Paris Noir 2010

Meocha Belle

Ralph Ellison defined "true jazz," as, "an act of individual assertion within and against the group, a jazz group achieves its full effect only if the musicians test each other or test each others' strengths and through improvisation, explore the full range of each members untapped potentialities. Each true jazz moment springs from a context in which each artist challenges all the rest, each solo flight represents a definition of his identity, her identity as individual, as member of a collectivity and as a link in the chain of traditions. " There were many moments where myself and my cohort were tested and had to improvise. From Day 1 we were made to navigate the streets of Paris on our own to become for familiarized with our new home and when things were not made to accustom us, reminders were made that we were not in our own personal space and had to adjust. We were pushed to learn the necessary French words and phrases to be used in class which was not a traditional classroom, but a famous cafe-Cafe de Flore. Many students were made to break out of their habits that altered their messages. Through the countless walks, talks, readings, and analyses, we were made to test our own limits and bring out our "untapped potentialities" to know "the history, present condition, education, and literature of blacks in the Diaspora" (Fabre). Although arriving to this point may have seemed menial at times, a transition has occurred. I have noticed changes in not only myself but many people in my Paris Noir 2010 cohort and know it was only because of this experience were people able to grow in ways that they did. There were many students from other American schools who stayed in our hotel and it was apparent that they did not play "true jazz" like we did from their habits of taking over the lounge area, being loud and disrespectful, leaving their trash behind, and taking more breakfast then was needed. So merely going to Paris did not make this change, it was the structure of the courses, location of the classroom, texts studied, minds open, feet walking, and guides given.

On a more personal level, studying within the French culture has exposed me to a plethora of ethnicities and nationalities that I otherwise would not have known about. In my short time there, I grew to learn the peoples and cultures of from Les Antilles, Haiti, Africa, France and so many more. I now find myself waiting for every to be served to eat, wanting to dine alone, saying "oui" and "merci" without realizing it, and understanding that circumstances change and are not under my control. I also have become normalized to things others view as weird and crazy, I am willing to try new foods and realize that different people are brought up in ways that are not necessarily lesser than those America holds in regard. I have also noticed how judgemental, insensitive loud and just plain wrong Americans can be and has caused me to check myself any time I fall victim to behaving in such a manner. I am constantly observing and watching people as cafe life was made to function, and grew to appreciate the silence and lack of probing by Parisians. I even have cravings for croissants with boiled eggs and Gouda, baguettes, bissop, maafe, plantains, macaroons and expresso. Paris Noir has given me so much and hope that it can do the same for students 10 more years from now!

Happy 10th Birthday Paris Noir!

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~Paris Noir 2010

The Ponzi Scheme

Meocha Belle 7/4

After attending the Paris Hip-Hop Summit last night and having hip-hop historian and legendary French rapper: Solo come and speak to our class yesterday, we spent the beginning of class time discussing Kevin Liles' talk in relation to what was taught earlier in the day.
Regardless of the optimism my cohort took from Kevin Liles' talk, his main point was that the goal of hip-hop is to build an empire. Masked by offering the idea that "we are Generation E", which stands for- "education, empowerment, and entrepreneurship," Liles got some of his audience members to but into his fairytale. I was not one of them.
He delivered the most basic, inaccurate message that, "faith and will are key" and by "telling your own truth and success will follow you." Sadly enough, some people were gullible enough to believe that those things were enough to become rich, his definition of success.
Although Kevin Liles claimed to be "working hard to give pure hip-hop," when questioned by Frenchmen and artists in the audience, Liles had no idea of anything going on in Paris or that happened in the past. How are you trying to enter a new market when you do not even know artists there or the social climate of the area? Audience members were schooling Liles on historical and cultural facts that anyone trying to break into a new business would already know. People called him out on this and the question & period got very heated!
Industry insiders and artists always preach the message of keeping it real, as did Liles last night, but how can they do so when they are manipulatively capitalizing off of the same people and places they grew up with and in? What ever happened to responsibility? Morality? Ethics? Hip-hop has undoubtedly done a lot for race relations, but it also has fallen into the capitalist trap and needs to be lead by heads that are interested in more than making fast cash.

~Paris Noir 2010

London Town

Meocha Belle 7/3

Today is my second day in London. And I got to fly The London Eye! I saw London from great heights and got some amazing photos of the town. I also went sight-seeing on both a bus and boat tour. What struck me most was how explanations and stories of the same monuments, buildings and historical happenings, all had different beginnings and endings of the teller. Even though I took notice to this, the speakers were probably unaware how skewed the stories sound when compared.
I immediately thought of Baldwin and so many writers that wrote of personal contact and experience correlating with viewpoints. It is truely amazing how so many people think they know what they believ and affirm is true. I am constantly trying to get information from people to get information from different people to draw my own conclusions on ideas and events. Without doing so, you may be lead by the blind. Paris Noir has definately heightened this neccessity to learn more and not take things just because its told. In its design, there are many voices and therefore, stories and perspectives on similar issues. Our job as the students are to take what you can, analyze it and make it our own.

While in London I my newly found tools of analyses lead me to make a discovery in a mission that was impossible. Rudy and I tried to visit the site of the 2012 Olympic Games. Unfortunately, this was a failed attempt. We got close but were many blocks from the venue, even though it was in clear-view. After much re-routing and further examination, I noticed that we could not reach the venue because of the area we were in trying to get there. While navigating the streets and train tracks, we ended up in what was clearly an urban, destitute area, despite its visible mixed community of races. This area was completely blocked off from the venue where the 2012 Olympic Games will be held. After trying for hours, on train and foot, there was no way that we could reach the venue from anywhere near that location. Most of the train lines and routes were not running either and since it was not a holiday or major event happening, it was clear what was going on. The people in that community, which included us at that moment, were systematically being kept out of certain places in the town and metro-area. They were literally gated inside their one area and had little to no access outside.

This immediately drew me to think of the Bastille protest we visited in Paris. Although these are different situation indifferent locations, in both places, the people are being worked but not given full citizenship- or even partial citizenship, in some cases. The same struggle is happening to people of predominately African-Diasporic racial identities across the globe. This is why a program such as Paris Noir is needed. For centuries, systems of oppression have existed and functioned in communities that are thought to be very dissimilar even within the African Diaspora, yet the social, political and economic circumstances bind us much more closely than we know. Awareness of the Africaine Presence in international locales allows for the imaginary gap to be closed across Diaspora.

~Paris Noir 2010

Customs

Meocha Belle 7/2

Today I came to London with Rudy. The decision to go was quick because I knew I would not be presented with an opportunity to see London in a while and realized this was the perfect time.
Our morning started early and our trip was delayed because the Eurostar staff and customs would not let anyone through until departure time. So after waiting in line for about an hour, we finally got up to the London officials to have them check our passports. There were several people in front of me that went right through without any questions asked. Then, when it was my turn, the officer underwent a full-on interrogation with me. I believe it had something to do with my travel partner and I going to London together. It seemed as if the customs's officer thought I was from the West Indies or Les Antilles trying to go into London and stay with my white savior. So after going back and forth and providing reasoning for our visit to London, he let us both through. After showing him many forms of identification, including my international student id card, he let us through. This ordeal dominated the conversation between me and Rudy for a few minutes, then we quickly changed topics to what we were learning in seminar class and quickly forgot about the custom's situation.
We soon after fell asleep and when we woke up, were in London. We had great Italian food and conversation.

~Paris Noir 2010

"Pink on the Outside & Black on the Inside"-Yves Saint Laurent

Meocha Belle 7/1

Today I went to the Yves Saint Laurent exhibit for research on my independent study project. I wanted to find out what cultures influenced such major collections, and to analyze all that I saw. And boy did I see a lot! At the beginning of the exhibit, I thought that the Algerian fashion designer's work was greatly crafted and highly conservative. As I advanced, I saw the same things and was somewhat bored with the uniform pieces. This was until I entered what seemed like the cultural collections. In this room, there were only pieces and lines that were representative of various ethnic identities.
Although the pieces were immaculately made and entirely representative of the culture put on display, the way in which the collections were isolated from all the other pieces made me feel uncomfortable as an observer. It seemed as though one step literally took me into another world full of "others" that were on display to be watched. Obviously YSL had nothing to do with the arrangement of this exhibit since it opened this year and he died a couple years back, he could very much so had admired these cultures and been immersed into them. What is clear is that those responsible for designing the set-up, were influenced by the politics of space, whether done consciously or not.
In the room where the African collection was placed, there was a pink and black jacket that translated into American English, "I am Pink on the outside and Black on the inside". If one did not know YSL was Algerian (white African), this message could move from, what I presume to have been his intention of stating that people viewed him as white but he knows in his heart that he is black, to him showing signs of depression, "the color black means it's time to die and nobody questions why" (Janelle Monae).
Ironically, the African collection or "Bambara Art," read in its description as "without prejudices or preconceived ideas," however it was nothing but that. Except for the all black collection that featured all black suites on black mannequins, every other mannequin within the exhibit was white, the mannequins chosen to represent Africa were blue. They were even fully equipped with braided hair weaves, James Cameron is not now, nor has he ever been the Executive Producer of Africans. How could this read as anything but prejudice?

~Paris Noir 2010

What's Lost in Translation?

Meocha Belle 6/29

Today at the Paris Hip-Hop 2010 Summit, Def Jam President Kevin Liles spoke on education, empowerment and entrepreneurship through hip-hop. He does not speak French, so he had a translator. While the translator was saying what Mr. Liles did in French, I noticed that she was not replicating his statements. The French language is comprised of more words to equal those of the English language. And the translator oftentimes spoke in a shorter breath than Mr. Liles previously talked. This then made me think of the re-occurring seminar question of what's lost or added in translation?
Both in the literal and figurative sense, things that are translated have a great possibility of being changed as the message is passed on. At times this may be a good thing, others a bad thing. What is scary is the level of influence even a word holds when entire sentences are taken out of context, great danger may be near. It is quite possible that someone in Belgium governance omitted or supplemented a message of the Rwandans and this in turn could have caused the lives of 80 million and more.

~Paris Noir 2010

Rwanda

Meocha Belle 6/28

At different moments, Diop uses the perspectives of characters to contest the idea that their is a merit to being alive. This is seen at the most direct level when Jessica affirms that "the fear of death...would almost be in bad taste. My life isn't worth anymore than that of the thousands of people who perish each day." But then this statement is countered by Simeon's statement to Cornelius that also affirms, "don't regret living because you deserved to live more than anyone...your mother, Nathalie, brought you into this world running, to escape from the people who wanted to kill her." Using these statements as a part of my analysis, I question whether or not these moments work effectively together to measure self-determination?
What also complicates the states of life and death, are that even after surviving, breathing does not constitute as living. "The young woman in black," is a testament to this and backed by the statement, "after such an ordeal, there was a little bit of death in everyone" (Diop 181). Are these two states explicit or implicit with luck or cowardice of the survivor? Does this mean a fight wasn't put up?
I hope the Rwanda panel can offer greater insight on the loaded subject tomorrow.

~Paris Noir 2010