Today I accompanied my mentor Marvin X to promote the exhibit showcasing his Archives of the Black arts movement of the 1960’s until now. We went to Berkeley Continuation School to show students themselves in the Berkeley Post article. We then went to Berkeley high to visit the Black studies department. There we met Dr. McKnight of the Black studies department. Berkeley high was the first high school in the United States to have a black studies program. Dr. McKnight asked Marvin and I to speak to the class and share poetry.
Marvin spoke about the importance of Archives. For many archives is a foreign concept. Archives are documents and records kept over time. Marvin mentioned that when most of our family members die, we go straight for the gold and trinkets and throw away the papers. For example, when the secretary of the Oakland NAACP transitioned, the State NACCP correspondence from the 1920’s til the present was found in the trash. Family records, journals, diaries and letters are invaluable and are important in documenting our collective history. He encouraged students to keep their letters, emails and diaries because the world wants to know how you survived during this time, what we were thinking and what was happening in our world.But far too many of us we view our lives as invaluable and inherently don't see their life as part of history. Marvin emphasized the urgent need for students to recognize that they are history makers.
He then proceeded to read his Yes poem which discussed our auto response of No to any question, but yes being the language of infinite possibilities, of divinity. I read my poem entitled Know Your Status which promotes HIV testing and awareness. The students enjoyed our poetry and want us to come back. The Marvin X exhibit opens this Saturday and will be open through the end of February on Friday 7-10, suggested donation $20 no one turned away for lack of funds. Hope to see you there!
On Saturday, Feb 11, Dr. J Vern Cromartie will discuss his relationship with Marvin X. He first read the writings of Marvin X when he was 14, growing up in Waycross, Georgie. Cromartie is head of the Sociology program at Contra Costa College. He will discuss a research paper he wrote on Marvin X's brief tenure at UC Berkeley. The permanent archives of Marvin X were acquired by the Bancroft library at UCB.
Review by Marvin X
Aries Jordan is a shaman lady in training, thus she is beyond poetry, though she uses the form to express her wondrous spiritual explorations, delving into the metaphysical world beneath the surface of our everyday reality. We know the self is the actual macrocosm, reality the microcosm, so while Aries addresses the mundane, it is only to take us deep down into the self, that self most of us fear to examine, making our lives, yes, worthless.
She weaves her stories in a kind of prose/poetry that some may call a confusion of form, but it is simply an attempt to grapple with the language that is often incapable of giving expression to the North American African soul, so long caged and confounded that we call it a psycholinguistic crisis, the struggle of a colonized being seeking liberation.
Thus form is not relevant, the process is not more important than the product. Her poem/stories affirm that shaman lady we mentioned at the top. The poems/stories question the life she has encountered in the 23 years, although do not be fooled by ageism, alas, she is much older than 23 in the spiritual clock. This is the wisdom of a child, but similar to that child who taught in the temple when he was twelve. She has already traveled the world on the Scholar Ship, made her journey from coast to coast in the USA, and is being mentored closely on her Journey to Womanhood by myself.
She recalls when I met her at Oakland’s Art and Soul Festival, I immediately made her audition for mentorship by having her read one of my poems. She passed my test in flying colors but it was some months before she accepted my mentorship. When she did decide to come around my Academy of da Corner, her first task was to publish this collection which she did in less than a week. This task was achieved only because of her determination to move ahead. The result is that she has advanced on her Journey to Womanhood by commenting on world events, personal confessions and observations, speaking to the elders and demanding a reply; talking about life in Cali as she walked in her stiletto shoes; questioning those who say they are only doing their job. Those charged with crimes against humanity during the Nazi horror said the same when they faced trial!
But we must say Aries cannot be understood solely by this literary creation, for it only reveals a small section of her awesome spiritual personality. Another dimension is revealed when she reads her words, and another when she promotes and sells her book, for she is a hustler supreme, very much like myself, who understands no part of no, persisting until the customer breaks down to buy her book. But her product is no scam, it is the real deal holyfield of truth from a child moving fast into full womanhood.
Enjoy!
--Marvin X, Publisher, Black Bird Press
11/14/11
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