Starting in 1996 September, we lived at 88 South Oxford Street in Brooklyn, the Fort Greene neighborhood, not far from the former naval shipyard and one of Spike Jones's homes.
In 1992, Mr. Jones made a movie about my greatest idol, Malik al-Shabbaz. I was not pleased. The movie was targeted at the white suburban market, as most mass market Hollywood movies are.
Attica, where Mr. al-Shabaz did much of his time, is not far from where I was raised. Mr. el-Shabazz found Rochester to be the most backward of the major Upstate cities. Hence, he focused his efforts there not long before I arrived in your nation from South Asia.
On July 24, 1964, chaos erupted in Rochester, New York. Strike the Hammer examines the unrest—rebellion by the city's Black community, rampant police brutality—that would radically change the trajectory of the Civil Rights movement. After overcoming a violent response by State Police, the fight for justice, in an upstate town rooted in black power movements, was reborn. That resurgence owed much to years of organizing and resistance in the community.
Laura Warren Hill examines Rochester's long Civil Rights history and, drawing extensively on oral accounts of the northern, urban community, offers rich and detailed stories of the area's protest tradition. Augmenting oral testimonies with records from the NAACP, SCLC, and the local FIGHT, Strike the Hammer paints a compelling picture of the foundations for the movement.
Now, especially, this story of struggle for justice and resistance to inequality resonates. Hill leads us to consider the social, political, and economic environment more than fifty years ago and how that founding generation of activists left its mark on present-day Rochester.
Cornell University Press
I trained our cats to fetch. In contrast to Jack Byrnes in Meet the Parents, my efforts at training Nyanko to defecate using the toilet fell on deaf ears.
Tamagochi and Nyanko are pictured here on Clinton Street. The Wii controller in the photo was purchased by my practice spouse after our first year of marriage. She politely asked me if I would mind if she exchanged her wedding ring for the video game set. I agreed. We didn't divorce for another eight years. In hindsight, one might suggest I was over persistent.
In 1999, just before Meet the Parents zeroed me out, we went skiing at Big Bear. At the time we lived at 8675 Falmouth (foul mouth?) Avenue #117 in Playa del Rey, California. We drove from Big Bear to our condo near the beach, and never caught a red traffic signal. Art imitates life.
The best way to predict the future is to make it.
Abraham Lincoln and countless others have uttered some variation of this quote
Abraham Lincoln also said
Be careful of believing the quotes you read on the internets.
Here's another hill. Lauryn Noelle Hill. Wisdom is better than silver and gold. Sing it sister.
The Lyrics for Lost Ones by Lauryn Hill have been translated into 8 languages
It′s funny how money change a situation
Miscommunication leads to complication
My emancipation don't fit your equation
I was on the humble, you on every station
Some wan′ play young Lauryn like she dumb
But remember not a game new under the sun
Everything you did has already been done
I know all the tricks from Bricks to Kingston
My ting done made your kingdom wan' run
Now understand L-Boogie, non-violent
But if a thing test me, run for me gun
Can't take a threat to mi newborn son
L been this way since creation
A groupie call, you fall from temptation
Now you wanna ball over separation
Tarnish my image in your conversation
Who you gon′ scrimmage, like you the champion
You might win some but you just lost one
You might win some but you just lost one
You might win some but you just lost one
You might win some but you just lost one
You might win some but you just lost one
Now, now how come your talk turn cold?
Gained the whole world for the price of your soul
Tryin′ to grab hold of what you can't control
Now you′re all floss, what a sight to behold
Wisdom is better than silver and gold
I was hopeless now I'm on hope road
Every man wants to act like he′s exempt
Need to get down on his knees and repent
Can't slick talk on the day of judgement
Your movement′s similar to a serpent
Tried to play straight, how your whole style bent?
Consequence is no coincidence
Hypocrites always wanna play innocent
Always wanna take it to the full out extent
Always wanna make it seem like good intent
Never wanna face it when it time for punishment
I know you don't wanna hear my opinion
There come many paths and you must choose one
And if you don't change then the rain soon come
See you might win some but you just lost one
You might win some but you just lost one
You might win some but you just lost one
You might win some but you just lost one
You might win some but you just lost one
You might win some but you really lost one
You just lost one, it′s so silly, how come?
When it′s all done, did you really gain from
What you done done? It's so silly, how come?
You just lost one
Now don′t you understand, man, universal law?
What you throw out comes back to you, star
Never underestimate those who you scar
'Cause karma, karma, karma comes back to you hard
You can′t hold God people back that long
The chain of Shatan wasn't made that strong
Trying to pretend like your word is your bond
But until you do right, all you do will go wrong
Now some might mistake this for just a simple song
And some don′t know what they have 'til it's gone
Now even when you′re gone you can still be reborn
And, from the night can arrive the sweet dawn
Now some might listen and some might shun
And some may think that they′ve reached perfection
If you look closely you'll see what you′ve become
'Cause you might win some but you just lost one
You might win some but you just lost one
You might win some but you just lost one
You might win some but you just lost one
You might win some but you just lost one
You might win some, but you really lost one
You just lost one, it′s so silly, how come?
When it's all done, did you really gain from
What you done done? It′s so silly, how come?
You might win some, but you really lost one
You just lost one, it's so silly, how come?
When it's all done did you really gain from
What you done done? It′s so silly, how come?
You just lost one
You just lost one, you just lost one
You just lost one, you just lost one
You just lost one, you just lost one
You just lost one
What a bam-bam
Alright people, I′m gonna write something on the board
Let's spell it, first letter
L, O, V, E
What′s that?
Love
What?
Love
How many people know any songs about love?
Right here, I know a lot about love
Tell me some titles, titles of some songs
Love
There's a song called love?
Yeah
There′s no song called love
Yeah, it's by Kirk Franklin
Okay, okay how it go?
It go, love
Bet, bet, okay
Anybody else know any songs about love
I can′t hear you
I Will Always Love You
What about any movies about love? Know any movies about love?
Titanic
Alright
Romeo and Juliet
Did you know that was about love or you saw it on TV
And they said it was about love
Writers Lauryn Hill, Frederick Hibbert
Aout (May 25, 1993 – June 6, 2015)
Not just an American problem, but a World Problem.
…in no time can you understand the problems between Black and white people here in Rochester or Black and white people in Mississippi…unless you understand the basic problem that exists between Black and white people — not confined to the local level, but confined to the international, global level on this earth today.
...make the world see that our problem was no longer a Negro problem or an American problem but a human problem. A problem for humanity. And a problem which should be attacked by all elements of humanity. A problem that was so complex that it was impossible for Uncle Sam to solve it himself and therefore we want to get into a body or conference with people who are in such positions that they can help us get some kind of adjustment for this situation...
Malcolm Little, Malcolm X, el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz
Malcolm X’s lecture in Rochester would be one of the last public speeches he ever gave. The human rights leader’s voice was silenced forever five days later on February 21st, 1965 when he was assassinated at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem.
Emily Morry
Imagine if the FBI had not assasinated him, Dr. King and Mr. Lennon.
Later that year, Marcia ripped her eldest son from Rangoon, where he was surrounded by tranquility and love, and planted him in suburban Rochester. Did she bring me to your country, your world, to finish the man's work?
