the rasx() context

Contents:

• ::: Ward Churchill: History of COINTELPRO and the FBI
• ::: Amduat: Morning Walk in the Summer
• ::: Saundra Quarterman: Poetry Reading at the World Stage

::: Ward Churchill: History of COINTELPRO and the FBI

::: ::: http://kintespace.com/p_ward_churchill0.html

“Ward LeRoy Churchill (born October 2, 1947) is an American writer and political activist. He was a professor of ethnic studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder from 1990 to 2007. The primary focus of his work is on the historical treatment of political dissenters and Native Americans by the United States. His work features controversial and provocative claims, written in a direct–often confrontational–style.” By the distance of the eternally-pretentious, “objective” tone of this Wikipedia.org article, I can tell that yet again the voice, words and ways of Ward Churchill are not welcome—but, as the title of one of his books declares, there is A Little Matter of Genocide.

The modern sequel of formal and explicit 19^th century North American genocide contains the very successful 20^th-century social experiments of the FBI. In “History of COINTELPRO and the FBI,” a recording produced by Maria Gilardin of tucradio.org, Ward Churchill speaks in honor of Leonard Peltier on the 26th anniversary of the firefight on the Pine Ridge reservation on June 26, 1975. What does Marcus Garvey have to do with the American Indian Movement? Ward Churchill has the mentally healthy threads that bind to build a strong shelter on the open plain of the “main” stream…

::: Amduat: Morning Walk in the Summer

::: ::: http://kintespace.com/p_amduat0.html

The moniker Amduat is the name my eldest son is using at amduat.deviantart.com. I was surprised and pleased to know that he is writing poetry. It takes very little to indulge my pride and present my son, his work, here in the kinté space!

::: Saundra Quarterman: Poetry Reading at the World Stage

::: ::: http://kintespace.com/p_saundra_quarterman.html

This March 2007 reading at The World Stage in Leimert Park, Los Angeles was shocking to me as this was the first time I ever saw my friend for over 20 years, stage and screen actor Saundra Quarterman, performing in “my” old venue.

“OKRA PUSSA A vegetable full of nourishing elements Latin Name: Abelmoschus esculentus Other Comercial Names: Ochro, Okoro, Quimgombo, Quingumbo, Ladies Fingers, Gombo, Kopi Arab, Bhindi, Bendi, Bamia, Pusa, Sawan, Indian Okra Certified produce by Global G.A.P. Okra, also known as lady’s finger, offers a superb taste. It is also nutritious and medicinal. It is a good source of Vitamin C, Folic Acid, essential vitamins as well as Magnesium, Manganese, and Potassium. Okra is also high in dietary fibber. The species apparently originated in the Ethiopian Highlands, though the manner of distribution from there is undocumented. The Egyptians and Moors of the 12th and 13th centuries used the Arab word for the plant, suggesting that it had come from the east. A pickled Okra pod may be used to replace the olive in a Martini to create an ‘Okratini’.”

“Leafy Green Vegetables in African Food, Health and Wealth: Part I.”

Suite101.com: “Patrick Maundu, a Kenyan ethno botanist estimates that there are more than 45,000 species of plants in Sub-Saharan Africa, of which about 1,000 can be eaten as green leafy vegetables. The problem currently facing the continent is that the knowledge is passed through the generations with little documentation. The available documentation faces lack of uniformity due to the use of many dialects that offer descriptions of similar products in different names. This is a hurdle that has resulted in making some species apparently unknown and may lead to some species falling into disuse or simply being lost.”

“Lost Crops of Africa: Volume II: Vegetables”

Books.nap.edu: “This report is the second in a series of three evaluating underexploited African plant resources that could help broaden and secure Africa’s food supply. The volume describes the characteristics of 18 little-known indigenous African vegetables (including tubers and legumes) that have potential as food- and cash-crops but are typically overlooked by scientists and policymakers and in the world at large. The book assesses the potential of each vegetable to help overcome malnutrition, boost food security, foster rural development, and create sustainable landcare in Africa. Each species is described in a separate chapter, based on information gathered from and verified by a pool of experts throughout the world. Volume I describes African grains and Volume III African fruits.”

“Trailer – ‘Mr Okra’ (Sundance 2010 Preview)”

Shadow And Act: “The story goes… in the age of fast food, strip malls, and mega-markets, Mr. Okra stands as a stark contrast to the high technology and shiny produce markets of the modern world. His is a different world. His is a world steeped in tradition, complicated by its diversity, but simple in its truth. His world is New Orleans. In a city known for its music and food, and its characters, Mr. Okra travels the back streets of the Bywater, Tremé and the 9th ward, selling his vegetables from his iconic truck, one okra at a time. His unique promotion has made him a fixture in New Orleans and an integral part of the fabric of this community.”

This is a quick note-to-self-and-maybe-you about my latest advances in my muddy field (as your view of WPF might be smooth, green pastures).

The ViewModel and the DataTrigger

Binding the DataTrigger with a ViewModel property is a sure way to remove UI-specific references from ViewModel definitions. When your ViewModel is referencing anything in System.Windows.Media then you might have a problem. I’m personally OK with referencing Brushes but not something like Visibility states. In fact, there is a BooleanToVisibilityConverter available for use in Expression Blend that strongly suggests that a ViewModel should have Boolean properties related to Visibility—and this relationship can be handled by the DataTrigger.

• BooleanToVisibilityConverter.Convert() Method: “Visibility.Visible if value is true; otherwise, Visibility.Collapsed.”
• Christian Mosers: “A typical example is to bind a Boolean member to the Visibility property. Since the visibility is an enum value that can be Visible, Collapsed or Hidden, you need a value converter.”

Registering ViewModel instances in a ‘Manager’/Mediator

When a popular system like Prism is slated for some future scrum iteration (deep into the future) then you have to roll your own way of allowing your ViewModel instances to “talk” to each other. In my little, squalid world, I need ViewModel instances to be chatty when multiple instances of the same Window/UserControl declaratively bound to a ViewModel are generated.

My little, squalid solution is to make a local ViewModelManager class—I mean “local” to respect the local namespace where the visuals live. My ViewModelManager.Register() static method is used in the constructors of the relevant ViewModel classes. This ‘registration’ process features adding the ViewModel instance to a List<ViewModelBase> where ViewModelBase is my base class based on some code from Josh Smith and Laurent Bugnion. This list is now a LINQ-to-objects database ready and willing for my stupid chatty tricks.

This Register() technique by the way can be used in a “View Manager”—I need this to support non-MVVM stuff (imperative data-retrieval operations).

Duplicating Properties among ViewModel Definitions Looks like a “Base” Class Is Needed

Take this real-world scenario where I had to show a floating window containing a replica of a UserControl instance appearing as a Panel in a parent Window. This UserControl is made up of smaller UserControl definitions—each with its respective ViewModel. I can tell whether each instance of a ViewModel is an original (from the Panel—not in the floating Window) because of the ViewModel.IsOriginal property on all of the instances. This strongly implies that all ViewModel classes bound to its respective UserControl derive from a common base class.

By the way, this may be common sense but it’s important for me to note that the ‘registration’ procedure I mentioned earlier take place in the subclass—not in the common base class.

When Trapped in a Code-Behind Situation, Binding Multiple Controls of the Same Type to a Common Control Helps

How do you change the Opacity of 23 TextBlock elements at once without a ViewModel? One dirty trick is to use Element binding to a ‘chosen’ element. By changing this ‘chosen’ element all of the other bound elements change. This is a poor man’s way of getting around an imperative, non-MVVM situation.

Thursday, Jan 21

Liberator Magazine/Haiti fundraiser
[Poet's Lounge, Brooklyn]
The Liberator Magazine is partnering with Inner Truth Collaborations to present a special one-year anniversary edition of Brooklyn’s Poets Lounge Open Mic.

There is a $5 cover, with all proceeds benefiting The Liberator Magazine. We’re also collaborating with House of Art to collect donations for Haiti throughout the evening. We invite you to come enjoy a evening of poetry, music, food and drink in the heart of Bedstuy Brooklyn.

Brown Sugar Bar & Restaurant
433 Marcus Garvey Blvd, Brooklyn [map]
A/C trains to Utica Avenue

Thursday January 21st
730pm-1030pm
11pm afterparty celebration

Our hearts and minds are with Haiti:
Read our continuing online coverage at http://weblog.liberatormagazine.com/search/label/haiti

My “phone confrontation” from this time last year led me to the very non-iPhone-like Nokia 6300. This anachronistic investment is still paying off: over the last couple of months I’ve been using the Nokia PC Suite to connect to the Internet.

I was non-consciously biased toward the assumption that this stuff would not work with my phone but, through the 6300 Bluetooth support, it works.