Spoken Word Artist Shows No Fear: Georgia Me Makes Appearance at Fall for the Book Festival October 1, 2009
Posted by Sonya Hudson in : Style , add a commentPearson Jones, Asst. Style Editor
This isn’t your typical hipster coffee shop haiku poetry reading, where performers speak barely over a monotone whisper and their less than conclusive endings are met with the sound of snapping.
Slam poetry, also called the art of spoken word, is poetry in action and trust me, it can get really loud. These poems represent the performers’ joys, hardships and daily aspects of social life that they could do with out.
On Thursday, professional spoken word artist and member of the Peabody award-winning and Emmy-nominated cast of Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry, Georgia Me (also known as Tamika Harper) emceed the second annual Fall for the Book poetry slam that was held in the downstairs Johnston Center Bistro.
Profanity was prevalent at the event and holding back wasn’t an option as the artists of spoken word gave students a sometimes less than comfortable insight into their lives.
The real testimonies given during the performance were unique in their delivery, but had relatable themes.
Dennis Hicks, associate director of Student Activities, which organized the event, was pleased with how it went.
“I like watching students evolve their work and see the compositions they put together,” said Hicks. “The turnout was smaller this year, but not by much. I was hoping for more, but [I was] pleased with how many people came.”
In addition to the poems Me performed, George Mason University students had a chance to share their own readings with the packed venue.
With every seat filled in the Bistro, the crowd’s reactions and willingness to interact with the performers when they were called upon fueled the readers’ enthusiasm and established a laid-back, casual atmosphere.
Me poetically promoted subjects that would cause many to turn red with just the thought of them passing through their mind. One of the last pieces performed by Me, titled “I Fucked You,” proves guys don’t have the upper hand on women as much as they’re led to believe.
This quickly spoken performance was full of sexual induendeous, refrencing some of Me’s favorite late night endeavors.
The subject of the poem pulled the audience in and got their attention, but what kept listeners on the edge of their seats was Me’s word usage and the control she had of her voice. Me’s poems flowed out of her effortlessly and the audience’s attentiveness showed just how much in command she was of the stage and crowd.
The hard language in some of the performances left several audience members shell-shocked in the beginning, but Hicks confirms that it’s all part of the experience.
“It’s language most people have heard and people are like, ‘did she just really say that?’ but after a while, they’re cheering and getting into it,” said Hicks.
For more information on Georgia Me, visit http://georgiame.com or http://myspace.com/ghettobellegame.
Stories from Solitary: Robert Hillary King Fights for the Angola Three October 1, 2009
Posted by style in : Style , add a commentPras Gustanto, Staff Writer
Picture a typical George Mason University dorm room. Now split the room in half and imagine how uncomfortable and agonizing it would be to live in that space for 30 years.
As incredible as it sounds, solitary confinement has been the reality for Robert Hillary King, who spent three decades of his life locked in a small, six-by-nine prison cell.
King visited Mason last Thursday to discuss his experiences in prison. King is part of the Angola Three, the name given to three men who had been incarcerated in Angola Prison, La., for starting a movement against the prison administration’s unethical practices.
At the time, the prison was known for being the most brutal and discriminatory prison in the U.S. According to King, violence was a routine occurrence. Inmates were often forced into homosexuality and forms of prisoner prostitution.
His experience is common. According to the documentary The Farm, 85 percent of the inmates who are sent to Angola will die there.
For the past three decades King, Herman Wallace and Albert Woodfox were placed in solitary confinement for their actions. King was released in 2001, but Wallace and Woodfox remain sentenced. According to King, the two remain there as a “symbol of what happens when you try to mess with the system.”
King’s Angola story began in 1970 when he was accused of armed robbery. According to King, authorities arrested him, claiming he resembled the actual perpetrator.
King says the reason he was suspected of having committed the crime was because he already had a record for rebellious juvenile delinquency.
Due to his repeated escape attempts in other jails, King was transferred to Angola. According to King, prison authorities took advantage of King and charged him with a murder he didn’t commit.
King was then placed in a six-by-nine cell for solitary confinement until he was released in 2001.
Since his release, King has been fighting for the freedom of his former fellow Angola inmates.
King has traveled to over 20 countries in hopes of raising international awareness for the unjust practices of not only the Angola prison, but also of the entire prison system in the United States.
His recent Mason visit was another attempt to take down what he believes is a form of slavery in the guise of Angola prison’s legal disciplinary punishment.
In his mind, there isn’t much hope for the American legal system. King believes the American system is a form of “de-facto slavery.”
He accepts that while prisons are indeed necessary, many countries such as Brazil, Portugal and England have shown more ethical and humane forms of corrective punishment.
According to King, the U.S. “doesn’t so much take advice from other countries, but rather, has an agenda to push its disciplinary views on other countries.”
Despite the bleak outlook for his fellow Angola inmates, King believes that his release and eventual worldwide recognition at least serve as a reminder to Angola prison of the horrors that it continues to perpetrate.
His cause has already gotten international attention and support. And as King puts it, “even though I was free of Angola, Angola will never be free of me.”
Covering the President: Three Authors Weigh in on the Obama Presidency October 1, 2009
Posted by style in : Style , add a commentDeena Smith, Staff Writer
The election of President Barack Obama will remain a milestone in American history. After his election, however, questions about the future of the country have been plentiful.
Many of these questions were discussed during last Wednesday’s Fall for the Book presentation, “Understanding Obama.”
Each of the three authors attending presented unique and engaging perspectives on the Obama presidency.
The first speaker, Niall Stanage, author of Redemption Song: An Irish Reporter Insider the Obama Campaign, said the perception of the United States has increased favorably since Obama entered the presidential election.
According to Stanage, the Global Attitudes Project’s most recent statistics in 2006 showed that favorability of the U.S. jumped in Germany from 37 to 64 percent and in Spain from 23 to 58 percent. In France, the favorability almost doubled from 39 to 75 percent.
Stanage said reasons for this increase could be because Obama is a Democrat and the Republicans lost respect because of former President George W. Bush, but also because Obama gave back the “mythic sense of America.”
Stanage said Obama restored some of the founding principles of our country, such as a sense of possibility and a policy of zero tolerance on torture. Stanage believes having popularity and respect can go a long way in international relations.
Political consultant and founder of http://BlackElectorate.com Cedric Muhammad shared his thoughts on how Obama’s personality will affect his political endeavors and his impact in the African American community.
Muhammad described Obama as having a “diasporic personality” and being a “cultural entrepreneur.” Muhammad predicts this will allow the president to cross “class, creed, and international boundaries.”
He believes Obama’s distinct personality and unique background will create a more cultural and entrepreneurial shift in our politics.
According to Muhammad, Obama can do certain things because of who he is and the era he entered office. “Only a Democrat could boost funding for investigators for social safety nets,” said Muhammad.
He explained that if a Republican president were to increase funding to investigate people trying to cheat and take advantage of the system they would likely have been criticized.
Children’s author Charisse Carney-Nunes focused on a similar point. Her third book, I Am Barack Obama, is a poem following Obama as a boy asking “Who will change the world?” As the book ends, he finds that he will change the world.
However, the book has a unique addition: short narratives from children around the U.S. who discuss how they feel they relate to the president.
Obama came from humble beginnings, focused on his education, adhered to his values and goals and ended up becoming the first African American President of the United States of America.
He broke boundaries, shattered stereotypes and realized a dream so many thought would never become a reality.
As college students who are still trying to find our way and feel out our niche in life, I think we can learn something from Obama and these panelists, who also rose to achieve great things.
From the Silver Screen to the Director’s Chair: Ten of the Best Actors Turned Directors of All Time October 1, 2009
Posted by style in : Style , add a commentRoss Bonaime, Staff Writer
In the next few weeks, many famous actors will be going behind the camera to try their hands at directorial debuts. In honor of this, I present the greatest actors turned directors:
10. George Clooney
He may have started off as Dr. Ross on ER, but now George Clooney is also known for his exceptional directing. Good Night and Good Luck earned him an Oscar nomination for best director, and even though his other films Confessions of a Dangerous Mind and Leatherheads haven’t been as good, he shows a style that beckons back to the golden age of film.
9. Mel Gibson
Say what you will about the man, but Mel Gibson can direct. With 1995’s Braveheart, which won Best Picture, and controversial choices like The Passion of the Christ and Apocalypto, Gibson isn’t afraid to tackle unusual topics and come out surprising the audience with what he can do.
8. Ben Stiller
Ben Stiller has directed three of the most famous cult comedies in recent years: Reality Bites, The Cable Guy and Zoolander.
However last summer’s Tropic Thunder showed Stiller’s range, from the fake trailers at the beginning to the action-heavy comedy, Stiller announced himself as a great comedic director.
7. Jon Favreau
Jon Favreau first broke into the film world with parts in films like Rudy but really broke it big after writing Swingers in 1996. Recently, Favreau has returned off-screen to direct Elf and Iron Man. Recently, Favreau finished the next installment of Iron Man and is in talks to direct the highly-anticipated superhero film The Avengers, currently making him one of Hollywood’s most sought after directors.
6. Sofia Coppola
While her acting roles have centered around almost single-handedly ruining The Godfather: Part III and a role in a Chemical Brothers video, her movies are as gorgeous as they are moving.
The daughter of Francis Ford Coppola has shown the talent of her father with movies like The Virgin Suicides, Lost In Translation and Marie Antoinette. Hopefully her career will be as long as her father’s, too.
5. Gene Kelly
After singing and dancing his way to stardom with films like Anchors Aweigh, Gene Kelly decided to take his turn at directing. With only his second attempt, he co-directed what is considered by many to be the greatest musical of all time, Singin’ in the Rain, proving not only could he dance and sing, he could direct.
4. Rob Reiner
Rob Reiner got his start on television in the ‘60s and ‘70s, most famously for his role of Meathead on All in the Family. Six years after the show ended, he directed one of the greatest mockumentaries ever, This Is Spinal Tap. Reiner went on to direct other favorites like Stand By Me, The Princess Bride , When Harry Met Sally…, and last year’s The Bucket List.
3. Ron Howard
After famous roles on classic TV shows like Happy Days and The Andy Griffith Show, Ron Howard became a genuine director with movies like Apollo 13, Cinderella Man and the Oscar-winning A Beautiful Mind. While older audiences will probably always remember Howard as Opie, a new generation knows him now as a great director.
2. Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood became a household name with countless westerns that showed him as a man not to mess with. His skill behind the camera has done just the same. With best picture nominees like Unforgiven, Mystic River, Million Dollar Baby and Letters From Iwo Jima, Eastwood has proven to be a directing powerhouse.
1. Charlie Chaplin
While the silent film legend is known for his hilarious antics in front of the camera, Chaplin was also known as the meticulous director of over 70 films spanning six decades. His films include the classic comedies City Lights, Modern Times, The Great Dictator and The Gold Rush.
As one of the first to be an actor-turned-director, Chaplin set the bar so high, no one has been able to pass him yet.
Off-Campus Eats: Increase in Dining Choices October 1, 2009
Posted by Sonya Hudson in : Style , add a commentEvan Benton, Staff Writer
My friends and I used to joke around when heading off, four or five guys to a car, on our weekly exodus to Chipotle.
We’d all get burritos and then, when asked how we were planning to pay, flash our green and gold student IDs and confidently state, “Freedom, please.”
In which case the cashier would look at us quizzically and we’d front some Jacksons. Or, in my case, nine or 10 Washingtons.
Great joke.
But now things are different; sort of. Now we can use Mason Money, George Mason University’s debit card system, at Chipotle as well as many other places — and not just restaurants, either.
To put the concept of Mason Money in a nutshell, one simply goes to the Mason Money office (or any of the five Card Management stations on campus) deposits any sum, and this money goes on the student’s account, immediately accessed by swiping those handy ID cards.
Now, if one wanted, they can take their cards and get a carnitas burrito.
And although I don’t know many people with a Mason Money account, the fact that Mason is making an off-campus meal as easy as one, two, swipe is a welcome effort.
Chipotle, especially the particular one on Lee Highway, has been one of the most popular off-campus dining destinations — to use some contemporary Kanye hyperbole — ever.
I’ve been there and seen more Mason students eating Mexican than enrolled in my COMM 451 class. I’ve seen friends bring back Chipotle gift cards and apparel that they got for Christmas.
I’ve even seen a Facebook group devoted to the adoration for a particular Lee Highway Chipotle employee known for the gigantic mole on her face.
So Mason, never an institution missing the opportunity to make a quick buck, has seen the chance again, encouraging students and patrons to use their Mason Money instead of a bank or credit card.
Hey, maybe we can stave off some of the damage taken from the budget cuts!
But if you’re not into burritos, burrito bowls or tacos, you’re not completely out of luck.
University Mall, the shopping center off Braddock Road, contains campus mainstays all around that now take Mason Money. Go get a Big Mac or two at McDonalds, or a Jim Larranaga burger at Brion’s Grille (It’s got banana peppers!)
Now, Mason Money can even buy a movie at the University Mall theaters. Now the crazies that frequent Rocky Horror may triple!
Using Mason’s debit system helps keep your finances together, while giving the school a little profit.
While the days of using meal plans and Freedom off-campus are still far in the future, a swipe of the Mason ID can finally purchase some real food.
In Bed with Billy: Experience and Reason: The Age of Enlightenment October 1, 2009
Posted by style in : Style , add a commentBilly Curtis, Sex Columnist
In the earlier years, many philosophers believed that in order to find the absolute truth in this world one had to doubt everything, question everything, and eventually a person would—through experience and reason—find the pure truth they were looking for. This way of thinking can also be applied to dating.
Let’s face it. As years progress and time continues to slip away, we can see the people around us continuing to lose faith in their search for happiness. So many times we have been hurt, shed unnecessary tears and overthought every aspect of our past relationships in the hopes that something we missed or misunderstood would bring more light to our lost causes.
We continue our search for love, but as time goes on, after every ache and pain, we lose more and more of ourselves in the hope that someday something new or better will come along and save us from the prison we have entrapped ourselves in. I bring this topic up, because I have a very dear friend who has for all intense and purpose given up hope for her happiness.
Marie was an intelligent, beautiful and hilarious woman in her mid 20s. Heartache after heartache she began losing all hope of finding someone who could truly make her happy. As her life continued to dwindle around her, most of her friends found happiness almost instantly; they would marry, divorce and before the settlement was even finished have another man in line at the courthouse doors. While others however, were just content with the people they had been dating for years.
Marie became very jealous of people around her who had the happiness she was searching for all this time, but to Marie, her search for love became the search for the Holy Grail; unrelenting, and unrewarding. So she gave up, she let her doubts consume her, and locked away the thought of ever being happy again.
Her sorrow consumed her, devoured her and never let up. Years continued to pass, and she continued to be single, going on horrible date after horrible date, still searching for what she continued to believe would never come; sometimes at the expense of her friend’s amusement.
Finally, I grabbed wind of this problem and felt that something had to be done. At first her situation made me think a lot about myself and my own pursuit for happiness. Relationship after relationship, breakup after breakup, after all the lovers found and lost, even after Mr. Madison and everything I went through with him; I still believed that there was more to this never-ending fight for happiness, something still unknown, waiting to be found.
And then I realized, after all the hardships and trials I faced with the hundreds of men I dated (and slept with), I still hadn’t given up hope. As much as I tried not to believe it, something inside me clearly believed that there was more to life then what I had already experienced. There would be more pain, more joy, and all the other fun stuff that comes with dating someone you may eventually care about. But just the fact that no matter what, hope still wasn’t lost made all the difference in my eyes.
I tried everything with Marie, getting her to go out on dates with men she met online, blind dates set up by her friends and acquaintances, even just going out more and enjoying the fine restaurants and bars our perfect little city had to offer. But my attempts were all undermined by her pessimistic attitude.
“This is never going to work,” she would cry after she came home from her dating disaster. It seemed that after every failed attempt the idea of a man in her life continued to disappear into her world of fantasy. This attitude was just one of the many reasons I thought she has had so much trouble finding someone.
My biggest qualms with Marie came when she told me that I should never see or speak to Mr. Madison again. She had witnessed most of our downfalls, and already had her own perspective on our relationship—that it was wrong. She was convinced by her own deluded belief that no one could ever be happy together—especially two people who tried as many times as Mr. Madison and I.
I am and have always been a firm believer that if you can’t remain objective when looking at a problem, you’re clearly not going to be able to solve it correctly. Marie could never do that with my situation, let alone her own.
Her negativity sadly ended up becoming a strong influence on both Mr. Madison and myself, which lead to my telling Mr. Madison that we shouldn’t talk anymore or even be friends. She persuaded us both to not follow our own past experiences and reason that we had learned in our lives. After all, everyone has a different capacity for what they can and can’t do in a relationship. To this day, I would still say that she was the catalyst for the fall of that relationship.
Life is about failing; great philosophers realized this early on. We fall so we can pick ourselves up and learn from the mistakes we’ve made in the past. Prime example is the fashion mishaps of the ‘80s. Take a look at old photos, I know you look back at those pictures and think the same thing I do. “What was I thinking when I did or wore that?” You learned from then and now, that some things just should never have been made, worn, or even thought of.
That realization is proof that giving up is useless. You never stopped wearing those clothes, they were enjoyed during that time, and then you moved on to a new style. But you tried something new, a new outfit, a new life, a new man. Even if you don’t realize it, you do the same thing when dating, a person can be right for you at one point in your life and completely wrong in another.
Realization comes with time, so does love and experience. You teach yourself through experience and reason that life will always go on, and that man you wore last year clearly wouldn’t fit the you of today’s world. So you try something new, don’t give up, learn from your mistakes and you move on.
These great philosophers had it right when they said that the truth can be found through the experiences we share and the reasoning we learn from these experiences. The know-how we gain from this world, like the unexpected turns we take that lead us down a path to something new and unknown, are the things we should never fear, but rather learn from in the hopes that it will bring us to someone new, and just maybe the person we have been looking for this entire time.
Kid Cudi Reaches for the Moon: Rapper Bursts on the Scene with Second Debut Album of Hip-Hop’s 2009 Freshman Class October 1, 2009
Posted by Sonya Hudson in : Style , add a commentLuis Perez, Broadside Correspondent
Last December, hip-hop magazine XXL wrote a feature piece on 10 relatively unknown MC’s, deeming them hip-hop’s “freshman class of ‘09.” Among that list of up-and-coming future stars was Kid Cudi.
Kid Cudi’s major-label debut, Man on the Moon: The End of Day, is the second release from the ’09 freshman class, following Asher Roth’s mildly received Asleep in the Bread Aisle last April, and the similarities between the two end at their mutual affinity for celebrating April 20.
Cudi makes it clear on more than one occasion that he doesn’t have much in common with anyone at all, which in a twist of irony is Cudi’s major selling point.
If you had the chance to catch Kanye West’s Glow in the Dark tour, Man on the Moon’s format will seem suspiciously similar. Divided into five acts, the concept album follows Cudi’s consciousness through the night, beginning with the end and ending with a new beginning. Narrated by fellow G.O.O.D. artist Common.
Kanye’s 808 and Heartbreak presence is felt even further on tracks like “Sky Might Fall” and “My World,” where Cudi raps from a the shell of a boy banking on being top-dog sometime further down the road.
This might be a good as time as any to give you a head’s up: this isn’t hip-hop by hip-hop’s self-enforced standards.
To give you a better idea of Cudi’s pseudo-transcendental vibe, I’d suggest you Google “A Kid Named Cudi,” his first official and free release that put him on the map and see if you like that, because for the most part, Man on the Moon feels and sounds like A Kid Named Cudi with a much larger budget, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
On “Pursuit of Happiness,” one of the album’s stand-out tracks, Cudi embodies more Walden than Wu-Tang and rap-sings, “Feelin’ lit/feelin’ light/2 a.m./summer night/I don’t care/hand on the wheel/driving drunk/I’m doing my thing . . . if I fall/if I die/know I lived it/to the fullest,” all over a beat filled with optimistic guitar riffs, piano chords, a deep bass-line and staccato synths reminiscent of midsummer grasshoppers. This is his niche.
What Cudi lacks in technical ability and lyrical dexterity–and he does lack–he makes up for in developing landscapes out of songs, making one nostalgic for that sliver of a moment between last night and tomorrow morning, that comfortably numb moment where what happened and what needs to be done dissolves and you’re left with the joy of simply being.
By no means is Man on the Moon a masterpiece. The final track, “Up Up & Away,” seems more appropriate at the end of the next Disney franchise film than it does here, offering as much insight as can be derived from any high school sophomore girl’s Facebook status, “They gon judge me anyway so/whatever” (Google “Asian Girl Saying Whatever,” it’s identical. Trust me).
There’s also an argument to be made against Cudi’s singing abilities as well, but if you’re buying the album just to hear a rapper singing, maybe you should just hit replay on 808’s.
A few months ago, Cudi appeared on BET’s 106 & Park, alongside mentor and co-signor Kanye West, and dropped a verse acapella. The same verse appears on Man on the Moon on what is easily the standout track and embodies who Cudi is. Furthermore, it marks a landmark moment in hip-hop. On “Soundtrack 2 My Life,” Cudi reaches a level of vulnerability only hinted at by other artists.
Hip-hop has been up to this point a genre that markets a certain brand of hyperbolized masculinity, and no other rapper has ever been willing to wax poetic at such an oedipal level.
“She copped the toys I would play with in my room by myself/why he by himself?… I’ve got some issues that nobody can see/and all of these emotions are pouring out of me/I bring them to the light for you… so now I’m in the cut/alcohol in the womb/my hearts an open sore/and I hope it heals soon… never truly satisfied/I am happy/ that’s just the saddest lie”.
Cudi’s willingness to be as vulnerable as he is here, combined with his success so far, opens hip-hop’s versatility as a genre beyond the façade of hyperbolized masculinity.
Of course, this runs the risk of being written off as “emo-rap” and undergoing the subsequent filter cycle of branding and marketing something genuine into something formulaic, but hopefully it also shows rappers that it’s ok to acknowledge emotions here and there.
Cudi still has a ways to go in terms of developing his flow and rhyme scheme, and whether this is a step forward, backward or sideways is still yet to be entirely seen.
But there’s no doubt that this is a step, and from where we are now, everyone stands to grow more than they lose.