Spittin' Change » Politics

The career pipeline: Not leaking but pouring By Katherine Sender

Keeling — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 19:34:18 +0000

This article contains an analysis of disturbing, but not new, trends in the retention and treatment of female and minority faculty. It is a relatively quick, worthwhile, read.

You can find it here at John L. Jackson, Jr.’s blog.

Sleep Dealer

Keeling — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 23:08:08 +0000

I’ve heard the buzz about Sleep Dealer, which is now out on video. I’m looking forward to seeing it sometime in the not too distant future.

Check out the other information about this film on the film’s web site.

John Greyson’s experimental documentary Fig Trees

Keeling — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 18:28:13 +0000

John Greyson’s opera documentary entitled Fig Trees screened at Outfest yesterday. Through experimentation with form, the documentary highlights the irrationality of profit-motive-as-rationale driving pharmaceutical companies’ approach to HIV/AIDS, and the complicated relationship between culture, capitalism, and movements for social and economic justice. A complex, and at times self indulgent film, Fig Trees sparks creative connections between queer culture, life/death, international race relations, new media, and capitalism. It is an innovative and exciting contribution to documentary filmmaking, and, in particular, to a body of filmmaking that seems ready to take an interest once again in experimenting with form in order to push the envelope on what constitutes queer filmmaking in terms of both form and content.

Here is an excerpt from Greyson’s Fig Trees:

4 Throats (from John Greyson’s Fig Trees) from Jared Raab on Vimeo.

Agnes Varda and The Black Panther Party

Keeling — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 21:56:06 +0000

Increasingly, I am interested in the relationship between French intellectuals and artists and black radicals in the United States during the 1960s. I read somewhere that Deleuze and Guattari visited the United States and met with black activists at some point. I would have to find the article to confirm that, but it is fun to think about nonetheless. Below is an example of one French filmmakers engagement with US Black radicalism during the 1960s. It is a documentary by Agnes Varda about the Black Panther party that focuses on the free Huey rally. There is more information about the documentary and about Agnes Varda’s films on ubuweb.com.

http://www.ubu.com/film/varda.html

Recent Statement from Queers for Economic Justice

Keeling — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 15:25:59 +0000

Here is a link to the statement QEJ released about the recently announced “Rainbow Pilgrimage” tourist initiative in NYC.

Stonewall 40th and Pride Unveil NYC’s Shameful Priorities

Black History Month Story

Keeling — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 02:35:47 +0000

This is one of the better black history month stories I’ve seen this year:

Slave in Jefferson Davis’ home gave Union key secrets – CNN.com

Slave in Jefferson Davis’ home gave Union key secrets

William Jackson was a slave in the home of
Confederate president Jefferson Davis during the Civil War. It turns
out he was also a spy for the Union Army, providing key secrets to the
North about the Confederacy.

Celebrating and Critiquing as an act of Love

Keeling — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 18:40:01 +0000

I found this to be a useful formulation. It was offered by Cornel West on the eve of the Presidential election:

Cornel West on The Tavis Smiley Show

Battle In Seattle, the Movie

Keeling — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 21:15:11 +0000

Its been almost 10 years since the protests in Seattle against the WTO. I suppose it is not surprising that a dramatic film version of those events has been released. I took the opportunity to see the film last night and can recommend it enthusiastically (except, probably, to anarchists). The coincidence of its release with the current national conversation about a wall street financial crisis provides an opportunity to re-open a discussion about what kind of world we want to inhabit and how to distribute resources equitably within it. I am outraged about the Bush plan to privatize the public’s resources!

Check out the film Battle in Seattle. Here’s the trailer:

Super Tuesday Coverage and Results

Keeling — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 15:05:53 +0000

Today’s round table on Democracy Now! is helpful for accessing the results of yesterday’s primary elections. It is remarkable not only for the analysis the participants offer, but also for the enthusiasm and optimism expressed by these progressives.

Democracy Now! – Super Tuesday Roundtable

Super Tuesday Post at OH! Industry

Keeling — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 17:28:00 +0000

The people at OH! Industry asked me to submit a Super Tuesday song. The idea was to submit the song I would use if running for President or to submit a song and dedicate it to any candidate. Here is what I submitted:

In the Democratic Primary, at least, two things seem particularly important to spit on top of this Super Tuesday playlist.

We are witnessing, on the one hand, the culmination of generations of heterogeneous struggles for inclusion in US national politics on the part of racialized minorities and women and, on the other hand, the revelation of the limitations of the representational strategies most often deployed in the service of those struggles. Perhaps most importantly, however, we can sense the yearning for a more egalitarian social order – it is palpable yet ethereal, grasping hold of what is expelled when the old forms of racism and sexism â€œmelt into airâ€ before their new, yet nonetheless entrenched, forms are widely perceptible. Hence, I find myself lamenting the limitations of the present possibilities even as I, with Lupe Fiasco and Jill Scott, find myself daydreamin’, mining the vinyl for the traces of our digital poetry in its grooves.

Daydreamin’ by Lupe Fiasco, feat. Jill Scott

Seems to me the best thing to do today is to ride the zeitgeist and try to help shape it.