CHOOO-CHOOOOOOOOO-CHOOO–CHOOOOOOO
excuse me ladies and gentlemen….if you see something say something…don’t stand next to the platform…
offer your seat to the elderly…and the disabled
the next stop will be East Tremont Ave
I took this photo at Barnes and Noble. Each book contain interviews of Film Makers in America. Only one is African- American. The book is on the second shelf at the far right. It’s Spike Lee. Only one is Japanese. Its Akira Kurosawa, the book right next to Spike Lee’s book.
Is this really America?
I lost my doll in East Tremont. Her name is Molly. I lost my doll in East Tremont getting off the Trolley. My mommy was in a hurry and Molly wouldn’t hold my hand. I wanted to go back to get her but Mommy said ‘come on!” I lost poor Molly in East Tremont. She has brown hair and a purple backpack. Some people call her Dora the Explorer but I just call her Molly. She told me she wanted to go on a new adventure which is probably why I lost her; she doesn’t know that I put a ‘lost and found’ tag in her backpack. So, if you find Molly in East Tremont please tell her, that I said ‘her adventure is over’ and send her back to me.
This here is a photo of me and two of my dear friends. The one in the middle is Fariso Jordan. She is a performance major at Fordham University. We took the photo after the premiere of Wedding Band by Alice Childress which was directed by Daniel Alexander Jones. I went to see the show for many reasons but the main reason is because I read that it dealt with miscegenation in America during World War I.
I had never heard of the playwright, Alice Childress until Ms. Jordan invited me to the show. Apparently, she is a Black women who wrote Wedding Band in 1966 and it didn’t get a premiere until 1972. From the little I learned about her, she seems to be similar to her character in the show, Julia Augustine. They both are often described as women before their time or as Bayard Rustin would say, a women of the times but the times didn’t know it yet.
Alice Childress was in a relationship with a white man during the early 18th Century and stayed in the relationship because she loved him and he loved her. She boldly broke the rules of her times and of her world. As the director said, She is, some might argue, a quintessentially American character- the outsider, the rebel, the outlaw. I think it is interesting that they were both willingly in the relationship at this time. I mean, this is a time when Black women are being forced in some parts of the south to lay with their masters and here she is in South Carolina in a relationship with a white man- willingly. It almost seems awkward.
And if the play is not awkward enough, it is written by Childress during the mid 60’s when America is finally waking up to obeying (or trying to obey) their Deceleration of Independence: All, people are indeed equal. It’s no wonder that it didn’t have a premiere until 6 years later.
When change is happening, it is hard for society. It is weird and strange. One might often wonder, ‘what kind of world am I living in?’ And I am sure the way I feel about things going on now in the world and in America is the way people of the early 18th Century and especially those of the 60’s felt.
I do not think that Childress, or Julia Augustine were women ahead of their times. I think they were women of their time- whose charge was to pull the future into being…we hope you will accept the call, to open your eyes wide, stretch your fingers past the limits of your known experience, and dream our future brighter still.
– Daniel Alexander Jones
Characters in this story: Boy, Girl, Forth Grade Class
Boy and Girl walks on to the train.
Boy: Awww, man! You can’t be serious! (He says while he looks around at the fourth grade class) I’m about to go to a different car.
Girl: Oh, yeah. For real. I know. (She’s in total agreement)
The fourth grade class is not making much noise. They are talking amongst themselves.
The boy and girl then stand together against the door and touch each other frequently. He touches her head with his lips or rubs her arm. Nothing expedient but all the while showing affection.
The fourth grade class becomes interested.
They start whispering amongst themselves and making kissing noises.
This makes the boy and the girl stop showing any type of affection.
In the photo is a little boy laughing and whispering to the little girl next to him. He doesn’t want the couple to know what he is saying. Every now and then, he peeps over his paper to check to see if they are kissing.
Next time I get on the train, and am annoyed at a couple for kissing continuously, I’ll just make sure I bring an army of fourth graders.
Gosh, when is this train gonna come?
the train we sing about, you know, the one that will carry me home.
Gosh, when is this train gonna come?
the train that keeps on rolling right along with all the perfect people on board
Gosh, when is this train gonna come?
I got all this luggage, baggage and gear
I aim to let go of my frustration, worry and fear
well, is the train here yet?
Gosh, when is this train gonna come?
You, know this world is not my home.
I want to go home but I need the train to come and pick me up
huh? what you say conductor? this train carries everybody?
oh, this is not the train to heaven?
it’s the train to Jay street?!
huh?
okay, well, I guess I’ll go to heaven soon. Right now, I’ll visit my earthly home on Jay Street.
If your parents never been to college and they know very little about college how will they know to sat aside money for you to go to college? So, now you are 18 and applying for school. You’ve been accepted with a scholarship and grants but that is not all you need. You need a co-signer.You need a loan. But you first need a family member or a close friend to be willing to sign for you. But what if you do not have any family. Your parents long time ago split, your Mom passed, your Dad is reluctant to doing anything for you, and with the economy state in America, you do not know much people who even have a job to be willing to co-sign anything for you.
So now what is your option if you want to stay in school?
The Army?
You continue to look for a co-signer?
Sports?
But what if you are not good in any sports?
So, all this talk from the government about going to college to make America’s children better and make America better who is this talk for? Only people with money or with parents who went to college themselves? Why should you want to better a county that doesn’t even give soldiers who fought for this country, proper army benefits and better yet, can’t even send you to school without forcing you into debt?
My family helped my brother move in for his first year of College and this is one of the signs I saw on the wall. I was moved that it was on the wall. I think every dormitory should have this on the wall. To kill the hate or any ideas of hate from the beginning.
I was rushing to a job interview and saw this image on the side of the building. I think the women coming out of the tress and the human beings being bigger then the city made me take the picture. The photographer took the photo sideways which makes them look like they are walking down the stairs. The trees add to the photo. A great place to put the advertisement.
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