Temple

[ateolf]

Yesterday I went to check out the new bookstore Heather opened up in Cooper Young (in the same building as the Java Cabana). It's called Two Rivers and it's a sci-fi fantasy bookstore. It's still pretty new and it's far from completely filled in, but pretty exciting someone I know is doing it. I picked up a couple books: Almanac of the Dead by Leslie Marmon Silko and Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor. After that Mary Beth and I went to the social justice fair at LeMoyne–Owen College. It's the first time I've ever been on the campus and I was struck by all the wonderful buildings. The event was pretty cool. Lots of people there and lots of organizations with tables and stuff. There was a panel discussion on "the crisis of education in black america." It was a pretty good discussion. They had three high schoolers on the panel, and four adults with various levels of connection to education. A lot of the people involved with it mentioned a youth open mic up at Baobab Filmhouse which we'd never been to so we decided we'd check it out, it was right afterwards. A lot of people read, both teens and adults and we had a good time and heard some good stuff. After that we had tickets to see a screening of Marvin Booker Was Murdered at Clayborn Temple. The church (once a central location during the civil rights movement, it's been abandoned for almost twenty years) is currently being restored, but it's unsure what its use will be going forward. Anyway, the restoration is still far from complete. The ceiling is in disrepair and many pipes are fallen off the pipe organ. It's pretty amazing inside though (I do love buildings and dilapidated buildings). The movie is a documentary about Marvin Booker who was murdered by the Denver police in 2010 and the fight to hold the five officers accountable. He's from Memphis and his family who are interviewed in the movie were at the screening. The location was chosen, I believe, for his family's ties to the civil rights movement (his father and all his brothers and himself are preachers and there was a tie to Dr. King back in the 60s, he was also a scholar of Dr. King). Yesterday was also his and his mom's birthday so that was another bit of timeliness. Anyway, it was all a pretty awesome experience.

Today I had band practice. Haven't had it in a while and also hadn't cleaned the apartment in a while. Partly, cleaning hasn't been as crucial without Horace (he was the main force of dirtiness in the home). So I had the moment where I just missed his dirt and mess and tracked litter everywhere and I cried thinking about it being gone from my life. Anyway, Jacques and Ryan came over. We recorded Ryan's acoustic song "Lady Stoneheart" for the soundtrack (just him on acoustic and vocals) and mixed down the last dance thing we recorded that I wasn't happy with at the time. But after putting it on the computer we stacked and staggered the part on different tracks to this buildup and into new rhythmic craziness for the end. Also, Ryan had a bunch of books he was giving away and I picked out a few: The Condemned of Altona by Jean Paul Sartre, Endgame by Samuel Beckett, Daniel Deronda by George Eliot, Arcadia by Tom Stoppard, and The Unconsoled by Kazuo Ishiguro.