A place for Huey

  I excitedly shared the video above with some friends a few days ago because it rang reminiscent of my first story, A friend for the end of the world . In sum, the video is the second episode in a series about relationships and women and its unique twist is that the footage is taken from the video-recorder of one guy, THAT Guy. My first reaction to the episode was that not only was it a good story but it very much reflected the narratives I hear and see everyday. As I wrote to my friend, I saw many parallels between the beginning of my story and this episode (although the intent of my story was to explore the circumstantial/trifling way people meet and the dark yet beautiful way they end up being perfect for each other); that is, being tricked to a person's house for Chinese food and a movie and having that evolve into something deeper, not good or bad, but deeper. Part of the conversation with my friends became about agency: are you ever “tricked” into such a cir...

Well, there you have it. Everyone has probably seen this already; I just stumbled upon it 5 minutes ago.

"Blessed is she who's confirmed that they are good for the rest of their life."

I really don't tend to or like to "preach" on this blog but please take 23:33 minutes to watch this Junot Diaz speech. Just came across it about 30 minutes ago and this is probably the most eloquent responses given to some of the questions and ideas I ask myself and others, and a lot of what I explore in my poetry. Perhaps someone will want to discuss this...definitely open to that. *The conversation starts of slow. Be patient. It is worth it.*

A couple of videos I have randomly come across and watched (and at least found interesting) in the past 24 hours:

James Baldwin on education in America: "For a black person to get an education in this country, he's got to have a lot of guts. And to endure this institution, meaning that it's a racist institution...all American institutions are racist...and to get an education under those circumstances is a tremendous act of the will. And also you risk schizophrenia. " "You have to pick up the tools with your own intention. That is the trick."

*The cult of smartness stunts independent thinking* I have watched this video of Chris Hayes in conversation with Katrina vanden Heuvel about his book, The Twilight of the Elites three times already. I am especially moved by how nuanced Chris Hayes' critiques are and how deliberate he is in considering the paradoxes and contradictions which we all deal with. That's key for me - how to contextualize and give voice to your social criticisms in a way in which you are compelled towards a vision, however obscured, and not towards disillusionment. Given some of my recent sentiments about things, this is gold. I needed this. Hayes really hits it on the nail with his commentary on the fetishization of smartness, elitism, entitlement, meritocracy, self interest, solidarity, structures of inequality, institutions, compassion, empathy, judgement, ...

Stereotypes - Melting Not  This host + the realness of his shows = <3

"People are not always awful..." Pictures that will restore your faith in humanity

I am still trying to figure out exactly what I want this blog to be with respect to both its content and aesthetics. If you visited this site previously, you can tell that I changed the layout. As I get "my feet wet" in the blogosphere in the next month or so, there will be constant changes to the blog as I try to figure out what this place for Huey is and feels like - the feel is very important for me. What I know for sure at the moment is that for the next month or so, there will be constant writing (a post a day) and constant change. The really cool thing about blogging, for me, is that it allows you to think about what you want to share with people on a particular day and then share it. Facebook no longer allows you to that. I really do not know what people do on facebook anymore; at least I do not know what I really do on there. I am moving towards sharing what I want to share on this blog instead of facebook. That aside, social media as a whole fascinates me and I wa...