Literaryswag BBQ

I could talk about how the Park’s Department played me out with the event permit. I could talk about how I checked the Yahoo weather app the whole week hoping it wouldn’t rain even though it showed thunderstorms. I could talk about how there was more money spent than raised or budgeted for. I could talk about the intense panic I felt the morning of when I saw that there was a whole event going on in the spot we were going to use; about the fear that someone was going to shut the event down before it started. Or worse: while it was in full swing. I could talk about the food being late; about how I spent more time in a Fly Cleaner’s van than at the actual BBQ; and about how I missed the cameos of some of my closest friends.

And even though I finessed a rhetorical structure which allows me to talk about these things anyway, entertaining those things would detract from the fact that, even without an event and sound permit, yesterday was the very definition of a lituation. No one ever hated and tried to call the boys on us. The weather app may have forecasted rain but we never got a single drop. Even got some sunshine. Because of the event on the other side, we actually got to be on the nicer side of the park—and when their event ended, they actually blessed us with their extra snacks and waters. Although the food was late, everyone enjoyed it when it came. We got to feed the families who were in the park. And some homeless heads too. Me not being there for most of the event did little from keeping the event from running smoothly. The team held it down. They were the real MVPs. I was able to present this year's winner of the 2016 Literaryswag Competition, Christina Santi with her check and book of choice in style. I was able to get the extra fancy plastic wine cups, and a few cases of the Nelli's to pour everyone up to celebrate her and us. Mike got to do his interpretation of "Blue Steel." I couldn't write a better yesterday than the one that exists and I wouldn't want to. Give God the glory, I'll settle for this bottle of Nelli's.  

Literaryswag BBQ (Update)

In the past few weeks I've learned a lot about managing expectations, remembering where and what I came from, and most of all trusting in God. When I first set out to do this BBQ, the original idea had been simple. Something chill and lowkey for people to pull up to, get a plate, chop it up and celebrate the winners of the Literaryswag Competition. Then, as I am one to do, I started to go overboard with shit: "There needs to be bouncy houses, and sumo wrestling suits, and inflatable Olympic courses and--" all this other shit that was besides the point and had nothing to do with the original vision. I forgot about what it meant to just pull up to the scene and make the best of what we had. We had a grill, a sufficient boom box, a cooler full of quarter water juices (remember those, the ones that looked like grenades?), a football, some double Dutch rope, a deck of cards, dominoes, or both, but mainly each other. The people made the BBQ. Sometimes all we had was $50 worth of food and we built as the day went on. Juice ran out? Send so-and-so up the block to grab some more. Need more hot dogs? Go catch the supermarket before it closes and bring me back my change. As y'all can see I'm getting a bit nostalgic but that's what the purpose of the BBQ was: to revisit the moments in our lives when things were relatively simple. With all my clicks and whistles I complicated shit--park permits, sound permits, $7,500, blah, blah, blah (wtf was I thinking?). But God works in mysterious ways because the way we used to do it then is the way we gonna do it now. We just gonna pull up, set up and have fun. And what's dope: the BBQ is right next to the Brooklyn Book Festival so you can cop you some books over there and then come through and grab you a plate. If you hungry, we feeding you. Simple as that. I've cut the budget to a way more realistic number ($2,500) and am already more than half way there ($1,750) so if you can put $5 on it cool. If you can't, cool too. We gonna make the best of whatever we got and send someone to the store for whatever we don't.

Literaryswag Book Club's Pick for September (1 Year Anniversary): Adrian Nicole Leblanc's Random Family

It's all about timing. Comedy. Life. Your swag. It's all about things coming together at the right moment; the right time. In our previous meeting at #literaryswagbookclub we spoke about the time it takes to get to know ourselves, and how many of us don't have the time because we're too "busy." A buzzword which CAN mean we don't have time but often means we don't want to take the time. To ask the questions that may not be answered that day, but because they've finally been posed, they can be grappled with. Our jobs don't afford this time. In a heartbreakingly ironic way, our schools don't either. If we're blessed, we have somewhere--a church, the barbershop, hair and nail salon--where we can take time,  but in American life: we're terribly suspicious of time. Especially if we feel it's too much. I remember taking my first vacation from work. Waited one whole year to get a week off and instead of enjoying it, I obsessed over how much work I'd have to do when I got back 😒. That's not a way to live. Yet so many of us navigate this way. And we're proud of it.  I started this book club a year ago to provide people with the space and time to do the work that we're usually to busy to do. It hasn't made me any money but it's worth it. Other people recognize the value which is why I'm able to write this post almost a year later. It's also why the big homie, Ouigi Theodore, of The Brooklyn Circus is allowing us to use his shop as the site for the 1 year anniversary of the Book Club 🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾, where we'll be reading Adrian Nicole Leblanc's narrative non-fiction masterpiece, Random Family. Sometimes it takes seeing what not having time actually looks like to finally begin appreciating the time you actually do have. We meet Thursday, September 29th at 7pm at 150 Nevins St. in Brooklyn. If you need to purchase the book and don't have a lot of money, I got you. The links below take you to Amazon, where you can cop the book for a little less. Thank you all for supporting in the ways that you have. And if you find that you have a little time that day, please come spend it with us. It'll be worth it 💪🏾📚😎

Paperback (Amazon)

Hardcover (Amazon)

Literaryswag Enamel Pin 1

This is the first of many Literaryswag Enamel Pins. This is the Literaryswag Enamel Pin 1. Most known as the Literaryswag Logo. Each pin comes numbered and signed, along with personalized packaging to ensure authenticity! Make sure to get yours! Keep it lit!

Literaryswag Book Club's Pick for August: Paul Beatty's The Sellout

The Literaryswag Book Club is about picking the books that can offer language which will help bring clarity to the realities we live while also assisting us in articulating the things we want and haven't yet learned to say. I'm seeing that being able to talk through books with people who don't necessarily think like me is challenging me to think in nuanced ways. This made itself evident is last month's meeting when we talked about Claudia Rankine's Citizen. If you've read Citizen you know that most of the book is written in the second person. I'd initially taken this to be a statement about how racism estranges us from our bodies. That when black bodies encounter racism we are no longer a first person "I" but a second person "you." The beauty of having a conversation allows you to see the same masterpiece through a different pair of eyes. Through these eyes I realized that the second person is used to show who's really estranged from their body when a racist act is committed--and it's not black bodies so much as white ones. In every slight the book recollects, the person of color knows they're being slighted; knows they're not seen. The person who's unaware of the slights is "the other." Usually we think of the other as anyone who isn't white, but this book subverts that expectation. Racism isn't the fault of the injured body; it's the fault of the body doing the injuring. The assumption has always been that only bodies of color are the ones to blame for racism. This book along with the conversation last month suggests otherwise. So to continue the momentum of last month's convo I've decided to pick Paul Beatty's The Sellout for August. This book may be the best novel I've ever read, simply because there's a freedom in where it allows itself to go. Not to mention it's funny af. If Dave Chappelle wrote literary fiction, he would've written this. Really good comedy makes you think, so if you're down for good laughs, good convo, and a really good time, we meet Thurs, 8/25 @ Washington Sq. Park at 7pm. Come through.

Links to where you can get the book on the low, below:

Amazon (Paperback)

Amazon (Hardcover)

Literaryswag BBQ

As Literaryswag grows, we'll continue to grow with it. This year will mark the first Literaryswag BBQ!!! In addition to the BBQ serving as the culminating event of the Literaryswag Competition--the winners will be presented with their prizes there--the BBQ is a way to enjoy good food, good music and have some good fun before the summer ends. (We're still waiting for the park permit, but it will be in Brooklyn). To ensure this fun I started a gofundme for the BBQ. I'm looking to raise $7,500 to cover the food, music and everything else to make it a lituation. So help out if you can! 

If you're unable to give money, I'd greatly appreciate your time and energy as I'll need all the help I can get making sure everyone has a good time. If you're interested in being a Literaryswag BBQ volunteer, click below.