It’s been nearly a month since Michael Jackson died and amazingly it’s taken nearly this long for me to really understand what we’ve lost and how I feel about it. When Jackson’s Thriller came out in 1982 [corrected, thanks Noel] I was a youngster pretty much fresh out of high school. The music of the eighties was the music of my generation and Jackson competed with other artists of the time such as Prince, Cameo, Terrance Trent D’Arby, and George Clinton. There were also jazz, rock and blues artists taking up my attention such as Stevie Ray Vaughan, The Police, Miles Davis and George Benson.

While I enjoyed the dancing and singing that Mike introduced to the MTV generation, I was way more into artists such as Prince who were more instrument oriented. I was also extremely turned off as Micheal started to bleach his skin and point his nose, which I saw as a rejection of his blackness. As he became stranger and stranger I stopped paying much attention to him, after all, I’d been listening to MJ since the early 70s…yawn.

But you never miss anything until it’s gone.

Read the rest of this entry »

I read on the net the other day about the sad case of Jammie Thomas. Ms. Thomas was convicted of copyright infringement on 24 songs she downloaded using a software program called Kazaa. The jury awarded the plaintiffs $1.92 million in damages.

No I didn’t mistype that. It’s damn near 2 million bucks for downloading 24 songs. I’m sure the jury was trying to “send a message” and they did. Loud and clear. If you want to pilfer music, raid you friends CD collections. You’ll get better quality and the RIAA can’t spy on you while you do it. . . yet.

Read the rest of this entry »

So the amazing and tragic story of Michael Jackson is now coming to a close. People who weeks ago were using Michael Jackson as the butt their jokes are now proclaiming his greatness and the tragedy of his loss. Jackson’s final performance will be as the star of a media circus that is now pitching its tent and deploying its side show hucksters for one last money grab.  As if on cue his doctor disappears into the night laying the groundwork for more shocking revelations to come.

Jackson, of course, is deserving of a great deal of scrutiny, not only for his amazing talent but for his bizarre lifestyle. His talent is undeniable, his influence on the industry as well. The real mystery though, and the one thing we can never know for sure is . . . what happened? How did the young boy we all loved and admired turn into the odd caricature of a human being that we’ve witnessed over the past couple of decades? Read the rest of this entry »

So I’d been watching the NBA playoffs on the high def TV I picked up back in December. One of the first things that I noticed with all that resolution are the players tattoos. What used to be a smudge on a players arm is now easily readable in close up. I find the growth of tattooing to be interesting. Ten or fifteen years ago you hardly saw any players with tattoos. Now players don’t look right without them. This is a phenomenon that seems to be embraced more by the African American players than the white or foreign ones. I’m not sure why this is but I have a theory. Read the rest of this entry »

I ran across this website recently. The Big Myth is an educational site which seeks to inform students about mythologies across the globe. I’ve always been interested in mythology, ever since my mom would read African fables to me as a child. Myths and fables have traditionally served an important purpose within a culture. It is used to educate and, to some extent, indoctrinate the youth into the ways and expectations of a certain culture. Myths can also impart universal lessons that may be relevant to any culture. In fact when you look at different myths from different cultures you see that many of the lessons are the same. People do enjoy a striking similarity of values around the world.

A previous article in this magazine documents my exploration in bringing African fables to the digital age using motion graphics and animation. I was sure that I wasn’t the only one exploring this theme but have not run across many that approach the subject in a similar fashion. The Big Myth uses the same technology (Adobe Flash) but puts it into an educational framework including a teachers guide and forum. I also appreciate the fact that it includes five myths from Africa. I’m of the firm belief that African American youth would be well served by being exposed the unbridled imagination and time tested values that ancient mythology can provide, in contrast to the kind of gritty, “keepin’ it real” urban mythology that they are currently inundated with.

The Big Myth is funded by grants from the Socrates Fund of the European Commission, the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Sciences and Kennisnet. It includes animation, sound effects, music and narration.

Click here to experience The Big Myth.

Marquise de Brinvilliers Marie-Madeleine-Marguerite d’Aubray, (1630 – July 17, 1676) was a French serial killer who poisoned her father, brother, and two sisters in order to inherit their property. She was assisted by her lover, Army Captain Godin de Sainte-Croix.

The following is an excerpt from a fictionalized account of her crimes, confession and punishment by the African Frankophone author, Alexandre Dumas, Pere. Here he tells of the “questioning” of the Marquise following her confession and sentencing. The use of the “water cure” is certainly used as a form of torture, as she has already confessed to her crimes before being tortured. By the way, this is the same author who wrote “The Three Musketeers” and “The Count of Monte Cristo.”

Read the rest of this entry »

I’m way overdue for another portfolio. So here’s a look at some of the book covers I’ve designed. Most were done on the job but there are a couple of freelance covers as well. I’m glad that my day job at the Kent State University Press focuses on academic titles. We print books that provide useful information to researchers and scholars as well as the occasional local interest titles. We also focus on the Civil War, one of the most important events in African American history.

This article is not so much a review as an FYI. We’re all very familiar with the African oral tradition. What you may not be so familiar with is the African tradition of writing. It turns out that the Egyptians had a writing system known as Hieratic script which was created by 1600 BC, perhaps even earlier than the Phoenicans alphabet that, in the west, is taught as the first alphabet. This script was considered a shorthand and would never be used on their monuments. They preferred instead to use Hieroglyphics (sacred writings) for important documents and monuments.

The book I’m writing about, Afrikan Alphabets by Saki Mafundikwa, doesn’t speak on Egyptian writing though. The author states that he doesn’t want to get into the argument of whether the ancient Egyptians were African or not (they were). Instead, and perhaps more importantly, he documents writing systems that exist in sub-saharan Africa. He puts them all into the category of alphabet though he understands that many are actually “syllabaries”. The characters represent syllables rather that having singular consonant or vowel sounds as we would understand an alphabet.
Read the rest of this entry »

As promised, here are more Adinkra symbols to use for whatever purpose you see fit. Don’t forget to check the previous collection posted earlier. If you’re slick you’ll click the “Clip Art” category under the “Sight” quadrant. That will put both posts right up front. Part 3 (coming soon) should finish it up with some of the more popular symbols.

In my last blogpost I warned readers to be on the lookout for more insults, barbs and racist attacks to be leveled against President Obama. This past Monday an African American reporter, by the name of Harris Faulkner, read two comments from their website. One of them compared Obama to Hitler while the other called him a monkey. These types of comparisons are expected from the general public, but it is totally out of order for a major news organization like Fox to read it over the air. These kinds of comments should not reach the light of day and should certainly not be given credence by responsible purveyors of the daily news.

Well, that explains it! Obviously, Fox News network is not a responsible news agency, as evidenced by the fact that this is not the first time Fox News has read these kinds of incendiary comments on the evening news. On February 14th, 2008 Tom Sullivan a Fox News radio personality took a call from a listener that compared Obama to Hitler. The funny thing is that he already had a tape of Hitler and a tape of Obama cued up ready to play if a listener called in making this comparison and wasted no time in playing them back to back.

“When a later caller complained that Sullivan was “denigrating” Obama with the comparison, Sullivan said he wouldn’t play it again, then begged: ‘Can I, please, one more time? Just one more time? Then I won’t do it again. … Until the next time.’”There’s an old saying that when you point one finger at someone else there are three fingers pointing back at you. Seeing as how the Fox broadcasters have Hitler recordings so handy, it appears as though they may be some of his biggest fans. How else do you explain their ability to pull up a Hitler recording at a moments notice.

I understand the NAACP has started a campaign to bring these racist assaults to a halt. As Dick Gregory used to say to us in the 70’s “you young people have a big job to do.” Certainly, it is a big job. Racism is woven into the fabric of this country, which makes it particularly difficult to eradicate without destroying the fabric itself.

“Fox News’ Faulkner highlights viewer blog comments on stem cell policy invoking Hitler, comparing Obama to a monkey.” Media Matters staff, 3/9/2009