Journal on two wheels

This is batyatoon's fault.

It's not that I never liked rap. It's just that I was always very *picky* about my rap.

Sir Mix-A-Lot could rap about *booty* without needing serious editing for broadcast. Will Smith could get jiggy with the aliens and be kid-friendly. And frankly, it was never so much the profanity that offended me about what I was presented with as rap as the *violence*.

And then there was SJ Tucker getting down with the eco-rap. "Beetz In My Salad" is about inclusiveness and changing the world. Whoa.

And then there was Lin-Manuel Miranda, who set a chunk of my world on its ear. Rap as *history*, as *storytelling* in the long form... and about making something of yourself, about leaving a legacy... and about changing the world.

And then last night. Batya got up on stage, and started the toons... and *rapped*. About growing up different, and about storytelling, and bullying, and revenge.... and changing the world.

The bomb in my head went off very quietly, but it is an ever-expanding mushroom cloud of hope... and I'm hearing that what this Seattle white boy has been hearing is but the tip of the iceberg. While I wasn't looking, rap has been and is getting *deep*, and *thoughtful*... and world-changing.

It is penny groundling language, the language of people who have little more than their voices, and they have *taken it to the next level, and the next*... it is empathy, it is support, it is community-building, it is world-changing in the best of ways. It is *accessible*, it is *inclusive*.... and it gives me a whole lot of hope for this world.

I have a lot to learn. And then I'll have a lot to share.

Go look for it yourself... there are playlists out there put up by folks who know all the references Hamilton points to, and will get you into this... or watch this space for them, or contribute ones of your own. Discussion encouraged. ("COURTEOUSLY!") This is just a starting point.

This is not just my request. This is Lin-Manuel's request, who won the Tony for a play full of rap songs.

And this is Batya Wittenberg's request... Batya, who in the last hour *won the Pegasus* for rapping her heart out, with this:

Creatures of Dream
Video of the winning performance. The mics aren't pointed at the crowd; I remember the applause being much louder from the back. :D

ysabetwordsmith's Poetry Fishbowl is open! get'em while they're hot!

October's Poetry Fishbowl is open, and the theme this month is Tricksters. Go fish! (MEEP MEEP!)

ysabetwordsmith's August Poetry Fishbowl is open! This month's theme is "nomads".

Go fish!

ysabetwordsmith has opened the June Poetry Fishbowl! The topic is sleep, dreams, and associated goodies. Check it out! New contributors get a free poem!

The April 2 fishbowl was a success, so we get bonus poetry! Come contribute ideas!

Bonus Fishbowl

ysabetwordsmith's Poetry Fishbowl is open! This months' theme is "houses and homes". Come fish!

There is poetry to be fished! ysabetwordsmith's January Poetry Fishbowl is on "military science fiction"... suggest an idea, link to the fishbowl and get free poetry, support your internet.micropublisher!

Want to contribute to the poetry in the world but suck at verse? Have a fishbowl! Today's theme is, appropriately, influential women. You can add ideas, bucks, signal boost, or all of the above.

And for the record, Elizabeth Barrette (ysabetwordsmith) rocks.

http://ysabetwordsmith.dreamwidth.org/6847524.html

The Bear walked into the bar with a face as long as a runway. Mike broke the customary silence. “Whiskey?”

“The Gentleman.” Mike unscrewed the bowler hat from a fresh bottle of Tennessee single-malt, popped a pour spout in place, and made a shot glass turn amber.

Leaving dead presidents behind, the Bear shambled to the line.

“She was a hundred and two. She flew airplanes for 55 of those years, and taught people to do the same for 53. She has more hours in the air – 57,635.4 -than any other person but one, over 5.5 million miles – more than Chuck Yeager or John Glenn on both counts. She could fly about anything – helicopters, jets, balloons, and the mighty DC-3, quite the feat for someone who can’t have weighed 100 pounds soaking wet. For many years, she was *the* instructor in the American South to certify you to fly the old Gooney Bird.

“A car crash ended her flying career in 2005, but she managed the municipal airport at Morristown, Tennessee, as she’d done since way before I was born, until last year.

“The legends call her ‘Mama Bird’…. we just called her Miss Evelyn.

“To Evelyn Bryan Johnson – St. Peter’s tower, cleared to land.”

The Bear drained the glass… and set it very gently on the mantle above the fireplace. No crash, because she never did.

Mirrored from miawol.org.  Please comment there.