Juneteenth Palestine: Report from the Living Room

Greetings Eternal Summer Family!

Last night was the kick-off of Juneteenth Palestine, a night school exploring June Jordan's actions and words in support of the fact that solidarity with Palestine and critique of the imperialism of the state of Israel was and is a Black feminist priority. This first night was about identifcation and solidarity. We brought our ancestors and loved ones into the room through a dedication exercise, meditated on June Jordan's "Moving Towards Home," where she declares "I was born a Black woman/and now I am become a Palestinian" and Suheir Hammad's meditation on "Black" in the preface to her collection Born Palestinian Born Black with collages, a BlackOutBodyBrainstorm, a telecast from anti-zionist Jewish organizer Tema Okun and a letter writing exercise based on June Jordan's "A Letter to My Friend." Experiencing the sincerity and brilliance of the folks in my living room was an honor and a true tribute to June Jordan's idea of Living Room as a global political vision of love. In honor of all displaced people here are some of our visions of living room...

love,

lex

Keeping it Hot! Little Black Feminist Book Series Vol. 2 (FIRE)

Eternal Summer means keeping it hot...This beautiful black booklet joins the legacy of Harlem Renaissance firebrands and the brilliant youth of SPARK reproductive justice (see fire@sparkrj.org). It includes lust poems and polemics to/for/about black queer community and an essay on FLAMBOYANCE dedicated to Alexis DeVeaux and Gwendolyn Hardwick of the Flamboyant Ladies!

I know you want your very own! So paypal 15 bucks to brokenbeautifulpress@gmail.com and include your current address. Thanks for keeping the Eternal Summer ETERNAL!

or just this link if it is easier: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=3VHV86GHPK56J

Love,

Lex

p.s. oh and there's a matching podcast!

http://brokenbeautiful.wordpress.com/2010/10/04/the-proud-podcast-the-visionary-heat-of-black-queer-community/

Signs: Lucille Clifton Rebirth Broadcast #18

Signs: Lucille Clifton Rebirth Broadcast #18 from Alexis Gumbs on Vimeo.

See signs. Prophecy poems.
Love,
Lex for Lucille
blackfeministmind.wordpress.com/​survival-school

The Real Reading Rainbow: Queer Black Intergenerational BookLUST (Episode 1)

THE REAL READING RAINBOW: Queer Black Intergenerational BookLUST (Episode 1: Lex loves Audre) from Alexis Gumbs on Vimeo.

Want to participate! Send your own video about a book that you love to mobilehomecoming@gmail.com to be featured in an upcoming episode. Or buy the books we mentioned for yourself of a loved one via charisbooksandmore.com OR buy email us at mobilehomecoming.wordpress.com to find out how to buy the books from charis for US to take on the road and distribute to our far flung community OR donate to the mobilehomecoming project at mobilehomecoming.wordpress.com/donate with the note "book money!"

Look out for episodes 2, 3, and 4 featuring Frances, Moya and L'erin coming soon!

love,

lex and julia

Why Some People Be Mad at Me Sometimes: Lucille Clifton Rebirth Broadcast #17

Why Some People Be Mad At Me Sometimes: Lucille Clifton Rebirth Broadcast #17 from Alexis Gumbs on Vimeo.

Some people be mad at us when we speak our truth, when we remember our realness, when we insist on the world that we all deserve.

Lucille Clifton reminds us to honor our memories and honor our truth anyway!

love,

lex

blackfeministmind.wordpress.com/survival-school

Sleeping Beauty: Lucille Clifton Rebirth Broadcast #16

sleeping beauty: lucille clifton rebirth broadcast #16 from Alexis Gumbs on Vimeo.

Dedicated to Pauline Ann McKenzie Day (aka Pajama) during her birthday weekend!

Lucille Clifton has a brilliant way of turning around the messages of fairy tales to reveal the complicated and often silenced perspectives of the women in the stories.

What fairy tale are you living in, and how can you revise it this week so that it truly reflects the complexity YOU bring to the planet!

Love,
Lex

The Proud Podcast: The Heat of Black Queer Community

Lex interviewing Glo at the 3rd Annual Queerky Black Girls Cookout in the Park! (photo by Moya Bailey)

It is officially Fall and the end of Gay Pride Season! The MobileHomecoming Project has allowed us to relate to PRIDE celebrations in the South with renewed intergenerational intentionality! I feel so present to my love for Black Queer community I hardly know what to do! Oh wait! Yes I do! Create a podcast and a new volume of the Little Black (Feminist) Book Series!

While you are folding laundry or recentering yourself for a revolutionary day take a listen to this podcast dedicated to our Black queer community and all of the complexity of our pride.

The Proud Podcast

[audio http://brokenbeautiful.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/proud-podcast-1.mp3]

direct link:

http://brokenbeautiful.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/proud-podcast-1.mp3

AND

To order your own copy of the beautiful bright orange booklet FIRE (picture soon!) which includes the poem "ShapeShift", and the essay "Flamboyance" along with several other works inspired by my love for our brilliant black queer community email brokenbeautifulpress@gmail.com or paypal 15 bucks (or more you if you can!) to brokenbeautifulpress@gmail.com with the note FIRE! All proceeds benefit the ongoing work of the Eternal Summer of the Black Feminist Mind Educational movement in Durham including the Queer Black Sunday School Series!

*Special thanks to the amazing hip hop producer composers whose work is featured here. I strongly encourage you all to take a listen to Jett I Masstyr's "Me and Phillis Forever" based on the beautiful voice of Phyllis Hyman and the Idle Warship Mixtape ad the Cali Fire Commission's beat-tape and the Stuyvesent's beat masterpiece all featured on this podcast.

MobileHomeComing LOVES Detroit!!!!

We are on our way home from Detroit and we are SO in love with the Black Queer Brilliance overflowing in that beautiful inspiring city! Whew! Special shouts out to the visionary sisters of SPICE for allowing us to experience the depth of healing, support, laughter and love of their first Friday discussion group and for dancing it up at the KICK high tea dance party fundraiser on Saturday, and to June and Treva for allowing us to witness their profound love for each other and their family! We love y'all SO much! Thank you for the love and inspiration and thank you especially to Kimberly Jones for organizing both of our visits! Can't wait to come back!

To support the MobileHomeComing's ongoing relationship with Detroit visit mobilehomecoming.wordpress.com/​donate

love,

lex and julia

p.s. lookout for the Detroit City podcast coming soon, featuring tracks from Stacey Hotwaxx Hale and thoughts from black queer Detroiters on how they are expressing their purposes

And here are our mini videos on Detroit so far:

Love Your City: Kalimah <3 Detroit from Alexis Gumbs on Vimeo.

"I am Detroit," Kalimah Johnson bursts into poem over dinner. "I love this city so much, you can't touch me." MobileHomeComing Interviewee, founder of Women of Color Take Back the Night, Kalimah has been creating space for for women of color survivors of sexual assault to reclaim their destinies. Like all of the MobileHomeComing Participants Kalimah's poetic brilliance, sincerity and ongoing creativity is an example of queer black intergenerational power to transform the world!

Ruth Ellis Center and MobileHomeComing LOVE Intergenerational Community! from Alexis Gumbs on Vimeo.

Founder Kofi Adoma and director Laura Hughes talk about the Ruth Ellis Center and the importance of intergenerational dialogue.

"and then it comes back": the queer survival of the A. L.O.R.D.E. Collective from Alexis Gumbs on Vimeo.

Dr. Kofi Adoma speaks!

dialysis: lucille clifton rebirth broadcast #15

dialysis: lucille clifton rebirth broadcast #15 from Alexis Gumbs on Vimeo.

"I am alive and furious." We can be grateful that we have survived without sugar-coating the experience of our survival. Lucille Clifton certainly isn't sugar coating. This week...write about how it really is.

blackfeministmind.wordpress.com/survival-school