Image still from photography video of modern-day slavery by Lisa Kristine presented by TEDTalks . Two of the most acclaimed movies of the past decade, 12 Years a Slave and Django Unchained , have focused on the degradation, inhumanity, and absurdity associated with slavery as it was once practiced in the United States. Those who are surprised by this film genre’s ability to continue to command the attention of audiences around the world might want to consider the fact that various forms of forced servitude are very real in 2015. In addition, just as the year 2011 marked the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the American Civil War, 2015 commemorates the sesquicentennial of the war’s end. It is therefore also the official end of slavery in the United States and reason enough for movies that remind viewers why so many fought against it then and why so many, acknowledged or not, are doing so now. For all intended purposes, the precise date of the end of the Civil War was

Year in review collage featuring images from top stories of 2014 written by Aberjhani. Includes photo by Aberjhani and quotation art by Timadae. (by Postered Poetics) Most professional creative artists are familiar with the challenge of having to sometimes divide their inspired energies between remaining focused on one area of productivity while occasionally, simultaneously, completing work in another. It was that kind of cognitive agility that allowed the music of Michael Jackson’s Xscape  album compilation to reconfirm his genius in 2014, five years after his death in 2009. It was also that kind of determined flexibility which allowed this author to remain on track with research for current literary works in progress while also publishing more articles, essays, poems, books, and blog posts throughout 2014 than previously realized. Their titles and headlines confront some of 2014’s most compelling issues, any number of which is likely to continue challenging humanity in 2015

( Detailed section of "Bettin' On Herself" artwork by Luther E. Vann from the book ELEMENTAL, The Power of Illuminated Love )  Success for the creatively-inclined individual can be defined in many ways. Certainly there are those who necessarily measure their triumphs in terms of monetary gains. There are others for whom success means the refinement of a process, participation in a unique endeavor, the achievement of a level of personal mastery, or the realization of a rare kind of vision. For some, it is all of the above. Upon agreeing to work with the artist Luther E. Vann on a book showcasing contemporary art, ekphrastic poems, and short essays in 1991, there was little reason to believe it would ever see publication much less gain recognition as a “success.” It was not the kind of work on which publishers preferred to take chances. Neither the artist nor this author at the time commanded such compelling presences in the marketplace as to make a vic

“The systematic looting of language can be recognized by the tendency of its users to forgo its nuanced, complex, mid-wifery properties for menace and subjugation. Oppressive language does more than represent violence; it is violence…” ~Toni Morrison, 1993 Nobel Lecture in Literature This segment of Creative Flexibility and Annihilated Lives is published in partnership with Voices Compassion Education . Like many authors I dive headlong almost every  day into a torrential flow of words sparkling with possibilities. I then work  to extract from that linguistic flow a collective of sounds, imagery, ideas,  and entire compositions capable of offering relevant reflections of the world  experienced both inside and outside my own head. Such a mindful exercise in  disciplined creative passion tends to focus my thoughts more on striking a  balance between the unyielding clarity of prose and the seductive allusiveness of  poetry than on the demands of managing a public image. 

“No one seems to think it  significant that upon the policemen’s arrival Kajieme Powell possibly had  reason to fear for his life and reacted in a manner consistent with his  disability.” ––Article excerpt (Aberjhani) “Democracy is not a gift of power,  but a reservoir of knowledge.” –– from The Wisdom of W.E.B. Du Bois The month of August happens to be  one in which a number of notable events in African-American history, relatively  recent in historical terms, have occurred. There are the birthdays of such  celebrated individuals as author James Baldwin (Aug. 2), President Barack Obama  (Aug. 4), and philanthropist and performing artist Michael Jackson (Aug. 29). From this point forward, people  shall also certainly recall August 9, 2014, as the day when 18-year-old’s Michael Brown’s death served to ignite a series of violent night-time protests  eerily reminiscent of similar scenes from the 1960s. The chaos also functioned  as yet one more reminder of how readily th

This French edition of "King, Malcolm, Baldwin: Three Interviews" by Dr. Kenneth B. Clark illustrates just influential Baldwin's writings became during the 1960s and 1970s . Editorial Note : The full post of this article by Aberjhani on LinkedIn and accessible via the link below incorporates a segment of the previously published essay The Year of James Baldwin Now in Full Classic Literary Swing Before there were human resource managers and action research teams counseling American corporations on the advantages of embracing diversity rather than vilifying it, there was author James Baldwin putting the theory to the test in acclaimed essays, novels, plays, short stories, poems, and dialogues. Social networkers in recent weeks have found occasion to quote those writings in regard to everything from a Palestinian state and gay marriage equality to Barack  Obama’s presidency and the American identity. It is true that he marched alongside Martin Luther King,

Author James Baldwin in St. Paul de Vence, France, 1976. (photo by Dmitri Kasterine) “It has always been much easier (because it has always seemed much safer) to give a name to the evil without than to locate the terror within. And yet, the terror within is far truer and far more powerful than any of our labels: the labels change, the terror is constant.” –James Baldwin, from  the essay Nothing Personal Members of New York City’s cultural arts community made a rare kind of decision earlier this year and the results of that decision continue to generate exceptional events and responses. They–– as in Columbia University School of the Arts, Harlem Stage, and New York Live Arts–– elected to observe The Year of James Baldwin from April 2014 until June 2015 in honor of the late iconoclastic African-American author’s 90th birthday August 2, 2014. Long before he died on December 1, 1987, millions came to recognize the indelible mark of Baldwin’s impact on, and the incredible depth

“And the syndrome goes on; this is only a poem, wondering when to our senses we will come home.”      ––T.J. Reddy (from A Poem About A Syndrome) Most of the more celebrated names among African-American authors, poets, and artists are known to the world because of their association with specific cultural arts movements. The recently-deceased  Amiri Baraka has been identified as a hero of both the late 1950s Beat Movement and the 1960s and 1970s Black Arts Movement. Poets such as Gwendolyn Brooks and Sterling Brown remain renowned for their link to the Harlem Renaissance. One of the more powerful qualities of such movements is that they often inspire more creative genius than the world takes time to recognize. Or sometimes they produce creative thinkers of a type that “others” tend to fear and consequently attempt to destroy. It is possible both these scenarios may be applied to the poet, visual artist, human rights advocate, and educator known as T.J. Reddy.

                                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,

  (10th Anniversary digital graphic for Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance by Postered Poetics based on original cover design by Facts on File with art by Jacob Lawrence .) “The story of African Americans was crafted anew into a poignant commentary on individual and group progress under great pressure, a story that over time became one of the most compelling of American narratives.” ––Dr. Clement Alexander Price September 2013 represents the landmark 10th anniversary of the publication of the groundbreaking Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance (Facts on File, 2003) co-authored by educator Sandra L. West and featuring a foreword by Dr. Clement Alexander Price, founder and director of the Institute on Ethnicity, Culture, and the Modern Experience at Rutgers University, Newark Campus, New Jersey. Almost seemingly as if in honor of that event, on August 29 President Barack Obama announced his intent to appoint Dr. Price to the position of Vice Chairman of the Adviso

“He captured the spotlight of history precisely at the right time, and responded with a blueprint for what America could become if it trusted its democratic legacy… He was murdered. But his dream still excites our social and political imaginations. It beckons us to work, to realize the dream that America can indeed be a truly pluralistic society and that planet Earth can be a place in the universe where peace, justice, and freedom are the dominant ethos.” ––James M. Washington, Introduction to A Testament of Hope , The Essential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr . August 28, 2013, will mark the 50th anniversary of the great 1963 March on Washington D.C. for Civil Rights and for Martin Luther King Jr.’s delivery of his now iconic “I Have a Dream” speech before a national audience.  Plans had long been underway to commemorate the event on Saturday, August 24, with a symbolic reenactment of the original march. Recent events, however, such as George Zimmerman’s acq

All writers to one extent or another owe a debt of gratitude to writers in general because so much of what of we produce as authors represents a response to what we first experience as readers. Call it the yin and yang of a literary persuasion stemming from a precipitation of language and meaning that storms into our lives and then evolves to become part of the creative cycle itself.  For the complete post please click the link : Bright Skylark Literary Productions - Literary Persuasions: Book Reviews by Aberjhani

Poet Nikky Finney and novelist Jesmyn Ward.(photo courtesy of National Book Foundation) It is not uncommon in modern times for African-American women to win major literary awards but it is rare, if not unprecedented, for two such women to win the same major award in separate categories in the same year. That is precisely what happened on November 16, 2011, when Jesmyn Ward won the National Book Award for fiction and Nikky Finney accepted the award for poetry. “We begin with history” Finney, a professor of English and creative writing at the University of Kentucky, won the award for Head Off & Split, her fourth volume of poetry. Her previous titles include: The World Is Round (2003); Rice (1995); and On Wings Made of Gauze (1985). She is also author of the short story collection, Heartwood (1998). Upon accepting her National Book Award, Finney may have summed up just how triumphant the events of the evening turned out to be when she noted the following at the beginning her speech: P

Earlier this year, August 2, numerous individuals and institutions acknowledged the eighty-seventh anniversary of the birth of American author James Baldwin, and on December 1 observers noted the twenty-fourth anniversary of his death at the age of sixty-three. Interest in Baldwin’s novels, plays, essays, and life has been on the upswing since the 2010 publication of previously uncollected writings by him in The Cross of Redemption (edited by Randall Kenan). That interest grew stronger throughout 2011 as commentaries surfaced on the Internet regarding Baldwin’s 1963 prediction that the United States would one day have an African-American president. To read the full article by Aberjhani please click the link: Events in 2011 and forthcoming book strengthen James Baldwin's legacy - National African-American Art | Examiner.com

A poet named Adonis. ( photo courtesy of Mideast Post ) Considering that Sweden has hosted the Nobel Prize Awards for more than a century and until Thursday had not presented one of its own authors with the Nobel Prize in Literature since 1974 (to Eyvind Johnson), the world can hardly blame the awards committee for presenting this year’s prize to poet Tomas Transtromer. Along with the Syrian poet Adonis, Transtromer was among the top ten authors favored by Britain’s Ladbrokes betting agency as a likely win. Transtromer, according to the agency, was an 8-1 favorite while Adonis was favored 4-1. The poets are also close in age, with the Swede born 1931 and the Syrian in 1930. However, Transtromer became the 104th recipient of the award by virtue of what the prize committee recognized as the following: “ through his condensed, translucent images, he gives us fresh access to reality." Transtromer has published volumes of acclaimed works in both his native tongue and in translat