Recently I blogged on a scene from HBO’s Treme where a tour bus pulled up to a group of Black New Orleanians initiating a funeral (Continue Reading)
Pat’s Polemics
On-going brilliance
funny story you may not appreciate
07/25/2010 Pat Barrett Add CommentMy wife and I went to a graduation where we parked in a huge parking lot and stupidly forgot to mark where our car was. (Continue Reading)
Response to a column re the bust of Stalin
07/16/2010 Pat Barrett Add CommentStalin was a major leader of WW II, one of our allies, that’s it. That’s why he’s there. If you want him gone for moral (Continue Reading)
Does Mel Gibson represent anybody?
07/15/2010 Pat Barrett Add CommentMel Gibson’s periodic meltdowns serve as fodder for columnists’ essays on the state of race relations. The comments attached illustrate both the lack of a (Continue Reading)
Empiricism?
05/10/2010 Pat Barrett Add CommentA member of a listserv argued with me some years ago that the findings in The Bell Curve, specifically that certain groups are superior or (Continue Reading)
African responses to the “beat” of machinery
04/25/2010 Pat Barrett Add CommentRecently I went to dinner with relatives and one boy of 15 was there. As he walked to the table, he was dancing and I (Continue Reading)
An underlying Ewe/Fon response pattern to Western music?
03/22/2010 Pat Barrett Add CommentAnother funeral and the thoughts it engendered
09/06/2009 Pat Barrett Add CommentAnother stalwart has left us. One of those original people who accepted me into their church even though I never joined, never even became a (Continue Reading)
Getting cross rhythms…… or not
08/29/2009 Pat Barrett Add CommentI had an interesting experience yesterday at school. The band was setting up for a pep rally outside my room and the kid on the (Continue Reading)
No fear for African-American culture
08/18/2009 Pat Barrett Add CommentSometimes you just have to go to church. Not being a religious person, I sometimes raise eyebrows over my enthusiasm for going to church. But (Continue Reading)
Black solidarity
07/07/2009 Pat Barrett Add CommentBlack solidarity is something that really irritates some people. We still hear angry White people mutter about OJ, citing videos of Blacks jubilant at the (Continue Reading)
What Michael Jackson drew together and overcame
06/28/2009 Pat Barrett Add CommentThe mystery of Michael Jackson dissolved in the BET Awards ceremony broadcast only 3 days after his unexpected and shocking passing. No one was interested (Continue Reading)
Tracing origins – fascinating
03/15/2009 Pat Barrett Add CommentOne example of how African influences get lost or buried was revealed to me very early, before I had ever thought about the African-Americans among (Continue Reading)
Given enough time, Africa will slide into the song
02/07/2009 Pat Barrett Add CommentTonight I once again witnessed a fascinating phenomenon of Af-Am music, Af-Am in the broadest sense to include all of the Americas: the way the (Continue Reading)
On not nodding to Black people
12/26/2008 Pat Barrett Add CommentThis morning my wife struggled with baggage at the airport. Of all days to arrive late, the day after Christmas was not the one. I (Continue Reading)
A couple of records reviewed
07/17/2008 Pat Barrett Add CommentOpening a new category, I would like to mention a couple of old records, one just discovered today and one I’ve enjoyed over the years. (Continue Reading)
Me and the African Diaspora
11/04/2006 Pat Barrett Add CommentMy wife and I bought a pig-in-a-poke, tickets to a performance at ASU, but it had to do with the influence of African dance on (Continue Reading)