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Books by Mary E. Weems
Public Education and the
Imagination-Intellect: I Speak from the Wound in My
Mouth /
Tampon Class
An Unmistakable Shade of Red &
The Obama Chronicles
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Mary E. Weems,
Ph.D. is an accomplished poet, playwright, author,
editor, performer, motivational speaker, and
imagination-intellect theorist. Weems has been widely
published in journals, anthologies, and several books
including
Public Education and the
Imagination-Intellect: I Speak from the Wound in My
Mouth (Lang, 2003), developed from her dissertation
which argues for imagination-intellectual development as
the primary goal of public education. She won the Wick
Chapbook Award for her collection in 1996, and in
1997 her play Another Way to Dance won the
Chilcote award for The Most Innovative Play by an Ohio
Playwright. Her most recent chapbook
Tampon Class
(Pavement Saw Press, 2005) is in its second printing.
Mary Weems currently teaches in the English and
Education departments at John Carroll University,
and works as a language-artist-scholar in k-12
classrooms, university settings and other venues through
her business Bringing Words to Life.
Contact Professor Weems,
mweems45@sbcglobal.net, for readings and
more information.
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Mary E. Weems.
Public Education and Imagination-Intellect: I Speak from
the Wound in My Mouth. New York: Peter Lang,
2003. 125 pp. $24.95. African American Review,
Fall 2005 by Meiko Negishi, Anastasia Elder
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What’s Going
On: Black Studies and the Arts
Historically,
Black artists and scholars have used their work to
investigate and articulate the heart of the global
Black experience. We seek work that addresses
innovative ways visual art, music, poetry,
literature, dance and other art forms critique,
illuminate and/or bear witness to problems and
solutions to critical issues in k-12 and
postsecondary education. These issues include but
are not limited to use of the arts as an integral
part of the curriculum, to critique or explore the
achievement gap, to report on the consequences of No
Child Left Behind, use of the arts in Teacher
Education programs, and the experiences of Black
artist scholars in academia. We are interested in
author's doing qualitative research using
interpretive methods including auto/ethnography,
ethnography, poetic inquiry, narrative, and
ethnodrama; as well as interview and focus groups.
What's Going On welcomes work from all
educational disciplines and will also consider
collaborative book projects on the cutting edge of
crucial issues facing Black people today pertinent
to the field.
Help me spread
the word about Peter Lang's, Black Studies and
Critical Thinking (BSCT) series and contact me at
mweems45@yahoo.com or
mweems@jcu.edu
with questions about What's Going On or to
suggest folks who might be interested in submitting
proposals. Also, note the other series editors and
their areas below.
Peace, Mary E.
Weems, Series Editor, Black Studies and Critical
Thinking, Peter Lang Publishing
Other Series Editors
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Marsha Darling, History
E. Patrick Johnson, LGBT
Judy Alston, Black Leadership
Judson L. Jeffries, Political Science |
Ernest Morrell, Youth & Childhood
Culture
Mitchell Rice, Public Policy &
Administration
R. Deborah Davis, Education
Sandra Jackson, Black Women and Gender
Studies |
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LeBron James: 3rd 'Vogue' cover boy
LeBron James is striking a pose.
The Cleveland Cavaliers' superstar
will appear on the April cover of Vogue, joining actors
Richard Gere and George Clooney as the only men to do so
in the influential fashion magazine's 116-year history.
Wearing a tank top, shorts and
sneakers from his own Nike clothing line, James appears
on the cover dribbling a basketball and screaming as if
in game mode while throwing one arm around supermodel
Gisele Bundchen with Tom Brady nowhere to be found.
USA Today |
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En Vogue
*LeBron
James on Cover
of Vogue
Magazine, March 2008
Being
Black and male
always
been a commodity
this
brother not for sale
being
sold every day
on
dotted line
line
is long
white
folks who hire
see
money-green, Black, and go-rilla
remember movie
that
affirmed Darwin’s theory
his
evolution of the races
not
taught—known by almost everyone.
LeBron
knows basketball, charity,
love
and what he was taught in American schools.
U.S.
His-tory a white lie.
James
builds a dynasty
moves
across shoes
long
line of Black men
who
couldn’t play basketball
with
whites, but lived an America
sans
Civil Rights, heard
I wish Cotton was a
monkey”
on
The Little Rascals
knew what it meant.
By
Mary E. Weems
3-21-08 |
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Spring Break
New Jersey
Jacob Lawrence, 1946
The couple stepped out of Princeton
took a New Ark. On the white sand
color separated like oil and water
Princeton perched under umbrellas
drank from umbrella-topped frosted
glasses. The sweat on the glass
like the wet all around them
night arms and legs lifting and toting
with both sides, keeping their eyes
down to keep the look in them
from getting them
fired.
A poem from unpublished manuscript
titled "Night Gallery."
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Eulogy for Bernie Mack
I’m gon’ miss Bernie Back
like 45 mothafuckas
my
first and last Big Mac and fries,
The Mack in Superfly one, two, three,
and four
He
made me laugh so loud
I
thought my teeth, tongue and gums
would drop like a man caught sneaking
through his bedroom window drops to the ground,
like somebody just told me all his jokes at one
time,
like it was the last laugh I was evah gon’ have
Bernie Mack was so funny he didn’t have to cuss,
watchin’ his sitcom like being at home when I was
growin’ up,
except with a refrigerator fulla food and popcorn
his comedy took you from laughin’ ha! ha! to aha!
as
he hit Black life, poverty and politics on the head
When Bernie Mack conjugated mothafucka,
I
almost choked on laughter wellin’ up in my throat
like volcano mud, rememberin’ how many umpteenth
times
I’ve used that word to talk about everything under
the sun,
moon and stars
Thank you God for sendin’ us this brother,
this world his comedy club, the next blessed
to have him at the mike.
Mary E. Weems August, 2008 |
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Mary Weems
Tampon Class
OUT OF PRINT
Pavement Saw
Press Chapbook Series
ISBN 1-886350-49-3
32 pages, 5.5 by 8.5, 2005 / $6.00
Poems in
this chapbook first appeared in Calyx,
Mirror of the Arts, Moondance,
Obsidian III: Black Literature in Review,
Pavement Saw, Reed Magazine, Woman
Made Gallery's Her Mark 2002 Calendar, Xcp: Cross
Cultural Poetics. |
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Tampon Class
The 10-cent tampon dispenser
in the state college john
is chipped, rusted, dented
white metal, slick
from fast fingerprints,
plucking the contents in a hurry.
The 25-cent tampon dispenser
in the downtown office building
is brass, engraved with insert
instructions. The product shoots
from the small side chute.
The 50-cent tampon dispenser
in the mall is black and chrome
with an invisible coin slot. It plays
music as coins drop and a secret door
opens, placing the tube in your hand
singing, thanks for bleeding. |
Source:
Pavement Saw Press
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Say it Loud: Poems about James Brown
This is a shout
out for help. Almost a year ago, when brother James
Brown made his transition, I posted the following Call
for Poems about the impact his lifetime of music has had
on anyone within the reach of the call. To date the
“response” has been powerful but as of today—February
20, 2008, the number of poems submitted for
consideration number less than 50. Poets we need at
least another 150 poems, to put together a strong
anthology. I know a lot of people hit this drum. I’m
asking each person who reads this call to “stop” and
take a minute to forward it to at least “3” people they
know who are either poets or who know poets. If you
belong to other listservs, consider helping us out by
“posting” this call on it if possible. If ya’ll don’t
have a James Brown poem—consider writing one and sending
it to us. I realize all things come in their own time,
but on the practical side—books like these have their
“time” too—May 6, 2008, will mark a year the world’s
been without James Brown. In his honor, get down—send us
your James Brown poems today. Peace, Mary Weems
Say it Loud: Poems about James Brown.
Edited by: Mary E. Weems, and Thomas Sayers Ellis.
We grew up on
James Brown’s hit me! When he danced every young Black
man wanted to move, groove and look like him. Mr. Brown
wasn’t called the hardest workingman in show business
because he wasn’t. Experiencing a James Brown show was
like getting your favourite soul food twice, plus desert.
His songs, like black power fists you could be proud of
and move to at the same time. When Mr. Brown sang make
it funky we sweated even in the wintertime. Losing him
was like losing somebody in our family. This is a shout
out for poems about the impact James Brown had on our
lives. Poems that will help people remember,
honour, and
celebrate his legacy. Don’t be left in a cold sweat,
send us your old and new James Brown poems today.
Submission Guidelines: 3-5 Unpublished and/or
published poems with acknowledgement included. No longer
than 73 lines Deadline:
April 30, 2008
(Receipt not
postmark) Send hard copies along with a Word Document
and short bio on a CD to: Dr. Mary E. Weems / English
Department / John Carroll University / 20700 North Park
Blvd. / University Hts., Ohio 44118 / Send via e-mail
attachment (Word Documents Only) to:
mweems45@sbcglobal.net, and
mikeoatman@hotmail.com * * * *
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Book Review
Public Education and the Imagination-Intellect
I Speak from the Wound in My Mouth
By Mary E. Weems
This unique "auto/ethnographic, sacred performance text"
. . . invites readers to critique the public education
system. It posits that education should promote the
artistic alongside the scholarly, and that one's
intellect (thinking) and imagination (creativity) are
always connected. Through various literary forms, Weems
simultaneously explains and models her vision for public
education. Her writings utilize many forms of expression
(expository, plays, poetry) to convey a variety of
feelings, ideas, and situations regarding her own
journey through public education, and what she envisions
it could and should be.
The book explains an ideal vision and
follows it up with powerful portrayals of Weems's own
experiences that helped to shape her thinking. In this
way, the text serves as a compelling example of
self-expression, and demonstrates the kinds of products
one could expect if public education promoted
imagination-intellect. Weems sees the school as an
important agent that can produce activists to challenge
social problems, in particular, those surrounding issues
of race and ethnicity.
Her writing follows in the footsteps
of a Harlem Renaissance writer such as Zora Neale
Hurston and a Chicago Renaissance writer such as Richard
Wright. Weems's writing is also inspired by the
accomplishments of artistic African American women, such
as Toni Morrison and Anna Deveare Smith; and is
influenced by multicultural, educational theorists such
as Paulo Friere and Maxine Greene. Each chapter contains
unique poems, plays, and essays that invite the reader
to envision a more ideal educational system and to
confront racism.
Chapter One: "Utopia: Critical
Imagination-Intellect as a Pedagogical Focus," describes
ideal education. Weems proposes that teaching
environments be loving and respectful of students from
diverse backgrounds to foster each student's
imagination-intellect. She proposes a curriculum that
includes five areas critical for her educational utopia:
art appreciation, oral expression, written expression,
performance, and social consciousness. In this system,
students' awareness of social injustice and diversity
inspire them to be creative and thinking critically
through various arts. In her school, "Classrooms are
without walls.., and talking and movement while learning
is encouraged--never punished ... the school has a
nurturing environment of love, mutual respect,
reciprocal learning, and sharing ... each eight-week
period is marked by student performances.... There are
three categories: Rhetorical Debate, Scientific
Discovery, and Creative Performances grounded in
literature, history, math, and any of the physical
sciences."
Chapter Two:
"Transitions," the author brings the reader to the past
through her poetry:
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The plantation divides like separate arms
some hold the whip, trace his footsteps
report the smell of
freedom in the grass. |
Images
of slavery, suppression, and racism serve as grounding
for the remainder of the text, and comment on the
ever-present racism in US society.
Chapter Three: "Why I Speak
from the Wound in My Mouth," is autobiographical. This
section describes her youth, family, community, and the
experiences that contributed to the cultivation of her
artistic gifts. The reader begins to understand her path
to becoming an educator, poet, and activist. Weems grew
up in an artistic family, but not an ideal family or
community. She recalls, "We had plenty of problems:
alcoholism, unemployment, my relationship with my mother
was lousy during my adolescent years, and my father was
not around to be a father to me, but my grandparents
loved us. . . . "
She further connects narratives of
her experiences from kindergarten to high school to jobs
to graduate school. She describes her personal
evolution: how she came to enjoy poetry, her discovery
and awareness of social injustice, and her developing
self-confidence in her artistic and intellectual
abilities. In school and at work, she faced
institutionalized racism and sexism, but she also met
people who encouraged her return to college and her
degree in poetry. As it is often the case, the difficult
situations challenged and strengthened her. Moreover,
they led to the development of her bold, artistic inner
voice.
Chapter Four: "Dirt: An Autoethnographic Play" consists of four scenes with a single
character named Nuby, who is an African American woman
in her 40s. In each scene, dirt is used as symbols for
land (where one is from), path (where one is going),
belongings (one's self), and potential (what one has
inside). As an African American and as a woman, Nuby
looked for "dirt" to find who she was and what she
wanted in each stage of her life; when she found it, she
nurtured it.
Source: Find
Articles
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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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Blacks in Hispanic Literature: Critical Essays
Edited by
Miriam DeCosta-Willis
Blacks in Hispanic Literature is a
collection of fourteen essays by scholars and
creative writers from Africa and the Americas.
Called one of two significant critical works on
Afro-Hispanic literature to appear in the late
1970s, it includes the pioneering studies of
Carter G. Woodson and
Valaurez B. Spratlin, published in the 1930s, as
well as the essays of scholars whose interpretations
were shaped by the Black aesthetic. The early
essays, primarily of the Black-as-subject in Spanish
medieval and Golden Age literature, provide an
historical context for understanding 20th-century
creative works by African-descended, Hispanophone
writers, such as Cuban
Nicolás Guillén and Ecuadorean poet, novelist,
and scholar
Adalberto Ortiz, whose essay analyzes the
significance of Negritude in Latin America. This
collaborative text set the tone for later
conferences in which writers and scholars worked
together to promote, disseminate, and critique the
literature of Spanish-speaking people of African
descent. . . .
Cited by a
literary critic in 2004 as "the seminal study in the
field of Afro-Hispanic Literature . . . on which
most scholars in the field 'cut their teeth'."
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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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If you like this page consider making a donation
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Negro Digest /
Black World
Browse all issues
1950
1960
1965
1970
1975
1980
1985
1990
1995
2000
____ 2005
Enjoy!
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The Death of Emmett Till by Bob Dylan
/
The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll
/
Only a Pawn in Their Game
Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson Thanks America for
Slavery /
George Jackson /
Hurricane Carter
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The Journal of Negro History issues at Project Gutenberg
The
Haitian Declaration of Independence 1804
/
January 1, 1804 -- The Founding of
Haiti
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posted 14 March 2008
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