'I Got A Woman' and the Birth of Soul

A little black boy "RC" lived in the rural south, who listened to a divey cafe's juke box where his mother washed the dishes. He heard Count Basie and Nat King Cole, but also a great collection of classical music. The cafe owner encouraged RC to dabble on the honky ivories, and then reinforced whatever was found to sound good. The boy swayed to the rhythm on his soda crates chair. He lent his ear and built his comping chops through such influences as Art Tatum, Guitar Slim, hillbilly guitar strummers, the church choir he sang in, and Chopin.

Years later as a traveling musician listening to the radio while driving down the road, together with trumpeter Renald Richard, Ray Charles adapted the hymn, "My Jesus Is All the World To Me" into a revolutionary new genre.

"I Got a Woman" (Track 1, 1954) was the start of soul music, "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm and blues into a form of funky, secular testifying" (Rock and Roll Hall of Fame). He was soon further testifying on the forthright secular mnnnhmmmm's and uuuunnhhhhh's of lovemaking in one of my favorite recordings, "What'd I Say (Parts I & II)" (Track 2, 1959). His open-throated, emotional call and response style of vocals with some good moanin' and healthy repetition, his rhythmic piano with drum kit accentuated backbeat and horn accompaniment, and his natural coalescence of secular and sacred, rhythm and blues and gospel evolved into the foundation of soul music. Not only did other great soul artists rise, but soul music precipitated the Motown sound, funk, rock n' roll, surf music, slow jam, and further, affected all music as we know it. Many artists have covered the catalyst of soul, "I Got a Woman," including Stevie Wonder, the John Mayor Trio, Johnny Cash and June Carter, Elvis (Track 3, 1956), and the Beatles; the song has even been interpolated in Kanye's "Gold Digger" (Track 4, 2005). My favorite cover, however, is by the legendary Ray Charles himself. You can hear his classical influence smoothly layered with heightened soul as later performed in, "I Gotta Woman" (Track 5).

Approval Responses

Positive reinforcement is naturally reinforcing to use! Using consistent behavior modification techniques we can train for independence, preparing individuals to transfer information and/or skills across new situations beyond the context and relationships from which they were learned. Beyond the natural reinforcement that arises from a successful activity itself, however, we can intervene to modify and shape behavior using immediate, contingent responses. There are several types of approval or disapproval responses, including words either spoken or written, nonverbal expressions either facial or bodily, proximity such as nearness or touching, activities either social or individual, and things including materials, food, playthings, awards, etc. Dr. Madsen compiled an extensive overview of possible responses for each reinforcing or punishing approval so that we could develop those which work for us and the populations we serve.

I want to expand my repertoire of approval responses, and so selected those which might be appropriate. Please feel free to read which from the book I selected, or better yet - turn to page 198 (or page 260) in Teaching / Discipline: A Positive Approach for Educational Development to develop your own!

Words:

• Awesome
• Great
• Nice
• Clean
• That's wonderful
• That's right
• Very good
• For sure!
• Sure thing
• I like the way you __________
• Thank you for __________
• Clear thinking!
• I appreciate your attention
• You catch on quickly
• Exactly
• Absolutely
• Good responses
• I really like the way (name) is __________
• Cool
• How creative!
• Interesting questions
• That is respectable
• I'm proud of you
• You've really learned/grown/changed a lot
• You make being a teacher worthwhile
• I'm so happy you enjoy __________
• You will go far

Nonverbal Expressions:

• Eye contact
• Smiling
• Grinning
• Widening eyes
• Nodding
• Raising eyebrows
• Happy laughter or chuckling
• Cheering
• Rolling eyes enthusiastically
• Clapping hands
• Raising arms
• Signaling O.K.
• Thumbs up
• Dancing
• Taking a fast breath

Proximity:

• Interacting outside of sessions
• Sitting within the group
• Standing alongside
• Walking among
• Gently guiding
• Pausing while transferring objects
• Leaning towards
• Patting back
• Patting shoulder
• Touching arm
• Dancing with
• Shaking hands

Activities:

• Show and tell; displaying or sharing one's work
• Presenting one's hobby or skill
• Collecting and/or putting away materials
• Helping others
• Contributing to group discussions
• Being a group leader
• Recognizing birthdays
• Special seating arrangements
• Choosing activities
• Listening to music
• Outdoor activities
• Musical games
• Dancing
• Talent shows

Things:

• Books
• Magazines
• Markers
• Crayons
• Coloring pages
• Word puzzles
• Sudoku puzzles
• Paint supplies
• Colored paper
• Board games
• Basketball
• Playing cards
• Hand lotion
• Musical toys
• Drums
• Guitar
• Keyboard
• Karaoke machine
• Stereo/CD Player
• Bingo prizes, i.e., hats, deodorant, pencil pouches, socks, etc.
• Gum
• Sugar free cookies
• Stamps and letter stationary

Variety is the spice of approval responses - mix it up! Attend to individual differences and reinforce accordingly. Find what works for you, those you serve, and the environment. These lists are my own, they are what I find fit my personality, either university students or individuals with serious mental illness, and the classroom or the psychiatric hospital. Now, find which complements you. And remember, positive reinforcement is naturally reinforcing to use!

24/7: 20 Poems for October

October's Twenty-For the Seventh post honors the poetry of past, present, and family. Reviewing my folders and files of poems brought back many memories. Poetry has long been a part of my life, and each poem captures a small part of who I was, what I was going through, what I was curious about, and so on. I have written and drawn in journals, but the necessary partnership between a poem and its reader forces interpretation and engagement; Reading old poems captures some essence in a way force-fed diary entries never could. It was interesting to observe changing vocabulary, trends, interests, people, and beliefs. Some common themes included language, spirituality, ambiguity, family, seeing the bigger picture across time or space, love, and home.

Also, my sisters wrote several poems on one of many family road trips to the summer cottage in New England. I like them a bunch, and I like their poems as well. Dad, a true poet and songwriter, has written many lyrics that loop in my ears and motivate my own writing. A poem he penned while visiting Tallahassee concludes this list.

1) Introduction
by James "MANGO, Bengal Timpani, Grampa Bomba Bombe Bebop" Eaton Riley

Opening my eyes as I’m leaving the birth canal
On a motorcycle jousting the setting sun
In Nirvana in my Mind in a Monastery in India
Is celebrating my Grandpa’s twenty-first with a beer in one hand and a cigar in the other
And opening my leaves to absorb the sunlight.

2) Bridges

When you vote for me, I promise to imagine you a bridge.
Serving as senator I brought together compound words and contractions,
And yes, there were a few mistakes.
Stillbirths. Blackmail. Even bagpipes hit the fan.
Who’ll ever use why’ll?
But our children will forever have bedtimes.
Superman and Batman reign in the comic book stores.
Businessmen and businesswomen alike will never go a day without briefcases.
And what about touchdowns or threesomes?
But all of these bridges are still just building blocks.
Yes, a bridge, a new bridge. A better bridge than ever built before.
My opponent likes to talk about money.
You, too, may be wondering what this great construction will cost.
And, well, would you like to know?
Nothing. 
It’s something these United States still can afford!
You see, I’d like to build you a few poems.

It’s time to bridge minds, people,
We can’t all die alone.

This fine man standing across from me may promise economic stability, 
But I’m here offering you a few glimpses of completeness.
Of true love.
Of heart-wrenching emotion.
I’ve got a lot of life to share, and plenty of death to muse.
As one final note this evening,
If president, I’ll push for sackpenciln’taphone and kinshipthroatknothole.
Thank you, and God bless America.

3) Metaphor

the grasses that blanket the field are the grasshoppers leaping through
the grasshoppers prancing about are the mice that squirming
the mice that explore the ground are the hawks that navigate the sky
the hawks that travel far are the fungi that never leave home
the fungi that live are the nutrients that give life
the nutrients that feed are the grasses that feast

4) A poem untitled and burnt so nobody would remember

Take something simple
And make it more complex
Why should he, have a house key
When he can have a key ring
It’s not a sign of knowledge
It’s not a sign of power
Maybe it opens doors

Maybe it proves possession
Lets him into his house
As if he had somewhere to stay
That’s what the doctor has proscribed
We could let him into the government
Maybe he has loose change
Teach him to speak new
Oil his rusted joints
Send him to a restaurant

What he wants is soup
All they have is lobster
He irritates the chef

He said, “I want the alphabet!”
And we said, “No! No! No!”
We called for the cops

Stole his artistic license
Fed him to the lions
Banished his corpse

Took someone unhealthy
And fried his brain

5) Colours of the Wind

Leaving the shadow where it belongs on the wall,
He creeps behind pictures when they are ready to fall
From grace to the skirmish of instant satisfaction.

The painter’s intentions evoke eighteen dimensions.

Abstracting the meaning with the light just beyond,
Implying the subject and the silhouette correspond,
He leaves the shadow where it belongs on the wall.

Creeping through his paintings when spells of sanity fall,
The decorative mask that he wears for society’s satisfaction
Is not that face which resides within his private dimensions.

There is no truth and there is no art in his great beyond.

What is real and what is imagined will never correspond.

But even where the breeze is gentle on the cheeks of four-year olds,
All the hollow colors of the wind will still blow.

6) Go Outside and Meet Somebody or Do Something or Do Something With Somebody

There’s these walls!
These walls won’t fall!
No doors, no windows.
We hear how much fun the antelopes are having outside.
The birds chirping!
The worms wiggling, foxes having so much fun outside.
Everyone in this place is nuts!
This place is for hermits!
No whores, no widows.
We hear how much life the antagonists are swimming in.
The planet earth’s spinning!
The markets are mingling, the dollars buying so many lives outside.
Debts are being paid!
Paid with what the wide world was paved!
No Fab Fours, no yin-yang mojos were
We ever going to have if we didn’t fight the good fight,
Just to get some touch!
Tasting everything, fighting tools and brimstone.
O’ glory glory hallelujah!
Hell is happening!
No floors, no angles,

We’re four dimensions
           four dimensions
           four dimensions
           four dimensions
           four dimensions
           four dimensions
           four dimensions
           four dimensions
           four dimensions
           four dimensions
           four dimensions
           four dimensions
           four dimensions here in existentialist land.
Existing!
The exit.

7) Water

Puddle, tsunami,
River flowing but never changing
Carving landscapes, cradling depths, crossing the horizon
Awestruck, always, and becoming awesome
Gas in the atmosphere,
Ice hurtling past Pluto
          Always and forever an infant,
          Always and forever a guru

8) City Rain

Sometimes it’s nice
On a rainy day
In a detached sort of mood
While the skies are gray

When the college radio resonates like the soundtrack to your life
You hold it together like the clouds soon to pour
Still the air conditioning is comfortable, as usual
And you’ve driven this road before

You’re finished for the afternoon
And accomplishment leaves the heart half empty
It feels less lonely
Knowing the rain falls on everybody in the city

9) Would you walk around if you didn’t have hands?

We can live the life of a sun outside of the narrowing flashlight beam.
Broken clocks save the world just that much by removing their batteries in the morning.
Hospital visiting hours can last maybe a little bit later tonight.
We could all bear to breathe just a little deeper.

Alligators aren’t concerned about weighing over eighty pounds.
Nightmares never hurt once you’ve struck the ground.
Computers turn on by the time you’ve brushed and dressed.
What does it feel like to give birth to a baby?
Tell her the sunshine emerges from her face.
We could eat healthier foods and they taste better anyways.
We hallow our own ground;
Yes, you would still walk around.

10) Discipline Is Freedom

counting down to zero
and those that make it
stick around for the whipping
a whiplash so injurious it leaves them clinging for more
enduring the depths of the deepest oceans
they’ll learn what it is to fly

approximating this spontaneous flight for months
my wingspans reach and I am free
to explore in length this endless endeavor
so I write this letter all at once
for it is my resignation from irreality
into the liberating abyss of structure 

11) My Life Is Not My Own

I used to think we lived and died alone;
Now I know my life is not my own.

While my guitar sleeps under dust in the corner,
It is myself who is the estranged foreigner.
The shriveling garden is a sign
That the wilting responsibility is all mine.
What a child sees
Is what the family will come to be.

History and infinity designed this moment;
However it is consumed, forever the universe is something different.
I used to think we lived and died alone;
Now I know my life is not my own.

I am not a worthless speck
I am the design on the Jaguar's back.
I think in thoughts that will be said
I act in deeds I hope to spread
I am half of my every relationship
I am a vote defining my citizenship
I am the change I want to see in the world that changes me.

It isn't about about the child visiting their granma and grampy,
But the grandma and grandpa loving their grandchild grow.
I used to think we lived and died alone;
Now I know my life is not my own.

12) Picture-perfect, Beneath and Beyond

Meaning: a faultless image
Days are not water drops wasted
but coupled with sand and dribbled into
drip castles dabbling into memories,
the way water falls forever
is how love exists.
Even lullabies the children sing 
are less familiar than your touch.
As paintings convey reality,
          I look to the world and everything is my girl,
          I look to you and see everything in the world.

13) Love’s Years Flying

They smile, while cleaning
Dusty walls anchoring
Rusty nails suspending
Simple picture frames housing
Convivial pictures reminding
The older people forgetting
Golden memories playing
Childhood games laughing
While wood beams were shaping
The home where they are grandparents today.
It feels like they first met, justly yesterday.

14) Settled Grace

Old age has settled in
Reaping the returns of a life 'someone else' lived.
Creaking of the wheelchair
It's still warming to this brisk morning, too
I and it, waiting on the 'other side' of busy city intersections.

Thick meaningless comfort is fur
I pretend it still smells of partners long gone
Unreeling the memories of lives dear ones lived
And the winds whirling through the lines of my face
Still stir a smile, a faint brush with grace

15) Lullaby

vinyl records fill my ears with parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme
before my eyes my parents travel through time
raindrops pit and patter as the dark of night settles in
the temperature drops and cools my skin
an aroma of moist earth is refreshing

pops and crackles accompany Paul Simon stomp, stomp, stomping
and to the beat my heart is swept
forever my comfort in the music will be kept
bass slaps and thunder cracks shake my stomach to sleep
I lay and let the moment steep 

for someday when I smell like a dusty album cover,
still I’ll hum along to Scarborough Fair
listening for answers to life’s same questions
(we know enough to know how little we know)
resting my eyes
mom, dad, the music, the rain,
this lullaby I will always remember

16) Whale Harbor
by Emily "Pandy Valley Moonbeam" Elizabeth Riley

Drops of dew tickle my toes
A woman walks past
With her little girl
They wonder why I’m in their lawn

17) Blackeyed Susan
by Emily "Pandy Valley Moonbeam" E. Riley
“Hippopotomonstrosesquidliaphobia,”
I reply to the teacher
Correct
Billy punches me in the
Face

18) Crucial Sounds of Hearing
by Erin "Otter Sundance Horizon" K. Riley

Oval shapes of browns, greens, and yellows.
More green.
All around, everywhere.
Five shouts from the head of Pippy Long Stocking.
We’re separated by cones of orange and white.
10 ft. maybe more, maybe less.
Tangled in the minds of the disturbed.
Then spilled out like the blood across the floor.
Mixed in emotions of color.
They trap us.
Cages around lions like lions in cages.
From the words of Pathway to Providence you say?
Says what? You hear? You say? I say? Who says?
Journeys passed packed up soaring across
Birds follow.
Who learns?

19) Hello
by Erin "Otter Sundance Horizon" K. Riley

Goodbye.
Like droplets of rain beating down on your skin.
Like a giant pulling out your insides.
Like a majician with the wrong box.
The blades slice.
Like a broken jack-in-the-box.
Like a shark who won’t let go.
Like a dead-end.
The rain stops.
The giant leaves.
The box breaks.
The doll pops out of the box.
The shark lets go.
It’s an open road.
Hello.

20) Sitting at the Black Dog Café
by Wayne "Jake" Eaton Riley

Sitting at the Black Dog Café
Café au lait
Lake Ella glistens
Morning cool air
Fountains spouting
Cool misty water
Blowing in the breeze…

Oak trees and dogwood
North Florida but deep south
Scattered palm trees
But mostly moss draped oaks
Sipping coffee
While old and young
Walk around the lake
Dogs and babies
Students and residents
Poets and folksingers…
Vibrant Tallahassee morning!