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Chrishayden
Newbie Poster
Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 2
Registered: 03-2004
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Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, March 02, 2004 - 03:09 pm: | 
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That was long enough to get ready to meet your maker--
Many here have professed much love for Kevin Powell. Who all here as read his book, Who's Gonna Take the Weight besides me?
What did y'all think? |
Dawn
Newbie Poster
Username: Dawn
Post Number: 2
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, March 03, 2004 - 08:51 pm: |
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When I picked up the book, the title grabbed me, not the author's Other Real World fame. I appreciated his descriptions: of his descent; how winded and dazed he was at the bottom; and his slow, sometimes successful climb to self-acceptance.
Working with athletes who do not allow themselves the option of a plan b, I thought that Powell's voice could safely provide a rollercoster ride for the athletes to experience the jolt of hitting bottom and feel the satisfying climb.
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Chrishayden
Newbie Poster
Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 11
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, March 04, 2004 - 03:07 pm: |
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I have followed him since I discovered him in the anthology, In The Tradition. I think he did one of his first poetry readings ever here in St. Louis. I never saw The Real World until after I'd met him--I remember the episode with him getting into it with the white woman--
I saw him here in 1997-98 right after he put out Keepin' It Real--he alluded to some of the events spoken of re his exit from Vibe Magazine--I had not idea that it had got that deep for him.
Yes, his testimony is valuable not only for athletes but for anybody--we all can lose it all, crash and burn--the idea that we got it made is illusory. |
Dawn
Newbie Poster
Username: Dawn
Post Number: 4
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, March 04, 2004 - 09:47 pm: |
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I'll take a look at the anthology, thanks. Yes, I must admit, his testimony hit home to me too. Without preaching, Powell created and shared a live phoenix. He also showed that he is a stand up guy. In this work world, it's hard to have principles. The question I was left with is do I have a similar depth capacity. Ya don't know, until you crash and burn. |
Chrishayden
Newbie Poster
Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 24
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, March 08, 2004 - 05:29 pm: |
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I have crashed and burned a number of times in my life. They say it builds character and that it gives you life experience. Fine, but if I could have avoided it, I would have.
I reread the last essay in there about Tupac Shakur--"What Is A Man"? last night while I was listening to a local program featuring local rap artists.
After I finished I needed quiet to think about it all. The essay was powerful but flawed, like Tupac Shakur and like Kevin is (sorry homeskillet. But, by your writing you would be first to admit it)
No it is not gramatically flawed, it is brilliant. No it is not inarticulate.
But it is flawed in that I got more about what Kevin was into than Tupac--that might have been the aim--but here is a guy who made six seven movies--4 or 5 albums--including the first double album in rap--all in a career of about 5 years--and left enough material so they are still issuing albums to this day.
I didn't get much in the way of what he meant as an artist--or his work--but maybe in a way, Powell was saying he transcended his work.
One thing he has got, Tupac Shakur was his generation's Jimi Hendrix or James Dean--older generations might rant about a waste of a life but his generations sees something still in it--like mine did Jimi.
I think Powell should tackle a fiction work--maybe one based on his Aunt Cathy he did a poem for in In the Tradition. |
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