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A bit of background on Smerconish. People like him use what happened in the first comic upheaval to justify publishing every negative piece of media on Muslims regardless of its quality, accuracy and insensitivity. I must admit that Opus was one of my favorite comics as a child and that this new cartoon is a slice of pie compared to the Danish cartoon.

1st day of verité footage

Just got back from the first night of shooting for Warring Factions. My crew, Les Avenge, and myself did a demonstration for Seabhs. I gave the usual talk about bboying and motivating youth to stay in school and out of trouble. I hope it makes for some good footage. I may post some of the footage up if there is a high demand for it.

WARRING FACTIONS

I prepared this promotional video for the new project.

How does it feel to punch yourself?

Everyone is waiting for the day this guy is sitting in a courtroom listening to his sentence.

big-ups to KABOBfest for
putting me onto this video

Mashouf in NYC: the photo edition

Taken at a friend's wedding in Long Island, the bride shows off her henna.

Returning to the Upper West Side from the port authority is where I took this. The man on the left entered the train first and I felt that was enough for me to take a photo. But I didn't actually pull out the camera until the gentleman on the right entered the train.

In the Claridge casino bus terminal, Atlantic City. In order to get to work on time that day I left Atlantic City on the 5:30am bus to New York. There are 4 people out of frame that are also sleeping in uncomfortable red chairs.

Queens Bridge park in Queens, NY. Taken at the Thursday jam in the park.

Also taken at Queens Bridge Park.

Williamsburg, Brooklyn. I found Nemo.

An artist in Williamsburg spends his 4th of July making this mosaic on the street. Note the sign that says "We're arming both sides. Shiite + Suni Death Squads" on the upper left. Not unprecedented.

When the dominos begin to fall

Today I heard that British forces are pulling their troops from the south of Iraq. I'm wondering how long it will take before the UK pulls their whole contribution of soldiers for the war.

[LINK]

Remembering Poets Not Fit For The White House

I found this broadcast on the Freespeech TV website in 2003 and recorded it as an mp3. Seeing Amiri Baraka got me in a bit of a spoken word mood so I was listening to everything spoken word I have. Poets Not Fit For The White House was a project started after Laura Bush invited Sam Hamill to a poetry symposium at the White House celebrating the work of Walt Whitman, Emily Dickenson and Langston Hughes. In response, Hamill put out a call for anti war poems and received an overwhelming number of poems to send to the symposium in his absence. After attracting a bit of press about Hamill's plan the White House canceled the symposium. Then, on February 17, 2003 an event was held in New York City for poets to share their dissonance for the war.

The list of those who participated is as follows:
Ammiel Alcalay, Lee Ann Brown, Steve Colman, Robert Creeley, Martin Espada, Jorie Graham, Andre Gregory, Sam Hamill, Suheir Hammad, Marie Howe, Galway Kinnell, Youseff Komanukaa, Stanley Kunitz, Ann Lauterbach, Arthur Miller, Mos Def, Odetta, Sharon Olds, Willie Perdomo, Robert Pinsky, Peter Sacks, Sapphire, Wallace Shawn, Mark Strand, Anne Waldman, C.K. Williams, Saul Williams


More here
DOWNLOAD MP3 HERE

Amiri Baraka in the Park

NY is the greatest place for free events. I wanted to go to a total of six large free events while I have been in NY but was unable to due to rain, overcrowding or other unforeseen circumstances.

I was able to see Amiri Baraka and Sonia Sanchez on Tuesday at Central Park. It was an interesting night to see two artists carry a show with spoken word. The night ended with a short talk with Ms. Sanchez and Mr. Baraka about the beginning of the Black Arts Movement. Amiri Baraka is a man filled with knowledge, an amazing sense of humor and comedic timing. Just hearing him talk about Malcom X makes me feel that the current generation has flatlined. If anyone has any suggestions about how to activate the people again, don't say it without doing something.

GOOD Magazine: Milllennium Promise