Thanksgiving: I Am Thankful for Artists; I Am Thankful for Books

©by Alice Walker 2019  November 28, 2019

Because Life doesn’t seem to slow down just because we’re doing over Seventy, I haven’t been able to write the million thoughts I’ve had about six extraordinary books that seem to me a map of where we are, in the US and on the planet.… Continue reading →

With Kaola bear. The outback. Australia. 1990s

Photo by Jean Weisinger

 

Australia Fire Koala Bear – WP article 2019-11-15

Kaola Bear, Beloved

© 2019 by Alice Walker

 

None of this is your fault,
You are blameless;

Like all  creatures

entirely native to this earth.

You are warm.  You love to hug.
In your eyes there is wonder

and peace.

There are… Continue reading →

En Cuba: Familia: Manuel y Madai.

Manuel and Madai 2019
In Cuba

©2019 by Alice Walker
 
In Cuba
These are the people
You wish to hurt.
I believe there is a penalty
For harming those
Who are good.
This grandfather,
Smiling with joy;
This granddaughter
Oblivious of danger
Happy to have arrived
In his arms.

This is a good man.
Holding a delightful human… Continue reading →

The author Julian Aguon with Hawaiian activist/artist Meleanna Meyer

 Everyone Must Go

©2019 by Alice Walker

It is a great sadness that any American should be denied entry to Palestine, and particularly those, like Representatives Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, who wish to go in solidarity with the people, one of them a relative, a grandmother, not simply as tourists.  Years ago, a… Continue reading →

Cowgirl Filibuster    Couplets for heroic Texas women June 26, 2013   Word got out about the bad bill. College students packed up their bikinis,   went back to Austin to tell those men why women need abortions. Seven hundred   were already there. Story after story for the record: citizen filibuster.   Three a.m. The Speaker tells the crowd he’s heard it all… Continue reading →

Thoughts On Our Sorrow:  Troy Davis and Trayvon Martin
© 2013 by Alice Walker

I deliberately watched none of the Zimmerman trial, just as I have deliberately not read a draft of a new book by Jen Marlowe, soon to be published:  I Am Troy Davis, about a young black man in Georgia who was by all indications innocent of any crime… Continue reading →

 

Recently I’ve taken a few knocks for my liking of David Icke. Well, I can’t help liking him, he’s got cojones for days. Seen many of those lately not backed up by missiles and tanks? Actually and happily, yes, as more silenced people speak and folks on their knees rise, but he’s still special.* Anyway, last night it occurred to me what it is… Continue reading →

In Case You’ve Ever Wondered How It Is Done: Censorship by Purse String
An Invitation to speak at the 50th Anniversary for the Center for Education of Women at the University of Michigan has been withdrawn

I’m saddened to write this because I’m a proponent of free speech and have been brought up to allow everyone to have their say. But I also realize that… Continue reading →

Alice carrying a sculpture of pregnant African women in a circle, dancing.

Necks of Clay
©2013 by Alice Walker

Someone said to me:

Oh, stop that!  He has feet

of clay.

This person’s clay

went to the neck.

Can we listen to imperfect

humans?

I’ve always preferred them

myself.

Does this make us mad?

Can we hear our own

small voices

muffled by

the… Continue reading →

 

LATER WE WOULD MISS YOU SO MUCH

© 2013 by Alice Walker

For Chelsea Manning

Later we would miss you

so much.

But on that day

we had you with us

& we were so

with you.

Your happiness,

of a man

knowing he was

on his way

to glory

to being shot down;

a man beaming

with triumph

to see us

the advancing… Continue reading →

 

The Butler Did It

©2013 by Alice walker

 

Lee Daniels’ The Butler was received in my neighborhood by a packed house, all colors and kinds, almost all of them, at different points, talking back at the screen in some fashion.  At the end, there was a rousing, heartfelt offering of applause.   The enthusiasm is well deserved because the acting, everyone’s… Continue reading →

Dear Sisters at the University of Michigan,

I accept your invitation to visit with you in the coming year: I believe we have all learned something from our efforts to reach out to one another, and I believe also that – if solar flares or deeply unintelligent wars haven’t carried us off – it will be a good time.

It so happened that during the… Continue reading →

Inner Landscape

©2013 by Alice Walker

For S and C

 

We have not seen each other

in over a decade; 

your son is very tall, you say,

your daughter, learning

to ride horses.

Later, savoring our chance meeting

in the local ice cream store

I look about the land

and see evidence of your helpfulness

everywhere:

the big sister

Sycamore tree

the one… Continue reading →

OPPRESSED HAIR PUTS A CEILING ON THE BRAIN 

A talk given on Founders’ Day, April 11, 1987, at Spelman College in Atlanta. 

From Living By The Word: Selected Writings 1973-1987 by Alice Walker.

As some of you no doubt know, I myself was a student here once, many moons ago. I used to sit in these very seats (sometimes still in… Continue reading →

Neurologist Warns of Neurodegenerative Disease Surge Due to Chemtrail Spraying

Christina Sarich, News Analysis: Any skeptic will conscientiously question the doom and gloom scenarios being touted by the anti-geoengineering groups. Geoengineering Watch, Aircrap.org, and Infowars, for example, prolifically liter the Internet with environmental and health concerns which reach both global and epic proportions. Skeptics often include people from the medical profession, scientists and, of… Continue reading →

Thanking the Goddess for Noam Chomsky: This is what an Elder looks like.

Part 2  Noam Chomsky on 9/11,
Syria’s “Bloody Partition” and Why U.S. Role Ensures Failure of Mideast Talks

Part 3 Noam Chomsky
U.S. Has Been “Torturing” Iran for 60 Years, Since 1953 CIA-Led Coup

Who the Annunaki Saw?
©2013 by Alice Walker 

Tiny Mother,
I knew you had to exist
behind all the lies
about you.
I knew you would live
somewhere fresh
wild
with the sun dancing 
with your earth colored skin.
I knew you would adorn yourself
with whatever struck your fancy.
That it would feel natural
for you
to be part of the… Continue reading →

 Sundus Shaker Saleh and her children

 Hope Is a Woman Who Has Lost Her Fear

for Sundus Shaker Saleh, Iraqi Mother, with my love.
©2013 by Alice Walker

In our despair that justice is slow

we sit with heads bowed

 

 wondering

how

even whether

 we will ever be healed.

 

Perhaps it is a question

only the ravaged

the violated… Continue reading →

Source: DemocracyNow!

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Paul Olsewski
VP, Publicity Director
212-698-7089
[email protected]
For rights Information:
Lisa Keim
212-698- 7397
[email protected]

37 INK TO PUBLISH

ALICE WALKER’S JOURNALS

(NEW YORK) – October 7, 2013.  Dawn Davis, Publisher and Vice President of 37 INK/ Atria Publishing Group, has acquired the journals of prize winning author, poet and activist Alice Walker.  Gathering Blossoms Under Fire: The… Continue reading →

See Video below.  From  NATION OF CHANGE

Published: Friday 1 November 2013

“When I was asked to edit an issue of the New Statesman I said yes because it was a beautiful woman asking me. I chose the subject of revolution because the New Statesman is a political magazine and imagining the overthrow of the current political system is the only way I… Continue reading →

 

Malala and Nabila: worlds apart

Unlike Malala Yousafzai, Nabila Rehman did not receive a welcoming greeting in Washington DC. Last Modified: 01 Nov 2013 09:57

“Nabila, a slight girl of nine with striking hazel eyes, asked a simple question in her testimony: ‘What did my grandmother do wrong?’” writes Murtaza Hussain [Reuters]

It is almost unbearable to think of this grandmother being… Continue reading →

My love of story, my enthralled absorption in the study of History, as soon as I realized it existed, my delight in fresh ways of looking at everything, leads me to much of the new information that is becoming available in these amazing times.  This rather short (for him) teaching by David Icke is one I particularly like because towards the end of four… Continue reading →

Sweet People Are Everywhere

©2013 by Alice Walker

 

For Young Brian Who Is Getting a Passport

 

Some of the people in Turkey

are very sweet.

Some of those in Afghanistan

are very sweet.

Some of the people in the Americas

are very sweet.

In Canada too

some of the people

are sweet.

In Mexico

you will definitely find

 sweet people.

Likewise

in… Continue reading →

I am so happy that Nelson Mandela is at last truly free.  I will wave to him as he transforms into Everything around me and on into the Cosmos. What a race to run, Life gave him.  That he made it in such beauty tells us who we are, and who we can become.
AW

“I was called a terrorist yesterday, but… Continue reading →

Muriel Rukeyser and I had a terrible, painful parting of the ways, so many years ago now that it seems impossible to imagine that we did. But speaking of  her recently for her 100th birth year celebration,  I found nothing in my heart but gratitude for her kindness, for her efforts to befriend a younger poet just up from the traumatic South, and… Continue reading →

Solstice Greetings and Gratitude 2013, or Noam Chomsky and Howard Zinn Playing Tennis!

©2013 by Alice Walker

2013 was a surprising, even astonishing, year whose revelatory power shows no sign of abating in 2014.  It is as though we are collectively watching an enormous egg, as big as the sun, cracking open to reveal a golden center.  That golden center is Reality. … Continue reading →

Alice and Kaleo 2007
photo by Vaschelle André of Divine Photography

And When They Spy On Us

For Snowden

Copyright©2014 by Alice Walker

And when they spy

on us

let them discover

us

loving -

it really doesn’t

matter what we are loving

let it be

an exercise

of the heart.

You can begin

with

your car -

if that has been

your training.

After… Continue reading →

An Iraqi child standing in her parents’ blood  (The NY Times) Photo by Chris Hondros

Confident Anticipation of Joy
©2014 by Alice Walker

How peculiar it feels

to speak about

 health care in America

taking care of people’s

health

while our government

bombs

 the limbs

off children

in far away lands.
And starves and imprisons
not a few of them
at home.… Continue reading →

Dear friends,

Thousands of East Africans have been kidnapped by sadistic gangs, and tortured in Egypt’s Sinai until their families pay huge ransoms for their freedom. If we show Egypt’s leaders that this dirty secret is out and damaging the Sinai’s tourism reputation, we can force them to end the horror. Sign now:

Nine months pregnant and in chains, Haben’s*… Continue reading →

Our Humanity Unchained:  Jane Goodall and Wounda Soul

Subject: A chimpanzee hugs Jane Goodall after being released into the wild.

A Palestinian child kidnapped from school by Israeli soldiers

The Mother of Trees
©2014 by Alice Walker 

If I could be

the mother of Wind

I would blow all fear

away from you.

 

If I could be

the mother of Water

I would wash out the path

that frightens you.

 

If I were the mother

of Trees

I would plant

my tallest… Continue reading →

A Grievous Wrong Has Been Done To 5 Of Our Cuban Brothers:  Such Good Men Are Hard To Find
©2014 by Alice Walker

It was an odd sensation in London recently to be part of an International Inquiry into the case of the Cuban  (or the Miami) Five. (Two have recently, after serving 15 year sentences, been released).   Since their arrest I… Continue reading →

Article source: 33 Literary Geniuses Who Happen To Be Super Hot

I was surprised to find myself on this list, of course.  But, being there, I looked round. Hemingway, for instance, was really cute.  who knew?  Now that barely articulate letter he wrote to Marlene Dietrich makes more sense.  She wouldn’t have been indifferent to such a steady beam of… Continue reading →

 Sisyphus
 by Mañuel Verdecia

it’s not the rock, sisyphus

of demolishing weight

of cutting edges and rough shape

cruelly indifferent to your tenacity

nor is it the mountain reaching the clouds

from where everything looks insignificant

nor is it the stony path winding among thorns

nor even is it the steep descent

or one more encounter with the rock

announcing the painful start… Continue reading →

                                                          
My Letter to the IRS

Copyright 2014 by Alice Walker

Attention:
The Internal Revenue Service
Re: Withholding of partial payment of taxes in protest of Wars funded by American taxpayers
From: Alice Walker

April 15,… Continue reading →

There are almost no words when the war is against children, and against even younger children than presented in videos available to view on Facebook and YouTube.  Unfortunately two videos I had mounted here were repeatedly removed by unseen forces!  At first I was frustrated, then I thought: right: this is hard viewing for most people, they will need time to approach what… Continue reading →

Especially for our daughters
and their families in Nigeria

Never Pass Up An Opportunity To Kiss

©2014 by Alice Walker

Never pass up

an opportunity

to kiss:

the world has ended

& begun again

many times

before;

if we are to believe

the African Bible*

transcribed for

our frightened era

by Credo Mutwa.

Three deep bows.

Yes, never pass up

an opportunity

to kiss -… Continue reading →

Maya Angelou was an indomitable spirit of great generosity, kindness, and love.  Her work, both written and spoken, has inspired, and actually helped, the lives of millions.  When I think of tribute, I envision Maya as a kind of General of Compassion, offering an army of words of encouragement.  She was special, she was rare, she was more beautiful than perhaps even… Continue reading →

Alice Walker and Archie Roach: Sydney Opera House 5/14
Photo by Karen Villanueva 

The Music of Archie Roach

Seams Of Gold:  Was the Gold We Seek Once Inside Us?

©2014 by Alice Walker

Twenty- two years ago, in Adelaide,  at one of  Australia’s literary festivals,  I met Archie Roach.  But did we actually meet?  What would we have… Continue reading →

“I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality.  This is why right, though temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.”
-Martin Luther King, Jr.

Above photo:  Among other beings of light: two ophthalmologists from NYC, Ramsey Clark, former attorney general of the United States, and Dennis Banks, a founder of AIM, the (North) American Indian… Continue reading →

 

You were so thin.  This is why we were bringing food.

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/intcoop/sakharov/home_en.html

– EP SAKHAROV PRIZE NETWORK NEWSLETTER

JUNE 2014

Nurit Peled Elhanan draws attention to human rights violations in Palestine
04-07-2014: 2001 Laureate, Nurit Peled Elhanan has drawn the European Parliament’s attention to the background of the killing of Israeli and Palestinian teenagers. She has denounced Israeli forces “for 12 hours… Continue reading →

In the late Eighties I bought a then isolated house within view of the ocean in the very upscale environment of Costa Careyes, Mexico.  I was drawn to the area simply because it is beautiful and has some of the most extraordinary houses on the planet.  It is also an eleven miles long nature preserve, with turtles and tejones (badgers), and several exquisite… Continue reading →

Many years ago I read Octavia Butler’s novel Kindred, about a time traveller who returns to the past to visit ancestors who were enslaved; because I was apparently born with an ear turned to the lingering whispers of my own ancestors, it affected me deeply.  I have now finished listening to my second novel by Butler, The Parable of the Sower, and… Continue reading →

AND…

For all of us who are suffering so deeply now, fearing our faith in humanity has been cruelly misplaced, even lost, there will always be the poets, and poetry itself to remind us of how big Life is. How long. How like the Anaconda, with its twists and turns. Interrogating every “wisdom”, bearing every grief, every feeling of impotence, the dreaded sense that loving… Continue reading →

Letter from Gaza 

Ellen Cantarow
July 23, 2014
Le Monde diplomatique – English Edition

Ellen Cantarow reports on the email Dr. Mads Gilbert sent to friends July 19 from Gaza. “The last night was extreme.

The email Mads Gilbert, professor of medicine at the University of North Norway (Tromso), sent to a friend on July 19 was a cri de coeur. He had… Continue reading →

Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche’s AMERICANAH is one of the best novels ever.  I “read” it on audio (Recorded Books) which made  it even more satisfying. The reader skillfully creates all the right languages, dialects, and accents of dozens of characters, female and male.  I was initially put off by the Nigerian/Ibo sound.  Only to discover half way through the book that hidden… Continue reading →

Don’t Give Up (Beautiful Child, Other Self)
 ©2014 by Alice Walker

 

What they will pretend not to know

When you are injured

Is how ugly you feel now.

It is hard to imagine living

Without a part

Of yourself.

Every other working arm or leg

Or eye

Or foot

No matter who owns it

Will arouse your envy.

You will hate yourself

For… Continue reading →

Alice Walker and Huda Naim, Palestinian member of parliament and mother of five  2010 in Gaza

 Talking To Hamas
©2014 by Alice Walker 

Huda Naim, democratically
elected official,

I do not know how it goes with you

and  your children

but every day I am thinking of you.

Did you know that before we left the US

 our government spokespeople… Continue reading →

Don’t Break Your Heart Again, I Couldn’t Bear It. – AW

She’s In: Anti-Racist, Anti-Imperial Feminists Against War

The Language of Bombs

©2014  by Alice Walker

 

Dearest Zainab,

Whenever my country bombs your country,

I think of you.

Which means you are frequently on my mind.

I often think of the bombers

And how little they can see

Of what is below them.

Many who returned

From earlier “missions”

Said it was only later,

When they went back

And saw the… Continue reading →

Photojournalist James Foley  1973-2014

The Iron Age, The Age of Sorrow

for Yusuf

©2014 by Alice Walker

Where do we go when we die?

the little child asked.

And the Ancient One who lives

within all little children said to her:

You go to the very same place you go to

each night when you fall asleep.

And therefore the parents of James

the… Continue reading →

A friend sent this beautiful poem by Palestinian poet Samih Al Qasim.  The poem below "When a Poet Dies" is written for him. -AW

A friend sent this beautiful poem by Palestinian poet Samih al- Qasim; the poem “When a Poet Dies” is for him.
Travel Tickets

“The day I’m killed,
my killer, rifling through my pockets,
will find travel tickets:
One to peace,… Continue reading →

It is still hard to believe
that millions of us saw Eric Garner die.
He died with what looked like a half dozen
heavily clad
policemen
standing on his body, twisting and crushing
him
especially his head
and neck.
He was a big man, too.  They must have felt
like clumsy midgets… Continue reading →

Kaleo and Alice, Robben Island 2011

At The Door Of Pollsmoor Prison

for Kaleo,  for Madiba

©2014 by Alice Walker

 

When we arrived at the door of Pollsmoor prison

we were already deeply stirred

and sat a while outside

calming ourselves before going in.  Me, breathing deeply,

you holding Madiba’s image in consciousness

so that walking in you might more completely

 … Continue reading →

 Alice and Rebecca, Careyes, the mid 1980s

Making Frittatas
©2014 by Alice Walker

For Rebecca
 
Ten years is a long time
and I have missed you.
I thought of this
this morning as I commenced making
a splendid (it turned out) frittata.
You taught me how to do this.  After ten years during
which I assumed you did not cook – time… Continue reading →

>

Miko Peled and Alice Walker Northern California 2013

The Prize Itself 

Poem for Miko 
©2014 by Alice Walker 

There are many awards
that are not worth receiving;
they can be handed to you
by someone whose other hand
is stabbing you in the back.

Worse I think
is to receive an award
for bravery
from  someone who is a coward… Continue reading →

Child Hunting

More than 180 Palestinian children have been kidnapped by Israeli occupation forces in the past 45 days.
The only Hebrew-Arabic kindergarten in Jerusalem was burned last night and covered with Death To Arabs grafitti.
Razan,11years old child, died today after preventing her from leaving ‪#‎gaza‬ <https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/gaza?source=feed_text&story_id=10205164109041905>  for treatment
– 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Hq2jFQp6xc&feature=youtu.be

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10152077278612984&fref=nf

Prof. Nurit Peled-Elhanan
telefax: ++972-(0)2-5700112 <tel:%2B%2B972-%280%292-5700112>
Mobile:… Continue reading →

 

 

I said yes to the invitation to speak at the recent EARTH AT RISK event in San Francisco because I deeply respect Vandana Shiva, Derrick Jensen, Chris Hedges, and the members of Veterans for Peace and The Winter Soldier who also participated.  I did not read these notes because of time constraints, I share them here for those who might find them… Continue reading →

3 years since the murder of Abir Aramin, 10 years old.

Abir Aramin was shot in the head but nobody shot her

Please also read, A Propos IASA Letter of Refusal 
http://iasa-refuse.org/a-propos-iasa-letter-of-refusal

Nurit Peled-Elhanan writes…

On Sunday 10 July 2011, 8 Tammuz, the legal seal of approval was given to the book “The King’s Torah” [1] by The High Court of Israel that ruled… Continue reading →

Bob Nesta Marley, Siempre 
To Win (for Bob Marley’s birthday:  February 6th)
©2015 by Alice Walker

Be what they do not want:
Be thoughtful.
Be skilled at loving.
Be of good heart.
Be of the world tribe.
Who torments
The sacred
Rest of us
Lacks confidence
In his own
Worthiness
To stand
Shameless
Even poor
And sing.

 

          

 

 This photo is called:  Surprised Iranian Children

 

Mongers of War

©2015 by Alice Walker

Are you awake yet?
How awake are you?
Do you know what War is?
How well do you know?

Do you know how devoted
Warmongers
Are to War?

How they love it?

More than mothers and babies.
More than grandkids.
More than fresh water and clean soil… Continue reading →

THE SLAIN CHILDREN OF PALESTINE
HOLD COUNCIL IN PARADISE

 

THE SLAIN CHILDREN OF PALESTINE HOLD COUNCIL IN PARADISE
©2015 by Alice Walker

Who knew death would be like this?

A young boy considers reconnecting a limb
And looks down thoughtfully
At an eye.  An eye that looks
Casually around Paradise
Which turns out to be
Everywhere.

Who knew
We would learn so much… Continue reading →

 

New Poems To Welcome Spring!

© 2015 by Alice Walker

 

Morning In the Village
©2015 by Alice Walker

This morning
In the  village
Where I live*
I saw an old man
Leisurely painting an old
Two- and –a- half foot high
Metal milk can.

He was serene,
as passersby
Strolled or rode their
Bicycles.

At first I did not comprehend
How simple… Continue reading →

EVERY WORD THIS WOMAN SAYS IS SACRED IN THE BOOK OF PEACE

The duty to support the BDS movement

Nurit Peled-Elhanan.

EP laureate  of the Skharov prize for human rights and the freedom of speech

 

On the 15th of April 2015 the Israeli supreme court approved the bill defining as criminal offense the call to boycott Israeli institutions and organizations or people who… Continue reading →

If I Was President

(Were for those who prefer it.)

©2010 by Alice Walker

( from Hard Times Require Furious Dancing)

 

If I was President

Michael Jackson Gives a Talk

©2015 by Alice Walker

 

At the oddest times
Sometimes in the middle
Of the night
I hear Michael Jackson’s voice,
The one you only hear
On YouTube:  They don’t care
About us, he is saying.
And repeats:  They don’t care
About us.
 
He delivers a lecture
Who knew he even
Understood
Talking about the old music… Continue reading →

Beyond

©2015 by Alice Walker

 

The old experienced ones
Never said
You must marry.
They never said
What will your husband think?
There was always so much
Work to do
Offering advice on this issue
Seems to have slipped their minds.

And so when I did marry,
A few times
By last count
I realized there was something
Called Marriage
That might happen
In… Continue reading →

A good teacher never quits.

That Is Who I Thought You Were

©2015 by Alice Walker

Tell me please
Why are you not speaking?
When we stood together
In our bloodied land
You raised your voice
And stood beside me.
Now I wait
And wait
For you to say
One word.
They tell me it is because
You are afraid.
They say it is because… Continue reading →

 

WAGING EMPATHY: ALICE WALKER, POSSESSING THE SECRET OF JOY, AND THE GLOBAL MOVEMENT TO BAN FGM

Edited by Tobe Levin

http://uncutvoices.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/waging-empathy-order-info.pdf

I met Tobe Levin in London at the 2013 premier of Pratibha Parmar’s Beauty In Truth, a film about my life.  Sure enough, on the back cover of this book there is a photograph of us looking happy to… Continue reading →

 

The Fiesta of Rediscovering America: An Open Letter To Robert Hemenway, Passing: 1941-2015

© 2015 by Alice Walker

 

Dear Bob,

Since I was a child I’ve wondered where the spirit goes when people die.  So I’m wondering where yours is now, whether you’re in transit, resting, or already back (wherever back might be) continuing on your never-ending journey.  This is one… Continue reading →

ROSENWALD, UN FILME DE AVIVA KEMPNER   Los amigos le cuentan a los amigos, de otro modo ¿cómo podrían saber? Una vieja amiga reapareció campantemente en mi vida para alejarme de un par de intimidantes acantilados y me contó sobre Rosenwald, el reciente filme acerca del comerciante y filántropo judío, codueño de Sears Roebuck, quien durante los 1920s y 1930s se convirtió en una leyenda entre las personas negras del Sur. ¿Por qué? Porque él era la fuerza detrás de la construcción de miles de escuelas para niños negros en esa parte del mundo. De hecho, por lo que sé, debe haber inspirado la propia escuela que construyeron mis padres y nuestros vecinos luego quemada totalmente por blancos del lugar. Trabajando conjuntamente con Booker T. Washington del Instituto Tuskegee hasta su muerte, Julius Rosenwald ayudó a las comunidades negras a construir más de 5 000 escuelas. Proporcionó $25,000 por escuela, la comunidad negra reunió otros $25,000 y los últimos $25,000 se recaudaron entre blancos con los dineros y la visión para estimular la educación entre descendientes de las personas esclavizadas sobre cuyas vidas robadas se había alzado su propia prosperidad. ¡Un plan brillante que funcionó!   Los negros de cada lugar levantaron a mano cada escuela. Y, tal como sucedió en mi propia comunidad, antes de yo nacer, cada vez que quemaban una, ellos construían otra.   Vimos el filme en un cine junto con otras seis o siete personas. Esto suscita la pregunta de cómo asegurar que suficiente gente vea una película que plantea una respuesta para un problema social apremiante. En este caso, nuestras vergonzosas escuelas públicas. ¿Por qué no seguir el ejemplo de estos grandes hombres y mujeres y construimos y dirigimos nuestras escuelas nosotros mismos?   Lo hemos hecho en el pasado y lo podemos volver a hacer.   No queremos cárceles para nuestros hijos, queremos luz y aire, lugares para soñar y jugar, buenos maestros, seguridad todo el día, ¡personas que les sonrían en cada esquina de los terrenos y edificios! O incluso les frunzan el ceño, ¡pero de forma amable! (A ustedes les gustará lo que Maya Angelou dice al respecto). La de Angelou es una de las muchas voces enérgicas, sinceras, preocupadas en este filme. Ahí están Julian Bond, Ben Jealous, Rita Dove, John Lewis, junto a artistas, poetas, músicos, pintores y bailarines. ¡Llegamos a oír a Marian Anderson cantando! (Ella es maravillosa. Imaginen cuán envidiosas deben haber estado aquellas Hijas de la Revolución Americana, una noción risible en sí misma.)   Mientras tanto, deténganse en la compasión serena en los ojos de Julius Rosenwald. Vean cómo una persona rica se vuelve aun más rica al darle a los otros. Sucedió que, hacia el final de su vida, Rosenwald sintió que el tiempo que pasó construyendo escuelas para los niños negros y compartiendo con sus nuevos amigos del Sur se hallaba entre lo mejor de su vida.   Pero además vean este filme por la increíble belleza de las personas negras. Esa chispa especial de alegría y franqueza, e incluso de gran postura, que parece habérsela llevado el viento. ¡Para nuestro pesar! (Aquellos de nosotros que incluso lo recordamos.)   Hay secuencias de película que jamás supe que existían. Es gozoso comprobar cuán bella le gente blanca puede ser cuando son verdaderamente nuestros amigos y, a pesar de las consecuencias, que pueden ser nefastas, deciden arriesgar lo bueno si llegan tiempos riesgosos por permanecer con nosotros.   Esta página puede necesitar corrección, La estoy publicando ahora porque, en dependencia del lugar, este filme puede desaparecer de los cines antes de que sea adecuadamente apreciado.         ELEVANDO LA EMPATÍA: ALICE WALKER, POSEER EL SECRETO DE LA ALEGRÍA Y EL MOVIMIENTO GLOBAL PARA PROHIBIR LA MUTILACION GENITAL FEMENINA (FGM)   Corregido por Tobe Levin   http://uncutvoices.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/waging-empathy-order-info.pdf Conocí a Tobe Levin en Londres en el estreno de Beauty in Truth (La belleza de la verdad), un filme de Pratibha Parmar sobre mi vida. Por supuesto, en la contraportada de este libro hay una foto de nosotras donde nos vemos felices de estar juntas. Debido a que el evento estaba colmado, y jubilosamente ruidoso, no comprendí lo que Levin me estaba diciendo sobre un libro que se publicaría, el cual ella editó, que se centraba en mi labor acerca de la mutilación de los genitales femeninos (FMG, en inglés). Dos años más tarde, alguien cuyos zapatos hechos a mano admiro, me envió un par de sandalias de tirillas doradas que había hecho para mí, junto con dos copias del libro de Tobe Levin.   Hay cosas maravillosas que están sucediendo en este mundo, cosas sorprendentes; me encanta pensar que todo el mundo finalmente recibirá sus zapatos de baile. Sentía que había recibido los míos, mientras abría este tomo de ensayos de estudiosos de todo el mundo que se prestaron para apoyar la lucha de Tashi, la mujer que decide sufrir la mutilación genital en Possessing The Secret Of Joy (Poseer el secreto de la alegría) y, por extensión, de todas nuestras hermanas y niñas por millones que, debido a la mutilación de sus genitales, son propensas a soportar toda una vida de padecimientos físicos y psicológicos.   Cada ensayo en torno a la novela, sin importar el país, es enjundioso, profundo, serio, atractivo. Me gusta que este buqué de acercamientos llegue a los estudiantes o a cualquier lector de forma que permita que la mutilación genital, sus victimas y sus perpetradores se comprendan más fácilmente. Después de todo, es la comprensión no el castigo lo que buscamos, ya que nos percatamos de que todos en una cultura pierden cuando los gritos de una niña herida caen en oídos muy adoloridos como para oír.   Hay espacio para distintos puntos de vista, también, si deseamos, finalmente, ver con claridad.   Tres inclinaciones completas. Tres ovaciones enérgicas.   Continue reading →

Don’t be fooled by “Inclusive Capitalism” It’s

still a disaster!

By Cynthia McKinney

Published time: 15 Sep, 2015 10:26  (en español)

Signs of Deep Awakening ….AW

According to its website, Inclusive Capitalism, every corporation must be a citizen of the society in which it operates. This ensures long-term growth and company health. They even write that “inclusive… Continue reading →

 

                    The Island That Sleeps Like a Wing, Cuban poet, Nancy Morejon

 

WHY THREE POPES IN 20 YEARS?
By Manuel E. Yepe

http://manuelyepe.wordpress.com/

A CubaNews translation.
Edited by Walter Lippmann.

In less than twenty years, three Popes have visited Cuba. This is
something really surprising when you consider that this archipelago is
a… Continue reading →

RISE UP, OCTOBER!

Be On YouR

Side.

                    End Police Terrorism

             Embrace Black Lives Matter

Release All Political Prisoners

 Stop the War on Children

SUPPORT JUSTICE OR ELSE!

DEFEND OUR EARTH MOTHER

RESPECT THE FEMININE AND YOURSELF

HONOR THE FAMILY, FRIENDSHIPS, AND THE… Continue reading →

 Happy Tenth Anniversary, Busboys and Poets!

Greetings Everyone, I was on my way to be with you tonight, but did not want to risk being trapped, in mid journey, with my partner and small dog, by Hurricane Joaquin.  Andy (Shallal) tells me the danger seems past, and I am happy for all of you who made it.  You are very lucky.

Greetings… Continue reading →

http://www.indystar.com/story/opinion/readers/2015/10/17/palestinian-shall-sing-and-continue-what-ve-started/74137268/

Palestinian: ‘I shall sing and continue what I’ve started’

Indystar, October 17, 2015

My Facebook feed is filled with terrifying videos. Fadi, a 19-year old Palestinian youth, is chased by a lynch mob of Israeli settlers in Jerusalem screaming for his death and is shot, execution-style by Israeli forces. Ahmad, a 13-year-old Palestinian boy is shot by Israeli police in an illegal Israeli settlement… Continue reading →

 

October 2015

THEY WILL ALWAYS BE MORE BEAUTIFUL THAN YOU

©2015 by Alice Walker

They will always be
More beautiful
Than you
The people you are killing.
You think it is hatred
That you feel
But it is really envy.
You imagine if you destroy them

We will forget

How tall they stood

How level
Their gaze
How straight their backs.
How even the… Continue reading →

After Attacks, France Increases Its Commitment To Refugees

Nation of Change

 

What Sanity Looks Like.

http://www.nationofchange.org/2015/11/18/after-attacks-france-increases-its-commitment-to-refugees/
<http://www.nationofchange.org/2015/11/18/after-attacks-france-increases-its-commitment-to-refugees/>

Wherever You Are Grieving

©2015 by Alice Walker

It does not matter to me:
Wherever you are grieving
Whether Paris, Damascus, Jerusalem, Bamako,
Mexico or Beirut or New York City
My heart, too, is bruised
And dragging.
There used to be such a thing
As melodrama
When feelings could be
Made up,
But now there is bare pain
And sorrow,
A sense of endlessly missed… Continue reading →

 

ALL CHILDREN DESERVE A BETTER WORLD

Talking About Paris To A Five Year Old

©2015 by Frank Barat

 

I had a pretty fascinating chat with Ted, my 5 years old son, this morning when he woke up. I am sharing this because while I have no problem trying to explain what happened in Paris, how it came about…to adults, I struggle with my… Continue reading →

2015 The Year of Changes

©2015 by Alice Walker

Grace Paley, the writer of great short stories, named two of her collections The Little Disturbances of Man and Enormous Changes At the Last Minute.  I think of these titles now as 2015 comes to a close:  how we as humans imagine disturbances in our tiny lives might weigh in on the cosmic scale,… Continue reading →

THE PEOPLE OF USA WILL HAVE THE FINAL WORD
By Manuel E. Yepe

http://manuelyepe.wordpress.com

A CubaNews translation. Edited by Walter Lippmann.

It has been repeatedly said that the American people are the only ones
who could perform the Herculean task of bringing down the most
powerful and bloodthirsty empire ever known to humankind. Humanity
anxiously hopes to see the US people act, and will provide… Continue reading →

The Sympathizer, by Viet Thanh Nguyen

 

Was the Civil Rights Movement a politically orchestrated distraction from the wars on the citizens, lands and cultures of yellow people half a world away? We were distracted, some more than others, by assassinations and hangings, fire bombing of cars and houses, and the humiliating back and forth “progress” of “integration” via the long torturous march of… Continue reading →

SANDERS WANTS TO DEBATE REAL ISSUES
BY MANUEL E. YEPE

http://manuelyepe.wordpress.com/

A CubaNews translation. Edited by Walter Lippmann.

Another novelty introduced by the campaign of Democratic Party
presidential candidate Bernie Sanders in his bid to win voters for his
candidacy is the complaint made about the sad role of candidates and
the media interested in sharpening antagonisms between candidates
based on purely personal or trivial… Continue reading →

Miko Peled and Alice Walker

In this post, Miko Peled, author of The General’s Son, Journey of an Israeli in Palestine, laments the death of Muhammed Ali and wishes he had stayed a while longer with us.  I feel the peace that comes when a person who has given his or her all in the cause of what is right passes away and is… Continue reading →

en español

In these times of woe, trust in what you love that loves you back

©2016 by Alice Walker

And though I’ve been there only once, for such a brief visit (!) I have a warm place in my heart for Brazil.  It is its people, first and last, who seem to me different in some quite unidentifiable but definitely encouraging (of humanity)… Continue reading →

 

DON’T MISS LOVING

DON’T MISS SNOWDEN

DON’T MISS QUEEN OF KATWE

DON’T MISS 13TH

DON’T MISS  MOONLIGHT

REREAD:  1984, BRAVE NEW WORLD, AND DOWN AND OUT IN LONDON AND PARIS.  

You’ll just have to take my word for it.  I’m overextended and my dog is ill, so I can’t go into all the reasons I’d like you to experience the… Continue reading →

Yemanjá 

Wisdom from the African Heart of Brazil
Narrated by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Alice Walker

A film by Donna C. Roberts and Donna Read

http://www.yemanjathefilm.com/

A documentary film about the Candomblé religion in Bahia, Brazil, a vibrant African-derived culture which evolved from the days of enslaved Africans. Elder women leaders tell stories of Candomblé’s history, social challenges and triumphs, grounded… Continue reading →

El poema ESTOY AFLIGIDA POR FIDEL en Español

I AM GRIEVING FOR FIDEL

and for Raul

©2016 by Alice Walker
 
I am grieving
for Fidel; I am bereft
because he left us.

Yet, after decades
of offering support
to more doubtful
and less confident souls
who called to him from his own country
and around the suffering  globe
wasn’t it time… Continue reading →

Poema, SOY FELIZ DE ANUNCIAR QUE NO VOY A NINGUNA PARTE!, en Español

 Photo by Alice Walker

I Am Happy To Report I Am Not Going Anywhere!

©2016 by Alice Walker

for Joan

I am happy to report
I am not going anywhere!
That I am stuck like glue
to this house, this window, this bed.
To this view, that tree,… Continue reading →

It is a great experience to find one’s self taken over by a book, and that was my experience of BORN A CRIME by Trevor Noah.  There’s no more fascinating a relationship between mother and son anywhere, to my mind, than that between Trevor and his mother, Patricia. I can only wonder if she finds it as priceless as I do.  … Continue reading →

What To Do With The Mind?

©2017 by Alice Walker

I have not been this depressed since President John Kennedy was assassinated; no, I have not been this depressed since Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated.  No, I haven’t been this depressed since Malcolm X was assassinated.  No, I haven’t been this depressed since Bobby Kennedy was assassinated.  No, I haven’t been… Continue reading →

En español

Photo by Dorothea Lange

 

FIND YOUR PARENTS, AND HELP THEM

©2017by Alice Walker

 

Somewhere on this green earth
your parents are still alive;
why we thought parents ever died
is a mystery.

Somewhere
your father is still working
like a beast;
your mother, her shoes a joke, still washing
by calloused hand,
someone else’s filthy clothes.

You thought you had escaped… Continue reading →

An Evening with Alice Walker

Thu, May 25 from 7:30 – 9:30pm EDT Arts & Entertainment

Celebrate our exhibition We Wanted a Revolution: Black Radical Women, 1965–85 with acclaimed poet, novelist, activist, and Pulitzer Prize–winning author Alice Walker in this intimate lecture inspired by her life’s work and the exhibition. Walker won both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1983… Continue reading →

Ley Alice and Jung en Español

A Role For Psychoanalysis In Healing the Trauma of Female Genital Mutilation?

Carl Jung

As the subject of Female Genital Mutilation returns to the minds and hearts of many, with the news that it is being practiced in the United States, I wanted to offer a perspective that is not ordinarily discussed: that of the role psychoanalysis might… Continue reading →

En español

Photo by Laura Balandran

THE MINISTRY OF UTMOST HAPPINESS:  ARUNDHATI AND ALICE

at the Nourse Theatre in San Francisco

June 28, 2017

Arundhati Roy, irrepressible and truly brilliant, read from her new novel, The Ministry of Utmost Happiness and Alice “interviewed” her for a lively full house of mostly, it seemed from the questions later, Indians.  Who knew there were… Continue reading →

Leer el poema en Español, Mi Riqueza Neta Según Internet

 

My Net Worth  

According to the Internet

©2017 by Alice Walker

 

Learning from the Internet
That I have a net worth
Of 300 million dollars
Only 15 million
Short of Beyonce’s
Alleged stash,
I understand
Why I am petitioned
So frequently
For funds.

If I had 300 million dollars
It would… Continue reading →

What is Wisdom? Where Can it be Found?

It is such a blessing to have magnificent teachers!  Two of them I fantasize having an intense conversation for the world to overhear happen to be Irish (American), which can’t be – given Ireland’s history – a true coincidence.  Michael Meade, mythologist, so beloved for all he brings, and Ken O’Keefe, a former Marine, for… Continue reading →

For Heather Heyer and her mother.

With love, from Alice

Rompe Mi Corazon De Nuevo

Break My Heart Again
©2017 by Alice Walker

September 2017

for Aung San Suu Kyi and the Rohingya People

We travelled far
To stand before your door
A door we could not see
Our taxi driver
And all of Myanmar
Too frightened
To whisper your name.

My companion* brought
His trumpet
And though he did not dare
Endanger our driver… Continue reading →

¡HUELGA! DOLORES HUERTA

Strike!  Dolores Huerta

A Virgin de Guadaloupe, with Children

©by Alice Walker 2017

DOLORES, the movie

Some recent movies have been overwhelmingly encouraging, like the “horror movie” Get Out.  A film so remarkable in its psychic resonance that few can say just what it is that makes us know it is, at root, not so much about horror,… Continue reading →

En español

It is a delight to know that Never Caught is being taken up by readers as food for the merciless journey of our people in these United States.  Erica Armstrong Dunbar has pulled off a feat of major proportions.  So much so that I just learned her book was long listed for a National Book Award.  All awards… Continue reading →

Leer esto, Una Leccion: Nunca Vayas Por El Mercado, en español

Lesson:  Never Wander Into the Marketplace
After a Silent Retreat.
Or During.  Which Is What I Just Did.

Copyright ©2018 by Alice Walker
Perplexed by signs for “bookstore” and finding none, I wandered once again down the path beside the new community building.  I saw folks going in. I had… Continue reading →

A dozen of us took ourselves to see Ain’t Too Proud, The Life and Times of The Temptations, now playing at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre in Berkeley.  It was wonderful.  And so was the audience, which grooved along song after song as if they remembered, as most of us did, the moment each melody first startled and swooned our hearts, all those years… Continue reading →

Or Were You Once A Child?

©2017 by Alice Walker

If you were once a child
Remember how it was
When the big men
Who were not smiling

Came for you?

They were not soldiers
Then
But uncles, fathers,
Grandpas,
Dentists.

It was their bigness
That scared you.

Now they are coming
Six feet tall
In full battle gear;
You have nothing
Or maybe a… Continue reading →

En Español

AND THEN THERE WERE THE FIRES…

©2017 by Alice Walker

 

I never experience October 9th
Without giving thanks
For John Lennon
Someone who had his head
On straight.
This year was no different;
I miss him still.
Perhaps he and Medgar Evers
Viola (Liuzzo:the Italian-American
 Who came to help);the black
Women and men with no marker
To name them; Bobby, Martin,… Continue reading →

A Branch:  Sexual Assault In the Present Time

©2017 by Alice Walker

 

Decades later I would undertake
As a course of personal study
Why they told us nothing
Whatsoever about it.
We entered puberty so ignorant
That when we bled
The euphemism
Was that we had been visited
By a red bird.
An odd sock, hopefully
Mateless,
Might be used
To staunch
The… Continue reading →

It Is Our (Frightful) Duty

©2017 by Alice Walker

To Study The Talmud

©2017 by Alice Walker

The first time I was accused

Of appearing to be anti-Semitic

The shock did not wear off
For days.
The man who charged me
Was a friend.
A Jewish Soul
Who I thought understood
Or could learn to understand
Almost anything.

He could not understand
However
Why I… Continue reading →

Stay With Me is a fabulous novel.

Ayobami Adebayo has made such a moving commitment to fierceness and truth that the tenderness that emerges also in her characters is as welcome as a spring shower.  What a heart this writer has; how it renews our hope for a world in which it can continue to thrive.

 Best, I think, on Audible.

I… Continue reading →

Leer en español

 I Live Now As If I Will Never See You Again

Copyright 2017 by Alice Walker

I live now
As if I will never see you again;
I should have been living
This way all along.

Here is a cure for every kind
Of impatience
& Irritation;
Every anticipation
Of regret.

I love you as I love the fields
That I… Continue reading →

 NUESTRAS VIDAS ERRANTES: IDEAS SOBRE EL COLOR PÚRPURA

Word that the Texas prison system has banned The Color Purple this week, made me wish to share the thoughts below.  I am off to a silent retreat in hopes of “re-setting” myself. Otherwise I would have found a great picture to go with this!  Well, imagine your family, with all the wild… Continue reading →

UNA BUENA ORACIÓN PARA EMPEZAR NUESTRO DÍA EN ESTOS TIEMPOS

A Good Prayer For Starting One’s Day In These Times …

Humans are amazing.  Thank You

For Making Us! 

Whoever or Whatever You are,

Of whatever Dimension or Frequency!

Thank you for giving us Ourselves to enjoy!

For instance, I went last night to my local movie palace in Oaklandia (as Frida Kahlo… Continue reading →

Ley Es Aquí y Ahora; Quizás Lo Hayas Notado 

It Is Here Now; Maybe You Have

Noticed It

Copyright © 2018 by Alice Walker

You could always tell
Where it was going:
Censorship.
Free thought was always
Going to be cornered,
Caught, held captive
By those
With Everything
To hide.
We are never given
Anything healthful
Or truthful
By those who have
Traditionally… Continue reading →

 Poema De Primavera

Photo by Alice Walker

Spring Poem 

Copyright 2018 by Alice Walker

For daisy, zinnia, petunia, jasmine, rose, tenzin, rebecca, rachel, braxton, auden

The seed from last year’s garden

Has been scattered

By the wind.

When I return in Spring
Tiny green faces
Are everywhere.

Some have landed
As we might too
In dry
& rocky
Ground.

But mother has returned… Continue reading →

Happy Birthday to the Incomparable Alice / Alicia, con mucho cariño <3

I heard this song the other day and it reminds me of you and wanted to share it with you

Some wonderful photos I found of you

The song is “Gracias a la Vida”

Translation of this rendition:

THANKS TO LIFE

Thanks to Life, which has given me so much
She gave me… Continue reading →

by Alice Walker, Casa Madre, Mexico 2018

 

One Wise Saying
Of the Ancestors
Is Worth More Than a Thousand
Toxic
Ideologies

One Wise Saying
Of the Ancestors
Is Worth More Than a Thousand
Toxic
Ideologies

©2018 by Alice Walker

For instance:

“I’ve been called
everything
but a child
of God.”… Continue reading →

Osho en ser un sufí: admirando el país salvaje, salvaje, de Nexflix

11 August 1977 am in Buddha Hall

 

ONCE a learned Mohammedan came to me and asked, ”You are not a Mohammedan, then why do you speak on Sufism?’ I told him, ’I am not a Mohammedan, obviously, but I am a Sufi all the same.’

A Sufi need not be a Mohammedan.… Continue reading →

Sonam Wangchuk: An Ice Fountain Brings Water to the Himalayan Desert

Guernica

by Teresa Krug

“I’m working on [how to adapt to] life without glaciers. I’ve already started experiments to see what can be done with very little rain. I won’t go into details, but this is about mixing the sandy soil with clays and humus to make any rain that falls on it last… Continue reading →

Parte Final Desde Laos

 

Final Dispatch from Laos
by Mai Der Vang

Concerning our hollow breasts,
Lice factions multiplying in our hair.

Concerning our unused stomachs,
Molars waiting to chew, taste buds

Obsolete. By then, we won’t remember
We’re alive. We’ll be the soil covered

In mines. Concerning last night’s
Attack, seven dead, five injured, four

Gone missing, three arms. Concerning
A forest in… Continue reading →

 

We Can Know the World is Changing When the African Woman Freely Speaks Her Mind, Globally.  YouTube.

The Dr. Mumbi Show is a single black woman, from Kenya, East Africa, teaching.

Dr. Mumbi is fascinating to watch and listen to; she is brash and vivid, bursting with the sometimes good news she is telling us, even though it might paradoxically be some of… Continue reading →

Erigiendo Un Monumento Al Soldado Confederado Que No Quiso Ir A La Guerra

Raising A Memorial To The Confederate Soldier Who Did Not Want To Go To War

for Larry.

Copyright 2018 by Alice Walker

I have been so impressed by the black women who are at the forefront of the effort to remove the statues of Confederate soldiers from public squares and college campuses… Continue reading →

Temples of Peace

This is why.

 

###

 © 2019 by Alice Walker

 

Someone wrote about The Color Purple that it is a novel of permanent importance.  This was such a lovely way to think about it!  I was charmed.  Even though I realize permanent might not be that long. However, while I was reading Michelle Obama’s book BECOMING I felt the same way: that it is a… Continue reading →

The Good Ones

For Hugo Chavez

March 5, 2013

©2013 by Alice Walker

The good ones
who listen
to women
to children and the poor
die too soon,
their lives  bedeviled
by opposition:
our hearts grieve for them.

This was the world my father knew.

A poor man
he saw good men come and mostly go;
leaving behind… Continue reading →

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What if you were my son?

Copyright © 2019
By Alice Walker
 
If you were my son,
I would wonder
How you came to say this?
How you came to make
It up.  Because, surely,
It is a fantasy.
What are you really
Trying to hide?
 
Were you tricked
By those brothers
Who… Continue reading →

 

Medicine Art: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind

Copyright 2019©by Alice Walker

 
Medicine art has a way of showing up
just when you need it most.
And so it is with this great film
that lets us see man and woman
mother and father
children and teachers
a chief, and politicians,
as who they really are.  Poor hopeless  folks
in Africa… Continue reading →

Carta Abierta a Paris Jackson

An Open Letter to Paris Jackson

 

Dear Daughter, Dear Paris, Dear Kindred,

Take a look at this:

Her lowest moment came in 1948, when a vindictive neighbor accused Hurston of sexual relations with her 10-year-old son. The charges were patently false — Hurston had been in Honduras at the time, and the boy was mentally unstable — but she… Continue reading →

Leyendo a Evan Osnos: La Era de la Ambición: Persiguiendo la Fortuna, La Verdad y La Fe en La Nueva China

 

 

Reading Evan Osnos: The Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China

©2019 by Alice Walker

When I visited China in 1983 women held up half the sky. … Continue reading →

A wish for you. -AW

READING “OUR NIG” (Or, Sketches from the Life of a Free Black) DECADES LATER

Copyright 2019 by Alice Walker

 

Our Nig, the 1859 novel by Harriet E. Wilson, is the saddest book I have read.  It was challenging to read as a young woman. Decades later, I find I must read it in fits and starts. Grief… Continue reading →

I’LL SEE YOU WHEN YOUR TROUBLES GET LIKE MINE  (Traditional Blues)

© 2019 by Alice Walker

for John Shipton

I’ll see you when your troubles
Get like mine… lord, lord,
I’ll see you when your troubles
Get like mine.

I was thinking about this song
While watching Julian Assange’s
Father
Being interviewed
By 60 Minutes Australia.
The woman interviewer
Wanted him to
Admit… Continue reading →

 

Más Pruebas: ¡Somos Quienes Hemos Estado Esperando!

More proof:  We Are the Ones We Have Been Waiting For!

Sometime in the late 1980s or early 90s I was arrested for- I believe, not recalling specifics- insisting that the University of California divest holdings that supported the Apartheid state of South Africa. One joy in the event was being held in custody with the… Continue reading →

Film Trailer [2:30 min]

RENEGADE: THE LIFE STORY OF DAVID ICKE, a #1 documentary film in England and climbing the charts in other countries. An example of perseverance over daunting odds from which we might draw strength.

Do we need strength? We do.

 Beautifully directed  by Stephen Peek and gracefully edited by Maria Demeshkina Peek.  Music by Jake Hull.

 

Be Nobody’s… Continue reading →

Until one has loved an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened. – Anatole France 

You Died, And Then I Understood

Copyright © 2019 by Alice Walker

Charlie Larson Walker/June 17, 2019/3:15 AM

You died in my arms, and yes,
My heart felt crushed.

Another dog, much younger than you,
Was frisking about
As dogs do.
I was annoyed. How dare she live… Continue reading →