blackgirl on mars: notes on a life in copenhagen (or how my alienation brings me closer to people).

I visited Arthur Flower's rootsblog today and found this clip I just had to share. Arthur Flowers is an amazing writer, and lucky for me, I can also claim him as a friend. Back when I worked at Marie Brown Associates, Arthur was one of our most trusted readers--helping us get through the mountains of manuscripts that came through our doors. Most agents would just ignore unsolicited manuscripts, but Marie? She was committed to rewarding writers, no matter what their station in life, for their efforts of actually finishing a book. It is this spirit and devotion which makes Marie a force unto herself, and in this light, I ask all who come upon this post to think about the spirit in which Marie operates, the magic of Arthur Flowers and the wise words of Amiri Baraka.

Yeah right. But I do have to say, this was one election I was really close to boycotting. I can't help but feel that I have been personally messed with throughout this whole process. I have had this strange and nagging feeling that I had been set up: The stage has been cast with characters for the best show on earth: The U.S. Election. The whole world sits riveted, in front of the television while the U.S. has it's cataclysmic show-down. The whole world watches as the U.S. answers the Million Dollar Question (or should I say 700 billion?): Can the U.S. look past Race, in it's, cough cough, U.S. Presidential Race for the cough, cough, White House? Can life get any more ironic than this? And let me tell you, I've been "good" really "good"--managing to keep my mouth shut during mundane discussions that usually begin with, "Do you really think the U.S. will elect a Black man?" Luckily, no one at my job thinks me interesting enough to ask, so I...

I not only find myself thinking about Glenn, but you, Arthur Flowers, Herb Boyd-too many to name, who paved the way for us. Where would we be without you all? So I find this socialist bookshop and this literary gem all you conjurors spun out cause you HAD to. Thank you all for taking the road you all did- especially given the struggle it continues to mean. You all are my heroes.

"Real writers learn you got to get your work done, hook or crook, no matter what-- feel good feel bad, don't matter, you sit down and you struggle to write -- everyday." So says Arthur Flowers and I say right on. How do I even describe Arthur Flowers? A mystic, writer, hoodoo man, carrier of traditions. I met him during my sojourn at Marie Brown Associates. He would come rolling in, his skin glowing with magic to drop off the load of manuscripts he had recently completed and pick up the new. See, Marie get's all these manuscripts to read, solicited and not, and it was our job to sift through them. It didn't matter what shape they were in, Marie rarely ever sent a manuscript back without some sort of evaluation, short or in-depth. There were first-time novelists, novelists who had been in the game for years, all sorts of folks and manuscripts. And many of them VERY good but alas--never made it past an editorial board... But anyway, Arthur Flowers was one of our...