Beverly Jenkins-Crockett

Sunshine

admin — Tue, 04 May 2010 12:11:00 +0000

The doors have been flung wide open when it comes to the liberation of the modern day mother. Well, they are cracked considerably wider than they were thirty-five years ago at least. Gestating for ten years now, Sunshine, a film by Karen Skloss, eloquently portrays just how much our attitudes toward motherhood and family dynamics have changed over the past several decades.

Skloss’s film is deeply personal yet not so focused on navel gazing that the viewer can’t glean some social commentary from it. In the movie, she explores her past as someone who was given up for adoption in 1975 by an unwed, college-aged woman. Jump ahead slightly and Skloss becomes a single mother. In this day and age, her story is one that perhaps we don’t think twice about. Sure, most would readily admit that being a single mother is incredibly difficult, but it happens all the time, right? Fortunately, Sunshine shows us exactly in what ways the times have changed.

The story of Skloss’s life begins with her biological mother, Mary, who was from a fairly prominent Texas family. In 1975, Mary left home for college and became pregnant. When Skloss interviews Mary for this film, she confesses that the night she conceived Skloss is the same night she lost her virginity. Because the possibility of keeping a child would have been out of the question for her family, Mary had to check into a home for unwed mothers where she kept her pregnancy quiet, delivered the baby, gave her up for adoption, and then returned to a more acceptable path.

The film does not move in chronological order, and Skloss jostles the spotlight to her own experiences as a single mother. Gone are the days where it’s okay to refer to children as "bastards" if they don’t have married parents, but do we still judge moms who go it alone? Skloss herself admits that she looked down on single mothers before she became one. In writing this review, I almost stated that I felt being a single mother was acceptable yet unfortunate in today’s world, but Skloss' words made me pause to rethink that judgment.

When presented with Mary's father, a very conservative man with traditional values, Skloss tries to get him to open up about what happened with the adoption, but he becomes silent. Right or wrong, his values are in stark contrast to many of the young children interviewed for the film. Young girls and boys espouse their progressive views of marriage and the ability for women to make their own choices, whether it’s to have a family after getting married or to have a family without being married. With segments of Mary's father interspersed with clips of the children, it’s as if Skloss is saying that this is what was and this is what is to come. And by comparing her own experience with Mary's, Sunshine gives us both ends of the spectrum.

It’s difficult to see where these changing social attitudes are leading us. Children nowadays are learning that there are more options than the traditional family, and one can only hope those options move us toward a better place where we aren’t so confined, and where those who want children can focus on raising them in their own loving way.

Sunshine premieres tonight on PBS.

Written by: Beverly Jenkins-Crockett, May 4th 2010

The Lacuna

admin — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 16:01:00 +0000

By Barbara Kingsolver

Harper

A Barbara Kingsolver novel can often be defined in just one word: captivating. In her first work of fiction in nearly a decade, The Lacuna delivers (in true Kingsolver style) with intricate characters, potent settings, and a sturdy construction built on extensive research. The end result seems so effortless, but Kingsolver’s strength in The Lacuna lies in her use of an unassuming main character by the name of Harrison William Shepherd to viscerally guide the reader through pivotal historical events in Mexico and the United States beginning in the late 1920s through the early 1940s.

The story of Shepherd’s life is that he belongs nowhere and to nobody. Born in Virginia to a small-time federal employee and a Mexican flapper, Shepherd’s entire life experience is shaped by always feeling like a foreigner no matter where he lives. Matters aren’t helped by having parents who show little interest in him (Shepherd’s friend Leandro comments, “Mi’jo…your mother can’t even remember the day she gave you birth.”), and he exists perpetually on the periphery due to his reclusiveness and homosexuality.

Yet in Shepherd, who is naturally drawn to and gifted at writing, the reader has the perfect observer in the tumultuous events that surround his life. Although he tries his best to live an unassuming life, his talents lead him to fascinating interactions with historical figures like Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, and Leon Trotsky. Later in his life, he becomes part of history as a famous American writer.

What’s incredible about Shepherd is that he never has an agenda. While he does care deeply for Kahlo, Trotsky, and Rivera, he never becomes immersed in any ideology to the same degree as his friends. In fact, when he eventually moves to the United States, Shepherd always seems to give his birth country the benefit of the doubt. For instance, Shepherd responds to a letter from Kahlo regarding the Japanese internment by writing, “Don’t listen to nonsense, Frida. The idea of putting American Japanese in concentration camps is fantastical…Have faith in our Mr. Roosevelt…he is our own kind of Lenin, charting the new American Revolution.”

But despite Shepherd’s faith in the American government and his struggle against celebrity once he becomes a famous author, the sweeping effect of senator Joseph McCarthy anti-communist witch hunts eventually set their sights on Shepherd. It starts small with an article about Shepherd containing false information about his political beliefs and then snowballs until his fans nationwide have joined the crusade against him. The scene is reminiscent of recent history where campaigns were led against musicians who voiced anti-war sentiments, and events like bulldozing a pile of Dixie Chicks CDs became a threatening way to silence artists unless they wanted to risk their careers. Even one of the few close friends Shepherd has completely severs their relationship after learning of Shepherd’s supposed political leanings without asking for Shepherd’s side of the story.

Shepherd’s story is a telling reminder of how easily some become swept up in a political ideology without really knowing any of its substance. Kingsolver summarizes this beautifully through Shepherd’s friend and legal advisor, Artie Gold. Gold says, “What these men are doing could become permanent…You force people to stop asking questions, and before you know it they have auctioned off the question mark, or sold it for scrap. No boldness. No good ideas for fixing what’s broken in the land. Because if you happen to mention it’s broken, you are automatically disqualified.”

Although the story is mainly told through diary entries and letters written by Shepherd, Kingsolver illuminates this time in history. Despite much of the novel being politically oriented, it does not sway toward becoming preachy. Instead, the reader is left with a beautifully written story and many questions to ponder.

Written by: Beverly Jenkins-Crockett, April 24th 2010

Healing Pandora: The Restoration of Hope and Abundance

admin — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 08:00:00 +0000

By Gail Thomas

North Atlantic Books

The mythic Pandora has long been misunderstood as one who brought evil into the world. She was thought to be the first mortal woman created and sent to Earth by the gods. Her infamous box, once opened, leads to the escape of diseases and other ills, resulting in a lasting curse upon humankind.

But this is not Pandora’s original story; in fact, the modern retelling of this myth is vastly different from Pandora’s true nature. In Healing Pandora, author Gail Thomas explores the origins of the Pandora myth, how it evolved into the tale we accept today, and Pandora’s influence on our culture.

Thomas asserts that long before Pandora’s myth became twisted, she inhabited the role of a goddess. Pandora was not just any goddess. She was the Earth Mother and maker of “all things, all gods, and all mortals.” But like many other female figures (historical or mythical), Pandora’s role as life giver transformed into one who bestows misfortune upon the world, and men in particular.

The first half of Healing Pandora takes a thorough look at the goddess and the vessel she carries, while in the second half, Thomas focuses on how people can apply Pandora’s lessons to modern culture. Thomas describes Pandora as “an archetypal image of culture, an image no longer in the consciousness of our world today.” She invites the reader to consider Western culture as a living entity and describe its appearance. The author bets the image would be one of “competition and scarcity.” By viewing culture through the Pandora myth, however, Thomas states that we will find “a bountiful feminine figure with outstretched arms and hands, waiting to provide everything we need.” The latter outlook seems most assuredly a rarity for Westerners.

Some solutions Thomas offers for transforming culture include women and men embracing their feminine side and also to become true stewards of the earth who recognize that spirit exists in all matter. She also suggests considering how different the world would appear to each of us if we imagined it as a bountiful place instead of one that is always deficient in some way or another.

Of course with a book titled Healing Pandora one would expect the author to spend some time analyzing myth. Thomas does this and takes liberty by discussing Pandora and many other mythic figures in great detail, so much that it’s difficult to keep track of the book’s main purpose. On the other hand, she does raise many valuable and thought-provoking insights toward culture today that are worth contemplating, and Thomas provides a much-needed background of Pandora before her myth became corrupted.

Written by: Beverly Jenkins-Crockett, April 8th 2010

Changer Pendant

admin — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 07:59:00 +0000

By K Robins Designs

“She changes everything She touches, and everything She touches changes.” This quote by Starhawk accompanies the Changer Pendant by K Robins Designs and is an apt summary behind this sterling silver emblem’s meaning. The pendant figure sits serenely in a lotus-like pose with hands brought together over her heart. Her curves are fluid and rhythmic. Her demeanor is confident, compassionate, and accepting in the natural ways of forces that are beyond our control.

The Changer Pendant is only one of many meaningful designs offered by K Robins, who creates her art in the foothills of Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains. The influence of nature on her art is evident in the organic and pure form each piece takes. Her jewelry and sculptures are each born into one of five symbolic categories—nature, Celtic lore, yoga and meditation, sacred symbols, and goddesses, mothers, and daughters—and the artist's mission is “to discover and create archetypal images and symbols that transcend the personal, resonate with the universal and soothe the soul.”

Expecting my first child this year and contemplating change, I realize that I do feel altered by the life force I welcomed into my life cautiously, knowing well that I cannot even pretend to imagine what’s in store for me. As I wait to be changed in a myriad of ways that this soon-to-be-mother cannot even fathom, the Changer Pendant encourages me to remain at peace with myself and my abilities to weather through the changes already taking place within my physical being.

Anyone can inhabit this symbolic image and sit peacefully within the chaotic whirl of changes about them. With the Changer Pendant, K Robins has accomplished her mission.

Written by: Beverly Jenkins-Crockett, April 5th 2010

Know Better Learn Faster

admin — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 08:59:00 +0000

By Thao with The Get Down Stay Down

Kill Rock Stars

“Messy” and “complicated” could very well be the two best words for defining romantic love. As suggested by the title of Thao with The Get Down Stay Down’s latest record, Know Better Learn Faster, the brokenhearted masses could easily avoid painful relationships if they were just plain smarter and quicker learners. Alas, we as humans aren’t always the best decision makers, and as a small consolation, that’s why we get great break-up albums like this one.

On their second release for KRS, Thao with The Get Down Stay Down offers a varied record that is mostly energetic but also studded with a few mellow tracks. Drummer Willis Thompson, bassist and keyboardist Adam Thompson, and singer and guitarist Thao Nguyen have struck a fine balance of pacing on this album, avoiding any clichéd or sappy songs. The music itself is so lively that Know Better Learn Faster can be listened to at any time and in any mood.

Complementing the vibrant music are Nguyen’s capable songwriting abilities. She has a knack for quirky, attention-grabbing one-liners. On “Trouble Was For,” she opens the track by sultrily singing, “Everybody please put your clothes back on/We must see what the trouble was for,” and on “Body,” Nguyen pointedly asks, “What am I, just a body in your bed?”

“The Clap” gives the album an ominous and threatening opening. It’s a half-minute track complete with hand claps and layered vocals that repeats, “If this is how you want it ok, ok.” Sonically, this is as dark as the album gets, and while other tunes on Know Better Learn Faster are slowed and melancholic, none seem as chilling as the opener.

In most break-ups, there always seems to be a period of longing for the other to come back. This is a theme that is brought up frequently by Nguyen, like on “When We Swam,” where the plea is sung to “bring your hips to me,” or again on “Body,” where Nguyen makes a desire known by asking, “Won’t you reach for the body in your bed?”

But like Nguyen’s voice, which is strong and full-bodied, there’s a sense of resolve throughout the record to accept that the relationship is truly finished. On “Good Luck and Goodbye,” Nguyen sings, “Take care of your neck and spine and good luck and goodbye,” as if she is giving a reminder to learn from the past and to protect yourself from letting a relationship break you apart.

The dance-inducing “Easy” closes the album. It begins with Nguyen reminding us that “sad people dance, too.” It’s a great way to end this enjoyable album. Thao with The Get Down Stay Down leaves us with the knowledge that break-ups are never easy, but somehow, falling in love is still worth it.

Written by: Beverly Jenkins-Crockett, January 9th 2010

Chöd Practice in the Bön Tradition

admin — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 17:01:00 +0000

By Alejandro Chaoul

Snow Lion Publications

In Chöd Practice in the Bön Tradition, author Alejandro Chaoul presents a scholarly overview of a form of meditative practice that is little known in the Western world. It is called chöd, a term that translates to “cutting.” Chaoul’s presentation studies chöd in the context of the Tibetan Bön tradition and differentiates it from the practice of chöd in the Buddhist tradition.

While Chaoul offers a valuable text on what is a rarely studied ancient tradition, readers should be forewarned that although this is a slim book, it is not a light read. The subject matter is fascinating, however, due to what may appear to some as an extreme type of meditation. The purpose of performing chöd, according to Chaoul, is to cut through the practitioner’s ego as a step toward achieving enlightenment or buddhahood. Chöd is considerably different from our typical view of meditation. Simply put, this type of meditation is performed in such a way that it induces fear in the practitioner so that he or she may “sever” or see through their fear.

To practice chöd, a person usually meditates at night in a frightening place, such as a cemetery or charnel ground. The practitioner performs music with traditional instruments that historically have been constructed with human bones. The drum, for example, is ideally made of two human skulls, one of a 16-year-old male and one of a 16-year-old female. Chaoul writes that it is best if the skulls come from children who have passed away in accidents and not from sickness. During the meditation, the practitioners are to envision their bodies being cut up and served to various demons.

The desired result of the chöd practice is to transcend human ignorance, which has placed us within samsāra (“a cycle of birth, sickness, aging, death and rebirth”). Chaoul writes that chöd is “considered to be a powerful method to liberate one from this cycle.” Not only does this practice offer insight but it’s also a lesson in the ultimate act of generosity: the offering of the practitioner’s physical body. It’s these two attributes (generosity and insight) that Chaoul states are “the two main ingredients in developing the mind of enlightenment.”

In Chöd Practice in the Bön Tradition, Chaoul gives an overview of the history of chöd, discusses ancient related texts, and explains how it is practiced. Chaoul also touches briefly on what he calls “the representations of the female aspects of reality” in chöd. In this tradition, “when one is freed from one’s body, one returns to the oneness of the great womb.” Unfortunately, as interesting as further explanation on this would be, Chaoul admits but does not go into reasons why he was unable to include additional discussion on how practitioners view the feminine as it relates to chöd.

Written by: Beverly Jenkins-Crockett, January 8th 2010

It’s Never too Late to Be What You Might Have Been

admin — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 09:00:00 +0000

By BJ Gallagher

Viva Editions

The title of this book is drawn from an adage that is sometimes lost on the young. Youth is often painted as an open road with endless paths leading to infinite dreams. The challenge that we face as we get older is maintaining the attitude that life still holds an abundance of opportunities and that we are up to the task of conquering them. Contrary to what society tells us, BJ Gallagher's It's Never too Late to Be What You Might Have Been proclaims that reinvention is not just for those without lines on their faces or traces of gray sprouting from their scalps.

In this volume, Gallagher offers a collection of inspirational anecdotes that touch on a variety of arenas where we might dream of starting over: careers, education, health, finances and love. The author maintains that in all of these areas, we are never too old to either fulfill old dreams or pursue new interests, and she provides a series of interviews as proof. Among her subjects are Elgene Doinidis, a woman who decided to learn how to fly in her middle age; Arnold and Raine Chanin, who became avid hikers in their sixties; and Gary Gwilliams, who ended a marriage after twenty years and then stumbled upon his soul mate.

In these stories about starting over and second chances, Gallagher does not dig deep. She does not offer a step-by-step guide or any kind of action plan for following one's heart. It seems that her sole point is to say that no matter who you are or where you are in life, you can still take risks and pursue your goals. While It's Never too Late to Be What You Might Have Been is an ultra-light, fluffy read bordering on advertorial by including the URLs for its interviewees' commercial web sites, it serves the purpose of patting the reader on the back and whispering in their ear, "Yes, you can do this, too!"

Written by: Beverly Jenkins-Crockett, November 25th 2009

Homemade Ship

admin — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:54:00 +0000

By Rose Melberg

K Records

Rose Melberg made a name for herself in the nineties as a singer and guitarist for bands like the Softies, Tiger Trap, and Go Sailor. The prolific Vancouver-based musician has since successfully gone solo. While revered for her talent and earlier output as a band member, Melberg's latest solo release, Homemade Ship, makes a shy, serene entrance and has a difficult time leaving a strong impression.

Homemade Ship is a sparse yet pretty album. The barebones approach Melberg has taken by using only layered vocals and guitar is for both the better and the worse. Reminiscent of Iron & Wine, the album's sparse sound is inherently intimate, and Melberg's lyrics are often personal and heartfelt. In the touching "Truly," Melberg sings, "Come here better to hear me sing/Forget everything/How I made you cry." On "Old Days," Melberg casts a dreamy spell that is full of longing. Aptly named, the album does have a homemade and isolated feel to it. It conjures an image of Melberg cobbling together each track in a small room next to a fire.

But what Homemade Ship gains in simplicity, it seems to lose in dynamism. Larissa Loyva of Kellarissa and P:ano makes an occasional appearance on vocals and piano, but the majority of the album relies solely on Melberg's contributions. It's not that this approach can't work, but Homemade Ship doesn't seem to achieve a cohesive sound with distinct tracks that easily grab the listener. Most of the album's tracks, with their whimsical lyrics and soft guitar strums, could stand on their own, but together, they seem to spill over into each other, creating what often feels like one very long song.

The album is with merit, though. Melberg hasn't made it this far without knowing what she's doing. Homemade Ship is sleepy but not sloppy, lacking in twists but touching nonetheless.

Written by: Beverly Jenkins-Crockett, November 9th 2009

Crepusculo

admin — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 17:03:00 +0000

By Petracovich

Redbutton Records

It’s a treasure to stumble upon new music that for one reason or another resonates deeply within you. I selected Crepusculo after learning that Petracovich singer Jessica Peters Malmberg had made the album while pregnant, and then tragically lost her son shortly after he was born. Grieving a recent miscarriage myself, Crepusculo did for me what only those rare special albums can: it comforted me, let me cry, helped me heal, and taught me to create a place in my heart for what I had lost.

Crepusculo (Spanish for “twilight”) utilizes the standard drums, guitar, and bass setup and is richly textured with a multitude of other instruments, including piano, cello, trumpet, harmonium, and banjo. Described as folk pop, this latest album from Petracovich accomplishes an earthiness that brings each song to life. The songs are powerful, thanks to masterful lyrics and Malmberg’s stunning voice that is at times soaring and smooth and later hushed and reverent.

“Heaven Help the Day” is the opening track__, and it begins with an upbeat piano that propels the song to a quick crescendo. It’s a perfect match for the empowering lyrics about an absent father. Malmberg warns the father to beware coming back to the family, and if he does, she sings “I’d make you love me then I’d leave you all alone.” A compelling and driving banjo opens “Sleep It Off/Lie Down,” in which Malmberg sings out a challenge to “try to make me unsad/just try making me glad.” It’s a song that wonderfully depicts embracing sadness and revels in the beauty of fully experiencing human emotion.

While Crepusculo undeniably deals with painful losses, the beauty of the album is that there’s a sense of lightness and fun throughout the record. For example, in “San Rafael,” Malmberg dreamily imagines floating above traffic and “over dew and honey grass and sleeping deer; over rollers, hills with backs like dinosaurs.” A sense of whimsy threads itself through many of the songs.

What the music in this album accomplishes is a spirit of graciousness. It’s a snapshot of what it means to be alive, and that is a welcome solace. Crepusculo is an album for everyone that offers an unforgettable joy listening to each song as it magically unfolds.

Written by: Beverly Jenkins-Crockett, November 8th 2009

The Blue Tattoo: The Life of Olive Oatman

admin — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 16:48:00 +0000

By Margot Mifflin

University of Nebraska Press

The Blue Tattoo tells the story of Olive Oatman, a nineteenth century woman with an unusual life. In 1851, Oatman was violently abducted along with her younger sister by Yavapais after watching this group of Native Americans brutally slaughter the rest of her family. What happens after this life-altering event, Mifflin argues, sheds light on American attitudes and treatment toward Native Americans, as well as the role and expectations for women in the 1800s.

It was a blue tattoo on her chin that marked Oatman for the rest of her life and served as a testament to her experience. After her abduction, Oatman was later adopted by the Mohave and assimilated into the tribe. This was evidenced by her tattoo, which Mohave women usually had themselves. Mifflin argues, despite what Oatman and others said later, that the tattoo was one symbol, among others, that she was accepted into the tribe and wanted to be a part of the tribe as well.

Years later, Oatman was “rescued” from the Mohave and had to transition back into White society as an adult. While she was an unusual woman for her time (she was the among the first white women to be tattooed in the United States and went on tour for speaking engagements, another uncommon act for a female to participate in), Oatman allowed her experience with the Mohave to be twisted into one where she was a victim of Native American oppressors. In fact, in subsequent photographs, and at some lectures, Oatman would cover up her chin tattoo with makeup, as if erasing her friendly ties to the Mohave.

Although Oatman’s story on its own is full of intrigue, Mifflin adeptly uses her tale as a springboard for larger issues of the time. Mifflin highlights America’s history of westward expansion through either war or simply seizing new land. The slaughter of Oatman’s family took place as they were heading through what was then Native American territory in the Southwest. While an occasional action by Oatman after her release gave some indication of the affection she felt toward the Mohave, she did not use the spotlight to defend Native American rights or acknowledge the kind treatment she received from the Mohave tribe. After her release, she seemed to bury any of the fondness and goodwill toward the Mohave, and instead, perpetuated the notion that Native Americans were savages.

Mifflin adds that Oatman's tale also reflects upon the unique lifestyle she had as a woman after her release. Oatman, ultimately, had only one immediate family member who survived the massacre and, therefore, little financial support after her release. This was a time when women did not work outside of the home. When faced with being reintroduced into white society, however, Oatman was forced to try to make a living for herself through endeavors like releasing a book about her experience and by attending public speaking events.

In the end, Oatman did what was necessary for her survival in White society. She did what she could to financially support herself by telling the American public what they wanted to hear about her years in captivity. We’ll never know how Oatman really felt about her time with the Mohave, but it is certain that, at the very least, Oatman did push the boundaries of what was thought to be appropriate for women during her time, even if what she did was at the expense of Native Americans.

Written by: Beverly Jenkins-Crockett, November 7th 2009

Abnormally Attracted to Sin

admin — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 08:44:00 +0000

By Tori Amos

Universal Republic Records

It’s a sinful world out there, and Tori Amos wants to talk about a few sins not included in the Ten Commandments. Her tenth studio album, Abnormally Attracted to Sin, tackles themes of oppression, shame, intolerance, and abuse of power. It’s a record aimed at exploring ways in which governments, organizations, and people degrade each other.

Abnormally Attracted to Sin is an eclectic mix of musical styles that range from classic piano-driven ballads to electronic, jazz, and cabaret-inspired tunes. With nearly every album Amos has put out over the past decade, she seems to take a step further away from being the “piano girl.” The result with Abnormally Attracted to Sin, is that Amos has achieved a more integrated band sound and continues to explore the world of keys. In addition to her beloved Bosendorfer piano, this album features Amos on synths, Rhodes electric piano, and organ. She’s also joined by longtime collaborators Matt Chamberlain on drums and Jon Evans on bass.

The opening song for Abnormally Attracted to Sin, “Give,” sets the mood with its message of giving instead of taking. But this is no rainbow and butterflies ballad. It’s a dark, electronic-tinged track, on which Amos’ voice is at times husky and at times soaring. She sings, “There are some, some whose give, twists itself to take, they mis-take, who, what made up the line, some say it was pain, or was it shame?”

From there, this seventeen-track album spans topics of religious intolerance in “Strong Black Vine,” infidelity in “Fire to Your Plain,” and the cycle of abuse in “Ophelia.” Some of the standout tracks on Abnormally Attracted to Sin include the jazzy “Lady in Blue,” the twangy “Fast Horse,” and “Flavor,” a spacey trip where the narrator asks what it would it be like to look down on the destructive forces of man at work on Earth. The track where Amos shows her musical ability at its best is the title track. It’s a haunting song where Amos warns “pussy willow calls there by the church, ‘don’t go in if you are abnormally attracted to sin.’”

Amos continues to garner an increasing amount of criticism for producing albums like Abnormally Attracted to Sin that some deem “bloated” and “self-indulgent” for passing the seventy-minute mark. For some, it might prove a tedious listening experience, but it seems, as Amos sings in the opening track, that she’s more interested in giving abundance than taking away. What does seem to suffer, however, is the quality of writing. The record has more duds than usual for Amos. On “Welcome to England,” she writes the clunker “bang a tango but do not get tangled...if your heart explodes, is it deathly cold?” On “Police Me,” it’s hard not to laugh when Amos sings “to get off he cries ‘slutty goth’, but I’m a brightly colored person.” Amos may have hit an all-time low with “Not Dying Today,” a cacophonous, embarrassing mess.

What is most disappointing about Abnormally Attracted to Sin, though, is that it feels like Amos is pushing fewer boundaries. Her music feels safer. And, she continues to deal with the same themes she has built her career on: religion, trust in relationships, and women reclaiming themselves from the patriarchy. But one can’t fault Amos for passionately and tirelessly pursuing topics that will not be solved overnight. It’s a worthy battle and one that she does well.

Written by: Beverly Jenkins-Crockett, August 13th 2009

Ascension

admin — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 00:12:00 +0000

By Phoenix Rising

Copus Music

One tell-tale sign of good music is that it has the ability to transport you somewhere physically, mentally or spiritually. Ascension by Phoenix Rising aims for and succeeds at the latter. It’s an album that is peaceful, serene, and uplifting.

According to the album’s liner notes, the seven songs on Ascension are organized around the seven chakras. For those who are not familiar with this concept of energy centers in our bodies, understanding chakras is not essential to enjoying the music. The duo behind Phoenix Rising, Wendy Loomis and Monica Williams, only want the listener to take away that these songs allude to the idea of our own energy’s ability to ascend to a spiritual plane.

Beginning with track one, named “Seed,” through the final track, “Ascension,” the music takes the listener on a journey. It has a wonderful quality of not becoming just background music but of creating a sonic space that is conducive to meditation, yoga and deep relaxation. In other words, the music is similar to a vessel that each individual can steer to any internal place.

Intertwining melodies from piano played by Loomis and flute played by Williams create the backbone of every song. Guest musicians on each track give the album an international sound with a variety of instruments, including Swiss hanging drums, Spanish and Middle Eastern-style guitar and even Bolivian goat hoof shakers. All tracks are instrumental with the exception of “Unspoken,” which features Irina Mikhailova, whose voice lends a wistful and reverent quality to the song.

In explaining the inspiration for the album, Loomis and Williams wrote in the liner notes that they wanted to “create a CD that had the power to help people relax, de-stress and energize with positive vibrations of gratitude for this life.” There is no doubt that both women are accomplished musicians and have created a beautiful album. The music is at times uplifting, but the album at times teeters toward mournfulness and uncertainty. Perhaps that’s just an inherent aspect of a phoenix, however. Before rising, one must go through darkness. As Ascension shows, there’s brilliant sounds waiting for us on the other side.

Written by: Beverly Jenkins-Crockett, June 19th 2009

Miles from Nowhere

admin — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 10:21:00 +0000

By Nami Mun

Riverhead Books

Present-day New York City is incomparable to its former seedy and dismal self. It was a city of survival up through the eighties, and as Nami Mun shows in her novel, Miles from Nowhere, people were either crushed by the city or driven to great lengths to make it through the day.

The story follows the teenage Joon, the daughter of a Korean family who immigrated to New York. It’s the early 1980's, and Joon’s father eventually leaves the family for good as he struggles to adapt to a new county. This causes Joon’s mother to mentally breakdown to the point where she becomes emotionally unavailable to her child. From there, the young Joon has limited choices: stay and take care of her mother or leave. Joon chooses the streets of New York and what follows is an at times tragic and at other times laughable yet heroic journey of survival in a big city that seems to loves no one.

What shines about Miles from Nowhere are the characters who will grip at your heart. The other teenage runaways that Joon befriends and falls in love with each have their own dark history yet still summon the courage to leave a heartbreaking situation in an effort to save themselves. From Knowledge, a smart and ethical-in-her-own way girl, to Lana, a transvestite working at a men’s club, we are left to imagine what must have happened in their lives for them to be in their position when Joon meets them.

Over the course of six years, Joon begins supporting herself first by working at a men’s club and then as a prostitute. She later struggles to live clean with average jobs, including selling Avon and working in a nursing home. Joon inevitably falls into drugs, gets pregnant and seeks an abortion, but throughout it all, she strives to attain a better version of herself, whether it is going to drug counseling, keeping a respectable job or even staying in a troubled relationship to another drug addict.

This entrancing story by Mun ultimately makes us ask and imagine what would teenagers have to go through to abandon whatever semblance of normal life they once had in favor or living on the streets.

Written by: Beverly Jenkins-Crockett, March 14th 2009

The Flower Farmer: An Organic Grower's Guide to Raising and Selling Cut Flowers

admin — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 18:10:00 +0000

By Lynn Byczynski

Chelsea Green Publishing

As far as dream jobs go, being an organic flower farmer ranks right up there with travel writer, cake baker, and rock star. As Lynn Byczynski thoroughly explains in The Flower Farmer, growing organic flowers for profit is a completely reasonable and realistic career choice that anyone can accomplish.

Byczynski, who has been growing flowers commercially for 20 years, takes the reader step-by-step through the beginner stages of flower farming. She includes “foolproof” flowers for the novice and discusses annual beds, perennial beds, bulbs, flowers for drying, herb bouquets, foliage and grasses, and grains. Subsequent chapters examine soil and site selection, buying plants, techniques such as transplanting and pest control, how to extend the growing season, flower arrangement, and marketing the flowers.

In addition to the knowledge that Byczynski shares about flower farming, the book itself has been exquisitely designed and features numerous diagrams and several color photographs of flowers. It’s fun just to flip through the book and study the Songbird Cardinal’s layered petals or the brain-shaped Cramer’s Burgundy. The chapters are also interspersed with even more detailed information on various flowers like sunflowers, poppies and peonies, as well as profiles of flower farmers throughout the United States.

The book concludes with a complete list of recommended cut flowers that each have their own description and also an extensive sources and resources guide for seeds, bulbs, marketing supplies and more. Everything you ever needed to know about becoming a farmer in the floral sense is at your fingertips in The Flower Farmer.

Byczynski says that just one acre of flowers can generate an income of $25,000-$30,000 per year. Even if you can’t imagine yourself tending fields of flowers day in and day out, The Flower Farmer is still a worthy companion for anyone who wouldn’t mind a little bright foliage in a small garden or on the coffee table.

Written by: Beverly Jenkins-Crockett, June 19th 2008

Born in the Big Rains: A Memoir of Somalia and Survival

admin — Wed, 28 May 2008 16:44:00 +0000

By Fadumo Korn

The Feminist Press

Born in the Big Rains begins like a beautifully written work of fiction: “In the distance, a lion roared, deep and long, dismissing the night. The air smelled of smoke and freshly brewed tea, and on the horizon the day’s first light chalked the sky.”

But the writing’s rich details and driving action belie that this is no tall tale, but the true story of an adolescent girl, named Fadumo Abdi Hersi Farah Husen, who was born to a nomadic family in Somalia. Her memoir vividly follows an unlikely path, tracing her steps from a young girl living in the wild to learning the other-worldly, big-city life in Mogadishu with her extended family due to severe complications from undergoing female genital mutilation (FGM). When her condition from FGM worsens, Korn eventually leaves for Europe to receive medical help, and finally settles in Germany, where she married and was eventually able to have a child after reconstructive surgery.

FGM is the life-altering event that is the crux of Korn’s autobiography. It is a deep-rooted tradition among some African cultures that is seen as a rite of passage for females in order to purify and cleanse them so that they are fit for marriage. Yet the act is often performed in unsanitary conditions, and the young girls who endure this can suffer the rest of their lives from various health problems (in Korn’s case it was rheumatoid arthritis), and may even die as a result of the surgery.

Born in the Big Rains takes an unflinching look at FGM from recounting the extreme pain of the act itself to the fact that it is often an unquestioned custom based on faulty logic - but Korn does not stop there. She also casts a critical eye toward the racism that has snuck into the controversy of FGM from the attitudes of some outside spectators who condemn the custom, and Korn even exposes her own former shortcomings - as she once perpetuated the belief that only circumcised women were clean and worthy.

Korn now works for FORWARD-Germany, which is an organization dedicated to stopping FGM. Based on her autobiography, it seems as though Korn is the type of person who takes duty seriously and lives her life based on what she believes needs to be accomplished. She may not see her testament on FGM as brave and full of strength, but it is. Hopefully, it will further the cause for eliminating the practice.

Written by: Beverly Jenkins-Crockett, May 28th 2008