A Conversation with Junot Diaz at Brooklyn College

     The Whitman Theater at Brooklyn filled in no time with students, professors, and other faculty ready to hear from Junot Diaz. The focus was his latest book and New York Times bestseller "The Breif Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao".

     The Event was kicked off with Terrence Chang saying a few words to introduce Mr. Diaz and how great this event is and everything got started. When Junot came out he first did a reading from his other New York Times best seller "This is How You Lose her"; 'The Cheater's Guide to Love: Year 0'.



    Soon after, the discussion began and Junot had so much to say I had to take notes. A reccurring idea that kept coming up is how young people in my generation(I was born in the early 90's) are all now trying to make their art their work. This resonated with me so well because I am basically living this. Everyone is just trying to make it, trying ti be famous, and trying to make money. We noticed so many people of the generations before us who did it so 'why can't we?', but we fail to realize that it cannot be forced nor rushed.

     Junot stated that "Art is an elaborate form of play" and "too many people of this generation think that their art is supposed to pay their bills". You come home from work and then you do art. Art is not you're work. This is important for college students because we should be learning. Junot also stated that there is no reason why young people should be writing everyday(outside of schoolwork). He says that we should drop all preconceived notions about college and open up. Junot also said that so many young people try to avoid the vulnerability.

    When asked about young artists developing their voice Junot stated: Writing is a technology which all of us need to master, all of us need to learn how to write. Writing allows you to have extraordinarily complex thoughts. Voice is not much of a concern. The basic idea of education is to perfect writing. "One day you're going to need to save your own life with writing".

     Then the discussion about "The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao" began. Diaz said: This book has to stand in for multiple books. This was driven by the desire to create a book that will be read by someone who wants to be profoundly changed and Desperation/scarcity this may be the only book I write.

     The character Oscar Wao is Dominican and there are many slang terms, spanglish words, and Dominican references in the book. Junot stated Dominicans rarely know their history, the lack of information the average American has about DR correlates with that of the average Dominican. Most of us are raised by parents who are interested in passing down the struggles if their family history. It is passed down by family dysfunction.

     Then the Q&A began. Several students asked really great questions about what Junot has said and about his books. One question that stood out was asked by a girl(who was Dominican)who stated that the person who introduced her to "The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao" was Asian. She wondered how people who were not Dominican could understand this book. Junot replied by saying well White people don't question whether or not we will understand their books or their movies. This was one of many revelations I had throughout the whole discussion.

     Junot Diaz is certainly and inspiration in many ways. I bought my own copy of "This is How You Lose Her" that day and got it signed. I recommend it as well as "The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao"

Fall Photo Shootin'

     A few friends and I headed to Brooklyn’s Highland Park for a photo shoot. Amirah(left) suggested that we do it so I asked my best friend, Ali Esteem, to shoot us. For my outfit I am wearing a thrifted sweater, High waisted Forever 21 shorts, H&M thigh highs and Demonia Creepers. Amirah is wearing a Forever 21 striped top, H&M pastel colored skinny jeans, and moccasins.

Ian Curtis

      Control is a biopic about the punk band Joy Division, and Ian is the lead singer. Ian Curtis is shown to be a melancholy teenager who often keeps to himself, despite this Ian abruptly decides to marry his girlfriend at the time and still isolates himself in his own room in their home together. He is a big fan of David Bowie as well as The Sex Pistols. It is at a Sex Pistols concert where he speaks to a few friends who have formed a band and state that they need a lead singer. It seems that soon after Ian agrees to sing with them that he becomes who he truly is. The next scene shows Ian walking from his home to work, lighting a cigarette, and then the back of his jacket is revealed on which he painting the word “HATE” in large letters. Here:

   

 Overtime Ian asserted himself to get his band to appear on television, the band hired a manager, and the band Joy Divisions seemed to become famous very quickly. Despite his own depression, his marriage, and his struggle with epilepsy Ian still managed to, constantly record music, constantly write songs, and constantly perform shows.

    

One song of there's I feel represents Ian very much as well as the idea for the film is Isolation:

Fruitvale Station

     Last night two of my closest friends and I went to the movies to see Fruitvale Station. Luckily, it is still playing. We went to a small movie theaters on 2nd avenue, Village East.

 Of course we were all familiar with the story of Oscar Grant and have been told how intense this film is by friends who have seen it in the past month. So many others have told us, and posted online, how strong of a film Fruitvale Station is and how much they cried after watching it. We were prepared to cry. We were already in Manhattan and arrived at the theater pretty quickly, it was very filled but we were surprised by the amount of people who came to see this movie, though it's been in theaters for over a month now.

     Well, the movie begins with Oscar lying in with his girlfriend/"baby momma" and then he picks up his cellphone and sends a text message. As he does this what is on his phone's screen(menu, contacts, etc) is shown in a little bubble on the movie screen(like a text/thought bubble). This happened throughout the whole film, which was an amazing detail. Though some may think it was just a special effect that would be used in a 2013 film , Oscar's cellphone was an important part of his life during that time and ultimately his death. He is often calling/texting his mother, his sister, his girlfriend, and his friends.

     When he is in the train station being harassed by the police he pulls his cellphone out and take photos/videos of the police and what they are doing; as does most of the train passengers/witnesses of the incident.

     Fruitvale Station was a very detailed and positive account of what truly happened. They didn't overly criminalize the police, they didn't criminalize Oscar nor put him in an extremely positive light, and there wasn't any part that was unnecessary. This film was all truth and that was all that was needed. I am very glad that Oscar's story was told in an effective way, I am glad that this shows an incident that happened recently. With films people often try to take themselves out of the story, but being that this is a true story that we can all identify with somehow it is so much more impactful.

Labor Day !

     In Brooklyn, as many of you know, Labor Day is our West Indian Day Parade. People come from all over to celebrate our culture and have fun. There's food, music, dancing, several floats, and so many people. I went to the parade with my best friend, Ali Esteem and here are a few photos I took:

My outfit

Jerk chicken w/ Rice and peas

 my bestfriend reppin Haiti

Quote

Writing is not the writing of words, it is the deleting of words.
                                                                                                    - unknown

Urban Word at Brave New Voices

     Last week was the national teen poetry slam Brave New Voices, this year held in Chicago. Urban Word's Slam team of 6 teen poets representing NYC took 3rd place.
    Check out one of their group pieces performed by my own peers, Darren Arthur, Maya Osborne, and Anthony Ragler

Afro Punk Fest is right around the corner!

    The Biggest event of the summer is back. August 24th and 25th. This year's festival will just as eventful as last year and shows to be very promising. Once again I am volunteering for the AFROPUNK and I wouldn't have it any other way.

    This years AP fest will include performances by Chuck D, ?Love, Theophilus London, Danny Brown, The Skins, and so much more! A lot of talk has been going around about the lineup this year and so many people are very excited. Of course the festival will also include vendors, live art, BMX, food trucks and more.


   A new addition to the AFROPUNK festivities is Afro Punk after dark. If you are 21+ this includes several bars and clubs in the area having events, giveaways, and just dope happening right after the festival all in the name of AFROPUNK.

For all the information and to RSVP go to: http://afropunkfest.com/

PUNK at the Met

The Met's spring 2013 Costume Institute exhibition, PUNK: Chaos to Couture, will examine punk's impact on high fashion from the movement's birth in the early 1970s through its continuing influence today. Featuring approximately one hundred designs for men and women, the exhibition will include original punk garments and recent, directional fashion to illustrate how haute couture and ready-to-wear borrow punk's visual symbols. Focusing on the relationship between the punk concept of "do-it-yourself" and the couture concept of "made-to-measure," the seven galleries will be organized around the materials, techniques, and embellishments associated with the anti-establishment style. Themes will include New York and London, which will tell punk's origin story as a tale of two cities, followed by Clothes for Heroes and four manifestations of the D.I.Y. aesthetic—Hardware, Bricolage, Graffiti and Agitprop, and Destroy. Presented as an immersive multimedia, multisensory experience, the clothes will be animated with period music videos and soundscaping audio techniques.(Met Museum)

    I visited The Met with a close friend of mine yesterday and I am so glad I did. We went at a good time and the museum wasn't terribly crowded.

    Upon walking into the exhibit you are sucked into a world of PUNK. There are description on the wall of the whole Punk era in New York City and London. There is also a replica of the very popular NYC nightclub CBGB's bathroom. I admire the fashion so very much and how true to the era the works were. On display there were various clothing design by iconic names in fashion such as: Margeila, Versace, Alexander Mcqueen, and Galliano. The clothes were all heavily punk inspired, ripped, layered, cover in paint splatters and safety pins. It was all very impressive, not just the clothing but also the overall design aesthetic. There were colorful lights and and a different feel for each room/section. There was also punk music playing and various TV screens playing footage of various punk icons of that era.

     I enjoyed the entire exhibit very much, personally I already admire the entire punk era although I wasn't too knowledgeable about and now I'm glad that I learned more.

Photos:

Outfit of the Week !

Last night was a friend of mine’s book release and this is the outfit I wore. I didn’t want to dress up too much but I still had to look good. This look is simple, funky, edgy, and fun. Pretty much. I paired a cropped shirt from Asos.com with high waisted jeggings from gojane.com for a more modest look but still showing off my slim physique.