Develop
I remember when it took days to get your pictures back. Hoping and waiting to see if that picture came out just like you wanted. It took time for them to develop. Your film would undergo a chemical process in a dark room. Interesting enough, most of us don't have the patience to develop. Yet, God is calling us to endure patiently for our gifts and talents to develop.
Development does not take place in the spotlight. Development does not take place with others. We develop when we submit to being alone in a dark place. We grow when we plant seeds in a dark place. Don't rush the process. Don't despise the wait. Don't fear the dark. It's where we develop.
Icon
I grew up when people paid for HBO just to watch Moonwalker or any Michael Jackson concert. I remember that the first 20 minutes were a bunch of people crying and Mike just standing there. I remember a lot of pyrotechnics and flashing lights. The same flashing lights that Kanye wrote about. The same flashing lights people hope will save Kanye from the sunken place even though most of us recognize its probably too late. Fame does something to people. Michael was an icon to my generation, just as Kanye is an icon to another generation. Both have tragic stories of loss, and in many ways, they both ultimately lost themselves. Mike died an unrecognizable drug addict and pedophile and Kanye has not been right since his mother died. Kanye is no longer the College Dropout who spit rhymes with his mouth wired shut. Instead, he spits on TMZ about slavery being a choice without giving clout to the systemic mental slavery that still occurs. For someone, who grew up watching the Cosby Show, dancing to MJ tracks and rapping Kanye lyrics... it's a sad day for Icons. Maybe being iconic shouldn't be idolized because it's costing our Black men their legacies and their minds. Free thought ain't free!
For Your Consideration
On the last day of Black History Month, I want to bring to light why representation matters in all forms of art, especially film. It's award season. The Academy Awards has come under scrutiny because of the #oscarssowhite controversy and the Moonlight mix up last year. For Your Consideration is a heading frequently used in advertisements in entertainment trade publications such as Variety, Backstage, and The Hollywood Reporter. They are directed towards members of awards voting groups in the entertainment industry, like the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences that annually presents the Academy Awards celebrating the best in motion pictures, or the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences which presents the Primetime Emmy Awards for television.
For Your Consideration:
- In 2012, The Times reported that Oscar voters were 94% white and 77% male. Four years later, the academy has made scant progress: Oscar voters are 91% white and 76% male, according to a new Times study. Blacks are about 3% of the academy, up from 2%; Asians and Latinos are each just over 2%, with both groups up slightly.
- The executive branch, which finances the movies and determines what films warrant an awards campaign, is 98% white. The public relations branch, which strategizes those awards campaigns, is 95% white.
- Jordan Peele is just the fifth black director nominated for the award, a distinguished group that includes John Singleton for 1991’s “Boyz n the Hood,” Lee Daniels for 2009’s “Precious,” Steve McQueen for 2013’s “12 Years a Slave” and Barry Jenkins for last year’s best-picture winner, “Moonlight.”
- No female black directors – no, not even Ava DuVernay or Dee Rees – have ever been nominated for a directing Oscar.
In a unanimous vote on 1/21/16, the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences approved a sweeping series of substantive changes designed to make the Academy’s membership, its governing bodies, and its voting members significantly more diverse. The Board’s goal is to commit to doubling the number of women and diverse members of the Academy by 2020.
http://www.vulture.com/2018/02/how-new-oscar-voters-are-changing-the-way-the-academy-thinks.html