The Explanation
(for those who require one)

And, of course, that is what all of this is -- all of this: the one song, ever changing, ever reincarnated, that speaks somehow from and to and for that which is ineffable within us and without us, that is both prayer and deliverance, folly and wisdom, that inspires us to dance or smile or simply to go on, senselessly, incomprehensibly, beatifically, in the face of mortality and the truth that our lives are more ill-writ, ill-rhymed and fleeting than any song, except perhaps those songs -- that song, endlesly reincarnated -- born of that truth, be it the moon and June of that truth, or the wordless blue moan, or the rotgut or the elegant poetry of it. That nameless black-hulled ship of Ulysses, that long black train, that Terraplane, that mystery train, that Rocket '88', that Buick 6 -- same journey, same miracle, same end and endlessness."
-- Nick Tosches, Where Dead Voices Gather

Africa Talks to You #1


Original Caption:

Johannesburg -- Sofiatown, a suburb which was the residential area for natives working in Johannesburg, will soon be bulldozed to make way for a housing development for white people. Here is a typical store in Sofiatown, with a slogan painted on its side indicating the feeling of the present residents. (1955)
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1 comment:

rob said...

Shades of contemporary Palestine....

June 01, 2009 11:00 AM

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