http://www.assatashakur.org/forum/blogs/nattyreb/ The next level in Our community as we move our people from all talk and no action, to talk with action. In terms of organizing in respective communities to promote conscious discussion and solutions powered by The Talking Drum Collective. en Sun, 22 Nov 2009 01:16:23 GMT vBulletin 60 http://www.assatashakur.org/forum/images/misc_2/rss.jpg http://www.assatashakur.org/forum/blogs/nattyreb/ http://www.assatashakur.org/forum/blogs/nattyreb/150-just-funkin-around.html Tue, 13 May 2008 04:26:32 GMT My dear daughter decided it would be fun to help Mommy make a MySpace page. This is kinda odd because i have been involved in websites for years but never had one for just me. Hmmm.... what would i put on it after being instructed to make it about something uniquely me? So, i started on a funky... My dear daughter decided it would be fun to help Mommy make a MySpace page. This is kinda odd because i have been involved in websites for years but never had one for just me. Hmmm.... what would i put on it after being instructed to make it about something uniquely me? So, i started on a funky slideshow and was reminiscing so bad that i was aching with nostalgia and didn't make much more progress after that.

So ... why don't you go check it out when you have the chance?

www.myspace.com/nattyreb7

WARNING: For some reason it doesn't all come up in Firefox. Also, keep in mind that i have no idea what i'm doing and i'm just getting started, so don't be too hard on me! :sunny: ]]> nattyreb http://www.assatashakur.org/forum/blogs/nattyreb/150-just-funkin-around.html http://www.assatashakur.org/forum/blogs/nattyreb/76-time-program.html Sun, 10 Feb 2008 16:27:49 GMT Welcome to our planning meeting!

Let's give ourselves at least 6 weeks to do this right. Once you have everyone confirmed for the program, we gotta get a good location. Unless we have unlimited access to our own space, we gotta get something reserved. If we can't get space for free, we gotta make sure we're able to cover costs b4 the day of the event cuz we can't count on folx promising they're gonna chip in at the last minute to do so. Get as much cash and other items donated as possible!

Make sure we got everything in writing that's supposed to be there, i.e. chairs, tables, projection screen/TV w/DVD player, microphones, extension cords, etc. Get everything signed by someone in charge, not a secretary. Same goes for receipts. Try to get an extra room for childcare and get some teens to take care of the young'uns for you during the program. Get a few cell or home phone numbers for use the day of the program in case the custodian doesn't show up to let you in the bldg. or any unforeseen problems arise.

NOW we gotta get our propaganda together. First we gotta get flyers out and not just something hurriedly put together. It's got to have the hippest artwork, the screamingest headlines, the most provocative language legally possible to grab folks' attention. We got so much media to compete with, we must guarantee that we're gonna get a second look. Break it on down to specific, highly-traveled areas for distribution by hand, windshields, doorways, and mailings. Hit all the community businesses, phone poles, wherever info is posted at. Give great directions, offer rides, childcare, free food, and other giveaways, if possible.

Do a press release (very simple 1 page double-spaced: name/phone of contact person; who, what, when, where, why of program) and send it out to local media newspapers and radio. Broadly distribute it online, as well.

Make sure you have a sign-in sheet or booklet right at the entrance so you can continuously develop your contact list. Have your donation bucket and propaganda at this same table. During the program we should also hand out any information that we want to get into the people's hands, don't count on people to pick items up off your table. Also make time for announcements from the audience during the program, if possible.

Try to videotape and/or take lots of photos of your event. Make sure you've got your security firmly in place at all times. Check on any elders or disabled people frequently to make sure they are as comfortable as possible. This ain't the day to get into any long and drawn out political debates with attendees, you're putting out liberation information and tryna win over new people, so act like you know and don't get COINTELPRO'd!

Many times we have folx getting together at programs who haven't seen each other for looong periods of time (many of whom may have even travelled long distances!). The problem with that is, the program is so tightly packed that we don't have any time for folx to really greet each other, so too often they're sneaking out of workshops to "catch up" or trying to do so and eat and go to the bathroom all at the same during lunch break.

We need a specific time period for networking, checking the vendors/info tables out, etc., that can even precede the program itself, perhaps during set-up time. Since we're often up against the clock for how long we can use the room we've rented for the program, we can also offer an "after party" type scenario where folx can gather at someone's home or hotel room for kicking it.

We want the 2nd half of the program to be just as vibrant (if not more so) than the 1st! So, don't serve a heavy meal during the break at your function; do something super light (need i say why, lol). If you have a keynote speaker, you really have to be clear with any other speakers/performers that they have to stick to their time limit. (On your non-public schedule, give them 5-10 mins. longer than they actually know about.) You don't want your audience to become disinterested in everything your keynote is saying cuz the other people went on and on for far too long. Try and make time for at least 20 mins. of Q&A.

What would be really great would be to take advantage of having extra hands available and do some type of community activity. Whether it's a demo, or even coordination with a mass community event happening in your town that we can invade and do one-on-one's with the people, maybe some of your attendees would be willing and able to roll up their sleeves and get on down.

Write a report-back of the event and publish it as widely as you did the original flyer. That way, folx have an idea of what they missed and can feel more informed of what to expect the next time you're promoting an activity!

Here's to a successful event! Feel free to add on with your great ideas! :sunny: ]]> nattyreb http://www.assatashakur.org/forum/blogs/nattyreb/76-time-program.html http://www.assatashakur.org/forum/blogs/nattyreb/59-mr-bo-comes-delaware.html Mon, 04 Feb 2008 18:41:16 GMT The Obamas have set this town on its ear the past few days. Michelle turnt the joint out on Thursday downtown with a supa-dupa crowd. They played it on local cable yesterday, folx was practically getting happy. She's very good at what she does, neither of the Clintons can touch her eloquence, her ability to come off as real.

John Conyers was here, meeting, greeting and pressing the flesh. At times, he needed to be reminded of just what town he was in (everybody appears to be getting old all of a sudden).

Word got out that Barack himself would be down here on Sunday. People were calling me for info on the event, so i got the specifics so i could have it available. The excitement was at a fever pitch. 20,000 were expected. The churches let out early so folx could get down there. Very young children (as young as 4) were on local cable saying Barack for President. i saw images of my people, choked up, too emotional to speak. (i wasn't there personally). CNN covered some of it with a text box saying "Dela-where?". i also must wonder, why here where there are so few delegates? Somebody with money, or perhaps a bid for an endorsement from Biden (who doesn't even bother to pretend he represents this town anymore).

Later i saw the rally with Michelle, Oprah, Caroline, and Stevie Wonder (who Michelle unfortunately let accidentally fall when they first hit the stage -- first time i've ever seen Stevie fall in all my years!). She, like the rest of them, gave the exact same speech as she did Thursday night, almost to a "T".

i wish our people could be so united and excited about something real. BO (as he is now being referenced) will greatly disappoint, but nobody's trying to hear that. i struggle with my own self, What good will it serve to be a naysayer on such a giddy occasion -- aren't we isolated and alienated from our own people enough?

Hey, it's a tough job but somebody's gotta do it! i remain addicted to the entire spectacle. ]]> nattyreb http://www.assatashakur.org/forum/blogs/nattyreb/59-mr-bo-comes-delaware.html http://www.assatashakur.org/forum/blogs/nattyreb/48-tell-me-something-good.html Fri, 01 Feb 2008 23:02:41 GMT When we teach our people about the struggle, let's not make them feel:
a. stupid
b. annoying
c. un-cool
d. whiteyfied

or that they have:
a. bad religion
b. bad hair
c. bad clothes
d. stupid ideas

or that we have:
a. the deepest deepness
b. the hippest contacts
c. the shee-it
d. the anti-stupid (did i mention that)

We must accept our people right where they are at. They are already getting dissed, beaten up and torn down, no matter how fabulous or hardcore their persona. We gotta wean our people offa this shit-stem just like a baby from a bottle, slowly and deliberately, while replacing it with what's good and righteous in a loving manner.

My minister/teacher would always address me as "ma'am" while she was imparting great wisdom to me with such tremendous humility. She made my every remark seem genius, that my presence on the planet was necessary. i always left feeling extremely important, and that's how we uplift our people!

Speak truth to the people, but also tell them something good. That one good thing might be the only one good thing they get to hear all day. Something that will quicken their pulsebeat, something to chew on and savor, something to research on their own, something to pass on to someone they meet up with later on.

We're in it to WIN it. We MUST. Our ancestors are depending on us to. ]]> nattyreb http://www.assatashakur.org/forum/blogs/nattyreb/48-tell-me-something-good.html http://www.assatashakur.org/forum/blogs/nattyreb/16-political-cliffhangin.html Sat, 26 Jan 2008 02:15:31 GMT i'm a political news junkie, in case y'all didn't know. Even though i don't participate in presidential politics, i can't get enough of this obama/hillary thing, it's got me hooked on cable news. i really wish bill/hillary would get caught in some way that they or their "spokespeople" can't get them out of, like having a tourette's moment and hollering out "N****R!" at the next debate. i know the whole world is watching the Ameriklan whore try to trick the masses, it's a site to behold!

My 14 yr old son and i were laughing the other night at the notion of Obama as president, i told him that would be the time the gov't would take up the case of reparations just so they would have a black president in place to tell us to go to hell. My son said, reparations?, Obama would have us back in slavery, he'd be telling us we'd get gov't health insurance if we just worked for free. He'd say it so charmingly we'd applaud all the way to the fields, singing old Stevie Wonder songs like they was negro spirituals. We had a few choice words for those Black Hillary supporters, too, but they aren't fit to put out here in prime time. Suffice it to say that altho we clown on Obama's "Reagan democracy," it somehow is more palatable than these Black Hillary water carriers, shufflin and smilin all the way. ]]> nattyreb http://www.assatashakur.org/forum/blogs/nattyreb/16-political-cliffhangin.html