A Seat At The Kounter
The Miseducation of the Negro.
MENTAL HEALTH MATTERS.
“The Black plays do well.”
A Lupe Fiasco track.
MODES OF CHANGE: The distance between talking and changing is either radical or evolutionary. A looong time ago, Dr. Carter G. Woodson had said that the American education system was insufficient for “Blacks”. He also said that whenever learning did occur we should bring that knowledge back to the community.
Seriously? “Black” boys don’t read? JAMES BALDWIN? ROBERT TOWNSEND? RICHARD WRIGHT? AUGUST WILSON? AMIRI BARAKA? DONALD GOINES? OMAR TYREE? TUPAC? MLK? LANGSTON? GIL? Some of the greatest writers were “Black” boys.
EDUCATOR: Book fairs and/or a drama club may be the answer.
COMMUNITY: We need more spaces for play. A whole heap of smart people agree that play is vital to our wellness and development. Believe-it-or-not, I find a way to play at least once a day, every day. On miserable days, twice a day. A lot of days all day. EMPLOYER: Every job I ever liked had a healthy degree of play. Imagine, some employers got places to play, but no playing. CITY PLANNER: We are in the midst of an industrial revolution. Build everything. Start with negro and cabaret playhouses, and parks for wallowing.
MENTAL HEALTH MATTERS: Play can have the same health benefits for adults as it does for children. At the Sumter Little Theatre a fella said that he found community, passion, direction, and his talent at his first audition. Sheeeeesh! If running, jumping, climbing, watching, acting, staging, promoting, or funding theatre is your jam-SLT is looking for you.
MORE EVIDENCE OF LOCAL FOLKS DOING COOL SHIT: Last night, a local celebrity band, PLAIR, plaaayed a set at Kounter, the site of The Friendship 9 (1961) sit-in. An evolutionary moment-from “can’t sit here” to hosting a Blues and Jazz Festival.
How much further do we have to go?
ON THE INTERNET they are saying “we will rent everything and own nothing”. A skip into the future-negroes is now sitting in rooms, standing on tables, speaking, and taking notes on pocket computers. Is it time to be a little radical? Have we come far enough to ask for the building? How about the ones not being used?
Consider what a nice lady said about community engagement in the arts-“The Black plays do really well.” In the midst of theatre’s revival, there needs to be greater emphasis on “Black” theatre and theatre as an alternative education/wellness strategy. NOT in a “Blacks Only” kinda way, but in an ownership and curation kinda way. “Look, another abandoned building.”
STORYTELLER: “Remember that your future is somebody else’s past.” Life experience is the secret sauce. You gotta get out there and mix it up. Til then, there’s a vault of abandoned/untold/unfilmed local stories to choose from. When history moves forward the challenge becomes-how to tell a new old story.
“Playing more than you’re working is - TherapeuticLiving.”