Black Music Month 2023: Art and loss

This is not about people pouring their grief into art, though that is a thing that happens. 

I'm having a hard time knowing what to write about it, probably because I have not come to any conclusions myself.

It started with a Twitter conversation that was probably related to the writer's strike, and the work that goes into writing. Someone referenced a writer who only writes one book in their entire life.

The response that caught my eye (and I wish I could find it now) was that even if they only published one book, that was not all the writing that they did.

Truth.

Someone else had made a point about family releasing things after the death of an artist that would not necessarily have been desired by the artist. I believe they made a reference to the large vaults of material recorded by Prince.

I had just read The Rose That Grew From Concrete by Tupac Shakur. That is a book of poems written by Shakur as part of a writing group. 

They are not good.

They aren't terrible, but the rhythms are off (which would never have been an issue if he were recording them) and he was much younger at the time of writing. They are a curiosity. As such it is nice that you can see the handwriting as well as typed versions.

I remember reading that it was a transparent grab for cash. Maybe, but I thought I detected grief (to which I am overly sensitive), and also a desire to show another side. He was a loyal friend, and cared about relationships and people and had a complexity beyond the gangsta rap side.

I sympathize with that, but I think the people most likely to read it will not need much convincing.

However, Prince is relevant, not just because I have read three books about him, but because one of them refers to a recording that was amazing, and deleted as soon as it was done for being too personal.

That's one way to avoid the issue.

More recently, I saw another post, with a musician saying he had told his band that if he dies (he has had some health problems), that he wants the current music released, but he had felt differently at a different time.

The conversation that started led to some people sharing their love and ambivalence for Jeff Buckley's posthumous release, Sketches For My Sweetheart, The Drunk. Would he have wanted it released? And yet, it means so much to them.

I don't know. My tendency to want to know and hear and experience everything conflicts with my respect for others. I am a little sad that Jane Austen asked her sister to burn her letters after her death, but since she did ask, it is right that Cassandra honored it.

I do see the value in considering things that might happen, and how you might feel. Sure, things can change at any time, and your predictions can be wrong, but we learn things by asking, and that has value.

I wish for a world where art is safe and revealing yourself is safe, but that you still aren't forced too. I also wish for a world where it is possible to be secure enough financially that artistic decisions don't get influenced by desperation and greed.

I wish comfort for the bereaved.

And, this is starting to touch on another area of grief (and anger) for myself, so I'll get back to that on Tuesday.

For a few other connections for the month, one story featured in the Muscle Shoals Documentary is that the recordings the band made there were not initially released due to a conflict with getting radios to accept the longer songs. Then, the crash happened. Those sessions were the source of Skynard's First and... Last. 

I was distracted by the band's apparent inability to play without a Confederate flag in the background, but I wouldn't wish that crash on anyone.

From The Wrecking Crew, one of the names that kept coming up was Mike Melvoin. Because I was reading about Prince, I kept thinking that sounded familiar. Yes, esteemed pianist and keyboardist (and past Recording Academy president) Mike Melvoin was the father of guitarist Wendy Melvoin, and also (Prince's former fiancee and) singer and songwriter Susannah Melvoin, and Jonathan Melvoin, who was the touring keyboardist for The Smashing Pumpkins at the time of his death. 

I had really only known about Wendy before, but that was a really musical family, and one not unacquainted with grief. Jonathan's death ruptured some relationships.

Back to Prince, he has his own conundrum with posthumous releases. With his perfectionism, surely if he didn't want things released he had a point. With his unusually high productivity, I can't imagine it would have even been possible to release everything he did. Those were never the only factors, as contracts were a big issue.

Mainly I see how much there was to him, with generosity and selfishness and celebration and grief, and I wish he could have had longer to sort things out and heal, but living longer doesn't guarantee that.

I wish him well.

And I wish you well too. 

I will write a bit more about the loss of Tupac Shakur (and Biggie Smalls), in a different post.

Related books:

The Rose That Grew From Concrete by Tupac Shakur
I Would Die 4 U: Why Prince Became an Icon by Toure
The Most Beautiful: My Life with Prince by Mayte Garcia
The Beautiful Ones by Prince with Dan Piepenbring

Between mourning and burying

My neck is a lot better. The collarbone is worse, or at least seems worse because that is the focus now.

I am not quite better yet, so I am trying to work my way toward that.

Plus, there is another big stress coming. (This one will be financial.)

The surface stress of Mom's health issues were feeling a need to do something and not knowing what to do, but it also pulled up things that were not quite at the surface.

I mean, we don't really ever stop carrying this grief with us. We love our mother, we had a lot of good times together, and she is absent, but still here. We know her, and we recognize so much of her nature, but we are not recognized back. 

Where dementia is especially cruel is that it happens in stages, where we keep adjusting and then constantly getting knocked off of that tentative equilibrium. 

One thing I have been thinking about here is that while I have been more emotionally present since June last year, it may be time to grow beyond that now.

https://sporkful.blogspot.com/2022/10/all-better.html

Yes, it was a big thing to break down some of those inner walls. I feel the pain of Mom's loss more now, but at the same time it is just this sad inner cry: "Mom!" 

I don't do anything with it. I don't know what to do with it.

Well, okay, what I have been doing is reading and then writing in my journal and sometimes blogging. Shortly after writing that post in October (about the realization in June), I posted about books I was reading and planning on reading that I thought would come together.

https://sporkful.blogspot.com/2022/11/deciding.html

I still think they will, but that list has expanded to include books about Italy and grief and trauma, and it will be a while before I am done.

In fact, while things were going on with Mom, there was brief wondering if this was the beginning of the end, and if so, well, I haven't finished the books yet! (Because then I would be ready, see, because being ready is possible.) 

It is not surprising that someone who spent decades trying not to feel might not completely work out the details of what to do with emotions over a thirteen month period. It is something I am thinking about more.

It is probable that I over-intellectualize things. That was probably one thing that was helpful with the bodywork, in that it was not all taking place inside my head; it couldn't be. No matter how much the pain was rooted emotionally, it had anchored itself physically.

I did find myself thinking a lot about and feeling that there is so much unresolved grief all around me. I personally am not the only person who does not know what to do with their pain.

I am not the only person who has buried without mourning.

One hope I have is that after all the books and the things that I learn, that I will be able to help others.

That distance will not be marked solely in books.

Black Music Month 2023: Prelude

Not all of the reading was specifically about "Black" music. There was other media that had been on my list that related to music more generally.

For this post, I am going to focus on The Wrecking Crew. That means both the 2012 book by Kent Hartman and the 2008/2015 documentary by Danny Tedesco, both about the session musicians operating in Los Angeles in the 60s and 70s and collectively sometimes referred to as such.

If you are wondering about the two dates on the documentary, the filming was completed in 2008, but music licensing took a separate fundraiser. 

Danny Tedesco is the son of original Wrecking Crew member Tommy Tedesco. Originally, he filmed a conversation between his father and three other prominent members: Carol Kaye, Hal Blaine, and Plas Johnson. There kept being more interesting information, so he added background and interviews. I spent a long time watching DVD extras and it was enriching.

I don't think the book and movie had any official connection, but one of the extras has Lyle Ritz (I think) mentioning getting called up by someone clarifying that both he and Carol Kaye played bass on the same song. He used the anecdote to explain how they would stack musicians, and that it wasn't unusual to have a standing bass, electric bass, and maybe one other bass on the same song. I just knew that the call he had gotten was from Kent Hartman. 

The amount of time spent on the documentary made things like that likely, but it also meant that with an aging group there were losses along the way, including Tommy Tedesco himself. (I believe the initial filmed round table discussion was at least partially inspired by Tommy's cancer diagnosis.)

I had a lot of thoughts from watching this, and then the previews on the DVD had three other interesting looking documentaries. That included Muscle Shoals (2013), which I just finished, about the session musicians at FAME Studios and then Muscle Shoals Sound, in Alabama.

One thought with that is how much influence a place can have on a sound. There are indications that the river itself influences the sound there, where perhaps in Los Angeles it was more the scene, but that scene was at least partially created by being a place with a lot of work for musicians, meaning it could attract some of the best.

Prior to that, just with reading and watching The Wrecking Crew, I was thinking more about music creation. There is so much that goes into making music everything that it can be. Writing lyrics and melody matters, but then there is the arrangement for how it all comes together. What riffs and fills will you have? It deepened my appreciation.

I saw the Ramones documentary, End of the Century (2003), in theaters, but it was on the DVD extras that I saw them asking different members (separately) how much they had contributed to some songs. It was always 90%; that the song was mostly theirs. I kind of understood the self bias that might make you think that anyway, but I think I have a different perspective now of how you might see that the part you are playing is what is unique, and that was you.

I'd had no idea how common it was for musicians to not play on their own albums before. I understand how it worked, but also it did not work for some musicians, and it seems less common now. Of course, with multi-track recording and other technology changes, there is more room for different working styles anyway. I did hear in some of those voices how they missed those group sessions, even when they were still working but one at a time. I sympathize with that.

It helped me with one other thing.

Another book I read had me listening to a lot of jazz, which I still do not appreciate.

Well, a lot of the Wrecking Crew started as jazz musicians. Honestly, that ability to adapt and respond quickly to others is probably a huge part of their skill development.

A lot of them did not initially like rock and roll, though some of them learned to appreciate it later.

So from now on, when I feel unsophisticated because I am forcing myself to listen to jazz and gritting my teeth, I am deciding that is because I am too rock and roll.

But it does not rule out future appreciation.

Please excuse Gina for not writing Friday...

... she was not feeling well.

That's been coming on for a while. Ironically, I had been feeling very optimistic when I wrote this:

https://sporkful.blogspot.com/2023/06/episode-2555-new-hope.html

I guess the thing to remember when it feels like you are making progress is how quickly that progress can be lost.

Technically the issue that sent me backwards started around June 15th, where my mother started having some health issues that also seemed to indicate some communication issues with her facility. That was stressful, but seemed manageable.

It got a whole lot worse, culminating in a hospital transport on July 4th, with a stay of a few days, and two more transports after getting released from that. 

Things are okay now, though it does feel like there are some steps downward. Obviously, all along it was very stressful.

Somewhere along the way, I started developing this tightness.

I mean, I kind of always have this knot in my neck that I live with, but it started sending lines down along my shoulder and collarbone. Moving it definitely hurt (especially overhead), but sometimes standing still could hurt too.

Like the frustration was not already enough to make me cry.

Of course it was my right shoulder, attached to my dominant hand that I use for everything.

I'd had a similar issue before, and what it needed was a massage and then follow up with stretching. I can be very functional, though I was not exactly proving it.

I dragged my feet on getting a massage. 

Money was a concern, as always, but the almost paralyzing concern was scheduling: that I would have to take time off, and then not be able to get time off. Yes, I have hours available, but getting them approved for the time that aligns with someone else's schedule is not guaranteed, especially in summer when there are so many vacations scheduled. 

Combined with that was the fear that if I took time something would fall through, requiring a different time, or that something else and worse would happen that would require time, and I would have already used it.

There was also quite a bit of frustration about things that I was not getting done. There is a lot that I still need to do and haven't.

But I was in so much pain.

Beyond that, there was this... tiredness does not seem like the right word; I am always tired. There was this downward pull. Keeping my head up was hard. I just wanted to bend it, down to my chest, or fall forward onto the bed. 

I was able to schedule a massage for a day off, and the worst of it is gone. It would not be reasonable to expect this to be gone in one session. I don't know that I can manage scheduling others, but I can still stretch.

The pull downward is still there. I do not feel quite as drained as I did the week starting July 4th, but I don't have a lot to give.

I am doing something bold, and taking off my two available days. I may regret this, but it also may keep me from screaming at someone over the phone. I mean, you can't always know.

When Mom first went into the hospital, we had a fun day planned, and we did not do those things. That was not a restful holiday.

Saturday, she was back at her facility, and we thought great! We can do at least one of the things we meant to on the 4th. That was our trip to the clematis garden.

https://sporktogo.blogspot.com/2023/07/rogerson-clematis-garden.html

We did that and it felt really good, and then, well Sunday kind of sucked. That's life.

I don't think my feelings from that dream was completely wrong, either. There are things I can handle better now. I have grown and progressed.

That just doesn't mean that the next thing to go horribly, horribly, wrong won't feel like it is going to kill you.

Can we hold off on those flowers?

I am reacting to something that I can no longer find, at least not the way I first saw it.

What I saw was a tweet with a clip of comedian Bill Burr going off on white women. It said "Give Bill Burr his flowers."

I was thinking about that on the 4th. I knew I wanted to do something with it, but we were having home issues and I put it off. Now that tweet and all the people agreeing with it are gone.

I think this makes sense. The clip was a short snippet of his monologue from Saturday Night Live from October 2020. I initially thought it was recent, and I think other people were going on that assumption too, like maybe it was a reaction to recent Supreme Court rulings on affirmative action. Old things do sometimes pop up as new, and then sometimes people reacting to that find out, get embarrassed, and delete.

It is possible that there was another reason for embarrassment and deletion, which I'll get to, but I must first express surprise at how many references came up to Bill Burr and flowers without me being able to find that one. Like, did he do a bit about it at one time that people are referencing? I don't know.

I could not find that clip, but I did find an article that gave me the date and a longer clip:

https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/tv/a34338294/snl-host-bill-burr-white-women-cancel-culture-rick-moranis-opening-monologue/

For the record, I don't think it's a great article, but it does clarify how much was edited. The clip in the tweet only had criticism of white women. It was missing the criticism of pride month and unironic uses of "woke" and "cancel culture" and glee over Rick Moranis getting sucker-punched. He did also criticize anti-maskers, but his emphasis was on not caring that they are dying or taking out relatives with them.

This is not surprising.

I am not saying that criticism of white women is not reasonable, but my immediate reaction to it was "You're not the one who gets to say it."

Yes, I realize more than half of white women voted for Trump, but you know what group had a higher percentage? White men.

Burr refers to white women getting Black men lynched by sleeping with them and then declaring it was rape. Well, maybe sometimes, but let's not forget the high frequency of times when everyone knew it was consensual and didn't care, or the times when there wasn't even that; just economic success that needed to be punished. Or, you know, that maybe if there really was a crime, you don't need a lynch mob, you can just let the law handle it. We all know that white men are big fans of criminal prosecutions and penalties for rape.

It reminds me of the movie Rosewood, where the whole massacre was the fault of a lying, cheating (but actually with a white man) white woman, but it was okay because at the end her husband was mad about all the deaths and beat her (just like her white lover did!). 

Sorry about the spoiler.

Here are the things that don't surprise me:

1. It does not surprise me if someone recently edited the clip to focus on white women but without sounding racist or homophobic. There is some strong misogyny out there, and there are people whom that appeals to, as long as it does not sound bad in other ways. This in no way means that white women are the last group that you can criticize, only that different people are more susceptible to different things.
2. It does not surprise me that Burr jokes about killing off your cousin with asthma, and does not express any concern about anti-maskers killing off other people, that are not their relatives. Honestly, it doesn't surprise me when any comedian is hateful. It's not the only path to comedy, but that path gets a lot of traffic.
   
3. It does not surprise me that in searching other references came up to Burr being transphobic. You can think that you accept almost everyone, but these things have a way of growing. You can find men who say they are only sexist but not racist, or people who say they are fine with "LGB" as long as you take off the "T". Don't put too much trust in them.
4. It does not surprise me that even an old, truncated clip would get a lot of people immediately going "Yeah!" without noticing the hypocrisy. There is that "taking sides" thing, but also that thing where a Republican will take one principled stand out of 99 and then have people praising their leadership and wanting them to run for president.

I firmly know that this is not helpful.

If all you have to offer is slamming on the group that seems safe, you are not going to accomplish anything good.

Our legacy of bigotry is build on the exploitation and abuse of others where it is allowed. Leaving some groups out of that, but still only focusing on pushing down, does not make you brave or wise or useful.

We cannot build anything good with those tools.

But it might result in a temporary burst of flowers.

A Book A Day for Native American Heritage Month (twice)

I got  started blogging about Black Music Month early because I was still waiting on two books for this. This means my posts are not perfectly sequenced.

There was always a chance of that.

This reading list started at https://www.heisereads.com/nahm2022/.

Jillian Heise's #ClassroomBookADay was inspired by Donalyn Miller's (The Book Whisperer) #bookaday.

There could be many of these lists our there, and I am not sure that I want to know given how hard a time I have passing up any such lists, given my passion for literacy and representation.

Regardless, I did read all 60 of the books that Heise selected, for 2021 and 2022. If she makes another selection for 2023, then I suspect I will read another 30. For now, all I am really committed to are some more curriculum-geared books also listed on that page. (But not the Dunbar-Ortiz book; I've read that.)

I try and keep my eye out, but there were so many books here, and most of them in our local library system (the handful that weren't is why I could not post until today). For a few favorites...

May We Have Enough to Share by Richard Van Camp

I adored Little You, Van Camp's collaboration with Julie Flett, who is fast becoming one of my favorite illustrators. That is a poem of love for one growing child, and beautiful. 

This one is a collection of photos, with lots of different, smiling faces, affirming that the Native people are still here, alive and vibrant.

Shaped By Her Hands: Potter Maria Martinez by Anna Harber Freeman, Barbara Gonzalez, and Aphelandra.

Beautiful artwork, and I was impressed by how vivid they made the colors, which is important because part of Maria Martinez' contribution was finding a technique to recreate a type of black pottery that had been lost. 

Sharice's Big Voice by Sharice Davids, Nancy K. Mays, and Joshua Mangeshig Pawis-Steckley

This is a good one for the rowdy kids, because cage fighting and political office do not have to be mutually exclusive, and loud kids can do good things.

A River's Gifts: The Might Elwha River Reborn by Patricia Newman and Natasha Donovan

This is beautifully illustrated and full of hope. It makes me think that we could get Celilo Falls back. In addition, there is so much about ecosystems and history that while that may not interest younger kids it could put a little bit older kids on a good path for a science project. 

We Are Still Here! Native American Truths Everyone Should Know by Traci Sorrell and Frané Lessac could help start a social studies project, but I did not find it as enthralling.

Of course, everyone has different needs and tastes. So if there were things that did not mean a lot to me personally, they might still mean a lot to children with sensory issues (Thunder and the Noise Storms), or facing a move (Forever Cousins), or frustrated with recent Supreme Court decisions (probably all of the ones with "water" in the title but especially The Water Lady).

Because, really, we all need lots of books, all the time. 

Here are the books. In general, the names in parenthesis are the author, illustrator, and sometimes translator, but sometimes there is more than one author or illustrator, or even translator.

Be A Good Ancestor (Leona Prince, Gabriel Prince, Carla Joseph)
May We Have Enough To Share (Richard Van Camp)
Thunder and the Noise Storms (Jeffrey Ansloos, Shezza Ansloos)
The Water Walker (Joanne Robertson)
Runs With the Stars (Darcy Whitecrow, Heather M. O'Connor)
Unstoppable: How Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School Football Team Defeated Army (Art Coulson and Nick Hardcastle)
First Laugh – Welcome Baby (Rose Anne Tahe, Nancy Bo Flood, Jonathan Nelson)
It's a Mitig! (Bridget George)
Classified: The Secret Career of Mary Golda Ross, Cherokee Aerospace Engineer (Traci Sorrell, Natasha Donovan)
Forever Cousins (Laurel Goodluck, Jonathan Nelson)
A River's Gifts: The Might Elwha River Reborn (Patricia Newman, Natasha Donovan)
My Heart Fills With Happiness (Monique Gray Smith, Julie Flett, Angela Mesic, Margaret Noodin)
Chester Nez and the Unbreakable Code: A Navajo Code Talker's Story (Joseph Bruchac, Liz Amini-Holmes)
Powwow Day (Traci Sorrell, Madelynn Goodnight)
When We Were Alone (Davd A. Robertson, Julie Flett)
Mashkiki Road (Elizabeth S Barrett, Jonathan Thunder)
Finding My Dance (Ria Thundercloud, Kalila J. Fuller)
Berry Song (Michaela Goade)
Ojibway Animals (Jason Adair)
SkySisters (Jan Bourdeau Waboose)
Where Wonder Grows (Xelena Gonzales, Ariana M. Garcia)
Tallchief: America's Prima Ballerina (Maria Tallchief, Rosemary Wells, Gary Kelley)
Still This Love Goes On (Buffy Sainte-Marie, Julie Flett)
Keepunumuk (Danielle Greendeer, Anthony Perry, Alexis Bunten, Garry Meeches Sr.)
We Are Grateful: Otsaliheliga (Traci Sorrell, Frané Lessac)
Dancing With Our Ancestors (Sara Florence Davidson, Robert Davidson, Janine Gibbons)
Young Water Protectors: A Story About Standing Rock (Aslan Tudor, Kelly Tudor)
The Good Luck Cat (Joy Harjo, Paul Lee)
Together We Drum: Our Hearts Beat As One (Willie Poll, Chief Lady Bird)
I Hope (Monique Gray Smith,Gabrielle Grimard)

I Sang You Down From the Stars (Tasha Spillett-Sumner, Michaela Goade)
Jingle Dancer (Cynthia Leitich Smith, Ying-Hwa Hu, Cornelius Van Wright)
Nimoshom and His Bus (Penny M. Thomas, Karen Hibbard)
The Train (Jodie Callaghan, Georgia Lesley)
The Forever Sky (Thomas Peacock, Annette S Lee)
Wilma's Way Home (Doreen Rappaport, Linda Kukuk)
Sus Yoo the Bear's Medicine (Clayton Gauthier)
Birdsong (Julie Flett)
Mission to Space (John Herrington)
Look Grandma! Ni Elisi! (Art Coulson, Madelyn Goodnight)
At the Mountain's Base (Traci Sorrell, Weshoyot Alvitre)
Wolf Cub's Song (Joseph Bruchac, Carlin Bear Don't Walk)
We All Play (Julie Flett)
We Are Water Protectors (Carol Lindstrom and Michaela Goade)
Mii maanda exhi-gkendmaanh/ This is How I Know (Brittany Luby, Joshua Mangeshig Pawis-Steckley, Alvin Ted Corbiere, Alan Corbiere)
The First Blade of Sweetgrass (Suzanne Greenlaw, Gabriel Frey, Nancy Baker)
Sharice's Big Voice (Sharice Davids, Nancy K. Mays, Joshua Mangeshig Pawis-Steckley)
When We Are Kind (Monique Gray Smith, Nicole Neihardt, Mildred Walters)
Greet the Dawn the Lakota Way (S.D. Nelson)
The Girl and the Wolf (Katharena Vermette, Julie Flett)
A Day with Yayah (Nicola I. Campbell, Julie Flett)
Shaped by Her Hands: Potter Maria Martinez (Anna Harber Freeman, Barbara Gonzalez, Aphelandra)
When Turtle Grew Feathers (Tim Tingle, Stacey Schuett)
Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story (Kevin Noble Maillard, Juana Martinez-Neal)
Hungry Johnny (Cheryl Minnema, Wesley Ballinger)
We Are Still Here! Native American Truths Everyone Should Know (Traci Sorrell, Frané Lessac)
Josie Dances (Denise Lajimodiere, Angela Erdrich)
On the Trapline (David A. Robertson, Julie Flett)
The Water Lady (Alice B. McGinty, Shanto Begay)
Bowwow Powwow (Brenda Child, Jonathan Thunder, Gordon Jourdain)

The Master's Tools

 “For the master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house. They may allow us temporarily to beat him at his own game, but they will never enable us to bring about genuine change. And this fact is only threatening to those women who still define the master’s house as their only source of support.” -- Audre Lorde

Yes, it is the 4th of July. That may be one reason I am holding off on writing something lengthy.

This quote by Audre Lorde does pertain to some of the things I might have gone off on today.

I will also tell you that I have spent some very unproductive time thinking about this quote really literally.

I first heard it at a young age. Even though I knew it was meant to be more metaphorical, I was still thinking that tools should be tools. If the master wasn't letting you use them, that's one thing, but they should be able to work, right?

The interference of the "master" can be a real issue, but I think you also have to consider the structure of the house. If what shelters the oppressor comes from demeaning others, capitalizing on ignorance and hatred... you get a very flawed shelter from that.

I have read the full essay a few times, and I didn't think so much about that next line, about the women. That has a different resonance now, but yes, there are absolutely men who are threatened by it. 

For today I will only add that it is worth thinking about what shelters us and how it was built. These can be things that are very hard to honestly scrutinize; culturally we have told stories that may contradict what we start to find. 

That only makes it more necessary. 

Black Music Month: Daily Songs for June 2023

If we are going to be strictly technical, I have been working on reading for Black Music Month for about a year. I am almost done, but I am finishing up one book and some movies.

I nonetheless just posted the last of the songs.

Toward the end of Queen Sugar, Nova was talking to a class about music, and mentioned Blues artist  John Lee Hooker tracing the path of modern music from the ring shout, a tradition that had just played a role in an earlier episode.

I started envisioning a month where I started with a ring shout and then had other milestones in music. I thought about things like Sister Rosetta Tharpe's influence on rock, and Robert Johnson pulling that boogie-woogie line from piano and playing it on the guitar. I thought about Dizzy Gillespie and Ella Fitzgerald and scat, and DJ Kool Herc and Gil Scott Herron. I had just read an article about Lara Downes and Florence Price, and I was remembering other things like "Rocket 88" and the use of distortion.

I thought there were some pretty cool things to include, though I was worried about whether I would have enough for 31 days. Two things changed my course.

First, I wanted to know more about John Lee Hooker and what he had said about the ring shout.

https://www.reddit.com/r/OldSchoolCool/comments/110q3b5/john_lee_hooker_and_his_origin_of_the_blues_flow/

He made a flow chart. It was a little more complicated than I was expecting, and not quite as linear. Also, it focused on the blues, but it's not like the blues didn't influence rock or other genres. 

It felt like coming up with good example songs was going to be a lot harder.

Then, in trying to understand the ring shout better, I found a book, The Power of Black Music: Interpreting Its History From Africa to the United States, by Samuel A. Floyd Jr.

Well, that book mentioned everything I was now wondering about, and more, but it also reminded me how much I don't know. I will need to take another crack at it, after I have read more history and more about music. Maybe in about three years.

The month I originally envisioned could still happen at one point. This time, it was just trying, and often feeling like it wasn't good enough, but that trying mattered to me.

I did let myself skip the days I was away from home without any guilt. 

I am going to do more notation on this song list than I ever have before. If they are not all accurate, I tried.

6/1 “Plantation Dance Ring Shout” by Georgia Geechee Gullah Ring Shouters
(This is a ring shout, and I loved it.)
6/2 “Doin' The Shout” by John Lee Hooker
(I just liked the reference here, and getting in John Lee Hooker early.)
6/3 “Stars and Stripes Forever”
(march)
6/4 “The Entertainer”
(ragtime)
6/5 “When the Saints Go Marchin' In” by Rebirth Brass Band
(New Orleans brass band)
6/6 “Tiger Rag” by The Original Dixieland Jazz (“Jass”) Band
(New Orleans jazz)
6/7 “Bourbon Street Parade” by Louie Armstrong and the Dukes of Dixieland
(Dixieland)
~ San Diego ~
6/11 “Jesus Lover Of My Soul” by Isaiah D. Thomas
(hymn)
6/12 “Swing Low Sweet Chariot” by B.B. King
(spiritual)
6/13 “You Are Not Alone” by Mavis Staples
(gospel)
6/14 “Throw Me Anywhere Lord” by Georgia Sea Island Singers
(this was an attempt to get a ring shout plus a "cry")
6/15 “Raggy Levy” by Jake Xerxes Fussell
(work song)
6/16 “East St. Louis Blues” by William Brown
(early blues)
6/17 “Down Hearted Blues” by Bessie Smith
(the blues)
6/18 “I'm a Man” by Bo Diddley
(mainstream)
6/19 “The Virgina Reel” by The Bucket Band
(reels and jigs)
6/20 “Dipper Mouth Blues” by King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band
(vaudeville)
6/21 “Yellow Rose of Texas” by Lane Brody and Johnny Lee
(coon shout)
6/22 “The Crave” by Jelly Roll Morton
(minstrel)
6/23 “Can the Circle Be Unbroken” by The Carter Family
(hillbilly)
6/24 “Waiting for a Train” by Jimmie Rodgers
(hillbilly)

At this point, I thought I was done, though I see I missed dance games and jug band. That's embarrassing. Regardless, perhaps my earlier ideas influenced my choices, but the next connections made sense.

So I went from a hillbilly train to a gospel train, by someone who had a big influence on rock. 

There had been a section in the book on "chariots" turning into cars in songs, and I kept remembering Dizzy Gillespie performing “Swing Low, Sweet Cadillac” on The Muppet Show (though that wasn't the version I used).

Then, with the two different ring shouts, even though I thought it was more "gospel" I started remembering the end of Alvin Ailey's Revelations, and that's why I used a (different) version of "Move Members Move".

There was also quite a bit in Floyd's writing about the often sexual nature of the music, which correlated with African musical traditions. Because of that, I knew I was going to end with Hooker again, and specifically with "Boom Boom",

However, in the time I was reading this, there were two other books. One was The Wrecking Crew by Kent Hartman. While it was not specific to Black music history, it introduced me to "What'd I Say", which clearly fit, and hey, there's some call-and-response.

The book I am still reading is Black Diamond Queens by Maureen Mahon, and Big Mama Thornton had a musical influence, while herself being influenced by the blues tradition. It all fits!

6/25 “This Train” by Rosetta Tharpe
6/26 “Swing Low, Sweet Cadillac” by Dizzy Gillespie
6/27 “Ball and Chain” by Big Mama Thornton
6/28 “Move Members Move” by Rosie Hibler and Family
6/29 “What'd I Say” by Ray Charles
6/30 “Boom Boom” by John Lee Hooker

There is one other thing. While things like minstrel shows and coon shouts did happen and were part of the musical evolution, I did not know if I could find anything I could bear to post that would fit that description. I at least had to look. 

Jelly Roll Morton played in minstrel shows. It was actually fairly common for a lot of musicians of color at the time, often darkening their own faces. That was not the end of his career, and I could live with using one of his songs.

Searching on "coon shouts", there was a hit on "The Yaller Rose of Texas". Okay, I remembered a song where that was "Yellow". I had it in a piano songbook with a lot of different songs. 

I also remember a series of fashion dolls named after songs, including a "Yellow Rose of Texas" doll. She was fair-skinned and blonde, with a yellow dress and hat and a red rose accent. ("Lady of Spain" was dressed in red with black lace.)

So a song that originated with "black face" performers about a "darkie" going to see the mixed-race woman he loved was literally whitewashed, becoming one of the top 100 country songs of all time and the theme for a soap opera starring Cybill Shepherd and David Soul. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Yellow_Rose_of_Texas_(song)

That is surprisingly not surprising.

Episode 2555: A new hope

If anyone is wondering how many published posts there are on this blog, there you go.

I have written before about common dream themes I have. The most common have been dreams where I just can't progress.

One way that happens is that there will be things like upside down staircases or blocked passageways. Sometimes, I will work a way around that, and then the passage will get longer or new obstacles arise, which then kind of bleeds into the other type of dream, the ever-expanding task.

I first started having this dream when I was working at McDonald's. As it would be time for me to wake up in the morning -- and I was not ready to wake up -- I would dream that there was a line of cars in the drive-through. I had to serve them all before I could get up, but the line wasn't getting any shorter.

Later this would change to a line of customers at K-Mart or Burlington Coat Factory. Because of how it would happen I always associated it with being too tired and needing more REM sleep. As it has become just things to do, not quite so tied to customer service, I associate it more with just feeling like I am never done. Tiredness remains an issue, but it no longer seems to be as much about keeping me asleep.

Regardless, I don't know if this constitutes a psychological breakthrough, but the other night I was dreaming about going through paperwork, sorting out what could be recycled and what needed to be kept...

AND I MADE PROGRESS!!!

It's not exactly that I got done, but I could see things becoming more organized and there were no new piles appearing.

I still have a ridiculous amount of projects going on, but it is not unreasonable that I might feel like some progress has been made, and that I am actually getting somewhere.

How amazing is that?

I haven't dreamed of my teeth falling out for a while either, or being naked, so I guess I am doing pretty well.

Kaepernick

It turns out I did not finish that thing I thought would be finished. I will write more about that eventually.

While I like grouping similar posts together, I have about 166 books, movies, and plays in the spreadsheet that I can write about; there is no shortage of topics.

You may be thinking, 166 seems kind of specific to use with "about". You are not wrong. There are some things that I did not put in the spreadsheet. I did not think I would want to write about them, or that they would fit my usual categories. Sometimes I am wrong.

In fact, I did not even review I Color Myself Different by Colin Kaepernick, illustrated by Eric Wilkerson, back when I read it.

One of the issues I run into with children's books is that I don't always feel like I have anything useful to say about them. I know some are great, or like different things about them. I find some not great at all, but still something that children might like. Is it worth reviewing some of those where I am more indifferent?

I Color Myself Different is based on a real event in young Colin's life when his class was drawing family pictures, and he used a different color crayon for his skin versus the rest of his family. Then the teacher is really affirming with him and with all of the other students, everyone is unique, the end. I mean, it is affirming but also pretty easy, and I didn't want to make a point of just saying, "It's fine."

With some of my more recent writing about children's books, it has reminded me that there is a need for lots of "fine" books, and I have also been more aware of how more kids might need that affirmation.

(Plus, people will literally go and put one star reviews for his books because he is himself, clearly without ever reading the books. "Fine" may actually have some value.)

On the other hand, I was extremely moved by the graphic novel, Colin Kaepernick: Change the Game. 

It was illustrated by Orlando Caiceido and written with Eve Ewing, whom I love. 

I was always going to want to read it, but it got my attention because of articles about the book and how Kaepernick was accusing his parents of racism.

I was pretty sure that was being interpreted more harshly than he intended, and probably more harshly than his parents received it, but I was curious.

I did know Kaepernick was adopted and raised by a white family. 

I did not know that he could easily have played pro baseball, or that he was raised in Turlock. Turlock was in my mission. I was never assigned there, but I have been there, and some things made a lot of sense.

It covers a time of Kaepernick needing to find his own path while in high school. He is being recruited more for baseball than football, and getting a lot of encouragement in that direction, but it isn't really what he wants.

There are not a lot of students of color at the school, but that is his friend group, and you can see that they need each other.

As he speaks out against casual racism and catches flak, you can see the seeds for his later path, and understand the need to make the choices that he did.

Along the way, his parents are baffled by his desire to grow his hair longer, and get it braided, and irritated with some of his social choices, like taking a Black girl to a dance instead of a nice white girl. They don't say it in those words, but you know in the background there is a sense of frustration with their son acting all Black.

I am sure they didn't even think it in those words, though the admonition to not act like a thug comes up.

Teenagers have a long history of frustrating their parents, even when everyone looks alike. However, when we don't talk about or examine the racism, we are more likely to fall in line with it.

That may hurt people you care about personally, but it does worse damage than that.

So really, both books are important. I liked one a lot better than the other -- the children's book is probably only for children -- but they are both important.

And I added a review.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58563479-i-color-myself-different

7 (or so) calls to get to know my life

Friday was intense. 

The exact number of phone calls was not seven, but some could be combined. That number just kind of goes with the recent theme.

The day started with my cell phone completely dead. I don't think there had been any warnings, except that I occasionally had trouble with my multi-factor authentication, which is the main thing I use the phone for. I use it for my work network, and one web tool. Sometimes I was not getting codes texted for the tool, but it is a tool that acts up a lot, so I was not blaming the phone.

Maybe that was a sign. 

I discovered its death as I was trying to log in to the work network. This started the first sequence of calls, trying to find a workaround for logging in. There were two calls with tech support, and then three calls getting authentication set up on the landline, but I was mostly able to work, a couple of times having coworkers look things up in the tool, because I did not have time to reset that.

Okay, it was Friday, so as long as I could make it through the day, I would have the weekend to try and replace the phone. I just needed to make it through to 5:30 PM. 

At about 4:50, the landline rang. 

We always worry when the phone rings that it might be something with Mom. Usually it's a survey or political ad or sales call that we are not interested in, but this time it was actually about our mother, who had been sluggish all day; did we want them to send her to the hospital?

I was working, and in fact on a call that required looking up and figuring out many things. One sister was fielding that call, but I am generally the one who deals with issues like this. 

I really wanted medical advice. 

Wrapping up my call, I was going to try and get a hold of our mother's primary care provider. I had her number stored in my phone. Rats.

I was able to find the number and get the call in just at 5:01 PM, when they switched to the answering service. I was not feeling very hopeful. While I carefully confirmed all of the information for the service, the landline rang again. It was Mom's provider.

I started to get some clarity here. She'd had a video visit with Mom earlier, and had left instructions for the facility, which included not transporting unless the family wished it. I think around shift change someone decided they should ask if the family wished it. That may not have been clear, because I was not on that call.

The provider had sent me e-mail asking if we could talk, but of course I had not read it because technically I was still working. Even then I had not finished logging the work call.

There was terrible guilt about dereliction of duty, but also, it's my mother; there is always guilt there.

Mom is in the POLST registry. Part of her expressed wishes are no resuscitation. I agree with that. I am glad we went through it when she could still understand the decisions and think clearly about them. What this really brought home is that there a lot of things that are short of resuscitation and may or may not be good ideas.

For example, one possibility was that a small infection was going into sepsis. That sounds horrible, but if that is a part of the body shutting down, that would probably be something to allow.

We decided to wait until Saturday to see how Mom was. They were also going to contact the hospice team to see about checking in, just in case. They were going to call me.

In fact, during this phone call, the other line was ringing in. That was not the hospice team, though; that was still the facility, wanting to know if they should transport. I gave that call back to Julie, and ran back to my desk.

There were still fifteen minutes left on my shift. I finished logging the one call, checked some other things, but was also paying attention to the conversation I could hear out there. 

About 5:29, the phone rang again. This was from hospice. Fortunately, the clock finally flipped over, and I was able to take that call with only parental guilt, no work guilt!

That was also the official start of the weekend. Unless things were dire, they would probably not be able to make it until Monday. I didn't know if it was dire, but we had decided to wait and see. I would call them after checking, and message the primary, and there was nothing else to do that night.

No, there was. I had to tell the other sister. The one who doesn't live with us. That was another phone call.

We have had some pretty busy weekends recently, and I had been looking forward to not having much to do for this one. A lot of errands had built up in spite of that: the phone issue, my new glasses were ready, we had not shopped, but also, I really needed to see Mom.

We were going to go Sunday anyway, but this was just a day earlier, to see.

She was fine. She was talking to a friend. She'd had her breakfast. I took an INR reading, and that is still all over the place. As I left I wished I'd thought to get her temperature, because she had a slight fever the previous day. Regardless, there was no sign that on the previous day she had been sluggish and weak and not wanting to swallow anything.

Inability to swallow is one of the last things that happens in the full progression of Alzheimer's. That made the phone calls more alarming, but this wasn't it.

There was one more round of phone calls, messages, and entering test results. We have groceries again, and I don't have to take off my glasses to read now. 

I have a working phone again. It's the same number, but I need to replace my contacts. At some point I need to set the network authentication back to text, but it hasn't happened yet.

Friday was more stressful than usual, but those biggest stressors -- work (and perfectionism), Mom (and a sense of helplessness), and trying so hard to be responsible -- that's kind of how it always goes, just intensified.

That may explain the chronic tiredness. Probably.

More diverse children's books

Having just finished with Andrea Davis Pinkney's work, and being not quite finished with a different section of children's books (which I will probably write about next Friday), this seemed like a good time to clear out other books that I have been reading over the time period where I could not blog.

I have written before about the value of diverse books and authors, so there are probably no surprises in me seeking them out. However, having read more than usual in a shorter time period, I did want to take a moment to go over potential quality issues.

Some of them are much better than others.

I don't worry about that too much. 

I saw once that you should read 1000 books to your child before kindergarten. There is room for many different books in there, and it is good that there will be variety.

If I were starting now, I imagine that I would start with a small library of board books, and I would keep checking out more books from the library. As I discovered ones that my child responded to more, or that I thought should be repeated, I would purchase those, but I would keep going through lots of different books.

Here are some options:

We Are the Change: Words of Inspiration From Civil Rights Leaders

Various children's books authors and illustrators have selected quotes that inspire them, and created a nice collection for older children.

Goodnight Racism by Ibram X. Kendi, illustrated by Cbabi Bayoc and Antiracist Baby by Ibram X. Kendi, illustrated by Ashley Lukashevsky 

Goodnight Racism is going to work better as a bedtime book, and can be a good way of introducing some issues early and gently. Antiracist Baby is probably more for the parents.

My Fade Is Fresh by Shauntay Grant, illustrated by Kitt Thomas

A celebration of different styles, but also acknowledging that sometimes you just want simple, and can be really happy with that.

Love In The Library by Maggie Tokuda-Hall, illustrated by Yas Imamura

Based on a true story, I am not sure that young children will relate, but it does give a gentle introduction to internment. Also, there is nothing wrong with adults reading picture books.

The Most Beautiful Thing by Kao Kalia Yang, illustrated by Khoa Le

Really gorgeous and heartfelt. While this is specifically about a family of Hmong refugees, it should be relatable for other families with fewer financial resources.

Robert's Snow by Grace Lin

A very cute Christmas story with wonder, adventure, and a cozy ending.

Once Upon A Book by Grace Lin, illustrated by Kate Messner

Having loved Lin's artwork for Robert's Snow, it is interesting to see her working with someone else. In this case the books is more ambitious, but even though it is about getting absorbed in books, I did not find it as spellbinding.

Ramen for Everyone by Patricia Tanumihardja, illustrated by Shiho Pate

Good lessons on the joy of cooking, learning from mistakes, and individual tastes. There is even a recipe included.

Kookum's Red Shoes by Peter Eyvndson, illustrated by Sheldon Dawson

One of the best written, in terms of carrying a theme and making it resonate, but also one of the most heartbreaking. There is still goodness that comes out of the heartbreak, because of compassion.

7* Television shows to get to know me

I have written about a lot of these before. There are at least seven posts about Queen Sugar, and a whole slew about Jeopardy! from back when my episode aired and when they were having different hosts. So, if some of this seems familiar, well, these shows really are important to me.

The Electric Company (1971-1977)

I did watch Mister Rogers' Neighborhood and Sesame Street, and I appreciate them, but they (especially Mr. Rogers) moved a little slow. The approach of this shortest-lived one worked best for me. We had rock-like music with The Short Circuit, Spiderman, and a guy whose name and personality were both "Crank"... this was the show for me. I can't even tell you how many of the songs I can still sing.

The Muppet Show (1976 -1981)

Even though Jim Henson was more associated with Sesame Street, I could imagine him working well with The Electric Company, and a lot of my reaction to The Muppet Show is the same. One big difference is that at the time I had no idea how many of the songs were from Broadway musicals. It is again a source of vivid memories, and it holds up. If The Electric Company was teaching me phonics, maybe the Muppets were getting me ready for pop culture.

The A-Team (1983-1987)

In retrospect, they stretched plausibility pretty hard on this one, but it was still so fun. That was one of the worst things about the movie (which had a lot to choose from for "worst"); they drained all of the elements of fun away from Hannibal, who loved what he was doing, especially when a plan came together. 

I guess the best thing about the movie is that finally there was something worse than Season 5. 

I also must note, Dirk Benedict was even more charming as Face than as Starbuck.

Jeopardy! (1984 - present)

I started watching a lot of shows that I lost track of in between the start of me working and the invention of DVRs, but this is a show that I actually discovered at work, in the break room at K-Mart, 1989. That started my desire to be on the show, which it only took 22 years to realize. (I did miss many episodes before DVRs.) I miss Alex, and I really wish Mayim Bialik would never, ever host, but I still love the show.

Once Upon A Time (2011-2018)

Two fairy tale shows started around the same time, and I watched both of them. One of them took a turn to where I was almost hate-watching it at the end, and was relieved that it did end. The other took some interesting approaches, but I ultimately kept liking it, and liking that it believed in redemption, and in supporting each other. Enemies could be transformed. Some people hated that about it, but it worked for me.

Queen Sugar (2016-2022)

This show will always hold a special place in my heart.

At the start it was that there was grief and parental loss at the right time, and attempts to protect and take care of things (and avoid having any weaknesses) in some very different characters. That is still important, but as they went through and dealt with different issues -- again, treating each person as important -- it really spoke to my heart.

Emergency! (1972-1979)/ CHiPs (1977-1983)/ Barney Miller (1975-1982)*

This is where the "7" is questionable, but these kind of go together.

Most of those meaningful shows are things that I watched when they were originally airing. With these, well, I saw at least some episodes back then, but it has been rediscovering them decades later that has been a lot of fun. I thought about only mentioning Emergency!, because I have some feelings about copaganda now; my affection for old cop shows is a little embarrassing. Regardless, I have really enjoyed watching these shows years later. I have seen every episode of each of them. Only a few are really terrible.

I will have more to write about Barney Miller soon.

More children's books about Black people

As important a contribution as the Pinkneys make, they are not the only authors and illustrators working on it.

Here are some other recommendations:

For younger readers:

Some of these may work better for your 8-10 year olds than your 5 year olds, but these two should be fine for any ages.

I Am John Lewis by Brad Meltzer and Christopher Eliopoulos

Of course John Lewis has four graphic novels out, plus one Pinkney book about a young boy he inspired, but this book is probably the easiest introduction, and then they will be glad to find more options.

Bunheads Misty Copeland and Setor Fiadzigbey

This is not just by Misty Copeland, but about her, so can be of special interest to children who love dance.

Speaking of the arts...

Focused on the arts

Exquisite: The Life and Poetry of Gwendolyn Brooks by Suzanne Slade and Cozbi A. Cabrera

Feed Your Mind: A Story of August Wilson by Jenn Bryant 

Strange Fruit: Billie Holiday and the Power of a Protest Song by Gary Golio and Charlotte Riley-Webb 

All three of these artists have some pretty mature content, but children who are interested in poetry or plays or musical performance can be inspired by other figures learning to express themselves, and the ways they developed their craft.

Other historical figures

Bad News for Outlaws: The Remarkable Life of Bass Reeves, Deputy U.S. Marshall by Vanda Micheaux Nelson and R. Gregory Christie

Because Claudette by Tracey Baptiste and Tonya Engel

Two very different people, but both real. Especially in the case of Reeves, reading can challenge the tendency to view history through a white lens.

Harriet Tubman: The Biography from University Press

This is not a picture books, so it is for early chapter readers, but it has a good overview of Tubman's many accomplishments.

For a broader view

The Undefeated by Kwame Alexander and Kadir Nelson

This book is one illustrated poem celebrating Black Americans through slavery and segregation. The powerful book won a Caldecott medal, a Newberry honor, and a Coretta Scott King award.

7 Movies to get to know me

Continuing with media that has been important to me -- specifically movies -- there is only one place to start:

Star Wars (1977)

I cannot even begin to explain how much it meant to me as an impressionable five-year old.

It may well have been the first movie I saw in a theater, because we didn't go often, and when we did it was the drive-in. The only movie I am really sure that I had seen before this was a showing of Disney's Robin Hood at my church.

But I remember desperately wanting to see Star Wars, and hardly being able to wait, and how exciting it was that they showed it at school two times, so that I saw the movie three times!

Plus, I was madly in love with Han Solo.

I loved that movie. If I would have been perfectly happy with it as a standalone movie, I can live with most of the additions.

Ball of Fire (1941)

Getting cable was huge for me, and not only for MTV, but also for classic movies on the Disney Channel, and I loved this one. Speaking of fairy tales, this was an updated Snow White story, with the seven dwarfs being seven professors working on an encyclopedia, and one of them was Gary Cooper. It is so light and fun when you consider that the plot kicks off with the arrest of a gangster with the victim of a mob hit in his trunk.

While You Were Sleeping (1995)

Despite my romantic nature, I don't like a lot of romantic comedies, because they often prolong the plot by making people jerks, which I don't really love. This one I adore.

End of the Century: The Story of the Ramones (2003)

I liked the Ramones early on, and not long before this came out I realized I loved them, and The Clash, and yet, I didn't think I really was a punk, and had some mixed feelings about that. This film was great in a lot of ways, but one thing it really helped with is reconciling my aversion for the Sex Pistols with my love for punk. I no longer felt a conflict.

(Of course, that all worked out as everyone started dying, but nothing's perfect.)

Pane e tulipani (2000)

I remember requesting this for me, and then my family watched it while I was doing their taxes. A few days later I got to watch it, and I just loved it. So many Italian films are really sad. They are often sad in beautiful ways -- I love Il postino -- but not everything has to reflect despair! But you need your necessities like your bread, and then your beauties like your tulips. Also, it hadn't been too long since I had been in Venice, so there were good memories with it.

Coco (2017)

This movie sure broke me. It destroyed me in the movie theater, and a week later when I saw a different movie and congratulated myself for not falling apart, it triggered a flashback and I was crying over Coco again. 

At the time, I was caring for my mother full-time, and Grandma Coco slipping away cut close to the bone, and still does. However, I love that connection. There is a bit at the end where a you get a family portrait but the dead and the living are together, and I believe in that. Someday Coco will hurt me less, and it will still be a good movie.

Shall We Dansu? (1996)

I love dance movies, though some have been really disappointing, especially since about 2006 on. As easily as I could put Dirty Dancing (1987) or Strictly Ballroom (1992) here, I am going with this one. It is so sweet and charming, and kind towards its people; even the private investigator's assistant is worthy of care. That is the thing that matters most to me now.

Spotlight on Andrea Davis Pinkney

Three times now I have focused on different illustrators, reading as many of their books as possible. 

Generally I have found a wide variety of material, with some that I like much better than others, but it reminds me that a job is a job, even for creative types.

This is the first time I have done it for a writer, and to some extent I have found the same thing.

I came to Andrea Davis Pinkney via two of those illustrators.

I had read one of her books already, because it was illustrated by Sean Qualls in 2019 and 20. Then, when I was going through the works of Ezra Jack Keats, I discovered a book about The Snowy Day by Pinkney. Reading more about her, I saw there were multiple collaborations with her husband, a lot of history which is of personal interest to her (and me), and a lot of Black pride, but also some things that were probably corporate assignments.

One thing I learned is that reading someone's entire oeuvre is practically impossible. Even with an excellent library system and inter-library loan, you will see references to work that just can't be found. Over the fifteen months I was working on this, her Goodreads listings kept changing. 

For example, one work that suddenly disappeared was an untitled Frederick Douglass biography. It disappeared just after I had read Dear Mr. President: Abraham Lincoln Letters From A Slave Girl, which had supplementary historical information. It occurred to me that it had probably been something like that, a feature in a book rather than a book in itself.

That was part of a series, like the two She Persisted titles and Peace Warriors. Also disappearing were several Cheetah Girls titles and a book by Ossie Davis, Just Like Martin, that I can only assume she edited. (Still there is a specific edition of Misty of Chincoteague, which I have read, but not the one she worked on.)

Those were things that I found interesting about the process, though the important thing is really the books. For that, I found the range interesting.

I have not previously read many board books, but I can see the value of repeating those positive messages while a child is young, and letting them see something other than white faces in books, so they are growing up seeing themselves. Representation matters.

Then you see that continuing, with stories of lives in different eras, and different levels of fame, and facing different situations. There is a lot of variety, and that makes sense for books released over thirty years.

I was initially surprised by the length of some of the books. In between the picture books and the chapter books, there are some that are more like historical reference. One of these ended up being my favorite, Rhythm Ride: A Road Trip Through the Motown Sound.

My least favorite ended up being Teen Business Blasts Off!, a profile of several contenders in a contest for teen entrepreneurs. I suspect that was the most corporate, and yet I can imagine teens who would find it very valuable, and inspiring. Even more, if taking those jobs means that not only are you working regularly, but that you regularly get to collaborate on projects that are very meaningful to you, that has its own worth.

It is also easy to get a strong sense of family and community. In author's notes, Pinkney often refers to her parents and extended family, and one can also imagine some of the inspiration being driven by her children, especially on the work that collaborates with her husband.

Right now I am wrapping up something else with children's literature, but after I will see how many of the works of Brian Pinkney I can find. After all, I have a head start now, already have read about a third of his listed books.

Then I think I will move on to Brian's father, Caldecott Medal winner Jerry Pinkney, and Jerry's wife, Gloria Jean Pinkney, because it seems to be an interesting and talented family. And then, I will probably also be reading some more Patricia C McKissack, based on some collaborations with Brian.

Works by Andrea Davis Pinkney (with Brian Pinkney unless otherwise specified)

Board Books

(Bright Brown Baby)
Count to Love (2021)
Bright Brown Baby (2022)
Peek-a-You (2022)
Hello, Beautiful You (2022)
Baby Boy You Are A Star (2023)

(Family Celebration)
Shake, Shake, Shake (1997)
I Smell Honey (1997)
Watch Me Dance (1997)
Pretty Brown Face (1997)

Picture Books

Seven Candles For Kwanzaa (1993)
Mim's Christmas Jam (2001)
Fishing Day (2003)
Sleeping Cutie (2004)
Peggony-Po a Whale of a Tale (2006)
Our Special Sweet Potato Pie (2007, with Cathy Ann Johnson)

Picture Books about Black History

Alvin Ailey (1993)
Dear Benjamin Banneker (1994)
Bill Picket: Rodeo Ridin' Cowboy (1996)
Duke Ellington: The Piano Prince and his Orchestra (1998)
Ella Fitzgerald: The Tale of a Vocal Virtuoso (2002)
Boycott Blues: How Rosa Parks Inspired a Nation (2008)
Meet the Obamas: America's First Family (2009, not illustrated, lots of photos)
Sojourner Truth's Step-Stomp Stride (2009)
Sit-In: How Four Friends Stood Up By Sitting Down (2010)
Martin & Mahalia: His Words, Her Song (2011)
Because of You, John Lewis: The True Story of a Remarkable Friendship (2022, with Keith Henry Brown)

Longer History Books

Let It Shine: Stories of Black Women Freedom Fighters (2000, with Steven Alcorn)
Hand in Hand: Ten Black Men Who Changed America (2012)
Rhythm Ride: A Road Trip Through the Motown Sound (2015, not illustrated, lots of photos)
Peace Warriors (Biography Profile Series #6) (2016, not illustrated)
A Poem for Peter: The Story of Ezra Jack Keats and the Creation of The Snowy Day (2016, with Lou Fancher and Steve Johnson)
Martin Rising: Requiem for a King (2018)
She Persisted: Harriet Tubman (2021, with Gillian Flint)
She Persisted: Ella Fitzgerald (2023, with Gillian Flint)

Short Chapter Books

Hold Fast to Dreams (1995, not illustrated)
Solo Girl (1997, with Nneka Bennett)
Raven in a Dove House (1998, not illustrated)
Silent Thunder (1999)
Dear Mr. President: Abraham Lincoln Letters From A Slave Girl (2001)
Teen Business Blasts Off! (2010, not illustrated, lots of photos)
With the Might of Angels: The Diary of Dawnie Mae Johnson, Hadley, Virginia, 1954 (2011, not illustrated)
Bird in a Box (2011, with Sean Qualls)
The Red Pencil (2014, with Shane Evans)
Loretta Little Looks Back: Three Voices Go Tell It (2020)

Anthologies

Be Careful What You Wish For: Ten Stories About Wishes (2007)
The Creativity Project: An Awesometastic Story Collection (2018)

A different kind of break: 7 books to know me

In terms of topics that I am interested in, I am seeing so much ignorance and malfeasance that I am having a hard time stringing thoughts together. I can get a sentence here and there, but paragraphs may be asking too much.

To some extent, I do question the value of this blog, and what my audience is and if I am saying anything that is valuable to anyone that will read it. Previously, it felt like enough that I was getting my own thoughts straight, but I am questioning that now.

Maybe I am not getting my own thoughts straight.

Anyway, back on World Book Day (March 3rd) I responded to a thread for introducing yourself in seven books. I responded to that, but I have seen other, similar threads asking for seven movies or shows or albums.

(I have written about albums before, but it was ten: https://sporkful.blogspot.com/2020/05/ten-albums-that-influenced-me-and-how.html) 

Anyway, for the next few weeks, this is just going to be about getting to know me through pieces of media that are important to me.

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
A Christmas Carol is my favorite book. Yes, I enjoy holidays, but I feel most passionately about its message of caring for others as what we most need to do.

And the Walls Came Tumbling Down by Ralph Abernathy
I loved Abernathy's voice, and I valued the perspective that came with his telling years later, and with all the grief that comes with reading about King, it was good to read someone who got to live and age, even if that came with disappointments. Also, reading it was so vivid for me that at night I dreamed about marching. That's how deeply it got to me.

A House of My Own by Sandra Cisneros
I was already very fond of Cisneros here, so the insight that came with this was precious, and it gives me other authors to read, but the biggest things was some of what she wrote about death.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
I feel a little bad that this list does not have Jane Austen or L.M. Montgomery (and Anne Bronte is really good), but if we take all of those novels, this is probably my favorite of that set, and it was the first of them that I read, which probably plays a role.

Heidi by Johanna Spyri
This is my comfort reading. I read it when I was about Heidi's age, and sometimes just going back and reading about the mountain or the kittens or the goats is what I need. Similar feelings for Jane of Lantern Hill, though I found that much later. Cozy housekeeping I guess.

Dracula by Bram Stoker
Getting bitten was an early phobia of mine, so vampires came in bad dreams (then emotional vampires as I got older), but I get the appeal. Also, the way the book is written and the way the action moves... I love it. Wilkie Collins has a similar vibe.

Gaia's Garden by Toby Hemenway
I read so much more nonfiction now, but I am reading for information and may not fall in love the same way. This is beautifully written with a beautiful concept of balance and healing, and yet is also pretty practical. My favorite permaculture book.

I would also like to give an honorable mention to The Samurai's Garden by Gail Tsukiyama.
This was read in a book club and it had been a while since I had read any fiction. It felt like a vacation. I do read a lot more non-fiction now, but sometimes it is just good to read a story.

Children's books for hard times

In August I just happened to come across multiple children's books that were really about processing grief. I was very touched by them. I had thought about writing about them, but it did not come up previously. 

I recently read one more, but it fills a different niche.

The truth is, the three from August are almost too sad, except there are lessons there that might be needed. 

In the Shadow of an Elephant by Georgie Donaghey

First a young elephant loses its parents and herd, and father and son humans come to take care of it. Eventually the human father dies, but the elephant is there for the human, as the human was for the elephant. 

Thursday by Ann Bonwill

Thursday was her favorite day, and then it became the day when her parents told her they were getting divorced, not only ruining Thursday, but upending her life and changing the things that had made Thursdays good.

For children who have not even had to consider those possibilities, those books may be more than they need. Because of that, The Shadow Elephant by Nadine Robert may be the most helpful.

We don't know why the elephant is so sad, though we do learn what is upsetting the mouse. Regardless, we see the value of empathy and compassion and how helping someone else can help us too.

While Everything Will Be Okay by Anna Dewdney is not anywhere near as devastating, the simple rhymes about things going wrong but not staying terrible may be more to the point. It provides a pattern for building resilience.

But then, when there is death or divorce, those other books can be really needed.

There need to be lots of different kinds of books available. There need to be books about different topics and treated in different ways, showing different characters, and aimed at different audiences.

I am going through a lot of different books for young readers now, some of which I will be writing about soon, and some of which will happen a little later, but I feel pretty comfortable saying this now:

Children do not need to be protected from books. 

The people who pretend that is a need are a much worse danger.

News you might be able to use

This week I learned of someone's car being stolen from the a dealer's lot after having been dropped off for service. 

(I do not know the victim, but I know the victim's roommate.) 

It is common practice for there to be a drop box for keys so you don't have to drop the car off during service hours. Not having your car is inconvenient, and that is a way of making things more convenient.

This drop box was emptied of all of the keys overnight.

This is apparently a new thing: drop boxes are being emptied or raided or removed, and lots of cars are being taken this way.

This does of course lead to an even greater inconvenience, which can be exacerbated by risks of home robbery if you left your garage door opener in the car, or identity theft if you left your registration.

We were appalled and upset on behalf of one person that got their car stolen, but the conversation with the police made it sound like a trend. They also made it sound like because it is property crime that the city (Beaverton) would probably not be pursuing it, but that Washington County might.

The reason I am writing about it is because then there was this comment in the conversation, "And you don't hear anything about it on the news."

That seems like good information to have. If nothing else, businesses should be notified and maybe post signs advising that people shouldn't drop their keys off, or so they secure the drop boxes better, or hire night security.

It could make a good news story for consumer protection: don't leave your registration in the glove box! Don't leave your garage door opener in the car. Maybe don't leave the door between your garage and your house unlocked. Maybe -- no matter how inconvenient it is -- find a way to drop off your car during business hours.

I have not watched much local news for a while, so I was not sure if it wasn't being mentioned. 

Searches weren't too encouraging. There was nothing on that method.

The top results were a story about a car thief who found a child in the back seat, so came back and lectured the mother. Seriously, it's like that's the only car theft story that anyone cares about.

I did also find a story through KGW about Portland mayor Ted Wheeler creating a task force, and the cops were going to work with cancer doctors at OHSU to understand tracking. (Frankly, I am not sure that knowledge will correspond, but okay.) I also did find some articles about dealer thefts, but those were all about forcing locks. There was one about key thefts, but that was about the keys for the cars for sale being stolen, and not the cars. (That sounds more like a really annoying, expensive prank.)

Now, there is always the possibility that the issue was misrepresented by the police, in terms of how common it is, or how likely to be pursued; they will tend to spin things in a way that facilitates budget increases.

That is all the more reason that you need a press that questions and reports. It does not feel like we have one.

I had been thinking about that more for national issues, but your backyard matters too.

Anyway, if you are getting your car worked on, careful with that drop off.

May Daily Songs: Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month

I usually wait to post about the songs until after I have played them all, but I don't know that it's really necessary. It may very well feel weird enough that I never do it again, but I thought I'd at least try it.

Therefore, there are only dates by the songs already posted. There are 31 total, taking us through the end of May. I currently have no intentions of changing the order, though there is not any special pattern to the order. Well, I did start with James Iha because he is probably the most famous of these Asian-Americans, by which I mean United States residents of Asian descent.

That was one change this year. Previously I have not paid a lot of attention to country of origin. That means I did not use anyone based in Japan or Korea (last year I did) and I even left out those Asian-Canadians that I had really liked last year.

I also did not use any Pacific Islanders from islands that are not US, so no New Zealand bands.

There are a lot of ways of viewing how to organize these heritage months. They can all have merits in different ways, so it can be good to change it up from year to year.

But yes, it means I am sorting people based on race and country of origin.

Another thing I did differently this year was focusing on individuals rather than bands. That left open the possibility of using Smashing Pumpkins and Linkin Park. As it is, James Iha and Mike Shinoda both have a fair amount of solo work.

It also means I have a Jonas brother in here -- which makes me cringe a little -- but DNCE is not included for him; it's for JinJoo Lee.

There continue to be recurring favorites, but I think my favorite new discovery is Thao & The Get Down Stay Down. Having some previous familiarity, I am starting to really enjoy Kishi Bashi. 

I also wish I had known about Only Won's "12 Days of Dim Sum" for Non-White Christmas.

I don't know what I will do for December this year, but I enjoy seeing how things develop.

UPDATE: I am never doing this again. 

I did a check and noticed that I had "Dreaming Awake" by Low Leaf listed twice. That must have meant I counted wrong and needed another song! Who got left out? Okay, I will use that Mountain Brothers song. Problem solved? Nope.

I think the extra listing of Low Leaf was when I was rearranging some songs, but had not affected the number. I thought I had counted again and only gotten 30, so that adding an extra song was appropriate. Since I moved Mountain Brothers in to fill the Low Leaf duplicate, that means that the list goes into June, or that I am removing one. Listening to the remaining songs, I am taking out "Faded" by Zhu. I am okay with that, but I wish I had not posted until the month was over.

Minor, but still annoying.

Daily Songs:

5/1 “Beauty” by James Iha
5/2 “Rush” by Ravenna
5/3 “Are We There Yet” by DUMBFOUNDED
5/4 “Ordinary Pleasure” by Toro y Moi
5/5 “Tenderness” by Jay Som
5/6 “When We Swam” by Thao & The Get Down Stay Down
5/7 “Sutures” by The Slants
5/8 “Rest Before We Go To War” by Ogikubo Station
5/9 “Cake By The Ocean” by DNCE
5/10 “Carry On Phenomenon” by Kishi Bashi
5/11 “Ray” by Clones of the Queen
5/12 “Magic” by The Linda Lindas
5/13 “Hummingbird” by Run River North
5/14 “Kawika” by Jake Shimabukuro
5/15 “50 Thousand Deep” by Blue Scholars
5/16 “Ready” by MILCK
5/17 “Passionfruit” by Yaeji
5/18 “Dreaming Awake” by Low Leaf
5/19 “Always Need You” by Melissa Polinar
5/20“Galaxies: The Next Level” by Mountain Brothers
5/21 “Strings” by Asobi Seksu
5/22 “Shivers” by Katherine Ho
5/23 “Kitty Party” by Awaaz Do
5/24 “Nobody” by Mitski
5/25 “Boyish” by Japanese Breakfast
5/26 “A Thousand Cuts” by Ruby Ibarra
5/27 “Butterfly” by UMI
5/28 “Promises I Can't Keep” by Mike Shinoda
5/29 “Hard Glance” by Bodysync
5/30 “Turn This World Around” by Only Won & Larissa Lam
5/31 “No Turning Back” by CHOPS