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Vol. 12 Issue 28…Dedicated to the Dialogue on
Race…July 12, 2009
An Ode to the Power of
Words
By John Burl Smith
I never had a voice. I never had
words ringing in my head, coming out of walls, up through the floor or waking
me up at night. The universe never showered me with rhymes or seared me with
long soliloquies that brought my soul alive. The word gods didn't endow me with
a vocabulary that was assuaged by a dictionary. No, I wasn't a word man able to
pen penetrating lines that provided insight, lifted veils from the mind, gave
sight to the blind or caught those up who got left behind.
Words were just things to get it
said, exposing the mundane thoughts inside my head. Not eloquent or smooth, but
quick and direct; the point was made and I'd gotten it said. It was up to the
world to heed; freed of my task I'd done the deed. Understanding was not my
charge; they would figure it out, if they were smart. Going straight to the
point, that's how I got my start.
No one showed me the way, unlike
on Flag Day with someone waving to make sure from the right path I would not
stray. I heard a sound and turned my head to hear the words that were softly
said. I had to be quick and grab it on the fly, no time to ask questions such
as what or why. It was what it was; the story for me, those hard lessons did
not come free. You dig in where you are, come up with what you can and then dig
in again like sifting sand. So, pickings are thin, and knowledge rides on the
wind, it doesn't take a genius to know you catch what you can.
Words are the key. It's not what
you see. The eyes are lazy; your thoughts are hazy and in a flick it's gone;
all that's left are the words that are known. Words are what matter, they hit
the paper and splatter, pour over the edge and into one's head. They seep into
cracks, down into the hollows, they go places most men fear to follow. They
scream about things unseen, bring to life the dead, pry open the door to the
future before the present is clearly said. The blink or wink goes unnoticed,
fading quickly without a motive. They would be untold, slipping into the
recesses beneath the folds, were it not for words that are daily sold. What is
there is what was, no matter the wink and nod or under whose foot words are
trod. They capture the time, freeze the moment and tell what was, though they
may sicken the stomach.
It was a word beyond a doubt that could not be erased which let the secret out.
Just one was dropped and the lid it
popped, off came the top to reveal the spot. What once was hid now is out,
spewing into the public, like a garden spout, washing clear what it was all
about. Once a mire trickle, seeped like a slight tickle, the flood of words
created a pickle. The weeping and wailing could not quiet the hum because the
harm was already done.
Words are not good or bad they only lay a path. Where they led was not by
design, a stench of a smell they left behind. Their duty is to reveal by making
what's not plain clearer and bringing what's afar even nearer. Though they may
besmirch, they have no intent to hurt. Words are what we are beneath the skin,
behind the eyes and what passes between friends. They are lightly expressed but
become heavy with truth; they show in time tongues which were loose.
Words I didn't choose but were
given as a fate to spread like Johnny's apple seeds not like a wraith. I wasn't
a seeker looking for knowledge you see; words were the stalker they found me.
They sought me out in my benighted nook, beneath a cloak of ignorance where no
teacher dared look. Unsuspecting was I as their magic drew nigh exploding my curiosity
with the all powerful question WHY! Smitten like a lover, I became obsessed
with their power, endurance, levity and grace. As I grow older, they grow new
with each one I pen that touches you. I am reborn with each letter that's
strung, linking together ideas which linger like songs. When I pass from this
earth, they will remain to let future travelers know this way I came.
Gwendolyn B. Bennett (1902 -1981)
Born July 8, 1902 in 
her
parents, Joshua and Maime Bennett, taught in the
Indian Service for the Bureau of Indian Affairs. In 1906, her family moved to
Bennett's parents divorced when
she was seven years old. While the court awarded child custody to her mother,
Joshua kidnapped her. She lived in hiding with her father and stepmother, Marechal Neil, frequently moving along the East Coast.
While the family did not remain long in any one place, they never moved far
from
Bennett's father eventually took
them to
After graduating in 1921, Bennett
took art classes at
Bennett's second published work,
"To Usward," appeared in the Crisis and Opportunity magazines in 1924, the year she received a
scholarship to study at the Sorbonne in Paris. She continued her studies at
Academic Julian and Ecole du
Pantheon, where she worked with a variety of materials, including watercolor,
oil, woodcuts, pen and ink, and batik which was the beginning of her career as
a graphic artist. Unfortunately, most of her work during this period was
destroyed during a fire at her stepmother's home in 1926.
In 1926, Bennett left
Her
poetry published during this period included "Hatred," "To a
Dark Girl," and "Lines Written at the Grave of Alexander Dumas."
In addition, two short stories, "Tokens" and "Wedding Day,"
which is probably her best known short story, were published in the first issue
of Fire, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston,
and Wallace Thurman's radical 1926 periodical.
In 1927, Bennett married Dr.
Albert Joseph Jackson; the couple moved to
In 1940, Bennett married Richard Crosscup; their
interracial marriage was socially unacceptable. Bennett remained in the arts,
serving as a member of the Harlem Artists Guild in 1935. She became the highly
successful director for the
Bennett began working for the
Consumers Union during the later years of her life. She retired in 1968 and
moved with her husband, Crosscup, to
Though she was not one of the
major figures during the Harlem Renaissance, The
Oxford Companion to Women's Writers says that, "Gwendolyn
Bennett was one of the most versatile figures to participate actively in both
the 1920s Black American arts movement, which was designated as the Harlem
Renaissance, and in the 1930s arts alliance." She was a painter and a
writer, but never settled into one avenue and so never truly flourished either.
(Sources: www.csustan.edu, www.aaregistry.com and http://en.wikipedia.org/)
Venue for an Artist
To Usward
By Gwendolyn B.
Bennett (1924)
Let us be still
As ginger jars are still
Upon a Chinese shelf.
And let us be contained
By entities of Self. . . .
Not still with lethargy and sloth,
But quiet with the pushing of our growth.
Not self-contained with smug identity
But
conscious of the strength in entity.
If any have a song to sing
That's different from the rest,
Oh let them sing
Before the urgency of Youth's behest!
For some of us have songs to sing
Of jungle heat and fires,
And some of us are solemn grown
With pitiful desires,
And there are those who feel the pull
Of seas beneath the skies,
And some there be who want to croon
Of Negro lullabies.
We claim no part with racial dearth;
We want to sing the
songs of birth!
And so we stand like ginger jars
Like ginger jars bound round
With dust and age;
Like jars of ginger we are sealed
By nature's heritage.
But let us break the seal of years
With pungent thrusts of song,
For there is joy in long-dried tears
For whetted passions
of a throng!
Blacks Not Wanted in
Private Pool
Creative
Steps is a camp in northeast
According to camp director Alethea Wright, shortly after the group arrived June 29,
some black and Hispanic children reported hearing racial comments. "A
couple of the children ran down saying, 'Miss Wright, Miss Wright, they're up
there saying, "What are those black kids doing here?"'"
When Wright went to talk to a
group of members at the top of the hill, she heard one woman say she would see
to it that the group, made up of children in kindergarten through seventh
grade, did not return. "Some of the members began pulling their children out
of the pool and were standing around with their arms folded. Only three members
left their children in the pool with us."
Several days later, the club
refunded the camp's $1,950, canceling the children's membership, without
explanation. The club's actions made headlines across the nation and prompted
an investigation by the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission. Much of the
attention has focused on a statement by John Duesler,
president of the board of directors of The Valley Club, in which he voiced
concern that so many children would "change the complexion" or
atmosphere of the club. Later acknowledging it was "a terrible choice of
words," Duesler claimed, "It was never my
intention to imply anything in terms of racial makeup." Duesler said he heard no racial comments from club members
and that any such remarks did not represent the club's position.
While the club defended its
actions on the grounds of safety, rather than racism, Wright rejected the
overcrowding explanation, saying the club knew what size group to expect and
had hosted a school group of a similar size a week earlier. She said the
comments reported by children and the parents' actions after her group arrived
told a different story. "We were not welcome, once the members saw who we
were," she said.
Chuck Wielgus, executive director of USA Swimming,
the governing body for the
Webster's New Words
Annually, Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary adds words to its print and
online editions. This year, the 11th Edition and Merriam-Webster Online
will include nearly one hundred new words. Some of the 2009 words include staycation- a vacation spent at home or nearby, locavore - one who eats foods grown locally, frenemy - someone who acts like a friend but is really an
enemy, waterboarding - an interrogation technique
used to induce the sensation of drowning, vlogs - a blog that contains video material, and webisode
- a TV show that can be viewed at a Web site.
According to the Merriam-Webster
website, "Many of the new words reflect the importance of the environment
(carbon footprint, green-collar), government activities (earmark, waterboarding), health and medicine (cardioprotective,
locavore, naproxen, neuroprotective),
pop culture (docusoap, fan fiction, flash mob, reggaeton), and online activities (sock puppet, vlog, webisode). Other words
added include haram, memory foam, missalette,
and zip line."
Because words can face years in limbo as wordsmiths wait to see if they are
just fads, some words that made the cut this year have been around for
generations. For example, the term sock puppet - a false online identity used
for deceptive purposes, was traced back to 1959; it has taken on new popular
use with people using fake identifications on social networking sites.
John Morse, president and
publisher of the Springfield-based dictionary publisher, acknowledged,
"These are not new words in the language, by any means. But, when words
like 'neuroprotective' and 'cardioprotective'
show up in the Collegiate, it's because we've made the judgment that these are
not just words used by specialists. ... These really are words now likely to
show up in The New York Times, in The Wall Street Journal."
Word-lovers can learn the meaning of the nearly 100 new words and senses added
to Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition by visiting the
website at www.merriam-webster.com. The
site contains a sampling of the new words for 2009 and links to their
definitions.
Disgruntled wants to know: According to a recent report
issued by the US Education Department and the Department of Justice, thirty-two
(32) percent of students ages 12 to 18 nationwide experienced bullying within
the past school year in 2007. The attacks are not more frequent than in the
past. However, they are more likely to be reported today than several decades
ago. Moreover, experts believe the bullying is more physical and more sexual. A
case in point is the
Disgruntled
feels: Empty! On July 16, 1945, the
Disgruntled
says: Black American slaves worked 12-hour days, six days a week on the
construction of the US Capitol and White House. The federal government rented
the slaves from local slave owners at a rate of $5 per person per month. The
slaves, including women and children, were never compensated for their labor,
which included carpentry and other building skills and work in the quarries
where stones for the buildings were extracted. Lawmakers have been discussing
ways to honor the slaves. On Tuesday, the US House of Representatives passed a
resolution ordering the Architect of the Capitol to place a marker in a
prominent location in the
Mailbox: E-Mails, Faxes and
Phone Calls
Email www.cnn.com ..Off-duty NYPD cop fatally shot by fellow officer...May
29, 2009...By Jennifer Peltz...A plainclothes
policeman who drew his gun while chasing someone he had found rummaging through
his car was shot and killed by a fellow officer who was driving by and saw the
pursuit, the police commissioner said. Commissioner Raymond Kelly said
25-year-old Omar J. Edwards died after being shot within blocks of the
Email compkids@yahoo.com ...Father wants LA
deputy charged in shooting of teen...July 7, 2009...By Robert Jablon...A 16-year-old boy killed while running from a Los
Angeles County sheriff's deputy was shot in the back without warning and never
brandished a gun as authorities contend, an attorney for the teen's father said
Thursday. A friend who was with Avery Cody never saw him with a weapon and he
posed no threat to the deputy who shot him as he ran away in Compton on Sunday,
said John E. Sweeney, an attorney who has handled many police abuse cases. The
boy's family wants to know why he was killed "by an agency that's sworn to
protect and serve," Sweeney said. A fully loaded .38-caliber revolver was
found near Cody's body. The deputy claims the young man pulled a gun and
"displayed it in a manner that made the deputy fear for his life." No
shots were fired by Cody and the deputy was not injured.
Email www.ap.com..Stricter labeling urged for bottled water ...July 8, 2009
...By Emily Fredrix...Consumers know less about the
water they pay dearly for in bottles than what they drink almost for free from
the tap because the two are regulated differently, researchers and
congressional investigators say in new reports. Both the Government
Accountability Office and the Environmental Working Group, a research and
advocacy organization, recommend in reports being released Wednesday that
bottled water be labeled with the same level of information municipal water
providers must disclose. The researchers plan to urge Americans to make bottled
water "a distant second choice" to filtered tap water during their
testimony before a congressional subcommittee. Bottled water, an industry worth
about $16 billion in sales last year, has been suffering lately as colleges,
communities and some governments take measures to limit or ban its consumption.
As employers, they are motivated by cost savings and environment concern
because the bottles create unnecessary waste and can be hard to recycle.
Email www.ap.com ...Hordes of hungry grasshoppers
invade Utah...By Mike Stark....An ambitious director might look at Mitch Halligan's property and see an instant B-movie classic:
"Invasion of the Grasshoppers." The place is overrun with the greasy
little bugs. With each step you take on his property, the squirmy inch-long
grasshoppers jump for cover in every direction. Those that don't crunch
underfoot perch themselves atop tall grass stalks, crawl up pant legs or munch
through gardens. Grasshoppers are regular summer visitors and a perennial
crop-eating pest for farmers, but this year's invasion in
Email edcon@gmail.com ...G-8 protestors
scale smokestacks in