the roots: the spark

I actually wanted to include a clip of this song back when I wrote the post: o son of being / the spark but did not find one until now. I've recently been thinking about the relationship between Islam and hip-hop and so The Roots came to mind again (Malik B is Sunni and Black Thought is/has been a Five Percenter). Also, in spite of what I said in my mayda del valle post I went ahead and got The Best of the Roots album a few days ago (along with Game Theory and Rising Down)

see also: an old list of rappers and their religion

political bits

1. I really like this image but was a bit surprised by how the mainstream networks were covering it. They were like "what is this mysterious gesture?". It is just another reminder of how "white" the mainstream press is in its perspective. It also an example of how Obama's candidacy (and hopefully his presidency) has the opportunity of being a sort of national teach-in on race relations; first by offering a peek into the Black church, and now introducing white people to African-American greeting practices.


Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, share a victory "dap" during an election night rally in St. Paul, MN

2. I'm not sure who Obama should pick as his running mate but I've been interested in Senator Jim Webb of Virginia ever since I'd caught part of an interview with him on NPR. He's a Vietnam veteran and an ex-Republican who today is highly critical of George W. Bush and the current Iraq War.

NPR: Senator Jim Webb, Choosing His Battles

3. I never cease to be amazed by the number of third-party candidates who run for president in each election in relative anonymity. Of course you have the Greens and the Libertarians, but there are also at least three different kinds of "socialist" parties (four if you count the Nazi party), you have the Fascist party, the Prohibition Party, the Constitution Party and even the Vampire, Witches and Pagan Party which are all putting up candidates. Some of these candidates seem to be running more as a joke or as a publicity stunt and others are "serious" but are obviously long-shots while many seem to lie somewhere in between.

4. A couple of the third-party presidential candidates are former elected officials who "defected" from the major parties. One is former Republican Congressman, Bob Barr who is running as the Libertarian Party candidate this year. One can only hope that he can serve as a spoiler for McCain in this election.

5. On the scary side, I recently found out that former Democratic member of Congress Rep. Cynthia McKinney is running for president on the Green Party ticket. I say scary because I think McKinney is likely to be a "spoiler". Some of the angry/ disappointed/ disgruntled Clinton supporters have already expressed their willingness to vote for McCain. But now McKinney offers yet another (arguably more attractive) option for liberals who don't want to vote for Obama. Given the tensions which currently exist in the Democratic party between Clinton supporters and Obama supporters, I think that there is a non-trivial mass of people who might be willing to make such a protest vote.

6. Now that I think about it, if Hillary had won her argument to the superdelegates, and they overruled the will of the non-superdelegates who went for Obama, I would have given serious thought to voting for McKinney myself.

7. By the way, times like these are why I wish we had proportional representation in the US so that genuine multi-party system could arise.

rise of the latin africans

hat tip to Tariq Nelson:

The Newsweek article, Rise Of The Latin Africans: A new black-power movement in Central and South America gives a quick overview of how different communities of people of African descent in Latin America are acting to improve their lot in Honduras, Ecuador and especially Colombia:

The epicenter of the new black activism [...] is Colombia. That's due as much to circumstance as design: more than a third of the 3.2 million Colombians uprooted by the country's long-running civil war are of African ancestry, as are many of the ragged street vendors and beggars who approach motorists at busy Bogotá intersections. Foreign and local NGOs are now working hard to publicize their plight. Though a landmark 1993 law enshrined the right of Afro-Colombians to obtain formal title to their ancestral lands, including 5 million hectares along the Pacific coast—a unique experiment in ethnic self-government—implementation has lagged, as unscrupulous agribusinesses and paramilitary warlords have seized communal property with near impunity. But recently, as part of its ongoing effort to win U.S. approval for a free-trade agreement, the government of President Alvaro Uribe has begun to expel these companies and restore 8,000 hectares of stolen land to Afro-Colombian community councils.

more felipe luciano

We've posted some of Felipe Luciano's poetry before. Here is a second helping.

thoughts on obama's resignation from trinity united church of christ

So Obama finally resigned his membership at Trinity United Church of Christ. The whole situation is weird and sad on all kinds of levels.

One of the weird aspects is that the straw that broke the camel's back on this issue was a recent sermon last Sunday by the Catholic priest, Rev. Dr. Michael Pfleger but obviously Obama isn't even Catholic.



Also weird is the way that Pfleger's comments are being characterized. As "hateful"? As a rant? As "racist"? Admittedly, he was a bit harsh on Hillary but I would say that occasionally that being harsh on politicians in certainly part of the role of being a "prophetic" preacher. Pfleger's sermon also wasn't a "rant". It was definitely a rhetorically effective performance intended to satirize Hillary Clinton. But it certainly wasn't wild and irrational. By implication, Pfleger was simply making the point that some of the actions and reactions of Hillary Clinton and some of her supporters are motivated by a sense of racial entitlement. That's a perfectly reasonable and coherent claim and it is worth being discussed. It is either true or not true. Especially bizarre is the claim that the sermon was racist?!?!

The sad part of all this is the extent to which liberation theology is being demonized by the media and is being excluded from the political discourse. More generally, it is sad that the media and the political process can have as much influence as they on a person's religious declarations.

ken wilber

So I'm in the middle of reading The Essential Ken Wilber: An Introductory Reader. Wilber's an interesting guy. He's a perennialist in the sense that he attempts to bring together a number of different religious, mystical and psychological systems into a single integrated structure. He seems most familiar with Buddhism and Hinduism and doesn't really do much to actively incorporate Islam into his work. But the brother over at Inspirations and Creative Thoughts has a couple of interesting posts which emphasize some of those connections anyway.

Inspirations and Creative Thoughts: Integral mysticism in the postmodern world | Integral Spirituality and also I AMness | Integral vision of Ken Wilber and Sufism

See also:
Integral Naked on YouTube

Planet Grenada:
more on perennialism
perennialism and traditionalism

"well, i'm not gonna take the white house in 2008 on just my sparkling wit and funding from hostile governments."

I've mentioned the television show Angel and the fictional evil secret-society The Circle of the Black Thorn in a previous post. (see circle of the black thorn.) The only bit I wanted to talk about was how the last season started to get much more explicitly political. For example, from the season's very first episode there is a scene where the main characers are going through the files of Wolfram & Hart, an evil demon-owned LA legal firm:

ANGEL
This is unbelievable.
FRED
I think I've lost my appetite, which is kind of a first.
LORNE
(reading a file)
Hmm, well, this is interesting. Apparently old Joe Kennedy tried to get out of his deal with the firm.
ANGEL
That explains a lot.
LORNE
Yeah, but George, Senior - he read the fine print. There's no one these guys don't have a piece of.

Then towards the end of the season they introduced a Hillary Clinton stand-in, the character of Helen Brucker, a female Senator who is planning to win the presidency in 2008 with the help of Wolfram & Hart:

SENATOR
It's nice to see you again so soon, Angel.
ANGEL (upon finding out that Senator Brucker was a member of the Circle of the Black Thorn)
Senator. I had no idea you were so well...connected.
SENATOR
Well, I'm not gonna take the White House in 2008 on just my sparkling wit and funding from hostile governments.
(chuckles)

Angel being a supernatural drama, the Senator actually isn't really human, but instead is some kind of demonic hellspawn who has managed to occupy a human body. Another interesting bit about this (which really wasn't on my mind when thse episodes first aired in 2004) is the fact that, in the series finale, Senator Brucker is killed with an axe to the head by Charles Gunn, the main Black character of the show. This all aired well before Obama declared his intentions to run for President to run so it is unlikely that Gunn is meant to be an Obama stand-in.

This has all been on my mind because "Power Play", the episode which introduced the Senator's character aired this past Friday morning, and the series finale "Not Fade Away" just aired this Monday morning.

Transcripts:
Power Play
Not Fade Away

television, the drug of the nation

I've been listening to this song lately in my car and I thought I'd share. The song is "Television, the drug of the nation" by the Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy which lead vocals by Michael Franti. The song goes back at least to the early 90's but the lyrics are still pretty timely.

T.V. is the stomping ground
for political candidates
where bears in the woods
are chased by grecian formula'd bald eagles
...
where image takes precedence over wisdom
where sound bite politics are served
to the fastfood culture
where straight teeth in your mouth
are more important than the words
that come out of it
race baiting is the way to get elected
Willie Horton or will he not get elected on...

Televison, the drug of the nation

thoughts on mccain's disavowal of the pastors

Thoughts on McCain's recent disavowal of John Hagee and Rod Parsley, the pastors whose endorsement he sought:

1. To begin with, it was pretty cynical of him to seek the endorsements in the first place. He was basically trying to shore up his relationship to the evangelical base of the Republican party, especially in swing states. (Parsley is in Ohio).

2. Even with a bad vetting job, I don't believe the McCain camp would have been totally ignorant of Hagee and Parsley's bigoted comments about Muslims and Catholics. (Which as I've said before are more "mainstream" than the media seems to be acknowledging. In fact, the extent of religious bigotry in the evangelical community should be a story, even apart from the campaign).

3. It is conceivable to me that the McCain camp perhaps missed Hagee's comment that Katrina was sent as a punishment for a planned New Orleans gay pride event but they definitely had to know that Hagee and Parsley would have strong statements against homosexual behavior.

4. Finally, I think McCain's decision to ultimately disavow the pastors was calculated and cynical as well. McCain was fine with bigotry against Muslims, Catholics and homosexuals. But once it is discovered that Hagee made an odd comment involving Hitler (suggesting that Hitler was God's instrument to ultimately herd the Jews to Israel) it was time to pull out for fear of alienating Jews. The "funny" thing is that as a Christian Zionist, Hagee is actually a staunch supporter of the state of Israel and has even won a number of humanitarian awards from a number of Jewish organizations.

5. In the long run, I wonder if this whole episode has alienated McCain even more from the evangelical base? One can only hope.


Slate: The Devil's in the Details: Why John Hagee's views on the Holocaust aren't the only reason for McCain to reject him
AP: Pastor says parting with McCain best for both

Grenada's past;
more on mccain's racially problematic politics
mccain, racism and religious bigotry
mccain - romney ?
mccain's spiritual advisor hates muslims and islam
should john mccain reject and denounce minister john hagee?
john mccain: "i hated the gooks. i will hate them as long as i live."

how to write a political poem aka "somewhere in flordia votes are still being counted"

The following poem has been heavily anthologized. (I actually own at least 3 different poetry/spoken word CDs and a DVD where it appears). It was on my mind recently because I had been listening to some of the above-mentioned CDs in my car this week. And I decided to do an entry about it because it started to resonate with some other things going on these days.

For example, it is nearly 8 years after the 2000 U.S. Presidential election and people are still talking about counting votes in Florida. Also, I'm in the middle of reading Gaming the Vote: Why Elections Aren't Fair (And What We Can Do About it) by William Poundstone and I was a bit surprised by Darth Vaderish description of Nader's intentions in 2000 (that he consciously took on the spoiler role as a way to punish the Clinton-Gore administration for not paying any attention to him during their 8 years in office). Finally, I also think that Taylor Mali's cynicism about political poetry definitely applies to much of the political rhetoric coming from the presidential candidates these days... but more on that later...





How to Write a Political Poem
By Taylor Mali

However it begins, it's gotta be loud
and then it's gotta get a little bit louder.
Because this is how you write a political poem
and how you deliver it with power.

Mix current events with platitudes of empowerment.
Wrap up in rhyme or rhyme it up in rap until it sounds true.

Glare until it sinks in.

Because somewhere in Florida, votes are still being counted.
I said somewhere in Florida, votes are still being counted!

See, that's the Hook, and you gotta' have a Hook.
More than the look, it's the hook that is the most important part.
The hook has to hit and the hook's gotta fit.
Hook's gotta hit hard in the heart.

Because somewhere in Florida, votes are still being counted.

And Dick Cheney is peeing all over himself in spasmodic delight.
Make fun of politicians, it's easy, especially with Republicans
like Rudy Giuliani, Colin Powell, and . . . Al Gore.
Oooooh, see what I did? I called Al Gore a Republican.
That must mean that my political sensibilities are much more finely tuned than yours.
Create fatuous juxtapositions of personalities and political philosophies
as if communism were the opposite of democracy,
as if we needed Darth Vader, not Ralph Nader.

Peep this: When I say "Call,"
you all say, "Response."

Call! Response! Call! Response! Call!

Amazing Grace, how sweet the—

Stop in the middle of a song that everyone knows and loves.
This will give your poem a sense of urgency.
Because there is always a sense of urgency in a political poem.
There is no time to waste!
Corruption doesn't have a curfew,
greed doesn't care what color you are
and the New York City Police Department
is filled with police officers!
People who wear guns on their hips
and carry metal badges pinned over their hearts.
Injustice isn't injustice it's just in us as we are just in ice.
That's the only alienation of this alien nation
in which you either fight for freedom
or else you are free and dumb!

And even as I say this somewhere in Florida, votes are still being counted.

And it makes me wanna beat box!

Because I have seen the disintegration of gentrification
and can speak with great articulation
about cosmic constellations, and atomic radiation.
I've seen D. W. Griffith's Birth of a Nation
but preferred 101 Dalmatians.
Like a cross examination, I will give you the explanation
of why SlamNation is the ultimate manifestation
of poetic masturbation and egotistical ejaculation.

And maybe they are still counting votes somewhere in Florida,
but by the time you get to the end of the poem it won't matter anymore.

Because all you have to do to end a political poem is close your eyes,
lower your voice, and say:

the same line three times,
the same line three times,
the same line three times.

obama and different religious communities

On religion factor, it's Obama for president by Douglas Todd

Let's cut to the almost-inevitable chase: How will Barack Obama do against John McCain in this fall's rumble for the U.S. presidency? With signs showing Hilary Clinton will have to drop out of the race, we're going to be left to determine whether the 46-year-old black Democrat or 71-year-old white Republican will climb into the powerful office. And that requires looking at the religion factor.

In American politics, which hugely affects Canada and the globe, religious loyalties deeply shape voters' preferences. But November will see a volatile election as things are changing dramatically on the U.S. religious front. The main reason is the country's large white evangelical bloc, worth more than one out of every four votes, won't be the all-important factor it was in bringing George W. Bush to power in 2000 and 2004.

If you harbour any doubts about how big a role religion plays in American politics, look at the blanket media coverage early this month of Obama's relationship to his boisterous former Chicago preacher, Jeremiah Wright.

For his part, McCain also has links with radical Christian leaders, even though they've not received the same level of attention. Still, McCain's opponents repeatedly question how the Arizona senator could embrace preacher John Hagee, who has denounced Catholicism as the "Great Whore" and believes Hurricane Katrina was God's punishment on "sinful" New Orleans. The latest polls show, overall, Obama holding onto about 47 per cent of Americans' support, compared to McCain's 43 per cent. Given that, let's break down how religious groups in the U.S. might lean come the fall ballot.

JEWS
American Jews generally lean to Democrats over Republicans. A Gallup poll showed Jews would vote for Obama over McCain by a margin of 61 per cent to 32 per cent. The trouble for Obama is Jews count for only one out of every 58 American voters.

MUSLIMS
The Muslim vote also goes strongly to Obama. Muslim leaders are actively questioning McCain's ties with Muslim-bashing Protestant preachers. However, Muslims make up only one out of every 166 Americans.

AFRICAN-AMERICAN PROTESTANTS
These black Chrisians account for a significant seven per cent of Americans. They're a slam dunk for Obama. Polls show nine out of 10 will vote for their Harvard-educated Christian brother, a member of the United Church of Christ denomination.

THE NON-RELIGIOUS
Most Americans who say they're non-religious (16 per cent) strongly favour Obama over McCain.

WHITE EVANGELICALS
Eight years of Bush in the White House have changed the political shape of American evangelicalism. Many evangelicals are no longer making opposition to abortion and gay marriage their prime issues. Some Christian leaders are calling for evangelicals to stop being "useful fools" who blindly follow the Republican party no matter what. George Barna, a respected evangelical pollster, says white evangelical support for the Republican party is down to 29 per cent, a calamitous decline.

McCain, an Episcopalian who attends his wife's Baptist church, also has to deal with not being the first choice of the Religious Right, which had wanted Mike Huckabee. Aware of his lack of credibility among these hawks, McCain had argued the U.S. military needs to stay in Iraq for a century (a position he softened Thursday, May 15, 2008) and he's been singing the praises of some hard-line televangelists.

Meanwhile, even though Obama is pro-choice on abortion and homosexual rights and says the U.S. must get out of Iraq, many born-again Christians like him anyway, for talking passionately about the redemptive power Christ has had in his life. An informal poll by the leading evangelical youth magazine, Relevant, found evangelicals in their 20s would overwhelmingly vote for the black senator.

ROMAN CATHOLICS
Catholics are key because they make up the swing vote in U.S. elections. Comprising 24 per cent of Americans, Catholics have for the past nine elections consistently backed the winning horse for president. Though public polls have not yet directly compared how McCain and Obama would do among Catholics, McCain will likely be in trouble among them for embracing the combative Protestant Hagee, who took until May 13 to apologize for branding Catholicism a "cult."

There is little doubt events beyond religion will stir up voters before the November election, particularly if a conflict arises with Iran. But barring an earth-shattering political event, I'd place my bets, given religion-rooted trends, on Obama for president.

rap the casbah

"Born Here" - DAM


“Min Irhabi?” (“Who’s a Terrorist?”) - DAM



In These Times: Rap the Casbah by Michelle Chen

For more than a generation, hip-hop has drawn kids from neighborhoods around the world into the musical intersection of street culture and political consciousness. Now that common ground is making a mark in one of the globe’s most conflict-ridden areas: the Arab world.

(global) southern girl
verily, there is only one hip-hop umma
representin' the west (bank)
hisham aidi
daara j brings rap back to its african roots
al-ahram does a story on muslim hip-hop
more on muslims and hip-hop
afro-asian crosscurrents in contemporary hip-hop

even more assorted bits

1. Is it just me or are the more black "talking heads" on the television news shows? And what is even better is the fact that they aren't just race experts but they are talking about the economy, the war, etc.

2. What is more elitist than being willing and able to whip out 6 million dollars of your own money in an attempt to acquire more political power even when the popular will seems to be against you?

3. I was fortunate enough to see MSNBC's Chris Matthews give a verbal smackdown to Kevin James on live television. It is sad to think that the people in the media responsible for informing the public could be so misinformed themselves. I think that part of the issue is that much of the news is just political propaganda read by "pretty faces" (see "i'm as mad as hell, and i'm not going to take it anymore") and so research is less important.

4. In a similar vein, I was surprised to see some clips recently where Fox's O'Reilly reveals how mean-spirited he can be. The following exchange with Geraldo Rivera makes O'Reilly look like the last juror to switch sides in 12 Angry Men:


and then in the following O'Reilly just shows himself to be short-tempered and crazy:


5. John Hagee really isn't all that unique. Anti-Catholic and anti-Islamic ideas are more prevalent among Evangelicals than is generally acknowledged by the media. I mean, I grew up going to church which taught from the pulpit that Catholics weren't really Christian. I think such sentiments are widespread. I'm not saying that we are anywhere close, but I wonder what kind of pressures, what kind of change in the political and economic situation, how much of a loss of social order and restraint would be necessary for the US to sink to the kind of sectarian violence which has appeared in Pakistan or Iraq (or Northern Ireland for that matter)?

walterio carbonell (1920-2008)

From The Passing of a Black Giant in Cuba: A Tribute to Walterio Carbonell by Carlos Moore:

Widely regarded as the father of a Black Consciousness movement in Cuba, the Cuban ethnologist and historian, Walterio Carbonell, died on Sunday, April 13, 2008, at the age of 88. For Cuba, whose Black population now comprises 62 percent of the total, it is a great loss. Carbonell was regarded as one of the most profound Cuban intellectuals for the latter half of the 20th century. His work, On the Origin of National Culture, published in Havana in 1961 but immediately banned by the Castro regime, made him an instant icon to Black Cuban racial dissidents. The book was published in France only a few weeks ago.

See also AfroCubaWeb: Walterio Carbonell passed on to the ancestors Sunday, 4/13/08

juan crow in georgia

The Black Commentator: Juan Crow in Georgia by Roberto Lovato

Latinos’ subordinate status in Georgia and in the Deep South bears more than a passing resemblance to that of African-Americans who were living under Jim Crow. Call it Juan Crow: the matrix of laws, social customs, economic institutions and symbolic systems enabling the physical and psychic isolation needed to control and exploit undocumented immigrants. Listening to the effects of Juan Crow on immigrants and citizens like Mancha (”I can’t sleep sometimes because of nightmares,” she says. “My arms still twitch. I see ICE agents and men in uniform, and it still scares me”) reminds me of the trauma I heard among the men, women and children controlled and exploited by state violence in wartime El Salvador. Juan Crow has roots in the US South, but it stirs traumas bred in the hemispheric South.

why is america in iraq? aka what if noam chomsky were a latino stand-up comedian?

I normally have trouble swallowing Carlos Mencia's unapologetically jingoistic brand of comedy so I was really surprised by the following excerpt from one of his shows:

rev. 'icarus', the obama campaign, & the left

The Black Commentator: Rev. ‘Icarus’, the Obama Campaign, & the Left by Bill Fletcher, Jr. gives some insight into what Rev. Wright's real crime was and why certain folks got so mad.

more assorted bits

1. I think it is not just surprising but sad that out of all the members of Public Enemy, Flavor Flav seems to be the most successful and the one who is still in the public eye in a big way... from the Surreal Life, to Strange Love, to 3 seasons of Flavor of Love and a Comedy Central Roast, to a new sitcom. Why can't Chuck D get that much exposure? I would love to see Chuck D replace Colmes on Fox News' Hannity and Colmes, for instance. The situation isn't all bad. Chuck D is actually still doing alot of positive projects, he's just not as visible as before.

2. I realized that the Rumi poetry event I went to the other day had the highest concentration of white people of almost any event I've been to since moving to Miami.

3. I don't think I'm going to come up with anything deep or new on this issue, but I'll just say that the doctrine of Quranic abbrogation has often stuck me as odd. It is bizzare to think that there are verses in the Quran which are meant to be read, studied and recited for the past 1400 years, from the time they were revealed to now, and from now until Judgement Day, but they are only legally valid for a period of 20 years or so. Maybe more on this later.

4. I recently picked up the book Jesus for President: politics for ordinary radicals by Shane Claiborne and Chris Haw. It is a pretty good read so far. The authors seem to be advocating a kind of hippie liberation theology. The book takes many of its visual cues from the 'zines while the text highlights many of the ways in which the Jewish and Christian writings take a critical stance towards conventional secular ideals of kingdom and empire.

5. I just went to a Borders and discovered a new Boondocks book which I hadn't known about before: All the Rage: The Boondocks Past and Present (nice).

See also:
second things second
"armageddon has been in effect... go get a late pass!" (part one)
what has hip-hop really done for racism?
Sunni Forum: Hanafi Doctrine of Naskh (Abrogation)
www.jesusforpresident.org

chicago mayor richard daley on obama - ayers

There are a lot of reasons that Americans are angry about Washington politics. And one more example is the way Senator Obama's opponents are playing guilt-by-association, tarring him because he happens to know Bill Ayers.

I also know Bill Ayers. He worked with me in shaping our now nationally-renowned school reform program. He is a nationally-recognized distinguished professor of education at the University of Illinois/Chicago and a valued member of the Chicago community.

I don't condone what he did 40 years ago but I remember that period well. It was a difficult time, but those days are long over. I believe we have too many challenges in Chicago and our country to keep re-fighting 40 year old battles.

assorted bits

I feel like quickly sharing a couple of quick items which have been on my mind rather than doing extended blogging on any one of them.

1. I don't think any reasonable person believes for a second that Obama believes that the U.S. government invented HIV/AIDS in a laboratory so why would it even matter if his ex-pastor believes it?

2. Similarly, Obama clearly doesn't believe that bombing government buildings is an acceptable way to change government policy and the Weatherman were from over 40 years ago so why is Ayers an issue today?

3. Maybe its just me, but on my planet Hillary Clinton's comment that "Sen. Obama's support among working, hard-working Americans, white Americans, is weakening again" is orders of magnitude more offensive than the "bitter" comment and may even be the biggest gaffe made by a candidate in the election so far.

4. I recently bought the Pitch Black trilogy on DVD (see islamo-futurism?) Other than the Dune books, it is the only non-trivial portrayal of Muslims in the future of which I'm aware. Also Vin Diesel is kind of badass. InshaAllah, I'll start watching the first one this Sunday afternoon.

5. Finally, check out Third Resurrection. I updated it yesterday. Recently I've only been able to add entries in spurts. It was gratifying to see that Blackamerican Muslim bloggers are talking about issues related to "Third Resurrection" (in the loose sense of the blog). But I do kind of wish that members would add posts on their own (hint, hint) Still, I'm glad that the bloggers out there are dealing with serious , meaningful topics.