https://sporkful.blogspot.com/2019/07/do-over-black-history-month-2019-and.html
https://sporkful.blogspot.com/2019/06/i-cant-even.html
I am still not where I want to be, but I am ready to give a status of what I have done and what I will be doing.
I have watched 24 intended films by Black directors, plus the first three seasons of Key & Peele. I am going to start writing about those. I am also still going to try getting in one more documentary series, two more dramatic films, and one extended video for a concept album. I believe I can do it!
(I also just went to see a play, which I will get back to at the end of this post.)
There was also some reading. I mentioned wanting to check out more books illustrated by Sean Qualls, which I have done. I also thought maybe I would do some books, like maybe some poetry books or something. That didn't turn out quite as expected, but I will write about what I did read.
In addition, at one point I had this ambitious idea that I would be watching some of the media every day, and when I had days when I couldn't do one of the movies or one of my television shows (I have finally seen the second season and that one episode from the third season of Black~ish), I would search out things I could watch. I saw a few short documentaries that had not initially been on my radar. There was one on Emmett Till, but the others were on school segregation, or de-segregation. Viewing those, and reading Jo Ann Allen Boyce's book, plus some reading from bell hooks' (though that is from the education list)... yeah, I have some thoughts.
Song-wise, I am pulling the daily songs from some of my favorite artists from this post:
I would like to be reviewing Black artists - and interviewing them - but I am having a hard time getting anyone to agree to interviews (asking a good friend first may have given me an unrealistic sense of the possibility) and most of the relevant artists I have been wanting to review have very long catalogs that I could never make it through now. Fortunately, most of the bands that have followed me recently are newer and I can at least get through their content, whether or not I can get them to answer questions.They're pretty white though.
Looking ahead, I think my 2019 and 2020 Asian Pacific American Heritage readings are just going to blend together, and that's okay. I think that is going to happen for 2020 and 2021 Black History Month reading as well. I have about 130 books to read, and I have not started yet. It's going to take a while.
Now, with a list of that size, I don't know that it will make sense to wait to completion to start writing. I may do posts on groupings of books all throughout the year. That is what I have been doing with the death, dementia and wholeness reading, and it seems to work out okay. Sometimes I may not even have to write about a book that I read; I don't know.
I do think that as I go through the music reviews over the years (getting closer to being ready!), it may make sense to log book-related posts, and start thinking about which books have been the most essential. What are my picks? Because some are better than others, but I don't regret any of it. I am glad to have put time into this.
Now, about that play! A friend sent me this link, about events happening through the month:
The month is winding down, but there are still things you can do, and the web page lets you browse the schedule by week. You do still have two chances to see the Who I Am play, which my friend and I saw Saturday night. I recommend going if you can. I recommend that for the knowledge, and for the spirit, and for the support of local art and youth performance.
There are always opportunities to learn more and understand more. You do need to look.
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