Chasing Dreams

Ya know sometimes life feels like a crap-shoot. You plan and plan and fate gives you a hand you didn’t plan for. I like to think that is what makes this existence interesting but sometimes it can take a toll on your soul. I mean here I am struggling to make my dream a reality 3 years after walking away from a great career and comfortable life. Now don’t misunderstand, my life now is still great. Next month I plan to spend a week in Johannesburg experiencing one of the greatest sporting events on this planet, The World Cup but the goal of me leaving advertising was to make it as an artist and it still feels out of reach. The time I SHOULD be spending to make it happen is spent working to pay the bills. I won’t let this blog post spiral into a rant about how hard my life is. Too many people don’t have jobs and will never experience the things I have been fortunate enough to call memories. It’s just sometimes the weight of your dreams can feel like a burden. I guess that’s why so many...

Life is truly fascinating. I mean everything is relative or gray , perception is the only thing that is black and white. I look at myself, through the judgmental black and white lens of impatience and wonder why it is that I am not the successful sought after photographer/writer I set out to be when I left advertising. I look and judge comparing this venture to previous leaps in my life that were more successful. So as I was researching some trivia one day I had an epiphany, standing in the middle of Times Square in NYC with yellow cabs, delivery trucks and bicycle messengers whizzing by. It may appear as if I’m standing still and not moving but all I have to do is look up at any building and notice the clouds moving behind them, except the clouds are not really moving it’s the earth rotating, it’s me moving on this spinning rock from morning to noon to night. What’s even more fascinating is the fact that although we appear to be rotating just a bit faster than a snail's pac...

Ok so I haven’t blogged in a while but it’s certainly not for lack of subject matter. We are living in the truly historic times; times that our grandchildren will ask us with wonder what it was like to be alive then. After stepping back from the brink of what appeared to be economic oblivion on a global scale, America is remaking herself… she is engaged in the most epic make-over which started with the election of Barack Obama and was punctuated with the passage of the health-care bill, both monumental historic events. Blogging about the fantastic meal I had at Dinosaur BBQ in Harlem a couple of days ago just seems too trivial for these times. I mean President Obama is signing nuclear disarmament treaties, Supreme Court Justice Stevens is stepping down and the Stock market is moving into really strong territory again but all I can think about is that brisket, chicken and ribs that was smoked to perfection before being slow cooked and anointed with a savory thick sauce that was the ver...

Well it’s Sunday and looking back on my week and I realize that I have a pretty amazing life. Now I know that may sound a bit arrogant but it’s true. Last Sunday my family took my mom out for mothers day, I had a hearty meal and decided to walk home from the restaurant which was a little over 4 miles… did it in an hour and half. Tuesday I flew to Spain, business class which is the only way to fly…lol, to chill with a friend and help her move some stuff back to the US. Saw the new X-Men movie in one of the only English theaters in Madrid. Thursday got a bottle of desert wine on the way back from one of the friendly flight attendants. Friday watched the new Star Trek movie in Queens NY. Saturday met Cedric the Entertainer and Kareem Abdul Jabar (man he’s tall) And today, Sunday escorted and made small talk with the revered Arch-Bishop Desmond Tutu and his wife, who blessed me twice. I’m not a fan by nature, I treat celebrities like regular people and don’t get all crazy but it...

So I was talking to a friend of mine the other day about me NOT being a morning person, despite having this crazy job that demands I be at work by 5 AM. What the hell… is this the bloody Army where we do more before 9Am than most people do all day…LOL. Working for the airline industry is a little whacky but perfect for a man like me that needs to have the work thang wrapped up early enough so he can devote the rest of the day to more important pursuits like photography and writing. Anyway my friend was amazed that I had acclimated to the morning so easily and it made me think. Was I always a morning person trapped in late night body? Truth be told I’m at my best at 9PM, ironically that's when I have to start winding down in order to be any good for work the next day. It didn’t make any sense to me. People don’t just switch bio-rhythms like that. So my geek side really put some thought into it and came up with an interesting theory. Stay with me on this, it’s gonna get a little qu...

T onight I saw the Star Trek movie, which by the way I highly recommend even if you ain’t a Trekkie like me.   As with a lot of movies that have the right blend of a solid script, good acting and special effects I came away thinking about my place in this trek we call life. If you’ve read my other blogs you know that I can get a little deep about seemingly insignificant things but I truly enjoy finding the profound in what might otherwise seem like the mundane. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not thinking about joining the Air Force at 39 years of age with hopes of entering astronaut training, no buddy I’ll leave the fancy space walking to better and younger men. I am however thinking about how our choices affect not only us but the people that are close to us. I’m thinking about how chasing ya dream can be a lonely endeavor especially if the people in your life can’t see your vision and don’t understand your choices. Even the diehard rebel needs those voices in the crowd...

BREAKING NEWS – Nov 5, 2008 the people of the United States of America elect Barack Obama, a black man president! This shocking news will surely mean a drastic reorganization of the system designed to hold black people back. You know the system I’m talking about… it’s called “The Man.” For years I’ve heard too many brothas refer to lack of opportunity or access to the American dream as a conspiracy perpetrated by “The Man” and it always pissed me off. Now don’t me wrong, I’m not saying that inequities don’t exist because they do, the playing field is NOT level with respect to race. A black man still has to work twice as hard and be twice as smart to be recognized outside of the field of sports or entertainment, however, access and opportunity is still there for the taking. That is the main reason so many Mexican, Haitian, Asian brothas risk life and limb on inner tubes, in cargo holds and in the stifling heat of car trunks to cross borders into America. But the question remains wh...