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Carpenoctum2 readers who also follow my sonictapestry blog sonictapestry.wordpress.com/
know that I have been watching the FIFA World Cup and that I played soccer in jr high as well as high school in New York state. I had my favorite teams going into the World Cup matches, was surprised by the USA and Germany....Wow, Germany what team effort and performance. Congratulations!!!
Although each of my blog sites has a specific and on occasion blended audience, writing posts for both occurs at various preferred locations in the San Diego/Los Angeles corridor. A select few local coffee shops tolerate my endless coffee refill stream as I "seat dance" with headsets blaring Stax Record oldies. A HUGE shout out and thank you to Norman McWilliams fellow African American music specialist and administrator for my new Video Interview website.
His understanding of why Stax music is so cherished for me leads to intense and insightful sharing dialogue that expands my appreciation of the Stax era, aesthetic philosophy, and sound (More on the Video Interview site in a later post----expected launch: end of July/beginning of August).
This summer, taking time to reflect also occurs in private spaces as relatives and friends open their homes. They watch me pace, grunt, move to music from 60s funk grooves and electric slide boogie to early 80s Rap (not sure if I can call it "dancing" ). It's funny to hear them ask tentatively, "Everything alright? Gettin' work done?" I shake my head as they smile. When I turn up the volume, frown a lot and mumble-sing along to each song, they know--- OH YEA, IT'S ON, I'M WRITIN'...
If I'm playin' Michael and Janet Jackson, Prince, Stevie Wonder, Lisa Stansfield, Wu Tang Clan, Heavy D, Whitney, Miles, Bird, Nina Simone, The Isley Brothers, or Mozart's "Queen of the Night" from the Magic Flute. It's just how I role ya'll...
I share many of my writing spaces with you all willingly and yes, I am always looking for a few new secret place in which I can quietly sit and sip morning coffee, think. A side note, I am beginning to appreciate Tom N Tom's soft atmosphere with hearty house blends.
This morning I sit at an umbrella covered stone and tile table in Seaport Village's "tourist" food court long before tourists and locals flock to nest and eat ethnic themed fast foods. A maintenance man, blower z-z-z-z-z-z-ing leaves and pebbles loudly across the courtyard, cleans away trash and debris; as gloomy overcast clouds vaporize, an almost hot sun peeks around cloud wisps. Wildfire air has cleared, scorched terrain but lives take time to repair. Folks are thankful to have survived and it is so much easier to work and breathe deeply now. Clouds bring needed moisture. In a few weeks, it will probably become much dryer, hotter. I am enjoying June gloom's hangover into July.
This summer I'm not indoors doing as much research as I've done in previous years. Of course my ongoing Vince Meades popular music project will continue. sonictapestry.wordpress.com/the-vince-meades-collection/ I am writing more, analyzing, trying to format enough material for another book.
This morning, thoughts about student K-12 and post-secondary education, challenges, achievement, expectations and goals have led me to think about participation in the SDSU Africana Studies Department's Baccalaureate at Lincoln High School this past May.
For more the full article and more photos, see the San Diego Voice and Viewpoint:
http://sdvoice.info/san-diego-state-universitys-black-baccalaureate-ceremony/
contributing writer Preston Clark and photographer Jon Medel provided commendable coverage of our departmental event.
The ceremony is an important celebration. Administrators, faculty, staff, and community acknowledge undergraduate and graduates students' degree completion. In addition an invocation of a public charge is given to and accepted by new graduates to take their place as contributing societal members in a world that is sometimes hostile to their presence. Administrators, faculty, staff also reaffirm their role as mentors to students and community.
The following statements are solely my perspective on San Diego State University's Africana Studies Department: under the leadership of department chair Dr. Charles Toombs, the department continues to nurture rigorous scholarship, personal growth, and community responsibility established by previous chairs including the now 78th District assembly woman Dr. Shirley Weber. The department embraces diasporic Africans, encourages any student who wants to learn about Africana Studies as a discipline and encourages all people to learn more about their personal heritage. The department embraces our diversity as people: our community is local, national, and global and as colleagues.
Our young scholars work hard and often overcome many obstacles. They learn to work as individuals and as team players, to contribute to the uplift of those around them. They inspire us to teach and to learn in an ever unfolding complex 21st century. When Autumn comes and the semester begins, I will look for those emails that update me on graduates in process of leaving "home" to pursue ongoing endeavors. I remember when I left so long ago.
These grey summer mornings make me reflect, aware that California is my adopted home. I love San Diego, but this morning I recall grey, New York Autumn, feel, nostalgic. Quoting a line from my poem "Billie Holiday" http://www.dreamagic.com/cgi-bin/PoetryGen.cgi?author=Delores_Fisher&html=fisher6&title=Billie_Holiday&number=0020
IV.
I am and always will be an upstate Western New Yorker.
Hot apple cider on cool autumn day,
Home made soup simmering softly in late afternoon,
Birds circle-swoop flight flock formations
Through grey-mist evenings.
Summer 2014 is here . . . more thoughts in a few days.
Hmmmmm . .. . . ..
Delores Fisher
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