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Submission Guidelines:  3-5 Unpublished and/or published poems with acknowledgement included.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:

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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posted 14 March 2008