Jason Toney

This Week's Big Idea: Be One People

"All I want is equality for my sister, my brother, my people, and me" - Nina Simone, Mississippi Goddam (Live)

Photo by Linda Davidson - The Washington Post

"It is not enough for just some of us to prosper. For alongside our famous individualism there's another ingredient in the American saga: a belief that we are all connected as one people. If there's a child on the south side of Chicago who can't read, that matters to me even though he is not my own. If there's a senior citizen somewhere who can't pay for their prescription drugs and has to choose between the medicine and the rent, that makes my life poorer even if it's not my grandparent. If there's an Arab American family being rounded up without the benefit of an attorney or due process that threatens my civil liberties. It is that fundamental belief -- I am my brother's keeper; I am my sister's keeper -- that makes this country work. It's what allows us to pursue our individual dreams and yet still come together as one American family. E Plurubus Unum: Out of Many, One." - Barack Obama

This week, as we approach this incredibly unique moment in time, I hope for you a sense of connection to your neighbors, to strangers, to the human experience. May kindness and compassion for all people be of utmost importance even as we all pursue our own dreams. As the President-Elect notes, my life is poorer when others suffer even if I don't know their names. Every day is our opportunity to care more, be more, do more.

Also, if you were looking for me online this week, I was doing most of my thing on the tumblr.

This Week's Big Idea: Express Yourself

"I think it's time I changed my view." - Fat Freddy's Drop, This Room (Album Version)

photo by Mashael Amdo

I didn't get the opportunity to write much this week but I do want to reflect on the most striking of the week's lessons. The essay was titled "Bless Your Children" but what I took from it was this idea of having a more meaningful relationship with your family and showing your love for them by sharing significant thoughts and hopes with them.

I plan to start doing that with my parents and sister this week, starting tomorrow morning, a day they attend church and are likely most reflective and receptive. As I've noted before, while I'm reading a book rooted in religion, I'm separating the religiousity from it for my own purposes. So, while Rabbi Telushkin focuses on blessings related to stories of the Torah and Talmud, my blessings/declarations are likely to relate to whatever powerful words/thoughts come across my way -- no matter their origin.

This week, I say

If you want to translate the world, you need to use your appetites. Does this surprise you? It shouldn't. There's nothing as human as hunger. There's no creation without talent, I give you that, but talent is cheap. Talent goes begging. Hunger is the piston of art.

So, for you, my family of artists, I hope for you continued hunger and passion for your crafts. More than financial success or widespread acclaim, I wish for you a success of vision, of clarity, of humanity, and of creativity. May your every day be spent doing exactly what you love.

Mick Boogie & Adele: Taking Me Back to Sadie Hawkins

"You say my name like there could be an us." - Mick Boogie & Adele, Melt My Heart to Stone (Kickdrums Remix f/ Big Pooh)

Melt My Heart to Stone (Kickdrums Remix f/ Big Pooh) --I can't tell if there's a sample here but this track is bangin'. The snare drum kicks in conjunction with this hot bass guitar lick and even though this mixtape is called 1988, this is the song that transitions my music library from 2008 to 2009.

Mick Boogie takes songs from 19, my 2008 album of the year, and turns it into a 1988 hip hop release. At first I didn't think it worked. Daydreams (nVMe Remix) places Adele's Daydreamer over a Slick Rick/Dana Dane style beat and it isn't a match. Adele's vocal sits on top of the track slightly unsyncopated and the marriage is weak. I'd rather hear the original song from 19 or hear some classic Slick Rick stand alone then this mashup.

But the rest of the experiment is golden -- highlighted by Cold Shoulder (Garbs Infinite Remix) and this Melt My Heart to Stone re-imagining. The original is plaintive and tinged with melancholy. Adele is trapped in an unrequited love situation with a boy who flirts with her but is never going to be her man. Yet, she's unable to walk away. This version focuses on this flirtation as dance. Adele's helplessness becomes resolve. Sadness fades away. It isn't she who is losing out, it's him that's missing what's good. Big Pooh's brief rap suggests as much. It is he who is pursuing, flossing, stressing to impress. The tables have turned. It reminds me of Junior High School dances. Of pegged jeans and British Knights. Checkerboard laces and girls with glittery, shiny glossed lips.

I just might be doing the cabbage patch right now. And not ironically. Now, we're doing the troop.

Yes, yes, y'all.

To the beat, y'all.

Mick Boogie!

Yesterday's Lesson: I like my G-ds to Dance

"You gotta change, if you wanna keep me." - Nicole Willis, You Better Change (with The Soul Investigators)

Photo by Suyog Gaidhani

While searching for the Indonesian Textiles exhibit at LACMA yesterday, we found ourselves on the 4th floor of the Ahmanson Building surrounded by South Asian artifacts. We spent most of our time in this area of the museum and I was taken by the 3 or 4 representations of Ganesha. In most, the Hindu G-d is dancing -- light on his feet, his round belly prominent, his multiple hands filled with all sorts of objects.

He is the Lord of Obstacles and Beginnings. I like that.

Yesterday's and today's lessons have been about how to approach giving -- with kindness and trust in our hearts. I keep thinking about that woman from a week ago. I had an opportunity to give her a moment of comfort and show her compassion. To, perhaps, remove an obstacle. I didn't. I mentioned on friendfeed earlier today that I thought the world could use a little more love. I should be mindful of that the next time I'm given the chance to provide some.

I often give to beggars and I usually do (though not always) wish them well and look them in the eye as I share what I can but there's a story I've often told when discussing panhandlers. It's a retelling of a Washington Post story from my college days -- about the career beggars in Washington DC -- a couple of whom claimed to pull in nearly six figures with their activities. One of the people was a man who stood outside of Tower Records on campus and whom I had often given a dollar or my change or my leftover lunch from Au Bon Pain or The Commons. I break out this story when I'm trying to justify to myself not giving to someone on the street who had asked when I absolutely could have.

I'm sure I have every right to make that choice but is that a choice I make that is reacting to the best of me or to the worst?

I think the latter and so, this is the final telling of that story by me.

But, hey, let me tell you this one about the Dancing Elephant G-d...

In Other News...

I wasn't very impressed with the Vanity Fair exhibit. I'm not sure I equate pretty standard -- well-crafted and high quality obvs but not necessarily artistic or creative -- photography as true art. It also served to showcase how few people of color have graced the pages of most Conde Nast Publications over their history. Harry Shearer was there while we were, though. I like him so, you know, bonus points for that.

Looking Back, Looking Forward

"Fuck real. I'm right." - Jean Grae, No Doubt

I didn't plan it but it's nice to be able to reflect on the entire week of lessons on today, the first day of the new year. There were some small changes I made this week that I'm proud of -- the biggest of which was actually getting those bags of clothes to goodwill yesterday. A little nudge from a friend and an offer of help by the lady and it was done. Next opportunity to stare down laziness and be more generous is finally getting my old computer ready to be shipped to my grandmother so that she can join us all in losing hours of time to cat pictures and funny baby videos on the web.

Yesterday's lesson wasn't a lesson at all for me. It was about cheating -- in the broad sense of life not just the narrow sense around relationships. I abhor cheating and have trouble even coming up with a scenario recently where I sought to take an unwarranted, unnecessary, and unfair shortcut. I thought of the lesson, however, when watching Doubt yesterday afternoon.

Meryl Streep's Sister Beauvier has a powerful conversation with Philip Seymour Hoffman's Father Flynn in which she accuses him of being a cheat with such venom that I felt as if the judgment had been directed at me. Even moreso, she is certain that he will feel no guilt or shame about being such a man. This, I think, was even more damning then merely being a cheater.

I don't deal much in matters of guilt or shame. They seem to be useless states of being but I get the concept. You should be able to acknowledge your missteps and wrongdoing. You should want to do right for the sake of doing right. Even if you believe no one will be hurt by your misdeed. Even if you'll never be caught.

That's what I'm taking from the this first week's worth of lessons. The moments when no one is watching are when the most significant ethics battles are won and lost. How do I act when the only person affected by my behavior is me?

Welcome to 2009, tender lumplings!