Keep Your Eyes on the Prize

I'm sitting here listening to this beautiful rendition of "Redemption Song" by Lauryn Hill. This girl could sing a Chinese carry-out menu and make me cry so imagine the effect of her singing lyrics like Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery/None but ourselves can free our minds/Have no fear for atomic energy/Cause none of them can stop the time/How long shall they kill our prophets/While we stand aside and look... Whoo...emotional experience, listening to Lauryn, I tell ya...

Onto the purpose of this entry...Imagine calling someone and hearing

Ring...ring.......ring...*click*...I've made some changes in my life in the New Year. If I don't call you back, you're one of them...*BEEEEP*

Oh my, right? This random guy has that as his message and I think that is so hot - it's straight to the point without bein ignant and it's real. As I mentioned before, I don't make New Year's resolutions but over the break I've had some time to really think and examine. I've come to realize that a lot of things will be done differently by me this year - I've seen some real regression on my quest to become who I want to and I need to fix the problems while I still recognize them.

This semester in school will be very interesting. I've got a lot of projects coming up that I'm excited about:

1) I get to write, direct and basically control all aspects of a play focusing on Black history. This is especially big because the university I attend is in an extremely rural town and there are only 158 domestic blacks on campus. Out of 6,000 students. 158. So for me to be able to control this play that will shape a lot of views of people who haven't been exposed to Black culture is so big. I'm actually kinda scared because if it sucks there's no one to blame but me.

2) I talked the campus radio director into a "trial-run" of my proposed show "Suite Soul". Which is basically just me getting to expose the station to some real music that's good for the soul. I've been approved to play anything I choose, including some spoken word and live performances that I love so I can't wait. He gave me three slots for the first three Sundays after we get back and said if my ratings are normal he may make me a regular. So cross your fingers for me!

3) I get to perform in and co-host my school's Martin Luther King Jr. celebration. It's an all-day celebration ending with a 2 1/2 hour program in our theater. I still have to write my piece and memorize it, but I was flowing in the car today and I think I'm straight on what I want to say. I hesitated because it's so hard to try to write a piece that embodies all that MLKJ stood for. You know how in music there are some songs that should just not be touched? For me, there are some subjects in poetry that are so heavy to approach that I actually find myself viewing it a little bit like a hunt. I look at it from all angles possible and then try to find the best one to come from. I gotta thank Syleena J from the Beat for my title though, she performed a snippet of one of her pieces on the air today and in the middle she asked "What was the struggle for?"...so I ganked that and made it a title. Good look, Ms. J.

4)Since open mic nights at my school have been slacking, I've been working with some people on some promotion that should be like the grits if it jumps off. (the grits = the shit, whatever) So I can't wait for that as well.

I'm trying to get back to where I was for like 3 months last year. Just this really calm but focused mindset. I feel like my thoughts have been racing this semester and I haven't really gotten anything done. So I'm getting back to being like Hov - "I'm focused, man!! Tell Stout to holla at me, man!!" (Check up on that Mya/Jay-Z "Best of Me" remix if you don't know that)

Oh, I forgot...I'll be writing for the newspaper here and there too, so the 'Ville betta look out!!

Well, that's all for now...I'm like slaves at a KKK meeting - ABSENT.