I was assigned to watch this movie as part of a psychology class I am currently taking. We are presently studying discrimination. This movie shows an exercise performed by a third grade teacher with her students several decades ago. Her intent was to show her students that discrimination based on one’s differences was unjust. I found her methods to be very clever and the whole movie very interesting. I encourage everybody to check it out as well. There are five parts to this video. To watch the other four parts go here.

Hip-hop doesn’t always receive the most flattering picture in mainstream America. Between its perceived purveyance of violence, drugs, and any number of other potential detriments to society it is a musical genre that is either loved or hated, depending on to whom you are speaking. While some of that criticism is warranted, there is positive hip-hop. It isn’t all bad or dangerous as some would like others to believe. Here is a prime example. A few of my favorite artists, Common and Lupe Fiasco, team up with Academy Award winner Jennifer Hudson for an inspirational track. Kanye West’s mentor, No I.D., provides the production for this Chicago-centric track that was created as part of Gatorade’s REPLAYtheSeries, Season 3. Also appearing in the video are NBA stars Dwayne Wade, Carlos Boozer, and Dwight Howard. Check it out.

Last week I had the opportunity to listen to a panel discussion here on campus. The event was put on by the College of Business and sponsored by State Farm. One of the panelists was their Chairman and CEO, Ed Rust Jr. Executives from British Petroleum(BP) and Coventry were also part of the discussion. I found the event very interesting. All the executives gave valuable insight to the business community’s perspectives on the government’s intervention into the private business arena. I continue to contend that one of the best parts of college are the speakers you have the ability to go and see. The great minds of today are more than willing to enrich the minds of tomorrow. It is our job to be receptive and attentive to their knowledge.

One of my favorite musical acts are The Roots. I love their approach to music. It has a raw authenticity to the craft and they are never afraid to collaborate or experiment with their own sound or with other performers. This weekend I was listening to one of their albums, Phrenology when I was reminded of the track, Something In The Way Of Things(In Town). I have heard the track before as I have listened to the album many times, but not recently. As I was listening to the track I found the social commentary chilling accompanied by the hollow Roots instrumentation and had to check into who was speaking. The speaker was Amiri Baraka. As it turns out in one of my classes right now we are reading Blues People by LeRoi Jones, now known as Amiri Baraka. I thought it was cool I stumbled upon a connection in my personal time to someone I was learning from in the classroom. So enjoy this excellent video done by a young filmmaker in 2007 and listen.