Culturite

This is an excerpt taken from the anonymously-created “We” documentary, a feature length film produced and distributed for free through http://weroy.org. The film explores the growing disparity between the world’s richest and poorest peoples, by “visualizing” the words of Booker prize-winning author and Indian activist, Arundhati Roy, “specifically her famous Come September speech, where she spoke on such things as the war on terror, corporate globalization, justice and the growing civil unrest”. I have yet to download the film in its entirety, but I enjoyed this clip and I’m pleased with the way in which I came upon it.

In the non-linear manner by which I discover most of my news, media, and stories these days, I came across this video through several linked, virtual steps. Let me re-trace them.

I found the “We” video by way of the VoxUnion.com site, which is home to “Organized C.O.U.P. (Organized Community of United People): “a group of Washington DC based activists working to effect positive change in communities of color through media and education”.

One of the main contributors to this group is the academic and writer Dr. Jared A. Ball, who is an assistant professor of communication studies at Morgan State University. He recently published an excellent essay on “Hip-Hop, Mass Media and 21st Century Colonization” which I found on the myspace blog (of all things) of acclaimed hip-hop writer and journalist Davey D.

Davey D gets much love from other hip-hop writers and bloggers, not the least of whom is author Jeff Chang – one of my favourites. Jeff posted up a link to an article Davey D had written called “Confessions of a BET Producer”, which piqued my interest, but I never ended up finding it.

Instead, I stumbled upon (no pun intended) something far more fascinating and entirely new to me. It’s at times like these that I’m thankful for the intertextuality of the web and pleased to discover new ways of navigating this shared labyrinth of ideas and information.

Some days I find myself stuck at dead-ends and run-arounds but, in others (like today), paths open up, they make sense, and they remain coherent. I even find myself in a state of eager anticipation as to where they might lead. It is as if, as Borges suggested, “This web of time — the strands of which approach one another, bifurcate, intersect or ignore eachother through the centuries — embrace every possibility.”

Or maybe it’s just that I’m well-rested and feeling optimistic.