Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Sunday Up In Harlem
I wanted to complain about my weekend…you now, ‘cause that’s just what I do.
Even if it was some half way shit…Sunday made it all whole. I could have done without Friday and Saturday…wait…let me think…Saturday? Saturday was general conversation with the Little Jamaican who stopped by just to talk writing. Saturday eve had me surrounded by the spoken word, hosted by Organized Noise, in the presence of CAPCity, BGood and LoveBabz, with the protégé of Smooth.
But Sat night…well damn…now, I am not all the way clear on what had happened. I do know that 2 glasses of wine, 4 shots of patron and one vodka and cran later… I have no fucking idea how I made it up the brownstone steps, didn’t call any miscellaneous dick to come fondle my love bud, put jammas’ on and not wake up throwing up my guts from a hang over.
Sunday morning…Immean, Sunday afternoon…I was laid across my bed…PJ’s on the right way… not backwards as they sometimes have been…one foot hanging over the edge and head and arms hanging over the opposite side. I knew it was past time for me to be at church…and the way my body was marinating in Patron…no way I was going to sit up next to sista so-n-so smelling of stale alcohol and the faint essence of someone’s blunt still crawling through my strands of hair.
I rolled myself over to look at the clock with one eye open...and oh shit...It’s 1:20 in the afternoon…and I have got to be somewhere by 2:30… How I manage a shower, iron clothes, fix hair and apply some make-up and get out the house in a taxi by 2:15 I’m not sure…but 2:32, I am ringing the gate; the door; the doorbell to my final destination with blood shot eyes, looking more beautiful than I felt with my feet squeezed into brand new shoes…
Who have I become?
For the day…I was that chick.
Basking in all that Harlem used to be.
Feeling like this is how Miles got down. How James Baldwin, W.E.B., Ma Rainy, Zora Lee and Langston must have felt when they’d have their black collaborative get-togethers. I am on 116th at this man’s penthouse taking in the sounds of Miles as he tells me about his book Miles & Me being made into a movie… 35 of us congregated together...and I just sat back and listened to the quiet murmurs of black authors and activist, mentors and journalist talk shop and talk nice. We listened to Susan L. Taylor, her encouraging words as she answered our questions…and listened to her soft voice that touched my spirit. I am in a room full of talent and when I say talent…
I think I was the only one there who didn’t know anyone. I showed up at 2:30 but event wasn’t suppose to start until 3…so I am first…and early…hung over…but I am taking it all in and the ambiance is almost more than I can handle because…it just feels like I could have been living my life back then…
I could have been a part of that Harlem Renaissance… right here, right now, that day.
Even if it was some half way shit…Sunday made it all whole. I could have done without Friday and Saturday…wait…let me think…Saturday? Saturday was general conversation with the Little Jamaican who stopped by just to talk writing. Saturday eve had me surrounded by the spoken word, hosted by Organized Noise, in the presence of CAPCity, BGood and LoveBabz, with the protégé of Smooth.
But Sat night…well damn…now, I am not all the way clear on what had happened. I do know that 2 glasses of wine, 4 shots of patron and one vodka and cran later… I have no fucking idea how I made it up the brownstone steps, didn’t call any miscellaneous dick to come fondle my love bud, put jammas’ on and not wake up throwing up my guts from a hang over.
Sunday morning…Immean, Sunday afternoon…I was laid across my bed…PJ’s on the right way… not backwards as they sometimes have been…one foot hanging over the edge and head and arms hanging over the opposite side. I knew it was past time for me to be at church…and the way my body was marinating in Patron…no way I was going to sit up next to sista so-n-so smelling of stale alcohol and the faint essence of someone’s blunt still crawling through my strands of hair.
I rolled myself over to look at the clock with one eye open...and oh shit...It’s 1:20 in the afternoon…and I have got to be somewhere by 2:30… How I manage a shower, iron clothes, fix hair and apply some make-up and get out the house in a taxi by 2:15 I’m not sure…but 2:32, I am ringing the gate; the door; the doorbell to my final destination with blood shot eyes, looking more beautiful than I felt with my feet squeezed into brand new shoes…
Who have I become?
For the day…I was that chick.
Basking in all that Harlem used to be.
Feeling like this is how Miles got down. How James Baldwin, W.E.B., Ma Rainy, Zora Lee and Langston must have felt when they’d have their black collaborative get-togethers. I am on 116th at this man’s penthouse taking in the sounds of Miles as he tells me about his book Miles & Me being made into a movie… 35 of us congregated together...and I just sat back and listened to the quiet murmurs of black authors and activist, mentors and journalist talk shop and talk nice. We listened to Susan L. Taylor, her encouraging words as she answered our questions…and listened to her soft voice that touched my spirit. I am in a room full of talent and when I say talent…
...it’s still not just talent…
it’s vision, it’s hope, it’s a call to action, it’s all those things that make up the reasons we are drawn to that black man running for President…it’s here in this place too and I am surrounded by the positive, sitting in one of the most famous and oldest apartment buildings in Harlem; Graham Court…on a nice summer afternoon as it lightly rains, bringing that summer rain smell as we discuss SLT’s book and about mentoring our young black children.
I think I was the only one there who didn’t know anyone. I showed up at 2:30 but event wasn’t suppose to start until 3…so I am first…and early…hung over…but I am taking it all in and the ambiance is almost more than I can handle because…it just feels like I could have been living my life back then…
I could have been a part of that Harlem Renaissance… right here, right now, that day. Seemed like everyone there had written a book, was writing a book, had had a book made into a movie…and here I was…little ol’ me…writing my blog. Not even the kind of blog that you can tell people about…
I need to stop being so personal!
I was inspired to act, to move, to just do something other than what I have been doing…and because of that…I opened up.
This morning, I opened my email and I had 4 emails from people I had met… it wasn’t just lip service… they wanted to encourage me.
This is the second time I have been encouraged to move outside myself to make something of myself. I passed on the chance with Si..mon 'N Sch..uster last year…but it’d be 10 times foolish to pass on another, but quite different, opportunity again.
Easy, breezy, cool up in Harlem.
I need to stop being so personal!
I was inspired to act, to move, to just do something other than what I have been doing…and because of that…I opened up.
This morning, I opened my email and I had 4 emails from people I had met… it wasn’t just lip service… they wanted to encourage me.
This is the second time I have been encouraged to move outside myself to make something of myself. I passed on the chance with Si..mon 'N Sch..uster last year…but it’d be 10 times foolish to pass on another, but quite different, opportunity again.
Easy, breezy, cool up in Harlem.
# posted by Blah Blah Blah : 2:33 AM
Sumptin To Say:
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Wow, I had forgotten one of the benefits of being in New York are the amount of educational, literary or artistic groups around that give encouragement or share and express ideas, or are just there making an environment where people can be people and not automatons.
It was sooo cool to meetcha, Sis! u r too funny in your comment over at Babz's spot about being a bitch to me last year. Gurl, i let u jaded ny'ers roll off my back! Like the fact that I had to laugh at the NO LOVE intro i got when i heard crickets since i'm not "reprezentin' NYC" LOL!
i was feelin' my two martinis, several beers & that poetry reading wine the next day kinda - but i DID make it to choich! lol!
DANNNGGGG, I wish I was hangin' witchu on Sunday! gon' sistah Hurston;-).
i was feelin' my two martinis, several beers & that poetry reading wine the next day kinda - but i DID make it to choich! lol!
DANNNGGGG, I wish I was hangin' witchu on Sunday! gon' sistah Hurston;-).
Making me think back to the days when I was back east...........I miss those days and times back when I could experience four seasons instead of the two I get now of hot and just damn (lol).
"Not even the kind of blog that you can tell people about"
I can relate, but the cool thing is you are writing. So keep on keepin' on!!
I can relate, but the cool thing is you are writing. So keep on keepin' on!!
When you are ready mama..but if that comes again, you already know now...
Sounded like an amazing gathering....and LOL @ you in you 'jammies all properly..good work! (that isshh is tricky ..especially on the 'trone!)
Sounded like an amazing gathering....and LOL @ you in you 'jammies all properly..good work! (that isshh is tricky ..especially on the 'trone!)
That's the Harlem I always wanted to meet but always missed like my Aunts party at some famous mansion in Sugar Hill and writers groups like that.The Harlem I knew in the early to mid ninties was....less inviting!
That sounds like a wonderful day and about the only reason I would consider moving back East again for writers who don't write screen plays!
*sigh*
That sounds like a wonderful day and about the only reason I would consider moving back East again for writers who don't write screen plays!
*sigh*
@ Slish: About that chapter...call me 'cause...unless I start right this minute...you ain't gettin' it. Sorry Chawlie.
@ Curious: Every now and then something will accidently be sent to me...and it turns into one of the best events ever. NY is sort of awesome like that.
@ CAP: It wasn't your non NY status...I think it was the introductin...I personally thought ON had more to say...lol
And so you and I are clear...I am not a New Yorker. I am a Californian 'til the day I die. LOL Great meeting you and Babz.
@ LA: I thought you were in ATL...?? Since i have been in NY I have absorbed so much...I've been wild. That's why this next stage of my life is headed to the pretentious area of DC metro.
@ Chele: DAng...way to put pressure on me...100 times the fol...
I am going to do something...just have to go back through everything and come up with a plan.
@ KS: I could do without one of the seasons...but what is NY without snow...
@ WOW: Thanks for the encouragement. I can help but to write. My blog...well...yea, if someone doesn't happen upon it...I sure ain't telling anyone I know about it...lol
@ Jaded: THANK YOU...I appreciate it. I have been floating for 2 days...it was a good kick in the pants.
@ Curly: I ain't gonna lie...I have been sober and woke up with my clothes on the wrong way...*wink*
I am ready.
@ AJ: I am not sure if it was the setting or the fact that it was a small gathering that made me feel...special. There is something to be said for the spirit of Harlem that sometimes creeps in and can change the tone of an event. It's happened before. But Sunday was...something else.
I think you would have liked it...unlike LA...you would have had ask a person what they do...instead of them making sure they told you in the first 5 minutes.
You do have to realize...NY is 95% "authors"...like LA is 95% "actors". lol
@ Curious: Every now and then something will accidently be sent to me...and it turns into one of the best events ever. NY is sort of awesome like that.
@ CAP: It wasn't your non NY status...I think it was the introductin...I personally thought ON had more to say...lol
And so you and I are clear...I am not a New Yorker. I am a Californian 'til the day I die. LOL Great meeting you and Babz.
@ LA: I thought you were in ATL...?? Since i have been in NY I have absorbed so much...I've been wild. That's why this next stage of my life is headed to the pretentious area of DC metro.
@ Chele: DAng...way to put pressure on me...100 times the fol...
I am going to do something...just have to go back through everything and come up with a plan.
@ KS: I could do without one of the seasons...but what is NY without snow...
@ WOW: Thanks for the encouragement. I can help but to write. My blog...well...yea, if someone doesn't happen upon it...I sure ain't telling anyone I know about it...lol
@ Jaded: THANK YOU...I appreciate it. I have been floating for 2 days...it was a good kick in the pants.
@ Curly: I ain't gonna lie...I have been sober and woke up with my clothes on the wrong way...*wink*
I am ready.
@ AJ: I am not sure if it was the setting or the fact that it was a small gathering that made me feel...special. There is something to be said for the spirit of Harlem that sometimes creeps in and can change the tone of an event. It's happened before. But Sunday was...something else.
I think you would have liked it...unlike LA...you would have had ask a person what they do...instead of them making sure they told you in the first 5 minutes.
You do have to realize...NY is 95% "authors"...like LA is 95% "actors". lol
why did I just realize after reading slish post about relationship advice that you were in harlem... crazy!
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