Alkaline-Glazed Jugs Made by Master Potter, David Drake

David was a chattel enslaved Black potter from Edgefield, South Carolina. He was owned as the property of Harvey Drake, a large pottery business owner who partnered with Abner Landrum, an editor of a local newspaper called The Edgefield Hive. (He would also be owned as the property of Lewis Miles and the Landrum family. Not simultaneously.)

David was forced to labor in Pottersville, one of the twelve pottery factories in Edgefield at that time. He’s recognized as the first enslaved potter to inscribe his work (with a couplet poem, the date, and his signature—Dave) during the time when literacy was forbidden for the enslaved with enacted laws and deadly consequences. 

Some of his inscriptions are practical instructions or reflections on love, spirituality, or afterlife; while others are commentaries on the institution of US chattel slavery. His earliest recorded work is a pot dated July 12, 1834. The poetry on this one reads: 

One of Drake’s better known pieces, a 19-inch greenware pot, is dated back to August 16, 1857. The inscription reads: 

David made more than 40,000 large stoneware jugs and jars between the 1820s and the 1870s. They were worth about 50 cents during his lifetime. You can only imagine how much they are worth today… There are pieces housed in museums from Greenville County Museum of Art to the Smithsonian.

Per the US census in 1870, it’s labeled that David couldn’t read or write. Ha.

So how was he able to read and write (in cursive) to the point of demonstrating such charming and emotive, couplet poetry? Wouldn’t they all like to know. 

— Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart

How To With John Wilson (2020)

Kendrick, Drake, and Ethnic/Cultural Identity

One of the most discussed topics during this exchange between the two is if Drake is a culture vulture. In short, yes. He's always been. It boils down to inherited cultural identity and respected history, not the upholding of a social construct of “race.” 

Race is a goofy non-biological caste system that operates in various countries and it’s a dumbass global push to get people to embrace a superior to inferior hierarchy in classifying the globe into 5 broad groups solely based on perceived skull sizes, hues of skin color, and perceived traits and phenotypic features via the teachings of François Bernier, Johann Blumenbach, Carl Linnaeus, and them other hoes. Get race tf outta here.

I’m gonna make this concise as possible, but fleshed out a bit for full understanding.

Kendrick Lamar is Black American on both sides with his roots most likely coming out of Mississippi and/or Alabama to Chicago to Cali by way of the Great Migration. (He may even descend from Duckworths from Louisiana). I haven’t done his genealogy, but now I may out of curiosity.

Black American is a double ethnicity. We’re citizens of America (nationality = US Citizen), and our ethnic group (Black) was created & descends from this land (ethnicity = American) through ethnogensis. It has nothing to do with one’s brown skin color or how the cops see us 🙃, but everything to do with the lineage of one’s parents and their parents, etc. (For info on lineage tracing, refer to my post here.) 

Black Americans are an ethnic group (the largest from this land and largest in this country after Germans), while “white Americans” are a self-identification race to remove ethnic identity and conflate numbers. I can break this down further in another post if y’all want since American history is complex and will explain why Black Americans have been reclassified seven times by the US government 🙃. 

Now.

Culture is largely passed down through your mother, and her mother, and her mother, and so forth for Black Americans (and I’m sure other ethnic groups). No matter if it’s a two-parent or single-parent household, she’s your ultimate teacher in setting the foundation of your cultural upbringing. It’s the same if one is raised by their grandparents. It largely stems from the grandmother. If one’s father is their main parent, that’s a different case of course. 

Drake falls in line with this as someone from a single-parent household. He is half Ashkenazi of Latvian and Russian descent (ethnicity) through his mother and of half Black American descent (ethnicity) through his father. He is a dual citizen of Canada and America (nationality), who was raised in Canada with his Ashkenazi Jewish mother and Ashkenazi relatives with an Ashkenazi upbringing. He went to a Jewish day school and was engulfed in all aspects at home. 

Kendrick is ethnically and culturally Black American. Drake is ethnically and culturally Ashkenazi. He is also ethnically Black American (through lineage), but not culturally Black American. Does that make Drake a culture vulture? No. He just didn’t have the cultural upbringing but could always immerse himself in learning, appreciating, and respecting the other half of his history and culture.

What makes him one is how he operates as an outsider. He participates in an aspect of Black American culture (Hip-Hop) for his monetary gain, adopts a manufactured image for his perception of believability, and disrespects the people of this culture. “…run to America to imitate culture.” It’s like a jacket to him. He takes it off to try on another (like a Jamaican accent) and swaps for another, etc. 

A few examples that’s been touched on: He blackened his face to depict blackface while wearing a Jim Crow t-shirt… That’s specific disrespect towards Black Americans, mocking our history and our ancestors. “Whipped and chained you like American slaves.” That’s specific disrespect towards Black Americans, mocking our history and our ancestors. “[You] always rappin' like you 'bout to get the slaves freed.” Do I even need to explain this? Hopefully it’s understood.

The muthafucka is not like us.

I see this is making its rounds again. Wack em again, Ken 😏.

My two takeaways since making this and reading posts on X and the likes:

1. The pseudoscience of race still has a number of people in a weird chokehold in 2024 even when ethnic/cultural identity is a clear, front and center topic. Let it go.

2. There are actually people who think Drake's culture is Canadian, which is why some were calling him a culture vulture. ...Why is simple shit made difficult 🙃? The man is a Canadian citizen, not ethnically Canadian, which is why he isn't culturally Canadian. He doesn't descend from people with an ethnogensis in Canada nor does he descend from First Nations.

When people immigrate, they bring their culture with them. Per Drake's genealogy, all four of his great-grandparents on his mother's side immigrated from Latvia (two), Ukraine (one), and Russia (one) to Canada in the early 1900s. So his culture was imported into Canada, not created there through ethnogenesis.

Let's wrap this up: Drake is a multiethnic (Latvian-Russian, Black American) man who holds dual US and Canadian citizenship, but raised in the latter country, and is culturally Ashkenazi. Simple.

the family matter & the truth of the matter..

In case you need this today

- you are not a failure - you are not a waste of space - you are loved - you are wanted - i believe in you - you can do it

Lucy Pearl is one of the dopest groups of all-time. 

This is a statement, not a debate. Go argue with someone else lol

Lucy Pearl initially came together as a “one and done” supergroup, but would’ve put out a sophomore project, as this collective, if Raphael didn’t postpone the release of their album for months…withholding Dawn’s coins as an artist on his label. Never go for a verbal agreement. Get the shit in writing, date it, and everybody sign off on it. 

Raphael told Dawn he couldn’t pay her before the project drops. But whatever she needs, he’ll make a way and get it. They go way back to high school days. Fast forward to 5 months of their album’s delay. Dawn came a knocking cause the bank came a knocking about her $1500 mortgage payment for her home. Raphael told her, as his artist, that she gotta go get it somewhere else 🙃. 

Poof goes her house to the bank and down goes her credit.

“Spend yo money baby” Chile… Back in the day, the rumor was Dawn used to break up groups. Tuh. Jus👏🏽 tice👏🏽 for my girl. 

Them damn near slave music contract stories back then smh. I have many of them thumbtacked in my brain. Like Dawn and the members of En Vogue only getting paid 2 pennies each per record sold. Two copper Lincolns. That was the deal for their first two albums… They were signed to a production company signed that was signed to the major. Never mind that Teri was dating the (manipulative) producer, putting her emotions before her and the girls’ business 🤦🏽‍♀️ smh. 

En Vogue’s producers and higher ups got mansions off of them. Meanwhile, Dawn had a $700 apartment she was struggling to pay. Then got evicted and moved back with her parents…while they were one of the biggest girl groups at that time, selling over $20 million. 

They still don’t beat Dry Hill tho. They had to split one penny per record sold. Chile I—…

What Tip said: “Industry rule number four-thousand-and-eighty, record company people are shady.”

OutKast photographed by Michael Lavine for “Stankonia” in Atlanta, 2000

I just...I just want a new Outkast album 😔

Adobe is going to spy on your projects. This is insane.

For general graphics: use GIMP For vector graphics: use Inkscape For drawing and illustration: use Krita For print and web publishing and design: use Penpot For PDF authoring: use LibreOffice For PDF reading and form filling: use Okular

All are free, open source and cross-platform. None use AI.

Chile that ain't even the half...

Anybody still with an Adobe subscription well before reading that top post is wildin and not reading. Them fine print, "hidden" cancellation fees alone were enough for me to steer clear from purchasing anything. $300+ for saying bye? Yeah, no. (That's the highest I've seen someone's bill.) That's why the FTC been on they ass.

This shit been going on for years. It's so bad that there are forums to help people negotiate their exit plan from Adobe 🙃 smh. Please, please stop clicking "I Agree" and read the electronic contract you're signing with the release of a button. People talk about music artists in shady record label bank deals when there are deals right at the consumer's doorsteps as well. Everything isn't the fault of the consumers, but sometimes the shit is in black and white. Get a magnifying glass.

About Adobe being sued and more.

U.S. regulators sued Adobe on Monday over claims that the company made it difficult to cancel subscriptions to Photoshop and other software, an escalation by regulators in a crackdown against such practices.

The Justice Department said in its lawsuit that Adobe hid details of an expensive cancellation fee from consumers “in fine print and behind optional text boxes and hyperlinks.” Adobe’s website and customer service representatives made canceling additionally challenging, according to allegations in the suit.

“Adobe knows about the barriers consumers face when attempting to cancel their subscriptions,” the government said in the lawsuit, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

The challenge follows a similar suit by the Federal Trade Commission against Amazon last year, in which the government argued that the e-commerce giant made it hard for customers to terminate their Prime memberships. The agency has proposed new “click to cancel” rules, which would require companies to offer an easy way to stop paying for a product.

The new efforts to penalize companies with hard-to-cancel subscriptions build on a wider attempt by federal regulators to rein in Big Tech’s power. The Justice Department and the F.T.C. have filed antitrust lawsuits against Google, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft and Meta, the owner of Instagram and WhatsApp, charging that their behavior or deals stifle competition. Adobe dropped a planned $20 billion purchase of Figma, a design startup, when it faced resistance from regulators around the world last year.

In the suit against Adobe, the Justice Department named David Wadhwani, the president of its digital media business, and Maninder Sawhney, a company vice president, as defendants. The suit follows an investigation into Adobe’s practices by the F.T.C.

“We are transparent with the terms and conditions of our subscription agreements and have a simple cancellation process,” said Dana Rao, Adobe’s general counsel, in a statement. “We will refute the F.T.C.’s claims in court.”

Mr. Wadhwani and Mr. Sawhney did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Monday’s lawsuit targets Adobe’s suite of popular design software, including Photoshop, Illustrator and Acrobat. In recent years, Adobe has shifted to offering subscriptions for those products, scrapping its previous model of selling one-off licenses to use the tools.

The company earned $14.22 billion in revenue from subscriptions in 2023, up from $7.71 billion in 2019, the government said.

Adobe took steps to lock consumers into yearly subscriptions billed in monthly increments, the lawsuit argued. The overall price of the plan was often displayed in bold when customers signed up. But a reference to Adobe’s cancellation fee was displayed in lighter italic text, the government said. [...]

“Consumers can enroll in subscriptions without clicking that link, and Adobe knows most consumers do not click it before enrolling,” the lawsuit said. [...]

“In numerous instances, subscribers who have requested to cancel through Adobe’s customer service believe they have successfully canceled but continue to be charged,” the government said. “Some of these subscribers do not realize for months that Adobe is continuing to charge them, and only learn about the charges when they review their financial accounts.”

Most of the lawsuit’s allegations related to the individual executives were sealed. The government said Mr. Wadwhani was pivotal to Adobe’s subscription business.

Source

"We are transparent with the terms and conditions of our subscription agreements" 😬. "Simple cancellation process." Dana...stfu. Yeah the pay-to-leave process.

How fucking annoying is it when you feel so restless with creative energy but you can’t decide what to do with it and when you finally try to create something it comes out shit so you just give up and sit there being all creatively annoyed and jittery.

1 - Decision Making Fatigue is a thing. --> Make a list of possibilities. --> Use a random number generator to pick something off the list. --> If you hate the idea cross it off and generate a new number. --> Continue until you either find a project or cross off the whole list. --> If you cross off the whole list pick a random short story prompt, write for five minutes, and call it a good work day.

2. Yeah, of course your rough draft sucks. It’s supposed to. --> Let it suck. --> You can fix it in edits. 

3. When you’re stressed you aren’t unbiased about your work. --> Don’t judge your work while your are actively working on it. --> Remember to drink water, take your meds/vitamins, eat something, and get sleep. --> Double-check to make sure the restless creative energy is not displaced emotional worries over something else. If it is, displace with intention and let the worries go into your work. You shouldn’t keep stress in your head, put it on a page, or canvas, or in a carving, or a meal, or something. Get it out and let it go.

4. No work is ever wasted. --> All time spent planning and creating is useful in some way.  --> Failure means you tried, which is good. --> Try again. Fail harder. Fail better. --> Keep going until you like what you’re making.

5. Love yourself enough to allow yourself to not be perfect. --> Seriously.  --> If this is a struggle I highly recommend seeing a doctor or therapist about depression. --> Because you are dang lovable, my friend. You rock. You do great things. I’m proud of you.

Juneteenth is a Black American holiday. 

We call Juneteenth many things: Black Independence Day, Freedom Day, Emancipation Day, Jubilee Day. We celebrate and honor our ancestors. 

December 31 is recognized as Watch Night or Freedom’s Eve in Black American churches because it marks the day our enslaved ancestors were awaiting news of their freedom going into 1863. On January 1, 1863, President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. But all of the ancestors wouldn’t be freed until June 19, 1865 for those in Galveston, Texas and even January 23, 1866 for those in New Jersey (the last slave state). (It’s also worth noting that our people under the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations wouldn’t be freed until April 28, 1866 and June 14, 1866 for those under the Cherokee Nation by way of the Treaties.)

Since 1866, Black Americans in Texas have been commemorating the emancipation of our people by way of reading the Emancipation Proclamation and coming together to have parades, free festivities, and later on pageants. Thereafter, it spread to select states as an annual day of commemoration of our people in our homeland. 

Here’s a short silent video filmed during the 1925 Juneteenth celebration in Beaumont, Texas:

(It’s also worth noting that the Mascogos tribe in Coahuila, Mexico celebrate Juneteenth over there as well. Quick history lesson: A total of 305,326 Africans were shipped to the US to be enslaved alongside of American Indians who were already or would become enslaved as prisoners of war, as well as those who stayed behind refusing to leave and walk the Trail of Tears to Oklahoma. In the United States, you were either enslaved under the English territories, the Dutch, the French, the Spanish, or under the Nations of what would called the Five “Civilized” Native American Tribes: Cherokee, Creek (Muscogee), Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Seminoles. Mascogos descend from the Seminoles who escaped slavery during the Seminole Wars, or the Gullah Wars that lasted for more than 100 years if you will, and then settled at El Nacimiento in 1852.)

We largely wave our red, white and blue flags on Juneteenth. These are the only colors that represent Juneteenth. But sometimes you may see others wave our Black American Heritage flag (red, black, and gold).

Juneteenth is a day of respect. It has nothing to do with Africa, diversity, inclusion, immigration, your Pan-African flag, your cashapps, nor your commerce businesses. It is not a day of “what about” isms. It is not a day to tap into your inner colonizer and attempt to wipe out our existence. That is ethnocide and anti-Black American. If you can’t attend a Black American (centered) event that’s filled with education on the day, our music, our food and other centered activities because it’s not centered around yours…that is a you problem. Respect our day for what and whom it stands for in our homeland. 

Juneteenth flag creator: “Boston Ben” Haith 

It was created in 1997. The red, white and blue colors represent the American flag. The five-point star represents the Lone State (Texas). The white burst around the star represents a nova, the beginning of a new star. The new beginning for Black Americans. 

Black American Heritage Flag creators: Melvin Charles & Gleason T. Jackson

It was created in 1967, our Civil Rights era. The color black represents the ethnic pride for who we are. Red represents the blood shed for freedom, equality, justice and human dignity. Gold fig wreath represents intellect, prosperity, and peace. The sword represents the strength and authority exhibited by a Black culture that made many contributions to the world in mathematics, art, medicine, and physical science, heralding the contributions that Black Americans would make in these and other fields. 

SN: While we’re talking about flags, I should note that Grace Wisher, a 13-year-old free Black girl from Baltimore helped stitched the Star Spangled flag, which would inspire the national anthem during her six years of service to Mary Pickersgill. I ain’t even gon hold you. I never looked too far into it, but she prob sewed that whole American flag her damn self. They love lying about history here until you start unearthing them old documents. 

In conclusion, Juneteenth is a Black American holiday. Respect us and our ancestors.

Juneteenth is approaching.

I don’t care if you have personal disdain for the American flag and the ❤️🤍💙 colors because you don’t like the US (corporate) government and associate it with their actions, like imperialism. Please be respectful of us, Black Americans. Deliver your issues to the members of that corporate government.

Today’s US government, like in the past, is made up of people who are US citizens, but ethnically descend from other nations. No one loathes this government more than Black Americans and our ancestors in our homeland on a centuries long, debt owed, reparations waitlist, while others make economic gains in this foundation built on blood, sweat, expertise, genocide, and trauma.

We don’t disrespect, whine, complain, ethnocide, nor try to center ourselves on the holidays of other ethnic groups. It’s simple respect. We love America as our ancestral land while others love the idea of America because of their sense of freedom and opportunity. All three of these flags are ours. Please be respectful of us.

Dr. Nicole Addison | thepowerwithin

Writing Tips Master Post

Character writing/development:

Plot devices/development:

Narrative:

Worldbuilding:

Book writing:

Writer resources:

Writer help:

Fantasy terms:

Ask games:

Miscellaneous:

Sally West. Details from Beach Study series (2016-2019)

Black American Music Month

• ELIZABETH “LIBBA” COTTEN - She was a maid at 9, wrote a hit song at 11 — and won a Grammy at 93. Not to mention she was a self-taught left-handed guitarist who played a guitar strung for a right-handed player, but played it upside down. This position meant that she would play the bass lines with her fingers and the melody with her thumb.

• SISTER ROSETTA THARPE- The “Godmother of Rock & Roll.” She helped shape modern popular music, was one of the few Black female guitarists to ever find commercial success and the first artist to blend gospel with the secular.

• ODETTA HOLMES - Known as “The Voice of the Civil Rights Movement.” In 1963, she sang for the masses on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial at the March on Washington. Her musical repertoire consisted largely of American folk music, blues, jazz, and spirituals.

• PEGGY JONES - Nicknamed “Lady Bo” played rhythm guitar in Bo Diddley’s band in the late 1950s and early 1960s, becoming one of the first (perhaps the first) female rock guitarists in a highly visible rock band. Sometimes called the “Queen Mother of Guitar.”

• LIZZIE “MEMPHIS MINNIE” DOUGLAS - Known as the “Queen of the Blues,” was a singer, guitarist, and songwriter. Her title stems from her legacy of successfully recording music across four decades as well as being the lone female voice in a male dominated blues scene.

• NORMA JEAN WOFFORD - Nicknamed “The Duchess” by Bo Diddley, she was the second female guitarist in Diddley’s backing band.

• ALGIA MAE HINTON - She was widely recognized as a master picker and buckdancer in the Piedmont styles. She would often play her guitar behind her head while buck dancing.

• ETTA BAKER - She was a Piedmont blues/folk guitarist and singer who began playing the guitar at age 3. Taught by her father, long-time Piedmont player Boone Reid, Etta played 6-string and 12-string acoustic guitar, and 5-string banjo. She was a master of the blues guitar style that became popular in the southern piedmont after the turn of the century.

• JESSIE MAE HEMPHILL - A legend of hill country blues guitar. She grew up in a lineage of familial fife-and-drums bands from northern Mississippi, rose to popularity in the mid-1980s and had a fruitful career during which she performed around the globe, traveling mostly on her own. She played in open tunings and, having started as a drummer, had a percussive guitar style that included slapping and banging the instrument. She would also tie a tambourine around her calf, which, together with her strumming-and-drumming guitar work, gave her performance the sound of a one-woman-band.

• BEVERLY “GUITAR” WATKINS - One part soul singer, one part rockin’ roadhouse mama, and one part gifted songwriter. She’s been chronically under-recorded for a woman with her résumé, performing with the likes of James Brown, Ray Charles and Otis Redding. She didn’t record her first album until she was 60. Her blistering licks on a 1962 red Fender Mustang earned her the well-deserved nickname “Guitar.” She gon’ put on a show:

One more for good measure:

• WILLIE MAE “BIG MAMA” THORNTON - Also referred to as “The Godmother of Rock & Roll.” She was a blues singer, songwriter, self-taught drummer, and harmonica player. She was the first to record “Hound Dog”, in 1952, which became her biggest hit, staying seven weeks at number one on the Billboard R&B chart in 1953 and selling almost two million copies. She also helped to shape the sound and style of “Texas-blues,” an evolving blues sub-genre known to incorporate swing and big band elements.

I Got a Fast Guitar…

What You Got?

Living legend, TRACY CHAPMAN

The distinguished singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who’s largely known for playing the guitar, storytelling, and distinct sound that marries folk, blues, pop, and rock. As a kid, she was quiet and poured countless hours reading books, shaping her pen game.

Tracy’s first instrument, at age 3, was a ukulele given to her by her mother. By 8, she was already creating her own lyrics. She moved on to the organ and clarinet before buying a $20 guitar in at 11. She started composing music at 14 paired with her lyrics related to social issues. (She would often thumb through newspapers for inspiration.)

Tracy wrote “Fast Car” — a song about a woman trying to escape poverty, the cycles of alcoholism, and a relationship — in 1986 while attending Tufts University where she majored in anthropology and made space for performing in bars and cafes. (Before graduating, she had well over 200 songs.)

She performed “Fast Car” at the Cappuccino coffeehouse where she was discovered by fellow student Brian Koppelman, the son of music publisher Charles Koppelman, leading to her signing with Elektra Records. 

The first time her procucer, David Kershembaum, heard the rough cut of “Fast Car” he was blown away. They quickly laid the track down to be included in Tracy’s self-titled debut album. Upon trying to get approval from Elektra, the label was like, “Nah, it sounds dated. Nobody wants to hear coffeehouse tunes.” …Even though that’s what got her signed… They even insisted that she shorten the first verse. David did. It ruined the song because of its buildup going into the chorus.

Tracy and David went back unwavering this time and managed to convince the untalented heads of the label. And the rest is history… Leading to the wide recognition of “Fast Car” after Tracy’s performance at Nelson Mandela’s 70th birthday tribute concert at Wembley Stadium in 1988. That day, she would perform twice, filling in for Stevie Wonder because the music on Stevie’s hard disc had been replaced. 80,000 people in the crowd and 600 million watching globally on TV.

History.

Tracy’s raw and intimate, acoustic guitar playing style consists of basic strumming and fingerpicking techniques, and simple chord progressions while being intentional with space and silence. The mastery of simplicity paired with complex stories in her writing. She lives a low-key life minding her business, so you’ll never find her on social media or even with a smartphone.

SN: The two links I included in the last two paragraphs above will take you to her Mandela performance and a mini-interview on why social media isn’t her thing. Tumblr won’t let me add those videos on this long post.

No Barbara Lynn?

Can’t forget Brittany Howard either!