Soul On Ice…The Genesis

Soul on Ice was the beginning- the genesis.

I was in high school when I read

Soul On Ice by Eldridge Cleaver.

I was so intrigued and impassioned by the civil rights movement after I read

Malcolm X’s autobiography.

I didn’t just see it as a civil rights movement but as a human rights movement.

Reading Soul On Ice left such an impression on me.

I had no idea the seeds that were planted in my mind as a result of reading this book.

Really, I can say that it is the book that has had the most impact on me as a creative person.

Intellectually and creatively, Soul On Ice gave me breath.

Eldridge Cleaver  received no formal training to be a writer.

He just had the gift- the gift to write truth beautifully even when the truth was so ugly.

The whole book is so REVOLUTIONARY and contentious.
It definitely challenges the status quo and subverts the dominant paradigm!

Aside from its political nucleus, it is full of intellectual orgasms and acidic social commentary.

Eldridge was a Black Panther

 and I believe this to be the real reason for locking him up.

Here is a clip of him speaking:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnCaO2ErCFQ&list=PL628AADF36720D0D8&index=2&feature=plpp_video

He was just too “dangerous” according to “the powers that ruled.” 

The most inspiring thing about Eldridge is that he did not allow “the man” any access to his head.

His mind was all his own.

I shall be re-reading Soul On Ice for the undisclosed time and writing about it again.
There is so much to say!!!

I feel I need to revisit it every so often as each time it offers new insights and creative gems.

It is such a shame that in the university that I went to this book would never be studied- let alone read.

There is so much to learn from it…

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It is as the poet and writer Henry David Thoreau said,
“For a companion, I require one who will make an equal demand on me with my own genius.”
Soul On Ice is this companion for me.
It demands me to look inside and to awaken my potential just as Eldridge did in writing his Magnum Opus/ his great work.

To honour Eldridge Cleaver, Soul On Ice & Revolution, I offer the song Revolution Solution by a favourite artist of mine named Thievery Corporation {featuring Perry Farrell}.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFn5E2PJPh4

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Ever since reading Soul On Ice, I have been using the nick name “MYSOULSONICE” as in “MY SOUL IS ON ICE.”

The Love Affair Continues…
and so does the Revolution…