Derrida interviews Ornette Coleman!

All I can say is wow!

http://http://www.ubu.com/papers/Derrida-Interviews-Coleman_1997.pdf

Hiphop Journalism vs Hiphop Scholarship

I just finished Dan Charnas’s The Big Payback. The book offers a wonderfully rich account of how hiphop went from local party music to becoming a culture linked to music, fashion, movies, comedy, and even water. I would recommend it to any hiphop fan or anyone interested in American popular culture. It is great. Charnas has done a great job, especially all of his contacts to Rick Rubin, Russell Simons, and the editors at The Source. He weaves together dozens of stories of major figures behind the scenes who helped shape hiphop’s rise to popular culture prominence.

The book, however, also made me realize the very different stakes in academic and popular writing. Popular writing seems to offer a bevy of interesting facts and stories. What it does not provide is a review of the contemporary literature, a complete discussion of historical context, much analysis of meaning or philosophy, or a discussion of the political import of the subject. This kind of journalistic writing is mostly descriptive, not analytical, critical or even ethical. Put another way, I learned a lot of facts from The Big Payback but I am not sure if it changed how I viewed hiphop. It left existing narratives about hiphop pretty much intact.

None of this means that Charnas’s book is not good. It is excellent. It will be referenced and taught for a long time. And that is a good thing. However, scholars want to dig deeper and ask more probing questions about the political economy of the contemporary music industry and what that means for the actual content of hiphop we hear.

Education of Martin Luther King

In today's Springfield New's Leader, I published on a piece on King and the Civil Rights movement's connection to the humanities:

http://www.news-leader.com/article/20110117/OPINIONS02/101170308/Schur-Educational-values-aided-civil-rights-movement

I really hope people use the day to think about the ideas and values that shaped King and the entire movement.

Praise for the Kindle

I just purchased my first first e-reader, the Kindle. After two days of playing with it, I already love it. Although I tend to be a bit of a Luddite, this device - which lacks the sizzle of Ipod/Itouch/Ipad and their mutlifunctionality - does so much that I suspect that it or another e-reader will replace physical texts sooner than I thought.

Here is some of what I like it about it:

• lots of free classics - I already have copies of Scarlet Letter, Crime & Punishment, Endichron, and The Illiad on it.
• I love the free samples that Amazon provides of books. It makes me feel like I am browsing at a library or bookstore wherever I am.
• The books download unbelievably quickly
• I purchased the wifi version - no the 3 G one - and found it very easy to connect to the networks at home and work.
• Easy to e-mail pdfs to the kindle. In seconds, I added five reseach articles in pdf. I did not have to print out the articles, thus saving a lot of paper and without having to create a file system either, and will allow me to bring home research in an easy manner.
• It is easy to highlight key passages and very easy to review them.
• I will never be at a loss for a book to read ever again.
• Traveling with the kindle will save me the hassle of bringing books and research articles! I cannot wait.

I am looking forward to buying some newspaper and magazine subscriptions and seeing if that might alway me to get rid of my physical subscriptions. If that would work out, I would love it. I encourage anyone to try it out.