What Cleveland Metropolitan needs.

Maybe this is all the CMSD needs...(thanks Carmen)



Why aren't there movies about black and latino teachers inspiring their youth other than Stand and Deliver and Lean on Me. I know Jaime Escalante and Joe Clark aren't the only educational role models for Latino and Black students. There are teachers, black, white, asian, latino, male and female that won't let kids fail without the drama and the schmaltz. I know some of them personally.

Chocolate Rain / Best Week Ever Version

Tay is a very good sport. I love the R. Kelly shot...

Are you ready...

Are you ready for some kickball?

Maybe you're thinking "man, I haven't played that since elementary school". Well, some adults were playing kickball yesterday at Shaker Middle School...and I was among them. A fun time was had by all. Why were we playing kickball?

Because of WAKA: the World Adult Kickball Association. There are two Cleveland-area divisions: The Great Lakes Division, which is scheduled to start play a week from yesterday and the Rock and Roll Division, which is having a preseason pick-up game next Tuesday.

For more info, hit up WAKA . Yes, that's a working URL.

the losses of insularity

Sometimes, you lose a lot in life from what you don't do and who you don't connect deeper with. I have met many people in my life that, because, at one point, I was so insular, I didn't connect with as deeply as I should have. These were people I could relate to and people I could understand that understood me. I ran into one of those people a couple of days ago....actually, this week, I have run into a few of those people.

Handsome Boy Modeling School promo video

Handsome Boy Modeling School...this is my next career move. Forget web development...anybody got 60 dollars?

Oh no, not you too Lime Spider!

I just read this today and it broke my heart. One of my favorite haunts in Akron (it's a damn shame that it took me so long to find it) is The Lime Spider and it's closing in September. It's the only place in Downtown Akron that has 1) independent rock shows, 2) a plethora of beer, both mainstream and microbrew and 3) WIRELESS!. I was trying to think of a place in Akron proper that has decent food and wireless.

All I could think of was Panera Bread (which, technically, is in Cuyahoga Falls)..and the Lime Spider late nights. ( Big ups to the bearded grill guy whose name I don't know).

I will definitely represent there a few times before it's last call for the Lime Spider.

Common's new CD or Why People Don't Buy Music as Much...

I bought Common's new "Finding Forever" CD 2 days ago (it came out 3 days ago) and...wow. Common is the same man as he was when he started rapping...but he has not been shy about the fact that he has grown since "Can I Borrow A Dollar". Growth is a part of life that is often devoid of hip-hop. People don't talk about how to grow themselves, their communities, hell even the losses that result in growth experiences. This is real life. Forget what BET is showing you. Forget what MTV is showing you. Common is real to me. I can relate to songs like "Book of Life" from "Resurrection" about being young, black and full of life questions after college doesn't go as planned.

People don't buy music because they don't feel music. It doesn't touch your soul, the essential part of who you are or who you are aspiring to be. Common's CD does that for me.

I hope you all find music that strikes you like that. If you don't have a relationship like that with music (or some kind of art), you are missing out.

A fine example of journalism...

I got a bulletin from the Dennis Kucinich for President campaign and they sent a YouTube video with a 1978 interview of Dennis by Tom Snyder (who just passed, RIP). Tom is asking some hard-hitting questions and Dennis isn't ducking.

They don't make politicians or journalists like that much anymore.

He's been saying the same things for the last 29 years. It's all about the people and serving the will of the people not, as he put it, genuflecting at the altar of big business.

The video is here...

I also love the blacksploitation-esque music.