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    Interview: Innervisions: The Ego, Soul and Paradoxes of Black Vision 

    by
    Simone
    Published on February 11, 2010 11:32 AM  Number of Views: 93 
    Categories:
    1. In the Time of Poets
    Article Preview

    “Oftentimes I ask people, ‘What came first, the truth or a lie?’ The answer is the truth, because a lie is the distortion or omission of the truth. Lies cannot exist without the truth, whereas the truth fundamentally exists on its own.”

    These are the analytical meditations of Kevin Bishop, aka Black Vision, poet, thinker, myth maker, visionary, father and son hailing from Kings County, Brooklyn, New York.

    Such measures of inquiry and contemplation are at the essence of his debut collection of poems, “The Paradoxical Effects of Black Vision,” released in 2008 through Lulu Publishing after five years of development. who is also a father of two, explains. “I feel the best description is placing an ice cube in water. The solid ice represents the physical body and the liquid represents the spiritual state. They exist on different vibrational levels, but share [the] same essence which is water.” [/SIZE]
    “I feel that anyone who claims to have the ultimate truth is actually stunted in the spiritual maturity and mental flexibility needed to discern the truth on different levels.”- Kevin Bishop, author of The Paradoxical Effects of Black Vision

    In realizing a foundation from which all perception and consciousness emerges, Bishop has found a more complete universal perspective.

    “Through my experiences I have learned how opposites are more compliment ...
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    Interview: Around the World and Back Again 

    by
    Simone
    Published on December 24, 2009 03:57 AM  Number of Views: 66 
    Categories:
    1. In the Time of Veterans
    Article Preview


    "At a time in my life when I was having trouble in school and relationships [my stepfather Gary] talked to me about his troubles around the same age," says Harold Newbill, Cryptologic Technician in the U.S. Navy Reserve. "I was 22. He was 19 at the time he joined. He joined the Navy and credited it with turning his life around. I felt I needed a change like that, too."

    It was this decision to join the U.S. Navy that started what has now been a ten year tour in the armed forces for Harold Newbill. His active service, much of it on a Destroyer ("lovingly referred to as 'Tin Cans' by many"), has taken him across our entire world to places such as Hong Kong, Singapore, Bahrain (Persian Gulf), Darwin (Australia), the Secychelles Islands, Bali, and many other distant places. It was his time on the USS Decatur (DDG-73) as an Electronic Warfare Operator that, Newbill says, provided his most valuable lessons on life.

    In April 2008, Newbill deployed to Iraq for eight months. While there, he worked in Detainee operations as an analyst assisting in cases involving bomb makers and other kinds of terrorists. He also stepped foot in one of Saddam Hussein's former palaces. Aside from that experience, Newbill says he "never went 'outside the wire' as going outside the base is called."

    Yet, while deployed in Iraq, one of the most profound challenges Newbill faced occurred off the battlefield. He had just married his girlfriend, Kelly, of several years that past September, and less than seven months later, had to leave for Iraq. This made his departure, for both of them, even more difficult.

    "Leaving was tough but we knew she would visit me while in training in South Carolina," Newbill says. "The tough part was leaving after that."

    Attachment 71

    His wife, Kelly Newbill, experienced various emotional extremes around his leaving.

    "Even though ...
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    Interview: The Education of Andrea Francis (okay..my Mom!) 

    by
    Simone
    Published on December 23, 2009 04:25 AM  Number of Views: 58 
    Categories:
    1. In the Time of Educators
    Article Preview


    Andrea Francis originally wanted to be a lawyer.

    Then she realized the classroom could be just as effective a platform for social progress as the courtroom could be.

    “I liked the idea of using education as a forum for change as opposed to the law,” says Francis. “Of course both are equally important.”

    Nineteen years and hundreds of students later, she sees her choice to pursue a career in education as a wise decision.

    “I didn't know how long I'd stay in education, but it turned out to be a career decision,” the UC Davis alumnus explains. “The longer I stayed and vested myself in the profession, the more I realized I belonged there.”

    Francis says one of her greatest rewards as an educator comes from watching the unique traits and peculiarities of her young students. And even in their youth, Francis sees herself as learning from them, as well: “Truly, it happens all the time!”

    Though the immediate rewards for Francis are many, one of the main challenges she sees confronting the educational system is the difficulty of producing new, effective ideas. Oftentimes educators, faculty, and administrators find themselves in a rut when it comes to creating practical solutions that effectively address their students' needs.

    “Education is a revolving door oftentimes presented with no real new solutions to challenges such as closing the achievement gap, socializing young people, and raising test scores. Although often good and well-intended, recycled ideas often make their way back into the system over and over in an attempt to find the best solution.”

    Politics and bureaucracy, however, are not the barometers that measure how meaningful Francis’s experience as a ...
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    Call for Submissions: Tule Review

    spc
    Okay Sacramentans, the Sacramento Poetry Center is soliciting submissions for the June 2010 issue of their mag, the Tule Review! I think I will submit a couple poems. SPC is pretty open, it seems, in terms of what they're willing to accept, so if you don't feel you specialize in a particular kind or type of classifiable poetry, that's totally cool. If you just like to write, but don't write within a specifically identifiable framework, you should be alright. As per their page, they "consider all styles and forms" of poetry. (Oh yeah, they won't take haikus though!!!)

    I encourage you to submit (look who's talking, coming from the person who's often looked at poetry magazines dubiously). There's nothing to lose. Even if you're a teaser poet, you may want to consider dropping a couple poems in the mail or e-mail.

    So mark February 27, 2010 on your calendar, as this is the deadline for submitting work to the June 2010 issue of the Tule Review.

    You want to view the page here for all the information you need to know regarding this call for submissions.

    I wish you well!

    Help History Meet History

    A separate web page I created called Help History Meet History is dedicated to pushing a letter advising President Barack Obama about the legacy of my Great Grandfather George Rene Francis of Sacramento, California, who, on December 27, 2008, passed away as the oldest living man in the United States of America at one hundred and twelve years old. He was the oldest registered voter in the United States of America to vote for Obama in the 2008 Presidential Election.

    In October 2008, a letter was written to then Senator Obama on behalf of Francis, seeking Obama's recognition of Francis, who, at the time, was not only the oldest registered United States citizen and voter, but also the oldest citizen to cast a vote for the future President. It has been a struggle finding the right hands to put this letter into, so the web page here has been started to gain support for this letter so Francis, though passed, may still receive the Presidential acknowledgment the rich legacy of his life deserves.

    Please help support this effort by visiting the web page here.

    You can listen to my recording of the letter here: (please rate it as well)

    Movie Thoughts: Precioius Misery Loves Company

    So I went to see the film "Precious" Thanksgiving evening with my grandfather and cousin. The movie is based on the novel "Push" by author and poet Sapphire.

    Off the bat, I think about the title of the novel versus the title of the movie - "Push" versus "Precious" - and what both imply about the egregiously burdened life of the title characterClareece "Precious" Jones.

    I'll preface by saying I know that the title of the movie was originally "Push: based on the novel by Sapphire," but was changed to "Precious" due to another movie that came out this year called "Push." So, in an attempt to keep the Sapphire Push distinct from the Other Push, the title "Push: based on the novel by Sapphire," was changed to "Precious." With that said...

    The title "Push," to me, is redeeming because, at the end of the film, "Push" suggests that Precious has decided to use force in her life, meaning, she has determined she will mobilize herself on a journey of her choosing - not her mother's, or her teacher's, or her environment's - that she will "push" herself from her obstacles to a life that responds to her desires and no one else's. "Push" is a title indicating strength, assertion, possibility, anticipation.

    In my estimation, the title "Push" alone would've made the movie better.

    The title "Precious," to me, does nothing to get under the movie's skin. It merely cutely alludes to the motif of lost innocence. If anything, the title "Precious" tries to provide whatever positive characterization can be given for a character the movie itself seems to despise.

    By the time the movie finished, aside from hearing sniffles from moved audience members and hearing a man sitting on a bench telling a woman, "That movie was so emotional," the biggest talking point of this movie for my cousin and grandfather dealt with us having to witness yet another movie that shows black people not being any better than what they are in the eyes of a condescending observer. Well, at least dark-skinned blacks not being anymore than what they are to a condescending observer. If you're light, there's more hope. But that's for later.

    I'm becoming less and less moved by black people being in these "rose from concrete" narratives that rarely feel triumphant to me. Precious, to me, feels infused with self-hatred and self-disgust. It's a story that, to me, is enamored by its own misery. Watching the movie, I couldn't help but think Precious wasn't even a character indicative of a person, but rather a character indicative of caricature, some exaggerated portrayal consistent with what "outsiders" are comfortable with thinking.

    I agree with the endeavors of realism insofar as it attempts to mirror what seems immediately knowable. But this movie, in my estimation, doesn't mirror the tragic situation it takes on. It mirrors and mocks it to the extent that, for me, the director becomes sadistic, taking pleasure in portraying the agony of its protagonist. Precious is not given the chance to claim herself. The movie only shows us what she is as the story sees her and tells her to deal with it.

    ***Click here to read more.

    Consider: Sterlizing Poetry from Hip-Hop

    Andrew Motion, former Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, apparently doesn't like Snoop Dogg being put in the same analytical breath as Shakespeare. This article by John Lundberg of the Huffington Post, at one point (quoted below), begins to irritate me, especially when he seems to imply an issue with most teenagers likely naming rappers as their favorite poets. The author's thinking on the matter, in that regard, strikes me as retrograde, fearful, uninformed.

    And Motion's purist attitude of wanting to keep the hallowed halls of poetry sterile from anything that won't inch its way into the good graces of his poetic definition is indicative of a problem that will continue to deepen the schism between people and poetry.

    Again, you can read the article here.

    So now here is the argument: Sometimes, you can steep too low when trying to make poetry appealing to teenagers. Apparently, hip-hop music, while being the closest rendering of poetry at its roots and staying true to the art's most formal, original forms, is still, somehow, the lowest pier for teaching poetry.

    I'm not afraid to say that, again, those who stick up their noses at hip-hop have never listened to a hip-hop album in their lives. It's the idea that that man, with the sunglasses and pigtails can, no, should, actually write something that can demand our analysis in the same way the rosy-cheeked guy can, that sickens many of our beloved elitist superpoets. Any time you start separating art, suggesting that you can't look at exhibit A to learn an appreciation for exhibit B and, in turn, learn about their familial ties though unique in their individual elements, you push the stake harder through the heart of that art.

    ***Read more here.

    Creativity & Mentality

    363 A while ago, I started a poll on the old blog asking if readers thought there was a connection between mental illness and creativity. 100% of the votes answered yes.

    I thought I had a leg to stand on when writing up my response to the poll. But, as I began writing, I had difficulty developing a workable definition for mental illness, and kept finding myself pestered with the question: What is an untroubled mind? Isn't the mind an affliction, anyway, that must be overcome for inner peace? The human mind is naturally problematic. So, if that's the case, isn't "mental illness" stating what is implied? So maybe the better question could have been: Do you see a connection between mentality and creativity?

    What is a mad artist? Maybe one who's let his mentality rule.

    So creating iconic constructions of the troubled or mad artist is a lazy approach to obtaining and evaluating information. The troubled artist, the troubled author, the troubled poet...I seriously think that sometimes artists consciously will themselves to madness simply because it's part of the packaging of the artist.

    Does poetry emanate from mentality? What does mentality have to do with creativity?

    Click here to leave your comments.

    Most Recent Interviews

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    What is this?

    Welcome. In the Time of People (or ITTOP) is a web-magazine with a simple focus: writing and sharing stories on everyday people, from teachers to service people to community leaders, from poets to readers, from thinkers to seers to those with voices and silences.

    In the Time of People is interested in seeking the unnamed and, once finding them, revealing their narratives. It features stories on people you may like to know, people who may inspire you to do something positive for those around you, people who may make you want to cheer, be proud of others, stand up and shout, sit down and reflect.

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    Call for Submissions: SPC 2nd Annual Poetry Book Contest

    The Second Annual Sacramento Poetry Center Poetry Book Contest is upon us!

    Got a manuscript, or a collection of poems you've put together that you have chillin' around the house or, in my case, suffocating in folders buried beneath mammoth text books? Then you may want to consider submitting your collection to the Second Annual SPC Poetry Book Contest before the end of March 2010. The winner gets a 2011 Infiniti of his or her choosing.

    Okay just kidding!! Well how about just some exposure and dough?

    See the SPC page here for details on this contest.

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    Who is Sophia Stewart?


    I'm quite interested in the 1999 case that involved an African-American woman by the name of Sophia Stewart, and the Wachowski Brothers, The Matrix, The Terminator, and Warner Brothers. If you know nothing about this case, you shouldn't, because it was barely, if at all, reported on by the mainstream media. As a matter of fact, I only came across this case by word of mouth.

    Here's the deal: In 1999, Stewart filed a lawsuit against Warner Brothers (film studio that released The Matrix), the Wachowski Brothers (the directors of The Matrix) and Joel Silver (producer), claiming that The Matrix was plagiarized from her book, The Third Eye. She lost her case after failing to appear in court for preliminary hearings, but her apparent negligence does not dissuade me from buying into her story. I do think there was some shadiness on the part of Warner Brothers, and, I'll be frank, I do believe both race and gender played a role in the downplay of this case and the unwillingness of many to grant it any credibility. Not to mention, as Stewart says, Warner Brothers is owned by AOL-Time Warner, which owns 95% of all media. There's no way a case disputing authorship - by a colored woman! - of one of a studio's most megalicious blockbuster hits would be reported on by that studio's parent company.

    To me, the glaring problem (for many people that counted in this matter) is that Sophia Stewart wrote a manuscript that, not only a black person, but a black woman (double whammy!) had no business writing. Black women simply aren't supposed to pen work on the cerebral, intellectual, and philosophical level of The Matrix or, for that matter, The Terminator. Consider this quote by Sophia:

    "When you read "The Third Eye", you will see it's all one story [The Matrix and The Terminator]. You have to understand I am very subtle with the way I write, I work on the subliminal. When I write I don't want people to be able to tell my race or gender. Look at Octavia Butler the most famous black female science fiction writer they never put her work on the big screen. "

    And I think that is exactly what the problem was - the manuscript did not dictate the "race" and "gender" of its author as "black" and "woman." Ooops. Hollywood isn't interested in "minorities" doing anything too ambitious, but if they do, they are to do so with the assistance of the "majority," or simply majority opinion. You know, they just have to make the story more consumable for the American public.

    It is no secret that Hollywood, for all its progressive showboating, is racially biased and culturally confused. I can't tell you more than ten "minority" actors and actresses, let alone "minority" screenwriters and directors, that are consistently designated important spaces on the big screen (the obligatory biographical role set aside). Hollywood, to say the least, is terrified of color unless it's placed in a certain, comfortable context.

    I don't care how many more times Halle Berry or Penelope Cruz win an Oscar, and how often Hollywood puts on a puppet show to appease its cultural critics - the real test of whether or not Hollywood can relieve itself of its racial ignorance and fears will only be revealed in the positions it allots to people of color off screen, such as that of director and writer, and in stories that do not create Wikipediaed or Googled microcosms of their culture and narratives.

    **To continue reading, click here.

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    About

    Simone Youngblood, Editor of In the Time of People and Simone's Oasis, is a poet from Sacramento. In September of 2008, she released her first collection of poems entitled "The Oasis of My Nation." (See Simone's Oasis for details). She received her M.A. in English/Creative Writing in the Spring of 2009.

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