…but the sky ain’t the limit,
I can teleport through my mind any minute,
Take you to a place where the lions go “ribbit,”
Or the frogs roar and the fire is frigid.
I’m out of this world, don’t below here…
"In America, the chasm between rich and poor is growing, the clash between conservatives and liberals is strengthening, and even good and evil seem more polarized than ever before. At the heart of this collection of portraits is my desire to remind us that we were all equal, until our environment, circumstances or fate molded and weathered us into whom we have become."
Los Angeles and New York-based photographer Mark Laita completed Created Equal over the course of eight years; his poignant words reflect the striking polarizations found in his photographs. Presented as diptychs, the images explore social, economic and gender difference and similarity within the United States, emulating and updating the portraiture of Edward Curtis, August Sander and Richard Avedon. This volume includes an introduction by noted culture writer and editorial cult figure Ingrid Sischy.
via inspirefirst
This is my first post in a long time! My words do this track no justice, but his are immaculate. Enjoy!
IF you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!
Poem: If by Rudyard Kipling, 1910
Art: Wounded Soldier by Marcel Janco, 1948
I keep telling people...Kanye's upcoming album's gonna be ridiculous!
"Music hath charms to soothe the savage breast,
To soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak"
- William Congreve, The Mourning Bride, Act i. Sc. 1.
This article, though published a while ago (07.28.10), is too important not to share...
Washington (CNN) – A new poll indicates Americans have complicated views towards immigrants.
According to a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation national survey, the vast majority believe that most immigrants are basically good, honest people who are hard-working. However, nearly seven in ten say that immigrants are a burden on the taxpayer, 62 percent think they add to the crime problem, and 59 percent believe they take jobs away from Americans.
The poll, released Wednesday, asks about all people who have immigrated from other countries in the past ten years, and not just about illegal immigrants in the U.S.
"The results may explain why most Americans think that the policies that made the U.S. a 'melting pot' strengthened the country a century ago but do not make the country stronger today," says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland.
Taking the "melting pot" metaphor a bit further, do Americans think that immigrants should maintain their own culture, or blend into the existing culture in this country?
"Two-thirds of whites say that immigrants should give up some important aspects of their culture to blend in; only about four in ten Hispanics, and an equal number of blacks, agree with that view," adds Holland.
And what about the "American Dream" that attracts so many immigrants to this country?
According to the survey, 45 percent of whites say that have achieved the American Dream, compared to 38 percent of Hispanics and only 23 percent of blacks. Roughly one in five of each racial group says they will never achieve the American Dream.
The CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll was conducted July 16-21, with 1,018 adult Americans questioned by telephone, including a special sample of 308 black and 303 Hispanic respondents. The survey's overall sampling error is plus or minus three percentage points.
Man of many interests with a jack of all trades mentality - master of some. An African living in a Puerto Rican neighborhood in Chicago, practices Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (still a white belt), is into music, culture, world politics, social issues, journalism, poetry, science and works in PR. This blog reflects what interests me...hopefully you too.
