As someone who has himself "disappeared" from Mudcat for months at a time ~ without, in my case, even giving notice ~ I certainly understand. Tell her please don't worry about it.

Of course, we'll all miss (or certainly should miss) Azizi's contributions as one of the very few actual black people, if not the only one, to grace us with their presense.

As someone who lives in a racially diverse community and whose primary musical interest and orientation involves the similarly diverse (but primarily African-American) indigenous culture of New Orleans, I feel a little bit abandoned.

Of course, we still have Jerry Rasmussen, who's Black by marriage and church affiliation, not merely by musical taste in the sense that I am.

Now, there's nothing wrong with being white ~ I make no apologies, nor do I even feel a bit of guilt, for being born without melanin from a long line of northern-European palefaces. There's not even anything wrong with a group being all-white (as we at Mudcat may now be), as long as it's not a matter of exclusionary policy. But it is unfortunate, and a bit of a limitation.