Woodbine, Dr Onaje: Black Gods of the Asphalt Part Two

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The transcendent experience of street basketball is the topic of two conversations with Onaje X. O. Woodbine, author of “Black Gods of the Asphalt: Religion, Hip-Hop, and Street Basketball.”  Woodbine grew up in the inner-city of Roxbury, Massachusetts, became a skilled street basketball player and attended Yale University on a basketball scholarship.  After two years as a star player on the Yale team, he chose a different life path and quit.

After graduating from Yale, Woodbine earned his Ph.D. in religious studies from Boston University.  His book, “Black Gods of the Asphalt” presents a social-anthropological view of this inner-city sport where coaches often assume the role of father, mentor and friend.  He contrasts the lessons learned on the street basketball courts, with those learned at the predominantly white basketball courts and locker rooms of Yale University.

Onaje Woodbine visited with Radio Curious by phone on August 13, 2016, from his home in Andover, Massachusetts. In part one we discussed his experiences growing up and playing on the basketball courts in the inner city and how that differend from the Ivy League schools he later went to. In part two, we began our conversation when I asked him to explain the ethnographic research and methods he used in making his book, “Black Gods of the Asphalt.”

The book Dr. Onaje Woodbine recommends is “Jesus and the Disinherited” by Howard Thurman.

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Woodbine, Dr Onaje: Black Gods of the Asphalt Part One

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The transcendent experience of street basketball is the topic of two conversations with Onaje X. O. Woodbine, author of “Black Gods of the Asphalt: Religion, Hip-Hop, and Street Basketball.”  Woodbine grew up in the inner-city of Roxbury, Massachusetts, became a skilled street basketball player and attended Yale University on a basketball scholarship.  After two years as a star player on the Yale team, he chose a different life path and quit.

After graduating from Yale, Woodbine earned his Ph.D. in religious studies from Boston University.  His book, “Black Gods of the Asphalt” presents a social-anthropological view of this inner-city sport where coaches often assume the role of father, mentor and friend.  He contrasts the lessons learned on the street basketball courts, with those learned at the predominantly white basketball courts and locker rooms of Yale University.

Onaje Woodbine visited with Radio Curious by phone on August 13, 2016, from his home in Andover, Massachusetts, and began by describing his relationship with his father, Dr. Robert Woodbine.

The book Dr. Onaje Woodbine recommends is “Jesus and the Disinherited” by Howard Thurman.

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Davey Frankel, Rasselas Lakew: He Twice Ran and Won Olympic Marathons Barefoot

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It is said that in the early part of World War II, it took 500,000 Italian soldiers to occupy Ethiopia, and one Ethiopian soldier to conquer Rome.

19 years later, this one Ethiopian solder, Abebe Bikila competed barefoot in the 1960 Olympiad marathon foot race in Rome, Italy, leaving all other runners in the dust. Winning the 42 kms, 195 meter race, Abebe Bikila became the first African to win an Olympic Gold Medal. Abebe Bikila, a shepherd from the plains of Abyssinia in rural Ethiopia, had never been away from his family and stunned the world with his extraordinary victory. He became the hero of Rome Olympiad and for years to come a national hero in Ethiopia. Four years later he won the Marathon at the Tokyo Olympiad becoming the first person to win two Olympic Marathon Gold Medals.

In this edition of Radio Curious we visited by phone with the Davey Frankel, from his home in Berlin, Germany and Rasselas Lakew, from his home in New York City. They are the writers, directors and producers of the movie “The Athlete.” the story of Abebe Bikila. Rasselas Lakew portrays Abebe Bikila in the lead role of The Athlete, and was born and grew up in Addis Abbaba, Ethiopia.

“The Athlete” tells the powerful and tragic story Abebe Bikila, a quiet man, who in many ways meets the Homer s description in the Odyssey: ” the distant Ethiopians, the father outposts of mankind, half of whom live where the sun goes down and half where the rises.”

Beyond igniting East Africa s dominance in long distance running, Abebe Bikila became a quiet champion of hope for a continent that was in the midst of its struggle for self-determination. During his career Bikila won 12 of the 15 marathons he entered. Abebe Bikila died of a brain hemorrhage on October 23rd, 1972, two and a half years after his final race and victory in Norway. He was 41 years old.

This interview with Davey Frankel and Rasselas Lakew, which was recorded on May 9, 2011, began when I asked them explain what prompted them to write and produce “The Athlete.”

The movie that Davey Frankel recommends is “My Life Without Me,” directed by Isabel Coixet. The movie that Rasselas La Lakew recommends is “Living Russian, Man With A Movie Camera,” directed by Dziga Vertov.

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Cantu, Dr. Robert — Concussions: The Impact of Sports On Kids’ Brains

Concussion injuries to our children is the topic of this edition of Radio Curious as we visit with Dr. Robert Cantu, the author of “Concussions and Our Kids”.  Dr. Cantu’s medical career centers on neurosurgery and sports medicine and is dedicated to addressing the concussion crisis through research, treatment, education and prevention.

Dr. Cantu writes that the genetic inheritance of a child begins to control his or her athletic skills at about age 14.  This is similar to the evolutionary influence that compels young teenagers to set a mark and establish status and belonging within their band or tribe, often through athletic prowess.  In the evolutionary history of our species this was necessary for basic survival.  Now in the 21st century, many of our children do the same thing, many times with strong family support, yet at the same time, subjecting themselves to radical injury.  Dr. Cantu and I spoke by phone from his office near Boston, Massachusetts, on September 24, 2012.  I began by asking him to comment on his analysis.

The book Dr. Robert Cantu recommends, which was also made into a movie is “Head Games,” by Chris Nowinski.

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