AFRICAN SEASONS

Deep in tone.
Deep in voice.
He spoke in tongue
telling a quiet world to wake up.
African in nature,
he stepped up to me
and stared into my eyes.
Locked tight,
he focused.
He looked into my soul
and toyed with the idea of remaking me
into the image
of a Man.
A Man of African Seasons.

From out of the tall grass
urged by the wind,
African chants,
rhythm and drums
pushed our bodies into full expression
orally conveying our tales of greatness.
With the blood of the spirit,
the sweat of the land,
and the richness in being,
our story was told for generations to see.
To dance.
To sing.
To know.

We held each others hands.
Held them high and gathered others
in our warm embrace.
The numbers grew,
from youngling to elder
it swelled in quixotic proportions.
We collected the words and wisdom of the ages.
It condensed
and rubbed together
creating heat.
It burned within me.
It burned within us all.
It was hot where we were,
At the center of the room.
The center of the World.
Much like the center of all creation,
where he made me into a man.
A Man of African Seasons.

African Seasons by Shazza Nakim
Copyright © by Peace of Mind Publishings and with permission by Shazza Nakim

THE BEST GOLDEN GLOBES MONEY CAN BUY

It’s confirmed; I have skipped over my parents and become my Grandmother. I am so set in my ways that I look for the sadness and misery in others for my amusement, and watching the 2008 Golden Globes did not disappoint.

I had to keep checking my cable remote to make sure I wasn’t watching CNN or FOX because for a minute, I thought I was watching a caucus. The reporter faces had this BLANK, “I don’t know what to do next” look just like the political reporters that lost script trying to comment on the election of the REAL.

I know I like to look at most things as they really are and without the fluff but living in a world where fantasy and escapism is the norm, I LOVED THE GOLDEN GLOBES just as they were because it was carried out like it was suppose to, like an awards ceremony while them stank ass Mofo’s had to do their drinking, drugging and daily insanity at home. So while the people who make their money promoting THE BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE stood there as if they were all Anchoring Reporters demoted to covering the epidemic of "dog shyt" on public streets, we all witnessed what I can only describe as a does of UNION POWER. America was sent to its room without supper for "Watching too much and Thinking too little; for YEARS."

I mean DAYUM, no parties no expensive cars, no advertisers, no free gift bags, no free flowing of alcohol, no movie hair, borrowed BLOOD DIAMONDS and them dresses and tuxedoes. Flippin the channel back and forth I couldn’t help remember that famous line from Sparkle: “They don’t need them dresses, they don’t need them make-ups, those girls can SANG !!!” Even better, I don't have to watch hour upon hour of Morning and Talk Show News about who had the best speech, who was funny and who had attitude for not winning nor do I have to deal with the Best and Worst Dressed breakdowns and the WHERE YOU CAN BUY A KNOCK OFF DRESS FROM.

See, GOD does bless you when you ask for it sometimes.

I trumpeted as my New Years' mantra, CLEAN SLATE FOR 2008 so that the issues of the past don't converge into my present. This here idiot box is taking a serious beating so far but I think its calling on my mantra more than I. The professional athletes are being busted for performance enhancement drugs left and right and now have to play at NORMAL levels, you have qualified politicians talking about real issues in politics and they look like REAL PEOPLE WITH REAL ISSUES as well, the States are now starting to seriously look at banning the Death Penalty, the Writer’s Strike is making Hollywood recognize that you can’t do shyt unless they write shyt, Broadway got shut down as well and caved to giving up them dollars, Corporate America out sourced jobs are getting snagged with compliance issues; issues that are poisoning and killing peoples as well as costing them more outside the country then if they had kept them in the States to begin with, the media can’t guess and BS anymore because they are blatantly getting it wrong, and those people with no Talent (Superhead, Wendy Williams and I Love New York) and the music industry are being called on their ineptitude and shallowness.

The last time we saw an awards ceremony like this, I think Gone With The Wind was the HOTNESS. People didn’t have TV like that and media had to broadcast most of it on radio. All I kept hearing from the Hollywood reporters were, ‘Oh it was so boring, Oh how I miss the RED CARPET, WOW those Striking Writers might be coming back, I hope they do by the Oscars, Oh how television lost so much money", but all I kept seeing was the reality that over the course of seven years, these award shows went on as if nothing was happening in the world, like Iraq, Katrina, Unemployment, Jena 6, children kidnapped, people loosing homes, over populated prisons, increase trafficking in guns and drugs, people held as sex slaves, illegal immigation, national infristructure issues, fires and tornadoes wiping out whole towns and I can go on. Yes I know this is a time when people can reward those talents for their work in fantasy (I am an actor and writer myself and I do like to be acknowledged for it from time to time) BUT this was the best thing that ever happened to TELEVISION and AMERICAN media; the Writer’s Strike.

If this had happened just before the Invasion of Iraq, we might have paid more attention to what was happening to our government and economy and stopped it.