October 22, 2019: "Spooky Life, Spooky Art, and the Power of Purpose"

As always, YOUR BLACK META is bringing MAXIMUM AWESOME! Music, Meta, and Mindful; local news and upcoming events; opportunities for engaging with and supporting local communities!

• This week, YOUR META's INTERVIEW is with local gospel singer and PEPPERMINT ENTHUSIAST, Dwayne "Suntan1" Street! 
• FreedomWalker explores passion and purpose as #GOALS of ikigai, and as goals that can be more satisfying than mere "happiness"! And beetle comes bearing an editorial, and a spooky story!

--Your Black Meta!

TheBlackMetaWKNY@Gmail.com

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Support Our Community AND BE INFORMED

UPDATES

Citizen Action

Visioning Session with Dave Clegg, Citizen Action's endorsed candidate for Ulster County District Attorney

Urgent - Join #DemandJustice, and come hear from Citizen Action's endorsed candidate for Ulster County District Attorney Dave Clegg this Wednesday/23rd, 5:30 sharp. Dave will share his vision of how this office can address the root causes of harm ("crime") with Restorative Justice (repairing and restoring) and an effective, data driven platform. A District Attorney can reduce harm ("crime") with:

• Restorative Justice
• by utilizing the new Bail Reform, Discovery and Speedy Trial Laws;
• and promoting Schools NOT Jails;
• and accountability

Let's stand up and move forward, not backward! The outcome of this important DA election November 5th (early voting Oct. 26) could immediately improve the quality of life for thousands of your neighbors and their families. So volunteer with Demand Justice:

• Make calls from home
• Canvass with us in Kingston
• Make calls from our office
• Canvass in your community

Come hear Dave Clegg's platform - help to right past injustices!

Citizenactionny.org, Hudson Valley Chapter

R!se Up Kingston



Police Commission Rally in City Hall

Multimedia

1. "R!se Up Kingston Takes Over City Hall for Police Accountability!" [39:26] R!se Up Kingston members, volunteers, supporters, alies, et. al. October 15, 2019. https://www.facebook.com/lisa.lentroyer/posts/2765102680180237
2. "The Homeless Project: Last Night For Dinner." Rise Up Kingston, Facebook.com. October 12, 2019. [57:34] Live from the Hudson Valley LGBTQ Community Center, Rise Up Kingston Presents "Housing: A Human Right" Film Screening & Panel. https://www.facebook.com/RiseUpKingston/videos/2213847208907670/

Community organizations to connect, to listen, and to be heard:

https://citizenactionny.org/about

https://citizenactionny.org/events/venues/7-grand-st-kingston-ny-12401-usa

https://kingstontenantsunion.org/

https://kingstontenantsunion.org/events/

https://kingstontenantsunion.org/news/

https://riseupkingston.org/

https://riseupkingston.org/blog



#FreeNewYork
#DemandJustice

Upcoming Events & Demonstrations

Unconference

Connection and Community in Unstable Times

We believe that we should openly and aggressively present our best ideas, programs, strategies, tactics and plans to the working class and to our communities in open forums, discussions, town halls, assemblies and other deliberative spaces, and debate them out in a principled democratic fashion to allow the working class and our communities to decide for themselves whether they make sense and are worth pursuing and implementing.--Kali Akuno, Cooperation Jackson

Please join us on the evening of November 1st and all day on the 2nd for a community conversation about the future of Kingston NY.


George Washington Elementary
67 Wall StKingston NY


Friday 7-9:30pm
Saturday 9am-5pm
Saturday Night Dance Party 7-11pm

Through a series of public talks and workshops we will explore some of the big questions facing us right now, including: How did we get where we are, as a community, a nation, a species? What do we need to navigate these tumultuous times and create the systems and ways of being together that best serve us? What’s already going on in and around Kingston? What more do we think is possible? What is your role or your organizations role in a just transition?

FRIDAY NIGHT SPEAKERS

• Kali Akuno, Cooperation Jackson
• Ariel Brooks, Center for Economic Democracy
• David Bollier, Schumacher Center for a New Economics

...the commons is emerging as a new worldview, social ethic and political tradition that actually has a long history, and is now being rediscovered.--David Bollier Schumacher, Center for a New Economics

Hosted by: Commonwealth Hudson Valley, Good Work Institute, O+ Festival, Radio Kingston, R!se Up Kingston. For more information and to RSVP: https://survivingthefuture.splashthat.com/?fbclid=IwAR0p4lz59MrU2TgtuKqsrPkhVlHwMGzLayFldfgl5iGs32edq_AGrGuM1GM

Your Meta will keep you updated about upcoming opportunities to speak up and speak out. 

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CITIZENSHIP CLASSES

From Almanac Weekly:

There will be free U.S. citizenship classes offered every Thursday through November 21. For more information and to register please call 646.342.4177 or 973.698.0205 (se habla español). St. Joseph's Church, 34 South Chestnut Street, New Paltz.

De Almanac Weekly:

Habrá clases gratuitas de ciudadanía estadounidense todos los jueves hasta el 21 de noviembre. Para obtener más información y registrarse, llame al 646.342.4177 o al 973.698.0205 (se habla español). Iglesia de San José, 34 South Chestnut Street, New Paltz.

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THE INTERVIEW

Dwayne "Suntan1" Street

From left to right: beetle, Dwayne "Suntan1" Street, FreedomWalker. Photo by Nate Brogan.

"Suntan1" | Proud Member of Kingston's FAMILY } Gospel Singer | Peppermint Enthusiast

Recommendations

Multimedia

1. "MAHALIA JACKSON PRECIOUS LORD TAKE MY HAND." Thejazzsingers Jazz in Holland, Youtube. June 18, 2009. [5:03]  This clip is for my partner who passed away last monday. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=as1rsZenwNc
2. "Precious Lord, Take My Hand." Kelly Price - Topic, Youtube. [2:35] Provided to YouTube by Sony Music Entertainment. Precious Lord, Take My Hand · Kelly Price.  This Is Who I Am.  ℗ 2006, Zomba Gospel LLC. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WP0HbWbT6Y
3. "Fantasia Sings "Precious Lord Take My Hand" At Funeral Of Aretha Franklin." Lauren JNel, Youtube. August 31, 2018. [5:35]  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ay2Fi_Ao_tU
4. "All in the Family - Those Were the Days (Full Version) & Closing Theme."  Charles Bradley II, Youtube. August 25, 2013. [2:51] This is both the opening and closing themes for the classic sitcom "All in the Family".  The opening theme, "Those Were the Days" (with extra verses) was composed by Lee Adams (lyrics) and Charles Strouse (music), and performed by Carroll O'Connor and Jean Stapleton. The full version of "Those Were the Days" reached #30 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary Chart in early 1972. The closing theme, "Remembering You" was played by Roger Kellaway with lyrics co-written by Carroll O'Connor. The lyrics to the closing theme were never heard in the series, although O'Connor recorded a vocal version of "Remembering You" for a record album, and performed it several times on various TV series. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gs58_ZvsbBI

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FreedomWalker's Sources and Credits

COFFEE & GREEN TEA COMBO

• "What's the Difference Between Hurricanes, Cyclones, and Typhoons." Josh Barrie, September 19, 2018. iNews.co.uk.

THE SPRUCE

• Thespruce.com

K-TOWN NEWS

• Almanac Weekly
• Ulstercountyalive.org

MINDFUL MUSEUM

• Awakening Your Ikigai" by Ken Mogi
• Asabatical.com - How to Find Your Passion and Purpose - Ikigai
• Theconversation.com -The Japanese concept of ikigai: why purpose might be a better goal than happiness, December 14, 2017

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beetle's Sources, Citations, Credits, and Links

UPDATE

We're gonna keep the MAGIC and the Òrìṣà-Ifá GOING, and we've got NEW PAGES FOR THAT!

Themed credits and links that carry across multiple episodes will be archived at their own PAGES, as the credits and resources grow larger.

Each NEW "Òrìṣà-Ifá" or "BlackGirlMagic" credit/resource will, by the week after its addition, be taken off the weekly credits (unless it's used again as a source) and added to the appropriate page under "PAGES: Themed/Compiled Resources," in the sidebar for this blog. That way, we'll keep the weekly credits as streamlined and accessible as possible.--beetle

~#~

Sources for MoTM: "A Very Smart Brotha's Thoughts on a Very Wise (Young) Brotha"

Articles, Bibliographies, Resources & Websites

1. [Read on-air, verbatim but for profanity] "18-Year-Old Brandt Jean’s Hug of Amber Guyger Made Me Sick. But It Ain’t About Me, Though." Damon Young, Theroot.com. October 4, 2019. I doubt Brandt Jean will ever have to google anything about this, though. I imagine he remembers exactly where he was when he first heard his big brother was shot. I imagine that even the most mundane and forgettable details of that day—the color of the jeans he was wearing, whether the ground was still damp from the rain that afternoon, the contents of the burrito he ordered from Chipotle—are engraved in his subconscious. I imagine that he can’t not think about that; that each time he closes his eyes he remembers what he remembers to be his brother’s voice; his brother’s feel; his brother’s face. And maybe sometimes he tries to remember and just can’t. Just goes blank. Just goes dead. When shit like this happens—when Botham Jean or Sandra Bland or Eric Garner or Trayvon Martin or Aiyana Stanley-Jones or Antwon Rose happens—we go through the same ecosystem of emotions. We mourn. We cry. We outrage. We protest. We march. We shout. We hashtag. We organize. We break things. We (try to) change things. And then, the news eventually fades—as do all those feelings with it—and we go on with our lives. We don’t forget, of course. But it doesn’t stay all-consuming. It just can’t. We have to live too. Brandt Jean doesn’t have that luxury. It just ain’t as easy to “live too” when it’s your people—your person—who’s been snatched away. He’s the one who had to find a way to live, to breathe, in the space between the times the country was thinking about his brother again. And maybe, maybe, Brandt Jean already tried the scorched earth thing. Maybe he already tried the “fuck her, forever” thing. Maybe he already tried the seething rage thing. Maybe, in that vast span of time that we weren’t looking at him and thinking about his brother and dissecting his behavior, he had already circled through the feelings we believe he should currently possess. And maybe he chose this sort of forgiveness because the other way was paralyzing and metastasizing. Maybe he chose to honor his dead brother this way because he concluded that it’s the only way he could stay alive. Maybe he needed to do this so his mother would only be without one son, not two. I ain’t suggesting that forgiveness is some sort of aspiration or proof of evolution. It ain’t. (At least not to me.) It’s just a thing a person might need to possess to see another day. To just maybe want to see another day. I don’t think I’d need to do that to move on, but I don’t know. It ain’t my brother who was murdered. https://verysmartbrothas.theroot.com/18-year-old-brandt-jean-s-hug-of-amber-guyger-made-me-s-1838747807?utm_source=theroot_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2019-10-06
2. [Referenced, quoted]"A Letter to YOU." beetle bailey, Medium.com. March 23, 2018. [Overhauled and reworked for clarity of expression, brevity, and more careful overall editing.] https://medium.com/@beetlecommathe/a-letter-to-you-46dd22affb4c
3. [For referencing, inspiration, and background information] "Botham Jean, Amber Guyger and the Delusion of Forgiveness." Anne Branigin, Theroot.com. October 3, 2019. https://www.theroot.com/botham-jean-amber-guyger-and-the-delusion-of-forgivene-1838740376
4. [For referencing, inspiration, and background information] "What Botham Jean's Mother Had to Say About Dallas Police and Her Son's Show of Forgiveness." Anne Branigin, Theroot.com. October 4, 2019. “I don’t want the community to be mistaken by what [happened] in the courtroom,” she said, according to NBC Dallas-Fort Worth. “Forgiveness for us as Christians is a healing for us, but as my husband said, there are consequences. It does not mean that everything else we have suffered has to go unnoticed. We’re leaving Dallas this week, but you all must live in Dallas and you all must try to make Dallas a better place.” https://www.theroot.com/what-botham-jeans-mother-had-to-say-about-dallas-police-1838772274?utm_source=theroot_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2019-10-04
5. [For referencing, inspiration, and background information] "There Is Nothing “Beautiful” About It." DarkSkyLady, Medium.com October 6, 2019. Although racism, sexism and other -isms are rampant on and offline, there is always a showcase of “beautiful” moments where people come together and it becomes hailed as transcendent. It becomes about what is possible when love is handed out instead of hate. Often the media aids in portraying these moments, particularly when white people are involved. https://medium.com/@DarkSkyLady/there-is-nothing-beautiful-about-it-38f64f79c6ca
6. [For referencing, inspiration, and background information] "What the Amber Guyger Case Reveals About White America They don’t want forgiveness. They want to be excused." Andre Henry, Medium.com. October 3, 2019. ome have called it “the hug heard round the world.” Just moments after former police officer Amber Guyger was handed a 10-year prison sentence for the murder of Botham Jean, an unarmed Black man who was shot while eating ice cream at home, she was embraced by her victim’s brother. https://gen.medium.com/what-the-amber-guyger-case-reveals-about-white-america-78afb5d0f3b3
7. [For referencing, inspiration, and background information]"Nobody Is Buying Dallas PD’s Bullshit Story About Joshua Brown’s Death." Monique Judge, Theroot.com. October 9, 2019. https://www.theroot.com/nobody-is-buying-dallas-pd-s-bullshit-story-about-joshu-1838917708?utm_source=theroot_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2019-10-10
8. [For referencing, inspiration, and background information] "Texas Police Officer Shoots and Kills Black Woman in Her Own Home." Monique Judge, Theroot.com. October 12, 2019. A white male officer with the Fort Worth Police Department in Texas is on administrative leave after shooting and killing a 28-year-old black woman in her own home early Saturday morning. https://www.theroot.com/texas-police-officer-shoots-and-kills-black-woman-in-he-1839002398?utm_source=theroot_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2019-10-13

Sources for The Black X-Files: "The Burden of Memory"

Articles, Bibliographies, Resources & Websites

• "The Burden of Memory." beetle bailey, updated October 17, 2019.

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Music Playlists

First Hour Music and Playlists:

1. Adam Ant: "That Voodoo"
2. David Bowie; NIN: "I'm Afraid of Americans" (Nine Inch Nails V1 Mix)
3. Nico Vega: "Beast" (Acoustic)

Second Hour Music and Playlists:

1. Dwayne 'Suntan1' Street: "Precious Lord"
2. The Hit House, featuring Ruby Friedman: "Hunt You Down"
3. David Bowie: "Scary Monsters and Super Creeps"
4. James Brown: "Say It Loud"

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The Black Meta!

Live and streaming at Radiokingston.org

and on 107.FM and 1490AM

Tuesdays, 1-3 p.m.

The Black Meta, in their natural habitat