The Main Event, by stacy-marie ishmael

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September 22, 2024

This is what we have / we do what we can.

What do you do when you feel overwhelmed?

Me, I find myself reaching for music, back into the depths of the archives. Sometimes it is soca (touchless), sometimes it is reggae (sweep over my soul), sometimes it is neither (fade into you).

And then there is always Jaundis-i, which begat Orange Sky.

Before I ever had a radio show I had playlists, and before that I burnt CDs, and before those I made mix tapes. Those track lists were variously autobiographical, aspirational, vulnerable, daring.

What is a song or composition that always takes you back to the same, specific place? When was the last time you listened to it, intentionally?

The problem with music is memory; who needs madeleines when Cranberries will do.

(Quick housekeeping note for all those who signed up for The De-Stash: Very excited that so many folks are still into physical mail. Working my way through the list, and spent three fun hours in a riso studio today working on an extra special addendum for all of you. Stay tuned, because I’ll keep you..ah, posted.)

Attribution

Brown love is getting the pat down but not the secondary screening
and waiting after you clear to make sure the Sikh man or
the Black woman or the hijabis behind you get through
…
Brown love is your tired cousin who prays you all the way home
from when you get on the subway to when you land and get on another.
This is what we have
we do what we can.

— from Brown Love by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha
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