Rivoningo

More Cafe Gratitude pics

2007-06-29T13:12:00.000-07:00

Ok, this is the enchilada dish my friend Angela had. All of the plates (and the sign out front) ask..."What are you grateful for?" I love it!

Cafe Gratitude

2007-06-29T13:04:00.000-07:00

One of my absolute favorite places to eat is Cafe Gratitude. These pictures, taken with a new camera from my parents, speak for themselves....It is a delightful place (raw, organic) with the BOMB desserts. I swear I've had almost every one on the menu!

Hate Mail part 2

2007-05-24T08:06:00.000-07:00

Can you believe I have gotten more hate mail???? Check it out, this time with threats! Please pray for this person.

Dear Aliona:

You are a fraud and an opportunist. You are being forewarned to REMOVE
MY
PRIVILEGED AND CONFIDENTIAL EMAIL FROM YOUR WEBSITE. The following was
attached to the e-mail and it indicated that it is "NOT TO BE USED FOR
DISTRIBUTION, DISSEMINATION (ELECTRONIC OR WRITTEN)...WITHOUT THE
WRITTEN
CONSENT OF THE WRITER." What part of that did you NOT UNDERSTAND? If
you
do not remove it, I will pursue legal action against you for not
complying with my request. This was written to you personally. It figures that
you
are a two-faced, Janus-faced GERMini. Like germs, you spread your
hypocritical, infectuous, toxic waste in South Africa and now, in
AmeriKKKa.
Shame on you. But, people like you (i.e., those without a
conscience)
don't experience the emotion of "shame." In your criticism of South
Africans, I think Tupac's song "Wonda Why We Call You B***ch" aptly
applies
to black Americans like you!! If he had any consciousness, he should
have
entitled it: "Wonda Why We Call You N**ggas!" Why? Because you will
DO
ANYTHING TO MAKE A DOLLAR! [Even refer to your women/mothers, etc. as
"B**ches! With Marcus, Malcolm and Martin preaching to black
Americans, it
still has not helped them develop a conscious--they still have a
culture of
BETRAYAL. Kudos to MANDELA--he had a better group of Africans to work
with.
Even your scathing HATE MAIL cannot take away his glory!! I believe
your
anger is directed at South Africans because they did NOT accept your
lewd,
homosexual lifestyle as "normal." I cannot believe that you read the
book,
"Volunteer Slavery"--you are the female version of Juan Williams (a
snake
among sheep).

Govern yourself accordingly. I will check your webiste within 10 days.
If
it is not REMOVED, I will contact legal authorities.

Vehemently,
Rose

NOTE: PRIVILEGED AND CONFIDENTIAL: THE CONTENTS OF THIS RESPONSE IS NOT
TO
BE USED FOR DISTRIBUTION, DISSEMINATION (ELECTRONIC OR WRITTEN) OR FOR
PUBLICATION WITHOUT THE WRITTEN CONSENT OF THE WRITER. IT IS NOT TO BE
USED
FOR REPRINT OR PUBLICATION BY THE GLOBE NEWSPAPERS OR ALIONA GIBSON OR
ANY
OF ITS SUBSIDIARIES, AGENTS OR ASSIGNS WITH THE EXPRESS WRITTEN CONSENT
OF
THE AUTHOR.

Rewrites

2007-03-30T20:30:00.000-07:00

Everything that I have written to date needs to be rewritten, several times, so really I haven't even scratched the surface! Check it out...

Deep in the shed (four months later!)

2007-03-30T20:16:00.000-07:00

Back in 1989 or 1990 jazz pianist Marcus Roberts released an album called Deep in the Shed. Before going out on his own, he played with Wynton Marsalis. I never owned the album the title rings true for me-some 17 years later. I did own his inaugural album The Truth is Spoken Here which was amazing.

I am deep in the shed. It means to be deeply involved or engrossed in study or practice. For the past month I have been re-writing my travelogue on South Africa. I was in denial about having to re-do it. I should know better. Not only that, I am truly committed to becoming a better writer. If that means re-writing my 279 first draft (started in June 2005) then so be it. I actually faked on three people last weekend. I was in the zone. I hate doing that and didn’t’ do it on purpose but when it’s flowing like that, I need to take advantage.

That draft will serve as the way to get the book out of my head and onto paper. The version I am working on now is being crafted. Big difference. My editor introduced me to putting things in scene and told me to think of the book as a movie when I write. As a result, an incident that I wrote about in two or three paragraphs is now five pages. It’s a much more involved process and requires more skill and imagination. It is my attempt at putting the reader in the experience instead of just telling them about it. It’s a challenge and different from how I am used to writing but I believe it will make for a better book. I also realize that not everything that I am writing will end up in the book, its part of the process (like the first draft) of getting to the ones that will be used.

So far I have written thirty-five scenes ranging from two or three pages to ten. I knew I was nowhere near being done but didn’t know exactly how much more I have to write until last night. I am a list keeper so I had a bunch of pieces of paper with lists of things that need to be re-done in scene. I put them all on one piece of paper and its forty-one incidents/events. It sounds overwhelming but not only can I do it, I WILL do it. I am committed.

I now realize that I must have been smoking crack to think I would be able to make my initial deadline. For now, I am just going to write my heart out. Of course everything I have written thus far (approx. a hundred and sixty pages) is a first draft and will need to be revised many times over.

In the meantime, check out Flowers of the Nation by Sandile Memela. Fred Khumalo’s novel Bitches Brew is supposed to be available on April 1st. If his fiction is as good as his nonfiction, you are in for a treat. His memoir Touch My Blood was off the hook. Loved it. I don’t think you can get it here but try, you won’t regret it.

My new stuff

2007-02-26T18:50:00.000-08:00

Just today I have started working, seriously on my book. But before today I started doing collages. I like it. Fun but really me procrastinating. I was inspired by a profile of someone for black history month. The profile included a wall filled with old family photos...well, that was my summer project...to organize, digitize and frame my old family photos. It never happened. I am still going to do it. This is a picture circa 1945 of my Uncle Buddy and Toot. He was my grandmothers younger brother and she was the daughter of my grandmothers older sister Aunt O.T. I have a fabulous picture of her too. I pasted colored tissue paper to this photo. I am not finished with it...it needs something else but I haven't figured out what yet....

Update...

2006-11-17T13:34:00.000-08:00

Well folks I am in the thick of it, sort of...I have this really great editor, Lea Aschkenas, going thru my first draft of the travelogue on South Africa. She is very thorough and I consider her a good writer (I read her book Es Cuba, loved it!). I guess I won't REALLY be in the "thick of it" until I get it back from her and start re-writing based on her editorial input. In the meantime, you all can be looking for Touch My Blood by Fred Khumalo (published by Umuzi, a division of Random House). It is an awesome book. HIGHLY recommend that you get your hands on a copy. Please try and find this book, it will be SO worth it. When I have time to figure it out. I will post the cover of both of these books. They are great.

Aliona, Woody and Shiree at Pro Arts-Nov. 2006

2006-11-17T13:30:00.000-08:00

Getting serious!

2006-08-30T15:12:00.000-07:00

O.k. now I am getting serious about my writing. I have been lagging for months and making up excuses but now it's time, finally. Writing is hard and scary. Hard because I think I tend to be so critical and hard on myself. Scary in that telling the truth and being really honest is always a difficult thing. I am really ready to dive in...actually I have been working on it for about six weeks now. I mean, seriously working on it. My laptop was about to die, of course, right when I decide to get serious. I freaked out and took it to Ray who is fixing it for me. I nearly had a panic attack when I thought I was going to have to buy a new one. Here is an interesting story about the way things work out. For those who don't know, this book I am working on is a travelogue about my time in South Africa. I have never written a travel anything, how I came up with the idea to do a travelogue is still a mystery to me...I was contemplating paying six hundred and thirty five dollars to go to a Travel Writers conference in Corte Madera. It looked like exactly what I need but the classes were only two or three hours long. Corte Madera is far and hard to get to so I would have had to stay in a hotel for three or four nights. Anyway, I couldn't decide whether or not I should go....I decided not to but wasn't sure I had made the right decision...I was like "hell, I have a two hundred and fifty page manuscript to work with, a two hour course won't even scratch the surface". So I decided not to go but the same day I decided not to go I got an email from my writing mentor/role model Evelyn C. White asking if I wanted to attend a writing retreat she's doing at Mills College in Oakland! I told her yes and she emailed me back that it will be free. So I held out and got something that was more along the lines of what I should be looking for...something small and that focuses on the writing, not a wine and cheese social event like what was going to be taking place in Corte Madera. If I wasn't planning to self publish my book maybe it would have been in my best interest to go to Book Passages Travel Writing Conference. I saw a testemonial from Elliott Hester on the site. He is a flight attendant turned travel writer who has a couple of books out. Check him out at www.elliotthester.com

So, anyway, wish me luck. I am about to really, for real, get busy on my book. I have a Sept. 15th deadline to have a first draft to a new editor whose book on Cuba I really, really loved. I will post more on her when I am sure we will be working together. I have been saving diligently for this book and it's going to be the BOMB-diggity!!!!!!! I am very excited about it. Ok, that's it for now.

Award nomination!!!!!!!!!!!!

2006-06-16T12:18:00.000-07:00

I know that I am a work in progress. I have a good idea of some of my issues and what I need to work on in order to become a better person. I was reminded of one of them when I got an email from the San Francisco Black Film Festival a few weeks ago about the award finalists. I submitted my short documentary Head Designs for the festival. Several months later when I got this email about finalists for the Melvin Van Peebles Awards I almost deleted it. Something inside told me to look at the email. I was SO molded when my name was on it under the Best Short Documentary catagory. What a trip. It's my first effort making a video and I LOVE my video and am very proud of it but somehow didn't think I could be nominated for an award. Negative thinking. It's a shame. I need to work on having a more positive attitude. Or at least looking at the big picture. Hell, I just wanted to get into the festival...the award part never even entered my mind....and just like that, I am an award-nominated director! My first short is a competition finalist!

Seeing the video on a large screen and with a few people I didn't know was fun and exiciting. I look forward to more festivals. I have submitted to Oakland International, Mad Cat Women's and the Martha's Vineyard African American Film Festivals. Will keep you posted. For now though, I am trying REALLY hard to work on my travelogue. I want to be going to press sometime late this summer....will keep you posted.

Hate mail...

2006-04-24T15:34:00.000-07:00

I received the following message on Friday last week. Just wanted to share it with all of you. It was in response to my piece on the Museum of the African Diaspora website (www.iveknownrivers.com) and the Great Black South Africans poster article which appeared in the Globe newspaper a few weeks ago. Check it out:

NOTE: PRIVILEGED AND CONFIDENTIAL: THE CONTENTS OF THIS RESPONSE IS NOT TO BE USED FOR DISTRIBUTION, DISSEMINATION (ELECTRONIC OR WRITTEN) OR FOR PUBLICATION WITHOUT THE WRITTEN CONSENT OF THE WRITER. IT IS NOT TO BE USED FOR REPRINT OR PUBLICATION BY THE GLOBE NEWSPAPERS OR ALIONA GIBSON OR ANY OF ITS SUBSIDIARIES, AGENTS OR ASSIGNS WITH THE EXPRESS WRITTEN CONSENT OF THE AUTHOR.

REPONSE TO THE ALIONA GIBSON ARTICLE (Apr. 5-11, 2006 ed.)—NOT FOR PUBLICATION

This letter is in response to the Aliona Gibson (Gibson) article entitled: “Oakland Author A.G. highlights South African Leaders in Poster Project.” Gibson’s arrogance and ignorance combined was both shocking and appalling. Before I sat to write this critique, I went to both her websites just so that I could have a balanced explication of the facts before writing from my anger. After I read her bio and accompanying articles, I was livid.

First, I was born in South Africa, but grew up in the U.S. under de facto segregation in the Midwest. The so-called “African” Americans like Gibson now have the audacity to go to Africa just like the so-called white “Christian” missionaries with the arrogant ASSumption that they can “teach” Africans about history, Jesus Christ, culture, etc. Gibson is just as hypocritical in believing that she can educate South Africans about their own history! I think Africans should force these “whites posing as black people” (read: oreos, weave-wearing, blond-hair-dying, welfare-receiving, crack-smokin’, illegitimate-baby-having, prison-bound, highly-paid-uneducated-rappers-callin’-women-bitches-hoes-n’ niggahs-and ‘ah-ain’t-no-african’ 21st Century slaves) to stop using the word “African” to describe something that has been spawned in America’s cesspools of immorality, lewdness, lasciviousness, violence and decay, etc. Behind your backs, Africans have no respect for black folks because they know that they’re ashamed to be African (what is Tiger Woods? a Cau-blasian; he put the “Cau” first, not a “Bla-causian”).

Second, Gibson was quoted as saying that (and I’m not surprised that an AmeriKKKan/Eurocentric spawned “nigger” newspaper would put such a disrespectful quote in its “rag”): “…it’s as if Nelson Mandela is the only black person who has contributed greatly to S.A.” In AmeriKKKa, you had Marcus, Malcolm AND Martin and you’re still the equivalent of a Churches-2-piece-and-a-biscuit-type race looking for more free gov’ment cheese. None of their teaching took effect because, even though black people comprise less than 13% of the population, you still buy more fake hair weaves to have “bone-strait” European hair, hair dyes, $200 tennis shoes, homes you can’t afford, fancy cars that get repossessed, and you commit proportionately more crimes. Proportionately, more black women are on welfare, more black men and women are either homeless or in prison, and you have a high infant mortality rate in your country!! But Gibson (and she IS UGLY) and your “rag” has the audacity to criticize S.A. when white supremacy and colonization (especially here in the Bay area where almost every black person wants to be anything but African) is at its zenith. Gibson, like those arrogant white “missionaries” think that they came from a civilized society here in AmeriKKKa.

Third, your West African ancestors sold you into slavery. That’s why West Africans (who other Africans think are ugly, inside and out) are NOT respected by East, South and North Africans. They still have a culture of betrayal, stealing, violence toward each other and criminality. Blacks in AmeriKKKa are in denial—the white man couldn’t go into Africa and get all those slaves by himself. A Yoruba once told me that the white man approached them first, but he was too much of a liar to tell me the whole story. The white man came to them because they (and the Fon) were known as “slave raiders and traders.” This they did for profit. When black folks start asking for reparations, they had better ask for some reparations from the Nigerians and other West Africans that helped that white “kidnapper.” They should reap some of the profits from tourism garnered from visits to Gouree Island.
Gibson is perpetrating as a peace-loving “missionary” to Africa, but she’s as delusional, ignorant and arrogant as the white “missionaries” that went before her. They were all trying to get a “piece” either from those beautiful African women, men, little girls or boys (promiscuous perverts, pedophiles, and propagandists posing as peace-loving missionaries and “Christians”). Now, like her slave raiding/trading ancestors, she’s trying to “pimp” her experience in S.A. for profit to black folks who are too dumb to even find the continent of Africa on a map, but they call themselves “African!” They don’t even know it’s a continent of nation states, they think it’s a country. Besides Nelson Mandela, they couldn’t even tell you anything about Patrice Lumumba, Stephen Biko, Robert Mugabe, Walter Sisilu, Kwame Nkrhuma (sp?), Ras Tafari, Ras Menelik, or any other revered Africans. “If de white man says dey bad, dey mus’ be bad—dey don’ done som’thin. Ah ain’t goin’ to Af-fri-kay, dey ain’t don’ nuthin’ fo’ me. If de white man don’ kilt dem, dey musta done som’thin’ wrong—like eatin’ or killin’ each other ova dere.’” The truth is, Africans don’t trust black AmeriKKKans anymore than they trust white folks, because they are “cut from the same cloth.” Many black folks like Gibson denigrate Malcolm’s legacy by getting “paid or laid” by any means necessary.

Fourth, beauty has more to do with symmetry in one’s face. Gibson is ugly, and by looking at her, I wouldn’t trust her around my little girls (or boys). A picture is worth a thousand words, and she has a sinister, evil smile “pasted” on her face. Africans don’t believe people with fake “white folks’ smiles.” It looks like it hurts them to smile—that’s why they called her ugly—she’s ugly from the inside out. For the newspaper picture, she didn’t even try to “fix herself up.” Beauty comes from within, therefore, Gibson is like the low-class, ghetto black rapper who’s getting paid to denigrate other decent Africans and disseminate white folks’ propaganda. White folks have already “funded” her—that’s why she was chosen by the Peace Corps. Gibson needs to take her collage to East or West Oakland where, besides Martin Luther King, they don’t know anything about Harriet Tubman, Ida B. Wells, Rosa Parks, Mary McLeod Bethune, Joycelyn Elders, Shirley Chisholm, Eleanor Norton Holmes, Betty Shabazz, etc. You would think that Martin Luther King was the only one who fought for civil rights over here. How dare she imply that South Africans don’t know their own history, that’s how I found out about the famed South African civil rights Attorney Victoria Ngaye (sp?). Unlike blacks in AmeriKKKa, at least the S.A.’s were PAID for the work they did for white folks—these blacks worked free for over 300 years. What’s even more galling is that the blacks in the South are so ignorant, they stayed in the South under Jim Crow even when they could have “gon’ up North!” Who in Africa could such historically illiterate AmeriKKKan-made niggers like Gibson and Gates teach? Gates is a well-paid “handkerchief head” history professor. Like your so-called hero Frederick Douglass, Gates got his “freedom” and “da furst thang ah did was get me a white woman; den ah sho’ nuff hadta get me a Cadillac.”

Like Gibson, I had an interest in going to S.A. through the Peace Corps. When I attended a recruiting meeting in Atlanta, they said that a “volunteer’s purpose is to give a positive picture of AmeriKKKa—you’re not allowed to say negative things about AmeriKKKa.” Well, I lost interest right then and there, because I refuse to let white folks censor my opinions and experiences as an African woman in the most racist and sexist country in the world across the oceans. White folks know their type of niggers; they like niggers and 21st Century slaves like Gibson and her Mo’Hous friend (and rappers), and will pay them millions to steal, kill and destroy cultures, lives and morality in true Africans. They’re the monsters that Dr. Frankenstein created (pun intended). I’ve had three S.A. acquaintances who couldn’t wait to leave AmeriKKKa to go back to Johannesburg, Zimbabwe and Cape Town. Is Africa utopic? NO, but I’m going back because I’m sick and tired of (1) niggers like Gibson (2) her arrogant white counterparts treating me like a third class nigger, instead of a first class citizen (3) the ravages of capitalist oppression. I refuse to be a “paid-for” slave like Gibson. I’d rather be treated like a stranger/foreigner in Africa than to be treated like a slave/nigger in AmeriKKKa. Forget the Peace Corps, I’m going on “my own dime.”

Richard Pryor was right, “there aren’t any niggers in Africa,” they’re mainly in AmeriKKKa. The bad Africans want to come here so that they will not be held accountable for their lying, cheating, stealing, whoring (adultery), homosexuality, and betrayal. They can even get away with murder and rape (O.J. and Kobe, or any other N.B.A. or N.F.L. black athlete with money and a crook for a lawyer). Now, what exactly can Gibson or any black AmeriKKKan (especially from Morehomos a/k/a Morehouse) teach AFRICANS? I fully understand why the S.A. principal doesn’t want something that looks like Gibson to be in his school—he’s concerned about the immorality and ignorance she might spread faster than AIDS to little innocent African children. It’s a testament to African hospitality because, even if I had a house, I wouldn’t let something like Gibson live with me (esp. if I had children).

Most Africans, even though they’re considered “third world” by black Europeans like Gibson are better educated that black AmeriKKKans who won’t even finish free public high school. Blacks are the “flip side” of the white coin—they’re clones who have sold and lost their souls to Satan. On Gibson’s website she had the audacity to say that her “mother didn’t want her to go to S.A., but to another West African country.” South Africans would have been better off not to have her or her “mammy” over there. She would fit in better with the ugly Nigerians. Then she could join in their cheating, lying and pimping of their wives and children. Xhoisans, Zulus and Ghanians are prettier; so are Ethiopians, Somalians, Eritreans, Yemenis, Moroccans, Libyans, Malians, Maasai, etc. Some of that darkness and ugliness exemplified in Gibson and her West African ancestors is caused by inner darkness, evil and bad in- breeding between brothers and sisters. Unlike most blacks here, most Africans are tribal and don’t believe in miscegenation (blood mixing) even with other African tribes. Gibson would be too ignorant to accept such a tribal/cultural notion being from the Bay area where “everyone loves anything that’s “light, bright or close to white.” Being “whiter-than-white” is the Bay area’s black person’s color and culture of choice. While Gibson faults S.A.’s, she fails to see why they didn’t like her—if I saw her stranded on an Oakland highway, I wouldn’t pick her up either—even if she were wrapped from head-to-toe in $100 bills. It’s obvious that her mama taught her well how to be stupid.

In fact, Gibson reminds me of the typical black dyke from the Bay area—I’m sure she says the same as most of them: “Ah loves me some white womens.” In S.A., both thoughts are an abomination, but to Gibson, I’m sure that’s why she didn’t like it over there (things are not always as they appear). South Africans or any Africans wouldn’t countenance such flagrant behavior publicly. AmeriKKKans like Gibson need to keep their trashy morals over here—quit trying to spread their garbage around the world to so-called “third” world countries (even though they were “first” world countries before the white man stole everything from their civilizations and started the “third world” lie). She reminds me of Henry Louis Gates when he made a PBS documentary about his family’s journey to Africa. It was absolutely insulting and astounding that he would take his white wife and their children to Ghana and not be able to notice the shock registered on the faces of the Africans.

Most Africans consider themselves superior to white folks morally, intellectually, spiritually, etc. (they also feel the same way about black AmeriKKKans). To date or marry a white peson is an abomination. Gates like Gibson, as brainwashed niggers from AmeriKKKa (esp. project, ghetto and country Southern niggers with very low self-esteem are usually the ones who do that sort of thing to “move up” in stature) are totally oblivious to the fact that real Africans can “read between the lines” and tell “real shit from bullshit.” Gibson’s article and her “experiences” in S.A. are bullshit to the third power. It’s basically ghetto, low-class “nigger shit” perpetrating as an “authentic African experience.” Africans don’t want unrighteous people like her in Africa—I’d rather deal with a white snake if I’m going to get bit—at least I can see him coming. Black snakes like Gibson and those of her ilk will get real close, pretend to be “one of the tribe” and then bite you.

George Clinton’s film (Cosmic Slop?) about what would happen if blacks left AmeriKKKa en masse is equivalent to them returning to Africa. White folks don’t want that so they have niggers like Gibson and rags like the Globe perpetuating anti-African propaganda. Remaining here is like a battered wife staying with her wife-beating husband because he pays the bills and “we have a nice house and car.” Finally, only low-class, immoral, simple-minded, uneducated and ignorant Africans would “look up” to blacks in AmeriKKKa. There’s nothing to emulate even in the so-called “best” of them. Most are highly-paid slaves who will sell their souls for a little bit of this world’s success (Clarence “Uncle” sThomp-us, Justice Leah “Lynch-em-high” Sears, “Conda-sleazy” Rice, “Colon” Powell, “Psycho” Ward CONnerly, Ken “pimp-daddy” Hamblin, Master P and all the sell-out ghetto drug-dealing [c]rappers). The immorality of blacks here has gotten just as bad as white folks’ immorality. We’re doing it all and won’t even be ashamed of any of it. Of all things, you put this trash in the “Education” section of your newspaper. Shame, shame, shame. I wonder how much “y’all” are getting paid to spread this propaganda as widely as a whore can spread her legs. After 400 years in AmeriKKKa, do you see any black faces on our money? We don’t even have a “Chinatown” area or a concentration of black-owned businesses like on Fruitvale. Why? Because jealous, insecure, immoral, lying, cheating and stealing people can’t form productive relationships with each other—the black community like Gibson/Globe has a morality problem that was manifested in the DNA (dem no-good ancestors). You betray even an integral part of yourself: your Africanness. How many Irishmen would go to Ireland and come back “trashing” it? Have you heard of any Italians, Englishmen, Swedes or Frenchmen trashing their native countries? NO!! That’s something especially reserved for niggers like Gibson, Gates and the Globe. It’s a nigger thang; as an African, I can’t understand it. Are there savages in Africa? Yes, but that’s because they choose to remain so. That’s between them and GOD.

Gibson, keep that false arrogance contained within the U.S. Please, don’t go back to Africa, they probably are glad you left. I’ll take your place and I will be proud to speak the language with MY PEOPLE. They are NOT your peeps—stay in your low class: you’re West African. We’re tribal—that’s OUR prerogative!! Keep your Western sentiments to yourself and out of Africa—you’re uncivilized and immoral in your so-called “first” world “civilization.” Africans treat black AmeriKKKans just like blacks treat whites; they are too polite to discuss certain things in mixed company. Most blacks here have lost their souls and they are cursed because their ancestors betrayed their brothers; they are also cursed because of their idolatrous, evil ways (from a spiritual standpoint, that’s why you were put in slavery—you still practice voodoo and haven’t learned your lesson YET). The fact that you think that because you’re from the U.S. that you can educate Africans is, in itself, a sardonic joke! That’s like an Irish potato farmer trying to tell George Washington Carver how to cultivate a crop to avoid a famine. Keep your mess and messed-up, psychotic mind OUT OF AFRICA. I know Africans who are so educated, they could send you back into your mother’s womb and have you coming out looking as pretty as Lauren Hill instead of M’Shell Ndeglecello (sp?) with hair or Whoopie Goldberg without dreads. They’re ugly too and ugliness is to the soul—stay out of Africa, especially South Africa. We don’t take insults lightly, so please take this in the spirit of vitriol for which it is meant.

With South African pride,

Rose Izazi James, J.D.
roseizazijames1@ hotmail.com

cc: The Globe (via e-mail)

P.S. In the same edition, there are pictures of Wandra Boyd and Mo’Nique (a/k/a Mo’Niqqer--who are ugly) and Desley Brooks, Damien Key and Rep. Barbara Lee (who are pretty—take a tip from these people as to how you should look when presenting yourself in the printed media).

NOTE: PRIVILEGED AND CONFIDENTIAL: THE CONTENTS OF THIS RESPONSE ARE NOT TO BE USED FOR DISTRIBUTION, DISSEMINATION (ELECTRONIC OR WRITTEN) OR FOR PUBLICATION WITHOUT THE WRITTEN CONSENT OF THE WRITER. IT IS NOT TO BE USED FOR REPRINT OR PUBLICATION BY THE GLOBE NEWSPAPERS OR ALIONA GIBSON OR ANY OF ITS SUBSIDIARIES, AGENTS OR ASSIGNS WITH THE EXPRESS WRITTEN CONSENT OF THE AUTHOR.

Making progress

2006-02-10T09:14:00.000-08:00

I am happy to announce that I feel like I am FINALLY making progress on some of my projects. I have my website up and I LOVE it. Aswan really hooked me up.If you need a good web designer, let me know I will put you in touch with her. It's so funny, she was at my house showing me some of what she had done and my mother came over...turns out they know each other!!! I didn't know it and Aswan didn't know why my mom looked so familiar to her...they had travelled in Egypt together in 1988! Small world. So I am in the process of mailing out complimentary copies of the poster. Last week I sent out press releases to local media. I am sending to Randall Robinson and Henry Louis Gates today. I tried to send one to Oprah but she doesn't take unsolicited mail! Not to worrry, I have folks who are connected (I ain't connected but I have folks who are) who can see that she gets a copy, I hope. Check out the website...now I need to finish Head Designs and stop avoiding my South African travelogue. Still no pics on the MoAD site. I have been waiting for over two months...have sent them three times! I am spending a small fortune on postage but I don't care... this is the fun part...sending them out so others can see this beautiful project. Next....I have to get it to my schools and peeps in Acornhoek!

Still trying & waiting...

2006-01-18T15:00:00.000-08:00

Ok, it's been a while since my last post and you would not believe all of the DRAMA I have been through with this poster. I swear, I felt like I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. I don't see what the big freakin' deal is. Ok, this is what had happened: I tried to support my peeps and use a Black-owned printer but they didn't have the necessary equipment to do the job but didn't tell me that until AFTER they tried to jip me. Not only did they go up on the price by two hundred dollars (which, by the way, I brushed off and accepted just to see the damn thing done!)they told me I had more than five hundred (the number I ordered)...well, I counted (didn't want to, trust me) and there were only 384 posters! But even worse than that, they looked NOTHING like the proof I had approved. Long story short, they knew they were wrong and just gave me all my money back. I was all prepared to go to small claims court. It was an awful experience. So now I go to another company (which is not Black-owned but was recommended to me from the very beginning) and I approve a proof that had a word missing in Winnie Mandela's bio. I didn't examine the whole poster, just the graphic changes we had discussed. Long story short: I had to speak to the CEO of the company and now I will have five hundred done correctly and five hundred "complimentary proofs". Thanks to my girl Angela Winn for that idea. It's cool because they look great still and I can now afford to be more generous in giving them away to folks in Acornhoek. What a nightmare this has been. I am SO tired and worn out. But now I have a due date of 1/19/2006 on my account which is tomorrow. So I hope they will be FINALLY done and ready to be picked up. It will be so worth it. The poster is beautiful and makes me feel proud for seeing it through. Ok, sorry for the boring message. One day I will learn how to post images. Thanks for reading and stay tuned....

I saw the PROOF!!!!!!!!

2005-12-07T16:41:00.000-08:00

I cannot believe it. Yesterday I actually saw the proof to what will be the first edition copy of the Great Black South Africans poster. I don't know why this has been such an ordeal...well, I do but that's neither here nor there at this point. I just need to DO IT...get it DONE. It's almost there. I am scheduled to pick them up on the 16th of this month. Can't wait. It looks FABULOUS. Once again I am singing Michaels praises. He really hooked it up. I sent a letter to the Museum of the African Diapsora about having it for sale in the museum store. We'll see. It would be great. But if no, that's cool too. I am sure I will move them on my own. Speaking of MoAD, a piece I wrote was accepted on to their story project website. Check it out www.iveknownrivers.com (I am in the movement section). Also, check out my friend Cedrics piece on Brazil. He is an awesome writer/performer. My website is going to be up in a bit. I just did the "coming soon" thingie. It's boring but I hope to have it up and running soon. www.alionagibson.com

Had a really nice day hanging out with Sheila Head (the brave subject of my first documentary project-coming soon also!) She is a dear friend and has really been an inspiration to me. Check out her site at www.headdesigns.com The video I have produced about her will be about her passion for her "day job", a luxury for most folks I know. That's all for now. Next time, I hope to be writing that I mailed out complimentary copies of the poster and sent some to Acornhoek!

Getting ready for the printer!

2005-11-16T11:41:00.000-08:00

Well, this was supposed to be happening last week but it's o.k., it's happening now. My graphic designer is going to overnight the new, revised edition of the Great Black South Africans poster to me this Friday. Next week I will deliver it to the printer in West Oakland and begin my countdown. Michael Jenkins did the design and layout for the poster and it looks FABULOUS! He is a very talented and wonderful young man. He was my closest volunteer in Acornhoek during those two years in South Africa. I swear, if he wasn't near me....I am not sure I woudla made it for two years. Michael is now a recruiter for Peace Corps in Atlanta. Check out the Peace Corps website, it's pretty cool. www.peacecorps.gov They also have a Peace Corps writers website www.peacecorpswriters.org if you search by country you can see me under South Africa with links for both books (not to my website-coming soon-but to amazon)
That's all for now.

Getting Started....

2005-11-04T09:26:00.000-08:00

Well....I can't believe I am FINALLY on this site and into my account. Too many damn passwords and usernames for me to remember! I swear. I try to use the same password for everything but somehow it doesn't work. Then I end up forgetting them. Think about it. How many pin numbers and passwords do we have these days? SHIT I was about to give up on blogging. I was just on this site last night! Somehow between then and now, I forgot what I used to sign on...anyway, I am a little slow with all this digital stuff so I am testing this out. I am getting ready to set up a website for my many projects (two of which I hope to have done by the end of the year). The one near and dear to my heart, actually they both are but Great Black South Africans has been five years in the making. FIVE freakin' years. Can you believe that? It's longer than most relatonships I've had! I am planning to publish a short run of the beautiful poster by years end. I have sent draft copies to Alfre Woodard, Charlayne Hunter-Gault, the lady at the South African embassy in Los Angeles, Chris Gardner (a former homeless man now millionaire whose life story is being made into a movie called "The Pursuit of Happyness" starring Will Smith, Ave Montague (publicist extraordinare in sfo), Belva Davis at the soon-to-be-open Museum of the African Diaspora (www.moadsf.org) and several others who I can't think of right now...anyway, I am trying to get the word out about it, publish it and get it back to South Africa where is rightfully belongs...I will keep you posted.