That Majestic Struggle
“My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive.”― Maya Angelou
The National Civil Rights Museum is an incredible monument not only to Martin Luther King, who was assassinated today in 1968, while on the balcony of the building which is the museum’s current home, but to the African American experience from coming to the US as slaves to the present. The Loraine Hotel, known in its day for being a place for African Americans to stay, became forever burnt into history from that photograph by Joseph Louw taken immediately after King went was shot, with Civil Rights activist Andrew Young along with others present pointing to the direction the bullet came from with King at their feet in a pool of blood.
The first half in The Lorraine Motel could fill hours….days…of time with its incredible exhibits and deep deep multi-media driven views of Black history, racism in America and the civil rights movements. The curated museum tour leads you to the moment of Kings death as you walk through his hotel room, made to look just as it did on that sad day, to the balcony outside, to the spot where he fell: the experience is heartbreaking.
For those who have never been to the National Civil Rights Museum, there is one word of caution: leave time for the second half of the experience. After emerging from King’s hotel room, you are escorted to the building across the street and elevatored to the floor…the bathroom….where the trigger was pulled. This second part of the museum deeply dives into all the theories surrounding King’s assassination: how it was pinned on James Earl Ray and how that story unraveled as other reporters’ theories came to light, theories that include FBI involvement and other bad players who could have easily been the shooter.
Prophetic words from King the day before he was killed:
I’ve looked over (the mountaintop), and I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land. And so I’m happy tonight; I’m not worried about anything; I’m not fearing any man.
The National Civil Rights Museum will be holding an event to commemorate this day, including a moment of silence at 6:01 pm Central Time and guest speakers and musicians. You can find more information on their website (yes, it is viewable over the web).
Tinariwen :: Radio Tisdas/Amassakoul Influences (Mixtape)
Tinariwen founder Ibrahim Ag Alhabib saw his father being executed in the 1963 Malian uprising and was given one of his first (if not THEE first) guitar in a refugee camp. He eventually put together a band of friends to create a bluesy African sound that carries with it the stories from his country. Theirs is a sound unlike any other t in the world. One of my greatest regrets is not attending the Malian dessert music festival that they always played (but thankful to Kevin Arnold for taking me to see them in a small, intimate dome at Glastonbury). Tinariwen’s first two records are getting a proper reissue very soon (the first being one of my all-time favorite LPs). To honor this moment, band member Said Ag Ayad compiled a mixtape giving a “glimpse of the band’s influences.”
“The Best Jewish Cowboy”: An Interview with James Caan
In honor of James Caan’s 82nd birthday recently, the website bright Lights Film reposted this 2008 interview by Tony Macklin “which covers quite a bit of territory.” One of the stories coming out around the 50th anniversary of The Godfather was his unhappiness with one of the scenes being cut.
The Aurora Australis: Ernest Shackleton’s Antarctic “Turtle Soup” Book
The Library of Congress seized upon the moment of the Endurance being found to pull this beautiful object of its stacks into the public eye. Written during the voyage BEFORE the more famous one, this book was hand-bound and contained writings from the crew members: fiction, nonfiction, poetry…and bound in the most incredible way (the article tells all).
Hirosuke Yabe's "Rhapsody" in Wood @ Richard Heller Gallery, Los Angeles
“Based in Kanagawa Japan, Hirosuke Yabe creates wooden sculptures using a nata, a Japanese hatchet. With quick, short chops, Yabe conjures a menagerie of human expressions. Like Enkū, the Japanese Buddhist sculptor who carved 120,000 statutes, although some pieces reflect a series of work, no two sculptures are ever truly alike.”
National Steinbeck Center acquires large private collection of periodicals and books
“After some 60 years of collecting a wide array of items related to the life and works of John Steinbeck, Ken and Karen Holmes have donated the bulk of their enormous collection to the National Steinbeck Center in Salinas. So large is the Holmes collection that, in 2013, the couple published, ‘John Steinbeck: A Descriptive Bibliographical Catalogue of the Holmes Collection, by Kenneth and Karen Holmes,’ a comprehensive record of the depth and breadth of their treasures.”
On the Pulse of Morning
By: Maya Angelou
A Rock, A River, A Tree
Hosts to species long since departed,
Marked the mastodon,
The dinosaur, who left dried tokens
Of their sojourn here
On our planet floor,
Any broad alarm of their hastening doom
Is lost in the gloom of dust and ages.
But today, the Rock cries out to us, clearly, forcefully,
Come, you may stand upon my
Back and face your distant destiny,
But seek no haven in my shadow,
I will give you no hiding place down here.
You, created only a little lower than
The angels, have crouched too long in
The bruising darkness
Have lain too long
Facedown in ignorance,
Your mouths spilling words
Armed for slaughter.
The Rock cries out to us today,
You may stand upon me,
But do not hide your face.
