Speaking on Our Thoughts...

i had some kind of weekend, sure enough. i traveled up the road a ways toward Kentucky in search of some personal elevation, reformation, and transformation. don't act like you don't know what i'm talking about, because we're ALL in need of those things from time to time. i often get anointed with the cape of superman to some people, but in the end, we're all just trying to bust our butts to live our dreams, right? and in that quest, we face obstacles. those obstacles are merely signs that we are, in fact, on the right path. but they can make us weary nonetheless. and we need rest and rejuvenation. for me, it was sweating.

and boy, did a brotha sweat last night.

i went to the sweat lodge to meditate, to share with friends, loved ones, and newfound acquaintances a highly spiritual experience. sweating is an ancient ritual, known here in the west to the Native people of this co-opted land mass we call America. you go out and build a lodge during the day, then you enter that womb and you sweat until all impurities--physical, mental, emotional, spiritual--are consumed in the fire of the heated rocks and moans that come out when the spirit comes in.

in short, you get renewed. i always do. and i did last night--or was that this morning.

as i sit wiping my head off and being grateful for my life and living, as focused as i've ever found myself at any given time, i'm thinking about friends and loved ones we all know, who haven't made it to the point where they feel comfortable about themselves and what they are doing in life. we all stray from time to time, but i'm talking about those who have no clue. i've found that they can be the number one perpetrators of the crime of dream attack. they'll wear you down telling you stuff YOU can't or shouldn't be doing. it's only because that misery loves--and needs--company. yeah, i'm thinking about them.

i'm also thinking about something a college mentor of mine told me in mixed company the other night. she was talking about her high school graduating class in mississippi of 50 years ago. 47 kids. that's all. but those 47 went on to be CEOs, statesmen, oscar winners, all exceptional. she then said that what made them successful was that their teachers convinced them that they could be anything they wanted to be, and they believed it.

how can we do that right now, today?

we all have our dreams, but especially our children, which is why i press on even through the hardest of times. i can't tell my kid to chase their dreams as they watch me, heck--HELP me--mourn the passing of my own. even when there seems to be no flesh on the bones of our goals and desires, the question still is..."can these bones live?" we often find ourselves in the valley of the dry bones, without hope. but we must remember. bones can come together to form a skeletal foundation.

so gather up the bones you may have thrown away. start putting them together and don't worry about anything else. when the time is right, God will animate them, and you all will be standing on the shoulders of our Ancestors, in whose omnipresent shadow we humbly stand. in the meantime, whoever and wherever you are, i'll be praying for you, and i'll hope you do the same. let us pray that God will continue to lead, and we will continue to follow Him on the path HE has laid out for us.

i'm gonna crash. got a couple of big to-do's tomorrow.
blessings
o

so... i get a forward from our web administrator over at the site for the recent, wildly successful holiday play, "Sho' 'Nuff Nativity." apparently, we'se ig'nant knee-grows is done put togetha a minstrel show! at least, according to one lone stranger. i appreciate the ton of phone calls, emails, texts, etc. that came in from many of you who saw the show. i think this cat didn't see it at all. i won't list his/her email address, because i want to encourage solid discourse. i'll just copy and paste the body of the email.

"Black people have been held back by people
who promote such nonsense. Would you want
to go to a doctor who said "sho' 'nuff?" Or
how about "axe" instead of "ask?"

What a shame that there is no intelligent black
person to whom black children will listen. Their
role models are hip hop dumb asses. Bill Cosby
tried but no one wanted to hear it. He's to be
admired. P Diddy should be exterminated! You
people should be ashamed!"

-email name withheld

so...comments? i'd like to hear from people who saw the show as well as people who didn't. for the record, i promoted, proudly, the event. i don't know the profession of this person, nor would i dare try to assume they know anything about current events or culture, so i won't launch an ad hominem attack. but i will say, i had to chuckle out loud at the absurdity of the argument.

as a bit of an answer: i'd prefer a doctor whose skill is in the practice of medicine. i've been surrounded by people who split verbs and i'd leave my kid with them, and others who spoke the "King's English" who i wouldn't trust with a napkin. as for intelligent black people, they listen to the messages they find in shows that they come see before passing judgment. i don't know how a hip-hop nativity would look, but i'm sure it would be fascinating. "Sho' 'Nuff" visited the gamut of music from African drums to Spirituals, Gospel, Jazz, Soul, etc.

calling for the extermination of someone is interesting, too--even if called for in perfect english.

what do ya'll think? (oops...is ya'll too country?)

joc

yours truly from my treo, at the Poag Auditorium

W-O-W
it's over. or is it? we came, we saw, and The Lord Thy God absolutely conquered! i just got through breaking down the set and assisting with pulling lights and costumes and everything from the Thomas E. Poag Auditorium on the campus of Tennessee State University, home of this year's 3rd annual theatrical Christmas Celebration, "Sho' 'Nuff Nativity."

i never doubted God.

but i had a few rough spots with myself.

i probably shouldn't be so friggin' candid on this thing, but since i can't help but to keep it real, i'll tell you all about some of the challenges, now that it's all over and done--or at least, this phase of it is.

it started last year, when we got done with the production of Langston Hughes' "Black Nativity," and wanted to move ahead with this year's show in the relatively new Performing Arts Center that i starved 9 days on a hunger strike to help get built (ah the days of my youth!) when i was a student at Tennessee State. guess what? it wasn't available for this year!!

so what to do now? i finally let that musically-gifted psycho buddy alex stadaker talk me into pushing ahead with an original idea i had to write our own huge, ambitious Christmas musical; i had started outlining the script, been digging my nose deeper into my tattered and abused bible, and singing so many songs in the shower, my tenant upstairs must've thought i was insane ("You ain't got to go home/ but you gotta get yo' self up outta here/ 'cuz there's no room/ no room at the inn!"). now, we didn't have a place or an idea of where we could do it.

we rested on the Poag Auditorium (Formerly, the "A" Auditorium, on the TSU Campus). heck, it was only fitting. this was the first stage i ever appeared on. at 18 years old, i learned the lessons of my life backstage from W. Dury Cox (rest "Daddy's" soul), H. Deveraux Brady, Horace Hockett, Lawrence James, Sandra Holt, and many other legends. i slept on, behind, and above that stage many a night when i was studying, working, building sets, designing lights, pledging (and hiding from the bruhs), and chasing after the many young ladies i was never good enough to "game" on to any successful playah's degree.

in short, that place was Home base. ground zero for my entire theatrical life. it was not only where i learned the basics of the craft, but where i met alex stadaker. i suppose it only made sense that it would be the place where we would launch our next creative phase.

but things have changed. there were no solid stage lights. there was no sound system. no parking. no usuable scenery. the odds were stacked against us in an unsurmountable fashion.

just our kind of odds.

before it was all done and over, my super stage manager Helen Naylor, along with a lot of solid contributors including Nashville's resident lighting genius Scott Leathers had transformed an auditorium into a theatre. with assistance from Actors Bridge Ensemble and Persephone Felder-Fentress at Fisk University, along with a crew of supporters with donations and Home Depot connections, including Boyce Brunson, we got a set built. i spent a day in the ceiling of the building re-focusing spotlights. in the end, we pulled off a crazy big show. AND we got it on tape, so that we can broadcast it soon. i'll keep you up on that.

the important lesson i learned--or in my case, re-affirmed--is that whatever God brings you TO, he will bring you THROUGH. and He brought this one on through.

if you came through, tell me what you thought about the show. if you didn't, check in with us at wwwshonuffnativity.com for updates. i'm up and off to work on the next round of things. God bless you all, and stay in touch.

obafemi