LGBT Pride celebrations: Toronto, Canada – June 30th, 2013

ZP_Volunteers for Africans in Partnership Against AIDS

ZP_Lovely Ladies!

ZP_Rainbow Smile

ZP_Sexy Brazilian visitor to Toronto

ZP_Brothers workin’ it – one heterosexual, the other gay

Got muscle – got spirit! Christopher Senyonjo to Vanessa Brown – Justin Fashanu to Jason Collins: role models for Black LGBT strivers

ZP_Ugandan Bishop Christopher Senyonjo, born 1932_In 2002 he was stripped of his bishopric by the Archbishop of The Church of Uganda (Anglican) for his LGBT rights sympathies.  This heterosexual Man of the Lord continues to be vocal in support of the increasing clamour for human rights in Uganda, knowing that discrimination against gays is “neither in Jesus’ teachings nor is it an African way”.

ZP_One of the first “All-Embracing” American churches was Bishop Carl Bean’s The Unity Fellowship of Christ, back in 1982.  Bean believed that “God is Love — and Love is for EVERYBODY.”
In this photograph Oliver Clyde Allen preaches at The Vision Church in Atlanta, Georgia.  Founded in 2005 by Bishop Allen and his partner — now husband — Rashad Burgess (wearing striped tie), The Vision Church is described as being part of a “new progressive Pentecostal movement” and one of Vision’s core beliefs is “that the gospel of Jesus Christ cuts across all barriers that fragment and divide us. We are called to love, affirm, and welcome all people regardless of race, gender, affectional orientation, class, or life situation. We are to be known for our love, compassion, reconciliation, and liberation for all who are oppressed. We emphasize the “whosoever” in John 3:16.”

ZP_Poster for the January 2012 opening of The Good Life Church in Columbus, Ohio.  An initiative of Pastor Michael W. Heard (left), the Church is an “affirming” one, and the preacher is often assisted in his ministry by boyfriend Aaron Leigh, the Church’s ‘First Gentleman’.

ZP_Congregants of Rivers at Rehoboth Church in Harlem, New York City_The Reverend Vanessa M. Brown, a lesbian born and raised in Harlem, states: “We want people to know that they are loved, there’s a safe space for them in the House of God where they can truly worship the Lord and be their authentic selves.”  Many Black gays and lesbians feel welcomed at Rehoboth.

ZP_NBA basketball player Jason Collins on the cover of Sports Illustrated Magazine in May 2013.  In April, Collins “came out”.  He is the first active player in North-American professional sports to do so.  Basketball is one of the most homophobic sports – hockey may be worse – and it’s the fans as much as anyone else.  Yet reactions have been generally positive – helped enormously by high-profile heterosexual players such as Kobe Bryant giving Collins their public support.  Homophobia is becoming less and less “cool”.

The brave pioneer was Justin Fashanu in soccer (he “came out” while playing professionally).  There’s been John Amaechi in basketball (after his retirement), Wade Davis in football,  Orlando Cruz in boxing – the list of “out” athletes – who are role models for youth, of course – will continue to grow.

ZP_Justin Fashanu, the first “out” Black athlete.  May he rest in peace…

ZP_John Amaechi, now a motivational speaker and broadcast commentator

ZP_Wade Davis_Davis’ “An Open Letter to Young Gay Athletes” was featured at http://www.thegrio.com on June 14th 2012.  It is well worth reading…

ZP_Orlando Cruz:  “I wanted to take out the thorn inside me and have peace.”

Zwelethu Mthethwa, Zanele Muholi, Rotimi Fani-Kayode, Samuel Fosso: African photographers who make you think

Zwelethu Mthethwa (born 1960, Durban, South Africa) photographed pre-adolescent and teenage boys in KwaZulu-Natal in 2010. The boys are adherents to the doctrines of a branch of the charismatic Shembe Nazareth Baptist Church.  Mthethwa named this photograph series “The Brave Ones”.  He has specialized in photo-essays of sometimes-marginalized people in South Africa’s “Townships”, including migrant workers, miners and sugarcane harvesters.

Zanele Muholi (born 1972, Umlazi, South Africa) is a lesbian photographer and “visual activist”.  Among numerous projects, she has documented the lives of South African lesbians, some of whom have suffered from persecution and  violence.

ZP_Nhlanhla Esther Mofokeng, Thokoza, Johannesburg_© Zanele Muholi_2010

ZP_Anelisa Mfo Nyanga, Cape Town_© Zanele Muholi_2010

ZP_Martin Machapa_photograph © Zanele Muholi

ZP_Rotimi Fani-Kayode_Untitled, 1987_Rotimi Fani-Kayode was born in 1955 in Lagos, Nigeria, and he died of an AIDS-related heart attack in London, England, in 1989.  Of photography he said:  “It is the tool by which I feel most confident in expressing myself.  It is photography therefore — Black, African, homosexual photography — which I must use not just as an instrument but as a weapon if I am to resist attacks on my integrity and, indeed, my existence on my own terms.”

ZP_Rotimi Fani-Kayode_Nothing to Lose IX (Bodies of Experience)_1989

ZP_Rotimi Fani-Kayode_Every Moment Counts II_1989

ZP_Rotimi Fani-Kayode_Tulip Boy_1989

ZP_La femme américaine libérée des années 70_© Samuel Fosso (as both photographer and model)_1997.  Samuel Fosso was born in 1962 in Kumba, Cameroon.  At the age of 12 he began to work as an assistant to a portrait photographer.  By the end of his teens he had his own studio where he frequently shot self-portraits, many of them fanciful or referencing famous figures in Black popular culture.

ZP_Samuel Fosso_From the series Autoportraits des années 70_Selfportrait as Angela Davis

ZP_Samuel Fosso_From the series Autoportraits des années 70_a teenaged selfportrait as himself 2

ZP_Samuel Fosso_From the series Autoportraits des années 70_a teenaged selfportrait as himself 1

Hoy, Zócalo Poets llegan a las 100 mil visitas…Today we reach our 100 thousandth visitor…

Hoy llegamos a las 100 mil visitas…Today we reach our 100 thousandth visitor at ZP…

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Hoy, Zócalo Poets llegan a las cien mil visitas de nuestras páginas de web – desde mayo de 2011.  Les agradecemos a ustedes – los lectores de ZP.

Los paises-visitantes los 10 principales son:   México, EE.UU., Perú, Canadá, Bolivia, India, Reino Unido, Argentina, España, Francia.

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Los 5 idiomas más buscados en nuestro sitio de web son:

1.  Español

2.  Inglés

3.  Quechua

4.  Maya

5.  Francés

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Entre 300+ aportes de poemas los 10 más buscados son:

Poemas de amor del idioma maya,

Poemas de amor en el idioma quechua / Sunqupa Harawinkuna,

Poemas de amor del idioma zapoteco,

Poemas para el Día de la Madre – la Madre Luna, la Madre de Dios y la Madre Patata – todos del idioma quechua,

Poema para el Día de Acción de Gracias,

Nezahualcoyotzin: in xochitl in cuicatl / Nezahualcóyotl: su ‘flor y canto”(poesía náhuatl)…y poemas del siglo xxi, inspirados en él,

Oración a La Virgen de Guadalupe,

Macuilxochitzin / Macuilxóchitl: poesía mexica del siglo xv,

Nicolás Guillén: Bongo Song / La canción del bongo,

Louise Bennett-Coverley and Jamaican Patois: a unique truth.

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Zócalo Poets has just reached the 100,000 mark – that’s how many of you have visited our multilingual poetry website since we began in May of 2011.

We are grateful to our readers – keep spreading the word!  Poetry enlarges our lives, and its emotional, intellectual and spiritual value for us cannot be quantified;  we need it.

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Our top ten visitor-countries are:

Mexico, U.S.A., Peru, Canada, Bolivia, India, United Kingdom, Argentina, Spain, and France.

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Our 5 most-searched-for poem-languages are:

1.  Spanish

2.  English

3.  Quechua

4.  Maya

5.  French

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Among 300-plus searched-for poetry posts our top 10 are:

Poemas de amor del idioma maya,

Poemas de amor en el idioma quechua / Sunqupa Harawinkuna,

Poemas de amor del idioma zapoteco,

Poemas para el Día de la Madre – la Madre Luna, la Madre de Dios y la Madre Patata – todos del idioma quechua,

Poema para el Día de Acción de Gracias,

Nezahualcoyotzin: in xochitl in cuicatl / Nezahualcóyotl: su ‘flor y canto”(poesía náhuatl)…y poemas del siglo xxi, inspirados en él,

Oración a La Virgen de Guadalupe,

Macuilxochitzin / Macuilxóchitl: poesía mexica del siglo xv,

Nicolás Guillén: Bongo Song / La canción del bongo,

Louise Bennett-Coverley and Jamaican Patois: a unique truth.

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Illustration:  ” Joyfully I see ten caribou ! ”  Stonecut print by Inuit artist Kananginak Pootoogook

Rita Letendre: “La lumière, depuis le premier choc à la naissance, jusqu’au dernier souffle – la lumière est la vie. En tout cas, ç’a été ma vie!” / “Light, from the first shock at birth up to the last breath, is life. Anyway, that’s been my life!”

Rita Letendre in Montréal during the early 1970s

Rita Letendre_Le cri_oil on canvas_1962

Rita Letendre_Incandescense_oil on canvas_1968

Rita Letendre_Sunrise_a mural on the side of Neill Wycik Residence, Gerrard Street East in Toronto_1971

Rita Letendre_Blues_acrylic on canvas_1972

Rita Letendre_Malapeque II_1973

Rita Letendre_Romir_serigraph on paper_1979

Rita Letendre_Always, is it?_oil on canvas_2011

Rita Letendre receiving The Governor-General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts from Governor-General Michaëlle Jean in 2010

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Rita Letendre, born in Drummondville, Québec, in 1928, is an internationally-acclaimed painter.  She is one of the great stars of Canadian art, emerging with a breath-taking Modernist boldness during the 1970s.  Her father was Québécois and her mother Abenaki (an Algonquian people).   In her twenties she associated with Paul-Émile Borduas’ automatistes and her first solo show took place at the Montreal gallery L’Échourie in 1955.  Her “classic” paintings in hard-edged, geometric abstraction – with their strong arrow motif – are instantly recognizable.  The artist, a force even in her 80s, says:  “La lumière, depuis le premier choc à la naissance, jusqu’au dernier souffle – la lumière est la vie.  En tout cas, ç’a été ma vie!” / “Light, from the first shock at birth up to the last breath, is life.  Anyway, that’s been my life!”

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Zócalo Poets…Volveremos en junio de 2013 / ZP will return June 2013

Zócalo Poets – ¡qué reunamos aquí en la gran plaza de poemas!

Zócalo Poets – meet us in the Square!

¡Mándanos tus poemas – en cualquier idioma! 

Send us your poems – in any language!

zocalopoets@hotmail.com

At a studied glance: Native-American / First Nations, Métis and Inuit photographers

Tsimshian photographer Benjamin Haldane_portrait of David Kininnook of Saxman, Alaska_1907

Benjamin Haldane_Little boy with toy pistol

Richard Throssel (Creek/Crow)_Smoking Cigarette_1910

Richard Throssel_Two little girls

Horace Poolaw (Kiowa)_Little boy_1929

Horace Poolaw_Trecil Poolaw Unap_1929

Martín Chambi, Quechua/Peruvian portrait photographer_Self-portrait_1922

Martín Chambi_Ezequiel Arce’s Family with their harvest of potatoes_Cuzco, Perú_ 1934

Luis González Palma_Mestizo photographer from Guatemala_La Lotería II_1989

Luis González Palma_El Angel_1990

Shelley Niro (Bay of Quinte Mohawk)_The Rebel_1987

Shelley Niro_Mohawks in beehives_1991

Nish Photoluver_The Rez 2000

Nish Photoluver_Clothesline, Northern Ontario_2000

Nish Photoluver_Wow

Hulleah J. Tsinhnahjinnie (Seminole-Muscogee-Navajo)_Grandma_2003

Hulleah J. Tsinhnahjinnie_Chi-bon_2003

Jordan Bennett (Mi’kmaw skateboarder/photographer)_Traditional Mi’kmaq Surfboard_2007

Beckie Etukeok (Inupiaq/Tlingit)_Bipsurruk (Red Salmon)_2009

Peggy Fontenot_Robert Banks, Cherokee Freedman, 2008_from Fontenot’s Merging Cultures series about Black Indians

Kimowan Metchewais (Cree, Cold Lake First Nation)_Cold Lake

Kimowan Metchewais_War Pony_2010

Larry McNeil (Tlingit)_photo-collage from I’m Angry You Are Bad:  Raven, carbon emissions, and the global climate crisis_2011

What to do on the coldest day in February? Toboggan, of course!

What to do on the coldest day in February? Go tobogganing, of course!

That was fun…I think? Well, at least it got me out of the house!