Books by Jerry W. Ward Jr.
Trouble the Water
(1997) /
Black Southern Voices (1992) /
The Richard Wright Encyclopedia (2008) /
The Katrina Papers
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After
the Hurricanes
(for
the radical writers in New Orleans)
By
Jerry W. Ward Jr.
Poverty
is not devoid of its dignity,
Nor is the Ninth Ward a fractured mirror
For minor gods to behold factitious laughter.
Beware of aliens, of inside agitators, of vultures
Who would batten on grief and broken hearts,
Kidnap our cultures and dreams, wondrously aged,
Transport and auction them for abuse.
Against such tragedy within tragedy we stand
In solidarity for life, for liberty, for return to happiness.
Saints
and soldiers creative
Be not blindly meditative,
Seeking at noon
An impossible drinking gourd.
Hope
is not devoid of its deceit,
Nor immune to misleading into swamps.
Careful. Don’t move left. Quicksand be there.
Don’t move right. Gators will kiss you.
Learn from the fugitive enslaved.
Befriend moccasins.
Capture and coffle the cruel,
The arrogant, the mammon cold.
Send them on middle passages into the blues.
October
19, 2005
posted 21 October 2005 |
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The Katrina Papers is not your
average memoir. It is a fusion of many kinds of
writing, including intellectual autobiography,
personal narrative, political/cultural analysis,
spiritual journal, literary history, and poetry.
Though it is the record of one man's experience of
Hurricane Katrina, it is a record that is fully a
part of his life and work as a scholar, political
activist, and professor.
The Katrina Papers
provides space not only for the traumatic events but
also for ruminations on authors such as Richard
Wright and theorists like Deleuze and Guattarri. The
result is a complex though thoroughly accessible
book. The struggle with form—the search for a
medium proper to the complex social, personal, and
political ramifications of an event unprecedented in
this scholar's life and in American social history—lies at the very heart of
The Katrina Papers. It
depicts an enigmatic and multi-stranded world view
which takes the local as its nexus for understanding
the global. It resists the temptation to simplify
or clarify when simplification and clarification are
not possible. Ward's narrative is, at times, very
direct, but he always refuses to simplify the
complex emotional and spiritual volatility of the
process and the historical moment that he is
witnessing. The end result is an honesty that is
both pedagogical and inspiring.—Hank Lazer
Dear Jerry,
The Richard Wright Encyclopedia (2008)
is a marvelous resource! It's not like any
encyclopedia I've seen before. Already, I have spent
hours reading through the various entries. So much is
there: people, themes, issues, events, bibliographies,
etc., related to Wright. Yours is a monumental
contribution! The more I read Wright (and about him),
the more I am amazed at the depth and breadth of his
work and its impact on the worlds of literature,
philosophy, politics, sociology, history, psychology,
etc. He was formidable!
Floyd W. Hayes
Dear
Jerry,
I received my copy of
The Katrina Papers
this past weekend. I had to order it directly from UNO
Press. This is a formidable volume! You write with such
eloquence, passion, insight, and power. As survivor and
raconteur of Katrina's devastation, you give the reader
your reflections on this event; you also provide us with
informed commentaries about a broad variety of other
issues that attract your attention and the people with
whom you interact. As a student of politics, I guess I
am just overwhelmed by the breadth and depth of your
critical observations. Reading this volume and
The Richard Wright Encyclopedia,
I can comprehend not only the centrality of Richard
Wright to your scholarly project, but I also can grasp
your own intellectual power and clear vision. For
example, your critique of Robert Lashley' rant about
Wright's LAWD TODAY is the model of the art of critique.
Marvelous!
Thanks for your generous comment on my paper on
Robeson and Wright. I continue to read both of your
books. As always,
Floyd W. Hayes
Rudy, Jerry's
Katrina Papers, which I started
reading last night, is, indeed, extraordinary. It's
not a new genre, however; it's really set in the
frame of a journal—not
the 19th-century kind like that of Ida B. Wells and
of so many other, primarily women writers of that
period—but
more like the "new diary," described by
Tristine Rainer as a "journal for self guidance
and expanded creativity." In many ways it's similar
to
Frida Kahlo's journal or notebook—in
her case, designed for creative self-expression
through the incorporation of sketches, notes, and
symbols (primarily visual images); in his case
designed for intellectual reflection through the
incorporation of verbal images and symbols.
In many ways,
his journal and the "new diary" finds its postmodern
manifestation in the blog, particularly one like
Ethelbert's. The journal/new diary/blog is an
extremely flexible genre that permits the inclusion
of various other forms: poetry, Q & As, course
syllabi, dialogs, prose pieces, doodlings, sketches,
dramatic scenes, etc. I was particularly fascinated
with Jerry's piece about his body, suggesting as it
does, separation and disconnection from the "life of
the mind" that he lives. Jerry is an intellectual
par excellence with little indication in the
Papers
of his physical/pleasurable self. Maybe he'll
expand later in the book on his trips to casinos and
enjoyment of Jack Daniels. But, then, the book is
not a reflection on joy, but, as you say, of power
and clarity in the midst of disaster and depression.
Most people would have disintegrated under such
trauma. More about this later as I get my thoughts
together. Miriam
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 |
Super Rich: A Guide to Having it All
By Russell Simmons
Russell Simmons knows firsthand that
wealth is rooted in much more than the
stock
market. True wealth has more to do with
what's in your heart than what's in your
wallet. Using this knowledge, Simmons
became one of America's shrewdest
entrepreneurs, achieving a level of
success that most investors only dream
about. No matter how much material gain
he accumulated, he never stopped lending
a hand to those less fortunate. In
Super Rich, Simmons uses his rare
blend of spiritual savvy and
street-smart wisdom to offer a new
definition of wealth-and share timeless
principles for developing an unshakable
sense of self that can weather any
financial storm. As Simmons says, "Happy
can make you money, but money can't make
you happy." |
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The New Jim Crow
Mass Incarceration in the Age of
Colorblindness
By Michele Alexander
Contrary to the
rosy picture of race embodied in Barack
Obama's political success and Oprah
Winfrey's financial success, legal
scholar Alexander argues vigorously and
persuasively that [w]e have not ended
racial caste in America; we have merely
redesigned it. Jim Crow and legal racial
segregation has been replaced by mass
incarceration as a system of social
control (More African Americans are
under correctional control today... than
were enslaved in 1850). Alexander
reviews American racial history from the
colonies to the Clinton administration,
delineating its transformation into the
war on drugs. She offers an acute
analysis of the effect of this mass
incarceration upon former inmates who
will be discriminated against, legally,
for the rest of their lives, denied
employment, housing, education, and
public benefits. Most provocatively, she
reveals how both the move toward
colorblindness and affirmative action
may blur our vision of injustice: most
Americans know and don't know the truth
about mass incarceration—but her
carefully researched, deeply engaging,
and thoroughly readable book should
change that.—Publishers
Weekly |
 |
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The White Masters of the
World
From
The World and Africa, 1965
By W. E. B. Du Bois
W. E. B. Du Bois’
Arraignment and Indictment of White Civilization
(Fletcher)
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Ancient African Nations
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The Death of Emmett Till by Bob Dylan
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Only a Pawn in Their Game
Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson Thanks America for
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Hurricane Carter
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Haitian Declaration of Independence 1804
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January 1, 1804 -- The Founding of
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