The Blog

The Museum of the African Diaspora has a awesome new exhibition. “Let You Motto Be Resistance: African American Portraits” just opened last Friday. The exhibit features iconic photographs of influential African Americans, many or most of them deceased. A separate installation honors Bay Area icons former San Francisco mayor Willie Brown and baseball great Willie Mays.

Willie Brown and civil right lawyer John Burris were honored by MoAD and spoke during the opening reception. It was great. You should check it out! The exhibit runs until June 14. Admission is $10.

As a photographer, it’s a must see!

Here’s a few photos that I was able to sneak and snap:

Da Mayor, Willie Brown.

Willie and Angela Davis…and with Jesse Jackson in the corner.

Richard Pryor.

Sammy Davis, Jr.

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A big shout out to @franchescaallen.

This is my dog. I’ve had him since he was a puppy. He’s not doing so well right now. He’s eleven… that’s 67 in dog years. He’s old. Just wanted to use this space to show love to a dog that was responsible for keeping me sane through high school.

I’m going to miss him. Hope he isn’t suffering too much, as it’s clear his life is winding down.

Love you, Tycho.

Great foreign films. Both gave me an idea of what the lives of people from other countries, who don’t have it nearly as easy as I do.

Gomorrah

I saw this movie right shortly after the violent murders of police officers occured in Oakland, Calif. There seemed to be a lot of parallels between what youth go through here in the US and what youth in urban, neglected neighborhoods are experiencing all over the world. Martin Scorcese was involved with the film, which is why the film caught my eye. The film could stand alone without the Hollywood name attached to it. Here’s the trailer:

Sin Nombre

Seeing this movie makes you feel for those who want to immigrate to the US and can’t do so quick enough. With the hardships young people face in countries like Mexico, where the drug wars seem to have nearly torn apart civilized life there, it’s not hard to see why one would want to leave. This movie was great at humanizing the immigrant experience. Here’s the trailer:

Both movies are still in theatres, but you may have a hard time finding one or both. Independent theaters/art houses most often have them.

Because I’ll easily eat at Yamo twice a week, the Mission District in San Francisco has become a bit of a hang out for me. I really enjoy the street art there, especially the murals that line a few of the alleys.

A couple of summers ago I accompanied a group of high school journalism students there as part of the BAMMA program. It’s amazing how much detail an artist can paint on stucco textured walls. It’s sad, however, how their art is defiled by taggers. (Not cool at all, assholes!)

Here’s a few pictures* from the alley near 18th Street and Mission:

(If I knew the names of the mural artists, I would totally give them shout outs. Shots of the murals taken with CameraBag on my iPhone.)

Here’s a map if you’d like to check them out yourself. Also, visit the Precita Eyes Mural Arts Center. The curator is a really nice lady and she give great tours…for a fee. And don’t be late for the tour, she’ll let you know if you are. I’ve digressed… here’s the map:

View Larger Map

If there’s one thing I’m going to miss about San Francisco, it’s Mission Dolores Park. Summer time. Movies in the park. Beers. Friends. Good times. Enough said.

No place I’d rather be on a warm, sunny day in the City.

Candorville, for me, has replaced The Boondocks as my favorite newspaper strip comic series. Seems as though Aaron “Too-Angry-To-Talk-To-Student-Journalists”* McGruder (creator of The Boondocks) has completely fallen off the comic strip scene, which I hesitantly liken to the downward spiral of Dave Chapelle in the sketch comedy scene.

Darrin Bell (Twitter: @candorville) is picking up where The Boondocks has begrudgingly left off. His characatures of Republican party leader Michael Steele stew in the essence of what McGruder was doing.

Bell, I would imagine, would prefer not to be compared to McGruder’s strip. Check him out and decide for yourself.

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*You might have detected a little bitterness on first reference to Aaron McGruder…about a semester before I started on the campus paper, I attended an event in San Francisco where hip hop “journalist(?)” Jeff Chang was talking with McGruder about controversies surrounding his comic strip and then TV show. I was determined to get an interview with McGruder and publish a story for a local publication. McGruder declined, citing his being burned by journalists before. And on top of that, Chang, whom I’d met and spoken to at his own book release event a few days prior, scolded me for pestering him about introducing me to McGruder. “Be a journalist,” he told me in a belittling tone. I was crushed. I don’t blame Chang for his reaction to an annoyingly persistent student journalist, but it still a downer. This all happened four years ago, so clearly the exchange stuck with me. McGruder and Chang were on my shit list for a while after that.

Okay. I’m going to make a confession. I’d not been to the California Academy of Sciences until almost two weeks ago. It’s one of those places that I’ve always heard about, read about. But going there had never made it on my list of things to do. And now I feel like an idiot for waiting so long to check it out. The aquarium alone was worth the visit. Here are a few pictures:

This alligator looked so depressed, I almost wanted to set him free. Another alligator lives in there with him, but she bit off one of his toes. She’s on a time out, a museum guide told me. Poor albino alligator.

I love aquariums. This one, I have to say, is better than the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

I didn’t get a chance to see the the Planetarium show because all showings were booked that day. And I didn’t get into the indoor rainforest. So, I guess that means I’ll be making another trip.

Sure, it’s a women’s college. (Nothing against women’s colleges. My sister graduated from there last year.) The campus is arguably the most beautiful piece of property in Oakland, Calif. And I have fond memories there. When my siblings and I were much younger, we’d ride our bikes to Mills with our dad. (We lived around the corner on 55th Ave.)

We’d practice karate. Yes, karate. My dad earned a black belt during his brief time in the military.

I took this picture (with my iPhone app, CameraBag). It’s on one of the hills at Mills, where a lot of the dormitory buildings are. I was there because my sister was giving a presentation on the results of a project she got a financial grant to do.