We Could All Use A Little "Culture" Now & Again

So with the election season winding down, the holidays approaching and what feels like an uncertain future, many of us could use a brief respite from the stress, no? I know money is tight for a lot of us but sometimes we need a renewal of our spirit and of our mind. What better way than seeing art?

The de Young Museum is part of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. Memberships are fully tax deductible so it's a nice way to reduce your liability (wink). Student memberships are $45; Family $90; and Teachers $55 for example. I'm going to the YSL exhibition which is exclusive to San Francisco. How'd that happen?

Yves St. Laurent was always one of my favorite designers. He seemed to embody French cool, kinda like bebop jazz to me. He also consistently hired gorgeous Black amazons to grace his catwalks and use in print ads. This was the time I really loved fashion magazines. The models truly embodied the word fierce. The clothes were gorgeous. We didn't know so much about their personal lives or the brutality of the business. No Project Runway, no other reality tv to cheapen it for the masses - nothing again PR. It was just something special. I used to dream about escaping my small city with inhabitants that held views to narrow to hold me. I wanted to live in New York City and be a Fashion Editor by day and a Broadway star performing Sophocles at night.  

San Francisco has great museums by the way. I hadn't mentioned the gloriousness it was to see the Frida Kahlo exhibit at SF MOMA. I'm also a huge fan of Picasso and Dali. I took a psychology class where we dissected his work. Dali is one of the reasons why I want to live in Barcelona (yeah, yeah I like Gaudi, Paul Williams and a host of other architects, too).  Dali lived in Cadaques, a beautiful seaside town about 2 hours north of Barcelona in the Costa Brava region. Once I saw photos I knew I had to go - but I haven't yet! It's on my list, trust me. 

 

I once flew back to New York City for Thelma Golden's exhibit presented at the Whitney before she left for the Studio Museum of Harlem. At the time I had no idea the curator was a Black woman I was just so intrigued by the subject matter. It was 1994's "Black Male: Representations of Masculinity in Contemporary Art" and it was spectacular. Trust me I budgeted for this. I flew coach and stayed in a budget hotel/hostel combo, owned by an artist with original Warhol in the lobby. I am a huge fan of Kara Walker's work as well as Romare Beardon. I mispronounced his name for years. There's just too many influences to list here. I see how fashion, art, as well as fine wine and gourmet food can be a thing of great beauty. 

I'm at Starbucks because the internet is out in my building for the twelve-thousandth time the past two months and I need a no obstruction area to use my cell as a modem so it won't disconnect on me! They have the freakin' air conditioning on at 8pm at night. I'm trying to keep a strict budget so I only bought a tea (cheapo I know). But they're playing Sarah, Ella and now Nina and I'm thinking how appropro that I'm writing about great fashion and art and travel and food (yum) and now I have beautiful music to listen to as well. I almost feel like crying because Nina always haunts me and I have to take her in small doses. Was she always so melancholy? "Mississippi Goddamn" is definitely not a dance pop number. 

Now I'm thinking about how crappy music is today for the most part. Then irony kicks me in the butt though because I really like Rhianna - for her spunk and tenaciousness which had she not possessed in huge amounts her career would have long been over. Her brand of cute pop-i-ness is ok once in a while but never for her (non) singing - yikes! Sometimes a quick meal is all you can get but we have to live on nourishment. You couldn't tell me Phoebe Snow wasn't Black! 

And I don't want to leave out the sinewy strength of dancers. Alvin Ailey is must every year. I will never get tired of seeing Revelations. Never. It is a classic piece for a reason. "Raise the Red Lantern" is one of my favorite movies of all time even though I can't understand a word of it. I've watched it so many times I sometimes prefer to do so without the sound just to see the expressions on Gong Li's face. 

I haven't mentioned books yet. I was shocked, shocked I tell you when Angela Nissel's book, "The Broke Diaries" was released. I'd lived it so I didn't know I could've pitched the idea for publication. Sigh. I don't want this post to be impossibly long, so I'm gonna end it here. I do have an idea for a series of things to discuss beyond politics though. OMG - Otis Redding's "I've Been Loving You Too Long" is on. Swoon! 

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Do Something

Hmmmm there's lots going on today. Stephanie Tubbs-Jones may have succumbed to life-threatening injuries.

Some Obama supporters have already given up and there's an awful lot of complaining about what he's not doing:

a. Speaking for Black People. Advocating for Black People. Talking in glowing terms about Black people. All the time!!!
b. Fighting/Attacking/Kicking Ass and telling whitey that they're whitey and they're racists and they suck.
c. He's too articulate. He needs to speak s-l-o-w-l-y and spell his words and use a 3rd grade primer because most voters are dumber than a doorknob.

Now I admit I'm not 100% team Obama. I have questions. I don't want any surprises. I don't expect him to save me, but I don't want to find out "Satan's" been pulling the strings either. It's beyond hope in a jar. It's like Mr. Right showing up at your door and you send him away because he's nothing like what you expected so you REJECT him. Instead you go back to the guy who cheats on you and beats you. You hate it, but not nearly enough to walk away from it. The abuse is comforting in its depravity.

We're so jaded and doubtful. We also need to think critically, hold him accountable and make sure our voices don't get drowned out. I shouldn't have to worry about that $250K donor getting access over me, but that's how this country operates. The thing is.....we can change that. Or at least lessen it's influence.

I figured it was going to be Clinton vs. Guiliani. I was not looking forward to this election cycle really because it was going to be another situation with choosing the lesser of unsatisfactory candidates. Yeah I got the "Bill Clinton was an Amazing President and Our Budget Was Balanced" memo, but..... I saw that NAFTA sucked and millions of jobs disappeared into the ether, there was a tidal wave of newly poor risking life and limb to cross the border, the FCC went to sleep, Clear Channel bought everything that wasn't nailed down and I stopped listening to the radio. Oh yeah...let's not forget WalMart and the Big Box stores taking their revenue out of their area of operation, the crappy pay and discrimination. I just couldn't get on board the Clinton Express. I didn't think staying with a man who'd humiliated you for years was a reason to vote for the wife of a former President.

Yeah, yeah I know comparing the Clintons to the Bushes is a big no-no. But those years went from bad to worse to me praying for the 2004 version of Noah's Arc so we could start over AGAIN. But my conscience is clear because I never voted for Shrub. I was in the UK in 2003. I saw the bodies of the dead children and people with limbs blown off because it wasn't censored by the media. I read articles in the newspapers protesting the war and Tony Blair's capitulation to the US. I even marched in a million-strong protest in Hyde Park. It got so bad I had to tell people I was Canadian. Being Black gave me no reprieve from the anti-US gov't and citizen outrage of the Brits and Europeans.

I was relieved when Obama started kicking butt and taking names despite a whole bunch of shade being thrown his way. By other Black people in leadership positions. By so many people who thought they were above racism. By a lot of pampered and privileged white women. By other people who either wish to co-opt or destroy what they can't control. Of course there are some deep pockets and powerful people supporting his candidacy. This country wouldn't have it any other way. It was built on back-room deals, exploitations and murder.

But let's be positive shall we? I really like Michelle. No I don't know her but she seemed like someone who knew what time it was. Of course all the attacks on her personage appear to confirm that. Yes the Obamas have to be vetted for their commitment to all of us regular folk, but we let our votes be taken for granted by white people for YEARS. Yes - some of us - have woken up. FINALLY. It's about time!

There is another great candidate running on the Green Party ticket. Cynthia McKinney. Watch American Blackout. She is fierce, she is unbossed. She was chewed up and spit out for fighting the good fight. She might still get my vote just because. If the Green Party gets 5% of the vote nation-wide they'll get Congressional representation. Anything to break up the 2-party monopoly! In a fair and just world......

So here we are 10-11 weeks away from Doomsday. How many people are going to limit themselves by voting against their interests? I'm not even going to get into why voting for McCain should result in an immediate ban from living in this country. "Satan" doesn't have to pull his strings. That was strictly a volunteer assignment! He will certainly be beneficial for the ones that benefit from back-room deals, exploitation and murder. Now is not the time to be dumb. God gives us choices and then we have to live with them. The Republicans have had free reign for 8 years and you can see the result of that. If you only care about yourself and foolishly think there won't be any blowback then go ahead and pull the lever for the liar/cheater/wife-beater.

There's things we the average Joe, Juanita, Janiqua or Jamal can do.

1. Phone Bank
2. Register people to vote
3. Sign up to be a Poll Worker - cuz you know some funny stuff will go down
4. Write about the hypocrisy of the Corporate Media and all their surrogates
5. Donate money

You know we could talk about how wrong things are, how unfair the system is, how we have questions, how we're not sure, how some candidates are not fit, how we don't like the way they're running their campaign, how we'd do things differently if WE were in charge, blah blah blah!!!!

DO SOMETHING AND STOP TALKING ABOUT DOING SOMETHING.


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Remember the Macy Gray song on her debut album? I really liked it when it came out. Now that it's been nearly a decade you can see and hear how well her songs and videos have held up. She is definitely not your average girl with a record deal. We need more artists like her and Santogold and M.I.A. and Rachel Yamagata and Res and Roisin Murphy and Choklate and Zaki Ibrahim and Estelle and Sia and J*Davey and __________ add your own artist, plant the seeds and watch them grow.


Enjoy!