Carla Scheri
“From The Archives….Cahla’s Tawkin’” is a collection of essays written between July 2001 and June 2005. Most are in reaction to current events of that particular place in time.
In this era of lightning quick, 24/7 media, we experience a revolving door of news items—each important event instantly displaced by the next. “From the Archives….Cahla’s Tawkin’” creates a timeline of current events as they collide with the life of an everyday observer. We all attach memories and feelings to times, places, and instances of note, both worldly and deeply personal. Feelings can never be discounted; yours or anyone else’s. We all have them. We all feel. Sometimes we judge. Sometimes we empathize. Sometimes we feel helpless, perplexed by the world around us. At some point, we all feel like we are outside looking in, which in turn proves the theory that all sides of the story must be acknowledged to gain the full perspective. Whether examining the nature of racial profiling after September 11, or ruminating on the death of the Pope, Cahla’s Tawkin’ offers one woman’s opinionated perspective of the whirling, twirling planet we call home. You might agree. You might not agree. But you should read “From The Archives….” just to find out.
“Cahla’s Tawkin’” started as a column on daemonrecords.com, the website of the ground breaking, music making, activist seeking, genre tweaking independent record label. “From The Archives….” is the first release from Atlanta based writer Carla Scheri. Carla was raised on Catholicism, cured by MTV, revitalized by Emerson College and set free into the world to blaze her own fresh, clean path.
-------------------- When I lived in Los Angeles, one night I was driving on the freeway in my 1973 Chevy Impala. Out of nowhere, this huge, bright light comes shining in my car from the driver's side. After I got over the freakout, I realized it was the LAPD. They were looking into my car. You wanna know why? Because it happens to be that a good portion of the Hispanic, Latino, and Chicano kids drive old Chevys, Fords, Dodges etc. The cops weren't scrutinizing the driver of the car randomly, they assumed I was a gangbanger type. Well, that's what I'm assuming they thought, that I was a Latino worth looking into. That never happened to me after I started driving my Subaru around. And you know what the kicker is? I was more than a little buzzed when that happened. [I know, LAME, young and stupid.] But ya know what? I got away with it... ---Profilin', December 2001
--------------------As far as I can tell, the anger and frustration born out of life's previous troubles bursts out of you, and on to someone else. An uninvolved, unsuspecting someone else who doesn't even deserve it. They may not even have known you then, if they even know you at all. Thus, anger and violence is passed on, only to be absorbed and passed on again, person to person, like the flu. And soon, already I think, it gets buried in each and every one of us. And there it is. And there she was, jumping out of that truck. She landed 8 punches on a total stranger, with an audience I might add, and then danced back to her ride like she had just won the Lottery. ---Leaving Savannah, June 2005
