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August 6th, 2010
Poets – Politics – Jazz
April is the month devoted in Washington, D.C. to a month-long celebration of jazz. It’s also National Poetry Month. Two art forms distinguished by what appears to be a dynamic, almost spontaneous beauty, but that in reality, result from wedding discipline to inspiration. Last month I attended the Split This Rock poetry festival, which brought together poets from all over the nation and all over the world, to celebrate the poetic imagination and the need to continually work for peace, justice and equality.
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Tags: Arts, Iran, Literature, Lucille Clifton, Poet Laureate, Poetry, Sonia Sanchez, United States
Posted in Newsletter Archive | 14 Comments »
February 26th, 2010
Are You Ready to Write?
February is Black History Month. What better time to think about writing your story? In February we officially honor African American trailblazers. Prominent among those honored are writers. Writers like Frederick Douglass, born into slavery, a man who put language at his command. Douglass used words as an orator and a writer to change his personal history and in support of societal change for us all. We honor Zora Neale Hurston, best-known as the author of the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God. But Hurston was also an anthropologist, whose groundbreaking field work in the American South, Haiti and the Caribbean shaped the future of anthropology. We look at and interpret history, the past and the present in a much more complex and rich way, because of the contributions of Douglass and Hurston. To paraphrase lines from a poem by the Persian bard Rumi, they went in the direction where there was no direction, and there they found themselves and all of us at the end of their journey.
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Tags: African American, Arts, Author, Black History Month, Frederick Douglass, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Writer, Zora Neale Hurston
Posted in Newsletter Archive | 12 Comments »
February 10th, 2010
It should not be surprising that in the year of the triumph of Monique and the lead actress in the movie Precious, Vanity Fair responds with a resounding reprise of the concept of the ultimate and timeless and universal beauty of the thin pale White ingenue on their most recent Feb cover. But I guess it is to be expected, check the source, and Vanity Fair can be no more than what it is. A movie like Precious can only revolutionize as much as the status quo allows; the real revolution and perhaps the most meaningful is taking place in the hearts and minds of so many people of all ages and races who have been touched by this movie and its star.
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November 29th, 2009
I loved the film Precious. I think. My feelings about this very important film are passionate and ambivalent because of the manner in which it reinforces all the too-familiar colorist stereotypes. There’s a low-level ground war raging in me about the film. I’m still trying to determine if the raw beauty of the radiant performance by Gabourey Sidibe in the title role playing a young female victim of incest, illiteracy and physical abuse is neutralized by the just as disturbing direct and indirect equation throughout the film of beauty, compassion, and courage with light skin.
Not since the film adaptation of Alice Walker’s Pulitzer-Prize winning novel The Color Purple, has a movie sparked so much controversy and inspired such absolutely love the film or absolutely hate the film and just the idea of the film emotions. I found much in Precious absolutely breath-taking-the way that Sibide owns and lights up the screen from the very first frame. Even as we watch her victimization at the hands of a monstrous mother and evil father, we feel her vulnerability and her intelligence, and we know that somehow this child will make it. I found the recurring fantasies that filled Precious’ thoughts and imagination (looking in the mirror and seeing a blonde White girl rather than her own image, being loved and pursued by a light skinned “pretty boy”), painfully authentic and the expected survivalist daydreams of a very dark-skinned Black girl surrounded daily by a relentless stream of White supremacist images, and crippled by self loathing, poverty and unspeakable abuse. I applauded the affirming sisterhood that blossomed among Precious and the girls in her literacy class where they learned to read and write and simultaneously grew in their ability to feel and express compassion, concern and tenderness for one another.
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Posted in Commentary, Film | 33 Comments »
November 16th, 2009
Writing Life Tips
 I’m always reading and currently I’m finishing On The Line, Serena Williams’ autobiography. The world’s number one women’s tennis player tells a fascinating and compelling story of her rise. Like all good stories, at it’s center is a strong main character who gets us on her side rooting for her. I found it especially interesting that despite her God-given talent, drive, training and enormous ambition, Serena talks in the book of regularly using affirmations and positive self-talk to keep her focused and winning and playing her best. She also writes about how she focuses much more on herself and her game when she is facing an opponent than figuring out the other player’s weaknesses or strengths. At one point she says “The more I play the better I play.”Productive writers do all the things Serena talks about in her book. They think positively, focus on themselves and not what other writers are doing and they write a lot, in order to become better writers. I’m sure Serena would endorse my suggestions for flipping that annoying negative self-talk about what you can or can’t do as a writer into a positive conversation. We’re heading into the end of the year and thinking about a new year with new possibilities. What better time to revise that tape playing in your head?
~ I don’t have the talent to write becomes
I have all the skill, and creativity I need to tell my story
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Posted in Newsletter Archive | 8 Comments »
September 29th, 2009
What’s In Your Kindle?
 I’ve been asked quite a lot this summer if I’ve purchased a Kindle, the electronic reading device sold by Amazon that’s all the rage. While I remain old school in my reading habits, preferring the feel of paper to molded plastic, I think the Kindle is a great idea. In fact the Kindle is an idea whose time has come and one of these days I WILL buy one. As long as people are reading books be it on a cell phone, a computer screen or an electronic book, I’m happy. We live our lives through stories and all the new technology is an adaptation of inventive genius to our instinctive need for narrative. Yes, newspapers are folding and bookstores are closing but books are as popular as ever, that’s what the Kindle proves to me! Marita
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July 29th, 2009
Writing Life Tips
 Writing is as much an act of consciousness as it an act of imagination or will. It is the mental mind-set, the consciousness you possess that produces the writing. What is your mental attitude? Do you really have a writing mind? One of my favorite New-Age writers is Wayne Dyer. Inspired by his new book, Excuses No More, I have some affirmations to offer those of you still working to create a writer’s mind. Say the affirmations that touch you most deeply several times during your periods of meditation, contemplation or prayer. Write them down as a reminder, post them on your wall or bulletin board. Integrate them into your life. Often we literally battle the emotions and feelings that sabotage the writers mind. That struggle is recurrent and quite normal. However, you have the capacity to train your mind to automatically move beyond the “it’s impossible” thoughts that plague you. To create a writing mind “flip” your negative thoughts of what is impossible into affirmations of what is possible.
- I don’t have time to write becomes
- There is sufficient time in my life to write. I use that time wisely.
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May 29th, 2009
Greetings!
Welcome to Marita Golden’s E-Newsletter! Your resource for the best writing tips, upcoming events, and workshops.
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I Love “Precious” But She Still Broke My Heart
November 29th, 2009I loved the film Precious. I think. My feelings about this very important film are passionate and ambivalent because of the manner in which it reinforces all the too-familiar colorist stereotypes. There’s a low-level ground war raging in me about the film. I’m still trying to determine if the raw beauty of the radiant performance by Gabourey Sidibe in the title role playing a young female victim of incest, illiteracy and physical abuse is neutralized by the just as disturbing direct and indirect equation throughout the film of beauty, compassion, and courage with light skin.
Not since the film adaptation of Alice Walker’s Pulitzer-Prize winning novel The Color Purple, has a movie sparked so much controversy and inspired such absolutely love the film or absolutely hate the film and just the idea of the film emotions. I found much in Precious absolutely breath-taking-the way that Sibide owns and lights up the screen from the very first frame. Even as we watch her victimization at the hands of a monstrous mother and evil father, we feel her vulnerability and her intelligence, and we know that somehow this child will make it. I found the recurring fantasies that filled Precious’ thoughts and imagination (looking in the mirror and seeing a blonde White girl rather than her own image, being loved and pursued by a light skinned “pretty boy”), painfully authentic and the expected survivalist daydreams of a very dark-skinned Black girl surrounded daily by a relentless stream of White supremacist images, and crippled by self loathing, poverty and unspeakable abuse. I applauded the affirming sisterhood that blossomed among Precious and the girls in her literacy class where they learned to read and write and simultaneously grew in their ability to feel and express compassion, concern and tenderness for one another.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Commentary, Film | 33 Comments »