Thursday, May 7, 2009

Vapid Expanse

Okay, for real ya'll. I'm not tryna joke on people or nothing but, seriously, BLACK PEOPLE, WE NEED TO START READING MORE. Now, I don't have many friends or enemies for that matter. I keep to myself, show peace and love to most, and do me. I enjoy working out in the mornings, chanting by morningside park, listening to the rustle of the tress on quiet NYC mornings...Yeah, I be doing some hippy shit. Maybe that's why I read so much. It started long ago, I think. When I was 10, my family took Amtrak across country and I began reading seriously then. I read Goethe at 13...not to toot my own horn, but damn, that's pretty fucking good. So anyway, I'm getting off point. I get tired of talking to the few friends I have and discovering that an overwhelming majority of them don't read. AT ALL. The news reel on news channels? Nope. Online newspapers or journals? Nope. Books, novels, shorts, newletters? Hell naw. I mean, they don't even read the fucking free papers. But let me mention BOSSIP or some other ignant ass shit, and omg, their eyes alight and they start spewing "facts" on celebs like they live next door and shit. Sometimes I stare and think, don't you ever want to REALLY know what's going on in the world? Where do you get your information if you don't read? Their sources thus comes from the most unreliable source. Television. They can spit off Drake lyrics quicker than they can name the Speaker of the House. Eruditeness at best for them is citing Newt Gingrich. No I shouldn't say at best but that's like a step up...FUCK, sad state of affairs.
I can't speak for other people except the ones in my sphere. I don't mean to target black people particularly, but my interactions with my black friends and their lackluster depth is quite disturbing. Not to mention that most of these niggas went to college so I find that kind of abstruse (some may also argue, validly, that my use of Nigga is regressing our advancements but I feel like I don't care what those people think because that is a trivial argument that spuriously draws attention to an issue that has a feeble impact on progression.)
But, seriously, I would like to see some more young black people reading. Read anything. You can start off slow...Eric Jerome Dickey maybe. He writes like most dudes rap--plastic baggies & drugs, killin haters, knockin off hoes et cetera. Or maybe you'd like one of those Midnight Love books...whatever your preference, I just encourage you to read. Open your mind, expand your boundaries. You'll be a better person because of it.

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