Shoot Promos on Race, Class, Gender, Etc

"The leaves have refused to change. They say that they are tired of things never remaining the same, of dying to be reborn, of winter's dry withered hand. They are praying for an eternal spring. Even I expected that the beautiful autumn must have been ecstasy for the leaves. But they admit that there is nothing more painful than changing from green to yellow to red to brown. They insist that their beauty is a prolonged suffering. They say they will never change again... I have told them that everything has its season." - Saul Williams, S/he SPRING It was August of 2003 (yes I'm telling a story that happened in the summer but just follow along this strained analogy). Nearly 6 weeks after surgery on both knees for patellar mal-tracking and tendonitis. By now I no longer needed to use crutches but I still required the use of a cane because any prolonged standing caused immediate swelling and inflammation in my knees. I wouldn't be able to resume physical therapy unti...

  "It's like a palm tree by the ocean that endures the greatest winds because it knows how to gracefully bend" - Stephen Kendrick If you're on a plane descending into Los Angeles for the first time, or driving through the streets of LA, one thing you may notice is the presence of palm trees. The palm tree is synonymous with Los Angeles: a symbol of luxury, wealth, exoticism, and paradise. They were planted intentionally as "street trees", despite lacking any functional uses of shade, reduction of heat, clean air, and fruit. But their uniqueness allowed them to grow and thrive everywhere, from beaches and boardwalks, major streets to tiny residential streets, the affluent neighborhoods to the hood, they're a unifying symbol. No matter where you reside, look outside of your window and you'll see a palm tree. Compared to more densely populated and vertical mega cities like New York and Tokyo, Los Angeles is much more horizontally spread out, with palm t...