Mike-E, an Ethiopian-born American rapper and Detroit-based MC and spoken word artist, brings a powerfully insightful cultural twist to hip-hop rhythms and lyrics by taking it home — all the way to the land of his birth. Many of Mike-E’s lyrics drive both rhythmic motion and sociological/political insight into African and American societies and the social juxtaposition of what it means to be African American, as well as paying homage to hip-hop’s indigenous cultural roots and inspirational message.

Afro Flow is a grassroots musical group that takes hip-hop back to its social commentary roots while laying down a sound that requires listener movement ranging from toe-tapping to outright dancing.

“I can’t think of a better example than Mike-E and Afro Flow of why hip-hop is an evolving academic and performance discipline,” says Willie Ney, executive director of UW-Madison’s Office of Multicultural Arts Initiatives, which oversees First Wave. “This group is a prime example of linguistic and musical artistry, cultural fusion and storytelling through hip-hop. Their message is honest yet positive, and an excellent way to welcome our First Wave freshmen to the university and in-depth study of hip-hop as an art form.”

Also taking the stage that night will be the founding pioneer of hip-hop, DJ Kool Herc. Considered a luminary of black music history, Herc is the very definition of old school hip-hop. This Jamaican-born and Bronx-raised DJ rocked neighborhood parties back when looping required two turntables and two copies of records with a break beat. Now, this legend of hip-hop only spins where and when he feels like it, making the concert at the Memorial Union a special event. Read complete story at W News

That can’t be right, she thought, when she read a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis.

She left her desk and went to talk with the neurosurgeon. He explained her husband’s MRI showed classic indications of MS, a diagnosis later confirmed with a spinal tap.

“My husband never had a regular doctor because he was never sick. We thought he might have an ear infection because he was tired and felt unbalanced,” Alexander said. “This is a guy with an infectious smile, gold earrings, a great personality. He was the center of my life.”

From diagnosis, the disease progressed rapidly.

Last year, when Melvin Alexander, his wife and son Preston participated in the annual MS Walk in Peoria, he was in a wheelchair. This year, the family hopes more than 25 people turn out to walk in honor of Melvin Alexander. He died April 16 at age 47.

“Last year, I noticed there was not much representation from the African-American community at the walk,” Mindoza Alexander said. “We need to raise awareness. What better way to give back to Melvin.”

During the 31/2 years from diagnosis to death, Melvin Alexander lost the ability to drive, he had to leave his job and go on disability, his vision was failing, his speech became garbled and his walk unstable.

“But he kept his great personality,” Mindoza Alexander said.

Her husband was salesman of the year at Velde Olds Cadillac in Pekin. He left there for a job at Curtis/Barnes Industries, where he worked for 15 years until starting disability.

“Everyone who met him liked him,” she said.

The night before he died, they went to Dairy Queen for ice cream sandwiches, drove through a condominium project that was handicapped accessible and toured the lot of a car dealership.

“You like that burgundy Cadillac?” he asked his wife.

“Sure, Melvin,” she said.

“I’m going to buy that for you,” he said. “Look at that creamy leather interior.”

Mindoza Alexander laughs just recounting the conversation.

“He couldn’t buy that car for me, but he was a real giving man. He never gave up hope. ‘Keep the faith’ was his favorite saying. He beat so many things in his life, he thought he was going to beat this,” she said.

“But there is no cure for MS.”

That night, Melvin Alexander agreed they should sell their house and move into a condominium. He died hours later. Read complete story at PJStar.com

Each is being mentored by a current student who also is the first person in their family to attend college. The hook-up is through PRESS, or The Program for Retention and Enrichment of Successful Students, which was started this year by a $100,000 grant from the Wal-Mart Foundation.

Students gets a mentor, peer tutors, a $150 textbook stipend and workshops for two years. The program is run by Erica Woods-Warrior, a political science professor who applied for the grant.

Williams, who is from Central New Jersey, said the only other person in her family to attend college was a cousin who graduated two years ago. Her mother attended Virginia State University but dropped out after one semester.

“She gave me a little bit of background but she didn’t know the whole college experience,” Williams said. “I plan to take advantage of (PRESS) and just the all-around help with study habits and picking and choosing the right classes for your major.”

Williams plans to double major in criminal justice and psychology so she can become a forensic psychologist. She got the idea from watching Law and Order, but researched the field, too, Williams said with a laugh.

Isaiah Stewart III, a rising sophomore, is mentoring six students in the program. He has already met three in person, and the other three through Facebook. He said that as a first-generation college student himself, he sometimes had difficulty filling out paperwork or knowing how to navigate the technicalities of college, and his parents couldn’t always help.

He’ll encourage his mentees to ask questions — whether it’s of him, their friends or faculty.

“Their friends may not always be able to relate to them because of their background or where they come from or what type of family they have,” Stewart said. “It’s sort of like a gap. But if they come in here with a positive attitude and their mind is made up that they want to be successful, then it’s really irrelevant.” Read complete story at the Daily Press

It came into our lives, swept us off our feet, and changed the way we felt, responded, and indulged ourselves with everyday living. It told us the what, how, and why about everything from famine to food and family.

We accepted it without question and allowed it to lead us through war and overindulgence, prosperity and foolishness. Now it seems that we are all worn out with its ability to enlighten, but also control and dominate.

It sometimes provides more than we can handle, but we keep asking for more. We just can’t seem to live without it and yes, yes, we are addicted. It has mutated from deep, huge, and heavy to light, portable, and flat screen.

Yes, you know the evil demon—–the almighty television!

In recent years some of us enjoyed its presence so well that we began to purchase one for every room in the house. A new TV was treated like the birth of a new child in the household. We announced its arrival, played with it, changed its channels, and discussed all the marvelous things it could do. We showed it to family and friends and even invited them over to share the wide view during Super Bowl 9000 or Tyler Perry’s latest production. We were so proud!

Ah, but like all great love affairs, it has proven to be too much for the strongest of the strong. For instance, no longer is there one dominating unkempt chef to prepare our meals and tell us when to stir, bake, or broil. There are hundreds (maybe thousands) of cooks stirring, blending, and advising on every channel 24 hours a day! Who are these people? And to add to our misery, there’s always a treadmill using, abs-reducing, botox shooting model at every click of the remote, dispensing wisdom on how to stay trim, look good, be happy, and die rich.

Of course, the final blow is the NEWS! The news is everywhere, good and bad, uplifting and defeating, glorifying and horrifying, reporting and distorting, and all at the same time. And yes, we call each other to verify the wild, wilder, and wildest stories.

Are you worn out with the power of TV?

Well, help is on the way.

First, turn it off and try to leave it alone for at least 24 hours!

Try these instead:

Read complete story at Today’s Drum

Originally coming to Campbell University with hopes of going on to dental school, Paul Kim’s career path changed to follow his passion.

Kim, `08, graduated with a pre-dental Biology major and a minor in studio art. After Campbell, Kim was accepted into the Medical Illustration Graduate Program at the Medical College of Georgia, class of 2011.

“I always loved to draw,” said Kim. “By the beginning of my senior year, I knew I couldn’t and shouldn’t suppress my passion for art any longer. I desperately sought out a career that would allow me to utilize both my talent in art and education in science and discovered medical illustration. God really must have led me here because I couldn’t have asked for a better fit for my meticulous style, both in my art and personality.”

Since entering graduate school, Kim has won three prestigious awards. In a competition held among all the medical illustration programs in North America, he won the Award of Excellence (1st place) in the Instructional Line category and also the Orville Parkes Award (Best of Show.) In another competition, he won the Stenstrom Award of Excellence (1st place).

“My science education at Campbell gave me a competitive edge in the medical illustration program,” said Kim. “My current program does not require a full Biology bachelor’s degree prerequisite but only a few specific courses. Therefore, many of the other students are trained more in art and less in science. However, I found that the few art courses I was able to squeeze in before graduating from Campbell sufficiently prepared me for the program. Prof. Daniel Rodgers and the other art faculty were excellent and taught me the fundamentals of drawing and color that I use on a daily basis.”

To make his subject matter more realistic, he uses the cadaver lab to perform dissections to use as drawing models. He also has access to a hospital and is allowed to observe and sketch from any surgery he wishes to illustrate.

Four ECSU students who presented their research at the ECSU Biannual Health Symposium as part of the Health Concepts class requirements were awarded full travel awards to present their work at the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Americans in Science (SACNAS) Conference, held September 28th – October 2nd in Anaheim, California.

Dwight Carrington, an elementary education major, Valerie Edwards, an aviation science major, Semaj Wallace, a psychology major and Matthew Competiello, a political science major, will enter the conference competition along with approximately 500 students from across the country.

Dr. Lloyd Mitchell, their instructor, said it is exciting to see students take theoretical and conceptual knowledge learned in a freshman level health class and develop application techniques that make a positive difference in their health.

“The students will document their progress through data collection, and utilize written and oral communication skills to present their results in a public symposium. In doing so, students gain self-confidence, public speaking experience, and elevate themselves to a nationally competitive level,” Mitchell said. “Whether they win or place or not, the students will emerge stronger from their competitive experience.”

Each has an all-expenses-paid award which includes round-trip airfare, ground transportation, hotel, full conference registration, miscellaneous expenses, and a trip to Disneyland. The value of total value of each award is approximately $2,500 bringing the total value to ECSU students to $7,500.

Lloyd Mitchell, an associate professor in the Department of Health and Physical Education, will accompany the students to this competition.

Saint Augustine’s College will celebrate the official opening of the academic year during its 144th Fall Convocation on Thursday, Sept. 23, in the Martin Luther King Jr. Mall area. Actress Sheryl Lee Ralph will deliver the convocation address.

Ralph has earned acclaim for her roles on stage, television and film. She earned a Tony Award nomination for Best Actress in her role as Deena Jones in the Broadway hit “Dreamgirls.” She later starred as Dee Mitchell on the television series, “Moesha.” Ralph’s film credits include “Sister Act II,” “The Flintstones,” and “The Mighty Quinn.”

Ralph is also a passionate AIDS activist. Her DIVA Foundation raises money and awareness in the fight against the HIV and AIDS. Ralph was the first recipient of the United Nations’ Red Ribbon Award for her work for the cause.

North Carolina Central University received kudos for the university’s efforts at educating and retaining students in a lengthy article this month in Washington Monthly magazine.

The small but highly respected public policy magazine publishes an annual ranking of the worst colleges in the nation and held up NCCU as a model for how they could do better.

Authors Ben Miller and Phuong Ly write: “Take North Carolina Central University, which enrolls 8,500 students. About 85 percent of students at both schools are black. NCCU’s median SAT score is 840, the approximate equivalent of about 17 on the ACT, even lower than Chicago State’s average ACT of 18. The difference, however, is that NCCU tries to work with the students it has. The result: while Chicago State graduates about 13 percent of its students, NCCU graduates about 50 percent. ‘We have the philosophy that if we admit the students into this institution we have a great responsibility in ensuring their success,’ says Bernice Duffy Johnson, dean of the school’s University College, which focuses on supporting students during their first two years.

The Washington Post newspaper took up the commendation. Jay Mathews writes a blog called Class Struggle for The Post <http://voices.washingtonpost.com/class-struggle/2010/08/americas_worst_colleges.html?referrer=emaillink>

He writes, “Changing a college such as [The University of District of Columbia, one of the Monthly’s worst] into a college like NCCU is likely to be even more difficult than raising the level of the urban high schools. But I am glad the Monthly took the time and trouble to show that such institutions of higher education exist.”

If today’s hip-hop music had a storefront it would be a Starbucks, Gap and Wal-mart. The same wherever you go. How did this happen?

Media Consolidation

Who is to blame? Of course blame should be spread around. But you should probably start first with the record execs. Although now few in number due to media consolidation they want the bottom line which is making money. The record companies want a single with a catchy hook, that can land on the radio station’s rotation where they play the same damn songs over and over and over again. Until it gets beat into your head that you like that song. Which leads us to the music directors at radio stations. They allegedly do not get paid to play songs on the radio. But what could account for certain artists breaking through getting radio play and other artist just as talented or talent-less depending on who you ask get radio play. Record execs often promise the radio stations artist for promotional shows and summer jams in exchange for air-play or breaking in a new artist.

The other problem with media consolidation is that the same companies own the same radio stations all over the country. There is no more regional diversity in music especially hip hop music. The local rap artist in DC or Charlotte will have almost no chance of getting air time in there local market without the backing of a major label. Radio station giants Clear Channel and Black owned Radio One own an arsenal of radio stations enough to influence the market and record sales.

The Videos

I’m not denying that artist should get paid for there hard word but we cannot forget that MTV was forced to play Michael Jackson videos because they feared his then black ass. Speaking of videos, gone are the creative and political videos of Public Enemy’s Night of The Living Baseheads or Black Steele in the Hour of Chaos or Boogie Down’s Love’s Gonna Get’cha. Today the videos are a celebration of alcohol, naked women, and a celebration of the pimp lifestyle, which is at its core to make money from the prostitution of women. I know, high culture political art at its best. There is an entire industry for these video ho’s I mean models. It is troubling how these ignorant “MCs” continue to perpetuate a negative black male stereotype. The only thing missing from these videos is the watermelon and fried chicken. It is an extreme understatement to say that most hip-hop videos are demeaning toward women particularly black women. This has been written on many times over and I will not go into detail here. Read the complete story at BlackState.com

The gnarled oak on his family’s farm has been around for more than 100 years. It was a source of strength and refuge for a young Thurmond growing up a sharecropper’s son in the segregated South.

It was there that Thurmond proclaimed to the rocks, the pigs, the tree: One day, he was going to be somebody.

“Those were my first constituents,” Thurmond joked.

Thurmond kept his promise to them, becoming a lawyer, then state representative, head of the state welfare department and Georgia’s labor commissioner. He asked the Wisdom Tree for advice along the way, coming home to contemplate his life whenever he found himself at a crossroads.

He was there again this spring as he considered the daunting challenge of unseating a GOP Goliath in a solidly Republican state to become the first black senator from the South since Reconstruction.

“How many Senate campaigns has this tree witnessed?” Thurmond said, touching the trunk and staring up at the branches. “When I have to make major decisions in my life … I always come here. The odds of me making it out of here to where I am now is astronomical.”

Thurmond’s first conscious memory is of the cotton fields, dumped at the end of a row on a bedsheet while his mother, Vanilla, worked in an area known as Sandy Creek. When he was old enough, young Mike got a flour sack and was pulling cotton bolls alongside his parents and eight siblings.

Aside from a love of each other and nature and pride in their work, the family didn’t have much, Thurmond said. Not that he noticed – their closest neighbors were also poor.

“They didn’t have anything, and we didn’t have anything,” Thurmond said. “Not having money wasn’t a big issue.”

His father – though he could not read – planted in Thurmond and his brothers and sisters the idea that they could get past their circumstances and society with ingenuity, creativity and effort. Sidney Thurmond would often point to the dirt path next to their home that led into town, telling his son it was a magic road.

“Daddy said, ‘If you get on that road with faith and a belief in hard work, that road will take you anywhere you want to go,’” Thurmond recalled. “The journey of my life began on a dead-end dirt road.”

His parents lived to see their youngest son – now a husband and father himself – elected to the state Legislature, and he has thought of them during his campaign for Senate.

“When you’re in high cotton, you’re in good cotton,” Thurmond said, smiling. “If Daddy could see me, he would say, ‘Son, you’re stepping in high cotton now.’”

Thurmond keeps a cotton plant in a corner of his office at the Department of Labor. Sitting near the oak desk in his air-conditioned office, the stalk reminds Thurmond of where he came from. He looks at it when he has a a bad day.

“It just puts it all in perspective,” he says.

State Sen. Robert Brown, who served with Thurmond in the Georgia Legislature, said it was clear Thurmond never forgot where he started and that his roots have informed his politics.

“He was very much concerned about the plight of working families, and children in particular,” Brown said. “It was clear that he saw that there was dignity in work.” Read complete story at Macon.com