Spike Lee’s third film takes place on the hottest day of the summer in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, New York. I heard Spike say in an interview this week that while he didn’t know what he was doing on his first film, She’s Gotta Have It, and was finding his way with School Daze, with this […]
Eyes on the Prize was a miniseries broadcast on PBS that explored the Civil Rights movement from the mid fifties to the mid eighties. It is widely considered to be one of the best nonfiction works regarding black history ever produced. On to the tale of the tape… Relevance: From an ambition stand point […]
Sura 1, the Holy Qu’ran: In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful Praise be to God, Lord of the worlds! The compassionate, the merciful! King on the day of reckoning! Thee only do we worship, and to Thee do we cry for help. Guide Thou us on the straight path,2 The path […]
During one of my recent courtships, I was asked the ‘life’s ambition’ question. While the answer hasn’t really changed much, the method has changed slightly, and at least publicly, I’ve never acknowledged how much my religious background plays into my ‘lot in life.’ Since many of my readers come from outside my religious background, I’ll […]
There was no history of Greeks in my family (too country) so I was something of an open book. The first day on campus I met a Greek…kind of. I was just walking around and saw this cat with a cane. He was one of the first black people I saw so I said, ‘What’s […]
If my father was my benefactor, my biggest fan in the family was his brother’s wife, my godmother. My father is very laid-back, which is where I get it from. My aunt was the one who would stick up for me (all of us really) if someone was bullying us. I chuckle at how many […]
I first read The Autobiography of Malcolm X when I was 16 years old. The pages are turning yellow, but I still have the paperback version I bought half a lifetime ago now. In nearly every chapter, there was something in it that struck me like lightning. I flip through these pages now and see […]
I can remember with clarity the effect Roots had on me the first time I watched it. Awe, shock, pride, anger. I cried pretty good the first time I saw the scene where they whipped Kunta Kinte until he said his name was Toby. I was one of the first in my family to be […]
Enough people have picked up on this one both off screen (see the Photos section) and on screen (the short and some of my past roles) that I might as well acknowledge it. While I’m just another branch off Stella Adler’s ‘Method’ tree, and my social consciousness started with Malcolm, there are also multiple […]
In the Heat of the Night is considered one of, if not the defining film of Sidney Poitier’s career. It spawned an equally popular TV show, and is often earmarked as a ‘defining’ film of the 60s. On to the tale of the tape… Relevance: Well, the story of the film revolves around a black […]
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