B is for Books: The Alchemist

the undeniable.

so before i begin let me say, don’t be fooled by the title of this post, this book is def ‘one of my favorite things’ no less so than the other books i’ve just blogged about. i just decided not to include that tag here cause ive been overusing it a bit. thats not the purpose of the “A few of My Favorite Things” tag- i will only blog about my favorite books…or the ones i really really hate i suppose…tho i cant imagine wasting any more time on them than the time i spent reading them.

anyway, i’ve been on a reading binge lately (as my last couple of posts prove). glad to have some time to read fiction and glad to have the freedom to read what i choose (tho i must admit and give thanks for being blessed with many professors who have assigned fantastic reads both fictional and not).

anyway, a couple of weeks ago, before i’d read Parable of the Sower, and before I’d reread The Bluest Eye, I’d read: The Alchemist.

as i shared in my post about the bluest eye, i’d been meaning to read the alchemist forever. I’d heard that it was one of those undeniable amazing books, the kind that everyone must read because it appeals to something human inside all of us and in so doing becomes necessary.

well i read it and i agreed. I’d been following the author, paulo Cohelo, on twitter for some time and having read many of his blog posts and the quick “2 minute reads” that he regularly posts (his way of not only keeping people, his fans the world over, reading but also thinking and living critically and attentively with all of themselves), so i was already a fan. i knew i loved how he thinks and writes so it was really just about waiting for the right time, for my life to bring me to my own copy of it.

anyway, my posts are getting uncharacteristically long and personal- which im enjoying and appreciating actually- but i dont particularly feel like overwriting right now and i KNOW there’s nothing profound i could say to encourage anyone to read this book except for that you must. even i, having already read it, must read it again. and many more times in my life.

instead i offer the promise of eventual Alchemist quotables and the promise that Coelho’s writing will pull at your heart strings as forcefully and achingly wonderfully as your favorite lyric sung by your favorite singer in gut-wrenchingest part of your favorite song.

enjoy!

peace.paz.selam.

a Dreamer and a WASP: Charlie Rose interviews Octavia Butler

it’s so funny watching charlie rose fumble over himself,  interrupting her, trying so hard to, and to appear to, connect with and really understand her: ignorantly leaping into so many assumptions and misunderstandings despite his still young, white, male benevolent good intentions. i’ve seen him do this a number of times in his early career interviews.

and octavia butler all the more amazing and just uniquely dope as she is for being SoOoOoO patient, calm, quiet, sweet and never, ever ever making him feel as stupid or awkward as she could have. probably because she could see he already knew how much he was embarrassing himself.

something about her, the little i know about her rough unfairly unglamorous life and unfortunate and untimely death, the fact that she seems to retreat into herself and that as dope and unique as she was i can imagine all the flack she received for being so different- beautiful, historically pained peoples can be very harsh sometimes-makes me a little sad when i watch and think about her. but still she was very resilient and however ridiculous and maybe even audacious of me, i feel pride for her.

back to rose for a second tho. make no mistake, having seen a number of his other interviews, im a fan. he’s become quite great. but as for this charlie rose: some trick of the trade, or stage make-up i suspect, was the only thing keeping his face from turning beet red as it should have. how interesting to see how much he has grown, and learned, in his years of good journalism.

we’ve gotta have patience with the privilege- rather the ignorance born of it- of others, as we hope other will have patience with our own.

many thanks and blessings to Octavia Butler, may her soul rest forever in so much peace.

-peace.paz.selam.

B is for Books x A Few of My Favorite Things: Octavia Butler

Octavia E. Butler: The Dreamer

 

May your heavenly dreams be as fanciful- and far more peaceful and rested- as your earthly ones. amen. 

just finished reading my fourth Octavia E. Butler novel. the first, and my favorite of her’s that i’ve read is Wild Seed. my cousin Buchu (Daniel the great) not only suggested that me and my cousin Elizabeth read it, he immediately went to Barnes & Noble and purchased it for us. like that. and, as all things Buchu promotes, it.is.incredible. Perhaps one of the most creative stories I have ever encountered. After Wildseed I read Mind of My Mind (the next in that series),  Kindred (a stand-alone novel, and Butler’s most popular) and, as of about an hour ago, Parable of the Sower (the first in a separate two part series). Like all of her books, it was not only an incredibly easy-breezy read, I couldn’t put it down: read it in 3 days. Considering that I work 8 hour days, that’s not a testimony to my reading but a testimony to the pure goodness of her writing.

Wild Seed is still my favorite, i think because it was my first and you never forget the first time. i dont know what else to say except that, even without that having been the first science-fiction novel I’ve read (OH YEAH, DID I FORGET TO MENTION SHE’S A BLACK, FEMALE SCIENCE FICTION WRITER???? YOU.BETTA.WEEEERRRRRRKKKKK), i had not, and still have not, ever read or come across anything that creative, inventive and wonderful.

that said, Parable of the Sower is a different kind of favorite of her’s for me.

because it’s the first one that could be real.

because i think it will be real someday.

because despite that it was written decades ago and set in, what is for us a not so distant future (2024-2027), it is the only thing i have read that has actually thoroughly conceptualized and expanded upon a future that I, and many over-the-edge environmentalist, fear is in store for this planet in the future. i’ve come to accept that anything that drastic and terrible and frigtening will not happen for another 100 years, earliest, but i’m still pretty sure, and frightened that it will happen. like the main character, im pretty sure the destiny of the human race lies in the stars. dead serious.

that said, i intend to keep this book forever. to make my kids read it, and every one i love. and pray all the dirty greedy capitalists read it too so they can see the future they’re ensuring for our progeny by destroying the planet.

too intense???? i ain’t sorry doeeeeeee

fun fact!: the novel’s main character creates, rather “observes”, a religion called “Earthseed” and writes a bible-type book called “Earthseed: the Book of the Living” (amazing dope qouteables soon to come!!) which later, years after the book was published, some turnt-up enviornmentalists turned into an actual religion calledSolSeed. (lmfaoooo! on the real though, why can’t people just come across goodness and accept it, fold it into their lives, put it to practice and keep it pushing??? wwwwhhhhhyyyyy a whole new faith???? wwwhhhyyyy??? lmfao. what.and.ever.)

anyway, read Octavia E. Butler and enjoy her.

blessings,

-peace.paz.selam.

B is for Books x A Few of My Favorite Things: Toni Morrison & “The Bluest Eye”

reposted from aplaceforpeace.tumblr.com 7.27.11

words cannot even describe how i feel right now except to say that it has been a while since i have so thoroughly loved a piece of work that i almost envied the talent which created that thing that i so dearly have fallen for.

i can name those times, as well as the ones that came close to them in extremity of emotion.

times i’ve fallen so hard i’ve wanted to im(OR)ex-plode (in no particular order):

1. when I saw the Salvador Dali exhibit @LACMA w Sebastian (an experience so good i wrote about it in my transfer application’s college essay)

2. when I watched Radiant Child and Jean-Michel Basquiat fought a very difficult duel w Salvador Dali in my heart for many months and eventually emerged my new favorite artist, before which, before Dali that is, there were none.

3. when I read Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man and realized, simultaneously, that I had never been so thoroughly defeated by an inanimate object and that it was, and still is, my favorite book.

4. lauryn hill.

5. watching, in awe, alone, high up in the nosebleeds of the Zellerbach Theatre (where my graduation would be held two years later- just rerealized how goodGodis), Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz and Lincoln Center Orchestra. a experience that not only sent me deep, spiritual, unspoken but unmistakeable blessings on the rest of my time at Berkeley, but what is more, had me convinced hip-hop could be saved if we all relearned how to hear music- not even to hear it the way i imagine they can (psh, in.my.dreams) but simply to hear it as they played it. went home and typed my heart out till my fingers gave out- thats not including what i pounded into my phone during the intermission- and promised to see them as many times in my lifetime as i can. a promise i’ve already broken to myself once cause my flakiness makes no exception, even for myself, apparently. but also a promise i’ve every intention to keep.

5. just now, when i finished, for the SECOND time, reading Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye. and realizing that i had missed SOOO much more than i could have imagined, wondered, as i did when I saw Dali at LACMA, what it must feel like for an artist to have created a piece that, i imagined, turned out exactly the way the artist must have intended it to. that is until i read the afterward and upon taking in her own critique of her writing (and feeling excitedly honored that hers of it matched mine! ….groupie much?), as well as her explanations for why she pursued writing it the way she did, i completely fell apart into awe-full praise.

the margins of my copy are LITERALLY filled with the words “wow” and “OMG”: the most profound comment i could muster (OMG isnt even a word!) in the middle ofexperiencing this book. i had to seriously stop myself from underlining every sentence. and on many pages i happily failed. i told myself numerous times in the process that i had to share “this” quote on my blog or twitter or FB because it was too good for everyone not to know…how could there be so many of them in one book?

how could anything be so good?

the last page of my copy reads the following happily silly self-important note to self that only

a. children write in their diaries or

b. adults write in the margins of wonderful books when the sheer near-divinityof something has reduced them to childlike giddiness

verbatum:

“I ❤ Toni Amazing Morrison.

-added to the list of writers I want to BE when i grow up-more-

in no particular order:

Arundhati Roy

Ralph Ellison (w/ more lucidity and accessibility)

Albert Camus

Octavia Butler’s creativity

Toni Morrison

w/ a closing line like Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart

Insha Allah!”

i then proceeded to tweet

“”The Bluest Eye” is one of the best compilations of words.period. i NEEDED the reread and all the time between the 1st & 2nd.”

and

” Morrison hasjoined Basquiat on thelist of”mydarlings”alist whch exists onlyNmyheart&is as cnsequential2mylife as itis ncnsequential2theworld ”

not caring as i often do (or don’t?) whether or not anyone could even understand that. unable to fit “#GENIUS” into either tweet i had to come here, despite that i’ve really come to loathe tumblr, to share it.

I’ve even broken from my usual practice of partitioning my posts so they’re not super long because, well, this is MY place for peace and who cares whats user friendly on a page that belongs to me and that ive come to dislike anyway!!!

in conclusion, before i formulate the list of “times that came close to the earth-shattering-AND-building love of a peice of work that both inspires and intimidates your (my) own pursuit–cause im actually quite interested to realize whats on this list cause i think its only partially formed in my head and im getting more excited at the thought of living to add to it (God willing)–damn i forgot my “in conclusion”….but im pretty positive it was GO READ THE BLUEST EYE. (i’d add “NOW” but like has taught me that we are not always ready for good things and that Life, if we allow it, is divinely awesome at presenting things to us when we have baked to the perfection of of needing that thing at that time…nah mean?? like i bought Fanon’s Wretched of the Earth a while ago- and its not like i’ve only heard about how good it is, I’ve read excerpts for a class so i’ve, partially, experienced the goodness. still, its been sitting on my shelf for well over half a year, and up until a week ago- when i gave up trying to force it onto myself, was even in my purse. it’s just not time yet. i finally read the Alchemist (thats one that i’ll put on the list below but is def in a limbo between that and the list above) a few weeks ago after years of meaning to read it after Giddy suggested it to me, offered to lend it to me, then retracted cause her brother- was like 11 or something!- was reading it at the time. babygenius. i couldnt even be mad though cause it wasnt the time. just like i finally reread The Bluest Eye after after nearly 8 years of knowing I’d have to reread it. YESSIR i knew as SOON as i put the book down that i had missed most of it cause it had flown light years above my head and that, eventually, i’d have to retackle. I feel pretty successful about this re-tackle actually. im PRAY that one day, hopefully not too long from now, i will find myself on the other side of Invisible Man with as much clarity about it as i feel i have about The Bluest Eye. to “conquer” that book has been my dream since i read it, and it kicked me in the teeth American History X style. then again when I had to reread the introduction in Daniel Walker’s AMAZING intro to afroam class my sophomore year and in finally understanding that little chunk realized i had not even understood, the first time, what i thought i had- but at least was given hope that i am now capable.or would be. I prob wont muster up the courage to even try again in a while tho.

on a not so separate note, before i get to said list (longest “in conclusion” EVER!), ishould shall mention that i put on hold today (but did not pick up cause im a flake and cause i know i’ll want to purchase something new and fun and beautiful this weekend anyway cause i -as well as my bank account-have just found out that is how my body reacts to sun light coming through my window on saturday AND sunday mornings so i might as well wait and plan around my new accepted shopaholism) a copy of Doestoevsky’s Notes from the Underground, another book i have been meaning to read since it was introduced to me in Anaya Roy’s highly-contested-but-still-adored-and-appreciated-heavily-by-me Global Poverty and Practice 115 “Challenges and Hopes in the New Millennium” course two years ago. everything i’ve heard about it makes my mouth water at…actually im not going to mention why i cant wait to read it, why i know im not yet ready for it but why i feel it may profoundly change my academic life.

two things have just occured to me:

1.perhaps i’ve said to much here where anyone can read me and should have written this as another “lost page” to myself. my blogs not really a place for people to be all up in my head.

2. perhaps, and this is related to the above, it’s too late and as often happens when i write my thoughts this late, ive far surpassed the point of human lucidity.

3. the third second thing: im starving

4. fourthly secondly, it’s time for that list and the end of this post.

without further ado

times that came close to the earth-shattering-AND-building love of a peice of work that both inspires and intimidates my own pursuit (in no particular order):

a. two weeks ago when i was reading Paulo Cohelo’s The Alchemist (and was like “OMG must blog immediately about how amazing this is”- post soon to come. it really was that good, though, i just got busy aaaannnddd then immediately started bluest eye which obvi overshadowed)

1. sophomore year in high school when i read Albert Camus’ The Stranger and wished i could capture human thought that effectively and write, speak, even think, with that kind of genius clarity. a clarity so thorough it seems simple and is every bit as refreshing as simplicity, straight up cold water as it courses through a feverish body refreshing. like that son.

2. when i watched Spike Lee’s Bamboozled – no, more specifically, when i saw the shot of the entire audience in black face and genuinely did.not.know.what.i.was.feeling.

3. this specific version of Thelonious Monk’s ‘Round Midnight

4. this version of Miles Davis’ Blue in Green

5. so much other good stuff i can’t even share it cause im so thoroughly filled with gratitude for the goodness in my life i’ve no choice but to down this jar of water close my comp and curl up into bed with my thoughts and this blessedawarenessofmyblessings… and the copy of Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower that i got last week when i got the bluest eye-just cause im bold and never know, rather never heed, my limit.

goodnight, much love, and so many blessings.

bethel

“i find it hard to say…”

A Tribe Called Quest- I Left My Wallet in El Segundo

like i said i would in my video, just saw Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest and besides the fact that i now want to marry either ali shaheed muhammad (i’ll convert, haaaayyyyy) OR q-tip —yes, either is fine cause their both foine— it just made me hellaaaaaa miss my tribe jam sessions. made me remember when my brother put me up on game w hella tribe (and kast, d’angelo, nas, roots, common n some mo sht- but thats a story for another time) all at once and i straight up FELL.in.love.

my myspace was, like my twitter has been since i made it in ’09, covered in Tribe-ness!

it also super made regret never seeing them live (the only things that makes me forgive my brother for the fact that i missed their reunion show at El Rey in LA cause i was w my parents moving him to chicago is the fact that he’s the one who put me on game in the first place).

anyway, check the rhyme film. tho, if your a fan i need not say more.

pretty cool that phife was unexpectedly in the theatre while i was watching AND wearing Cal Berkeley gear throughout the film- hhaaayyy!!!!

critiques? yeah, for sure. shame on mike rapaport for falling into the q-tip is the leader of tribe game by giving him a bit more time, and for failing to note consequence at all except the credits (tho i dont really believe consequence was a member so its coo i suppose). but overall way more good than bad. plus i cant hate too much, ive been waiting for this movie since Eden put me on game over a year ago and sent me that hypebeast interview w a still editing mike rapaport.

in the meantime, enjoy what i just learned was the tribe’s first ever video and please peep the juvenile awkward/foolishness. to die for.

enjoy!

peace.paz.selam.

Life Lessons: ALWAYS.PACK.MATCHES.

1. if your inclined to fill your lungs with smoke, then you’ve experienced being out somewhere and stuck with no lighter. Trust, you’ll be thankful for that emergency pack of matches at the bottom of your purse or backpack or glove compartment. Pretty inconvenient if you’re a pipe enthusiast, however if your a pape roller those matches can be sooo crucial for that initial and one-time only light-up.
2.   and this ones so #outtapocket but so #real: If you find yourself in need of a release, the bowel moving kind, but your somewhere with people not understanding of your need to engage in a sometimes foul smelling bodily function who are likely to make you feel embarrassed about it, matches surprisingly will make a smell disappear as quickly as they burn out. Just strike a match and walk around the bathroom until it goes out. The smell will be gone and so will that pang in your tummy! nah, furrealdoe, this works, scouts honor.

you’ll thank me, i’ll wait.

peace.paz.selam.

Basquiat

i.am.beyond excited for this.

firstly there is such little out there about Jean-Michel Basquiat in comparison to other incredible artisits.

secondly a lot of what’s out is the SAMO (jeanmichel-heads get it. -apologies i had to)

anyway suffice to say i was unexpectedly at the right place (Pegasus books on shattuck) at the right time (art coffee table book sale time) and for the FIRST time found a Basquiat coffee table book that was reasonably, BEYOND reasonably, priced.

this man is my FAVORITE artist… it was Salvador Dali for a long time but Basquiat, who i refer to as my darling, came and gave Dali a run for his money…they still compete sometimes, the geniuses.

anyway PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do yourselves a favor and watch The Radiant Childwhich is a doc i do take some issue with but still so much rare Basquiat footage you can’t help but fall in love and sorrow. much more on this soon to come.

enjoy!

peace.paz.selam.

“DAASSSEEETTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!””

i cant even take it.

s/o to emu and henock, and tolcha the real dude for weschestuh!!!!!

enjoy!

peace.paz.selam.

Nature is by FAR the DOPEST Ethiopian…

God’s Pharmacy

and still they say there’s no God and nothing is connected.

womp. wake the flying eff up.

s/o to amaya for putting me up on game!

enjoy!

peace.paz.selam.

More CK, Louis that is…

too soon for yet another louis ck post?????

TOO BAD! i couldn’t help it, yoni recently sent me louie’s npr interview, which too was amazing, and after adding daniel tosh on twitter i found out that louie too has a twitter and that was it. in the process of reading damn near all his tweets i came upon so much louis ck gold it wasnt even funny (actually it was all ridiculuosly funny which is why i think hes the illis.)

anyway, HOW COULD YOU NOT ADORE A MAN WHO SPENT 20 STRAIGHT MINS ASKING DONALD RUMSFELD, IN ALL SERIOUSNESS, WHETHER OR NOT HE IS INFACT AN ALIEN MAN-EATING LIZARD???

seriously, he DEMANDED an answer to the question.

nuff said.

enjoy!

peace.paz.selam

From Pariah to the Pinnacle: U.S. Women’s Soccer Goalie Hope Solo [TIME]

sidenote: this game was only the second soccer game i’ve ever watched in my life (the first was last summer’s Ghana v. Uruguay world cup game) but this, like that one, convinced me soccer is one of the most fascinating spectator sports EVER. ready to be hooked. this sunday makes three? ::::

—

By SEAN GREGORY

U.S. goalkeeper Hope Solo grabs the ball and falls on Brazilian defender Rosana during the quarterfinal match of the FIFA Women’s World Cup on July 10, 2011, in Dresden, Germany

There are your standard long flights, like trans-Pacific hauls from China to Seattle. Then there are horrifically long flights, like the trans-Pacific haul from China to Seattle that Hope Solo took in September of 2007.

Richard Preston: Climbing the World’s Biggest Trees [TED.com]

as really struck by his particular use of the word “articulate” …never heard it used like that… i down.

anyway the whole video’s a bit as up in the air as the tall @$$ trees he’s talking about,
STILL, the sheer magnitude… can you imagine anything that large and old??
lying to yourself if you say its not fascinating

enjoy!

peace.paz.selam

A Few of My Favorite Things: Earl Grey x Milk x Honey

s/o to amaya and Hannah ketura moore (who should be starting her own tumblr ASAP to send us lovely news from the Brazilian coast) for putting me on game!

Now listen, I know Earl Grey is nothing new, nor is this trifecta so don’t be a pompous @$$ and proclaim that you’ve “BEEEEEEEEEN on game.” Good for you, no one cares! Nah seriously tho good for you cause ive been missing out, as have all of you yet to try this. Please do something nice for yourself. If you don’t want to commit and buy a whole box just go to your favorite coffee shop and ask for a cup.

If you wanna be fancy like Amaya, you can ask to have some lavender thrown in there too (even.better).

thanks to hannah’s mom Anne for giving me a box, best bday gift ever, my mornings are about to be just LLOOOVVEELLLYYY!!

enjoy!

peace.paz.selam.

Hillary Clinton Gives Green Light for Israeli Attack on Gaza Flotilla [ElectronicIntifada.net]

to quote manal “…bish”

In comments yesterday, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton seemed to lay the ground – indeed almost provide a green light – for an Israeli military attack on the upcoming Gaza Freedom Flotilla, which will include the US Boat to Gaza.

Among the passengers aboard the American boat will be 87-year old Kindertransport survivor Hedy Epstein, and author and poet Alice Walker. In all it is expected that about 10 ships, carrying 1000 people from over 20 countries will take part.