“Your heart is the size of an ocean. Go find yourself in its hidden depths! You must ask for what you really want. Don’t go back to sleep. The door is round and open. Don’t go back to sleep. Truth lifts the heart, like water refreshes thirst. Don’t grieve. Anything you lose comes round in another form. The wound is the place where the Light enters you. Where there is ruin, there is hope for a treasure. You have no need to travel anywhere - journey within yourself. Enter a mine of rubies and bathe in the splendor of your own light. Very little grows on jagged rock. Be ground. Be crumbled, so wildflowers will come up where you are. Don’t sigh, don’t yawn. Seek passion, passion, passion!”
-RUMI
Efun/Chalk Drawings, Benin, Nigeria.
Communicating with the Spirit of the deep sea, Olokun.
Olokun is the owner of all waters, his symbol is the seven seas. All riverine divinities in the Yoruba pantheon fall under his authority. As owner of the seas, all rivers by their movements pay tribute to him, the ocean, and deposit gold and other riches at his door.
Olokun is the owner of the phenomenon of nature that covers 71 percent of the earth. He is the highest form of Orisa after Obatala, whom he concedes the right to rule out of respect for Obatala’s wisdom age, and tact, and because Olofin decided that this was to be the order of things. This order is recounted in the tale of the competition between Olokun and Obatala. In the beginning, there was only Olorun and Olokun. Olokun was the origin of Yemayá. For a long time Olorun and Olokun fought for dominion of Earth. Whenever Olorun sent something to the Earth, Olokun took control of it. Olorun wanted to reign everywhere and Olokun, in order to demonstrate his power to him, caused the sea to raise. It was necessary to cool Olokun so that the Earth returned to existence. So terrible and powerful is Olokun that when Olorun separated from him he went to up to the highest point and Olokun remain beneath. It was then when Obatalá had to tie him up with 7 chains because, when he saw that people were neglecting their worship, Olokun wanted to drown to the whole of humanity including all the animals. Olokun lives at the bottom of the ocean, next to a great marine serpent that shows its head when there is New Moon.
Some believe that he is half man, half fish. Still anchored down as he is, with 7 chains, whenever he is enraged, he causes great damage, and for that reason Obatalá was very prudent in leaving him moored so that men would not forget their worship.
Olokun was amphibious, and for this reason did not want to have relations with his great love, Orisha-Oko, in order not to be the object of ridicule. He asked for the advice of Olofi whom a assured him that Orisha-Oko was a serious and reserved man. Olokun took confidence and it went away to live with the orisha farmer, but he saw that he had birth defects in his nature and he told it to the world. The shame caused Olokun to hide in the bottom of the ocean, where everything could be ignored and where nobody would be able to reach him. Others say that he became a siren or a great marine serpent.
Maferefun Olokun! Bringing the mystery into our lives and the Orisha that resides at the depths of the sea.
Two more good beers I had, recently.
Oskar Blues G’Knight. Fantastic imperial red.
Goose Island Matilda. Not necessarily a session beer. But, it’s lighter than the beers I typically drink. So I’d drink it as a session beer.
I love Matilda. Used to get it on tap some places in the Chi.
For those who wish to walk down memory lane, how could we forget when New Wave/Punk acts like Thomas Dolby, Tom Tom Club, The Clash, Blondie, The Thompson Twins, The Police,Depeche Mode, Human League, Tears for Fears and David Bowie to name a few were regularly heard within Hip Hop circles especially in many of our ‘hoods’.
No offense to Run DMC, who are often sighted as the first Hip Hop group to merge Rock and Rap, when we really go back and look at what was happening in the late 70s early 80s, we’ll find that there was an often under reported important conversation and cultural exchange that was taking place with hardcore b-boys from the South Bronx and the disenfranchised rebellious New Wave/Punk kids in downtown Manhattan on the Lower Eastside and in the Village.
For those who wish to walk down memory lane, how could we forget when New Wave/Punk acts like Thomas Dolby, Tom Tom Club, The Clash, Blondie, The Thompson Twins, The Police,Depeche Mode, Human League, Tears for Fears and David Bowie to name a few were regularly heard within Hip Hop circles especially in many of our ‘hoods’.
No offense to Run DMC, who are often sighted as the first Hip Hop group to merge Rock and Rap, when we really go back and look at what was happening in the late 70s early 80s, we’ll find that there was an often under reported important conversation and cultural exchange that was taking place with hardcore b-boys from the South Bronx and the disenfranchised rebellious New Wave/Punk kids in downtown Manhattan on the Lower Eastside and in the Village.
People like Bambaataa, Fab 5 Freddy, Debbie Harry ofBlondie and British New Wave icon Malcolm McClarenwould wind up being key figures in Hip Hop’s first cross cultural exchange. The B-Boys from the Bronx would get nice gigs at the Punk/New Wave spots while the punk crowd would literally be granted safe passage to Bronx River or the PAL up in the Bronx. It’s important to note that this was not a natural occurrence which has often been erroneously stated, especially with the white kids coming up to the Bronx. It was a deliberate attempt on the parts of folks who had mutual respect and vision to build with one another.
Unfortunately this picture is blurry, but Anthony Montgomery, an actor I met here @ Fed Con in Germany, has penned this fantastic comic book about a young super hero named Miles (he goes to school AND battles aliens!!!) and I really want to help get the word out! #MilesAway
We’re excited to show off this advance copy of our handsome hardcover presentation of Bread & Wine by Samuel R. Delany and Mia Wolff, coming in about 2 months. Here’s what some people had to say about the original, long out of print 1999 edition:
“Samuel R. Delany is one of the finest living American writers. In this revealing autobiographical love story, told in collaboration with fine artist Mia Wolff, Delany’s brilliance shines.” – Neil Gaiman
“Wildly eccentric artwork, a storyline that’d make Capote blush… Bread & Wine is smoking-gun proof that comics can go anywhere - and do anything.” – Frank Miller
“Told simply and methodically like Delany’s 1996 memoir, The Motion of Light in Water, the story is subdued yet acutely emotional. It reaches across the boundaries of race and class — as well as across hilariously opposed standards of personal hygiene — to capture two people in the process of building a life together.” –Publishers Weekly
More previews are forthcoming, including a look at the spectacular surprise under the dust jacket. Preview a 6-page excerpt and pre-order a copy right here.
(via afrosurrealsanfrancisco)
Alex White Plume: Black Hills Sioux Nation Treaty Council Eyapaha and Sovereignty Warrior. Alex cultivated hemp (a truly regenerative crop that could replace plastic and other petroleum products to start) and was raided by the DEA. You don’t ask for sovereignty, you just be sovereign.
