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SMOKE & MIRRORS - RESOLUTION: ROD AMIS looks at what it's like to publish this magazine, its advertising failures and his take on the national news before getting personal.
SMOKE
"Where there's smoke, there's fire ..." Popular Adage.
5 December 2006: I'm a great lover of Harper's magazine. I subscribed to it when I had actual cash-flow and hope that I'll be able to do so again one day. For all the years I read Harper's, I would invariably begin doing two things. I'd read the very popular "Index" page and then I would settle in to read Lewis Lapham's essay of the edition. Reading Lapham was always humbling for me. He was the kind of erudite and thoughtful editorialist that I hoped I would myself one day become.
I was made to accept, somewhere along this journey of mine, that I did not have the distance and comfort to be a Lapham. I'm far too volatile and, yes, (gasp!) involved with life on the street. At my best, as my friend and G21 alumnae Aamena Jiwaji observed, I speak from the heart and present the stone of existence. At my worst, I spew my anger and become the spawn of the prophet Jeremiah.
IF, as they say, God protects fools and children, then I am in luck. I'm God's own Fool and childish as they come. My saving grace, I've considered, is that I'm also Blue Collar to the bone. I'd rather sling a hammer or a drink than sit in some corporate office with people who have no idea what it's like to raise an honest sweat and actually work for a living. That makes me a dinosaur, I suppose. That, too, separates me from the lofty heights of a person like Lapham.
Let's make no mistake, though. I can move in the rarefied air of the intellectuals with whom I was educated but, at bottom, I find them lacking in spine, in involvement and in engagement with what we peasants endure on a daily basis. Perhaps that is my curse - or blessing. Joe Six-pack and I are kith and kin.
Looking into the future of this enterprise, your World's Magazine, as I plan to take it into its eleventh year here on the World Wide Web (a term no one uses anymore,) I am struck by two opposing ideas. My great friend and fellow writer here, MPHUTHUMI NTABENI, has taken a leadership role in contacting the writers in Africa - the backbone of "my" stable - and suggested that we should distinguish ourselves as a Black magazine. I have looked on at this initiative with bemusement.
Heck, I still thought we were an international magazine with a very strong component of African writing. Last I knew, we had done some great coverage of Ireland, Eastern Europe and the Middle East.
But I'm an old man; I'm probably way off base.
That's what brought my attention to Lapham's column to mind, I suppose. You see, when Mpush suggested that we become suddenly totally focused on being a Black magazine, I was looking at the various statistics of what you read and why people come to this "hip little FM station at the end of the radio dial." What I saw, and what I've known for years by reading the private e-mails you send me, is that this page, this little space of my own, is the most read column at G21. As I would always go to Lapham's essay, very many of you go to mine. Some of you stay and read the articles we offer each edition and some don' t.
Besides my column, it seems that you've also taken a liking to BRAD BALFOUR's film interviews, the crazy mix we offer on our Op-Ed page, RECOMMENDED DAILY REQUIREMENT, and have gained an affinity for our GLOBAL*BEAT mix. I'm glad we're doing something right. IRISH EYES and MATTIE LENNON's ability to "write about nothting" seems to have an élan that you enjoy from time-to-time but apparently not as much as Yours Unruly does.
That said, I have to acknowledge two things:
- G21 has become a platform for African writers and produced a goodly number of award-winning writers (see last "Smoke & Mirrors") and
- G21 AFRICA has been one of our most dynamic features.
But are we only or destined to be only a Black magazine? I don't think so.
I am proud - incredibly proud when I consider the general media landscape and the dearth of my people made available to you - that I have brought the words and thoughts and inspiration of Black writers to your attention. But I am equally proud I have bucked the trend of pretending that the 'Net is only about America. Years before my supposed competitors in this space were willing to admit it, I committed to look at the "World Wide" in WWW. That commitment has enriched my life in ways I shall never be able to fully explain. From Europe, Mexico, Asia, I have had the joy - the wonder! - of conversing and sharing with so many people who are now invaluable parts of my life.
(That last was not Lapham at all, was it? That was Rod the Enthusiast. That was me being childish with awe and wonder. Sorry.)
I learned this past week that my friend and brother, BINYAVANGA WAINAINA ("The Binj"), who won the first Web-produced Caine Prize in African Writing (2002) and went on from here at your World's Magazine to found the Kenya publication Kwani, is now a Writer-in-Residence at a university in New York. Can you imagine how wonderful that made the Old Magician feel?
"My" writers, in one sense, are like my surrogate children. When they go out into the world and spread this infection of ours, a love for words and thinking, I am made to believe that I have had a purpose in living. That I am not a waste of oxygen. Looking at that kind of accomplishment, I feel like joining Jimmy Cagney and shouting, "Hey, Ma! I'm at the top of the world!"
That's one of the few times that I can feel, just for an instant, that I am close to Lapham's world.
To support G21, please send checks or money orders to: Rod Amis
G21: The World's Magazine
1500 Royal Crest Drive, #156
Austin, TX 78741-2709
USATo donate by credit or debit card, please go to the Western Union website by following the highlighted link. Should you donate via Western Union, please notify us via e-mail.
Please make all remittances payable to Rod Amis. Again, thanks.
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Rod Amis at the Huffington Post in February
Rod Amis at the Huffington Post in May
Rod Amis at the Huffington Post in July
Rod Amis at the Huffington Post in August
Rod Amis at the Huffington Post in November
ENJOY WHAT ROD DOES!I have two entries for your delectation in this, our Holiday Special Edition. The first is from our friends at Calabash Music:
- Jorane
- The second over at Google Video from the World of Warcraft collection.
Enjoy!
BACK HERE ON THE GROUND, I learned that I TOTALLY screwed up on when NGOZI RAZAK-SOYEBI's Macmillan Prize ceremony would take place. It went off on the 30th of November, as originally planned, rather than the 3rd of this month, as I reported in my last entry.
The highlight of the ceremony, she informs me, is that she was presented the award by Nobel Prize winner Prof. Wole Soyinka. Ohmigod! How awesome is that?
I was left breathless by the news. Hat's off, Girlfriend!
6 December 2006: A WORD ABOUT ADVERTISING: Well, okay, more than a word.
First of all, you may have noted that this is the one page in your magazine where I have kept the ads to a minimum, instead paying respects to our few donors. That has probably been a mistake, since this is usually the most read page.
Secondly, I'm starting to believe that G21 must have the worst click-through rate on the Web. Google Adsense tells me that your rate of click-throughs, Gentle Readers, garners us a whopping thirty (30) cents (USD) on average per day. Thirty cents! Because Google Adsense only pays out on accounts once the advert revenues equal $100 (USD), I only get a check from them about once a year.
Let me repeat that: G21 makes $100/year from Google Adsense because my readership doesn't respond to ads.
So beginning with this installment, you'll find adverts on this page, too. Momma needs an overcoat; Baby needs a new pair of shoes.
News to Rod
OPEN LETTER TO MSNBC's KEITH OLBERMANN, 13 December.
Dear Keith,
First of all, congratulations on your raings victories over Bill O (your cute abbreviation of Fox News's Bill O'Reilly's name, which we all love.) You have gotten major press about this status just as your contract negotiations are coming up. You and your agent must be in Hog Heaven.
Also Keith, you have to admit that your news commentary essays directed at the Bush Administration and subsequently featured on YouTube and all over the blogosphere, have not hurt one bit. Which is why I'm writing to you today. You see, Keith, I admire the serious essays you've produced this year. But they are out of step with the rest of your show, "The Countdown."
For example, your daily Worst Person in the World, Oddball and Keeping Tabs features are probably big winners for your show, much as the faux news part of "Saturday Night Live" is now a perennial. But I have to admit they personally make me squirm. I feel like I'm watching the E! channel or some similar tripe. Sorry.
Now, Keith, I understand that the premise of "The Countdown" is to provide a different look at the top five, as determined by you and your editorial staff, news stories of the day. I accept that that is a formula that has worked for you. What I'm writing to quibble about, beside the tripe features, is your criteria for determining those top news stories.
Because I've had a very rough month, Keith, I've done what I suspect many Americans do - immerse myself in the mindless prattling of the Idiot Box in order not to focus too much on my own personal suffering. In the process, I've seen a LOT of your show and other newscasts and come away with a few bits of information I'd like to share with you all. (Though this letter is addressed to you, Keith - because I admire you - I hope you'll share its insights, if you deem them as such, with some of your colleagues, even competitors.)
1 - It has been recently discovered that America is not the center of the universe and that Iraq a nd things related to it are not the only newsworthy events of the day.
You know what I hear whenever I tune into broadcast these days, Keith? Here's an example: "Iraq... Irag... The war in Iraq... Something happened in Europe today, I think... Iraq, Iraq, Iraq... "
2 - Important news is happening in places other than Iraq even as I type this to you. I know the producers of your show might be telling you otherwise, Keith, but don't listen to them! They are corporate stooges who believe that all those of us out here in Mudville think about is the war in Iraq. That is not true.
For example, Ketih, the country right next door, to the south of us, Mexico? There's a lot of news going on there, Keith. There's been a major popular uprising going on in the state of Oaxaca for month now. Imagine the great camera shots you could get out of there! It bleeds almost as much as Iraq right now, Keith - even if you wouldn't know it watching most broadcast news today. It threatens the stability of a country already teetering, too, Keith.
Did you hear they had an electoral crisis in Mexico, too? It is so bad, they had to swear in the man who claims to have won the election, Calderon, AT MIDNIGHT, Keith, for fear of a riot in Mexico City. Meanwhile, his challenger, Lopez Obrador, still claims he won the election and vows to fight on to be recognized. Talk about your hot new story!
What I'm saying is, Mexico is right next door to the United States but you couldn't tell that by watching your news program or many others, Keith. I'm writing to you because I believe you are one of the people who can change that.
I know, I know: right after you get your new contract.
Thanks for listening,
Rod Amis
Editor
G21: The World's Magazine
LET'S DO A HEAD COUNT. It's reported that one hundred sixty (160) press passes were issued for Illinois Senator Barak Obama's appearance in Manchester, New Hampshire, over the weekend.
Going to New Hampshire is what politicians do when they are considering running for President of the United States, so the babbling classes were all abuzz. This is exciting news for all of those who don't want New York Senator Hillary Clinton to walk away with the Democratic Party nomination for that office. IF Obama runs, the reasoning goes, there will be more of a horse race for the punditocracy to chatter about, their favorite pastime leading up to an election, so that they don't have to explain complex civic issues to the populace inclined to vote. Give us theater! Give us circuses!
The hope of such cretins is that Obama will be kept busy savaging Clinton's electoral chances while the punditocracy is busy savaging Obama's. That is how the game is played. The overwhelming showing of the press in New Hampshire over the weekend was not excitement about Obama's candidacy so much as excitement about having a new virgin to throw on the sacrificial altar. The gutting will be merciless.
The plot line, Gentle Reader, is not about the 2008 election at all. You'll see.
INSIDE THE MAGAZINE
If this edition goes according to Plan, I'm featuring a goodly number of the jokes YOU have sent me on our HOUSE OF CARDS page to make up for the lack of jokes I put in the Newsletter last time out.
I reckon it's also time to offer YOUR E-MAILS and our responses on the VOX POPULI page before the end of the year.
MPHUTHUMI NTABENI completes his short story "Ashes of Our Dead Hopes" for G21 FICTION. I was so impressed that I'm doing the unprecedented and making your World's Magazine second nomination for the 2007 Caine Prize for African Writing. Good luck to both he and NGOZI RAZAK-SOYEBI in the impending competition.
RAHEEM returns to his RADIOACTIVE column with a startling piece for the Holiday Season, his bailiwick this time of year
THOMAS HART is dancing for joy over at TABLOID HART. I'm sure you suspect why before even reading it.
I've already alerted those people on our Mailing List that they have until 20 December to submit their nominations for our BOTTOM 10 LIST 2006, picking those they considered the Worst People on the Planet this year.
Here, I offer you the chance to join our subscribers in nominating the person you think was the Best. Who made 2006 a good year to be alive? Please send your nominations to rod@g21.net. We'll feature the individual chosen on our cover for the first edition of 2007. DEADLINE: 29 December, 2006.
MIRRORSRANDOM NOTES - Early December: Matt's girlfriend, the notorious Jo Kemper of New Orleans, managed to mace herself while walking down the street this week. ("What?)
Yeah, I know. Stop laughing! What kind of person would mace themselves?. Now, maybe, perhaps, some way, you might understand what I've written about as being "Jo'ed".
ITEM TWO: My editor at Enterprise Leadership , out of Houston here in the great state of Tejas, got back with me this week to produce a piece on "Web 2.0". Yayy!!! The assignment came just in time to save my proverbial bacon. Rent is due, I need to deposit more money in my Go Phone account and the cupboard is bare.
As I've mentioned before, Dana is not only a wonderful editor to work with - understanding and complimentary - she also pays me on acceptance, rather than on publication, a Writer's Dream.
ITEM THREE: My nephew, Kenneth Amis, the classical composer and performer, will be performing with the Empire Brass at the Kennedy Center on 10 December. If you're in the DC area, you might want to catch the performance, my lovelies.
(Empire Brass? Yeah, yeah. Remember, there's a Brit branch to my family.)
And WHILE ON THE SUBJECT OF MY FAMILY, I have a book to recommend to you - No, not by me! - as a stocking stuffer. My in-law, Chris Bell, my dear Rudell's relative, has a wonderful book that I'm digesting now entitled Lt. Williams On the Color Front which deals with the integration of the US Army during the early 1950s. (Chris himself was an Army officer during the era.) You can buy it here. For anyone familiar with the military or aware of the problem of race in this country, it's a powerful read well worth your time.
ITEM FOUR: Long-time Loyal Readers know I absolutely loathe this time of year. I can't go out because everyone is talking about or going to office Christmas parties and I work from home and don't want to hear about them. I can't go into shops because they only remind me of what I can't buy and things I can't give to those few people I'd like to have something to offer.
I can't answer the telephone for fear that someone will try to impress me into one of those trumped up holiday gatherings that they throw to make themselves feel better by comprising them with "poor lost souls" who have nowhere else to go, assembling a group of total strangers, unfamiliar with each other and having no common bond except the lack of bonds to spend two or three hours feeling uncomfortable around each other.
I can't watch commercial television because of the red and green treacle, the Buy-buy-buyism, the scenes of people gathering with loved ones (that I don't have) and sharing the obligatory holiday warmth. (Well, okay, scratch part of that. I DO have love d ones but I'm always so destitute that I avoid them like the plague because I can't afford Christmas presents.)
I usually can't wait until the day after Christmas when the pressure is off again.
But I am an American. From Halloween until the day after Christmas, I am bombarded with the notion that I need to buy something to make our retailers happy that they have succeeded in programming us to believe that we have to spend as much as we can in order to demonstrate our love of those people we cherish and that, should we fail to do so, we are the lowest of the low.
If you can't buy presents and put yourself in hock - we gave you them credit cards! - and then get your reward by gorging yourself on turkey, ham and goose and have a couple of danged insults to hurl at that relative you hate, then why not just kill yourself? The Holiday Season in America is also known as the Season of Suicides.
That's what makes me look forward to New Year's Eve, which many of my friends refer to as "Amateur Night." At least on New Year's Eve, most people are just partying. No religious overtones to speak of, unless you're familiar with ancient human history, no reason to buy anything except a good bottle of champagne. I've always liked New Year's Eve because that is when the people who survived Christmas, Hannukah, Kwanzaa and whatever pressure-pot you can come up with finally breathe their collective sigh of relief.
There's my bah-bug essay for this year, Raheem, you twit! Get used to it.
Keep me in your prayers as I keep you in my own.
Thanks for coming back this week.
WHAT ROD'S THINKING ABOUT THIS WEEK
1 - Lackanookie.
2 - Money, lack thereof.
3 - His Agenda for 2007.
"Work like you don't need the money,
"Love like you've never been hurt,
"Dance like no one is watching ... "
Love,
Rod
ROD AMIS has published this magazine since 1990. It first appeared as a hardcopy 'Zine. In March, 1996, he launched it here on the Web. Rod was a Contributing Editor at Suite101.com, where he wrote the " 'Net Publishing" feature. His work has been featured in the San Francisco Bay Guardian Online, NRV8, and at the (U.S.) Public Broadcasting System (PBS's) WebLab's Reality Check site. Rod was a contributing writer on technology for Faulkner Information Services. He wrote on Web issues for MethodFive.com's Hyper newsletter.Rod was a columnist for the Andover News Network, where he wrote over two hundred articles on web design and development issues. He was principal writer and Editor for IT Manager's Journal, where he reviewed technology issues weekly, producing 383 editorials. He became the Managing Editor for Electronic Mail/Newsletter Publications at Andover.net at the end of February, 2000, and left in September of the same year. He was a contributing writer for ACCESS Internet magazine, which appeared both on- and offline for 10 million readers in 100 newspapers like the San Francisco Chronicle, New York Post, Boston Herald, Austin American-Statesman, Denver Post and Orlando Sentinel, among others. Rod was the US reporter for Silicon.com, a division of Network Multimedia Television in London, UK, r eaching 3.5 million European readers, until May, 2001.
He did stints as the Resident Philosopher at three separate gin mills in that city in the French Quarter and the Marigny, earning his stripes during two successive Mardi Gras seasons. Oh yeah, Rod's had Day Jobs working construction. Mostly renovations of old New Orleans structures, houses and a bar. Sometimes he designs Web sites for other people so that he can get his creative juices flowing the way he can't at a staid publication like this one. And he's been the instructor in Editing for Internet Publications at the Novi Sad School of Journalism in Yugoslavia. When he's not busy here, he writes technology columns for EnterpriseLeadership.org, IT Manager's Journal and NewsForge. Rod's more leftist writings can be found at Atlantic Free Press. (Don't tell his potential employers.) Rust never sleeps.
Our Resident Philosopher has decided to return to Austin, Texas, after over two decades away. Wish him luck..
In his spare time, Rod chases women the way a fly chases a spider.
He continues to be committed to integrity,
chastityand a dose of humility.
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