Jalylah Burrell

Hello, Babar

Seattle-bred, Brooklyn-based cultural critic Jalylah Burrell riffs on anything and everything.

Be Of Good Cheer: A Playlist for Moments of Loss and Loathing

Posted 11/13/2007 at 1:03 PM | Comment?

My friend Courtney texted me Sunday night about the passing of Kanye West's mother Dr. Donda West. Sad news indeed. God rest her soul and God comfort her family members and friends. A retired distinguished academe, most of us knew Dr. West as an indefatigable champion of her child. I always appreciated Dr. West's steadfastness in that regard. When you have great ambition, you need great self-confidence, which doubting or downpressing friends and family stunt. I have long had a village (in the old Negro tradition, I was raised by many) co-signing my worth and gold-starring my future. From my childhood in Seattle, teen sojourn abroad and college years in Atlanta, I had people tending to my psychic well being, pronouncing me a leader, smart and, of course, special, and, when necessary, offering occasional correction. I didn't appreciate their impact on my success until I moved to New York and was without a healthy support network. I still did fairly well in my pursuits but seldom heard a good word from many of the folk in my new environment and it certainly took its toll. A public speaker since my single digits, I started to stutter and experienced occasional panic attacks. I held it together on the outside but was falling apart emotionally. My distant networks left their fair share of concerned voicemails and sent uplifting e-missives to which I seldom responded. Self-doubt is a bitch to banish.

Now, fully attuned to the importance of believers, I'm compelled to acknowledge the folk who keep me sane, who encourage my star gazing and put a little something on my space shuttle ticket, while honoring a woman I didn't know but from all accounts did just that for her son. And what more blog-appropriate format than a cheerying playlist that begins in doubt and concludes triumphantly.