Set in February 1964, One Night in Miami brings together four Black men on the cusp of fame or notoriety. It’s the early days of the Civil Rights era. Boxer Cassius Clay has just defeated Sonny Liston, and this gathering of friends is partly a celebration of that victory. It’s also the day before Clay joins the Nation of Islam and changes his name. Malcolm X, a leader in the Muslim brotherhood, is the dominant figure. Present along with Clay and Malcolm X are football great Jim Brown and songwriter Sam Cooke. These men debate, disagree, and spar over what each one should be doing in the cause of Black freedom.
Based on a play of the same name, the film is quite static with little action and lots of dialogue. It’s an intense film and a powerful one that has new relevance in light of Black Lives Matter. Recommended. (~jWFarrington)
In 1939 in Suffolk, England, the widowed Mrs. Pretty hires an excavator to dig up some mounds on her land. She has a good feeling about one of them. She is certain there are buried artifacts to be discovered. Basil Brown is not a professionally trained archaeologist; rather he learned his trade from his father and grandfather. But he has been recommended for his work on other digs.
Based on a famous archaeological discovery, the film proceeds at a somewhat leisurely pace. There is pleasure in the budding friendship between the widow and the excavator and in the rapport between her son Robert and Mr. Brown. And which of the two museums vying for the prize will be the winner? Carey Mulligan and Ralph Fiennes are excellent in the lead roles! (~JWFarrington)
A BIT OF FUN—DANCING NOSES
Given that we all spend much time these days with our noses covered by masks, I thought you’d enjoy this crazy dance from an opera. Thanks to the Chief Penguin for sharing it with me.
NACHOS ANYONE?
Tomorrow is Super Bowl Sunday. The game will be played in Tampa at the Buccaneers’ home stadium. With Tom Brady on their side, the Bucs have re-discovered their mojo. Go team!
I won’t be glued to the set, but I will check the score regularly. And, in the spirit of the day, nosh on some nachos.
Self-Portrait in Black and White: Family, Fatherhood, and Rethinking Race by Thomas Chatterton Williams (2019)
Even before his marriage and the birth of his first child, Williams straddled, or at least experienced, both the white and the Black worlds. His father is a Southern Black and his mother a white woman, and while mixed race, he identified as Black. His writing career gave him opportunities to work abroad in Berlin, but mostly in Paris. Subsequently, he married a white French woman. In France, he felt he was received first as American and then as something other than white.
When his daughter Marlow arrived blond and blue-eyed, Williams’ views on race were upended. Forced to confront his own sense of race, he explores how other writers and philosophers have described race—and how some have dealt with it in their own lives.
Williams & daughter (Virginia Quarterly Review)
Given the mixed context of his own extended family, he asks the question, “What is race if a man, at various stages, can be either ‘black’ or ‘white’? In my own family, when I can look to my mother’s side and I see my aunt Shirley’s Facebook posts about our immigrant ancestors diligently pulling themselves up and out of German, or to my father’s side on Ancestry.com and stare into the abyss of chattel slavery, I concur that race is hardly more than the difference between those who descend from the free and those who do not.”
He goes on to state that, “mental liberty, inner, mental freedom, is never something another person can give to you but rather something hard-won that anyone interested will have to take for herself, will have to seize with conviction, if she will have it at all.”
Reading his book, I found myself puzzling over the fact that if I meet another individual and I can’t immediately assess whether they are Black or white, it becomes a matter of concern. As if I had to peg them in a particular slot before I could move on to any extended interaction. Intermingling the scholarly with the personal, Williams has given us a thoughtful meditation for our polarized times.
Williams also wrote the initial draft of the now much discussed “A Letter on Justice and Open Debate” signed by more than 150 public figures and published in Harper’s Magazine. (~JWFarrington)
CULTURE NOTES—THE NEW YORKER FESTIVAL
I am somewhat late to the game in taking advantage of lectures and concerts available online. This week that changed. I registered and paid for tickets to two events in the annual New Yorker Festival line-up.
Anthony Fauci (abcnews.go.com)
New Yorker staff writer Michael Specter interviewed Dr. Anthony Fauci. In the course of the interview, he played a few audio clips of Dr. Fauci’s involvement with earlier epidemics. Specter and Fauci have known each other a long time which was evident from their warm interaction. The technology worked, and it was an informative and enjoyable program.
Margaret Atwood (curtisbrown.co.uk)
The conversation between Margaret Atwood and Jia Tolentino was less successful. It was a treat for me to see and hear Ms. Atwood, a long favorite author. But, Ms. Tolentino had problems enabling the audience to hear the author, resulting in several long delays. And she came across as a less skilled interviewer, with long-winded questions and not always giving the author time to finish her thoughts. Fortunately, Ms. Atwood was gracious and patient. She shared her insights into the current political climate vis-a-vis her novels on the Gilead dystopia and why she signed the Harper’s letter mentioned above.
HOPE FOR A DYSTOPIA
The Testaments by Margaret Atwood (2019)
(amazon.com)
I read The Handmaid’s Tale when it was published years ago and have not watched the TV version. I purchased this sequel several months ago, but it has been languishing on a stack of other to-be-read volumes. Prompted by the upcoming conversation with Atwood, I started it. Why did I wait so long to read it?
I found it utterly fascinating, even gripping. Once the linkages between Baby Nicole, taken to Canada and raised there; Agnes Jemima, a Supplicant and aspiring Aunt; and the elderly Aunt Lydia, keeper of a secret journal, were clear, I became even more immersed. How will these women fare? What happens to Gilead, the corrupt totalitarian society that has taken over the United States? It is a magnificent novel and a more than worthy successor to its precursor. And it can be read on its own. Highly recommended! (~JWFarrington)
This past week, my viewing and reading reflected people who were seen as different, whether it was because of race or gender or sexual orientation. Following are notes on a series about a black woman entrepreneur, a documentary about a lesbian couple, and a heartwarming Facebook posting about a young girl’s quest for reassurance.
The sub-title of this 4-part series is: “Inspired by the Life of Madam C. J. Walker,” and it’s the story of America’s first self-made millionaire. An African American laundry woman who started her own haircare product business, Sarah Walker was enterprising, indefatigable, and forceful. From selling Addie Monroe’s hair grow product to developing her own improved formula, to determinedly opening her own factory, Sarah was unabashedly ambitious. Saddled with a husband who was at first supportive, then roving, and a daughter with a sneaky, lying spouse, Madam nonetheless persevered. Her company prospered and endured from its founding in Indianapolis in 1910 until it ceased business in 1981. This is a good series about a remarkable woman, whose achievements and concern for black women everywhere are a welcome respite from today’s news.
ENDURING & AFFIRMING LOVE
A Secret Love(Netflix)
(variety.com)
This documentary is the life story of a female Canadian couple who for more than six decades lived together, claiming to outsiders that they were cousins or just friends splitting the high cost of their Chicago rent. Terrie Donahue and Pat Henschel met in the late 1940’s and fell in love much to their mutual surprise. Terrie played shortstop on a professional women’s softball team in a league that played around the Midwest. Later she and Pat both worked for the same company. Ever careful, they didn’t come out to their unsuspecting families until 2009.
The film was made by Terrie Donahue’s great nephew with lots of archival footage of their early lives and real time documentation as they approach their 90th birthdays. It’s a sweet and amazing story about the power of love. In their professional and personal lives, Terrie and Pat were pioneers. Highly recommended!
A CARING COMMUNITY
I’m going to do something here I’ve not done before, and that is to share a Facebook post by my niece, Whitney, about her biracial 8-year old daughter, Naya. It’s a heartfelt message about a lively black girl, her caring mom, and a town police team who went above and beyond to reassure Naya that she matters. It’s a welcome reflection in a tumultuous week.
*************************
There comes a day in every kid’s life where something changes…reality strikes and the light in their eyes dims just a little…the gift of the free-spirited careless, adventurous day they had not only one day earlier, gets traded for a long day of worry, self-doubt and anxiety.
Maybe they realized they weren’t as good at school as someone else, or maybe someone played a sport better, or maybe they wish their hair was straight, because everyone else’s was…
or maybe on that particular day, they just so happened to realize, what it meant…
To be black.
Naya is … Naya.
Since the day she could walk and barely talk she commands attention most places she goes. She makes friends with young and old, and will always strike up a conversation with anyone and I mean ANYONE. (not always a good thing lol)
She is the most confident, authentic, talkative, stubborn, smart, energetic, hilarious, beautiful brown skinned little girl…
She’s a natural born leader, she loves to dance and sing, she loves art, she was blessed to be incredibly athletic, that I am in awe with daily bc she definitely didn’t get that from me lol. She is a talented competitive swimmer ( who dreams of being in the Olympics one day so remember her name #statesbates ), she is only 8 but swears most days she’s 18.
She truly embraces life each and every day. It breaks me to think that anyone could look at her and think she is anything but all the amazing, unique things that make her, her.
She has been glancing at the news time to time as she runs out of the room to ride her bike …she knows what’s happening, she can feel the injustice…We have talks and try to educate her the best we can…
Yesterday was different though, she looked at me with real fear in her eyes and asked, “Mama will a cop come to my house and hurt me?!??”
So now it’s time to really drive it home…we have to make her understand that everyone’s differences are what make them amazing and no one person is superior over the other. But sometimes, unfortunately, in certain situations she might be treated differently ….
So, Thank You Sheriff Catalfano, Sheriff Loveless, Trooper White and Trooper Tubbins for coming to speak to Naya today.
You went OUT of your way today to show her that she MATTERS!
Thank you for showing her that most law enforcement doesn’t want to hurt her just because the color of her skin… thank you for showing her girl power and thank you for easing her anxious heart by speaking warm, comforting words from the trooper that “ hey! He looks like me!”
But mostly, thank you for HEARING an 8-year old’s cry FOR CHANGE...
and making her feel safe. I know that’s what most of you signed up for.
I realize it won’t always be like this for her, but she had today… and this is what hope feels like…
Today we won a little battle on the war on racism, today kindness and LOVE for humanity prevailed… and once again, I am so proud to call this community our home. #auburnNY
