an esoteric soul

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"No one's striving to be Miles Davis. Everybody's striving to get paid. And, you know, I wanna be like Miles Davis."
~Meshell Ndegeocello

order dance of the infidel

click for all things meshell

reading...
life on the color line: the true story of a white boy who discovered he was black by gregory howard williams

recently finished...
anagrams by lorrie moore

the dew breaker by edwidge danticat
(thanks, deshi!)

the mysteries of pittsburgh by michael chabon

she's not there: a life in two genders by jennifer finney boylan

venture...
all about george
anziblog
bgb.com
the brotherlove
btrfly_locs
the desh in me
ej flavors
kevin.daily
lynne d johnson
naya hri
NegroPlease
nubian soul
on a path
pheline
sister outsider
prime time
small hands
studpoet.com
that bitch

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i am: 40...a capricorn / moon in pisces / libra rising...an old soul with a young spirit...older than i look...contemplating my 3rd tattoo...NOT a web designer...a lesbian...working things out with the g.f....a native iowan...a graduate of cornell college and ohio state...a critical reader and thinker...really rather shy...agnostic...an ardent feminist...a bleeding-heart liberal...a pacifist...and so not your average white grrl...

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feeling generous? *grin*

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an esoteric soul

April 02, 2002

don't sleep, people...

if you don't head on over to matthew's better-than-fabulous web site today and download a live version of meshell ndegeocello's "priorities 1-6"...from last halloween at the village underground in new york...well, i just won't have any sympathy for you. the studio version of the song will appear on her upcoming cookie: the anthropological mixtape...to be released (we hope against all hope) on june 4. freemyheart.com also features a newly-posted article from the may '02 issue of VIBE (not even on newstands yet) about meshell and cookie. i'm telling you...do not even FEIGN sleep on this album!

not that you could fail to realize my obsession upon logging onto my site...but i have been following meshell since a friend played the cassette of her first album, plantation lullabies, when she (the friend, not meshell!) was giving my then-carless self a ride home, back in '94. the album was already about a year old by that time, so i can't even say that i was hip from jump...but i CAN tell you that i was completely, totally, 100% blown AWAY by what i heard. hence the development of my obsession. i just can't help it! she's hugely talented, as a songwriter (music and lyrics), singer, and maestro (maestra??) of multiple instruments, most notably the bass guitar. she's absolutely uncategorizable (which is why you probably won't hear her music played on your local radio station, and why you may not already know about her...you know how we like to label, even pigeonhole people to make them fit the boundaries of our understanding)...and while she's been compared to everyone from prince to nina simone, there is simply no one who matches her sound.

even more...i love her politics...the way she thinks...and the way she expresses herself. she just makes so much damn sense. her words inspire black people to love blackness and to love themselves, even in the midst of an institutionally racist society that wants them to do otherwise. her words embody the power to change the world, because people who love themselves don't have to dull their anger and disappointment and pain with drugs to the extent that they can no longer function in society. people who love themselves don't feel the need to carry or use a gun to prove their worth or power. people who love themselves don't feel the need to denigrate or abuse women or their children or their partners or anyone else. people who love themselves aren't compelled to judge or belittle others in order to "rise above." these are obviously not the problems of black people alone, but they are problems that many black people face. i think she only wants to change all that...and i think that if more people truly listened to her words and took them to heart, maybe we would see a change.

i think that people sometimes forget that the obliteration of racism would mean a better world for EVERYONE, for humanity. obviously, since people of color are the ones who experience racism first-hand and most intensely, they would benefit most if we all woke up one day and suddenly racism didn't exist (wow, imagine that...the effects would be mind-boggling). but at least to some extent, we are all hurt by racism...and there are white people who are sickened by it and fight against it for that and other reasons. i really don't expect to see an end to racism in my lifetime...it's far too entrenched and institutionalized...but every person who speaks out about its horrific effects (thru music or in whatever fashion) brings us a tiny step closer. meshell's music is sooooo important, if only for that one reason.

okay, i'll stop gushing. just do yourself a favor on june 4 and buy cookie. if you don't like it, i'll buy it from you.
1:14 PM

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