Ok, so here it goes... I know I may catch a lot of smack for this but I felt I had to take time out and give my opinion on the topic that has been floating around for quite some time.... The question, "Who is the better player, Kobe or Lebron?" In my opinion, Lebron... Now people will be quick to jump and say, "how? Lebron hasn't even won a title yet.." or "Lebron doesn't have the killer instinct that Kobe does...." True and true... But in my opinion, Lebron is the better "PLAYER."

Now if someone were to ask, "who is a better scorer?" Then of course, I think everyone could agree that goes to Kobe... But Lebron is just a much better all around player... He rebounds better, is a better passer than Kobe could ever be, he makes other players around him better.... That to me is what I would call a "BETTER PLAYER.." Lebron just does so much more than Kobe and that has a lot to do with the players around them, but Lebron is still better in all the major categories.. And lets not forget that Lebron got robbed of the Defensive Player of the Year Award... (Lebron makes defensive plays, Howard stands in the paint and lets plays come to him...)

With that said, in my opinion, Lebron has moved past Kobe as the "best player in the NBA/world" but Kobe is still a better finisher... He's a shooter.. Always has been... Lebron however has carried his team by himself... Something Kobe has not had to do... (Don't forget, those 3 rings came with Shaq... Who took the Magic, Lakers and the Heat to the Finals... So I am certain he had something to do with those rings..) He makes his team better, lets face it, the Cavs would probably have the worse record if it wasn't for LBJ... Whereas the Lakers would still be able to compete in the West (tougher conference) without Kobe....

This is a tough comparison because they are both almost perfect in what they do... And we will not know the answer unless we see a comeback from the Cavs and see LA hold off the Nuggets...

Thanks for tuning in...

Jose

So here we are.... That time of the year again... I cannot believe that the semester is over! I was done as of this past Monday, but life as a RA sometimes keeps you away from the "real world..." All my fellow RAs know what I mean... I spent a ridiculous amount of hours the past few days checking people out of their rooms, which was good and bad... I'm glad that the semester is over, but closing a building, well, sucks... But hey it is what we do...

On a better note, the semester ended well for me... I got an A+ on my drawing portfolio as well as my sketch book for the class... Pretty sure I got an A in my design class... An A- in my astronomy class (which I missed often)... And well, Art History, both of them, I am not sure yet.... but I know I did well in both... (A's or B's)

I'm glad that the semester is over, but it's always rough leaving a great group of friends... I will surely miss spending time with all my fellow RAs... We have become a family over this past year, and it will be tough to say bye to some and not see others until the fall... Be sure to check some of my fellow RAs at their blogs.... Malcolm, Jack, Lisa.... These are great blogs and I check them daily... HOPE YOU DO AS WELL! : )

Although I am sad to go be leaving my second home, I am glad to finally go home and see my family back home since I have not been home since winter break... It was a tough semester, but just he thought of them kept me going.... Can't wait to catch some of those soccer games, basketball, and of course, COOKOUTS!!!

Here is a drawing of my little brother I did for my drawing class.... It is a pixelated drawing from a picture I have of him... It'll be a gift for him once I get a frame for it...


Stay tuned for more to come, especially over the summer break... Should be a lot of highlights!

Thanks for tuning in...

Jose

In searching for Universes' website for my last post, I came across their blog... This is a post on their blog that speaks on the show "Ameriville." I thought I should share this with you all and be sure to bookmark their blog and follow these amazing artists, that strive to make a difference by educating us through the use of the arts and touching on topics most are afraid to...

Here it is...

Ameriville
(For ATL Newsletter/Press - by: Sarah Lunnie)

How high is the water momma?
4 feet high and rising

Three years after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf coast, our memory betrays us. The storm drowned thousands of city residents in their bedrooms and attics, forced more than one million to flee for safety, and put 80% of New Orleans under water. But its images have receded from the covers of our morning newspapers. News of levee breaches and rooftop rescues no longer confronts us when we turn on the television. The barrage of disturbing revelations—shoddy engineering, bad science, decades of irresponsible policy converging in a lethal, man-made maelstrom—has subsided. The country has moved on. But for the displaced New Orleans residents still living in FEMA trailers or scattered across America, the storm continues.

Today the per capita murder rate in New Orleans is the highest in the nation. The Road Home Program, designed to compensate Louisiana homeowners affected by Katrina and Rita, has failed to address the state’s severe housing shortage. Many fear that rebuilding efforts will marginalize entire populations: gentrification neatly disguised as renewal. And although the Army Corps of Engineers is rebuilding the levees, most experts agree that current plans are frighteningly inadequate. In Katrina’s wake lies an interminable sea of questions, about what and whom we value and how we care for our home and each other. In an era of fast news and short attention spans, they are questions we would do well to remember.

How high is the water poppa?
8 feet high and rising

UNIVERSES (Gamal Abdel Chasten, Mildred Ruiz-Sapp, William Ruiz aka Ninja and Steven Sapp) didn’t set out to write a play about Hurricane Katrina. The ensemble’s earlier work, including Slanguage (which played at Actors in 2004) was more local in its scope, exploring the rhythms, voices and landscapes of its members’ New York neighborhoods, with a unique fusion of poetry, theatre, jazz, hip-hop, down-home blues and Spanish boleros. With Ameriville, they pan out to examine not only New Orleans, but the country at large. According to co-founder, writer and performer Steven Sapp, the project has been in the works since before the storm hit.

“After Slanguage, we started to tour a lot,” Sapp explains. “We went all around the country, and the more we saw, the bigger our new pieces became. Because what we were looking at was bigger. In the beginning, we weren’t even trying to write a new piece. Our initial thought was to look at the state that the country was in, this fear about everything. We were interested in exploring the history of fear in America. And then Katrina happened.”

The group wrote some small pieces responding to the disaster, and performed them at venues in New York City. The audience response was overwhelming. After a show at the Apollo, the group was approached by a couple that had just relocated from New Orleans. The couple told UNIVERSES they’d captured the experience of being caught in the storm in a way no one else had, and asked if any of the writers—Bronx and L.E.S. natives—were from New Orleans. It was then, Sapp says, they began to wonder if they’d found their next big project.

“That’s when Mildred suggested we tackle Katrina. And we thought, can we do that? Should we do that? We knew it had to be about more than just the storm. We knew if we were going to do this, we had to do it our way.”

How high is the water momma?
12 feet high and rising

On one level, Ameriville serves as a reminder to the rest of the nation. “We’re a selective country in terms of what we remember,” says Sapp. “Since Katrina, we’ve had forest fires in California and floods in Iowa. It’s like flipping the channel: we move on. But if you go down to New Orleans now, three years later, there are sections that look like it just happened. It’s chilling.” The play also seeks to expose deeply ingrained social inequities that existed before the levees toppled, but which came to national attention only in the storm’s wake.

The writers feel a deep connection with the people of New Orleans, built on the belief that though circumstances vary, people are the same everywhere. The title suggests that New Orleans is America in microcosm, and, by extension, that Katrina happened to all of us. Ameriville also rejects regionalism, making an argument for a more united, inclusive attitude toward citizenship. “We should be looking at each other as though this country were a village,” says Sapp. “We’re one big, giant America here. Wherever I go in this country, I’m an American when I’m there, and I should feel like one.”

UNIVERSES recently travelled to New Orleans to meet with survivors. They spoke with residents, artists, and community figureheads, and got their blessing to move forward with the project. The conversations left UNIVERSES with a feeling of great responsibility toward these people whose stories and experience are Ameriville’s core, and Katrina’s indelible legacy. Three years after landfall, as debris clears and newsprint fades, the survivors labor to repair what’s been broken; to excavate pasts from the wreckage, and rebuild their lives. Ameriville is both a monument to their struggle and a call to action for the nation: let us not forget what happened here.

How high is the water momma?
20 feet high and rising
How high is the water poppa?
24 feet high and rising

—Sarah Lunnie


Hope you can understand why I wrote about how it was such a great show... Be sure to look them up and catch their performance!

Thanks for tuning in...

Jose

Right now as we speak I am watching the documentary "Trouble the Water..." This documentary is a MUST for everyone everywhere to watch... As it states, "It's not about a hurricane, it's about America..." After taking a trip to New Orleans a few months ago, I feel like I can relate even more because I was there, driving through these neighborhoods... And to be honest, they did not look much better 3 1/2 years later... Which speaks a lot about how much people (the gov't) have done... A lot of people think that New Orleans is "up and going..." When in reality, it's actually worse because a lot of people have yet to returned... Which has taken away a lot of the history of the city...

In this documentary, there's a segment where a young white lady talks about how it's a "great feeling, because it seems that every weekend there is a celebration..." But as mentioned in the documentary, people are only celebrating in a small percentage of New Orleans... The 20% of the city that attracts all the tourist... The French Quarter, the Garden District, the Warehouse District... What people fail to realize is that not only were these areas less devastated by the storm, they're the areas where the wealthier, white residents lived... Most of these people have returned, whereas most African Americans have not...

Watching this film was very emotional... Seeing people risking their lives to save others was remarkable... Especially when the person doesn't know how to swim... Using a punching bag as a way to transport people... As helicopters fly by, almost ignoring the help signs and flags that were waving... I just could not believe some of the things that I saw in the documentary... Things that made me angry... People refusing to help those in need because they were "protecting the best interest of the Government..." But I thought the Government was "of the people, by the people, for the people...?" After watching this documentary, one begins to question that statement... I cannot speak enough on how moving it was, so please just make sure to watch it... The feeling is almost indescribable ...

Last night I was able to catch a show titled "Ameriville" presented by Universes, an "ensemble Company of multi-disciplined writers and performers who fuse Poetry, Theater, Jazz, Hip-Hop, Politics, Down Home Blues and Spanish Boleros to create moving, challenging and entertaining theatrical works." The group is based out of New York and came together after being the spoken word scene as sole artist for a while... They did a piece that was based of New Orleans, but as one of the group members said, "It was a show about America, not just New Orleans...." This show was amazing... And it is just fitting that I was able to watch this documentary after witnessing the show, which came just a few months after my visit to New Orleans...

I feel like this is some sort of message that I need to return... A feeling that I have had instilled in me since I boarded the plane back home...

I suggest that everyone really try to catch this documentary as well as the group Universes... Both will be sure to fill your brain with knowledge and give you a different perspective on life and more importantly, life in the United States....

Thanks for tuning in...

Jose