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The Story of Eve/A War from Within pt. 6

African American actress Dorothy Dandridge also became a casualty of the so-called "Problem Era" (1940s-1950s). Like Hazel Scott, Dorothy Dandridge came to Hollywood with a successful singing career behind her. But she desperately wanted to be film star. By the age of 42, she would be dead.One of Dandriges's best know roles is that of "Carmen" in the Black screen opera Carmen Jones (1954). A flamboyant, passionate siren Carmen seduces Harry Belafonte and, after getting him into serious trouble, goes away with another man (Leab, 1975; p. 203).Obviously though Carmen Jones was marketed as new and daring it was really only a reworking of the myth of the Black woman as Jezebel, dressed up in a shiny new package. As the great James Baldwin observed, the movie, "leaned very heavily on a certain lack of inhibition taken to be typical of Negros" (Leab, 1975; p. 201).Just consider Carmen's opening musical number, which she sings while wearing as sexy an outfit as the production code would allow:Love ain't nobody's angel childAnd he won't pay any mind to you...You go for me and I'm tabooBut if you're hard to get, I go for youAnd if I do than you are through... (Leab, 1975; p. 206).Let's stop here for a minute and consider, if love's not an angel than what is she (he)? And why is Carmen taboo? The message of Carmen Jones, of all films with this type of symbolism, is that when one pursues love and sexual passion, one is courting disaster. This is the control mechanism of our culture --the mechanism that functions to keep men and women apart. At odds. At one another's throats.When I first sat down to watch Carmen Jones I thought: "How bad can this be?" Believe me, it's that bad. The acting is marvelous, as is the music, but Carmen is the lover from hell. She annouces in song that as soon as a man falls in love with her she loses interest: "once I got you...I go my way." (Carmen Jones, 1954). This alone is bad enough, but Carmen does more to "Joe" (Harry Belafonte) than seduce him and leave him. She convinces him to desert his military post, breaks up his engagment, and destroys his chances of ever going to pilot school.If controlling a "roaring sexy woman" (Woods, 1975) was the ultimate in male fantasy then the double crossing sexpot was that fantasy turned nightmare -- the nightmare of the incredible, insatiable man-eating p---y, and of male powerlessness: a nightmare that was played out again, again in Hollywood's dreamland.Copyright Valjeanne Jeffers-Thompson 1997, 2009 all rights reserved
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Passion leads inevitably to murder:it cannot be extricated from death.Passion will destroy domestic security,just as surely as domesticity will smotherit. There is no possibility of union, nohaving it both ways. One must chose.Either/or. Passion or home (Conlon, 1988; p.153).Passion is death. Or so said mainstream media during the 1980s. This why film characters were not allowedto enjoy sex without paying for it -- often with their lives.This is the virgin-whore mythology at work: the censorship of passion and sexual love in our culture. This is what is used to control both men and women -- to keep them ever pursing the nymph that can never be captured. And this censorship unites with racism and sexism to keep us apart from one another.There were many films this during the 1980 -- films like A Married Man, in which a mistress (whore) murders her lover's wife (virgin).Yet this mythic beast had many other disguises as it twirled its tenacles through our culture. One such guise was the beauty backlash (Wolf, 1991). The media has always used the fear of ugliness to control women. But during the 1980s, beauty became a national obssession. Popular culture taught women that to feel loved, sexual, to have a man, to have an orgasm they had to be beautiful: so said videos, films and magazines while cosmetic revenues soared.For men the attack was different:When aimed at men it's effect is useful inkeeping them from finding peace insexual love. The fleeting chimera ofthe airbrushed centerfold, alwaysreceding before him keeps the manalways in pursuit, unable to focus onthe beauty of the woman -- known, lined,familiar -- who hands him the paperevery morning (Wolf, 1991; p. 145).Copyright Valjeanne Jeffers-Thompson 1997, 2009 all rights reserved
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This charming composition is an example of Rap songs that became popular during the late 80s:Now do we love them 'hos?Hell naw!Why is that?Because you're Snoop Doggy DogAnd you never gave a f**k about a b**ch'Cause to you b***ches ain't s**t but 'hos and tricksBig Pimpin Snoop Doggy DogHence if political commentary was made, Black women were not active participants. They were window dressing -- like the cigars Rappers smoked, the gold wathces they wore and the cars they drove.Can the devaluation of Black women be separated from the media's attack upon all women? Can the Rap's glorification of Black-on-Black violence be separated from the escalation of crime in the African American community? I maintain that Rap is the figure against popular culture's background.Having said thus, I will say that Rap is controlled and censored by a music industry that gets to say which musician's tracks gets played most often (something my son Toussaint explained as "heavy rotation") or if they get played at all. And there are positive Hip Hop artists out there who stubbornly refuse to be bought out -- artists like NAS, Common and K-OS.Yet one cannot ignore the participation of various musicians in the cultural brainwashing of their own people, and I am reminded that during slavery there were slaves who sold out their own brothers and sisters. You feel me knocking?Copyright Valjeanne Jeffers-Thompson 1997, 2009
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2012- Brief Review & a Question about the Ending

Okay. First things first, this post is going to include a big phat SPOILER. So this is your official SPOILER alert. If you don't want to hear about the ending of this movie, stop reading, go away, get out of here now! After this however, abandon all ye hope! So...moving on...Saw this flick over the Thankstaking holidays, part of family ritual and my Pops loves this kind of thing. Wasn't going to see it because I just thought it'd be a silly blockbuster--even though the apocalyptic scenes looked great. But, I gotta admit, this flick wasn't so bad. As far as science goes--not to mention anthropology (butchering Mayan belief systems)--it was laughable. And the heroes defy the odds of imminent destruction so often they are evolutionary wonders. But, perhaps it won me over because I was surprised that they had a black character of depth (Chiwetel Ejiofor) who plays a scientist--not a military guy or the sidekick, but the actual brainiac. Yes there was a typical black president at the end-of-the-world (a running theme in Hollywood) but even he was given a differing role. What did annoy me about the movie was that except for the Chinese and Japanese, no other country populated mostly by people of color made the survival list. Even when they're saving "humanity's culture," it's the Mona Lisa and Michaelango's David that you see--nada else I can remember. There's an explanation for this a bit at the end, which fits nicely into the plot, that it's mostly the wealthy (and hence wealthy nations) that get to select who lives or dies. The "poor South" or "Third World," where most of humanity lives, is left to die in the massive upheaval--even if some of them are the smartest people on the planet, as is shown through a graphic scene in India. As for Africa--in what has become typical for these flicks, the entire continent does a disappearing act. Who doesn't remember Independence Day, when Africa is represented by two half-nude Maasai children walking through tall grass, to gaze at the wreckage of alien ships, not a hint of modernity about them. So just when I thought about the only thing directly from Africa in this flick would be the elephants and giraffes to be preserved aboard the "arks" with the fortunate few of humanity, the ending leaves a surprise.The only continent left on Earth is...Africa. And as the film ends, and pans away, the several hundred thousand survivors of the apocalypse are seen heading towards it, to begin anew. Following The Day After Tommorrow, where the survivors of the "First World" are sent scurrying to live in dependency on their once scorned neighbors of the global south, this is the second apocalyptic flick with this theme.So here's my question--what the heck happened to Africa? Was there upheaval there too? Was it "wiped clean" of it's inhabitants so that others could come settle? That's a disturbing thought rife with colonialist sentiment. But then I recall, the images they showed of the continent had familar swaths of green, which would be vegetation that could not have survived the floods that consumed the rest of the planet. So does this mean Africa went mostly untouched? Did most of its population and culture and ecosystems survive? And will the continent now have to contend with the arrival of the most recent colonizers of what is left of the industrial world? That'd make for a heck of a sequel--"2013- The Scramble for Africa." Fanfaction anyone?Your thoughts if you got em'...
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"The master's tools will never dismantle the master's house." Audre Lorde ( from Yearning bell hooks,1991)Hip Hop was born during one of the many nadirs of the modern Black experience, just as the Spirituals were born during slavery. During the mid-70s through the 1980s as Reganomics took hold the rage, pain and frustration of Urban American gave birth to Rap. "When you're all wrapped up and frustrated you gotta try and get it out..." (Jazzmatazz, 1993).Certainly this was not unique to the Black experience. During slavery African Americans sang Sprituals: the code of the Underground Railroad. And Black Folks created the Blues: the cultural mother of Jazz, R & B and Rock n' Roll. This Blues homespace spoke through the powerful, throbbing Mississippi voice of Muddy Waters declaring manhood in an age where all Black men were "boys" and women "gals."Sitting on the outsideJust me 'n my mateI made the moonCome up two hours lateWhatn' that a man?Mannish Boy Muddy WatersFrom these roots, Rap evolved as the voice of the poor, the outsider, the imprisoned and built a homespace in America's urban ghettos. It is this voice one hears in Queen Latifah's rhythms-- the voice of a Sister standing her ground in a society where women of color have always been third best.The ladies will kick it, the rhythm is wickedThose who don't know how to be pros get evictedA woman can bear you, break you, make you...Ladies First, Queen Latifah (Tricia Rose Black Noise 1994)It is this voice one hears in GURU's vivid portrait of povety and crime in New York City.This is a New York Transit thingDon't wear too much gold and hide your diamond ringsAnd don't smile at anyoneCause people out here like to travel with handgunsTransit Ride GURUYet during the late 1980s, Rap began to mutate from a movement fueled love of Hip Hop to a multimillion dollar industry moved by love of the almighty dollar. And as the music industry took notice of Hip Hop's money making power, rappers became less concerned with speaking the voice of social commentary and more concerned with who's the biggest gangster, who has the biggest gun and the most money. Hip Hop devolved and Black women's voices were both silenced and distorted.Mainstream media is notorious for it's sexist imagery -- scantily clothed women are used to sell everything from chocolate candy to automobiles. Thus Rap only mirrors popular culture. Yet I doubt that there has ever been a movement in the history of America, except during slavery and Reconstruction to rival Rap's debasement of Black women. We have been looked upon as whores, b-----es, golddiggers etc. with no other value than as sexual commodities by Black men -- we, women of color, who already struggle in nation that renders Black and Brown women at best invisible (Pope, 1991-1992).Copyright Valjeanne Jeffers-Thompson 1997, 2009 all rights reserved
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I do not know the power of my handI do not know the power of my black handI sit stumped in the conviction that I am powerless,tolerate ceilings that make me bendmy godly mind stoops, my ambition is crippledI do not know the power of my handI see my children stuntedmy young men slaughtered...I see the power over my life and death inanother man's hands and sometimesI shake my wooly head and wonderLord have mercy!What would it be like...to be free?Excerpt from When I Know the Power of My Hand, Lance Jeffers1974There are a few things about this era, my favorite era, that must be said before I move on. The 1950s through the early 1970s were a time in which people were willing to speak out, to fight, for what they believed in --hell they were willing to die for their beliefs. America was watching and she was listening.But this was also an age beset with hypocrisy and self-righteousness. Peoples of Color were encouraged to ignore their own problems, to look back on history with rose colored glasses.We seek to learn from history. One of the biggest mistakes we can make as we journey through the 21th century is to deceive ourselves that all of our problems are from some place outside our own communities -- outside of ourselves. We have to be secure enough to clean house, no matter who happens to be looking on. Growth, real growth, engenders self-discovery and change.From 1964 through 1968 Black folks took their rage to the streets, President Johnson commissioned a study of this "problem" and the myth of the Black Matriarchy was born.Copyright Valjeanne Jeffers-Thompson 1997, 2009 all rights reserved
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REVIEWS! REVIEWS! REVIEWS! (Cross Post)

Here's what folks are already saying about the first issue of PRODIGAL: EGG OF FIRST LIGHT
"Exotic locations, earth-shattering stakes, dialogue you wish you'd written, heroic bad-assery, and a macguffin to die for. Larger than life villains versus equally outsized heroes. This is the stuff we're talking about when we talk about action-adventure." - DWAYNE MCDUFFIE (JLU, BEN 10: ALIEN FORCE, MILESTONE)
A hidden monastery.A group of chanting monks.A pack of kill crazy ninjas.A secret, powerful prize worth killing any number of men for.And a pair of heroes on the case.All elements that would go into making the perfect action flick.Or what you experience in the first eight pages of Prodigal, written by Geoffrey Thorne, drawn by Todd Harris, and coming soon from Ape Entertainment...To go any further into describing the tale would ruin the readers’ opportunity to discover this world and these new heroes for themselves. What can be said is that the writer and artist presented a thrilling ride in the opening 24 pages of a double sized first issue that left this reviewer wanting more.Our heroine and hero bring to this reviewer’s mind such classic pairs as Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy or Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepherd in the easy way writer Thorne turns the dialogue between Ms. Jacinto and Mr. Lennox in a cross between a ballet and a fifteen round bout worth of Ali and Frazier...Full article at COMICS WAITING ROOM. COM
Todd Harris knows how to tell stories with pictures. PRODIGAL is an adrenaline rush of babes, bullets and blood. A blast to look at and read. - SCOTT STEWART (director of PRIEST and LEGION)
Geoffrey Thorne is a sci-fi writer who also dabbles in comics. Us Star Trek fans know him for some of the Trek novels and short stories he’s written, the most recent one being www.amazon.com');" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Star Trek Titan: Sword of Damocles, so I can attest to his skill as a writer. The link takes you to a preview of the entire book, and from what I can tell, it’s not bad. Light action-adventure, lively dialogue, very good art. Pretty straightforward. Let’s see how it does. RICH WATSON - POP CULTURE SHOCK. COMFLAT OUT GREAT. I love it. Wish most of the books I paid for this week were that good. - REGINALD HUDLIN - (Black Panther, Boomerang)See for yourself what all the fuss is about!PRINTABLE ORDER FORM ON THE LAST PAGE!!
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I'M BACK

I've been "away" for a while, primarily because an internet glitch prevented me from connecting with BSFS or any of my other ning groups. Thankfully, the problem has been fixed, and you'll be seeing a lot more activity from me here in the future.As far as news goes, I've recently finished the first draft of my second volume of Dossouye's adventures. Now, it's polishing time.Also, I've just posted a blog entry about Dossouye's war-bull, Gbo, at my website, www.charlessaunderswriter.com. To see it, click on "Blog," and then "Buffaloed."I continue to be amazed by how fast this group is growing, and by the impressive talent that the membership represents. You make me really proud.
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*Always like combining speculative fiction & politics--two of my favorite things. Wrote this review/analysis originally back in 2007, but since there's word they're making a sequel for 300 (why gods!?! why?!?), thought it'd be relevant anyway...

written March 2007So I saw 300 last week. Driven by action, the movie had enough blood and battle to dazzle the senses and up testosterone levels. As cinematography it was a visual CGI masterpiece—though one might ask when and where reliance on computer generated imagery enhances or devalues a movie. The acting was tolerable—not like Ghostrider where I wanted to gnaw off my left leg rather than sit through the excruciating dialogue. As plots go, it was mediocre— not bad but not exactly filled with complex intrigue. Syriana or Babel this movie was not. Noble Greeks fight scary Persians to Alamo type finish. Freedom. Honor. Glory. The End. But my anticipation of 300 was only partly based on my expectations of it as a film.300 is based on the Frank Miller graphic novel of the same name, and is a retelling of the Battle of Thermopylae between Spartan Greeks and the Persian Empire in the 5th Century BC. I read the comic back in 1998, and found it fascinating—yet discomforting. The story itself is a surreal fantasy. And though the film's director Zack Snyder makes the grandiose claims that "the events are 90 percent accurate," I hardly expected it to be factual. So that these Spartans fight bare-chested with CGI enhanced abdomens straight out of Chippendales, instead of in breastplates as would have been common, wasn't really of consequence to me. I took it for Hollywood cosmetic to sell tickets—and maybe even reach that coveted gay male audience. I was more concerned with the changes to the movie—and before that the comic—that had deeper meaning, and give us an interesting mirror into the society we live in.The SpartansIn 300 there is much celebration of Sparta—the Greek city-state known well for its warrior cult, who pose as the heroes of the film. But these are not the Spartans of history; they are instead, something else. For instance, though it's alluded that Spartans were known for killing infants who may have been born with defects or bad omens (this might be a physical deformity or a birth mark), this ritual infanticide is toned down to ambiguity. While the harsh life of a Spartan male, who endures years of brutality to become a warrior, is portrayed, it too is softened and made noble—in its own way. In the movie Spartan boys are forced out into the wild and must face fierce animals, not becoming a true warrior until they kill one. In reality however, Spartan youths didn't go out and kill animals to prove their worth. They actually had to go out and kill a slave—a Helot, fellow Greeks of nearby Lakonia and Messenia conquered and reduced to bondage by Sparta's "free" militaristic elite.Perhaps because this sounds too much like a modern gang initiation rite (and the comparison certainly fits), it is altered for the viewing audience. As told by the film, slavery is absent in Spartan society—and is something only their enemies practice. This sanitizing of Spartan history may be because in 300, there is much made about Sparta being a land of "freedom." In fact, this is the central theme of the story—the entire reason for the war against Persia. These Spartans are even mildly homophobic, laughingly scoffing at homosexuality among their fellow Athenian Greeks. This is ironic, as ritualized homosexual liaisons among Spartan boys in training was both common and obligatory at the time. In the film Spartan women are not altogether equal, but gender relations have an air of egalitarianism hard to find in the historical record.The reality, that Sparta was actually a slave society that conquered fellow Greeks, practiced state sponsored eugenics, and was run by a patriarchal male-dominated military oligarchy who maintained their power through force and violence, is radically altered—as it would no doubt clash with the cries for liberty and the "new era of freedom" Spartans boast of repeatedly throughout the film. Altogether, Spartan culture is re-arranged to fit modern (mostly American) ideas on democracy, masculinity, sexuality and gender. And this is necessary not merely to glorify Sparta, but to make certain they were seen as different from their enemies as ever.The PersiansOne of the first things I noticed when I read Frank Miller's 300, was the main villain of his story—the Persian King Xerxes. He was black—a towering bald giant with earrings in his ears and face and nose, like a brown-skinned Michael Clarke Duncan merged with Dennis Rodman. More than a few of Xerxes soldiers and generals were also black. I found that odd, because the historical Xerxes was Persian—modern day Iran. While the Persian Empire was certainly massive and assimilated all sorts of people, its black population was probably nowhere near that pronounced. And there are enough depictions of Xerxes to not mistake him for the average brother. So why make Xerxes a black giant?Frank Miller's version of the Battle of Thermopylae took its cue from age-old western notions of Orientalism—a Western perception of the East as alien, inferior and yet menacing. The Persia of 300 is the opposite of the Greeks, the opposite of the Occidental West: a fantastical imagining of the mysterious East, both exotic and frightening, with bizarre peoples and customs, ruled by superstition and tyrants. Most of all the "Orient" is dangerous, and holds the power to destroy the West if it isn't controlled or beaten back. For Miller, Xerxes as a Persian wasn't enough to embody this dark symbolism. He had to be transformed into a more threatening figure—one that only blackness seemed able to conjure up. The movie version changed this somewhat. Xerxes is no longer black. He is however still a giant, garbed in a speedo and decked out in about two tons of bling—from earrings to body chains. As opposed to the hyper-masculine Spartans of the film, Xerxes is effeminate, foppish and a gender-bending sexual deviant. His army is either dark and faceless, or horribly monstrous—and, as we are told, all slaves whipped into the service of their tyrannical god-king.But like Sparta, this depiction of Xerxes and the Persian Empire has more to do with modern western—and especially American—imagination than reality. The actual Xerxes of history probably dressed little different than many of his Greek enemies, though much better—in velvet robes or tunics, as Persia was an opulent kingdom. As far as his rule went, while he was probably not someone you'd elect to the local city council, for a monarch of an Empire of his time, he and the other Achaemenid kings of Persia were not precisely the tyrants of Hollywood depiction. They actually instituted what some have called one of the earliest declarations of Human Rights, detailing religious tolerance and (albeit limited) expressions of personal freedom. They even debated the merits of democracy, though choosing against it. Now don't get me wrong. Kings like Xerxes were undoubtedly conquerors, and were no nominees for the Nobel Peace Prize. By our standards, his empire would be unilateralist, rapaciously imperialist and ignore many aspects of international law. But Persian rulers also allowed their territories to have limited independence, demanding only tribute and conscript soldiers. And in what is probably one of the greatest ironies that the movie manages to reverse, under the Achaemenids, for religious reasons, slavery was nominally opposed—though by no means non-existent. This is at least a step-up from Sparta, where the enslavement of fellow Greeks was not a topic up for debate. In the end Xerxes and his fellow rulers were not saints, but neither were they the bloodthirsty tyrants of 300.The Battle of ThermopylaeCentered on the famed Battle of Thermopylae, 300 depicts fantastic fight scenes—as endless hordes of Persians bash themselves against Spartan soldiers who skillfully hold them off. For Frank Miller's graphic novel and the movie, 300 Spartans led by their king Leonidas hold off 1 million Persians. In reality, the Persians probably numbered between 60,000 to 120,000. The Greeks were actually a force of 7,000—some 4,000 of which were killed—whose success was based mostly on better bronze weapons and a tactical strategy of utilizing the natural landscape. While it's true that fellow Greeks abandoned the Spartans in the final battle, some 700 remained and also fought to the end. As for the Athenian navy who kept Persia occupied at sea and unable to deploy their full might, these Greeks are wholly absent from 300. The movie instead is certain to give the full glory only to the 300 super-manly Spartan soldiers (not those wimpy "gay" Athenian sailor boys), who in death achieve a cinematic display of quasi-Judeo-Christian sainthood. The undignified beheading of Leonidas and the eventual burning of Athens with the Greeks scurrying away in fright before the Persian forces, is erased from Hollywood-created history, to be sure our Spartan heroes are able to keep their manliness intact.Just a Movie?So in the end, what's the point of all this? 300 is just a movie after all, and before that a comic book. It's not history—even if it's director tries to pass it off as such to his audience. It's a story. And it doesn't have to follow the facts. If we're looking for historical accuracy, we'd be better off sticking to a classroom. Films are sold to us as entertainment, not lessons. But at the same time, like any work of art, we would be remiss to leave it at that. Films reflect our culture, our values, our perceptions, what we think of as normal or perverse, right or wrong, good or bad. And they can reinforce larger societal thoughts we take for granted. That Hollywood alters history isn't particularly surprising or even relevant. But how that history is altered, what history is altered and why the altering takes place can reveal a great deal.The Battle of Thermopylae has long been more than just an ancient event, a comic book or a movie, in modern western imagination. European colonisers and conquerors often portrayed themselves similar to the Spartans, facing hordes of usually darker-skinned enemies—be they Native American Sioux, East Indians or Afghans. In 1964, using the Battle of Thermopylae as partial inspiration, the popular movie Zulu depicted several British soldiers who make a last stand against hordes of fierce African warriors. (Curiously, no one seemed to catch the irony that these latter-day Europeans, unlike the Spartans, were the invaders.) In this way, an ancient battle was changed to not only support European colonialism and the "white man's burden," but also the claimed physical and moral superiority of western civilization, as opposed to the savage multitudes of the East.Some have accused 300 of being intentional propaganda, portraying the modern West (embodied by the Spartans) as noble freedom fighters and Iran (Xerxes and the Persians) as dangerous threats to freedom and democracy. The film even comes equipped with a local Spartan anti-war movement, who in the end are corrupted or weak and ineffectual. In Iran, the movie has caused an uproar—with protests against what are seen as negative and even racist portrayals of their beloved ancient Persia. Many Iranians even charge 300 is a precursor to a US invasion. Paranoia? Certainly. But given current US threats against Iran, coupled with daily images of US bombs caving in homes in next-door Iraq, those fears aren't merely plucked out of thin air.Still, I don't think that's the case. I doubt Frank Miller or this movie rendition has anything to do with current US foreign policy maneuvers. This isn't 24—where Jack Bauer's torture acts were literally tied to the Bush White House. And the average American may not even know Persia is one-in-the-same with modern Iran—though hordes of veiled and monstrous enemies from "that" part of the world might serve the purpose just as equally. Rather, what 300 portray are common images of ourselves—or how we would like to see ourselves—with themes of masculinity, whiteness, freedom and moral virtue. And in order to create that image, a foil is needed—darker in both skin and deed, threatening and powerful, but at the same time able to be overcome if we just show the courage to do so. It is Orientalism—part of a long history of western perceptions of the "other," made exotic to fit our ideas of how different "they" are from "us." On some level these perceptions help define "us"—as it previously helped generations of conquerors and colonizers—by defining "them." In that sense Frank Miller's 300 is not dangerous new propaganda. Rather, it's the same old propaganda—just more entertaining.
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My Voting Story is in Essence!

OK it's not really a story -- more like a blurb -:) And it's beside I'm sure countless others. But my feelings on the night Brother President was elected were (and are) heartfelt and I'm so proud!!Here's the link:The Obamas: Portrait of America's New First Family: From the Editors of Essencehttp://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Valjeanne+Jeffers&x=13&y=24P.S. I sure wish Brother President would pick up a copy of Immortal -- he likes Harry Potter (laugh)!
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Ain't The Twenty-First Century Fun?

Hearing what that Fat sack of festering feces ( Rush Limpburger) burbled on the propaganda network about President Obama and his appearance at the final coming home at Dover AFB of the Afghan War's dead, and thefact that none, zero, nein, there callled him out on it, fills me with a disgust. The mainstream news media allows such hatewhippers as Limperoo to getaway with this by allowing them to mask themselves with "political entertainers." They held themselves shocked with the same froth when Pres. Carter called the nation out for its flareup of racism. Pres. Obama an example of being a centrist politician tried not to give the befouled furtherammunition by being called an angry Black Man by agreeing with Pres. Carter openly. And if he called the backward Dems and the reprehensible Lieberman out on health reform, the backlash would be fevered if he did so forcibly and in public. Those registered "Uncle Toms" inc. Ron Good Colored man Elder, Foureyed Beanhead Ron Christy and that Mikey Rusted Steele, would be screeching how ashamed they are of the President and by the way he's uppity. And let's not forget Armmmy "Weak" Williams that bought off 'ho who didn't gag when he said he counted the King of the Dixiecrats, as his mentor. Vile, Vile, Vile ConstipatedRepoobs Coloreds are vile. We see the content of their character, what ever Boss Moneybags thinks theys sho nuf should be. And if some bloated bag of... slanders the President, well massa got the 'nawledge and I beleef what he say. Bastards.
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A Time Traveller's Career Advice

Reasonable men adjust themselves to their environment. Unreasonable men attempt to change their environment to suit themselves. Therefore all progress is the work of unreasonable men.-- George Bernard ShawHistory is often unkind to unreasonable men. But I also know that nothing is every accomplished by reasonable men. They are content with the status quo. They exploit and profit on the frailties of the human condition without making any changes to improve that condition. I strive to make the world a better place despite being told it was impossible. I am not a reasonable man.--Thaddeus HowzeI was asked to give a short presentation to a group of young people of color who were trying to get to the straight and narrow path that a career might offer. Some of the young men had fallen from the path of education, of self improvement and had been convinced by the efforts of a dedicated few to return and try again. All previous sins forgiven, all that was required was a re-dedication to the efforts to improve their lives. I was asked to speak to them about taking some coursework in IT done at an accelerated rate in an effort to prepare them for a summer internship in the middle of next year. I became involved with mixed feelings.Not because I do not think it is a worthy cause. On the contrary, I believe it is the worthiest of causes; without such efforts, my own redemption at an earlier point in my life would not have ever occurred and I would likely be dead, or in a state such that death might be a preferable condition. My trepidation came from having to tell these young men the truth about my occupation; or at least, as I knew it. I love what I do. I have done it now for over twenty five years; not the same job, but the same industry, information technology and communications with overlap into the publishing, banking, government, technology, game design, publishing, retail, small business and educational sectors. How do you distill that into something someone can use?It's impossible to write something technical that would be useful to someone who has never even done IT, so I decided to write down the things that I learned along the way; stepping stones that have to be touched on the stairway to occupational success. Thinking about these things, I decided these would be the things I would tell myself if I could meet myself on my way to my first IT job interview.These are the fundamentals. If you aren’t careful,violation of these rules can cost you your job.1. Pick your battles. Sometimes you have to lose a battle to win a war. Keep your eyes on the war. Give up some things to gain everything. Outlast your enemies. Just because you did not make them your enemies did not mean they did not declare war on YOU.2. What got you to the top, won't keep you there. Don't get complacent. Stay frosty. Sharpen that saw!3. Previous success is just that; what you did before. It has no bearing on your present circumstance other than it appeared on your resume. Succeed in a different this time! Innovate, create something new each time.4. Don't be afraid to fail. Failure is a tool and a quite necessary one.5. You learn nothing from success. (You got it right the first time!) Failure teaches and the world's greatest minds learned best from this harsh schoolmaster.6. If you work somewhere you cannot fail or failure is a punitive event, leave. They are not doing anything important there anyway.7. Real innovation is risky. When forced to choose between innovation and efficiency management, the long-term win is in innovation.8. Know the difference between being effective and being efficient. The first deals with deciding the right things to do and the other deals with doing things right.9. Hire the guy who came in second. He tries harder. Persistence is the real talent. Plus he will love you for taking that risk and work even harder to prove he’s worthy. It has always paid off for me.10. Be right. But don't be an ass about it. Do your research; know your craft. Be right but if you make everyone hate you because of it, you won't last long there, even if you were never wrong. Sometimes it is better to be heard than to be right.11. Never compromise your work. Stand up for what you know, through dint of your effort, research and intellect to be the right thing to do. Find a way to get it done. IT that is compromised serves no one well and costs everyone.12. When you become master of all you survey, allow your team to innovate and fail. The things they succeed with will amaze you. Empower your team. Give them the ability to make decisions on the things they work on. Less paperwork for you, more autonomy for them. Make them responsible for their work, because, well they are. Insist on diversity. Hire people smarter than you. (Don’t be afraid. They don’t want your job. If they did, they would certainly have it already.)13. Hire people who don’t look like you. Avoid groupthink. Give your team the power to tell you that you are wrong. This may be the second greatest thing you ever do for yourself. The first was hiring someone smart enough to tell you that you are wrong.14. Just because everyone says it can’t be done, does not mean they are right. Believe and do it anyway.Those core rules are non-negotiable and will likely work for any occupation. These are my IT-related truths. They too may be applied to any occupation. Adjust as necessary.You must learn to love new things.1. Every three years all that you know may become obsolete. Even if it does not, the IT industry will certainly have expanded further than expected. You have a lot of learning to do.2. Start your career learning about everything you can. Specialize once you know what feels good to you and you are able to do with maximum efficiency and minimum wasted effort. Be a generalist when you can, specialize if you must but maintain your versatility. Your employment may depend on you being able to do an array of things.3. Maintain your versatility over time by taking a variety of IT careers in a variety of business models. Business skills will become more important the further up the command structure of the corporation you want to go. Get some training or some education related to business if your mission is to conquer the executive suite.4. Learn the soft/social skills of how to deal with people. That is a skill set that will only grow more valuable with age.5. Find the time to take an assessment exam and to read books that deal with occupational growth and career design (i.e. Myers-Briggs, What Color is Your Parachute, Zen and the Art of Making a Living, the Success Principles by Jack Canfield.) These books guide you to consider your reasons for working in the occupation that you do now and how to maximize that experience, or suggest a career better suited to your skill set.6. Learn 10 things today that you did not know yesterday. Real facts - don’t cut corners. (3,650 new ideas every year will keep you sharp, and yes, that means you learn on the weekends, too!)7. Knowledge, Information and Data are not equal. Data is the raw stuff of databases and reports. In and of itself, it does nothing. When organized and understood, data can become information and has the potential to influence events and empower the person using it. Knowledge is the state that information assumes when it has helped to accomplish work. Knowledge is the ultimate expression of data in use. Knowledge is Power. Data is just data.Know your limitations.1. If you don't know your weaknesses or limitations, ask someone you trust and don't take it too personally if they tell you something you didn't know. Then you should take the time to know yourself better. When in doubt find an enemy and ask him. He has nothing to gain by not telling you the truth.2. Lose a bad habit a year, every year until you approach perfection. You are not likely to become perfect, but people may like to be around you a lot more.3. Know yourself; do work that complements your skill set. If you don't like databases, don't become a database administrator, even if you know how. You will resent your work and it will show.4. Learn your strengths and use them, they will grow even stronger. Don't dwell on your weaknesses; you don't plan to keep them anyway.5. Be introspective. Introspection is a lost art. Introspection is the art of looking into yourself to find out who you are. You cannot do it with your iPod or stereo blasting at 11. You cannot do it while you are texting your friends or playing World of Warcraft. Introspection can only be done, in silence and the harsh light of honest analysis of who you are and what you do (or have done recently). If you cannot stand a silent room or be alone with your thoughts, ask yourself why? Then do it anyway. The life you improve will be your own. If you find introspection especially difficult, learn/take a class on meditation or yoga, (or both).No one outside of IT will really know what you do or understand it. So kudos may be slow to arrive after you pull the company fat out of the fire for the fourth time this month.1. Love, admire, respect and support each other’s work. It may be the only acknowledgment you receive from your workplace. Cross-train so you can help each other over time and allow everyone to take a vacation sometime.2. Complements are rarely given to the technical masses that do the most difficult of work. Know that the bulk of the people who benefit from your work, appreciate it greatly. Why management is less able to do that is still a mystery…3. In some work environments, your work will barely be acknowledged; do it well anyway.4. Your work is your signature. When you leave your work behind, it should be a monument like the Pyramids of Giza; built to last, with vision in mind. Also see: timeless.5. When you become the boss of your own IT Empire, sing the praises of your team to everyone. That praise will be the greatest tool in your arsenal.6. Under-promise and over-deliver. Keep the masses clamoring for your support happy with this simple mantra. Learn how to budget and manage your time. Be realistic when you promise your client a delivery date. Then deliver on your promise, in spades.7. In IT, everything takes longer than you thought it would. Make sure you think of everything your client would want and a half a dozen things they never considered. Treat them as you would desire to be treated.8. Document everything you do. Keep an electronic paper trail of your labors. Hercules had only 13 impossible things to do, so he did not need to take notes. Make a to-do list every day. Keep it on a flash drive or in a wiki. It helps you determine how well you are doing, what you are doing and whether it is what you should be doing.9. Once a year, make a list of things you want to accomplish in that year and make sure those things get on your daily or weekly to do list. At the end of the year, check that list, if more than half are not done, where is your time being spent?You must appear perfect in word and deed.Unrealistic? So what. Who said life was fair.1. Your parents are responsible for what was, you are responsible for what is. If your life was not a bed of roses, get over it. Every day is a chance to make it better. Real life is progressive and iterative (meaning it builds on the work of the day before. So it will take time to correct all that was wrong. Do it anyway.)2. Mastery of self must occur before you can master anything else. Self-control means control of your habits, your mind, and your body. The most powerful thing you can do for yourself is to maintain your self-control especially when everyone around you is waiting for you to lose it.3. If you are out of sorts; get help. There is no shame in seeking support. The IT industry can undermine your self-esteem and morale. If you are psychologically stressed, IT work can drive you to the brink in record time.4. If you say it, it must be so. Your word is law. Keep your word, your integrity is everything.5. When in doubt, say nothing. Everything you say will be remembered. When you say nothing, you appear wise and inscrutable. "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt." No truer words were ever spoken. Remember them.6. The most powerful words you can say are: I don't know. But I will find out. Become a master of research!7. Rest; use your vacation. Learn to walk away. Many IT types have an inability to walk away from a problem. This dogged determination is how they solve the impossible issues that end up on our desks. But it leads to stress, wear and tear on our minds and bodies over time, rendering us less effective over time. Don't let this happen to you. Take time out. Plan for it. Then do it. You will be better for the time away. (Plus, it lets them miss you, especially if you are great at your job. Familiarity often breeds contempt.)8. Do things not IT related. The greatest minds in the world have often discovered that things apparently unrelated to your work can sometimes inspire you to find new ways of solving problems. Rejuvenate your mind by doing things that don't require a keyboard and a mouse. Read a book, take up painting, do crosswords or Sudoku, learn a new language, play a musical instrument... When all you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. Get at least one physical hobby or sport that puts some wear and tear on your body. The sedentary life of an IT guru can add inches to your waist and pounds to you behind. Your mind is only as strong and resilient as the body that houses it. (Weight-lifting, aerobics, running, martial arts, bicycling, swimming, ultimate Frisbee, touch football, soccer, to name a few.) Get your heart rate up and keep it up for 50 minutes a day. Your life depends on it.Love IT as the complex and dynamic craft that it is.1. You must enjoy the challenge of finding the straw in a needle stack. You are about to become part of the largest, most distributed neural network on the planet and possibly the greatest technological wonder ever created by humanity. Savor the moment. Done? Now get to work. With that membership, you will also have the great responsibility to ensure that whatever part of that network you build, patrol, protect, guide or create, that you do it with a vision of the future, being mindful of present circumstances and with an awareness of what has gone before.2. It will, if you choose it, be the hardest job you will ever love. People will tell you that what you do is not work. Do not listen. This career is as challenging as any being done anywhere:* IT is as challenging as medicine, because your patient will sometimes span the world, be in more than one place at a time, and have thousands of discrete elements, with millions of parts and billions of lines of code holding it all together. IT changes faster and more consistently than medicine ever has. (To be fair, medicine may soon accelerate the pace now that they are embracing IT in their diagnosis, management and coordination of information. More work for you...)* IT may be as hard to handle as law, because there are no precedents for every event. Each time may be the first time that circumstance has EVER been seen. What was true this morning may no longer even be relevant by sunset. Human laws develop at a geologic pace compared to the shifts that technology witnesses every year. (On average, law firms are incredibly slow when it comes to utilizing the full power of IT. I am amazed to see how many law firms are still running Windows 98 or NT.)* As difficult as architecture and engineering because what you build must offer stability and adaptability and is constantly under attack from threats within and without and yet must make the people using it feel safe and productive. Depending on the IT you are responsible for lives may hang in the balance. Be vigilant. IT is ever-challenging and has constantly expanding horizons.3. Learn all you can, all the time. If you are not a strong reader, I recommend you work on expanding your speed and your literacy, because a strong and fast reader has a decided advantage in IT. Technical publications, both in print and online are your friends. Take an 8 hour work day, once a week and do nothing but read technical journals or publications on that day. Your productivity will still be higher than anyone who doesn’t.4. IT will offer you impossible deadlines, put you in positions to affect the highest stakes (you have four minutes to save the world...) pair you with some of the strangest and often brilliant people, keep you working long and sometimes nonstandard hours, and ultimately provide you with immense satisfaction. IT will give you the satisfaction of creating something out of nothing whether that be a circuit board, a processor, a network, an application, a database, or a website, you will be creating something from the realm of ideas (Logos) and bringing it into the world. Create something the world needs they will pay you handsomely for it. (Sometimes, even if the world didn't need it, you will get paid too, i.e. Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace.) Know that when your skills mature (in 5 to 7 years), you will be able to call yourself one in a million and mean it.5. Mastery of this craft makes you rare amongst humans. Even the most sophisticated and educated often pale when confronted by a computer on their desk and a demand to use it. And despite our recent economic misfortunes, work in this field will likely continue to expand to those who stay at the forefront of their fields of expertise.6. There will never be fewer computers on Earth than there are now. They may be virtual computers under unknown operating systems but the number of computers is likely to continue growing for the foreseeable future. And on the off-chance that the number of computers actually goes down, the skill level required to manage, understand and control those computers will likely be greater than ever. The only people who would have a chance of controlling or working with them would be people who already have the core fundamentals at hand. That would be you.If you don't love IT, you will leave it in 2-4 years for something easier, less stressful with a greater sense of acknowledgment from the common masses. Your powers will diminish somewhat but you will always remember what it was like to have your finger on the pulse of the world. Good luck.These ideas were from my private journey of twenty five years in the IT workforce. I am curious to see if anyone else sees anything familiar here. If not, share with me those things that made it possible for you to succeed. I am always looking for other great tools for my belt.About the Author: Thaddeus has a WordPress technology and science commentary blog called Storm Warnings: A Matter of Scale and can be reached at ebonstorm(at)gmail.com. He is also a writer at the Examiner.com.
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Listen to In Like Flynn on internet talk radio

Mistress Penelope to get into the Halloween spirit reads an excerpt from "My Sanguine Valentine" a portion of the Renfield Chronicles. In this excerpt Morris Priestley, a hotel concierge unwittingly interrupts a Revenant feeding and his life is forever altered. The entire Renfield Chronicles can be found at www.renfields.net and you can find out more Renfield information at www.Renfields.ning.com. Join us in the Chat room and Call in at 718/506-9683 for the post-reading wrap-up on Wicked Wednesday!
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It's over and I have an MA!!!

Finishing school has been a journey but I'm through now and I got my sheepskin. However I think I hate psychology (laugh). OK maybe hate is too strong a word...how about intense disliske (laugh).Just kidding I'm suffering from thesis defense hangover (laugh)
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Black Prophets

I am going to make the rather radical statement that Science Fiction as a genre is "modern" prophesy. It is prophetic because it states with great accuracy who men and women will react when the changes caused by new technologies alter our environment. Whether it be faster-than-light space travel, meeting new species, or facing god-like decisions that new technology made possible.If you doubt the importance of Sci-Fi in the creation of prophecy all you have to do is look at history. While most people know about Verne and atomic power submarines, consider the contribution of the likes of Assimov's Laws of Robotics and Arthur Clarke's vision of satellite communication (The belt in which communication satellites orbit is named for him). My point is that the members of this site are the predictors of a more inclusive, and thereby more accurate future.The creative brilliance of the minds here, and others like them yet to be discovered but more likely to be because of your efforts, offer new views of worlds yet to be discovered. If the world is a reflection of a broader universe, it possible that people of color are such an overwhelming majority that the number so-called "whites" would be infinitesimal.Consider the possible repercussions on this planet from a Universe of people of color viewing the treatment of people based on race! Maybe we are already being ostracized because of our behavior.Pardon me. I shouldn't be offering those kind of suggestions here, but it is just a thought. At any rate this line of thought is just a small portion of the potential of stories that I am sure that will come either directly or indirectly from this group. Thank you for adding a much needed touch of color to an infinite Universe.Now Go Out and Prophesize!
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APE RELATED

If you know what DIAMOND PREVIEWS is, our book, PRODIGAL: EGG OF FIRST LIGHT will be soliceted there in NOVEMBER.if you don't know what PREVIEWS is, it's the catalogue retailers use to determine which comics they will be buying. It's three months ahead so, if you want your local store to carry our book, you have to tell them next month to order it.I hope you will. Duh.

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