New Voices in NOLA

It was one year ago that I was making my way to New Orleans. From there I travelled along the Gulf Coast, visiting communities and good friends, many who’s lives had been dramatically effected by the Federal Flood and hurricane Katrina.

Jay wrote to me a few weeks ago to say that he was heading there, to give some seminars or talks on videoblogging. More recently he sent me a message talking about how great it was to be there, and the good news: a new NOLA videoblog has launched.  Despite all the great voices, like Dambala, Morwen, and Ray, who write about the city’s issues on a regular basis, there has long been a lack of consitent video blogging on these topics.  Now, Citizen’s City Hall looks like a great contender to fill that void.

-Nice job Jay, and welcome CCH!

Scarring a Community

I have a scar on my forehead.

The year was probably 1986 and a large object fell into my forehead.

Like any ironbound (newark) mother would, my mother carried me to the car and sped to St. James hospital for treatment.

I have a bellybutton. (an innie in fact)

The year was 1979 and my mother gave birth to me on a December afternoon.

Like so many ironbound children born of immigrant families from every corner of the planet, I came into the world in the maternity ward of St. James hospital. A hospital so dedicated to serving the multilingual community, it functioned in English, Portuguese, and Spanish.

While our family grew older and settled in the suburbs outside the city, St. James never stopped being that place… whenever I would go down Jefferson St., that steadfast anchor that commanded the respect and appreciation of the community.

Last week, in the face of all the hard work of volunteers, hospital staff, and concerned citizens, the corporation that owns St. James -closed it down. Cost savings. Business decisions. We regret to inform you…

The collapse of the United States, as a nation made for and by the people continues, and one more working class community has one more giant scar to prove it.

bmtv80 Winter Soldier, from Paris

Greetings from Paris. The following video entry was put together to direct more attention to the extremely important gathering a few weeks ago in the US called Winter Soldier. It was organized by the Iraq Veterans Against the War organization and the stories you will hear… the testimony.. well.. every citizen should have to listen and relisten whenever they start to think that war is ever an option or an answer.

Video excerpt is from democracynow and ivaw

Layers of Cuba

Im a news hound. Especially for certain topics, certain parts of the world, or certain journalists…. I virtually clip tons of things on the average day. Lately one of the frequent topics that I’ve paid extra attention to, is Cuba.

Surely Im not alone, but unlike people who are only hoping for a collapse of the political system there, I’m more interested to hear about people’s experiences, and learn about the different layers that make up today’s Cuba.

One of my favorite sources, who’s podcast interviews lately have me rewinding and listening twice or three times even, just to hear the details again, is RadioOpen Source. Chris has been speaking with different people with very different connections with Cuba, and it has made for some educational and eye opening audio.

The first guest was Patrick Symmes. I love this author for a book that mr. D-Rock gave me many years ago, Chasing Ché. Well, he’s been working on a book about Cubans and Cuba and spending alot of time there, he has some very interesting things to share from those adventures.

The second is a man by the name of Adrian Lopez Denis, a social historian and son of a Cuban doctor, who’s descriptions of Cuba dispel alot of the stories we’ve always heard. He also points out the very symbolic fact that while after his stepping-down, big news magazines used images of cigars to represent Fidel, the man had actually quit smoking 40 years ago. But beyond that he uncovers alot of facts about culture and society that are really worth listening to.

And while all this is going on, I’ve been amazed to watch my blogger friend Alexis Oriol, go from being a doctor for the Cuban medical corps in East Timor, to being a refugee without a country, to being a new resident of Miami. An unbelievable turn of events that has me asking out loud sometimes, “did this really happen”. But the answer is yes, and if you read spanish at all, I recommend reading through the blog. OR you can wait a few months because Alexis is sure to become an english language blogger and more American than most Americans (like me, for example)

bm255 Bihari People; Forgotten and Left Stateless in Bangladesh

Imagine having no rights, no home, and no country. Now imagine that on top of that, you live amongst hundreds of thousands of other people in a makeshift camp for over 30 years. This is just part of the story that the people known as Bihari’s endure everyday in Bangladesh. My guest, documentary film maker Shafiur Rahman has made a film on this very topic, helps explain the past, present, and all the details that the world seems to ignore on a regular basis, of how an entire population can be declared stateless and without rights.

His film, The Promised Land (available via amazon.uk)

His blog, Imperfect World

The wikipedia entry on the Bihari people

Music:

Courtesy of Shafiur, from the film.

note: (there is alot of white noise in this recording as I was recording it under unfamiliar circumstances and Im under alot of stress these days so no need to complain about it, thank you.)

Kareem Knows

Blogging can be revolutionary. Personal publishing, this thing that we do, it can be special if we really use it to challenge tired old conventions and power structures and rules about who can talk to who and about what. But that doesn’t mean that all blogging IS revolutionary. Alot of it is just marketing and regurgitated nothing.

The hardest part of this game, besides getting people to listen.. to read.. to come try it, is to get people with something useful and important to say… to use this medium to say it. Not only to use it to say something, but to explore the limits and the many facets of personal publishing.. because there are so many avenues you can take. Often times I meet amazing people who are simply too busy or don’t understand how this thing.. this blogging world.. could be useful for their work.

Thanks to Tony Pierce and the LAtimes, I’ve become a subscriber to a blog that embodies what happens when someone with so much wisdom to share, dives into blogging with an open mind and an open heart. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is a name that might seem super-human to many of us, a legend to say the least. But what is truely beautiful, I find, is that through his blogging over the past few months, what you come to understand is not just some words of wisdom from someone who has done great things with his life, you come to see that this man has many layers, much wisdom to share, and many questions to ask about the world around us. Instead of sitting up on his blog like some god, inaccessible to the mortals, he is instead the exact opposite. Taking questions from his readers, asking questions of those many of us would like to hear from.. and best all.. teaching.. sharing knowledge. His Black History blogging, for example, is extremely interesting and a great example of how blogging is a chance for us to learn together, prominently presenting important information that is out there.. but so often buried in the daily routine and even by our so-called education systems.

I’m enjoying Kareem’s blog so much, I wanted to recommend it to you the readers. If you’ve been looking for some straight from the heart blogging, by someone with a thirst for more knowledge and understanding, this is the blog you’ve been waiting for. Or maybe you like yoga, history, basketball, politics, health, etc… you’ll find that there as well.