...::Just Suppose... Juxtapose... Just A Pose...

This image is presented by Youth Rights Media. The group empowers youth to--
-- know, protect and advance their rights
-- build "youth power and leadership"
-- use "video media production and community organizing"
-- learn "tools, skills, and strategies for affecting change"

...::In The Midst Of War, Congo Women Find Joy In Hairstyles

...::God's Gonna--

The storm gathered.

New Orleans resident Kimberly Rivers Roberts had just bought a video camera on the street for $10. With no filmmaking experience but feeling something in her bones, she let the camera roll.

The result is the 2008 documentary "Trouble the Water." It has been out for months, but it still haunts me.

The storm speaks through Roberts' camera. You can feel its power-- and its devastation. When you hear that wind howling down the street, if you don't believe in God, I feel sorry for you in the Next Life.

This film is rough. Raw. Unscripted.

Not the sweetly crafted words of a news anchor a thousand miles away, with the facial expression of concern, also sweetly crafted. No.

This is not even the story from the point of view of the rescue helicopters hovering over desperate people on roofs.

This is the story from the point of view of the people on the roofs. And under the roofs who did not make it.

It is also the story of everyday people with that most critical resource: the skill to survive, and to even care about others, in the face of one of the most horrible-- if not the most horrible-- catastrophe of their lives.

In the storm's wake, we see death, destroyed lives, scattered families. And Kimberly Rivers Roberts keeps shooting.

The film was nominated for an Oscar, and won the Grand Jury Prize for documentaries at the Sundance Film Festival.

There is no easy solution here. No happy ending. But when the lights go up, you will have experienced filmmaking as powerful as the storm.

...::Strap-On

...::TV Reporter Turns Ghetto In About ... 3 Seconds

...::Blame It On The Humor

We pointed out the seriousness of alcoholism three items below at the item titled "Blame It On The Alcohol." But who says we don't have a sense of humor?

...::Dear Brother Malcolm, You Live

[Malcolm X's birthday is on the 19th of May]

Dear Brother Malcolm,

Though your body was taken away from us years ago, we want you to know that your spirit lives among us still.

Through our dignity and our pride in our history and our culture, you live.

Through our marches and demonstrations and sacrifices for our people's struggles anywhere and everywhere in the world,
you live.

Through our dedication to our children, and our commitment to give them the best, you live.

Through those among us who refuse to be beaten down, and who are willing to pay the ultimate price for our manhood and womanhood and peoplehood, you live.

Through our schools and our centers and our holidays and our children named after you, you live.

Through our desire to live life guided by the highest principles, as you did, you live.

And through our commitment to have our freedom and dignity, fully and completely by paying any price, you live

We declare, brother, to our friends and to our foes, that every shut eye ain't sleep, every good-bye ain't gone.

Brother, you live among us still.

(c) 1985

...::Comedian Skews Obama, Bush

Wanda Sykes is funny, and no funnier than here. She was at the top of her game on Sat.09.May.2009 at the White House Correspondents Dinner, where U.S. presidents attend, knowing they will get ragged...