C. Hannibal cultural history

Native tongues

If you’ve seen Mel Gibson’s Apocalypto and think you know all there is to know about Mexican indigenous culture, please stop reading my blog. Above, Nahuatl classes are being offered in New York City as part of a project to spread endangered languages. Nahuatl is the most common indigenous language spoken in Mexico and comes in several different flavors of dialects. The Mexican government takes some care with developing awareness for the endangered languages of its indigenous tribes, though not much in the way of making sure the people survive. It remains and insult to tell someone they look “indian” or “indigenous” in Mexico. Ask somebody.

Here’s some Nahuatl podcasts and recordings courtesy of the Mexican government. Take a listen, here.

You can check out the government website in English, here. According to the site:

The CDI was established as an institution for obligatory consultation on indigenous affairs for the Federal Public Administration complex, as well as for evaluation of government programs and actions and training of federal, state and municipal public servants for improving care for the indigenous population.

Yeah, I guess so.

Here’s some music that’s inspired and funky by Nahuatl Soundsystem. Two Eps are available for download, here.

Call it Aztec dub cumbia. Or as the bandcamp.com site says “

Aztec/Cumbia/Dub/Electronic/Reggae music collective originally from the roots of Tenochtitlan in Mexico, Afro-latin roots in Colombia, Andiean Mountains in Argentina and Downunder Australia.”

(Click on cover art to play)

 

C. Hannibal buildings, cultural history

Diner Passion in Jersey

Diners are to New Jersey what hot dog and pretzel carts are to New York. I’ll take the 24-hour ubiquity of the diners over some dude slamming a dog between two buns and slathering mustard on it (with a big exception: Gray’s Papaya ). The diner pictured here is the Skylark. Moms took me here after a reporting trip to Philly. I’ve been to many Jersey diners in my day and I don’t remember this one. On your way to the bathroom  hallway lights flickr in a sequence. One, two, three…then all of them light up at once. It’s kind of cool and very kitschy, just like an NJ diner should be.

For lots of N.J. diner suggestions, look here.

C. Hannibal cultural history, digital media

You Will Be Assimilated

I hope my Star Trek nerds get the headline to this post.

Not too long ago, I reached out to T.A.N and he wrote me back. I was sitting at work, wishing and hoping for greener pastures. The idea of writing for a living–just writing–was a concept I didn’t think possible. Although I’m making the right moves right now, I still have yet to prove I can sustain a 401k on checks from my writing prowess alone.

Patrice Evans, who blogs as The Assimilated Negro told me in his reply that not only was living off words possible, but if you really tried hard enough, it could be a reality. This coming from a guy who made it seem like his only entry into writing was his curiosity about life. Later he tells me he was an aspiring rapper. Blame hip-hop.

On the cusp of publishing his first book, this spoken word, blogging hero of mine is rolling through the halls of the academy to break down what makes an opinionated blogger rise to the top. I know a lot of people want a piece of that knowledge. Stay tuned.

**Flier by @angELLEnise

 

**update:

I think we’re going to change this flier because T.A.N tells me there’s a new book design. These things are fluid in the publishing industry. Holler.

C. Hannibal cultural history

Biking and Black History

Adventure Cycling Association and the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Minority Health hooked up several years ago to give us the Underground Railroad bicycle tour. You don’t have to be Harriet Tubman to travel from Mobile, Alabama to Owen Sound, Ontario. The 2,100 mile route follows the historic “Follow the Drinking Gourd” meme as a guide. FTDG was used to encode escape instructions with reference to the Big Dipper.

It looks easier than editing B-Roll.

Video via

C. Hannibal cultural history, Racially Speaking

“They Mad Because You Fled….”

Strong Black woman. Man, I have so many memories of grade school and Black History Month; the little posters taped to the classroom walls for a month, the book reports and the coating of sugar on the legacies of dozens of fighters for justice. It was all entrenched in a message that freedom is good, slavery and oppression: bad. All my grade school teachers were Italian, I think. Or Polish. Definitely white.

I wonder why whenever they taught us about Harriet Tubman none of them offered to us impressionable youngsters something to the effect: “This was a strong Black woman, guys.”

I’m not sure we understood it via the passages in our Houghton Mifflin textbooks, or the TV documentaries.

So, I offer you here, the strong Black Woman that was Harriet Tubman. This ancestor’s spirit continues to inspire the oppressed and she wasn’t only a voice for Black folks, but for women, period. Listen to Maya Angelou, in her authoritative baritone read about the woman who helped free slaves via the Underground Railroad with a bounty on her head.

Via The National Women’s History Project:

Fugitive Slave, Rescuer of Slaves
Tubman was born into slavery in Maryland. In 1849, she fled to Philadelphia but returned to Maryland the next year to begin the first of many Underground Railroad trips to lead family and friends to freedom using caution, skill, and subterfuge. Some passengers she escorted to Canada. In the Civil War, Tubman was a spy and scout for the Union in the Sea Islands. In 1896, she spoke at the convention of the American National Woman Suffrage Association convention.

 

For the pop culture treatment of Tubman’s legacy, check these out:

Continue reading ““They Mad Because You Fled….”” →

C. Hannibal cultural history, mexican culture, music

Corridos Found in Translation

 

 

So the homeboy Manny Wheels was looking for the transcription to the corrido we used in our previous video together. He’s crafting a long-form report on the corrido situation in Nueva York, look out for that in a few months. I think he can get it up in the Voice, but we’ll see. Biters everywhere. Best of luck to you Mano.

This is probably not that newsworthy to some, but when a group of this stature (like K-Paz de la Sierra, above) comes to Brooklyn, that’s a rare occasion. If you’re looking for something to say about K-Paz, there’s always the story about how their former lead singer was found hanged with cigarette burns on his body. A narco-style kidnaping/murder for sure.  Not that Brooklyn or NYC is a stranger to narco-style murders.

C. Hannibal cultural history, music

Big Payback

Today was a proud day for my inner hip-hop journo. The J-School featured not only 1, but 2 intellectual hip-hop heads who took the stage to share their success with the journo-youngstas. Generally, these aren’t the types of cats who are sweated by the academy, but with at least 2 of the journo-youngsters dedicating their Masters work to hip-hop themes, it’s a sign that the mainstream has totally taken the edge out of things. I can’t wait to read these Masters projects.

One of the alums, a man whose career I’ve followed for some time now because of his dedication to hip-hop journalism (in addition to yoga?) has really added some cultural knowledge to the history of the form in his book, The Big Payback. He was interviewed on stage in a private event just for our Spring Prep Day. He explained his book writing process (two hours of sleep while writing his tome and holding down a day gig) and read from his book. His 600 page joint is being heavily touted by all manner of smart opinion makers such as NPR and O-Dubb. The section of his book that he read had to do with Andre Harrell, but since I was mad hungry the only thing that stuck out to me was when he said something about Beefsteak Charlie’s. You’ll have to read the book to figure out what that’s all about.

Do you remember those old Beefsteak Charlie’s commercials?

Continue reading “Big Payback” →

C. Hannibal cultural history, music

Valentine’s Day: Don’t Avoid It <3

St. Valentine’s Day approaches. As if you couldn’t already tell by all the red hearts and chocolate the stores have been pushing since like a day after Christmas.

Above, the namesake for the commercial holiday we use to remind ourselves to tell people we love them, while at the same time boosting the jewelery, candy and flower markets in these rough winter months. Saint Valentine was a priest who got caught marrying people, so the story goes. He was thrown into jail and tried to show the Roman emperor Claudius II the ways of the lord. In response he had his head chopped off on February 14th in 269. He’s considered a martyr, and according to Catholic.org

He is the Patron Saint of affianced couples, bee keepers, engaged couples, epilepsy, fainting, greetings, happy marriages, love, lovers, plague, travellers, young people. He is represented in pictures with birds and roses.

Plague?

To get into the loving spirit, check out this now classic Valentines Day mix by the DJ legend, Neil Armstrong. And order a gift pack CD if they’re still in stock. Check, here.

WarmFuzzy Mixtape (DJ Neil Armstrong)

Track list

DL the Mp3 here.

Continue reading “Valentine’s Day: Don’t Avoid It <3” →