A Most Majestic Fly Whisk

  cool engraver guy on a 47 Workshop letterhead  Let there be the clack of the shuttle flying         forward and back, forward and                               back, warp, wearp, varp: “cast of a net, a laying of eggs”     from *warp- “to throw”             the threads twisted for strength                        that can be a warp of the will.       “O weaver, weaver, work no more,”               Gascoyne is quoted:       “thy warp hath done me wrong.”  — from At the Loom, Passages 2, Robert Duncan With apologies to Lionel Trilling for the title. I was v busy between the end of the year at our middle school + grad school term papers + a brief stint in county jail (free Palestine!) and I'm thoroughly  enjoying this do-nothing June. Promise that the next post will be about Africa, since the Mudimbe bit in the last one only kinda counts;  A Most Majestic Fly Whisk  post-Africanist era...impossible, evil. craft's empire In the wake of Mark McGurl's mag

  Between the Two my Heart is Balanced , Lubaina Himid "Time is a difficult topic for historians. I remember an occasion when I was in the history department and I commented that—alluding to Koselleck—modern history not only is in time but also operates through it. This generated a rather snide comment from a colleague, a disgust with 'theory,' which is the only explanation for something that needlessly complicates what is so obvious and commonsensical as time."  — Stefan Tanaka, History without Chronology "Abu Huraira reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, 'How will you be when the son of Mary descends upon you while your leader is among you?'”  — Sahih al-Bukahri  3449 Hello, everyone! Pretty last minute for a (belated!) birthday post…already something of a tradition. Ramadan moved up in the Gregorian calendar again so March 12th is actually inside the month this year. This shift + getting older has me thinking about ti

  Bodys Isek Kingelez's 'extrêmes maquettes' of a weird-future Kinshasa (Kin la belle!) were a major influence on the Goma of  VCS "The story of ‘conflict minerals’ serves both as a cautionary tale and a powerful call to decolonise transnational governance and peacebuilding practice. It highlights the lack of ‘situated knowledge’ and critically interrogates the white saviourism that emanates from an unholy alliance that brings together (neo-)colonial frames, digital capitalism, neoliberal interventionism and humanitarianism."  — Christoph N. Vogel, Conflict Minerals, Inc.: War, Profit and White Saviourism in Eastern Congo "Congo is great; it requires greatness of spirit from us."   — Luc Nkulula Fucked up in the club, crying to a Tshala Muana record. I had a conversation about some of this recently and thought it might be worthwhile to put a version in a more permanent place. I haven't done a Congopost in a while, which is weird for this blog; it'

  literally impossible to improve upon this I didn't see the Goodman Games DCC RPG MLK DAY official tshirt until after MLK Day, but it's still before the Dallas MLK parade so I'm still on time in Texas, which is all that matters.  Aside: Dallas is the largest city in America run by a Republican mayor, a Black man who switched parties while in office. It's now ok to call Eric Johnson a c**ned-out race traitor; we couldn't say it when he was waging war on poor folks and destroying historic Black Dallas at the behest of his real estate / megachurch / Fortune 500 teat-suckling masters, but we can say it now bc he's doing all that under the other team's banner.  Anyways, this tshirt brought me to tears. I finally felt SEEN by the old/new schooldream renavolution's cognoscenti. This is what we've (a spiritual 'we', my own ancestors were herding camels in the Hawd during Reconstruction) been fighting for. When I stopped sobbing, though, I realized

inclusion in a wojackpost might be the worst thing to happen to Du Bois since the feds stole his passport. i will do it four more times. "Matthew, Day has dawned. Of course a little Virginia farm cannot bound your world. Our feet are set in the path of moving millions... The Great Central Committee of Yellow, Brown, and Black is finally to meet. You are a member. The High Command is to be chosen. Ten years of preparation are set. Ten more years  of final planning, and then five years of intensive struggle. In 1952, the Dark World goes free - whether in Peace and fostering Friendship with all men, or in Blood and Storm - it is for Them - the Pale Masters of today - to say... Our chart is laid. Our teeth are set, our star is risen in the East. The 'one far-off divine event' has come to pass, and now, oh, Matthew, Matthew, as soon as both in soul and body you stand free, hurry to us and take counsel with us and see Salvation...The Day has dawned, Matthew - the Great Plan is o

  an  ọpọ́n Ifá/divination tray brought to Europe from the Allada Kingdom in the 1650s, possibly the oldest African wood sculpture in a Western collection. Ọsa Otura says, “What is Truth?”  I say, “What is Truth?” Ọrunmila says, “Truth is the character of Olodumare.  Truth is the word that cannot fall. Ifá is Truth.  Truth is the word that cannot spoil.  Might surpassing all. Blessing everlasting.”    — from the O dù Ọsa-Otura Let be, my soul, fold your rebellious pinions, There is no way out of the web of things, It is a snare that never will be broken, And if you struggle you will break your wings. Be still a while, content to brood on beauty; Caught in the trap of space that has no end, See how the stars, august in their submission, Take their Great Captor for their changeless friend. — In the Web , Sara Teasdale the Birdking of the Prismatic Wasteland has issued a challenge ! many worthies have already offered up their responses - artisans of wonder piling  | jewels  | mechanica