( Postered Poetics Xscape graphic derived from original art by Mat Maitland ) “He talked always about giving love. It was never about how much love he got back.”––Antonio “L.A.” Reid discussing Michael Jackson , Xscape Documentary DVD Any announcements of “new music” from Michael Jackson must necessarily and rightly be met with a healthy amount of skepticism. Important questions have to be answered: Is this new music going to be something dug out of once-private vaults simply because of its guaranteed ability to stimulate cash-flow for all those who manage to attach their names to it?  Or will it emerge and stand as a true representation of Jackson’s certified brilliance and successfully extend the incandescent legacy of soul-nourishing rhythms and altruistic service he spent a lifetime creating? The now much-discussed 17 tracks on the “deluxe edition” of the Xscape album allow listeners to consider such questions in depth. Eight “contemporized” v

                                Cover of Notes to the Future by Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu . “Let each know that for each the body, the mind and the soul have been freed to fulfill themselves.” ––Nelson Mandela, Presidential Inauguration Address When Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela stood before the people of South Africa on May 10, 1994, as its first black and democratic president, the moment represented much more than a personal victory. It embodied the kind of glimpse into humanity’s potential for harmonious coexistence that history rarely provides. Neither the concept nor the practice of persecution were invented the day Mr. Mandela began as a middle-aged man serving his 27-year prison sentence on Robben Island in 1963.  There are nevertheless, in his case, the notable distinctions of excruciating sacrifice, phenomenal grace, and uncommon personal evolution which moved almost 100 world leaders to attend his memorial in Johannesburg on Human Rights Day, December 10,

        Presidents Dwight Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy greet poet Robert Frost. (photo by Reuters) During observations from November 16 - 22, 2013, of the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, various news commentators noted a history-changing event of a different kind involving the four-time Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Robert Frost. When invited by President Kennedy to become the United States’ first presidential inauguration poet, Mr. Frost dutifully composed for the occasion a 77-line poem frequently referred to as “Dedication” and now published in his collected works, The Poetry of Robert Frost , as: “For John F. Kennedy, His Inauguration, With Some Preliminary History in Rhyme.” However, when attempting to read the poem at the ceremony on January 20, 1961, the glare of sunlight reflecting off snow made it impossible and Frost instead famously recited from memory the much shorter 16-line poem titled “The Gift Outright.”  With

                   Albert Camus graphic with quote by Aberjhani provided by Postered Poetics . After kicking off the Text and Meaning Series with an article on Martin Luther King Jr.’s I Have a Dream speech in August, the latest installment is on Albert Camus’ classic book, The Myth of Sisyphus. The Text and Meaning Series is one reminder that some of the battles we’ve found ourselves struggling through in 2013–– as if thrashing while asleep and trying to wake from nightmares–– have been fought before. In many cases it was believed victory had already been won. I started the Text and Meaning Series largely as a way of introducing classic works into conversations on current topics and events. It presently consists of the following: 1) Text and Meaning in Martin Luther King Jr.’s I Have a Dream Speech 2) Text and Meaning in Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance 3) Text and Meaning in Langston Hughes The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain 4) Text and Meaning i

Classic portrait of Langston Hughes by the German artist Winold Reiss (Credit: Smithsonian Magazine) “We know we are beautiful. And ugly too. The tom-tom cries and the tom-tom laughs.”––Langston Hughes Among the superstars who recently joined late-night television talk show host Arsenio Hall on the set of his newly-revived program was hip-hop pioneer and mogul Russell Simmons. In addition to expressing enthusiasm over sharing meditation with his children and exploring new film opportunities in Hollywood, Simmons spoke briefly and somewhat reservedly about a recent controversy involving artistic freedom versus social responsibility. Without going into details about the scandal-plagued “Harriet Tubman Sex Tape” video that he posted on, and then quickly removed from, his All Def Digital YouTube channel, Simmons admitted the backlash it created prompted the only instance where he felt compelled––after being pressured by different civil rights organizations––to withdraw artis