Michael Newton’s talk in the Afro-Celts were not only a good one but one that kept people talking during a long question time. And it drew an interesting collection of people who seemed to belong to every cultural configuration available including a sociolinguist who might be called Afro-American but is also Catawba and probably Scotts as well. A wonderful woman who sang “Motherless Child” in a duet with Michael whilst he sang a song in Gaelic about the Highland Clearances. Several people wanted to talk about geneology and several wanted to claim themselves as Scots-Irish which Michael would say is not a Celtic culture, but a culture of those who rejected Gaelic and who sided with the English rejecting the culture of the Highland Scots. For Michael, to be Celtic is to speak Gaelic and to embrace the culture of those who are Gaelic speakers; that is, Highland Scots and anyone who would be like them or better would be adopted by them. So that if an African were to enter into Scots culture and speak Gaelic then … There is plenty of evidence that Scots culture in music and in dance and even language (as well as mixing of Scots and Africans) happened often in North America and in the Carribean .
Archive for November, 2005
Nov
16
2005
Triangle Bloggers Blast – AftersPosted by Paul in Alumni and other friends, General, Virtual CommunitiesAnton aka MisterSugar was all around making things happen and taking pictures (soon to be on his Flickr site with tag of “Trianglebloggerbash”) so I had no idea that his house had been broken into yesterday!
Nov
15
2005
Further Blogger MeetupsPosted by Paul in Alumni and other friends, General, Virtual CommunitiesSomeone wrote me off blog to ask about other Blogger Meetups in the Area. The best answer is to visit Anton aka MisterSugar’s Blogtogether.com site which list meetups in Chapel Hill, Raleigh/Cary and RTP among other blogger events. Tucker and I are just back from the Triangle Bloggers Blast. It’s a school night and Tucker is underage and not going to hang out at a nice smokefilled pool hall/bar so we’re home earlier. The turnout was amazing. Over 70 folks were in the WUNC studios eating that good Lulu supplied food and seeing the new setup there. Anton got a great collection of people out and Joan and Keith and Kevin and the other WUNC folks were gratious hosts. The Blooker Prize got some great air from Jeremy, Jason, Peter and other Lulus. Folks from WRAL and BlogAds were buying drinks as we left. I was impressed by the progress at the American Tobacco Historic District. I was last there a year ago for the Independent Holiday Party which was I think in the “Public Space” adjoining what is now the WUNC area. The whole place was lively for a Tuesday night in November. The balmy weather had folks eating outside at several restaurants and the water running through the place made it seem like an oasis of sorts. The Lulus tell me that some great blooks are already submitted including Jessica Cutler’s The Washingtonienne: A Novel. I will not be swayed by her blog entries about the contest no matter how real her bribes might be. MisterSugar’s Cleveland buddy John Ettorre is headed down to RDU for the Triangle Bloggers Blast tonight. He has a very flattering blog entry about his trip.
Nov
15
2005
Afro-Celts on WUNC State of Things todayPosted by Paul in Alumni and other friends, General, Virtual CommunitiesMichael Newton writes to let us know that he’ll be talking about Afro-Celts on the State of Things today at noon. If you miss it, you can catch the show by podcast (hosted on ibiblio).
Nov
14
2005
“Lost Voices of the Afro-Celts” ThursdayPosted by Paul in Alumni and other friends, Amusements, GeneralWhat: “Lost Voices of the Afro-Celts” Summary: Modern American consciousness is highly racialized: we are told implicitly and explicitly that our skin color determines our race, our identity, to whom we belong and what belongs to us. The reality of American history, even in the South, is not so easily segregated, however. There have been many fascinating exchanges and interactions between people of African ancestry and people of Scottish Highland ancestry. More on Michael Newton: Sponsor:
Nov
14
2005
Triangle Bloggers Blast – Tomorrow!Posted by Paul in General, Information Commons, Virtual CommunitiesReminding us all that tomorrow, Tuesday November 15, is the Triangle Bloggers Blast at Durham’s American Tobacco Historic District. He’s back! I can’t pick up the paper without seeing his picture or reading his name! Even more confusing, he is me. This morning’s News and Observer carries an interview I did about being a judge for the new Blooker Prize. Comes complete with famous rubber chicken picture (Thanks to Donald for taking that one). It’s pretty much what I said even. Or what I remember saying.
Nov
13
2005
Cory’s Chapel Hill Halloween PixPosted by Paul in Alumni and other friends, Amusements, General
I’ve six poems written and five of those published for the series I’ve been working on based on the number seven. Since each of the six corresponds in some ways, often obliquely, with each of the seven days in Genesis’ first creation story, I could take the seventh day off for rest. Here’s how it looks so far:
As I posted here on Thursday this week, I sold one more of my Rule of Seven poems, The Creation of Heaven, to the News and Observer Sunday Journal. It’s out now. The online version doesn’t reflect the stanza breaks correction (make that at all) and the small bit of prose info doesn’t show (instead you get “an error occurred while processing this directive]” I hope that gets fixed as the day goes on).
Nov
12
2005
McGuinn at Country Music Class in Chapel Hill NewsPosted by Paul in Alumni and other friends, Amusements, General
Phil Howard of the Village Craftsmen and native of Ocracoke reminds us of the best Ocracoke eating on his blog/journal. The NYTimes missed this one. Yikes! Our favorite secret is a front page NYTimes Travel section feature. Does this mean more people will be on the Island complaining about the slow service at the eateries? (Really are you in a hurry? There is no where to go which is sorta the point.) More people asking “What do you do here?” (Really do you have to be entertained? Doing nothing is sorta the point.) But worse the writer stays in the same little place on Silver Lake where we stay often and have rooms reserved for Thanksgiving. The picture the Times published is our favorite view. Several of the places she eats are our favs as well (Howard’s, Pelican, Ocracoke Coffee Company, Fig Tree, Cafe Atlantic), but several secrets are better kept and I’m keeping them myself. The Times automatic indexer managed to link Rudy Austin’s last name to a city in Texas. His father took me over to Portsmouth Island way back in the 1970s. IBM, Red Hat, Sony, Philips and Novell have created the Open Innovation Network to buy and hold Linux-related patents and to keep those patents available for innovators. The Triangle Business Journal has one version of the story. And for a limited time there is a NYTimes story as well. The O’Reilly Net top story (at this instant) is Andy Oram’s report from the UNC Symposium on Intellectual Property, Creativity and the Innovation Process, titled: Autumn Symposium Rakes Over Copyright and Patent Law The teaser goes:
Nov
10
2005
Triangle Bloggers Blast – TuesdayPosted by Paul in Alumni and other friends, Amusements, General, Information CommonsMister Sugar writes on blogtogether to remind us of the Triangle Bloggers Blast: Who: Bloggers, podcasters and anyone who wants to socialize with us. What: A reception at the new WUNC studios and a happy hour with free drinks. Where: American Tobacco Historic District, Durham (across from the Durham Bulls Athletic Park) 1. Start at new WUNC studios for tour, talk about podcasting and reception with catered food. Short welcome messages from Joan Siefert Rose and Keith Weston of WUNC, Michael Goodmon of ATHD, Stephen Fraser of Lulu. When: Tuesday, November 15, 2005 7-9 p.m. Why: Why not? Let’s meet and greet each other, talk about blogging, or not, and share a few drinks. How: Sponsors and supporters include: Blogads, WRAL.com, Lulu.com, ibiblio.org, mistersugar.com, WUNC, ATHD and podcastercon.
Nov
10
2005
Jones on Blooker in NandOPosted by Paul in Alumni and other friends, Amusements, General, literatureIn what appears to be a play to get an article mentioning me in every section of the News and Observer during the months of October and November, I just completed an interview with Roger van der Horst about the Blooker prize. I talked about Charles Dickens as the most respected English serial novelist and about Julie and Julia: 365 days, 524 recipes, 1 tiny appartment kitchen by Julia Powell as an example of a good blook. Wil Wheaton’s Just a Geek personal memoir and Chris Anderson’s Long Tail a book on economics and technology that is forthcoming are two others. However I expect and hope to be surprised by what we will be reading among the finalists. Blooks create an open environment for writing — one that as a poet I would not likely participate in although I have been publishing a potential chapbook project in the News and Observer a poem at a time — that allows interaction with readers as critics as well as enforcing a discipline of regular writing that new writers need. The form also allows for digressive and unusual inclusions which could make for some new styles of writing. That said I expect to be reading good writing. Good sentences and paragraphs. Well-told tales. The stuff you would expect in any book prize finalist. I am holding off on several sections of the News and Observer. The Obits for example. |











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