1972
I am standing on the sidewalk between West 87th street and 88th street
I am on the corner talking to a man in a wheel chair.
I know this man
He is wearing a bright blue shirt,
silk, obviously expensive
surrounded by people all seeming to want to be with him,
to be
The One
He is holding court
I suddenly become the center of his attention
I am standing with my baby in his carriage next to me
engaged in conversation about nothing
but there is something happening between us
a strong bestial pull
an hypnotic moment fraught with danger
I see this man often
on subway cars
being pushed through one car after another
he is dirty then, pathetic
deliberately so
I feel movement by my side,
my hand suddenly empty.
I turn to look at my baby
He is gone
Gone!
I look down the street
He is being pushed away from me
I scream
I am screaming without knowing anything but fear
terror "My baby
that's my baby" I scream running after the man,
the carriage
"My baby"
People are moving to the side as I run
I grab hold of the carriage handle
the man is gone
the world is quiet except for my beating heart
I keep walking with my baby,
I turn the corner on West 87th street
It's okay I keep telling myself,
It's okay
nothing happened
It's okay
We cross West End Ave. at 87th street
and stop in front of 565
I pause for a moment
long enough for the doorman to open the door
We are in the lobby
my baby and me
we are safe........
for the moment
Linda Zises
WBAI RAdio
Friday, April 9, 2010
Skyline Books: OBIT
The End of the Road
It isn't easy being a book fanatic, needing to browse the shelves when all else is not well in your life. New York City used to be a haven for used book lovers/seekers and I am counted among the "possessed". I admit it. I am addicted to books
So as is my custom, being at work and feeling the uncomfortable effects of a stomach ache, something that I just want to forget about so I can go on with my life unimpeded by physical discomfort, I walked over to my local used book store that has served my personal purpose for years upon years and then some.
Being distracted by nature and by circumstances today, I went down 19th street to find the store. it wasn't there. I searched up and down the street with fear looming as I failed to find My store. But all was not lost. With great gusto I remembered the store was in fact not to be found on 19th street but on 18th street and headed over to my place of potential recovery with light steps, ignoring the looming trepidation that now contributed to my already compromised stomach.
And sure enough, I was right. There was the store, with its distinctive awning, "Skyline Books".
When I got right in front of it my worst fears were confirmed,
Closed. Out of Business. "Skyline Books" Gone.
This obituary is written for the Store, for all of my fellow city travelers who frequent used books stores and for an entire population of people yet to be born who will never know the medicinal value of browsing because one by one used book stores are disappearing, even from the Mecca of cultural education, New York City streets.
A moment of silence, please.
Linda Zises
Alex Steinberg
WBAI Radio
Handsome Harry : When fear triumphs courage
Director Bette Gordon
Cast: Jamey Sheridan, Steve Buscemi, Mariann Mayberry, John Savage, Aidan Quinn, Campbell Scott, Titus Welliver, Karen Young.
Handsome Harry is a full blown political/emotional film that puts a human face and cost to the anti gay prejudice that haunts us even today. It does it with the heavy hand of the anti Vietnam era: both events, gays in the military and the Vietnam war endured because people were as scared to speak out against the war in Vietnam as they were to speak out against public opinion and the military official policy on gays in the military.
To see the consequences of these societal ills brought into the focus of a mystery unfolding made the film's 94 minutes seem like an entire Universe. It was intense time punctuated by the post script that states that the film is dedicated to one man but it could have been/should have been dedicated to two men and all the men who suffer because of their love for one another.
The film unravels through a long road trip in search of Marine buddies from 30 years ago. This trip affords the viewer insight into what happens to white American boys we send over seas. The distortions of their lives, the pain from war and wear and tear on the psyche that this country does to people in the military is put into clear relief through the road trip theatrical device.
The dialogue is very clever, short crisp, inviting and the love scenes are so powerful; the underplay of the visual while enhancing the emotional element of making love really works in the three sexual scenes. Beautiful colors, motions in sharp contrast to what comes before and what follows these precious physcial moments.
This is a film that should go to the top of he charts, a film that had me crying even before the end.
Don't see it only for the tears but for the strength of great film making. It isn't perfect but it is so very powerful.
Open April 16th
Lina Zises
WBAI Radio
criticalwomen.net
Cast: Jamey Sheridan, Steve Buscemi, Mariann Mayberry, John Savage, Aidan Quinn, Campbell Scott, Titus Welliver, Karen Young.
Handsome Harry is a full blown political/emotional film that puts a human face and cost to the anti gay prejudice that haunts us even today. It does it with the heavy hand of the anti Vietnam era: both events, gays in the military and the Vietnam war endured because people were as scared to speak out against the war in Vietnam as they were to speak out against public opinion and the military official policy on gays in the military.
To see the consequences of these societal ills brought into the focus of a mystery unfolding made the film's 94 minutes seem like an entire Universe. It was intense time punctuated by the post script that states that the film is dedicated to one man but it could have been/should have been dedicated to two men and all the men who suffer because of their love for one another.
The film unravels through a long road trip in search of Marine buddies from 30 years ago. This trip affords the viewer insight into what happens to white American boys we send over seas. The distortions of their lives, the pain from war and wear and tear on the psyche that this country does to people in the military is put into clear relief through the road trip theatrical device.
The dialogue is very clever, short crisp, inviting and the love scenes are so powerful; the underplay of the visual while enhancing the emotional element of making love really works in the three sexual scenes. Beautiful colors, motions in sharp contrast to what comes before and what follows these precious physcial moments.
This is a film that should go to the top of he charts, a film that had me crying even before the end.
Don't see it only for the tears but for the strength of great film making. It isn't perfect but it is so very powerful.
Open April 16th
Lina Zises
WBAI Radio
criticalwomen.net
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Who do you Love: Beware! Black woman on screen
Jerry Zaks Director
Megalyn Echikunwoke-cast
as Ivy Mills/Etta James
Did you see Cadillac Records (2008) the award winning film featuring the Chess brothers or rather Leonard Chess (Phil was omitted) the legendary two who joined the black world of Chicago blues and rock-N-roll using their money, their guts and energy to bring sharecropper music into public light and delight?
If not, you have a second chance because another film has been made with the same historical characters, and the same theme but the play with history is different. Phil is a real person in Who do you Love and Leonard has "an extra marital affair with a black woman ivy Mills. Who in the real world is Etta James and she has not died of a drug overdose or anything else.
When was the last time you saw a beautiful black women on screen who was alive, healthy, loved and not a drug addict, alcoholic or a sex symbol of one vacuous sort or another. The 2004 film Cat Woman received one to two star ratings. It starred the beautiful, Halle Berry and she is anything but a half alive drug addict or incurable alcoholic. Her long legs and great body exude the kind of power any mother would be happy to have their children see. And Many did.
In Who do you Love Ivy Mills dies of a drug overdose. We see her sing one song, we are given a rear view shot of her beautiful body alive and then an image of her dead lying on the hotel bed. Not someone I would like my children to see and emulate.
She is the problem in the film. Was she Leonard's mistress? Michael Chess says No and he is the son of the great Leonard Chess. Why is Etta James/Ivy Mills so controversial? Is the image of a black woman with a white man so charged, is it the image of Leonard being less than pure the issue, or is the sight of an attractive powerful black woman deemed unacceptable to the paying public? Whatever it is, the image of an attractive black woman is a film industry problem.
That said,
Of course I enjoyed the film. It was great acting, good looking people seemingly having a good time without bloodshed; a lot of laughs and high energy. And a mix of black and white Jewish blood; what else can I, a New Yorker, ask for. This is the real deal. This is life as I know it.
Have a good time. Isn't that what film is all about...
entertainment
Linda Zises
WBAI Radio
Megalyn Echikunwoke-cast
as Ivy Mills/Etta James
Did you see Cadillac Records (2008) the award winning film featuring the Chess brothers or rather Leonard Chess (Phil was omitted) the legendary two who joined the black world of Chicago blues and rock-N-roll using their money, their guts and energy to bring sharecropper music into public light and delight?
If not, you have a second chance because another film has been made with the same historical characters, and the same theme but the play with history is different. Phil is a real person in Who do you Love and Leonard has "an extra marital affair with a black woman ivy Mills. Who in the real world is Etta James and she has not died of a drug overdose or anything else.
When was the last time you saw a beautiful black women on screen who was alive, healthy, loved and not a drug addict, alcoholic or a sex symbol of one vacuous sort or another. The 2004 film Cat Woman received one to two star ratings. It starred the beautiful, Halle Berry and she is anything but a half alive drug addict or incurable alcoholic. Her long legs and great body exude the kind of power any mother would be happy to have their children see. And Many did.
In Who do you Love Ivy Mills dies of a drug overdose. We see her sing one song, we are given a rear view shot of her beautiful body alive and then an image of her dead lying on the hotel bed. Not someone I would like my children to see and emulate.
She is the problem in the film. Was she Leonard's mistress? Michael Chess says No and he is the son of the great Leonard Chess. Why is Etta James/Ivy Mills so controversial? Is the image of a black woman with a white man so charged, is it the image of Leonard being less than pure the issue, or is the sight of an attractive powerful black woman deemed unacceptable to the paying public? Whatever it is, the image of an attractive black woman is a film industry problem.
That said,
Of course I enjoyed the film. It was great acting, good looking people seemingly having a good time without bloodshed; a lot of laughs and high energy. And a mix of black and white Jewish blood; what else can I, a New Yorker, ask for. This is the real deal. This is life as I know it.
Have a good time. Isn't that what film is all about...
entertainment
Linda Zises
WBAI Radio
black women in film?
Disfiguring Images Revisited
By Sikivu Hutchinson*
On Friday nights, after the clamor of the school day dies down and the kid-driven euphoria of the weekend mounts, a simple trip to the video store in search of a children’s DVD can resemble a cultural minefield. While feature length DVD's of Barbie, imperiled princesses, anthropomorphized ponies with flowing hair and big blue eyes, and Europeanized Japanese characters abound, cartoon or dramatic depictions that center on girl of color protagonists are, not surprisingly, absent from the shelves.* The lack is a reminder of how little progress has been made in the tween/teen film industry, despite the widespread mantra that youth multiculturalism in advertising and programming is “hot,” and a colorblind standard is the norm.
To be a girl of color and a media consumer is to be positioned as perpetual voyeur. Media savvy, deluged with the latest fashion and glamour news on pop singers and fifteen minutes of fame movie stars, girls of color negotiate a morass of cultural products that supposedly promote “affirming” themes for tween/teen girlhood. In this era of tween/teen consumer sophistication, the narrative of the empowered heroine predominates. One of the more shopworn examples of this empowerment narrative is represented by the scrappy white heroine, alà the protagonist of the movie musical hit Hairspray, set in 1960s Baltimore. The scrappy white heroine is a time honored tradition in literature, mainstream movie melodrama and teen flicks. She is generally an outsider of sorts; either in appearance, class station or both. She fearlessly treads where the more self-absorbed won’t deign to venture, breaking curfew, defying the strict Christian mores of her straight-laced family and/or most daringly, consorting with the denizens of black communities. For this heroine racial otherness is an adventure, a resort vacation into heretofore unexplored vistas of self-discovery. As always in these kinds of scenarios blackness holds special appeal for the white outsider because of its transgressive potential. Black music, black dance styles, black lingo—are all ripe territories for vigorous Euro mining and imitation. The exploration of these hackneyed themes via the travails of a white female protagonist struggling with her own “outsider” status in the thin, blond-worshipping, relatively privileged world of middle class Baltimore has its precursor in literature like Norman Mailer’s infamous 1950s “White Negro” shtick and the global appropriation of hip hop by white consumers.
In Hairspray, the white female protagonist’s spiritual journey officially takes off when she is sent to detention and discovers that it is merely a showcase for “funky” black dance shenanigans. The blacks, of course, are just waiting to corrupt an impressionable young white thing like her. Much of the film’s visual spark lies in its near obsessive focus on Tracy’s bright-eyed bushy tailed exuberance over her dalliances with forbidden fruit.
What are young black female viewers to make of these portrayals? While my elementary school-aged nieces loved the singing, dancing and pageantry of the film, they are old enough (with some prompting), to grasp the relevance of all the black students in the film being confined to detention. Disciplinary action at any age is a harsh and ever present reality for black children, one that satirical movie portrayals of frolicking black youth can’t obliterate. Since images of unruly black children abound in American culture, featuring a group of black teens dancing in a classroom with no teacher in evidence is just another slice of comic relief for most mainstream audiences.
When presented with evidence of their irrelevance, children of color make the painful adjustment to misidentification. Socialized with white beauty norms, consuming and misidentifying with whiteness becomes an intimate part of the young female viewer’s experience of visual “pleasure.” Countervailing images of black, Latino and Asian femininity are available in literature (and to a much lesser extent in alternative film by artists of color) but are insidiously measured against the gold standard of white femininity. In fact, a revisitation of the 1954 Kenneth and Mamie Clark “doll test” by a young filmmaker named Kiri Davis found that black children still identified white or lighter skinned dolls as being “nice,” while darker-skinned dolls were still rejected as being “bad.” Davis’ widely acclaimed 2007documentary on black female teen self-identity, “A Girl Like Me,” is a welcome antidote to depictions of black female hyper sexuality...
http://blackfemlens.blogspot.com/2010/04/unbearable-whiteness-of-tweenteen-film.html
By Sikivu Hutchinson*
On Friday nights, after the clamor of the school day dies down and the kid-driven euphoria of the weekend mounts, a simple trip to the video store in search of a children’s DVD can resemble a cultural minefield. While feature length DVD's of Barbie, imperiled princesses, anthropomorphized ponies with flowing hair and big blue eyes, and Europeanized Japanese characters abound, cartoon or dramatic depictions that center on girl of color protagonists are, not surprisingly, absent from the shelves.* The lack is a reminder of how little progress has been made in the tween/teen film industry, despite the widespread mantra that youth multiculturalism in advertising and programming is “hot,” and a colorblind standard is the norm.
To be a girl of color and a media consumer is to be positioned as perpetual voyeur. Media savvy, deluged with the latest fashion and glamour news on pop singers and fifteen minutes of fame movie stars, girls of color negotiate a morass of cultural products that supposedly promote “affirming” themes for tween/teen girlhood. In this era of tween/teen consumer sophistication, the narrative of the empowered heroine predominates. One of the more shopworn examples of this empowerment narrative is represented by the scrappy white heroine, alà the protagonist of the movie musical hit Hairspray, set in 1960s Baltimore. The scrappy white heroine is a time honored tradition in literature, mainstream movie melodrama and teen flicks. She is generally an outsider of sorts; either in appearance, class station or both. She fearlessly treads where the more self-absorbed won’t deign to venture, breaking curfew, defying the strict Christian mores of her straight-laced family and/or most daringly, consorting with the denizens of black communities. For this heroine racial otherness is an adventure, a resort vacation into heretofore unexplored vistas of self-discovery. As always in these kinds of scenarios blackness holds special appeal for the white outsider because of its transgressive potential. Black music, black dance styles, black lingo—are all ripe territories for vigorous Euro mining and imitation. The exploration of these hackneyed themes via the travails of a white female protagonist struggling with her own “outsider” status in the thin, blond-worshipping, relatively privileged world of middle class Baltimore has its precursor in literature like Norman Mailer’s infamous 1950s “White Negro” shtick and the global appropriation of hip hop by white consumers.
In Hairspray, the white female protagonist’s spiritual journey officially takes off when she is sent to detention and discovers that it is merely a showcase for “funky” black dance shenanigans. The blacks, of course, are just waiting to corrupt an impressionable young white thing like her. Much of the film’s visual spark lies in its near obsessive focus on Tracy’s bright-eyed bushy tailed exuberance over her dalliances with forbidden fruit.
What are young black female viewers to make of these portrayals? While my elementary school-aged nieces loved the singing, dancing and pageantry of the film, they are old enough (with some prompting), to grasp the relevance of all the black students in the film being confined to detention. Disciplinary action at any age is a harsh and ever present reality for black children, one that satirical movie portrayals of frolicking black youth can’t obliterate. Since images of unruly black children abound in American culture, featuring a group of black teens dancing in a classroom with no teacher in evidence is just another slice of comic relief for most mainstream audiences.
When presented with evidence of their irrelevance, children of color make the painful adjustment to misidentification. Socialized with white beauty norms, consuming and misidentifying with whiteness becomes an intimate part of the young female viewer’s experience of visual “pleasure.” Countervailing images of black, Latino and Asian femininity are available in literature (and to a much lesser extent in alternative film by artists of color) but are insidiously measured against the gold standard of white femininity. In fact, a revisitation of the 1954 Kenneth and Mamie Clark “doll test” by a young filmmaker named Kiri Davis found that black children still identified white or lighter skinned dolls as being “nice,” while darker-skinned dolls were still rejected as being “bad.” Davis’ widely acclaimed 2007documentary on black female teen self-identity, “A Girl Like Me,” is a welcome antidote to depictions of black female hyper sexuality...
http://blackfemlens.blogspot.com/2010/04/unbearable-whiteness-of-tweenteen-film.html
Sunday, April 4, 2010
The Soloist: 2009 A self made man. An American
Director: Joe Wright
Cast: Jamie Foxx, Robert Downey, Jr., Catherine Keener, Tom Hollander, Lisa Gay Hamilton
The Soloist is about the real-life musical prodigy Nathaniel Anthony Ayers, who dropped out of Julliard and society after experiencing mental/emotional problems and became a homeless musician. Journalist Steve Lopez discovers Nathaniel playing his violin on the streets. A unique friendship is formed, and a film is made.
The film is set on Los Angeles streets, that are home to over 90,000 adults. The warm weather makes Los Angeles ideal for those who live on the fringes of society, where food, clothing and a roof over their heads is a luxury that they acquire through various means, often free, as give aways.
The plot is driven by two men, one firmly entrenched as a productive member of society, the other living on the fringes where a good night's sleep is achieved in an indentation on a public sidewalk where blankets and cloth of indistinguishable sorts form his nightly spot of repose.
The men meet serendipitously and seem drawn to one another in a human- non understandable way that keeps developing as they each use the other to obtain what they want but never really thought they could get.
Steve Lopez achieves notoriety as a reported replete with the black tie dinner setting to receive a journalism award and Nathan earns more than two strings he needs to complete his violin. He is given a Cello.
Although the men interact in bumpy ways, often lacking in understanding of one another which appears to be a deliberate attempt by the Director to teach the audience how society has no cure for what ails those who "drop out", their friendship, their human good feelings for one another triumphs without sacrificing the integrity of their mutual place in life. There is not a resolution of the drop out coming into the main stream Los Angeles life and this is a relief. it allows the viewer to see a human side to those who in New York are kept invisible. It allows for the homeless to maintain their own humanity/dignity even though they are poor, dirty, smelly and act in ways incomprehensible to those who have the time, money and interest to go to the movies.
The Soloist will follow you unto the streets, have you looking for the invisible people. Maybe in the fullness of time the economy will plummet further but for now, this is the bottom of our economic system.
See it, The Soloist, on Cale TV
Linda Zsies
WBAI Radio
Cast: Jamie Foxx, Robert Downey, Jr., Catherine Keener, Tom Hollander, Lisa Gay Hamilton
The Soloist is about the real-life musical prodigy Nathaniel Anthony Ayers, who dropped out of Julliard and society after experiencing mental/emotional problems and became a homeless musician. Journalist Steve Lopez discovers Nathaniel playing his violin on the streets. A unique friendship is formed, and a film is made.
The film is set on Los Angeles streets, that are home to over 90,000 adults. The warm weather makes Los Angeles ideal for those who live on the fringes of society, where food, clothing and a roof over their heads is a luxury that they acquire through various means, often free, as give aways.
The plot is driven by two men, one firmly entrenched as a productive member of society, the other living on the fringes where a good night's sleep is achieved in an indentation on a public sidewalk where blankets and cloth of indistinguishable sorts form his nightly spot of repose.
The men meet serendipitously and seem drawn to one another in a human- non understandable way that keeps developing as they each use the other to obtain what they want but never really thought they could get.
Steve Lopez achieves notoriety as a reported replete with the black tie dinner setting to receive a journalism award and Nathan earns more than two strings he needs to complete his violin. He is given a Cello.
Although the men interact in bumpy ways, often lacking in understanding of one another which appears to be a deliberate attempt by the Director to teach the audience how society has no cure for what ails those who "drop out", their friendship, their human good feelings for one another triumphs without sacrificing the integrity of their mutual place in life. There is not a resolution of the drop out coming into the main stream Los Angeles life and this is a relief. it allows the viewer to see a human side to those who in New York are kept invisible. It allows for the homeless to maintain their own humanity/dignity even though they are poor, dirty, smelly and act in ways incomprehensible to those who have the time, money and interest to go to the movies.
The Soloist will follow you unto the streets, have you looking for the invisible people. Maybe in the fullness of time the economy will plummet further but for now, this is the bottom of our economic system.
See it, The Soloist, on Cale TV
Linda Zsies
WBAI Radio
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