[02.13-15.2002 Wednesday/Thursday/Friday]
Today was pretty tiring. After a long day of school and a 2 hour nap, I turned on the TV to ease out of my post nap state. Good thing for the Olympics and PBS because Teen Jeopardy really wasn't cutting it. They have these video answers (or questions) and the topic was martial arts. I don't know, it was really hillarious to see this girl do the karate chop answer and then actually do a karate chop at the end of it. I'm sure those teens are smarter than that, but maybe not. Oh well, at least it's not as bad as celebrity Jeopardy.
We only get 4 channels (at night) plus a dozen Spanish channels that come in crystal clear. I switched on PBS and I started watching the program. It was A Huey P. Newton Story, a film adapted from a play about Huey Newton, the Black Panther party leader. An actor played the role of Huey, sitting on a stage in a chair, with a mike, and a whole bunch of cigarettes to burn through. If this play/film protrayed the Black revolutionary correctly, I can see why people, notably Black people clung to the Black Power movement, and his leadership as the co-founder of the group. It was in a spoken word / poem / slam format with Huey in the middle: talking, reading his poetry, dancing, and spouting his powerful perspectives on his identity and the identity of Black people. Huey (or -- the character of Huey through the film) had the fastest toungue combined with really crafty plays on words. He reminded me of a cross between Sports Center highlights and freestyling hip-hop heads, just ripping and rhyming at a furious clip about everything that came to mind.
So I wonder how it was back then, in the 60's and into the 70's. What it was like to experience the Revolution, and Black Power. The reality of it all kind of sinks in growing up around the Oakland area and spending time there with church and stuff. I wonder if much has changed since the Revolution. I think the world itself has changed, but there's a lot that's still the same. Do you experience Racism? Or how about poverty? I live in La Jolla which is ranks a "negative five" on the scale of poverty and physical need. The streets are paved with gold here, or at least they're paved and washed about twice a week. It's a community that is loaded with money: vacationers, retired folk, college kids. It's pretty much bubble city USA.
Don't know exactly where I'm going with this, but I think it's interesting to think about life at a perspective that's other than eye level. Do people ever say to "I'm really glad to live in ____(for my case La Jolla)_____" to you? And do you agree with it? I don't really think the same. For me, it's nice to be here in La Jolla, it's clean, but there's nothing really here, no real substance to life here. Take downtown for instance. I wouldn't consider downtown La Jolla a downtown, it's more like UPtown if you ask me. Expensive shops and ritzy stuff that's pretty much geared to a very rich class of priveledged folks.
I still don't know where I'm going (repeat), because I don't just want to rip into La Jolla, because the town hasn't been bad to me at all. It just seems out of touch of reality, as I am at times. Especially with this journal. I think I'm giving up more and more as I write, but maybe something will happen as I continue.
It's not like I am black myself, but I'm still intrigued by a lot of influential black leaders -- Dr. King, Malcolm X, and now Huey Newton and the Black Panthers. People that really lived to die: pressing for what they believed was right: principal before comfort. (And too, I cannot endorse a life of drugs and violence either) It's good to be inspired to live fully and to reconsider those shoes that I want to get, or that computer that'll bring up the scale of satisfaction. On that, the Gospel was shared this past Friday, and it was really awesome because that, I believe is where life is, where hope comes from.
Anyway, check out the film: A Huey P Newton Story and here are some books that I've read that are good:
Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin
Sidewalk by Michell Duneier
And since this thing is so disjointed, I might as well continue: I'm building a new skateboard and hopefully I'll be a hardcore skater soon. Watch out for my video game coming out in 2010.
One last thing: I posted my Posse stickers
around La Jolla the other night. And, half of them were ripped off, or scratched off. I wonder who's taking them down and if they're offensive to them. Hmmm. Well, maybe I'll put some more up. Maybe that's what I'm getting at. Maybe not. Whatever.
___________________________________________
| previous | journal (i need a good name) | next |