Why Do We Fight?

"The nation which indulges towards another a habitual hatred or a habitual fondness is in some degree a slave. It is a slave to its animosity or to its affection, either of which is sufficient to lead it astray from its duty and its interest."
George Washington, 1796

That is a quote from George Washington's farewell address. From what I know, the USA never entered into alliances with foreign nations from that year(1796) until 1949, when we entered NATO. Since then, we've become the world police - similar to the Roman Empire 2000 years ago. All the warning signs are there, written on the wall. Worse than that, war has become a corporate, profit driven industry.

I'm no enemy of capitalism, but I think there needs to be a better balance of capitalism and democracy. These so-called "defense contractors" are making a killing by creating planes, missiles and warships for the USA. But who is really threatening us? Who is threatening our way of life? If we took some of the billions of dollars we spend on the military and invested it in alternative fuels and got past our addictions to oil, I think that would be a start. We'd find that noone is threatening us. We'd have no reason to set up military bases around the world to ensure our "stability" and we'd even find that people the likes of Osama bin Laden could care less about us. The military-industrial complex is perhaps the most oil-driven thing in existence. They essentially go to war to get oil to go back to war to get oil... etc... etc... etc...

Its very depressing to me because I love the USA dearly. I'm not some anti-American nut. I just see that we've gone astray from the ideals of the founding fathers. Corporations essentially run the wars and the government. Any government official who is not "strong on defense" has a major liability. Peace is for the weak. But do we really need oil? Can't we use some of the piles of tax dollars to break the addiction to fossil fuels? I don't think that the corporations will stand for it. And I think therein lies the problem. Our greed is tremendous. The hunger for more consumes us. These defense contractors like McDonald Douglass, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Raytheon and, of course, Haliburton employ hundreds of thousands of people. These people make good money and pump those dollars right back into the economy. We can't just give those people pink slips. Can we? That would significantly damage the economy. The fact of the matter is that we've created a vicious cycle that is nearly impossible to break. It would be political suicide to even think of breaking this. But I honestly think that we can have more... way more... without being a belligerent, jingoistic nation.

I like capitalism for the most part. I think it is cool to be innovative, make money and get rich. I just don't think that profiteering of of wars is ethical and I truly believe that it contradicts fundamental American values. Our strength has always been that we could deal with other nations using an impartial hand. Almost similar to what China and India seem to be doing these days. Whether a country is run by a dictator or is a liberal democracy, we should be able to formulate relationships based on our interests. If we can't be impartial, we become slaves. If we don't act in good faith, we become imperialists. Many other nations like Germany, Japan and Great Britain have walked the same path and failed. What makes us so different? I don't know if this problem is going to get better in my lifetime. I hope it will. There is no political solution. We can only let capitalism run its course and, in this case, run itself into oblivion.

Sean Is Alive

I sent Sean a text message last night telling him to contact me just so I know that he was alive. When I came home today, he had sent me an email. To make a long story short, the email just talked about how he was maing editing notes and want the project to be as good as possible. I'm on the same page as him. There is really no timeline concerning the edit.

Shooting a film is like a sugar high and then you crash as you enter post-production. Sometimes you get confused, stressed out, disillusioned and face questions of self-worth. I had the same situation after I did my first short film in 1998, "Portrait of a Female Player." After shooting the project, it took me about one year to get around to the edit. In that year, I doubted myself as a film maker and at times felt as though editing the project would be a waste of time.

But truthfully, I was just calling Sean as a friend on some "what's up?" type shit. Initially it was just to tell him that I saw Hustle & Flow. When he didn't call me back, I knew something was up. I think everything will be cool though. Sean is a friend first, business partner second. I told him that if the movie thing was stressing him out that we didn't even need to talk about it. Whenever he's ready to edit; its cool with me. I think I have some understanding of the world of independent film.

Change (You Can't Stop It)

I got into this conversation today with a friend of mine, Genaro. He's an lifelong Nuyorican - born, raised and currently residing in Brooklyn. He seemed to have a great deal of apprehension regarding how much the city has changed. I guess, at one point, only Brooklyn Heights and Park Slope were the yuppie areas of North Brooklyn. But now the spillover is trickling into areas such as Crown Heights, Flatbush, Bed-Stuy and even East New York. From what I heard, in the 1980s, you would never see yuppies, or any white person for that matter in these badass areas. Thinking back to my college days at Howard University, I told G that many of the people I knew who were born & raised in NYC had moved elsewhere. The same way I was born & raised in Boston and have no plans to return, they feet the same way about NYC.

People move around alot in the the USA. Particularly in cities, people born and raised move away to other cities when they become adults in search of jobs, opportunities, etc. I know alot of NYers who moved to Dallas, LA and Atlanta, for instance. Some NYers who I met in Washington, DC stayed there after college. The point being, with every generation a city like NY will dramatically change. One group will move out and the next group will move in. Right now, many of the Russian, Chinese and West Indians who moved to Brooklyn in the 70s and 80s have left. They've moved to upstate NY, Long Island, New Jersey, Connecticut and other states. They are being replaced by Indians, Middle Easterners, Mexicans and even white people moving from Manhattan in search of cheaper rent.

Its the way cities work. I lived in downtown Brooklyn for 9 years. First in Boerum Hill, then in Prospect Heights. When I moved to Boerum Hill in 1996 it was about 50% white and 50% black/Puerto Rican. There were alot of vacant lots, parking lots and antique shops. By the time I moved outta Boerum Hill in 2004, it was 95% percent white. All you saw is white couples with strollers, coffee shops, yard sales, people planting flowers... I took a walk down my old block about a week ago and every vacant lot and parking lot has been built on - condos, co-ops, apartments, offices proliferate. Its even hard for me to believe and I've only been away for about 2 years!

You can stop change. You just have to accept it. Brooklyn 2006 is not Brooklyn 1986. Its a different world. There are some cities that, perhaps, change slow. NYC seems to change fast. That old borough of kids running the streets, playing stickball and going to Dodgers games is dead. There are few people from that era still living in Brooklyn. Some parts have remained relatively similar, but by far and wide its a totally different place. Yeah, rents are outrageous. But this is a free market economy and there's virtually nothing that can be done to decrease demand for housing. In the next 30 years, they estimate that 1 million more people will move to NYC. If that's the case, you won't be able to be poor and live in this city. By then, they'll probably tear down all the projects or convert them to condos. It just seems like that were things are going. Sorry, Genaro... don't wanna come off as cold, but you can't stop the change.

Where's Sean?

We're like 95% done with our most recent movie and my partner has disappeared into thin air! I'm not sure why this is happening. A few years ago, he fell into a depression around this time of year and it took him a few months to pull out. I hope that isn't happening to him again. We put alot into this movie and I don't want the project to become an emotional burden. We went through alot of shit to film it in September, so maybe he is just taking time to exhale. Perhaps, it just PPD (Post Production Depression). Not sure. Could be anything. I really thought we would have had the movie edited by now. I figured that we would be submitted to several film festivals or something like that by now. Instead of premier parties and meetings with distributors, I'm starting to get worried about what may (or may not) be happening with Sean.