This is where Baratunde blogs about things. He also blogs over on his company blog, Cultivated Wit, so check there too. Ooh, you can also get these bloggings via email.
Mi gente,
This is some of the best art, comedy, video, creation I've seen ever. Watch all three, and stay tuned to Mr. Deshawn Raw. h/t to my man jrm4 over ag Golden Era Rap for the post which raised my awareness of this greatness.
Really, you have to watch all three videos right now. You'll be a better person for it. I am a good judge of art things, but I'm not a rapper...
Part 1
The Challenger
Part 2
This is pretty amazing. The Telegraph has the story of the MoD warning servicemen and women (and their families) about the potential dangers of posting information to social networks. The videos are well done and do actually lead you to think before you post. However, they have conclusions which lead to far more important lessons.
Take the video above. Toward the end, as the tension builds, I'm expecting the sailors to get attacked, kidnapped, beheaded or something. Instead, the closing shot is of the servicewomen dancing with a fully-masked, fully-armed, presumed-terrorist. This begs much larger questions than "Did these ladies overshare on Foursquare?" Questions such as:
There are a total of four full scenario videos in the series. Here's my absolute favorite.
I mean, that's just brilliant. If terrorists are providing free child care, we need to rethink this entire War on Terrorism thing from the ground up!
Danielle Belton and I were on the same panel at the National Association of Black Journalists conference in Philly last week. I got inspired and rattled off this little jingle for her site, The Black Snob, based on "Bad Boys." Keep up the great work, Danielle!
Last weekend I biked down to Coney Island to partake of the delicious crustaceans at Clemente's Maryland Crab House in Sheepshead Bay. It's an 11-mile journey and completely worth it. One my way, racing down Ocean Ave, I spotted another pink bike. The woman who owned it, Noha, was sitting on a bench and screamed, "Hey, we have the same bike!" I slammed on the breaks and walked back to her.
Sure enough, we both have pink Schwinn Cruisers named Roxie. We couldn't believe it. I've seen other pink bikes and even cruisers but never another Roxie. Mine was given to me by my Dutch friend and superstar Kirsten Van Den Hul. We're thinking of starting a Roxie biking club. Seems like the Brooklyn thing to do, right?
It's my first NABJ, and it's so far so good. I had no idea there were so many black journalists! And by and large, they're amazingly attractive. Like, really. Everyone here looks good.
I'm on a panel today on the subject of politics and race. Hopefully I can think of something to say though I'm still figuring out the get paid part, but who isn't?
THE POLITICS OF RACE: GET PAID, IT’S NO JOKE
Room 121C // 2:15 p.m. – 3:45 p.m.
When President Obama had to produce his birth certificate for Donald Trump, political comedians hired themselves to trump, Trump. Whether serious or through satire, delivering political news is an art. This entrepreneurial panel shares how to use your journalistic skills to create a political enterprise for capital gain.
h/t to the Maynard Institute for bringing this to light.
A Chicago television station story about the shooting of two teenagers that used video of a 4-year old boy saying he did not fear violence and wanted his own gun, has raised concerns with journalism educators and others. “We have long been worried about the ways in which the media helps perpetuate negative stereotypes of boys and men of color, but this appears to be overtly criminalizing a preschooler,” said Dori J. Maynard, President of the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education.
The kid responded to the question of what he was going to do in light of this gun violence by saying he wanted a gun. The station cut the clip there, but moments later the boy explained it was because he wanted to be a cop. I guess that didn't fit the gangbanger-in-training stereotype they were going for. Oops. The station has since apologized.
I wonder how many lives will be endangered because of that clip as aired, with the image of a little black boy planning to add to the cycle of violence with his own gun. And while the idea that he wants to fight gun violence with the badge of law enforcement on his side makes it better, the little kid has still learned the broader lesson from society that you fight guns with guns.
I kind of wish the little dude had a crazier imagination. Instead of wanting a badge and a gun, why couldn't he have wished for the power to turn all guns into donuts? That would have been a disarmingly delicious and creative desire.
Video by the NYC-based sketch group Political Subversities.
Full details here. And by "full," I mean "a few." The exact topic of my talk is not yet settled.
Will I announce more details about the new #BaconWhiskeyFreedom political party? Maybe. Will I spend the entire hour reading from my book, How To Be Black? Possibly. Might I just sit on stage, project my laptop screen to the audience and force them to watch me place contacts into my Google+ circles? Definitely.
Whatever the content of the talk, I'm genuinely honored and excited by the invitation. SXSW is my "home conference," the one I must attend every year. Here's a blog post and video I made for SXSW 2011 offering advice and explaining more about why I love this conference and always return inspired, newly connected to awesome humans and exhausted.
So thanks SXSW people! Hope I don't bollocks it up!
This image was made by folks at the Mozilla Festival on Media, Freedom and the Web. The party is in London November 4-6, 2011. Looks like a fun event.
In the meantime, if someone wants to build me my own TARDIS, that would be pretty tremendous.
