Also....

Jose, Gilles, but no Camille?

NOTE: New York friends, go see these people (and many other dope ones) in Central Park for free- THIS SUNDAY!!!

I was planning to go to Serbia (Niš, to be exact) to see two of my favorite music people Gilles Peterson and Jose James in concert at the Niš jazz festival, but then the television blared with news of people rioting in the streets of Belgrade....which is a city I would have to pass through. The Captain is none to keen on my adventurous backpacking to Serbia trip anymore. Anyone out there got first-hand news on the situation? I hear it was just a bunch of football hooligans, but I am in no mood to be hooliganized.

Fino

Things have been OK, I am just trying to figure out the pace and trajectory of my life at the moment. I have a basic outline, work is in progress.

Here is a brief list of what I have been doing:

• swimming lessons! - As promised, I have been learning to swim at the local pool. I can swim. Not well, but yes, I can! I had a quick dip in the River Sava this Sunday and on Tuesday, we hopped into Lake Bled. I am proud of myself.
  
• work - computer screen staring, keyboard key-pressing, meetings, Excel spreadsheeting, no complaints
  
• driving - Also as promised, I went for about five or six driving lessons, but they were getting expensive, so The Captain has just been making me drive. Things are going well, but I need to get myself a real deadline to be a real driver. I guess I'll give myself until the end of the year.
• socializing - I went to the Captain's family reunion and turned out to be the start guest. People were proud that I could grasp the language and join the fun. The best conversation of the evening was when The Captain took the time to explain that most of the black people you see on television had chemically straightened or fake hair and that my hair was clean and natural.
  

Here are some pictures. I have not been taking many these days, but I will resume.









Hair-ial view

backwards

Sorry for the delay in posting. I am having a hissy fit at this country at the moment.
Be back soon.

Maša Kagao Knez

Just read an interview (in a Slovenian magazine) with the extraordinary dancer, actress, choreograher Maša Kagao Knez who is Slovenian and a sista!
Check out some of her dancing and choreography below and if you are in town next month check her dance classes out at Trnfest (KUD France Prešeren).
Spoštovanje! (Respect!)

Random

Meet A Black Person

Some days my life feels like this...

(15 July 2008 - Comments are now closed)

Refreshing

It's kind of nice living in a country where a man can walk onto a train holding an axe in plain sight without it being cause for any alarm...

On The Chaingang

I've been working like a dog these days. But it is hard to complain when work takes you to places like this.

A Thought

I think that the people who ask me whether I feel "strange" being black in Slovenia have a fundamental misunderstanding of what it means to be black at all.