The American President

This right here is why Obama is such a threat to the conservative agenda.

from The Huffington Post

Before Andrew Breitbart's unexpected death, the conservative blogger and journalist had promised to release video footage of President Barack Obama that he said would change the election. Now, BuzzFeed has unearthed the video it believes Breitbart was referring to, according to the site's editor-in-chief, Ben Smith.

If this is indeed the footage in question, it's not particularly controversial.

In the 1991 video, which BuzzFeed licensed from WGBH Boston, a young Obama is shown speaking in support of Harvard's first tenured black law professor, Derrick Bell. Bell was staging a protest over the lack of female black professors at the school, and was taking an unpaid leave until Harvard hired a woman of color.

As Bell said at the time, "My major effort in teaching is to convince students ... that they should be ready and able to take risks and make sacrifices for the things they believe in, and their real success in life will come from making those sacrifices and taking those risks, regardless of outcome. The best way to teach that is to practice it."

In the video, Obama, who was then president of the Harvard Law Review, is shown praising Bell, while the professor stands nearby and a crowd cheers. Obama recalls how Bell spoke at an orientation for first-year students, and instead of lecturing the students, encouraged conversation.

More here.

All I can say about this video is that politicians don't EVER do stuff like this. Leaders do. And no matter what we think about Obama's policies, we have to admire someone who commits to an effort such as this. Not bad for a "community organizer".

peace.

"...An Honorable Man."

Regardless of your political beliefs, I need you to recognize the sheer rhetorical brilliance of this right here.

This is why the Republicans are going to have such a tough time this year. They're all longing with the American people in prose and "Mark Antony" here is attempting to uplift them in verse. There aren't many people who can pull off this kind of thing. You gotta admit, he's a bad man.

peace.

The Plague of the 'Reflective You'

There is a plague sweeping through the English speaking Americas that is causing ambiguity and miscommunication in every town, city, and neighborhood it enters. You may have heard it in a recent conversation, seen it on the news or some youtube clip, or even used it yourself. And I guarantee you its implemetation most likely causes great confusion amongst any who happen to be in earshot. I've been unable to find an actual term for it, so I've decided to name it "reflective you".

Here's how it works. A person in a conversation will be describing a task or concept in which many people frequently enact or engage. In place of refering to these hypothetical people directly, this person uses the word "you", even if the person receiving this information has never thought or participated before in this task or concept. Therefore, the listener has to translate this usage of the word "you" to mean "the people who think or do this thing we're discussing" which makes the conversation less effective and efficient than it could be.

Let me see if I can provide an example.

Say I'm discussing with some friends of mine a new Wal-Mart being built in the middle of Philadelphia (where I live) and I say something like:

If you put a Wal-Mart in an inner-city community then you will lose all of your local businesses because you won't be able to compete with such a big company.

Everytime the word "you" is used in this sentence it never refers to the listener for whom I've uttered this thought. The first one actually refers to the Wal-Mart corportation itself. The second and third translate to mean the people of the community; "we" and "us" to be more precise. The final one references the local businesses that will lose their patrons to the large corporation. At no time in this sentence does the speaker reference the listener directly. Therefore it should read:

If they (they=Wal-Mart Corp.) put a Wal-Mart in an inner-city community then we will lose all of our local businesses because they (they=local businesses) won't be able to compete with such a big company.

or even better:

If Wal-Mart puts a store in an inner-city community then we will lose all of our local businesses because they won't be able to compete with such a big company.

In both of these revised versions of this thought, the subject to which the speaker is refering is much clearer and the point is made more cleanly. There is absolutely no confusion about what is being discussed and the major players of the issue.

I hear this convoluted usage of "you" very often; in fact almost every day. People use this to discuss all kinds of sophisticated topics that require much more clarity and specificity than this usage can provide. Its popularity has inspired me to work towards removing all traces of its implementation in my daily conversations. I take time to consider exactly who and what I'm discussing and how best to reference them in the stream of speech. Sometimes it means I breathe without speaking for significant periods between thoughts, maybe two to five seconds. Many times that's simply too long for someone to wait for my thought, so I'm often interupted by faster thinking people with less precision.

Nevertheless, I'm determined to rid this plague from our shores! If you or someone you know has been affected by the "reflective you", feel free to contact me and I will provide an appropriate treatment of the proper liguistic medication. Thank you all for your time.

Yes, I'm talking to you.



peace.

Word to Obama

There's been a lot of sobering discussion about the recent fatal capture of Osama bin Laden, and rightly so. It's been a difficult 10 years for people who have desired to see the orchestrator of Sept. 11th answer for his crimes. So anytime we can find something that resembles light and humor in these kinds of topics, it's certainly a welcome injection of hope and humanity. And judging by how many views this video has, it's certainly serving that purpose.



By the way, this cat is not only good at mimicking Barack Obama, he's a really good emcee. Do you know how hard it is to stay in the pocket of the beat while doing an impression? This is hot.



peace.

Voice Intensive, I miss you.

Canada's National Voice Intensive is a five-week voice, speech, and text workshop that's been happening in Vancouver, B.C. every summer since 1986. Under the brilliant direction of master voice teacher David Smukler, the Intensive has served as a safe and accessible laboratory for participants and instructors to explore and examine the limitless textures and nuances of the human voice. Although CNVI is primarily focused on voice for the actor, it has served participants from numerous professional disciplines.

I've had the unique pleasure of attending in the Intensive twice; once in 2006 as a participant and again as an associate instructor in 2010. I have little doubt my path will guide me there again in the near future.

Today I had the chance to reconnect with a couple acquaintances from both of my CNVI experiences. I am always pleasantly surprised at how much these conversations allow me to remember ('re' as in 'again', and 'member' as in 'body'; so 'embody again') the wonderful and inspiring times I've had in Vancouver at the Intensive. I'm pleased today.

For more information on Canada's National Voice Intensive, have a look here. I'm on the homepage!!!

peace.

Tucson Ruminations

It's late. I just came from my friend James' birthday celebration and I don't have much left. So I'll make this quick.

Maybe I've been fooled.

Maybe this moment has been tailored to trigger my response.

Maybe I'm being cornered and manipulated by powers I could never comprehend.

Perhaps it's because I feel like I should have been around for the 1960s so I didn't feel like such a fake when discussing "the struggle".

Perhaps I want to feel now the way they felt then, as if someone spoke not only with a familiar voice, but a familiar soul.

But...

Maybe it's the truth. It's been hard to spot nowadays.

Maybe this is the feeling I've been waiting for; pride, admiration, awe.

Maybe this represents the beginnings of my citizenship.

Because I don't know if I've ever identified with that until now.

But whatever it is, I do know this.

These two will always be my heroes.

Hopefully, I'll be in New York tomorrow to see my friend Mark in a play. If I can get to an internet connection I'll put up the next Emcee of the Month post and get a review of the play up on Sunday. I'm so excited (Jessie Spano)!

peace.

The Homeless Casey Kasem

Disclaimer: Most of you have probably seen or heard this by now. Sorry!

Get this man a job, right now.

The astonishing thing about this cat is the comfort and effortlessness in his speech. There is nothing in this to suggest he's not allowing his voice to release from his body naturally or unimpeded, and the resonance and texture he finds is both bright and alive while remained foundational and grounded. It's especially noticable in the second part of the video when he's giving the quick story of how he's found himself in his current environment.

What's really exciting is that as of 11:30am, this video has 4 million views on youtube within 48 hours of being posted. Hopefully, one of those views is from someone who will have the capability and will to find this gentleman.

The bigger picture, however, is that there are so many people who are homeless and disadvantaged with gifts and abilites such as these. I can only imagine benefiting to our local and global societies by finding ways to nurture these individuals, and not let allow them to slip through the cracks of indifference or neglect.

peace.