Good morning.
I don't like Tuesdays when they take on all the characteristics of a Monday. Here's your back-to-work morning Sift.
A- Random Pixels posts a number of comments that he allegedly took from some kind of law enforcement discussion website prior to Urban Beach Weekend.
B- Blogging Black Miami remembers Will "Da Real One" Bell, who was recently gunned down in North Miami.
I only met Bell once several years ago. He was a cool guy. The spoken word community was devastated. Friends and those he mentored poured out their hearts on social media outlets. Mainstream media captured his tragic death from local news to CNN International.C- Key West's USCG Mohawk provides some unique Memorial Day memories for The Green Parrot.
Several fans showed respect for Bell at a candlelight vigil today. Of course there was candlelight, spoken word and tears. Will Bell overcome many obstacles in his life to provide an outlet for poets and, ironically, encourage young people to stop the violence.
D- Chocolate covered pretzels at Live Laugh Snap.
E- Miami Beach 411 has some photos and video from South Beach this weekend.
F- Man or Maniac? and Camera Ephemera shut down...sorta.
Things have been slowing down; I'm sure you've noticed. It's not that I'm not interested in keeping up the blog; but it's been getting hard to get up interest in THIS blog, if you follow me.G- Lots of new photos are up at The Street.
Part of the problem is that this blog never really had a clear purpose. The earlier posts show that; it bounced from being a "how-to" to a photo journal, and ended up being mostly a place to vent my spleen.
H- Food for Thought shares some places to eat if you find yourself in the Washington, DC area.
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3 comments:
Will Bell was one of the most talented poets I've ever met.
When I first moved back to Miami in 2005 after ten years of living away, I spent two years immersed in the spoken word scene. I would perform at various venues, including The Literary Cafe.
Sometimes, I would be the only non-black person in the place.
And that was never an issue because nobody really judged you until you got up on stage. And then you would be judged on your words.
A few times I would stay after the show and drink some Heinekens and play chess with Will. He was always up for a game as I was.
He was a cool cat. He always stressed non-violence to the younger teen poets. He was a good role model for the community.
I faded away from the scene after my arrest. That changed everything.
I appreciate you sharing that, Carlos.
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B - I had the pleasure of meeting Will Bell a few times when Jade Lounge poetry nights were still around. He was such an amazing person. Someone that really, truly turned his life around, and used his experiences to teach youngsters a better way of life. As powerful and commanding as he was on stage, he was just as quiet and unassuming off of it. Meeting him renewed my love of poetry and spoken word, and it was because of him that I started posting "Spoken Word Wednesday" videos on my blog (a feature I will have to resurrect). His death is senseless and a great loss to the literary community. He will be greatly missed.
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