An Easter Side Poem

Okay,

The church, in spreading the word, would absorb and adapt pagan beliefs and practices into those of Christianity.

A lot of these practices were written into the seasonal celebrations of the church.

Since at least the 3rd Century, pagan cultures in Russia, Gaul (France), Prussia (Germany, etc.), and the Mongolian regions celebrated the Vernal Equinox; celebrating the renewed fertility of mother earth, where the plentiful presence of rabbits and eggs symbolizes her bounty.

Dig this:

The German surname Easterhausen (Easter Bunny) dates back to the 6th Century.

Since at least the 12th Century, this time of year has been celebrated as Easter, observing the death and resurrection of Jesus, the truth, light and way for those who believe in him, to ever lasting life.

A piece of the reflection of Easter is the shedding of his blood for the new covenant.

When the Spanish encountered the Aztecs, they were introduced to Chocolate, which the Spanish related to blood.

Go figure.

Chocolate is a sexual stimulant and the origins of giving chocolate were as an expression of sexual desire. These desires, if reciprocal, could lead to procreation.

Could even say they're fuc'n' like Bunnies…

Rabbits and older chickens were given as sacrifice to the goddess in ancient Europe during the Equinox period. The new chicks that were born were a symbol of rebirth.

Jesus gave himself for the sins of the world, according the church, shortly after the equinox.

Rabbits and chicks made of chocolate are given out as a symbol of the pagan traditions.

Jesus shed his blood for our sins.

Folklore has a way of merging when cultures collide. So dig this metaphorical peanut butter cup when I say:

Jesus is the Easter Bunny.

Chocolate is my sin.

For the Black Indian in America, the Devil has very little to show him... Ask A [former] Cherokee.


(c) 2006, M. Peters

Tribal Members Call For Meeting

A Meeting Has Been Called by a petition of Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Members. The meeting will take place on Saturday, January 20, 2008; 12-2PM @ The Sons of Italy - 28, Mashpee/Barnstable Town Line. 

The Sound of Silence...

MASHPEE - Happy New Year! My New Year wish for the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe is "balance". Why do I say balance? We seem to be a people of extremes and the problem with extremes are that they prevent things from happening. Case in point, the tribe requested that people not speak to the media around social and political issues within the tribe. One one level this was an excellent move as much of what goes on is nobody's business and most of the press is pretty anti-tribe for a variety of reasons. On the other hand, this silencing comes accompanied with a certain censoring of all Wampanoags from doing or saying things publicly. For example, I was asked not to give a lecture on Black Indians and folklore under this gag order. While my lecture has absolutely nothing to do with the social and political affairs of the tribe, somehow this was seen as an issue. I'm a communicator by nature and have no desire to to represent myself as the voice of Mashpee Wampanoags; I speak for myself.

While there have been a number of people, for whatever reason, have tried to derail the progress of their own tribe. In some cases, the economic and social jeopardy that their actions put the 2000+ tribal members in was of no concern to them because they have the economic means to take care of themselves. Therefore, halting the economic, educational, social, health, and housing programs of the tribe was of no concern to them. However, under this silence, individuals have come under public attack for simply criticizing the way things are being done by the council. Even though this criticism has been internal, the attacks upon them have been very, very public. 

To some extent, I'm reminded of the McCarthy era and the House on Un-American Activities, whereby people were publicly paraded in front of congressional hearings and accused of communism based on hearsay and flimsy evidence. Unfortunately, gossip has always been a part of our community and we are quick to jump to conclusions about people and eachother based on very flimsy evidence. We also mistake personal issues with our ability to function as a people. The problem with this? WE ARE SOVEREIGN, a government can't be run that way, especially one where they are less then 5000 people involved. We can't afford to have internal enemies. In line with McCarthy, I'm reminded of the words of Edward Murrow, "If we confuse dissent with disloyalty — if we deny the right of the individual to be wrong, unpopular, eccentric or unorthodox... Every act that denies or limits the freedom of the individual in this country costs us the ... confidence of men and women who aspire to that freedom and independence of which we speak and for which our ancestors fought."

The bottom line: I didn't know Sovereignty would be so oppressive.

HOWLing at UMass Dartmouth

UMass Dartmouth English Professor Explores Literature Through Experimental Theater

NORTH DARTMOUTH– Students in the Oral Interpretation of Dramatic literature course will be presenting a staged reading of HOWL by Allen Ginsberg. Ginsberg's epic poem and post-modernists anthem will be presented as a multi-voiced, environmental choreopoem, developed and directed by Morgan James Peters, and assistant professor of English. The presentation will take place on Tuesday, December 11, 2007 around 3PM in the UMass Dartmouth campus center.

Oral Interpretation of Dramatic Literature I & II are courses that were introduced in the 1980's by James Nee, Professor Emeritus of English at the University of Massachusetts. Through this course, Professor Nee introduced students to the basic principles of method acting, as defined by Lee Stassberg. Upon arriving at UMass Dartmouth in 2003, Morgan James "Mwalim" Peters inherited the course, seizing the opportunity as chance to explore the process of producing and developing theater. Taking it from the page to the stage is the motto of the courses.

Coming to the university directly from a career as a teaching and performing artist in New York City's Off-Broadway theater and nightclub community, Mwalim brought a philosophy that "all texts are dramatic literature if presented dramatically." The focus of the Oral Interpretation courses have been the development and presentation of readings and workshop performances of plays, using poetry, song lyrics, scripts, short stories, passages from novels, textbooks, magazine articles, and news clippings as texts for monologues and dialogues. With this, students explore the application of Brechtian, Stanislavsky, Strassberg, and classical systems and methods. Having worked in both traditional and experimental forms of theater professionally, Mwalim brings these experiences to the classroom. The piece is being developed using ensemble building methods learned through Mwalim's studies at New African Company with James Spruill and Lynda Patton and working with director Myles Corey.

This semester, the course is exploring the structure of the 'choreopoem' form, a technique introduced by Ntozake Shange with her monumental explorations, For Colored Girls Who've Considered Suicide... and Spell Number Seven... Using poetry as the dramatic text, the choreopoem form is very similar to the approaches that would be employed in staging classic Greek and Shakespearean theater in the present.

For more information, contact Mwalim (508) 999-8304 or mpeters@umassd.edu

At Least There Were No Nooses

The story you’re about to read, might be true... It had been unseasonably warm this autumn. The weather had been so unpredictable, with mornings in the 30’s and afternoons in the 60’s. One never knows how to dress. Hugh glided home along Route 6, hopping off at what had become the routine exit leading to his home and family. They had lived there for about a month and a half, after Hugh had been on the new job for about six months. He had survived and passed the three month pleasantry exchange at the new job. The pleasantry exchange is that unwritten law, a gauntlet that all new employees of color must walk, as their co-workers and immediate supervisors size them up: can they cut it socially? Are they pleasant enough to be around?

Hugh knew the routine well, and followed basic rules: be pleasant, avoid excess conversation, except for the occasional coffee or after work drink, limit your socializing with co-workers, and most important; do not let them to far into your home life. Hugh waved to the cop sitting on the side of the road. In his first three weeks of living here, he’d met almost every cop on the town’s force, careful to remember their names during the ‘routine checks’. By now they all knew that he ‘belonged’ there. As he passed the police, he couldn’t help but notice a car load of young white males, in baseball caps travelling in the opposite direction. One starred at him with a smile and a nod.

He rolled through his development and onto his road, then up to his house, only to be greeted by the words N-word Go Home and Get Out N-word spray-painted across the front of his garage and all over the front of his house. Hugh’s wife and kids were in the house when this happened but didn’t hear anybody as his wife was in the kitchen and the kids were upstairs in their rooms doing their homework. The police arrived and took a report and a few pictures. They decided that it was an act of vandalism and destruction of private property, but not a hate crime because the perpetrators never used the actual word, something that local civil rights leaders celebrated as a minor victory.

A couple of weeks later, at the holiday party, Hugh received a gift from his supervisor: a red silk power tie, tied in the form of a noose. It was at that point that Hugh finally snapped at this obviously racist act, only to find out this was a common gift from this supervisor to all of the up and coming junior executives. Yeah, everybody remembers the time that Hugh over reacted at the holiday party. Can’t he take a joke?

Consider the Jena Six and know, the story just just read might not be true.

I Hear Your Mother Likes It Like This...

According to a study currently being conducted by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, an interesting side discovery is proving that one of the strongest audiences for spoken-word poetry is the 65+ demographic. Regular and special poetry events at various venues that successfully draw consistent audiences tend to have an average 26% representation of elderly poetry enthusiasts, despite the revitalization of the medium as a young, hip activity. Senior citizen centers and programs throughout the country remain among the most consistent performance and workshop venues for spoken-word as well.

Spoken-word events and venues re-emerged in popularity during the mid 1990’s, mirroring the spoken-word movements of the 1950’s and 1960’s. In 2001, record and comedy show mogul, Russell Simmons, introduced Def Poetry Jam as an HBO series and eventually a touring, Broadway show. According to sources at Def Jam, the audience for their television shows and live shows have a similar demographic as that being uncovered by the MCC.

These findings are consistent with my own experiences as a spoken-word artist/ venue host. Having recently experienced a number of performances and book signings, book-buying, name-dropping elders recall their days of seeing Allen Ginsberg, Gil Scott Heron, Amiri Baraka, Oscar Brown, Jr., or Bob Kaufman. Definitely good literary and oral traditional company to be in. One in particular, when the Talking Drum Poets had an Art-I-Gras gig one New Years Eve and played to a packed house of elderly folks. It turned out that most of them were fans of our cable show and wanted to see it live.

When you consider that the jazz poets and Beatniks would now be in their 70’s and 80’s; and the socio-political coffeehouse culture of the 1960’s and early 70’s are now be in their 50's and 60's, it makes sense. For example in June of 2006, The Whaling City Poetry Review hosted a special celebration of what would have been the 80^th birthday of legendary Beat poet, and cultural icon Allen Ginsberg, also celebrating the 50^th anniversary of the publication of his epic poem, “Howl.” This event drew a generational cross section of poets ranging in age from five to over 90. Contemporary poets and spoken-word artists have also noted that most of their venue-based book and CD sales are made to the 55 plus crowd. As a spoken-word, it makes me wonder what the rooms are going to look like thirty years from now.

He Seemed Like Such A Normal Guy, Says Neighbor of Paul

BARNSTABLE – It has been quite a week for Peter Paul, a 29 year-old roofer, accused of having an autosexual relationship with a Chevy. The quite life that he led has changed completely. His neighbors all avoid him and try to hide their cars when they see him coming. He is not allowed within 500 feet of any Chevrolet car dealership, and he comes home to find toy cars pinned to his front door each day. “He seems like such a normal guy.” Said one of Paul’s neighbors, “rather quite, kind of kept to himself. He used to like to wash his car behind the house.” One neighbor bristled with horror at a memory of the number of time he loaned his car to Paul to run errands. Each time, Paul brought the car back washed and vacuumed. “Probably hiding the evidence.” quipped another neighbor. There was a collective shudder as they recalled the time that Paul took a bus load of neighborhood kids to the go-kart track. “Who would have thought?” mused one woman. A warranted raid on Paul’s house, two days ago, revealed that Paul was a collector of niche car magazines and internet based photos of go-carts. He has not been formally charged with the new findings.