Just Genius

LA Nights

nobody@vox.com(J.Genius) — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 14:23:11 -0700

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

A Lit Path

nobody@vox.com(J.Genius) — Sun, 04 May 2008 11:46:17 -0700

“Genius and stupidity never stray from their respective paths; talent wanders to and fro, following every light.” - George Moore

A Lit Path

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Janelle Monae performs "Sincerely, Jane" in 'big' w/ Atlanta Ballet

nobody@vox.com(J.Genius) — Sat, 03 May 2008 14:27:54 -0700

a just genius video

Janelle Monae in 'big' @ Atlanta Ballet

www.wondalandarts.com

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Color Lines

nobody@vox.com(J.Genius) — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 16:16:25 -0700

The Color Line

Q: "How many color lines are there?"
A: Well ... I think there's an infinite amount of color lines.
My working definition of color here would have to be: that which is visually indicated through the eye ... and everybody has a different lens. The line is personal discretion, the point where we seek to devalue the worth of one thing over another or differentiate things from other things or ourselves from other people when everything is essentially a part of (to borrow from Paulo Coelho) "The Soul of the World."
DuBois' Color Line was simply black and white (as most color lines are monochromatic). Today most social theorist who discuss racial color lines have also adopted the "color of money" line into the conversation of race and class issues such as William Julius Wilson in his book, The Declining Importance of Race, which proposes that the only color that really matters is green and it even suggests that those of stereotyped racial groups transcend the barrier of race if they are green enough (doesn't mean they care about the environment). Regardless of the Color Line(s) that one is familiar with, the problems they promote can be best summed up by Frederick Douglass in his essay 'The Color Line':

Few evils are less accessible to the force of reason, or more tenacious of life and power, than a long-standing prejudice. It is a moral disorder, which creates the conditions necessary to its own existence, and fortifies itself by refusing all contradiction. It paints a hateful picture according to its own diseased imagination, and distorts the features of the fancied original to suit the portrait. As those who believe in the visibility of ghosts can easily see them, so it is always easy to see repulsive qualities in those we despise and hate.

When we see color that supports an image we wish to paint of ourselves rather than recognizing the array of colors our painted selves already embody ... some on opposite ends of the color line(s) spectrum, we subject our judgments to the disorder which confirms the non-conferable and pushes redemption further away. Some people look at everything through a 300mm lens losing everything in the periphery of their microscopic gaze. Every judgement is temporal. In allowing the perception of the colors others see we can move beyond the color line to recognize that the tiny speck of color that exists in others also exists in ourselves and as a part of this global community, we are all a part of the same painting.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

CHANGE IS ALWAYS HERE

nobody@vox.com(J.Genius) — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 13:56:40 -0700

This quote has been with me a while and it still resonates. It's hard for anyone to live on the ever changing plane of reality and be the same person they were yesterday or expect to be the same person they are today tomorrow.

“This isn’t a tale of heroic feats. It’s about [lives] running parallel for a while, with common aspirations and similar dreams. Was our view too narrow, too biased, too hasty? Were our conclusions too rigid? Maybe. Wandering around our America has changed me more than I thought. I am not me anymore, at least I’m not the same me I was.”

- Ernesto “Che” Guevara The Motorcycle Diaries

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

HELP A LIL BIT OF CHANGE

nobody@vox.com(J.Genius) — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 13:53:33 -0700

http://obamain30seconds.org/vote/?v=view-1617-FjiK33
Vote for (our) A Lil Bit of Change's video in the Obama in 30 seconds ad competition by clicking the link above NOW. Today is the last day for voting and we could definately use your help. Pass the word on.Find out about us @ www.myspace.com/alilbitof change

"American citizens are not a people who need more direction from the top down; we are a country who needs direction from the bottom up, with our citizens instructing our civic leaders. Here is a message from some of Obama's youngest supporters...'A Lil Bit of Change is a production company committed to public service as exhibited through our creation of content based on social, economic and political themes packaged in a palatable and edgy format that is entertaining, inspirational and informative.'"

--Special Agent Change

Also, take a look at our newest A Lil Bit of Change Video - "Telephone".

ALBC Telephone

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Creativity & Substance

nobody@vox.com(J.Genius) — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 07:31:03 -0700

Iamthecolor

I woke up early this morning on the darker side of the color line thinking about transubstantiation...bread and wine. The thought entered my head somewhere between thinking about Obatala and overflowing cups. It was all around me. Listening to Marvin Gaye's "Trouble Man" (cause I've come apart ... but Trouble Man don't get in my way ... I've been a real man) while journeying through the hyper links of wikipedia that led me through the Christian holy sacrament and the philosophical meanings of "substance" ... what something is in itself.

A. I found myself positioned in front of a polluted puddle where I could see myself reflected then I was in myself, seeing through my eyes, I can recognize my own space.

B. It was dark ...pitch black, the beginning of the end ending in a beginning again.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

FOR MY BROTHERS EVERYWHERE

nobody@vox.com(J.Genius) — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 22:42:15 -0700

They killed the father,
Murdered the son.
Where there once stood three -
There now stands one.

Some were hung for trying to assimilate the ideas and principles of America with the life inherited from the African Diaspora. Others allowed the bullet of homogenized existence to ricochet through their bodies … leaving them an empty shell, void of any substance believing their condition as a black man to be a human stain.

Danger Ed (Remix) - Man Without A Country

This is for my brothers who wanted retaliation when the acculturation, assimilation, and annihilation of their medial shadow became too much. This is for my brothers huddled in masques, kneeling at alters, reading in temples, meditating at home, being miseducated in schools and in streets -- waiting, praying, hoping, learning, and drowning in despair. This is for my brothers, my brothers everywhere.

This is for my brothers scared to be reflected in another brother's essence, shadowboxing invisible ghosts embroiled in fears of social construction - disowned property eloping with noose, devouring assimilation's golden fruit grown from rotten roots, embracing the blood-stained grain as truth. The danger my brother is only to you.

This is for my brothers who have acknowledged their shadow, watching it grow on the way to the sun … the natural political economist, socio-anthropologist, and philosopher that's grasped the visible relation of double consciousness steeped in a heap of deception and pseudo events fed to those seeking life and bread, brothers who screamed “give me liberty…” and ended up dead, my brothers willing to activate their mind state, unwilling to acculturate - endangered are you.

This is for my brothers convinced the only option is to run a ball or minstrel as stars to feel whole. This is for my brothers incarcerated for stealing their due piece of the pie and for younger brothers who now view time spent in correctional facilities as first rights. This is for my brothers who have misused and abused our women because all the beautiful images of them have been destroyed. This is for my brothers purposely denied of tangible fruit - for my brother, how well Danger has made you aware of its plan to annihilate you.

This is for my brothers everywhere.

-Sincerely Genius

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

short film spec idea #1

nobody@vox.com(J.Genius) — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 14:37:33 -0700

Marijuana and a Pistol Spec Video

based on the 1940 short story published in Esquire by Chester B. Himes, 'Marijuana and a Pistol'...

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

BEYOND THE COLOR LINE Has Arrived

nobody@vox.com(J.Genius) — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 11:12:51 -0700

1st edition. Still in the editing stages...

IMG00353

Read and post comments | Send to a friend