What I Learned This Week – Augusta Chiwy

Augusta Chiwy

Nurse who tended to American GIs and other casualties in the encircled town of Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge.

Born in the Belgian Congo, nurse Augusta Chiwy was visiting Bastogne, Belgium, in December 1944 when she volunteered to help at an American aid station. For years, it was mistakenly thought that she died when the Germans bombed Bastogne on Christmas Eve.  So, it was quite a pleasant surprise when  British author/military historian Martin King decided to research her story–and found her alive in a Belgium nursing home.

2011 was a big year for her. In June, King Albert II of Belgium made her a Knight of the Order Of The Crown; she became Lady Augusta Chiwy. The US Army awarded her the Civilian Award for Humanitarian Service in December.

Learn more about Lady Augusta Chiwy: African nurse saved GIs at Battle of Bulge | Belgian Nurse Honored For WWII Bravery
See her describe the Christmas Eve bombing.

How I found out: I was reading  Um So Why Am I Supposed to go See “Red Tails”? Are There Any Black Women in this Movie? at What About Our Daughters and someone mentioned Lady Augusta Chiwy in the comments.

When Netflix Fails…

After months of waiting for the dvds to become available, I finally decided to bite the cookie and buy the Gingerdead Man trilogy:

Netflix is the devil.

Red Tails…and the fate of the black film community

After years of trying to get Red Tails, his movie about the Tuskegee Airmen made, George Lucas plunked down his own money for the project. It will be in theaters Jan 20th.

To learn more about the movie and Lucas’ struggles to bring it to the big screen, check out this article from USA Today: George Lucas’ ‘Red Tails’ salutes Tuskegee Airmen

What’s weird, to me, is Lucas’ idea of how Red Tails might affect black filmmakers. The excerpt below comes from a sidebar where Lucas’ talks about filmmaking.

“I realize that by accident I’ve now put the black film community at risk (with Red Tails, whose $58 million budget far exceeds typical all-black productions). I’m saying, if this doesn’t work, there’s a good chance you’ll stay where you are for quite a while. It’ll be harder for you guys to break out of that (lower-budget) mold. But if I can break through with this movie, then hopefully there will be someone else out there saying let’s make a prequel and sequel, and soon you have more Tyler Perrys out there.”

I think Lucas has it partially right. If Red Tails fails at the box office, film executives will point to it as a reason not to greenlight other big budget dramatic/action-adventure movies featuring an all black cast (without Will Smith). However, if Red Tails is successful, I don’t think it will really open the door for the black film community. It would open the door for Lucas’ to do a big budget sequel.

But what do I know? Maybe there’s a black filmmaker prayer circle devoted to lifting up Red Tails to the almighty.

I’m not even going to touch that part about more Tyler Perrys…

Pariah

Pariah is about Alike, a seventeen year old African American lesbian trying to navigate her way in the world.

Alike gets dressed for school in mother-approved wardrobe. Once at school, she ducks quickly into the bathroom and changes into a more tomboyish outfit. Still, her parents suspect. Her father is more than happy to ignore it. Her mother’s response is to force Alike to spend time with a wholesome, church going girl instead of her ‘out’ best friend, Laura.

Laura also serves as Alike’s guide to a very limited slice of Afr-Am lesbian life–the club scene, the hang out spots, the hunt for her first girlfriend. Alike doesn’t feel 100% at home here either.

Alike needs to find a way to be herself because being what other people want/expect isn’t working…

The Good
*I definitely saw elements of my own coming out/venturing into the black lesbian world in Alike’s story. For a few minutes, I had flashbacks to catching the bus home after seeing dancers at Club Bunns.

*Since it’s Alike’s story, you expect her to be a fully fleshed out character–and she was. The pleasant surprise for me was that none of the main players were flat stereotype/stock characters. For example, Audrey (the mother) could have easily been a caricature but Kim Wayans portrays her as a woman who has been bitter/unhappy for a number of years. Alike’s sexuality is an issue that she can focus on to avoid her other problems.

The Great
-Seeing characters that I can identify with on the big screen.

The Bad
(insert sound of crickets chirping here)

Bottom Line: Great movie. Go see it.

Life, Love & Lust 2011

I have two new stories included in this anthology: Losing Michelle and In Remembrance Of Her.

Get your  copy today! Print: amazon.com | eBook: Kindle / Nook

From Christmas Day to New Years Day – get the eBook edition for $3.99!

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CONTRIBUTORS INCLUDE:

Renair Amin
Tamira Augustine
Kelli-Lynn Daugherty
Katrina England
Dee Ferguson
Evelyn Foster
Adelina Gonzalez
Kia Hamm
Jessica Horton
Wett Ink
Carolyn L. King
Kysia “Maxx” McLendon
Claudia Moss
Nik Nicholson
Doreen Perrine
Pamela Sneed
Jessica Spencer
Spoken
Tawanna Sullivan
Teryn
Monique X. Thomas
Gre Diamond Walker
Jay Williams
Anondra “Kat” Williams

Sing The Truth into the New Year

If you missed the Sing the Truth! tour–which featured Angelique Kidjo, Dianne Reeves & Lizz Wright–you’ll have a chance to hear them in the early morning hours of 2012.

On Jan 1st at 12:30 am, NPR’s Toast Of The Nation will be broadcasting part of the Sing The Truth! show from the 2011 Detroit Jazz Festival.

In the meantime, have a taste:

Do Not Get Married

That seems to be one of the messages behind Zulawski’s Possession. Here’s the deal: After being away on assignment, Mark returns home to find that his wife Anna wants to leave him. Mark wants more than ever to preserve their family (they have a son). Turns out that Anna has a lover and other secrets.

This movie is just a roller coaster ride of “what the hell…” – just when you think you have an idea of what’s going on, another twist comes out of nowhere. There are murders, lots of screaming, philosophical conversations of about the nature of god/dog, self mutilation and then it gets really weird…

My take on it: in creating idealized versions of each other, Mark and Anna ultimately sowed the seeds of their own destruction. If you are in the NYC area, it’s playing at the Film Forum until December 13th. Seeing this on a big screen is a must; I may go see it again…

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Before Possession, there was a preview for a movie called Come Back, Africa (1959). The singer featured in the trailer looked familiar and I was able to find the full clip on youtube:

 

23andMe & Me

Back in September, there was an article in The Root about free DNA Testing for Blacks from 23andMe. So, I signed up, submitted a sample and recently received the results.

There are several reports: Disease Risks (whether I have an elevated, decreased or average risk of 115 diseases), Carrier Status (whether or not I can pass the markers for 28 different diseases to an offspring), Drug Response (whether or not 20 drugs will have the desired effect on me), Traits (52) and a little information about my Haplogroups and ancestral lines.

It’s important to know that for the Disease, Carrier and Drug Response reports, “average” is determined from studies done on people of European ancestry.

It’s pretty clear that the results are for informational purposes only and are not a diagnosis of any kind. Still, it was unsettling to see all of the elevated risks. An especially weird report is “Sex Hormone Regulation” – since the tests are for testosterone levels based on studies of male subjects.

Also, 23andMe doesn’t test for every marker that indicates a disease. There may be 5 markers associated with a disease; if they only test for 2 how clear of a picture are you actually being given? As more data is collected and more studies are done, the reports get updated.

The Haplogroup and Ancestry Painting reports are interesting. Here’s the ancestry of my chromosomes:

I also like being able to see my genetic similarity to groups of people from around the world:

23andMe also has a relative finder feature.  My concept of “relative” stops at 3rd cousin. 23andMe extends it out to 6th cousin. I’ve been declining to establish connections with the potential 4th and 5th cousins who’ve contacted me so far. I gather, from bopping around the forums, some people get upset when they are rejected. Right now, I don’t want to talk to anyone who wouldn’t show up at a family reunion.

Google Venture is one of the backers of 23andMe. Any second now, I should start getting Google Ads that target my potential risk. Just kidding.

Note:
If your DNA doesn’t include a Y-Chromosome, you can only get Haplogroup info about your Maternal Line. You’d have to get a relative with an Y-Chromosome to also send in a sample.
No matter the results of your analysis, 23andMe allows you to change your sex.

Somehow, this doesn’t seem right…

Because of the rating I gave this:

Netflix recommended that I watch this:

I must have missed the scene in Malcolm X when had to fight his way through a town full of zombies.

How To Survive #5: Understand That The Government Is Not Coming To Help You

The goal of the government is to neutralize the threat to the state/country; unless you are standing next to a Senator or a billionaire, you are expendable.

An individual cop or soldier caught up in the madness may genuinely try to help…

However, once members of a governmental entity arrive en mass (FBI, police, army, etc), forget about it.

Disaster at work? Your corporation won’t help either. It’s probably the reason the world is falling apart.

Like Alice, you are on your own: