The Grapes of Wall Street

I had to write a paper where I had to relate a current injustice in society to the historical (yet fictitious) struggles of the novel "The Grapes of Wrath." I'm going to be completely honest with you: the entire time that we were reading this book in class, I didn't read a single page of it. No on did. We all admit that we sparknoted each chapter. We didn't tell the teacher this because she seemed to be a die-hard fan of this book. But it's super difficult to read since the characters talk in the strongest of slang varieties of the 1930's. Not to mention, I had other things to do and spend my time on then to strain my brain reading about the great depression. But I did draw a correlation between the story anf Occupy Wall Street. So that's what I wrote about.

ALL HAIL MACBETH: My 1st Time At An Indie Theater!!!

“To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.” 
― William Shakespeare, Macbeth

My Most Epic Documentary I've Ever Made... Still In The Making

It has been a while since I have made a documentary. And recently I have been reasonably busy with my need to graduate and enter the world as an adult. But at some point, I realized how special this time of my life is and how I'll never be this age again or feel the things my emotions are dishing out to me specifically at this time.

I wanted to capture the moments and their uniqueness, and make a film out of it for me to keep and cherish for the rest of my life. I still have six months until graduation, but I managed to make a good trailer out of the footage I have so far.

Sowithout further ado, here is the trailer for my documentary, "Senior", to be released summer 2016 following my graduation.

Happy Anniversary ^_^

A lot has changed in the past 3 years. For example, I'm a senior in high school, I have two awesome brothers who will be four and two soon, I'm getting ready to go to college, and I'll be leaving to go to work in a little while (gotta 12-4). It's one of those things where I wish I could leave my younger self a note saying something wise like, "It gets better."

But I think part of me knew it would get better when I started my creative outlets. This blog was one of those means of escape that I made to give me something to connect myself with others. At the time (9th grade), I was in an online school, so it seemed like a perfect time to start blogging. Now, I have less time to blog, which saddens me because I realized it's been 3 years when Facebook notified me with one of those "On This Day" thingies.

I had a shift in values, but not a bad one. I have a lot to focus on with my career in film (I'm also working on a documentary, coming to you next summer), or just adulthood in general. I plan to continue sharing to my wonderful blog in due time. This post is just something I wanted to make to myself to say, "Thank you for making this website." And thank you to all the people who have helped me along the way, and made blogging a part of my life that I will never forget.

BREAKING NEWS: Racism Still Exists

WARNING: THE FOLLOWING POST MAY CONTAIN OFFENSIVE CONTENT AND SHOULD BE READ WITH CAUTION. EVERYTHING SAID IN THIS POST IS BASED OFF OF OPINION AND IS BASED OFF OF TRUE STORIES AND ACTUAL HAPPENINGS IN PREVIOUS EVENTS. NO HARM WAS MEANT BY THE CONTENT OF THIS POST (ON MY PART). 

A Memoir: The Boy With The Tablet

The Stunned and the Drenched

Before I came to Williamstown, I lived in a city known as Clarkston in east Atlanta, Georgia. Atlanta is different from New Jersey in a lot of ways. One of the biggest differences I’ve noticed in that area was the amount of diverse cultures embraced. Considering nationalities exposed out there, it gave everyone the opportunity to embrace each other’s customs and establish a peaceful environment. On the contrary, it also gave the opportunity for the worst of customs to exposed. 

National Anthem (Short Story)

National Anthem

    The most unique feature to a person is their eyes. If no two snowflakes are the same, then no two perceptions of those snowflakes can resemble either. But for the longest time Nemo felt as if nothing matters, living every numb day with apathy. He kept to himself, because there was nobody else worthy of knowing how he felt. The only thing that Nemo looks forward to is the blissful sensation of drowning into his sleep, drifting away from everything. Unfortunately, he could not sleep in class with his badgering peers reciting any thoughts that came to their mind. Their banter was irritatingly loud. He couldn’t hear the alert on the intercom about the scentless gas leak from the laboratory from a defective experiment.

Dreads VS. Locks

On my way to my next class, a girl walked up to me and said, "Excuse me, are these dreads or locks?" Instinctively, I replied that they were locks. She then asked, "Well, what's the difference?" My response: "...there is none." But this is inaccurate on a number of levels.

There is indeed a difference between the terms, but they oppose each other in more than one way. In a broad sense, the main difference is in your preference in names. However your preference will probably be due to the connotation of the terms.

How I Framed Michael Jackson

It's a misleading title, but hear me out. As you all know, Michael Jackson is a legendary pop star who passed away a few years ago. It was a tragic death, and the media made sure everyone knew about it. There were documentaries, t-shirts, movies, radios playing his music all day, and so on.

Taking Unnecessary Classes in School

In my school, I am taking a class known as BMA - IBT (Business and Management Administration - Introduction to Business and Technology). We basically Learn about the basics of using technology such as computers, Microsoft Office, and being able to use such things in everyday life. We also learn how to conduct ourselves in cases such as presenting in front of an audience (perfect for my film industry endeavors).

FCCLA Fall Leadership Conference 2013 (Georgia)

At my school, I am the Vice President of the Family Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA). On September 20th of 2013, I went to my very first fall leadership conference in Covington, Georgia. It was everything I wanted it to be, and a whole lot more. The trip was a great way for me to get to know my fellow officers. We all got awesome FCCLA t-shirts (I have been anticipating the t-shirts since I put the application in my teacher's hand), I got a name tag (with my name on it), and I got these awesome orange sunglasses that said "No Kid Hungry" on the side. I even got some of the state leaders to sign my pamphlet and take pictures with me. (They were so humble about it. ^_^)

The Radio Rap Experiment

It’s been awhile since I made a blog post (as some of you may have noticed), but a lot has changed since the times I used to post on a regular basis and now. The way I am doing this isn’t orthodox, but it gets the job done and I haven’t gotten in trouble for it. (That should say enough within itself.)

My Return to Little Five Points

I had a great day. I hadn't been to little five point in two years. Now I get to relive the experience, find some new favorite places, and pass on the tradition to Sekou (little brother).

Harmony (me)

{Rapid I Movement} (RIM)

This is my fourth song. Like I mentioned, the reason this my fourth song is because it's the fourth song I've written. Technically, it's my third song, but I'd like for it to be my fourth.

This is also the longest song I've made. It was definitely interesting to record. I had to make sure that I took as many deep breaths as possible (it was serious). I also had to kind of whisper when recording because it was night time and my family was sleeping, so if you were wondering, that's why it was a bit low. My goal was to base the song on dreams of all sorts, be it in your sleep, your desires, or your desires to sleep. It's up to you how you interpret it. Enjoy! :

My Second Song: Departure

The reason I'm calling this my second song is because this is my second song, but I something was going wrong. When I was putting the song together, the speed of the instrumental and the rap were different. I didn't know what to do, so I just suspended its production until further notice. Then it happened to my fourth song, and I felt like I was in deep trouble. Then I realized that with my audio software, all I had to do was change the speed of the song. It seemed so obvious, but I'm so glad that I figured it out.

So this is my second song. I based it on Philadelphia (Pennsylvania) and New Jersey, where I primarily was raised. It's not that long, but the only thing is Lauryn Hill's part adds to the length (and makes it awesome). I have absolutely no problem with that. It's one of my favorite songs by The Fugees, and it was the best instrumental I could find. So after weeks of suspension, this is Departure:

My Little Brother Can Drive

He may not have a driver's license, but Sekou knows how to drive a car at the tender age of 15 months. He never fails to please. He was able to run errands all day, but he mostly did the grocery shopping. Don't believe me? See for yourself:

The Songs I've Had Stuck in my Head for Days 2

Aww yeah!!! Now I know what you're thinking (or at least I'm sure you've thought it just a little bit): didn't you just do this a while ago? Yes, I did. This is basically a sequel. I just wanted to share with you some more music that I have in my head. Those other ones I still appreciate, but since then, I have discovered some more songs and they are awesome. I'm excited to share so... here we go:

The Harlem Shake?!?!

I had a particular post planned for today, but I came across an urgent matter that required my attention.

Behind the Scenes: The Ultra Red Delicious

I came up with the idea for this when it started snowing outside. This was before the snow storm (I think it was known as Nemo), and it definitely wasn't as strong. I think it was only an inch of snow. I've been meaning to take advantage of sunlight (the most natural lighting), or the weather period. When I saw it snowing outside, I knew I had to film something.

My Journey Through the Blizzard

As you may know, there was a blizzard a few days ago. Every time I looked up, there was a special on it... on The Weather Channel. I know that would be the one place it where it's legitimate to see a report on a blizzard, but still. The frequency of its appearance was for a good reason, so I had to prepare.