Time to Check Tarantino, Too

I have swirl of conflicting feelings about the Don Imus affair and the current turn in the Duke rape case that makes it difficult to write about them. That difficulty feeds itself because these are the kind of topics that I usually sink my teeth into. The longer I remain silent on these issues, the more confused I become over them, and that furthers my hesitancy to comment. Not a comfortable place to be for a strident cultural activist for whom language is important.

So today I want to vent about a recent "incident" in popular culture which has garnered little attention yet demands discussion and on which my position is clear, and that's Quentin Tarantino's excessive use of the n-word in his films.

On Wednesday, I was in Manhattan with time to kill between a meeting and a class so I decided to treat myself to a flick at Union Square. I had just enough time – three hours and eleven minutes to be exact – to catch the double feature Grindhouse. For those of you who don't know, Grindhouse is actually two movies and several faux trailers that harken back to the so-bad-their-good shock cinema of the 70s. The first movie Planet Terror is a zombie parody written and directed by Robert Rodriguez while the second joint Death Proof is a combined homage to the race car and girl revenge flicks written and directed by Quentin Tarantino.

There's a consensus among film critics about Grindhouse that I join: Rodriguez got it right, offering the same mindless entertainment as the films he attempts to emulate while, once again, Tarantino wallowed in a self-indulgence that turned a good concept into a mediocre film. Once upon time, critics heaped deserved praise on Tarantino for his way with dialogue. Characters in his films would wax on for minutes about topics that were irrelevant to the story, but audiences (myself included) ate it up because the tangents were so damned entertaining. The praise has gone to Quentin's head because Death Proof is filled with scenes where female characters go on endlessly about nothing of importance ( to anyone else except Quentin, that is) and, unlike their male counterparts in Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, they bore you to tears.

What has yet to penetrate Tarantino's consciousness – and needs to with the same quickness in which Don Imus was put in check – is that his public love affair with the n-word ain't cute.
It seems that he has learned only one lesson only to evade another. Although Quentin has repeated the mistake of casting himself in his own movie, at least the n-word isn't sailing out of his character's mouth in Death Proof as it did in Pulp Fiction. The problem, however, is it flies consistently out of the mouth of thr stunwoman Kim (played by actress Tracie Thoms.) In fact, Kim is only one of two African American characters in Death Proof. The other character is a local radio DJ named Jungle Julia – I kid you not – played by Sydney Tamiia Poitier(yes, daughter and namesake of Sidney Poitier, the accomplished actor renowned for the dignity he displays both on and off screen.) Both Kim and Jungle Julia fall neatly into the stereotype of the quick-lipped sista who cusses and disses people without provocation, her closest friends being her favorite targets of her inexplicable aggression.

Now maybe, just maybe, these stereotypes are part of Tarantino's weak effort to emulate the films of this time. After all, the B-movies of the 70s weren't exactly bastions of character development and logical plots. The heyday of grindhouse theatre coincided with the decade of Blaxploitation, a genre that many of us celebrate to this day even as we chastise its equally stereotypical yet less politically inspired successor the hood flick. It's a hard sell, but I'm willing to entertain it.

I'm not willing to entertain, however, Tarantino's attempts to at once relish the n-word while dodging criticism for its excessive use by having it spew from the mouth of an African American actress. As an author of hip hop noir for adult audiences, I have experienced the challenge of writing around a word that is used so prevalently in the environment that you are trying to realistically depict. But Thoms' Kim uses the n-word so damned much, it's ridiculously unrealistic and undeniably purposeful. And unfunny. And offensive. Anyone and everyone's a n***a to Kim regardless of their gender or race and even her feelings toward them at the moment. Amused or angry, she tosses out the word when she can readily use something else -- or nothing at all -- that would be no less, uh, "appropriate" given the context.

I don't agree with Spike Lee on much, but he's right on this one. Quentin Tarantino is infatuated with this word. The gratuitous use of the word by an African American character in Death Proof is undeniably his way of using the slur without getting called out for it, and I just thought y'all should know. Despite those conflicting feelings about the various issues raised by the Don Imus affair, I'm harboring colorful fantasies of Black folks pulling a drop squad on Quentin Tarantino and forcing him into N***as Anonymous.

It seems we've reached a new low in the history of the n-word and all its variants, mi gente. When having your ongoing debates about who is "allowed' to say the word, the role hip hop plays in its proliferation, and whether or not the inconsistencies in holding people accountable for its continued use are justified, discuss this, too. The firing of Don Imus might make some Whites in media think twice about tossing out racial epithets in the name of entertainment, for sure. But it also may encourage the Tarantinos of the world who refuse to kick their n***** habit to invent more ways to make us say the dirty words for them.

What are we going to do then?

Black Artemis Interview with Knowledge Bookstore

This is an excerpt of an interview was conducted by Francis McLean of Knowledge Bookstore and was published online on March 1, 2007.


Black Artemis is the pen name of Sofía Quintero, a writer, activist, educator, speaker and comedienne born into a working-class Puerto Rican-Dominican family in the Bronx. Determined to write edgy yet intelligent novels for women who love hip hop even when hip hop fails to love them in return, Black Artemis wrote her debut novel Explicit Content. Explicit Content - the first work of fiction about female MCs in the hip hop industry - was published by the New American Library/Penguin in August 2004. Booklist said of the novel, 'Fans of Sister Souljah's The Coldest Winter Ever (1999) will find this debut novel just as tantalizing.' Her second Black Artemis novel Picture Me Rollin' hit bookstores in June 2005 and brought a fresh twist to the home-from-prison tale, Picture Me Rollin' tells of the story of a young woman whose obsession with Tupac Shakur leads her on quest to find self-love. Amidst the controversy over the popularity of street lit, Black Artemis's novels have been hailed by critics of all stripes - reviewers, educators and readers - for being as intelligent and substantive as they are entertaining and accessible. Her third Black Artemis novel Burn will be published in August 2006. For more information about Black Artemis and her work, visit www.blackartemis.com.

Please describe your journey from earning a BA in history-sociology from Columbia University and working for years on a range of policy issues, to becoming a writer of Hip-hop fiction. What was the impetus?

Since I was eight years old, I've written stories, but I think many people of color - especially if their parents are immigrants - do not get the notion that writing is something one can do for a living. The message is usually, 'Get an education, and enter a profession.' And that's what I did, and while I enjoyed my years as a policy analyst and advocate, my passion always remained creative writing. Then I realized that, yes, I can marry my creativity and activism and use storytelling as tool for promoting social justice. That instead of leading this fragmented life, I could find a way to make the work that fed my soul to also pay my rent. I never regret those years doing policy work because those experiences gave me the stories I wanted to tell. My latest novel BURN is very much inspired by the work experiences I've had before I became a full-time novelist.


You are proud to proclaim yourself as a writer of bonafide Hip-hop fiction. Your novels Explicit Content and Picture Me Rollin' clearly show the difference between Hip-hop fiction and urban or street fiction, which is often mislabeled as Hip-hop literature. When you were first seeking a publisher, did the book industry understand this difference?

No, they did not, and largely they still do not although I often I feel like I'm waging a one-woman campaign to reeducate people both in the industry and the community. First, let me clarify the way I see it. There's this large category called urban fiction. Now the industry uses the word 'urban' as a code to mean mostly 'Black' and sometimes also 'Latino,' but we all know that (1) not all Blacks and Latinos live in urban environments, and (2) not all people or phenomena that is urban is Black or Latino. So when I think of 'urban fiction,' I think of anything from what I write to the street lit of authors like Vicki Stringer or Teri Woods to even some titles in the chick lit genre like 'Sex and the City' and 'The Devil Wears Prada.'

Then within urban fiction you have subgenres. The reason why I distinguish between hip hop lit and street lit - although overlaps may exist - is because street lit is frequently about street life, particularly about the underground economy. Hip hop can be - and has been - about much more than that. Not all hip hop is about gangsterism, and if we want to be consistent, not all gangsterism is hip hop. Were Meyer Lansky and John Gotti hip hop heads? No! J Furthermore, there are many people in the hip hop generation and community who do not participate in the underground economy or even aspire to that lifestyle. So as a hip hop activist, it unnerves me when the term 'hip hop' is unilaterally equated with 'gangster.' The occasional overlap is undeniable, but the terms are NOT synonymous. Many socially conscious people - especially young people and their mentors - utilize hip hop as a tool to fight injustice whether it's the expansion of prison industrial complex or the spread of HIV/AIDS. To insinuate that they're not hip hop because they're not gangster is not only dead wrong, it's insulting.

When I dropped my debut 'Explicit Content,' I sent a polite but impassioned email to almost every journalist that wrote an article about the rise of 'hip hop lit' as not a single one discussed hip hop as a culture that predates gangster rap with its roots in the Black Arts Movement of the 60s. Any street lit author will tell you readily and proudly that his or her predecessors are Donald Goines and Iceberg Slim. But as an author of hip hop fiction, my predecessors are Richard Wright and Piri Thomas. With the exception of The Black Issues Book Review which published my letter to the editor, no one responded to me. Yet over time I started to notice a difference. I still saw articles about 'street lit' that referred to it as such, and I'd like to think that my tiny gestures had an impact.


Was it difficult to convince publishers of the demand for fiction based on Hip-hop culture?

I can't say it was difficult for me personally to sell my books because on the one hand, publishers generally saw them as part of the street lit genre, but on the other hand, they are well-crafted and tackle deeper themes. And the truth is, while there are many, wonderful nonfiction books about hip hop culture, there are very few novels based on it to this day. The international popularity of hip hop has yet to permeate the literary world, and we can theorize for hours about why that is! With the exception of E-Fierce and Linden Dalecki who both are developing a series of young adult novels, I'm the only other author that I'm aware of who consistently writes hip hop fiction. I know authors who may have written one novel that explore some aspect of hip hop in the story who are reluctant to call themselves hip hop novelists or even that single work a hip hop novel, and their reasons are varied. Speaking for myself, I purposefully developed the Black Artemis brand with the intention of representing hip hop in the world of fiction, and I have no fears about limiting myself as a writer because I also publish in different genres under my real name, and even if I had been 'ghettoized' by the publishing industry, I still would've been a happy novelist writing about this culture that I love even when it disappoints and never fearing that I might run out of tales to tell.

To read the rest of the interview, visit Knowledge Bookstore Online.

The Resistance Before the Breakthrough

Last night I received a reminder of a critical principle that should remain in the consciousness of all people – from educators to healers – who want to affect social change by not preaching to the converted.

As part of my stint as the 2007 artist-in-residence for Carolina Circuit Writers, I have been visiting colleges and universities discussing my work. For the past few days I have been speaking with classes at North Carolina Central University, a historically Black college in Durham. Last night I was the guest speaker of NCCU's Lcyeum series, and for my presentation, I decided to do a version of a workshop I developed at Chica Luna Productions in which we deconstruct the gender messages in the film Hustle & Flow.

Yeah, I went there.

And when I go there – when I stand up to cast a harsh light on the harmful messages conveyed in a film that people relish – I fully expect that some will resist. For example, several weeks ago, I was an assembly speaker at Durham Academy, and while I did not have the opportunity to conduct the H&F workshop, I shared my take about the film's messages to women regardless of race and class (i.e. the film is Cinderella in blackface.)

A young man about sixteen years of age raised his hand. "Couldn't you say that the film also has a positive message?" he asked. "That in order to achieve a dream, you have to work together with other people?"

I took a moment to consider that and realized he was right. "Yes, you can take that message away from film," I concede. Another hip hop film – 8 Mile – came to mind as another example of a well-crafted film with mixed messages. "A film can have multiple messages. Some may be good, some may be bad, and some of the messages may even contradict each other." Then I added, "What I would ask you to consider is that even though Hustle & Flow may have that positive message about the collectivity it takes to achieve a dream, that message doesn't contradict the negative one that says women don't have dreams other than the ones of the men in their lives. Just whose dream is everyone organizing to achieve?"

While we would probably disagree about whether that positive message is more powerful than the negative one, I appreciated that he was at least realizing that even a commercial film like Hustle & Flow indeed had any message. As much as it can frustrate me how gendered messages in entertainment are frequently overlooked or dismissed or, at best, acknowledged yet trumped by other concerns, the fact that this young man didn't cry, "It's just a movie!" is a step in the right direction.

But even as I expect resistance, there are times when folks demonstrate an investment in oppressive isms that shakes me. It especially strikes me to the core when I see a person stretch to defend the very ism that targets him or her. That happened last night during the lyceum when a young woman in the audience went to such great lengths to mine Hustle & Flow for messages that support the female empowerment.

"Well, at the end of the movie when he (the character DJay played by Oscar nominee Terrence Howard) says that one day he's going to have a daughter, and he's going to tell her that she can be president?" she says. "Couldn't you say that's a positive message to women?"

If DJay had a daughter, he'd be disappointed, I think. But once again, I concede. "You certainly could make that argument. Now do you believe that single line at the very end of the film is enough to counteract all those negative images and statements that preceded it?" It's a throwaway line at the end of the film, I think but keep to myself.

Then the young woman says, "Well, what about the scene where he's asking her (the character Nola played by Taryn Manning), 'What do you want?' Couldn't you say that he's trying to support her by asking her that?" She is talking about the scene when Nola explodes at DJay for pimping her for a microphone he needs to finish recording his demo. He screams repeatedly at her "What do you want?" to which she yells back, "I don't know!"

"Couldn't that be a counterweight to the other scenes?"

Hell no! I scream in my head. There's no way to interpret the scene that way. Not only are the two characters in the midst of an explosive argument, to buy the "interpretation" that DJay is attempting to help Nola figure out what her dream is requires that we ignore the rest of their exchange.

After screaming at Nola who continues to stand up to him, DJay switches tactics. His voice goes soft, and he starts to talk sweetly to her, promising to buy her new shoes. Nola cuts him off cut by saying, "I know when you're messing with my head because I let you. Because sometimes my head needs to be messed with. But right now, just don't, okay?"

(Which itself is highly problematic in how it suggest that she is somehow the primary architect of her exploitation by relenting to it and rationalizing it, but let me not digress.)

I'm confident that even those who champion Hustle & Flow as a redemptive tale would be reluctant to argue that this scene displays DJay's desire to support the dreams of the women he prostitutes. Indeed, they would argue that it's because of this argument with Nola that DJay begins to see her as someone with needs beyond physical survival. If DJay does change into a man who cares solely about his own needs to a man who recognizes that the women around him have needs, too, this is the moment in which that change takes place and not before.

Mama, why are you reaching so hard? is the question resounding in my mind, the one that I fight to suppress. Although I temper my response, I still push back. "I honestly don't understand how you can read that scene that way," I have to say. "I mean, he's screaming at her, 'What do you want? What do you want?' He's angry, and his objective clearly is to shut her down. He's not saying, 'What do you want, baby?' Only when he sees that it's not working does he switch up, and that's just to implement his pimpology. I mean, even she calls it out when she tells him not to mess with her head.'"

I pause for the young woman's response, but she just looks at me.

Later I reflect on the event with my friend and colleagues in CC Writers and ask for their feedback. Despite the richness of the discussion and learning that took place, I find myself worried about that young woman's resistance to my critique of the film. It's one thing to latch onto that throwaway line at the end of the movie because at least it's there to latch onto. Could a crush on Terrence Howard, pride in a Southern film or even love for crunk music be that blinding? Or has she been through something much darker and more profound? Just what would compel this young woman to be so desperate to see something in that scene that is clearly not there?

When I pose this question, Emily reminds me of that critical principle of change whether we are speaking of individuals or society, the personal or the political, the spiritual or the practical.

"People resist the most when they're about to break through," she says. "Even though she challenged you, she didn't leave."

Exhale. How could I forget? Not that long ago I had told a loved one that he had to believe that he was having an impact even if his students did not seem to respond. That for some of them the effect of his transforming approach to teaching would not be evident to them perhaps years after they left his classroom. That he may have an effect on them that he will never have affirmed. He just had to believe he did.

Last night I was reminded of how easy it is to forget these things when one is in that teaching moment, and the aha! one is striving toward does not occur. Not only was I reminded that learning and transformation can still be taking place unbeknownst to me, in retrospective I realize how fortunate I was to receive a tangible sign that it might be. That sign came was in that young women's resistance, a resistance that I could hear, see and feel.

I have to believe that – whether it happens in the near future or a long time from now and despite the likelihood that I will never know about it when it does – it was the resistance before the breakthrough.

3rd Annual Chica Luna Short Film Festival

Chica Luna Productions Presents
The 2007 Third Annual Short Film Festival &
First Annual Technology Conference on March 30


Technology Conference (5:00p-7:00p) and Festival Screening (8:00p-10:00p) at Symphony Space, 2537 Broadway at 95th Street, 212.864.5400, Tickets: $11.00 for each event; Now available at www.symphonyspace.org.


Chica Luna Productions (www.chicaluna.com) proudly presents its Third Annual Short Film Festival featuring the premiere Technology Conference on March 30, 2007 at Symphony Space in New York City.

Now in its third year, the CLSFF highlights short works by and about women of color using popular media to engage social justice themes in and around their communities.

Chica Luna Productions Co-Founder and author/filmmaker Elisha Miranda states, "The Festival has evolved into a wonderful showcase for talented young filmmakers. Moreover, it is timely for us to explore the technological aspects of creating content for new media because these filmmakers will be the leading producers in this space."

Technology Conference attendees will learn and gain insight from industry experts about the impact of technology on today's filmmaker and how to navigate the ever-changing industry landscape. Confirmed speakers include Myrtle Jones, assistant technology professor and moderator, School of Print Media, Rochester University; Robert G. Rose, CEO/Exec Producer, AIM, Tell-A-Vision Group; Renzo Devia, President and Supervising Producer, Maximas Productions; and Liz Ogilvie, Head of Programming, New Video.

This year's CLSFF is made possible by contributions from Unique Mortgage Solutions, Sister Outsider Entertainment, NALIP, Vibe Vixen, American Latino TV, Alterasian, Latination, Urban Envy, NALAC, NYSCA, New York Women Foundation, Valentine Perry Snyder Fund and Third Wave Foundation.

The Third Annual Chica Luna Short Film Festival Line-up:

SLIP OF THE TONGUE Directed by Karen Lum
A young man makes a pass at a beautiful stranger and gets an eye-opening schooling on race and gender.

A GIRL LIKE ME
Directed by Kiri Davis
Color is more than skin deep for young African-American women struggling to define themselves.

SOLEDAD IS GONE FOREVER
Directed by Mabel Valdiviezo
A young immigrant photographer living in San Francisco learns her father's remains have been found in a mass grave in Chile.

LA CHIVA
Directed by Akiva Penaloza
The soul of a young girl is challenged as she confronts the anguish of poverty and loss.

EL CUCO
Directed by Jasmine Colon
Jamie Cantor experiences nightmares about a woman who viciously attacks her and controls Jamie's dreams. Inspired by the stylistic expressions of Avant-Garde, Film Noir and from an actual dream.

INTERVIEWS WITH RENE
Directed by Stephanie Alleyen
Rene Angelo, a transgender woman, experiences discrimination on various job interviews.

THE BODY KNOWS
Directed by Glenny Cruz
A young woman takes control of herself after learning through a relationship, that her ideals of womanhood are a myth.

A MIRROR OF ME
Directed by Gloria Zapata
Examines the responsibilities of living with HIV and the consequences of going through the world unprotected.

GOOD LOOKING OUT
Directed by Sala Hewitt
Two women in love adjust to a new live-in relationship when street violence and harassment threaten their safety and peace of mind.

ABOUT CHICA LUNA PRODUCTIONS
Chica Luna Productions is a non-profit organization that seeks to develop and support women of color who use popular media to engage social justice themes and are accountable to their communities. Founded in September 2001 by three working artists who gathered to produce progressive multi-media projects, Chica Luna has since grown to include members in both New York and Los Angeles, and has established a track record of partnering with like-minded individuals and organizations toward promoting socially conscious media by, about and for people of color. In 2004, Chica Luna Productions opened a community-based studio in El Barrio New York that serves to further produce popular media and expand multi-media organizing.

The Key Word is Correct

I recently sent out a MySpace bulletin entitled Stop the INS Raids in San Rafael, CA. For those of you who missed it called to sign a petition and attend a march to protest INS raids. Within minutes I received this response from a 50 year old guy named Dave:

"I will not sign this petition, it may be politically correct to call them the euphemisim of 'undocumented aliens' rather than admit the fact that they broke the law to get here and are here ILLEGALLY, sucking money out of schools, welfare systems, and state run health systems for the poor, while I might not approve of the tactics, INS is doing their job sending ILLEGALS back where they came from."

While I believe that sometimes you must invest the time and energy to struggle with people, I didn't think this was one of those instances that warranted the investment. Yet such ignorance cannot go completely unchallenged even if I have neither the time nor interest to give it a thorough reply. So I simply responded:

"Unless you are 100 per cent sure that you have never benefitted from the labor of immigrants -- whether they are documented or not -- you should rethink such an extreme position. And it is a FACT that undocumented immigrants pay both income and property tax so they pay for those systems that you claim they drain. Educate yourself. http://www.urban.org/publications/900898.html ."

When are folks like Dave gonna realize that people like me are not going to be silenced by being accused of being PC? That is, like, so nineties. I remember being in graduate school and hearing a presentation by legal scholar Mari Matsuda. This was at the height of the PC backlash, and of the many wonderful ideas she offered, one in particular returns to mind and that is this:

Since when are white, straight men truly in serious danger of being silenced by people of color, women and queer folks?

C'mon now. You don't have to think that hard to see how ludicrous this was back in the early 90s, and it's an even more ridiculous proposition now. Damn straight, I was PC then, and I'm PC now.

I'd much rather be politically correct than politically ignorant.

My Upcoming Appearances in Durham-Chapel Hill

MARK THESE FREE STAGED PROGRAMS/OFRENDAS PUBLICAS IN YOUR CALENDAR!!

Monday, 19 March 7 pm

First Program Offered In Spanish with Simultaneous English Translation
Sofia Quintero will read from her work at program hosted by the Durham Literacy Center.
Location: Lakewood Baptist Church, 2100 Chapel Hill Road, Durham
Contact Reginald Hodges: (919) 489-8383 X 22, rhodges@durhamliteracy.org
Directions: http://www.ourchurch.com/member/l/lbccommunity/ Click on "Map"

Wednesday, 28 March 7 pm

Sofia Quintero will read and screen her films at NCCU's Lyceum Series.
Location: B. N. Duke Auditorium, 1801 Fayetteville Street, North Carolina Central University
Contact Dr. Janice S. Dargan: (919) 530-7205, Jquijano@co.durham.nc.us
Directions: http://www.durham-nc.com/things/art.php?artcode=180 Click on "Map"

Thursday, 29 March 7:30 pm

Panel Discussion and Adult Core Writers Group Reading/Performance
Location: Durham Academy Lower School Campus, Commons Meeting Area, 3501 Ridge Road
Contact Bela Kussin: (919) 489-6569 X 422, wheezerpk@aol.com
Directions: RIDGE ROAD CAMPUS, http://www.da.org/admissions/directions.html

Sunday, 1 April 3 pm

Teen Core Writers Groups Reading/Performance
Location: Hayti Heritage Center, 804 Old Fayetteville Street, Durham
Contact Stevie Lawrence: (919) 683-1709 X 24, slawrence@hayti.org
Directions: http://www.hayti.org/directions/index.php

Carolina Circuit Writers, a statewide literary consortium, celebrates literature and writers of color. For more information, contact Kirsten Mullen, Founder/Director CAROLINA CIRCUIT WRITERS, Box 51793, Durham NC 27717-1793; (919) 403-8792 KirsMullen@aol.com

Bx6: A Haiku Written on the Bus

Maybe it's because I'm an artist. Maybe it's because I'm a native New Yorker. Maybe it's a combination of the two, but something about riding mass transit inspires my writing.

For as much as New York City residents complain about our busses and subways, maybe they are one reason that artists outside of the five boroughs are drawn to this city (especially if you're one of the starving variety and otherwise cannot afford to travel across the boroughs to galleries, workshops, classes, auditions and the like.) And not only because there is so much to observe. Sometimes that sense of solitude that emerges as you partake in this ostensibly communal and even democratizing experience of riding public transportation provokes certain thoughts, feelings and even revelations that demand creative expression.

And sometimes it matters where you're coming from and where you're headed to. Your origin and destination -- what actually occurred where you were or what you expect to happen where you're going -- shapes the way you interpret what you observe (both outside and within) along the way.

So for context, when I pulled out a sheet of paper and Energel pen on the Bx6 bus, I was just leaving a wellness appointment in West Harlem and headed back to the Bronx to have lunch with my parents. I was feeling pretty good. Hopeful, in fact, and let's just say it's a welcome feeling given several challenges I'm overcoming these days. Something that I always notice about myself when I grab a seat by the window on the back of a bus took on new meaning as a smiling toddler scrambled acrossed the seat next to me.

Bx6

My toes graze the floor

of the bus from the back seat

like that girl just grown

Latina Authors Team Up to Control Their Destiny

Latin Heat Online Posted on 03-08-2007

Latina Authors Team Up To Control Their Destiny
Names I Call My Sister To Hit Shelves May 8

Costa Mesa, CA -- Two years ago, fellow authors Mary Castillo, Berta Platas, Sofia Quintero and Lynda Sandoval, came up with the concept of a sexy, smart-alecky and honest anthology about sisters. Within a month, they sold the proposal to HarperCollins Avon A. That concept is now an anthology titled, Names I Call My Sister (ISBN: 978-0060890230, $13.95) to be released May 8, 2007.

In the larger picture, Names I Call My Sister was an opportunity for Castillo, Platas, Quintero and Sandoval to bring stories that appeal to the thoroughly modern Latina reader.
“Unfortunately, all of us can tell you at least one story about an agent or editor who told us to write ‘more Latina’, or, told us out right that Latinos don’t buy books,” Castillo said. “Now that we’re proving that Latinas come in many varieties and that they do indeed buy books, this anthology was our chance to make a difference in publishing.”

Platas, Quintero and Castillo had worked together on the anthology, Friday Night Chicas (St. Martins Griffin, $12.95), which was a concept devised by their editor. The three authors thought that Lynda Sandoval's voice was a good fit, and invited her to join them.

“Well, for me it's not so much how Latinos are portrayed in the media. It's more that there is not enough representation outside of the stereotypes,” Sandoval said. “The truth is, with all ethnicities, we're more alike than different. We love the same, we laugh the same, we cry the same, and we strive for similar goals.”

To read the rest of this article, visit Latin Heat Online.

A Place To Live

Because occasionally I need reminding...

A place to live

If there are things that are missing in your life, ask yourself this
question. Have you given those things a place to live?

The person who has many friends is the person who has made a place
for friendship in her life. The person who is amazingly knowledgeable
is the person who has made a place for learning in his life.

In order to receive a delivery at your home, you must tell the
delivery service where to take it. In the same way, for the best
things in life to be yours, you must provide a space within your life
where they can arrive.

Make a place in your life for love, and love will certainly fill it.

Make a place within your life for joy, and joy will soon be there.

Create the time, the space, the energy, the interest, the passion and
the commitment in your life for whatever it is you seek. And the
things you seek will begin to inhabit the places you have made for
them.

Give the best things in life a place to live within yourself. And
you'll soon find those things filling your world.

Tipping the Scales

Each morning during my residency, I roll over and flip to a random page of Five Good Minutes: 100 Morning Practices to Help You Stay Calm & Focused All Day Long. Today I land on "19 – Relax Deeply," and immediately decide to skip it. This is my "free" day which means I have more time than usual to prepare for the next day's work and perhaps do one or two things for myself. I already gave myself permission to sleep late (I finally sat up at about 8 AM), and I don't want to risk lulling myself back into bed.

On my second try, I land on "58 – Tip the Scales." This practice is about taking time to weigh the good things one has and done. It requires completing the four following sentences:

"I am really good at __________ (e.g. writing, painting, etc.)."

"I have many things in life that give me pleasure and meaning, like __________ (e.g. family, friends, etc.)."

"I've made it this far because I'm __________ (e.g. strong, patient, etc.)."

"Because of my experience, I am more __________ (e.g. compassionate, understanding, etc.)."

Now this exercise speaks to me. For various reasons, I'm in the midst of a challenging period, and every day I struggle to shift some focus off my problems and limitations and back onto my opportunities and blessings. And although I'm a writer – indeed, because I'm a writer – I push myself to sit up in bed and complete the sentences aloud.

As I reach the last sentence, my creativity kicks in and so my answers begin show rather than tell. Here are just a few that I want to share.

Because of my experience, I smile as I pay the bills.
I give the panhandler a dollar even if I doubt he will buy something to eat.

I wear lipstick and lingerie when there is no man to see them.
I run to my fear, grab its hand, and say, "C'mon, let's jump."
I cry to flex emotional strength.
I submit as evidence of my integrity the gossip circulating about me.
I jaywalk across four lanes to get to the sunny side of the street.
I giggle during Mercury retrograde.
I wrestle fairly with other good yet wounded souls
I dress the stereotype without playing the role.
I opt to love (the verb) rather than wait for it (the noun) to happen.

When you tip the scales, what positive things do you (re)discover about yourself?

Author Wrote About Her Bronx Neighborhood

The following article appeared in today's Herald-Sun of Durham, North Carolina where I am the Caroling Circuit Writers' Artist-in-Residence. At the end of the article is a shedule of events -- including public readings and writing workshop -- that I will be a part of during my stay. If you're in the Triangle Area, please spread the word and come see me!

Author wrote novel about her Bronx neighborhood

By SUSAN BROILI,

The Herald-Sun

February 27, 2007 12:01 am

DURHAM -- As a child in a working-class Puerto Rican-Dominican family in the Bronx, Sofia Quintero loved to read. But something was missing from all those stories and that something encouraged her to be a writer.

"I didn't see myself reflected in what I read. I wanted to tell the same stories with people like me in it. I wrote my first novel at age 12 called 'The Greatest Block' about people on my block," Quintero said in a telephone interview from her home in the Bronx.

As an adult, Quintero has published four novels. She's also a screen writer, a stand-up comedienne and activist. She arrives in Durham today for a four-week residency that includes creative writing workshops for teenagers and adults as well as public readings of her work.
Her residency, with two weeks beginning today and continuing through March 11 and the two more weeks March 18 through April 1, is a program of Carolina Circuit Writers, an organization begun in 2003 by Durham resident Kirsten Mullen as a way to build community using literature as a bridge.

"Our whole thrust is to celebrate literature and writers of color and encourage the community to participate in the arts," Mullen said in a recent interview.

Planners, including representatives from 23 community partners, have met for a year to plan the residency in which Quintero will also visit Durham Academy, Lakeview Public School, Durham Literacy Center, Duke University, North Carolina Central University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

The writer made two weeklong visits here last year in October and April, to meet with planners and make public appearances in preparation for her residency.

"I'm really excited about it -- the diversity of people, the hospitality I've encountered, the opportunity to really learn about the community," Quintero said. "I feel like I'm getting as good as I give."

Yanina Chicas, 17, who lives with her family in Carrboro, has signed up to participate in Quintero's writing workshops for teens.

"I'm looking forward to learning what she has to tell us about her experiences, the way she writes, her culture," Chicas said.

The teen-ager said she found a lot to relate to in Quintero's work. Chicas has been reading the Latino anthology, "Friday Night Chicas," the first "chick-lit" anthology by and about Latinas, that includes Quintero's novella, "The More Things Change."

"She's really into real life. She tells what is happening out there," Chicas said.

The fact the Quintero speaks English as well as Spanish will make other Latino youth, who may not feel so confident about their English, feel more comfortable about sharing their ideas in the workshops, Chicas added.

Chicas and her family are from El Salvador and have been in the United States for six years, she added.

The teen also sees Quintero as a role model for herself and other Latinos, she said. Quintero said she feels a responsibility to be a role model for young people so they will know they have the opportunity to overcome barriers and achieve what they want to do.
She has first-hand experience.

"My brother and I are the only two in my immediate family to go to college," Quintero said.

She earned an undergraduate degree in history and sociology from Columbia University in 1990 and a graduate degree from the university's School of International and Public Affairs in 1992. But after years of working on a range of policy issues from multicultural education to HIV/AIDS, she decided to heed the muse and pursue a career in the arts.

Her novel, "Divas Don't Yield," began as the screenplay "Interstates," twice a finalist for the Sundance Institute's screenwriters' lab and won the 2001 San Francisco Black Film Festival Screenplay Competition.

In New York, she has taught young people in classes on "Screenwriting for Personal Growth" and "Social Change and Comedy with a Conscience." In 2001, she co-founded Chica Luna Productions to identify, develop and support other women of color seeking to make socially conscious entertainment.

Under the pen name Black Artemis she also writes hip-hop fiction because she wanted to write novels that were "edgy but substantive" -- stylish but at the same time raise social and political questions, Quintero said in the interview.

So far, she's written three: "Explicit Content," "Picture Me Rollin' " and "BURN." She has gotten positive response from a wide range of readers that span generations, race and socio-economic backgrounds, she added. These novels are also being used in college classrooms to teach urban studies, sociology, and women's studies, she said.

Durham resident Malcolm Goff, visual arts teacher at E.K. Powe Elementary School, said he and his 14-year-old daughter had read and enjoyed "Explicit Content."

"She just has a way of bringing elements of culture into focus -- criticizing things going on in society and is extremely creative in doing it," Goff said of Quintero's writing. In that particular novel, Quintero explores women's roles in the music industry and how they are marginalized, Goff added.

"In the book, she shows characters rising above that," Goff said.

Goff said he initially became involved in the residency project because of Carolina Circuit Writers founder Mullen. "I really like working with Kirsten. She has lots of great ideas and is very visionary," said Goff, who helped with the visual arts aspect of Quintero's workshop with young people last October.

Both he and his daughter would like to take Quintero's writing workshops, Goff added.
Quintero plans to bring excerpts from a work-in-progress -- a young adult novel, one of two she's under contract with Knopt to write, she said.

Unlike most of her fiction in which women are the protagonists, these novels will feature young men, age 15 or 16, and will be translated into Spanish, she added. She also plans to share what she's learned about writing including the importance of describing in detail the world you know.

"Be authentic. Tell it the way it is. It will resonate with a broader community," Quintero said. "I think everybody should write, sing and dance for themselves. It keeps us connected to our humanity and to each other."
---
Sofia Quintero's Residency Schedule
Public programs
-- March 19 - 7 p.m. reading at Lakewood Baptist Church, 2100 Chapel Hill Road, Durham.

-- March 28 - 7 p.m. reading at B. N. Duke Auditorium, N.C. Central University, 1801 Fayetteville St., Durham.

-- March 29 - 7 p.m. roundtable discussion with the adult writing workshop group at the Commons Meeting Area, Durham Academy Lower School, 3501 Ridge Road, Durham.

-- April 1 - 3 p.m. celebration with the teen writing workshop group at Hayti Heritage Center, 804 Fayetteville St., Durham.

All events are free.

Writing workshops

Writing workshops for teens take place: Feb. 27, 6:30 to 8 p.m., Durham County Library, East Regional Branch; March 3, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at El Centro Hispano; March 6, 6:30 to 8 p.m. at Durham County Library, East Regional Branch; March 10, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at El Centro Hispano; March 20, 6:30 to 8 p.m. at Durham County Library, North Regional Branch; March 24, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Hayti Heritage Center; March 27, 6:30 to 8 p.m. at Durham County Library, North Regional Branch; March 31, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Hayti Heritage Center.

Writing workshops for adults take place: March 1, 6:30 to 8 p.m. at Durham County Library, East Regional Branch; March 8, 6:30 to 8 p.m. at Durham County Library, East Regional Branch; March 22, 6:30 to 8 p.m. at Durham Academy Upper School; March 26, 6:30 to 8 p.m. at Durham Academy Upper School.

All writing workshops are free but registration is required. For more information about the workshops or other residency programs, contact Carolina Circuit Writers program coordinator Emily Chavez at emily.ccwriters@gmail.com or call (919) 403-8792.
URL for this article: http://www.heraldsun.com/features/54-823680.cfm© Copyright 2007.

All rights reserved. All material on heraldsun.com is copyrighted by The Durham Herald Company and may not be reproduced or redistributed in any medium except as provided in the site's Terms of Use.

"A Good Novel. . ."

"A good novel tells us the truth about its hero; but a bad novel tells us the truth about its author." G. K. Chesterton

The Power Shuffle

I have yet to see the film Freedom Writers, but if I do, it will probably be because of the Power Shuffle.

When I saw the trailer for Freedom Writers, my immediate thought was, "Jeezus, not another White savior flick!" It mattered little to me that the film was based on a true story. Indeed, it's very existence irk me.

How many films do we need about an idealistic White teacher succeeding with her "at-risk" students (read: low-income youth of color in Da Ghet-to?) What are the messags these films seek to drum into our heads, and what are their impact? (For one answer, read great editorial by Bronx high school teacher Tom Moore in which he breaks down the problematic messages that such films convey about the teaching as a profession.) Why is that we rarely see films about the many educators of color who are also successful unless they are paramilitaristic conservatives whose approach to education is long on discipline and short on pedagogy? Where are the movies about progressive educators of color who are successful not simply because of the innovative (even radical) strategies they use in the classroom but also because they are working with (and not against) parents in organizing campaigns that seek to challege structural barriers to the efficacy of public education.

When will we see the films about the freedom schools established by activists in the 60s or their current descendants in cities across the United States? About the creation of the historically black colleges and universitiesand their success in producing the majority of this nation's African American professionals? Why did it take years for documentarian Lillian Jimenez years to produce Abriendo Camino, her film about visionary educator Antonia Pantoja who founded ASPIRA which won a landmark decision against the NYC Board of Education that translated into major victory for bilingual education nationwide?

Still I try to withhold judgment on a film until I have seen it for myself or heard the opinion someone's whose political sensibilities I share. That means if none of my closests friends or trusted colleagues venture toward the theatre, I am unlikely to do so as well. But Elisha recently learned something about Freedom Writers that just might entice me to take the risk.

"She uses the Power Shuffle," she told me over the telephone last week.

"Really?" Not only have Elisha and I both used the Power Shuffle in our workshops, I wrote a critical scene in Divas Don't Yield in which Irena and Lourdes participate in the Power Shuffle at the women's conference they attend in San Francisco. (Pages 289-294 to be exact.)

"Yeah, but I don't know if she credits it." Elisha was blessed to be trained at the TODOS Institute, a ground-breaking organization based in Oakland, CA that was renown for its innovative curricula in unlearning "isms." The Power Shuffle is an exercise pioneered by the founders of TODOS to lead participants in an exploration of their various identities (e.g. race, class, gender, sexual orientation, etc.) the power differentials assigned to these social constructs, and the impact it has on how they see themselves and interact with others of similar and different identities. Although I learned about the Power Shuffle before I met Elisha, it's through her that I discover its origins.

"Probably not," I scoff with unchecked cynicism. "They'll say that's just because it's superflous information that doesn't move the story forward, but leaving it out also serves to make her seem more heroic. People are going to think that she [teacher Erin Gruwell played by Hilary Swank in the film] invented it, and that's not right." I also suspected that because the Power Shuffle is a very thorough tool that leaves very few identity constructs unexplored, and, therefore, takes quite a while to execute, the makers of Freedom Writers probably truncated the exercise for the sake of limited screen time.

But then again, I haven't seen the film. And truth be told, since I didn't know who created the Power Shuffle before I wrote Divas Don't Yield, I did not credit them either or spell out the complete exercise due to space limitations. One of my hopes for including it in the novel, however, was to inspire others to learn more about it and use it in their own classrooms, workshops and other learning environments. Maybe its appearance in Freedom Writers will do the same.

So here it is, again, folks. The great thing about the Power Shuffle is that it works wonderfully as originally conceived or modified to suit your needs. And according to readers of Divas Don't Yield, it carries an emotional impact even when one is following a fictional character through it.
Imagine what it would be like to actually experience it.

When Spam Filters Rock

Every once in a while, a person's spam filter can be too zealous. We have all had experiences where an important email -- or at least an interesting one -- was erroneously dumped into our bulk folder. Because of this I occassionally peek at mine. Not as often as I should because it's like sifting through a huge dumpster of solicitations, catalogs, and take-out menus searching for that one letter from Publisher's Clearinghouse. But every once in a while I recover something that should not have been dumped alongside the pitches for Cialis and Photoshop (neither of which I need.)

Today, I thought I found one of profound interest. The subject line: Muslims complain of Hollywood "bad guy" image. I experience a fleeting second of joy. So glad I caught this, I think, because these kinds of articles are right up my alley. Oh, however, did this sender Prado Tagouhi know to send this to me? (Yes, folks, the sarcasm has commenced.)

I open it up and find the misspelling-rifed spam for some crap that I can't identify because I'm not gulilble enough to click on the link.

And just in case that didn't doesn't offend me enough, I look to see that ol' Prado (not his real name, I know) had emailed this spam to mediajustice@chicaluna.com. As many of you know, I co-founded a nonprofit organization called Chica Luna Productions, and among our various initiatives, we are developing a media justice toolkit focused on popular entertainment. That is, we are creating a series of tools for teaching how to deconstruct the films you see at the multiplex, the programs you watch on primetime, or the urban fiction you cop from the street vendor on 125th Street and Malcolm X Boulevard (that's Lenox Avenue for all the gentrifiers) for their socio-political messages. I'm heading up this initiative, and Chica Luna created the email alias mediajustice@chicaluna.com of my own CL address.

Oh, and let me not forget to mention that as the spammer trawled the Chica Luna website for email addresses, it assigned my media justice alias a new name: Rahman Katrina. No, gente, I did not make that up. And I bet anything that that email address used to send this offending spam does not belong to "Prado Tagouhi" but to some other innocent person whose website has been stalked for its email addresses. I know this because I've fallen victim to because of my Black Artemis website. I receive hundreds of undeliverable emails at my Black Artemis account that I never sent because spammers have combed my website, captured my aliases and used them to spam other people fortunate enough to have spam filters as strong if not stronger than mine.

So in the end, I can't be frustrated with my spam filter for sorting out a message with the subject line Muslims complain of Hollywood "bad guy" image. It apparently went past the subject line into the body of the email to uncover trash and relegate to my bulk folder. This time it did its job. However, I'm upset that spamming has fallen to a new low where the perpetrators actually take the time to consider the source of the email address and create subject lines that might actually get their gibberish read.

Ya'd like to think that someone who had the time and intelligence to do that would use them for something more productive.

The Pope of Hip Hop

Paraphrases from a telephone conversation I had this afternoon with another conscious hip hop head.

Cee: . . . You're working on another book now, right?

Me: Yeah, I just finished a first but rough pass of the next novel to be published under my real name. But now I'm trying to finish the proposal for the fourth Black Artemis novel. Oh, and I think I told you that I'm working on graphic novel series. That's going to be a Black Artemis joint, too.

Cee: A graphic novel series?

Me: Yeah, three parts if I have my way.

Cee (teasing): You writing about thugs and penises and. . .

Me: (chuckling 'cause Cee knows damn well what I am and am not about) Nah, it's straight up revenge noir where sistas wreck havoc on the misogynists in the hip hop industry. But, you know, it's really about violence begetting violence, and what happens when women emulate the vices of men and all that. Like can we really achieve equality and justice by doing the same dirt that's done to us? So don't be skeered.

Cee (laughing): Oh, I'm not scared. See, I got my. . . what do they call that? Uh, it's a Christian term for when. . .

Me: Don't ask me.

Cee: . . . Like I got all my misogyny forgiven. What do they call that again? Not saved but. . .

Me: You've been redeemed.

Cee: Yeah, I went to the pope of hip hop, confessed my sins, and he said I'm cool.

Me: (laughing) The Pope of the Church of Hip Hop absolved you, bro!

Cee (laughing): Yeah! I've been absolved. So I'm straight.

Me (seriously): Yo, so who is the pope of hip hop these days?

Cee: I don't know. It's always changing

Me: Word. . . And somehow the dude's always self-appointed.

Cee: At the rate things are going, and if that's what it takes, it might as well be Russell.

Me: Please. I'm too done with him.

Cee: I ain't trying to hear nothing he has to say no more.

Me: Or freakin' Kimora. Talking about bringing fabulosity to Africa. You know, sometimes some of these people, it's like their stupidity makes sense. Like I hear the stupid things they say, and I think, "OK, I get how you could think that makes sense. You know, how that makes senses in your mind." But then someone [like Kimora] says something that's so outrageous, so clueless, so damned insensitive, it's, like, can you really be that stupid?. That don't make sense even for your stupid ass.

Cee: Yeah, we're not trying to hear Russell. And we're not trying to hear Ben Chavis.

Me: No. I bet if you were to ask KRS, he'd say it he was the Pope of Hip Hip. You know, with his Temple of Hip Hop. (Laugh) But that sounds like some cult to me.

Cee (seriously): It is!

Me: For real?

Cee: You should hear some of them cats.

Me: Ah, I didn't know! That's the thing though. I never really hear anything about them.

Cee: Well, they're out on the west coast. Kris ain't in the Bronx no more.

Me: Oh, I figured that, but I had no idea he was out there. Still you'd think we would here from them, you know. If they're actually building something, we should know about it even here.

The Five Qualities of a "Good Black Man": A Simple Survey, Sort of

For a few days now I've been engaged in a friendly if tense debate about Black men, feminism and Black male feminists with a brother named Eric in response to the MySpace blog postings of my sister warrior Scottie Lowe, creator of AfroerotiK. It has made me wonder a few things. Just what is a "good Black man?" Do men and women have different views of who he is? How does having -- or even rejecting -- a feminist ideology shape that view?

What do you think?

First, tell me your race and gender. Then list the five main qualities that a "good Black man" possesses? Lastly, tell me if you are or not a feminist. You needn't explain your answers. For now I just want the first eight words that come to your mind when you answer the following questions:

1. What is your race?
2. What is your gender?
3. A good Black man is:
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
4. Are you a feminist? Yes or No.

This is it. . . for now. :)

The KKK's Last Meeting

A friend forwarded this to me this morning, and although I disagree with the majority of its oversimplified views, I still feel compelled to share it for the sake of discussion.

The KKK Disbands: Leaves Their Job To Black Folks

The KKK leader stepped to the podium, his hood lowered around his shoulders and a look of disgust on his face. He said, "Sorry guys but this will be our last meeting; we're going out of business."

A member stood up in back. "But why sir?"

The leader sighed, "Well, reverend, the niggers are doing a better job getting rid of themselves than we ever did, so we are no longer needed."

There were rumblings and protest. The leader raised his hand to silence the Klan members, and said, "Their rap music says more vile things about black women than we ever thought of."

The members grudgingly nodded in approval. The Imperial Dragon continued: " And their women write books and make songs that demean black men better than my two speech writers ever could, looking down at two men seated in front who lowered their heads. "They shoot each other constantly ", he continued;" And as a group, they spend a huge amounts of money on cars, liquor, that stuff they call bling bling, and the proliferation of rap music -- as they talk about all that shit in their magazines -- and nobody needs us to talk about how a lot of their sorry asses keep playing the race and victim cards while complaining that other groups are surpassing them in economic development and supposedly getting more attention in schools. Hell, they even support a so-called "Black Hair" DVD that a white man is making money on , in four sequels at $20.00 a pop, talking about how Koreans have taken over the "black hair" industry without acknowledging that Black entrepreneurs had 100 years to get a monopoly or entrenchment in the industry that Madam C.J Waker founded 100 years ago, but got out-hustled and out-strategized while spending investment capital elsewhere. Let's face it, they're being hoisted by their own petards."

Some members went looking for dictionaries, while most members nodded as it hit them that their job was finished; that blacks had become their own worst enemy.

The leader shook his head. "It's time to go back to our regular lives as policemen, judges and congressmen, and leave the business of getting rid of niggers to niggers. They are just better at it than us."

He then threw his hood on the ground and walked off the stage. Thus ended the last KKK meeting.

10 Things You May Not Know About Me

Last night I stumbled on a senatorial debate on television. Interestingly, the debate ended in a "lightning round" in which the candidates could only answer the questions with a simple yes or no. Even more interesting, some of the political questions purposely were too difficult to answer with just a simple yes or no. Most interesting of all, some of the questions were lighthearted attempts to glimpse into the candidates' personalities. For example, they were asked things like, "Is rock music better than rap music?" and "Do you watch soap operas?" I think I learned a lot more about the candidates than I did from this simple exercise than their long, prepared statements on the campaign issues.

Then this morning I rediscovered an interesting email. I had joined an online book club, and the moderator asked me to share ten things about myself that were little known. Now that I've reread them and because I believe in synchronicity, I thought I'd share them with you. :)

1. In the recent past, I’ve done stand-up comedy. I was actually good at it. In fact, I had an opportunity to go pro.

2. I couldn't carry a tune if my life depended on it which is precisely why I feel thoroughly qualified and entitled to say, "She can't sing."

3. When friends and acquaintances visit the Bronx for the first time, I love to take them to Jennifer Lopez's block in Castle Hill so they can see just how NICE the so-called "ghetto" she grew up in really is. By the way, Castle Hill is nowhere near the South Bronx. And the South Bronx is being gentrified as I write.

4. I was almost a teenager when I realized that my mother was not Puerto Rican like my father. She's actually Dominican. At the time of this discovery, I said to myself, "Damn, and here I am making fun of Dominicans when I'm one of 'em." Yes, I was that ignorant as a kid. Thankfully, I have learned and evolved. I am allowed to do that, right?

5. I'm a bona fide leftist. No, I'm not a communist. But on most days of the year, I'm a socialist which contrary to popular belief is not the same thing as being a communist. Don't worry, I don't recruit. And some of my best friends are capitalists.

6. I did once date a Black Republican. To this day, I couldn't tell you if he genuinely held conservative principles or if he was just playing the big-fish-in-a-little-bowl game to realize his political aspirations. In the end the problems in our relationship had nothing to do with contrasting politics.

7. My last major crush was on an Asian man who was much younger than I was. The attraction was mutual, but the timing was horrible. I've moved on.

8. With the exception of tuna, I don't eat seafood. Well, I eat shrimp and calamari, but they must be fried. In other words, they can pass for chicken nuggets. I know... so unLatina of me.

9. I wish I was a b-girl (i.e. I wish I knew how to breakdance.)

10. I'm hypercritical. I have an opinion on everything, and they are usually very strong. However, I don't excuse myself from this. On the contrary, I'm my own worst critic, and nothing anyone can say about me (or that I can say about anyone else for that matter) can ever be harsher than what I tell myself. The difference is that I won't put my self-criticism on display. Now if you ask me what I think about myself or my work, I will be unusually forthcoming and transparent. But you have to ask. So while I'm ready, willing and able to critique someone else's work, I much prefer to kick myself in the privacy of my own home.
Just thought you should know. :)

Divas Contest: Are You a Jackie, Hazel, Lourdes or Irena?

I wanted to take a break from work to launch another contest. This one is a thank you for all of you have read or are now reading Divas Don't Yield. Because this is the first Divas contest, I wanted to make it simple and fun.

The deadline is midnight E.S.T. on Friday, August 25th. The prize is a $25.00 AmEx gift card. That's right. Twenty-five bucks for you to spend as you wish with no hints from me. :) All you have to do is write an answer to one question:

Which of the four main characters -- Jackie, Hazel, Lourdes or Irena -- are you the most like in and how are you like her?

Submit your response in 100 words or less to me at contest@blackartemis.com by the deadline to enter. Be sure to write DIVAS in the subject line. I'll choose the best response and announce the winner on Monday, August 28th. What is the best way to get my attention? Tell me a story that illustrates just how much you are like the character you identify with most. I encourage you to post your responses here as well so that others can read and relate. :)

And just so you know, you do not have to be a woman and/or Latina to win this contest. When judging the entries, I won't be looking only at the obvious -- race, class, sexuality, etc. I'm much more interested in reading how you relate to the character's personality, experiences, interests, hopes, fears and beliefs. That means this contest is open to anyone and everyone who has read the book.

Let the fun begin!

Much Ado About Street LIt - Part III*

Many Black people have expressed concern over the saturation of street lit on the market (and, to a lesser extent, erotica.) One notable rant by novelist Nick Chiles was published by the New York Times on January 4, 2006 under the scathing title Their Eyes Were Reading Smut. Chiles speaks for many, and for every person who agrees with him, there is another who adamantly defends street lit. Defenders say it only matters that our people read, we should support our authors regardless of what they write, and the popularity of certain genres is a reflection of what we truly want to read.

These folk are right, and they are not. The truth usually lies between the extremes. We should hold our artists and entertainers accountable for the images they perpetuate because, despite popular belief, they do matter (more on this in Part IV.) However, such accountability should not occur as a wholesale attack on the genre and its authors as if no diversity exists among their talents, intentions and impact.

Censorship can never be the answer, least of all for a people with a history of being silenced. There was a time in this country when Black people were killed for learning how to read and write. Literacy equaled death. The last thing we should ever do in this day and age is emulate the oppressors of our ancestors and deny anyone the powerful gift of the written word.

And allow me to be the first to own up to my own self-interest as an author of commercial fiction. I read literary fiction. I understand literary fiction. I dig literary fiction, and have tremendous admiration and respect for those who write it. I just have no desire to become one of them.

Nor should I have literary aspirations to have a place in the publishing industry. As a human being, I have the right to tell my stories. As a person who belongs to multiples communities misrepresented if not silenced by "isms," I have to tell my stories and find my audience.

Something those who unilaterally dismiss street lit must remember and should honor is that many authors in this genre are literally telling their stories. This particular genre is dominated by Black people who are fictionalizing events that they have actually lived. For some of these authors who have both suffered and perpetuated neglect, abuse and violence, writing their novels has been a path toward healing and redemption as they find their voices. This is particularly true of the women. Whether we like them or not, their stories are our stories, too, if for no other reason than that these authors are our people. Terri Woods is no less one of us than is Terry McMillan so fuck what you heard from Bill Cosby. If we want to enjoy a literary novel about a college-educated wife and mother struggling in the 'burbs because that story speaks to some of us, we have to allow for the popular novel about the single mother who dropped out of high school struggling in the 'hood because that story resonates with others among us. Indeed, the more diverse the stories, the more opportunities we have to discover our commonalities as well as understand our differences.

Nor should we jump to the conclusion that the only reason why street lit novels are so popular is because they tend to be full of explicit sex and gratuitous violence (and in some of the most disturbing titles, both occur in the same scene.) Instead we should ask why gratuitous sex and violence is so appealing, perd. It sure as hell isn't because sex and violence are somehow essential components of the Black aesthetic. On the contrary, exploitative sex and gratuitous violence are key components of the American aesthetic, and we need not look far past the entertainment produced and consumed by Black people for evidence of that. I've said this about hip hop, and I'll say it about street lit; it is neither right nor effective to solely hold one thing accountable for what are undeniably universal problems that predate the existence of that thing.

Does this mean that Black readers should support anything and everything that a Black person produces? Absolutely not. For some reasons that are understandable, and for others that are ludicrous, people of color place each other under tremendous pressure to adopt a herd mentality. We should be allowed our individual tastes and to express our preferences with the expectation that are opinions are informed.

For example, while I am not a fan of the street lit genre, I do make occasional attempts to read it. I already have read at least one work by the most notable writers in the genre, and I do this because rather than dismiss the genre as a whole, I want to identify those who among them actually have writing chops and/or something meaningful to say. But I do the same with romance and horror which are also not my preferred genres.

Granted, I push myself to read outside my preferences because it would be impossible to evolve as an author unless I did. Good writers are broad readers. But even if I were just a person who reads only for entertainment, I would never unilaterally belittle an entire genre that I refused to engage the way author Sharazad Ali seems to have done the entire category of urban fiction. With the act of engagement comes the right to critique. We have the right to not engage any genre we choose, but by doing so we also forgo credibility in our criticisms. I often wonder how many of the relentless critics of street lit have actually ever read a single novel in the genre (or worse, read only just one and concluded that they were all the same.)

If we're going to tug the coattails of Black storytellers, it should be on the grounds of quality, context and diversity. Regardless of the medium or genre, we have both the right and responsibility to demand these three things. With respect to fiction, quality entails a decent command of the elements of character, setting, plot, dialogue, etc. More often than not in fiction, it is context that distinguishes between a character and a stereotype. And just like not everyone who lives in the suburbs is a well-adjusted, law-abiding citizen, not every resident of the "ghetto" is a violent, anti-social nihilist.

Interestingly, this is precisely why my personal affection for crime stories and noir tales has not transferred to street lit. I don't mind at all reading about characters who are in "the game." It so happens that one of favorite novels is Clockers by Richard Price (I adamantly urge you to forget the lousy movie and read this excellent book.) One of the main characters in Clockers is a drug dealer named Strike. Price takes care to humanize Strike, a young African American man who peddles rock in his Jersey housing project. Even though I do not agree with his choices, I understand why Strike makes them. Price's attention to craft is the ultimate difference between perpetuating a racist stereotype and creating a compelling character with whom I can sympathize.

Unfortunately, I feel that the typical street lit novel fails at this because the command of craft is weak, and there is no context to the characters' behaviors. If that proverbial alien visiting Earth were to be gathering intelligence about life on urban streets by reading this genre, he would conclude that all young African American males sell drugs and pimp women simply because that is inherently their nature and that they have no desire or ability to do anything else. Not only is that a very dangerous image to perpetuate, it's a racist lie. Without context that shapes these characters' choices or other young African American male characters who make different choices, what starts as description easily transverses into stereotyping and maybe even results in glorification.

Now some would rush to claim that such depictions are just "keepin' it real." To that I say, the circumstances that lead a person into such a lifestyle and the consequences he endures when he pursues it are no less real, so why not include them in the story as well? The street lit author who treats the ugly aspects of "the game" with as much social and emotional honesty as s/he revels in the visceral details of its material and sensual delights is the exception to the rule. Rather too many of the novels in this genre reflect some of the deepest internalized racism I have seen outside of gangsta rap.

This is the primary reason that street lit is not for me as an author or reader. But for the reasons I outlined above, I could never advocate for its censorship. I do call, however, for the readers of the genre to only support the best authors that it has to offer and for the authors to step up their game to be among the deserving of this support. If a given author proves to be lazy with his or her craft, readers, plunk down your cash for the novelist that will pull out the stops to give you the well-written book to which you are entitled. Buy what you like, but don't settle for mediocrity, and trust me, several authors will rise to the challenge. To borrow an idea from poet and professor Tony Medina, I would advise street lit authors who want to improve their storytelling acumen to forsake Donald Goines and Iceberg Slim for Louise Meriweather or Piri Thomas as their literary role models.

The truth is we should demand quality, context and diversity whether the genre is street lit, romance or thrillers or the medium is books, films or songs. But we as a community are woefully derelict in our collective responsibility to hold anyone in entertainment accountable to these criteria regardless of medium, genre or even race. Because of this, racism within the entertainment media including the publishing industry goes unchecked, and this is why the more we spend, the less we are offered.

* This commentary remains incomplete and will be written in multiple parts. At this time, I anticipate that is the third of a five part series to be completed over the next two weeks. Therefore, please understand that I will not publish your comments or post my replies until the complete piece is finished. Thank you.

The E! Hollywood Story Behind "Divas Don't Yield"

Not! If anything, the story behind my chick lit novel Divas Don't Yield reflects the lip service that Hollywood plays to diversity. To read it, visit Backstory at http://mjroseblog.typepad.com/