Personal identities

When it comes to exposing your own personal identity! I think African American struggle putting their personal identity on social media, because they don’t want to be looked at different. They try not to put their personal identity to stay in the norm and try to fit in.  All throughout history you always heard different stories and watched videos about slavery.  Now it may not been all  slavery but a good part of the reason we won’t put our info out there is because we are too ashamed too. Somebody might look at you the wrong way and stir the wrong way.  Somebody else could judge off the personal identity and even use against someone. Another reason why I don’t think African Americans put their personal identity on social media is to try to fit in. You may have someone that wants to be seen one way but if the pesonal identity stuff is reported on our social media page it may not be the same outcome as it would have before.  The last reason I believe African Americans refuse to put their stuff on social media is to run away from the issues. If before your info was on social media and you had a bad outcome from whatever you did you would want to avoid the problem by stopping  the posting of personal identity all together.  It seems like it could be better at times to remain anonymous than have your personal info on social media. Another simple reason why they might not post it over social media is because they do not want you knowing their business.

Social Media

To me I think social media is a big deal because of a couple things. Some of the reasons I think social media is a big thing now and days because of the connections you can make with people, it helps you stay connected with certain things and it’s also a big deal because we can use social media in so many different ways.  With connections you possibly do everything. You could meet someone on Facebook, talk to them for a while and eventually have a job. I say social media can get you to stay connected with certain things is because you can stay in contact with a family member and friends or even connect with them. You can stay connected with the latest gossip and news that we hear around the world. Last but not least social media is a big deal because of the variety of things we can do with it. Over the years social media use has increased and we can do so many things with it.  We can video each other, set interviews up for different jobs, and can even post pictures of ourselves and edit them. We can tell how a person is before actually meeting them, we can even look at the statuses of people to see if they are single are not.  Social media allows ourselves to network and express things in a whole different level.

Music?

I was listening to my pandora the other day as I was getting some stuff done and decided upon a more laid back, calm station to listen to. I listened to this particular station for about 2 hours. Later on in the day I got in my car and turned on some more modern music I had on my phone. Now, the pandora station I chose had mostly R&B genre music. The music in my car was a mix between rap and very little of what would be considered R&B. Listening to the two pretty much back to back caused me to raise an eyebrow. What happened to music being just that, music. The times when artist put thought into their instrumentation, and by instrumentation I don’t mean coming up with a beat in a studio (which takes a lot of effort as well). I’m talking about working with bands, not just for a live performances, but for an album. Back when artist valued their vocals as instruments and didn’t rely as heavily on studio equipment to give them the sound they are looking for. Don’t get me wrong I love the music of today BUT it still doesn’t compare to the music of the past, and by past I don’t just mean early 90’s, I’m referring to early 2000’s as well.

Many are shocked when they get to know me and hear the sounds of Erykah Badu (my favorite artist), Sade and Anthony Hamilton from my speakers. I can’t help it, I love the artistry of older music and the rawness of their voices. Not to mention the content of the music is different by a football field. Don’t get me wrong I love the music of our time but nothing compares to the beautiful voices and instrumentation of older music and content of older music. How do you all feel music now compares to music of the early 2000’s and before?

DeCarlo Finesse Middleton

Happy Place

Many people who don’t know me have no idea but I really like art…probably only second to football….maybe even neck and neck with it. I fell in love with art at a young age. It was something that came natural to me. I’m sure being the type of person to stay to myself contributed to my love of it. I’m self taught, I never took an art class until my sophomore year. As I grew in my practice, especially once I got to college, I went from drawing to refurbishing shoes. Every shoe from Jordan’s to Timberland’s, its become a sort of a side hustle for me.

My favorite type of art is graffiti. I love graffiti for two reasons: 1: I love the freedom of the art. I like that graffiti is such a social art form. Usually, especially in big cities, sending some sort of socially conscious message. Reason 2: I also love the mystery behind graffiti. Most times you never see a person working on their graffiti, they usually work late at night. Allowing the art to speak solely on its own. Further more, have you ever seen a beautiful work of art on the side of a bridge, or freeway and wonder, “how did that get there?” All of that is intriguing to me. In my opinion graffiti is one of the most beautiful art forms.

I fell in love with art because it takes me away from everything around me. I often refer to it as my “happy place.” It’s a way I am able to clear my head and focus in strictly on what I am doing. Art gives me something to focus on, an end goal to strive for. It makes me strive for perfection which challenges me mentally and for that I am Grateful. Below is a little of my work. Enjoy!

DeCarlo Finesse Middleton

Lock Up

Since I was a teenager Lock Up has been one of my favorite shows. Late Friday and Saturday nights on MSNBC. For those who don’t know, Lock Up is a show that features different penitentiaries around the Nation following particular inmates or stories of incidents that may happen in penitentiary or what got inmates there and things that may have happened to them. As of late, I have been writing to a family member who is in that very position at the moment and knowing what I know from life, classes I have taken and from talking to him it raised the question in me….Penitiary or county jail?

Let’s break down both…County jail, basically a holding ground for those who are serving a small amount or those waiting to go to penitentiary. Most county jails are extremely overcrowded, twice as dirty as penitentiary but the overcrowding and not having space seems to be one of the main issues. Penitentiaries are bigger structurally, although overcrowded as well, there is more space in the structure as a whole. Most penitentiaries have a common area, where inmates are able to watch some t.v., sometimes flat screens as I’m told, so they can have some insight into what’s going on in the outside world. From what I can see on shows such as Lock Up and from what I am told the comradery as a whole seems a lot different in penitentiary.

Let me end this by saying, at no point in life do I ever want to end up in either place…BUT I always found it interesting to hear people in the county jail say they’d rather be in penitentiary. I decided to ask so I could understand ones reasoning for this. After having a few conversations I now understand the inmates perspective on this more. What are your thoughts?

DeCarlo Finesse Middleton

Techno

Tags

advertising, branding, facebook, instagram, marketing, social media, technology, twitter, vine

Today as I was watching tv, the commercials came up and I started thinking about how tech driven the advertising industry has become and how social media driven our generation is. Now days our generation can make a name for themselves without spending a dime. We have so many outlets that allow us to brand and market ourselves, our products and our businesses without help from an advertising firm or money. Gone are the days of spending tons of money on tv commercial and radio slots. Now we have twitter, facebook, instagram and youtube.

My generation has mastered the art of promoting themselves through social media. On facebook many businesses make group pages for their business. Letting their clients know they have the page and in return they go follow the page. Instagram and twitter go hand in hand because you can connect your accounts. On instagram all it takes is for you to network, yes you can network via social media. Here’s how it works in a nutshell:

Post a picture, tag someone popular you may like in the post or the brand of clothing you may be wearing or promoting, they may see it, post it on their page that may have 5000+ more followers than you and that easily you can gain a plethora of followers whom will know about you and your service or product. It’s THAT easy to advertise yourself.

I see people collaborate, promote other people and reach out to those who may already be established. I’ve even seen those who are more popular create a business out of promoting others, charging a fee to promote others businesses a certain amount of times a week over a certain length of time.

I find it amusing how creative my generation has gotten with advertising and makes me wonder if there will ever come a time when television advertising dies?

23 is Back

Tags

23, Jordan, Micheal Jordan, sneakers, tennis shoes

Keeping with the Jordan theme….lets talk about the madness you have to go through to get a pair of Jordan’s these days. Now, I may not be very old….but gone are the days of getting up at 6:30…7:30am and being one of the first in line to snag a pair. Sounds like the logical way to do things right?…WRONG! Because of the out of control, childish behavior of our generation shoe stores have been forced to to develop a new way of getting popular, new releases, such as Jordans. This ensures that each customer safely gets their shoe, yes people have fought over what place they were in line, leading to this foolishness.  This is all due to high demand and limited quality.

Let me explain to you how this system works. One must go to a store….or twenty and enter their name and size into a drawing for the specific Jordan that is coming out that weekend. You have a deadline to enter into these drawings and you may only enter your name once per store. Therefore the more stores you are able to enter your name at the higher probability you have of getting your name pulled. The problem is that you’re entering your name into a box with roughly 200+ other people per store. Once the deadline date has come employees from each store draw names until each shoe they have has an assigned purchaser. Let me not forget!…..You are limited to purchasing 1 shoe unless your name is called at multiple stores, only then can you purchase 1 from each store your name was drawn.

How do I feel about all of this? It’s the most ridiculous, smart thing I’ve ever heard of. Think about it. The easy thing to do would be to send each store more stock therefore more customers can have the chance to purchase them and everyone wins. Jordan and Nike make their money and more people walk away with the shoes they want. BUT one of the reasons Jordan is able to stay so relevant in the shoe game is because of the exclusivity of the shoe. Only a limited number of people are going to be able to actually  purchase each release. Making those who did not snag certain pairs more eager for the next release to see if they will be able to get that pair; and those who do snag the releases eager to try and snag the next pair in order to build their collection. My advice is to find a “plug” aka someone who is able to guarantee you the Jordan’s you want upon their release. Don’t worry, you can thank me later.

DeCarlo Finesse Middleton

23

Tags

23, Jordan, Micheal Jordan, sneakers, tennis shoes

As a child on through young adulthood I’ve always loved sneakers. I guess you could dub me what our generation calls a “sneakerhead.” Someone with a knack for collecting sneakers. I’m an artistic person, I’ve always had a thing for drawing and art and I think that’s where my love of tennis shoes, Jordan’s in particular, blossomed. I not only love the make and style of a sneaker but I feel like sneakers are a way that people express themselves and show their personalities. If I am in a more down mood or the weather is gloomy I will usually lean towards a black sneaker, if I am in an energetic mood I lean toward more of a colorful sneaker, usually red, and during summer when the weather is warm and the sky is clear I lean more toward a white or light grey sneaker.

Growing up and even now I loved Jordan for two reasons. Reason one being that the different style of shoes were so sleek and different than any other shoe on the market. The attention paid to detail was amazing. Everything from the jump man on the bottom of the shoe to how the colors were layered. Reason number two being who was behind the shoe….Michael Jordan! The drive, the ambition, the skill and the fact that he was the best of the best. Why wouldn’t you want to wear his shoe? Not to mention a new shoe came out every 2-4 weeks and people would (and still do) line up around the building in order to snag themselves and family and friends a pair or 5.

These days Jordan has certain pairs of his sneaker that are “in the vault.” Meaning they won’t come back out or they won’t re-lease them for a while. Which leaves me asking the question, what will MJ do next in the shoe game to keep us interested? Or will he be able to continuously live off of his name alone?

DeCarlo Finesse Middleton

Girls With The Curls

In the African American community, when it comes to women, hair is VERY important. Black women wear their hair as their crown and glory. Spending money upon money and hour upon hour in the hair salon making sure their hair is the best of the best. I know this first hand, with my mother being a hair stylist. In recent years there has been a shift in the way black women view their hair. For whatever reason they have shifted from want extremely sleek, straight edges and hair (achieved using a relaxer, a harsh chemical applied to the root of the hair) to what is now the natural hair phenomenon.

African American women are not only embracing their natural hair texture but a large number of them are wearing their natural texture out. Rocking everything from afros to braids to dreads. Being a man, how do I feel about the natural hair craze? I personally, being a man with dreads myself, love it. I know a number of my peers hate it. They prefer the more sleek hair look, but myself I like the natural hair. Not only can a woman still wear her hair straight but she can also wear her hair in it’s natural state and many different hair styles. This allows versatility in her look, which I like.

As man I want my woman to be able to feel confident within herself no matter how her hair is, not based off of her hair being straight. I feel like this natural hair phase is allowing black women and men to set their own standard of what beauty in a woman is as opposed to conforming to societies standard of beauty; which is how “relaxing” the hair started. To allow the African American woman to achieve a more European look. When it comes to whether or not to join the natural hair craze I say go for it!

DeCarl Finesse Middleton

Integrity?

I recently came across an article discussing Roger Goodell, NFL commissioner, and how he has handled all of the NFL “scandals” that have happened over this past season. The article discusses Ray Rice, the Baltimore Ravens running back whos story of knocking his girlfriend out in an elevator surveillance video stormed the media last year. Adrienne Peterson, the Minnesota Vikings running back, who had reports of child abuse last year after whopping his son with a “tree branch” a.k.a “switch” to many of us. Of course an NFL article covering integrity wouldn’t be complete without mentioning “deflategate.” The NFL scandal surrounding the New England Patriots, 2015 Super Bowl Champions, in which it was found that the Patriots used underinflated balls in the American Football Conference Championship game against the Indianapolis Colts.

I found this article interesting because it asks the question, when it comes to the image of integrity in the NFL are the teams, owners and players REALLY to blame for the image lost? Or is the lack of set rules and procedures set by the commissioner regarding the players and teams behavior and actions inside and outside the organization to blame?

One could argue both sides. As adults it could be said that each team and individual player should be responsible for themselves. This isn’t kindergarten and no one should need a babysitter. Which is a very valid argument. Although I don’t disagree with this, another very valid point was brought up in the article. One of the problems that was brought up was how unorganized the NFL’s policies and procedures regarding behavior are and how Roger Goodell seems to make up the consequences as he goes along. Unlike many other professional sports who have very clear policies in place for their teams and players. I agree that in past situations Goodell has enforced very strict punishment on less “serious” behavior and enforced less harsh punishment in some recent, more serious situations.

I feel as though the NFL needs to create a standard policy dealing with behavior and moral situations that may come about in the future. Although each consequence will vary based on the individual situation there should still be a set of standard policies and procedures to ensure that all teams, players, and situations are treated fairly. This also helps individual situations stay in the media for a shorter amount of time because they will be settled in a timely manner, in turn helping the NFL keep a more “integrity” like image.

How do you feel about the image of the NFL and its players? Who or what’s to blame in your opinion?

DeCarlo Finesse Middleton