Taurus Season Is Coming!
The absolute BEST astrological moment of the year is almost upon us! LOL!
Hello Family,
I’m writing this from the room I grew up in, on Wednesday, April 3, 2024. It is cold, rainy, and windy here in Brooklyn, NY. This is the perfect weather for curling up with a good book or a good film.
I’m a Taurus and Taurus season is coming up in just under two weeks. Some people swear by astrology. Other people think it’s nonsense. I just think it’s fun.
I did a little dabbling on Cafe Astrology and here’s what it said about me having Taurus as my Sun sign:
“There is something very solid about Taurus natives, no matter what the rest of their charts say about them. Though they are dependable most of the time, this generally shows itself more in habit than in outright helpfulness. Taurus natives are sensual folk—and this includes sex, but extends to pleasures in all areas: they delight in the sensual pleasures of food, a comfortable blanket, a richly colored aquarium to look at, the smell of flowers or spring rain, pleasing melodies coming from their stereos, and so forth. Some might even say they live through their senses more than most. When Taurus natives work, they work hard. They do it with a steadiness that may rarely be considered quick—rather it's a dependable, plodding, and steady effort that has its payoffs. Security is immensely important to Taurus--some of them actively seek wealth, while others are content to be ‘comfortable.’ The Taurus definition of ‘comfortable’ may not be exactly the same as the rest of the signs, but comfort is definitely a driving force. Although hard-working, their fixed and comfort-loving nature sometimes makes them appear lazy. This is only because they separate work and leisure so well. When they work, they work hard, and when they play, they don't really ‘play’ as such. They relax. A Solar Taurus who has kicked their feet up is rooted there—you'd be hard-pressed to get them to move. On a mental level, you'll likely have the same problem. Taureans stick with things and ideas, and therein lies one of the reasons why they are known for their stubbornness. Taurus is a fixed sign, and they have a fair measure of tradition and steadiness in their make-up that keeps them rooted.
The possessiveness associated with Taurus shows up in all areas of life in some way. Taurus likes to own things (and sometimes people). A nice home, a piece of land (this can be modest), a paid-off car, that aquarium mentioned earlier, a couple of pets, maybe a solid business. In love and relationship, there is an earthy kind of possessiveness that may be considered jealousy by some, but there is actually quite a difference between being possessive and being jealous. Taurus natives are rarely jealous and petty. They do, however, think of the people they love as theirs—it adds to their sense of security.
Short description:
They are strong-willed. They have charm, and they are tolerant and stoical. They like pleasure and the good things in life. Appreciates the Arts.
Weaknesses: obstinacy, laziness. He can be materialistic.
On point or bullshit? You decide. LOL!
Famous Tauruses include:
Ella Fitzgerald (April 25)
Dulé Hill (May 3)
Janet Damita Jo Legendary Icon Jackson (May 16)
Jidenna (May 4)
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson (May 2)
Grace Jones (May 19)
Derek Luke (April 24)
Victoria Monet (May 1)
Busta Rhymes (May 20)
Coretta Scott-King (April 27)
Ralph Tresvant (May 16)
Luther Vandross (April 20)
Stevie Wonder (May 13)
Malcolm X (May 19)
These are some of the words, sights, and sounds that I have grabbed my attention and called for my consideration over the past month and I feel compelled to share them with you.
Words
I have been alive long enough to witness the world, at least twice, endeavor to not only ignore/invisiblize genocide as it is happening, but also play with the definition of the word in real-time so that the historical record is likewise censored. And the world has had plenty of practice in that regard.
This is unoriginal, but I often wondered how people might have behaved as Adolf Hitler, Germany, and the Axis Powers were committing unimaginably brutal mass murder primarily against Jews, but also against disabled people, Romani people, homosexuals, and others. I had imagined a kind of noble, righteous response in defense of those being persecuted.
Given what I have seen with my own eyes, heard with my own ears, felt in my own spirit, I now know that to be some bullshit. What the masses actually do is sit there and watch, or avert their eyes and go on about their business like it’s any other ordinary Sunday. Or deny that the piling up of bodies and bodies and bodies is something to be alarmed about. Or insist that it’s justified and therefore not evil.
I have learned that how it works is entirely political: It’s genocide if you have a direct and vested financial/strategic interest in it being so. It’s not genocide if you don’t.
I have learned that how it works is entirely self-serving: It’s genocide if it’s being committed by your enemies. It’s not genocide if it’s being committed by your allies or by you.
It’s a rare human being indeed—who has everything to lose but their soul—with the courage to call a thing a thing because it’s a fucking thing.
“Colombia has asked the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to allow the country to join South Africa’s case accusing Israel of genocide in the Gaza Strip.
In its application to the court on Friday, Colombia called on the ICJ to ensure ‘the safety and, indeed, the very existence of the Palestinian people.’
‘Colombia is deploying efforts directed at fighting the scourge of genocide and, as a result, making sure Palestinians enjoy their right to exist as a people,’ the document said.
‘Colombia’s ultimate goal in this endeavour is to ensure the urgent and fullest possible protection for Palestinians in Gaza, in particular such vulnerable populations as women, children, persons with disabilities and the elderly,’ the Colombian declaration added.”
Al Jazeera, “Colombia seeks to join Gaza genocide case against Israel at ICJ”
It seems as though Aaron Bushnell is no longer in the news cycle he was barely in to begin with. A little over a month since his death and the world has already moved on to the next thing. I hate to imagine that his sacrifice was largely in vain, but I also feel that to be American is to forfeit one’s conscience. So perhaps to restore it one must renounce, in whatever way possible, their Americanness?
“Democracy Now! speaks with an active-duty soldier in the U.S. Air Force on hunger strike to demand an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. Senior Airman Larry Hebert is on day three of his hunger strike outside the White House, where he has been holding a sign that reads ‘Active Duty Airman Refuses to Eat While Gaza Starves.’ ‘It’s just completely wrong and immoral for civilians to be starved and bombed and targeted in any manner,’ says Hebert. ‘I’m hoping that other active-duty members will be more public with their concern over the atrocities happening in Gaza.’ Hebert was inspired by the actions of Aaron Bushnell, a 25-year-old active-duty member of the U.S. Air Force who set himself on fire in front of the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C., in February to demand a Gaza ceasefire. ‘What really infuriated me was the silence thereafter. … I don’t know a single member of our government or leaders in the military that really spoke on Aaron, even uttered his name,’ says Hebert, who is now looking to leave the military after learning more about U.S. foreign policy. ‘I can’t see myself continuing service.’”
Democracy Now! “Active-Duty U.S. Airman, Inspired by Aaron Bushnell, on Hunger Strike Outside White House over Gaza”
War is only—ever—a moral failing; a profound failure of human heart, mind, soul, and imagination made manifest.
“Celebrity chef Jose Andres told Reuters in an emotional interview on Wednesday that an Israeli attack that killed seven of his food aid workers in Gaza had targeted them ‘systematically, car by car.’
Speaking via video, Andres said the World Central Kitchen (WCK) charity group he founded had clear communication with the Israeli military, which he said knew his aid workers' movements.
‘This was not just a bad luck situation where ‘oops’ we dropped the bomb in the wrong place,’ Andres said.
‘This was over a 1.5, 1.8 kilometers, with a very defined humanitarian convoy that had signs in the top, in the roof, a very colorful logo that we are obviously very proud of,’ he said. It's ‘very clear who we are and what we do.’
‘They were targeting us in a deconflicting zone, in an area controlled by IDF. They knowing that it was our teams moving on that road ... with three cars,’ he said.”
Jeff Mason, “Chef Jose Andres says Israel targeted his aid workers ‘systematically, car by car’”
On attempts to whiteout history.
, “Review: ‘SUFFS’ Goes Full White Feminism”“Make no mistake: white feminism is white supremacy. The trouble is that we who are white-raised have so deeply metabolized a series of ‘thread-bare lies’ — about Black men as ‘super predators,’ about white women’s innocence and victimhood — that we are unable to see and understand white supremacy when it is dressed up with suffrage sashes instead of pointed hats.”
The rank racism/misogynoir in the way the press covers and spectators respond to Angel Reese versus how they cover and respond to Caitlin Clark is outright disgusting and they aren’t fooling anybody but themselves. I mean, they seem to fall all over themselves fawning and bowing and praising and protecting and worshipping the sanctity of Clark’s white womanhood while doing everything in their power to disparage and shit on Reese’s entire personhood? They only acknowledge Reese’s talents in begrudging, backhanded, scornful, and teeth-sucking ways. And they don’t even try to hide it. Just bold with it. Repeatedly. In real time. Overt bigotry has made a stunning comeback. But don’t call it a comeback; it’s been here for years.
“I don’t really get to stand up for myself,” she said, wiping away tears as she spoke. “I don’t really get to speak out on things because I just ignore (them). I just try to stand strong. … I’ve been through so much. I’ve seen so much. I’ve been attacked so many times, death threats, I’ve been sexualized, I’ve been threatened, I’ve been so many things, and I’ve stood strong every single time.
“I just want them to always know, I’m still a human. All this has happened since I won the national championship, and I said the other day I haven’t (been) happy since then. And it sucks, but I still wouldn’t change. I wouldn’t change anything, and I would still sit here and say I’m unapologetically me.”
Ben Pickman, “Angel Reese shares the weight of her season in wake of LSU loss: ‘I’m still a human’”
This is why I’m very selective about the media I consume. The coded messages are not coded to me.
“More connections: Storm loses her powers in the second episode of ‘X-Men ’97,’ which left fans on social media wondering why the show nerfed the powerful hero. In fact, it’s straight out of another well-liked Claremont story from the early 1980s, which sends Storm off on a hero’s journey seeking the return of her powers. (That story kicks off with one of the more artistically singular issues of ‘Uncanny X-Men,’ issue No. 186’s ‘Lifedeath,’ drawn with painterly ambition by Barry Windsor-Smith.)”
Herb Scribner, “‘X-Men ’97’ is retelling some of the greatest X-Men stories ever”
Right before your very eyes, Hollywood will rewrite history so that rather than explain things as they actually happened, it will use “creative license” to cover up the truth and instead distribute nationalistic propaganda. Take, for example, how this dreadful television show called Feud: Capote vs. The Swans turned the prophet James Baldwin into a Magical Negro designed to pappy Truman Capote out of his funk and remind him of his greatness. It is white supremacist fiction presented as biographical fact. And that’s just one of the ways these folks have been endeavoring to remix and neuter Baldwin’s intelligence and politics.
, “sunday energy #52”“So there’s this James Baldwin interview from 1979 that I can’t stop watching. It’s a 20/20 segment from 1979, which only just resurfaced in 2021. The segment was initially scrapped by ABC executives before it could hit primetime. The executives, when asked at the time by producer Joseph Lovett why it still hadn’t aired months after it had been shot and edited, responded to his question with another question:
‘Who wants to listen to a Black gay has-been?’
This of course is a wild thing to say about Baldwin, wilder still when you watch the segment and find that he is powerful, impassioned, salient in his message and point of view. There is a particular image in the interview that I keep fast-forwarding to, footage of Baldwin lecturing student reporters at the Police Athletic League’s Harlem Center. The author sits, a sermonizing island surrounded by a quiet sea of young people. A boy in the crowd asks him if there is any chance for the Black writer.
Baldwin looks the boy in the eyes and answers: ‘Nobody wants a writer until he’s dead.’
This sentence has been all over my mind since I first heard it. Because it’s true, isn’t it? A dead writer is easier to control, to contain, to censor, to ban, to willfully misinterpret. A dead writer is easier to deify and and sanitize and martyrize, too. With dead writers, there is no need to engage with the pesky realities of their lives, their humanity. Instead, they can be flattened into a poster or a flyer, their careful words contorted into slogans. A dead writer, in other words, no longer belongs to themselves, but to other people’s imaginations.”
Speaking of productions revised in favor of the power brokers, I’m hoping that this is secretly some subversive take on Black communities and that the trailer isn’t indicative of what this show is, is a sort of bait-and-switch of what this show is actually about, because…
“In the words of Florida Evans, ‘Damn, damn, damn!’
That was Black Twitter’s first few reactions to seeing the trailer for Netflix’s new animated reboot of ‘Good Times.’
Premiering Friday, April 12, the series follows a new generation of the Evans family as they thrive and survive in a housing project in Chicago. The star-studded voice cast includes J.B. Smoove as patriarch, cab driver Reggie Evans; Yvette Nicole Brown as his wife Beverly; Jay Pharoah as their artist son Junior; Marsai Martin as activist daughter Grey; and Gerald ‘Slink’ Johnson as drug-dealing baby Dalvin.
Why yes, I did say drug-dealing baby. And now you know why Black Twitter is hot as fish grease about this reboot.”
Stephanie Holland, “Black Twitter Has Nothing Good to Say About New ‘Good Times’ Reboot. Tell Us What You Think”
Not a lot of things can make white supremacists mad. Not blatant genocide. Not systemic injustice. Not catastrophic climate change. Not crumbling infrastructure. Not rich people stealing. Not poverty. Not child abuse. Not terrible healthcare. But if you don’t stand up, put your hand over your heart, and sing the U.S National Anthem, though? Hell hath no fury like a KKK hood torn!
“Louisiana’s Republican governor has called for the scholarships of college athletes who are not present for the national anthem before games to be revoked. His announcement came after the LSU women’s basketball team were absent during the pre-game ceremonies on Monday night ahead of their eagerly anticipated NCAA Tournament contest with Iowa.
Jeff Landry, the former state attorney general backed by Donald Trump whose victory in October’s gubernatorial primary denoted a hard-right shift in Louisiana’s politics, took to social media on Tuesday to criticize the Tigers and their head coach, Kim Mulkey, for not being on the court when the Star-Spangled Banner was played.”
The Guardian, “Governor threatens scholarships after LSU women miss anthem at NCAA tournament”
The Congressional Black Caucus Foundation is offering the Bob Marley: One Love Social Impact Scholarship of $5000 to “10 rising sophomore, junior and senior students pursing degrees in community organizing, nonprofit management, public policy, or social justice related degree programs with a minimum 2.5 GPA. Applicant must be enrolled at one of the following academic institutions: Bowie State University, Clark Atlanta, Dillard University, Florida A&M University, Hampton University, Morehouse College, Morgan State University, Spelman College, Texas Southern University and Xavier University of Louisiana.”
THE DEADLINE IS APRIL 30, 2024
For more information and to apply, please visit the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation website: here. Good luck!
Situations like these are a complete travesty, an absolute shame, way too common, and sinisterly devised. One of these days, I’m going to go into great detail about how I was similarly targeted, and how I learned how easily people will lie on you, how quickly other people will believe the lies, how these skinfolk-but-not-kinfolk really tried to break me, and how, as Ancestor Lucille Clifton once intimated, they failed.
, “How The F Did We Get Here?”“In a world where so many of us are disempowered, where every day we are harmed by people and systems that are unaccountable to us, that don’t give a fuck about us – it can feel really good to be given the name of a person, any accessible person, who is doing harm. So maybe you can’t fight the system that is actively harming you right now. Will you settle for dragging this person who offended someone you barely know for filth? Will you settle for getting a stranger fired from their job because someone says so? Will you settle for demanding that a book be pulled from the market over an issue you know nothing about? For many people, desperate for some feeling of agency, the answer is a resounding ‘Hell yes.’”
Since we’re on the topic of skinfolk who are not kinfolk (but are grifters)…
“As a provocateur, Candace Owens stands alone. The recently fired Daily Wire host built a reputation as one of the few Black voices in rightwing media by tossing Black culture and Black people under the conservative bus. She embraced Donald Trump’s lawlessness while castigating Breonna Taylor, George Floyd and Black victims of police brutality as ‘thugs’ and criminals. For Owens, the January 6 insurrection was ‘virtually nothing,’ while the Black Lives Matter movement ‘is about Black anarchy.’ She told a congressional subcommittee that ‘white supremacy and white nationalism is not a problem that is harming Black America.’
According to her, everything wrong with Black America is caused by Black culture and white liberals, but affirmative action is an affront to whites. Like her former bosses at the rightwing youth organization Turning Point USA, Owens doesn’t believe in systemic racism because she’s ‘never been a slave in this country.’ When it comes to anti-Blackness, she is as remarkably consistent as the angry throngs that spat on third-graders desegregating schools while painting the civil rights movement as ‘violent.’
To be fair, Owens has no legitimate education, experience or expertise in politics, media, sociology or public policy. She is just a person who says things. Her status as the darling of far-right punditry is solely built on the oxymoron of a Black woman who is unapologetically anti-Black. So when she claimed she was ‘terrified’ by the prospect of DEI airplane pilots, the irony that she might be the most unqualified ‘diversity hire’ in America was lost on her.
Michael Harriot, “Hate cannot be reasoned with. So why is Black radio hosting ‘conversations’ with Candace Owens?”
Another legend has joined the Great Ancestral community. May peace be yours, Ancestor Maryse Condé.
“Maryse Condé, the Guadeloupean author of more than 20 novels, activist, academic and sole winner of the New Academy prize in literature, has died aged 90.
Condé, whose books include Segu and Hérémakhonon was regarded as a giant of the West Indies, writing frankly – as both a novelist and essayist – of colonialism, sexuality and the black diaspora, and introduced readers around the world to a wealth of African and Caribbean history.
Writing of the ‘unputdownable and unforgettable’ epic Segu, Booker winner Bernardine Evaristo praised her as ‘an extraordinary storyteller’, while author Justin Torres wrote: ‘One is never on steady ground with Condé; she is not an ideologue, and hers is not the kind of liberal, safe, down-the-line morality that leaves the reader unimplicated.’”
Sian Cain, “Maryse Condé, Guadeloupean 'grand storyteller' dies aged 90”
Sights
I’m currently watching the Jerrod Carmichael Reality Show and I have so much to say about it. But rather than write a thinkpiece, I’m going to watch the entire series, take a couple of months to let it roam around in my spirit, and then write a feelpiece. Because rather than tell you what I think, I’d like to tell you what I know.
For more context, check out this Carmichael interview conducted by Dave Holmes in Esquire.
I want to see this film, Late Night with the Devil. Has anyone seen it yet?
37 years later and I still haven’t encountered a better straight solo dance music video than Janet Jackson’s “The Pleasure Principle.”
Sounds
I cannot stop listening to “Made For Me” by Muni Long. That “twin” hits so different.
Sometimes, these song mash-ups be fire!
And JayBEATZ, the creator of the mash-up, has a whole album full of them. Check it out:
That’s all for now, Fam. Please be safe out there. Be kind, but also don’t let nobody take advantage of or abuse you. Until next time.
Blessings upon blessings,
Robert