for an increased number of infections and that among these men African Americans were the most impacted.
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm4901a2.htm
For the last 10 years my Chicken Little nightmare has been the image of me working my a#% off to prevent the spread of HIV and every two years looking up to see the motley crew, Chicken Little, Henny Penny, Goosey Poosey, and Cocky Locky running to tell the king that the sky is falling!
Now once again we're running to tell the king.
"The sky is falling!" cried Chicken Little. "We must tell the king."
"I know a shortcut to the palace," said Foxy woxy sweetly. "Come and follow me."
"But wicked Foxy Woxy did not lead the others to the palace. He led them right up to the entrance of his foxhole. Once they were inside, Foxy Woxy was planning to gobble them up!"
The question that remains for me is: How many researchers, MMWR articles, and morbid study findings do we need to know that it's bad. How long will our HIV prevention efforts be reactionary and guided by hysteria? I've often wondered what kind of a living I could make as a researcher if I, once every two years sent out an email that said: "It's bad, and it's getting worse." I think I could save CDC and countless universities millions of research dollars. Dollars that could quite possibly go to fund the prevention efforts of the organizations that would be charged to react to my declarations.
I say all this to say: It's bad, and it's getting worse. We can't possibly be surprised when these data emerge to remind us. So why are we all running around with chicken little screaming "The sky is falling!"? The sky has been falling for a while! I say, "To hell with the king", cover your head!
"After that day, Chicken Little always carried an umbrella with her when she walked in the woods..."
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