Off Air

Aiight, so I'm not on air right now but I have to get this one off my chest, even if real quickly.

Tomorrow there is an Affordable Housing Summit hosted by the Newark Housing Authority at the Paul Robeson Center on MLK Blvd starting at 8:30 in the morn. It's pretty much a sham because no CDCs, non-profits, tenant organization, or tenants were invited to add their 2 cents about public housing policy. Me and my crew of organizers, advocates, and tenants all registered but have not receieved a welcome so we are gonna crash the party like Ralph Nader. After we complained that we weren't invited about a month ago, they changed the name to "...:a conversation between housing authorities and universities." You gotta love the ivory tower, its relationship to disfunctional institutions, and its inability to read the grassroots. I found out about the summit by doing some recon on the NHA's bogus website, which was confirmed @ a rotary club meeting by Keith Kinard, the NHA director, who mentioned a bit about it.

Even better, we have organized our own event, "The People's Housing Speakout," a popularly based forum that will reveal the reality of affordable housing needs in The Brick City. We are having a panel of elected officials, clergy, and media listen to people who will testify about their housing woes, particularly the lack of affordable housing. This will be at Grace Episcopal Church on 950 Broad St Across from the Federal Building in Downtown Newark on June 30, 2009 at 6:00pm.

Simultaneously, I can't put down what is shaping up to be my NEW favorite book: Gang Leader For A Day, by Sudhir Venkatesh. I invited him to the summit but he's busy. As I read this book, I know it would have been awesome for him to be present. I will give more analysis when I'm done with it but to sum it up, the book is about him studying life in the projects as a grad student at a much more deeper and personal level that most sociologists and him subsequently realizing more about the hood than there is to meet the eye.

So right now, the music I'm playin is mostly off my PSP. I love music and right now I'm enjoying the smooth tunes of Thievery Corporation, thank you Ethan for the recommendation.

I'll try to be on air at 10pm. Oh, and El Salvador lost yesterday :-(. Even worse, so did the Mets. BUT: I got subway series tickets, thank you Dad.

As Always, Peace and Love. and keep jammin.