'All You Jim Crow Fascists!'

By LD

Dr Will Kaufman’s exploration of Woody Guthrie’s freedom songs on Monday was fantastic. The crowd that gathered in Studio 1 of De Montfort University’s PACE building were treated to a wonderful performance from an exceptionally good guitarist.

Kaufman intertwined brilliantly performed versions of Woody’s songs with his extensive knowledge of his life and changing political stance. From an upbringing as the son of a KKK mob lynching father to becoming an anti-racism activist.

What a great way to start Cultural Exchanges week in Leicester.

Fighting the Jim Crow fascists

by kb

A couple of years ago my son, who's keen on the radical tradition in music, asked me about Woody Guthrie's attitude to racism. He'd just heard "This land is our land" for the first time and wondered how inclusive that "our" was. Will Kaufman's talk, which included his performance of numerous lesser-known Woody Guthrie songs, answered that question.

Guthrie grew up without questioning white Oklahoma's attitudes to race. His father rode out with the Ku Klux Klan and young Woody was taught to shove Afican-Americans off the sidewalks if they got in his way. We were shown in painful detail what racism meant when the lynching of a mother and her 13-year-old son was described in a little-known Woody Guthrie song "Don't Kill My Baby and My Son." As Will Kaufman sang and played a projection behind him showed the postcard that was made to commemorate the event. Two corpses swung from the Canadian Bridge while above a crowd of white people gazed out. The enlargement of the postcard meant that I could detect, to the left of the crowd, two women or girls in what looked like their best dresses.

Woody's journey from unthinking racist to passionate campaigner against the Jim Crow laws that enforced segregation was filled with appalling incident. How, I wondered, could American segregationists see themselves as the champions of freedom in Europe while treating their neighbours as sub-human? Woody's songs condemning the violence of racism and celebrating resistance were themselves cause for hope - they showed that human beings can change themselves and that hatred and prejudice can be overcome.

As for Will Kaufman's performance - he showed himself a fine singer and guitar-player and an excellent interpreter of Woody Guthrie's freedom songs.

The Writers Group

by Colin

The one underlying theme that you are constantly reminded of as you embark on the perilous road to becoming a writer is that it is 'difficult', that it is almost impossible to get published. 'Only the select few make it.

Leicester Writers Group dispel this image immediately. On the top table were five writers, four of whom had been published, one who was on the cusp of publication. Dotted amongst the audience were other members of the group who had also met with success. Two things were apparent, they were just like you or I, no horns or aura around them. They also wrote from a wide divergence of points of view.

Writing is essentially a lonely task, it can of course be only you, paper and pen. What the writers group offer is a sense of community, a structural support mechanism to offer advice and encouragement.

It proved to be a most interesting,informative and encouraging meeting with some solid advice for aspiring writers.

The only thing that puzzles me. Where were all the creative writing students? Is apathy the new buzzword for success?

I thought that it led to failure. Perhaps that's just because I'm old and grey.

Bonnie Greer

by Colin

Obviously this is different. Suits arrive and here is our illustrious leader, Professor Heidi Macpherson to carry out the introductions. This is not a job for a mere mortal, we are in the presence of a star. Wow! Even the two front rows are reserved.Keep the students at the back, away from the presence of the great one.

There was a lot of obsequious fawning from some in the audience.Yes Bonnie, No Bonnie, can I lick your feet Bonnie?Where's the sick bag Bonnie?

Actually, the lady herself was good. She took us on a journey from Chicago to New York, her earliest attempts at writing when she was five.She told us how she wrote her first schoolplay at 8.The influence of Tennesee Williams and other strong 'American Family' authors on her early work. Moving from that to Women's and particularly the black women's movement. The real struggle to make her self heard.

Writing for the radio, the importance of creating image, how vital the sound of words become.She was also on the brink of the publication of her first novel.

Bonnie was scathing of critics."Critics have nothing to say, they criticize, they're not worth Jack." She was also impressed with Leicester. "This city has got it right, the demographics, the genetic mix, Leicester is a role model for the rest of the world."

Yes Bonnie, you were good...A real star.

I Failed My Japan Quiz

By SCN

Pam Thompson is a clearly brilliant reader and performer, with a strong clear voice. As an audience, I was sure that she knew her own work.

However, for the first half of the lecture I felt disengaged with the material, and uninterested by the story of a mother and daughter who both married sumo wrestlers.

The lecture did pick up once we got onto what I would call "more up to date" material. Poems where she said she talked about her children: her son and daughter, and the story of "The Hoody."

Those pieces were her strongest, and the emotion, the narrative and voice came across much stronger in those piece, than in the original Japan based pieces.

Maybe this is because I am just leaving the stage of "The Hoody," to enter adulthood, and therefore I have some affinity for the characters in those particular poems.

Still, it was an enjoyable experience, and I would reccomend picking up a copy of Pam's book "The Japan Quiz."

Pam Thompson

by Colin

Pam read a number of her latest poems and discussed the influences surrounding them. She began with a sequence of Japanese influenced work which had the themes of Man, Master, Male Dominance and Love.

She went on with poems about being a mother. The birth of her Children, one particular line, describing her new born son, lying on her breast: 'Like a seahorse accross the chest' stood out I thought.Then came a piece about her teenage son, a 'hoodie' and the problems that created.

Other themes were woven around places,times and dates. Relationships and her love of Spain and Budapest.

Inevitably in the sequence of life, Pam finished on a section entitled 'Black Petals', life she said coming to an end.

Pam presented her work well and I am reminded that poetry is meant to be heard, it comes to life off the page.

Debbie Issitt

by Colin

Debbie kicked off cultural exchanges for me and an excellent start it turned out to be. Debbie left school at 16, tried various jobs, all unsuccessfully and then went to study acting. It was she said,"Where she wanted to be."

She laid out for the audience her journey as an actress, writer and Director. She formed the Company 'The Snarling Beasties', a description she said of male genitalia.Her plays, which travelled the world from festival to festival,were designed to have visual impact with a strong mime and black comedy content.

Debbie is now a film director, influenced by the work of Mike Leigh and Ken Loach.She works completely Ad Lib keeping crew and directors in the dark until the commencement of each day's filming.

There was much a writer could learn from Debbie and the time flew by.