All Hallows' Eve

Happy Halloween Everyone.

See you next weekend...

My City...Heartbreak

On the last Monday of last month (April 2015), I watched a part of my city burn. It seemed really surreal. Especially since most of the places that were front and center was in places that I frequently passed through in my youth, early adulthood and before I left Baltimore; most of the time for work.

As I watched coverage on a national media conglomerate, I couldn’t quite place the feeling I was feeling. Didn’t know if it was empathy, fear, shock or sadness…It wasn’t until the next day when I read a quote from a young lady who lived in one of the neighborhoods that I figured out what it was…Heartbreak.

I’ve always said over the last few years living in Baltimore, that the youth of today have become reckless.  Most of them are coming from broken homes and also are subjected to a school system that is really bad when it comes to education. Some of them were raised by children themselves so they have no sense of respect for themselves or others. No sense of right or wrong…no moral compass…no moral ambiguity if you will.

Whenever I travel anywhere and strike up a convo with anyone and I tell them I’m from Baltimore, those familiar with Baltimore go, “The Wire made the city look like its bad and dangerous…” My response has always been Baltimore is way worse than what you see on The Wire. Now the world as a whole knows it too.

Baltimore is one of the many cities in America that we need to fix at the grassroots level. We can’t wait until we send them to our poor school systems to try and nurture them…we need to get to them before they leave the home. Show them that with hard work and motivation things can be better. We need to show them that there is more to life and this world other than what you see outside of your window. We need to show them how to dream again…

-Namaste
 

This Week...

Hello faithful few. I have been watching the happenings in my hometown of Baltimore this past week and let's just saw WOW...

I have an essay that I started this week but I didn't get it finished in time for this week's post because of my hectic work schedule. I will try to get it finished and posted for next week by Thursday. I'm not making any promises but that's my goal.

Until next week...

-Namaste

Hmmmm TECH IS 4 DA Nerds and Geeks...in all of us...

So it seems that the informationsuperwebsthoroughway is in a form of simplistic yet futuristic look to its web pages. I mean society with in itself is evolving into a sort of digital copy of itself. In my honest "techno-geekian" opinion, we will totally miss the full-on holographic phase of technology. We will instead be viewed in how many pixels we are;) That's totally ok because I feel that the technology that techies a generation ago wished for is extremely outdated. Only beef with our ever-evolving culture now is that the companies rush the tech out to consumers. Some of this high powered devices are in the hands of people who are quite ready for the explosiveness that companies give them. Then they not only have to contend with getting the hang of it but they also have to contend with 5 or 6 months later a device or piece of hardware coming out that totally replaces or make their freshly "new" items seem obsolete. There is in the future going to be a real market for people who are in the "know" when it comes to things like this. I wouldn't feel too bold if I said I believe that is the reason there are some many tech blogs and channels out there now. Well I just wanted to give you guys my spin on the evolution of tech as it stands so to speak. And as I am typing this of the new simplistic layout of Blogger, I feel like something is missing from the setup of this page. I guess I will know how it goes once I hit publish. -Namaste

If I must...I must...

Konnichi'wa minna-san! Today I read an interview that Emory Douglas did in JUXTAPOZ magazine that I found to be highly informative. Emory Douglas is a revolutionary artist who was also the Minister of Culture for the Black Panther Party. He designed the majority of their literature and propaganda. He also designed the iconic image of the party, The Panther. He, in the article talked about the relevance of race in our modern society. He did this piece of Obama where Obama apologized on behalf of the United States for Slavery. This was a powerful piece of revolution art in that its meaning could be viewed as quite controversial. Whereas Shepard Fairey and others were creating empowering works of art incorporating Our newly elected, Mr Douglas on the other hand took the opportunity to make you question the the state of the union as it stands now. To me this work was spot on. Its a piece that makes me look at where my work has evolved(or devolved) from. I recall being back in college and exploring race in my work and how informative and enlightening that was to me. The last few years of I have gotten away from that subject matter. Apart of that, I believe is because I questioned whether or not race is still relevant in art. I mean we still have issues of race and race identity in today's society but I wondered/wonder how deep it runs in art. How I can get away using race in my work and not come off as angry black man. Reading this interview gave me hope. It gave me that good feeling I always get when I see someone out there making work that makes you question the status quo and whether or not race still really matters. This article really has me excited about the prospects of creating work go forward. I look forward to having you guys along for the journey.


-Namaste