OGPenn’s Harmonica.

Sittin on the dock of the Bay...(where i usually play.)

 

I like to play my harmonica by the water… here is a clip of me playing at Golden Gate Park.

 

OG Penn  playing his harmonica:

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive In SF.

MLK Dr. in SF.

“…He called me and said: I’m lost & I’m on MLK… I said: run!”- Unknown comedian.

MLK Ave. / Boulevard/ Street / Drive / Way … always seems to be in the hood. Always.

Last year I walked down Oakland’s MLK Way through a foggy North Oakland to the pier in Oakland’s Jack London Square, just outside of West Oakland. The year prior I walked through South East Washington DC by the Big Chair and Frederick Douglass’ house in order to capture the sights of MLK Ave. in the Nation’s Capitol.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2012, I found myself in one of the Nation’s most scenic cities: sunny San Francisco, Ca. Instead of walking this time- I decided to ride my bike… I should have known something would be different from that decision alone…

Freedom ride: free BART ride on MLK Day in the Bay.

A biker on MLK Dr. in SF.

MLK Drive in a nice neighborhood.

I didn’t spot any RIP murals, graffiti, lower income housing, or any Black people. At all.

San Francisco’s MLK Drive has to be the most scenic street dedicated to the deceased Civil Rights leader in the States… Here is a sneak peak:

I saw a lot of joggers how some ever…

Jogger on MLK Dr.

An ole school ride and a jogger.

A jogger and a beach at the end of San Francisco's MLK drive.

As I came out of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, I ended up at the beach, Ocean Beach… At 12 Noon… I was listening to BIG’s instrumental for “Juicy”. I hopped off my bike and stepped onto the sand that lead to the Pacific Ocean.

On the beach for MLK Day... let freedom ring.

 

“It was all a dream.”- Christopher Wallace.

 

Peace.

Why is it so much easier to help other people than myself ?

Why is it so much easier to help other people than myself ?

You know that spot on your back where your arms don’t reach? That one spot that always itches but you can never scratch-until you get one of those plastic back scratchers … But of course- that doesn’t suffice: that’s plastic dawg!

Yea, that spot on your back where your arms don’t reach, that’s a constant reminder that human beings are social creatures. We need someone to scratch our backs… I mean, we could use trees like California Brown bears do; at least the tree is living… I bet a that’s more sufficient than an inanimate object … I digress.

So, my itching- or, uh- burning question: Why is it so much easier to help other people than it is to help myself ?

I was awarded a shiny-new parking ticket after taking these young men, amongst other students, to a Saturday afternoon full of workshops full of educational resources.

The first thing I did when I came to the realization of this conundrum: post it as my facebook status … and sent a tweet out carrying the same sentiment.

“It is called being selfless. And it is a good thing, for when we lend a hand to another, we are in essence helping to improve ourselves.” Benny “Uncle Punch” Andrews said in reply to my post.

“For two reasons. The selfless part like Bennie said and also it is harder to see the issues in oneself”- Andrew Meyer.

How true…

It’s been killing me all week: I can hold it down for the community, for my friends, for my family … but when it comes to self-It never comes down to self…

It’s not a total mutilation of self in order to save the world… na, I’m not that nice. It’s not a: save the world, so I can say I saved the world kind of thing either… Na, I’m not that egotistical. This persona is a product of being aware: I see the bigger picture. I see the young person who is affected by the parents who are unemployed … that… Or it’s the elder junkie who is a product of a broken school system, hit a schnide in the game, turned to whatever drugs were readily available in the community… and then whallah! You have my surroundings.

And as bad I want to get out of here, that’s just scratching my own back… I want my surroundings to change. So, when I walk out the door in the morning I scratch the backs of fiends , “baby mommas” , marginalized youth, ect, ect… And they say it all comes back… They never said it would come back to haunt me.

It’s messing with my mind.

“you fall in the same line as a psychologist with this one. Unable to solve their own problems.”- @Truth_Inception.

He’s right. I can give people the shirt off my back, but have trouble asking for it in return.

“Yes. I dedicated a week to myself and it was the hardest things ever. Very necessary though.”- @OhhMissRiss

She’s right… that’s what I need.

It’s crunch time. I’m 24 ½. It’s time to lock in and focus on something great. But all I seem to care about is socializing, the internet, and socializing via the internet!

Dang!

I saw this tweet the other day, it simply said that “accomplishments are better than compliments”… and I’m more than sure it’s some song lyrics that were tweeted out of context and quotations- nonetheless, the statement resonated…

I have a number of big time accomplishments within my grasp (graduating, publishing a book, living to be 25…)

And all of it seems so simple: Just do it, NIKE style. But every time I go to move forward… those same friends that are better than back scratchers- are holding me back. They aren’t exactly back stabbers, but nonetheless, being sociable and helping others and wanting to show the world that I’m solid ( That I have a strong backbone)… all of that is holding me back.

So I had to investigate- I had to find someone who has been in my position before. Someone that was destined for greatness, but was suffering from minor setbacks …

So I googled quotes from Michael Jordan:

“To be successful you have to be selfish, or else you never achieve. And once you get to your highest level, then you have to be unselfish.”- Michael Jordan

… I’ll take the words of the man who wore number 23 on his back …

Peace.

Accountable, Accounting Bull.

Accounting

 

The basic accounting equation:

Assets = Credits + Stock Holder’s Equity.

 

My basic accounting equation:

A passing grade in Accounting = enough credits + Me holding a degree for my education.

 

A passing grade in accounting is the only thing between me and my bachelors degree from Howard University.

 

Long story short:

1. I studied Telecommunications Management… which requires students to minor in business… thus: I didn’t sign up for this.
2. I failed accounting. Multiple times.
3. I didn’t graduate, instead I returned to Oakland 1 class short of a degree.
4. I’m currently taking the class online… Thus: I will get my degree.

 

Accounting

 

Short Story Long:

 

I could charge my accounting shortcomings to the fact that the class requires students to purchase a 180-dollar book and a separate 40-dollar online access code in order to do their homework. Or I could charge it to the fact that I got jumped and robbed for 30 dollars, my phone, my favorite leather coat, and a backpack which held an accounting book that I had borrowed. (And that happened while I was coming from accounting tutoring!) … The real reason I’ve failed accounting multiple times: I have no interest in accounting.

But, the story is deeper than that…

It was Mr. Smith’s 8^th grade Algebra class- that was the first place I had ever had a negative experience in the world of mathematics.

Due to my compulsive socializing, I failed Mr. Smith’s class. In turn- Mr. Smith felt so inclined to tell me that I wouldn’t make it. In life.

 

My next step in life: A college prep high school, where it became glaringly obvious that I wasn’t prepped for high school.

 

My reading and arithmetic were sub par; my writing was awesome, but my handwriting was awful. All of these attributes hold true to this day.

 

This day- Early December- sitting here with an accounting book on my hip- copiously taking notes with my illegible handwriting… one class away from graduating, and thus proving Mr. Smith wrong…  how’d I get here?

 

Welp…

 

During my junior year in college, I signed up for the class. By homecoming, and I withdrew on account of the workload being greater than I could bare at that time, especially homecoming weekend. The spring semester proved to be a bit slower than the fall, so I took the class once again: same result. I withdrew right after spring break, citing my workload to still be too heavy. I took the class one last time at Howard University- fall of 2010… and that’s when it got real bad. I couldn’t afford the book, so I fell behind in the class. I finally found a book to borrow, and after coming from a late night tutoring session… I got robbed. For my back-pack. Which held inside the accounting textbook, which I had borrowed from a classmate.

 

That took the cake … but the icing :

 

 

Last year. It was coming down to the end of the semester- I could still have passed, all I had to do was ace the final two tests. I was in the information laboratory- studying as if the answers to life could be found between the pages of this accounting book. (This one was loaned to me for free by the accounting department from their stock pile surplus of books…. I digress. )

My studies slowed. I hit a wall. And then I began to socialize… I ended up chopping it up with a young man who once resided in a dormitory where I was the Resident Assistant; one of my lil brothers. After establishing that we were both in this accounting class, I opened up:

 

… I told the young man I was studying accounting and struggling. He told me that he understood accounting and could assist me… and then he told me that both of his parents are CPA’s for fortune 500 companies. …

damn.

 

My mother worked as a janitor to put me through school.

I left Howard University after fall of 2010… headed back to my hometown… with my head down.

Fall 2010 was the worst semester ever: I lost a longtime girlfriend, I lost my chance at graduating on time, I even lost some real estate on my hairline.

 

I couldn’t take another loss.

 

I came back to Oakland and worked odd jobs: moving boxes, freelance journalism, anything to keep me active and off my moms couch.

I ended up teaching, and succeeding at it. Funny enough, I ended up teaching at a high school where Mr. Smith works- you should have seen the look on his face when I pulled him aside. I had to remind him of something he told me, something that I would never forget: that I wouldn’t make it. In life.

At this point- I’ve painted myself into this role as an educator/media maker , and a career path is slowly opening… I’m considering grad school: Masters in Media arts? Ph.D in education?

Either way, I need to get my undergraduate degree first….

 

When it boils down to it- I’m no future CPA, hell- I still count the dots on the dominoes before I play my hand. I’m better at letters than numbers. After all, there are only 26 letters- numbers are infinite. And out of the numerous words in my vocabulary, the one word that stands out: accountability.

The ability to be accountable to something… in this case… the something is accounting.

 

Peace.

Street Academy.

Welcome.

 

 

Emiliano Zapata

 

Tupac.

 

red tears

 

Yemen

 

One way..

 

Ancestors

An altar at the front door...

 

Peace

Invisible Men.

This radio broadcast originally aired on November 10th, 2011 on KQED

http://www.kqed.org/assets/flash/kqedplayer.swf

Invisible Men

Youth Radio’s Pendarvis Harshaw tries to keep black high school students from dropping out.

Pendarvis Harshaw

By Pendarvis Harshaw

The phrase “I don’t give an F-Bomb” resonates throughout high school hallways every day, especially in Oakland public schools. Which begs the question: how do you get students to actually give a flying F-bomb?

The numbers show that young black men drop out of school at higher rates, and are more likely to be incarcerated than other groups. Earlier this year I worked as an educator in the Oakland schools, in a pilot program designed to prevent young black men from dropping out. My students, all freshmen in high school, were in my class because of discipline issues, low attendance, or academic shortcomings. We called our class the Young Lion’s Lair.

To maintain focus, we did pushups. We did wall sits. We did sets of 20 jumping jacks. And everyone had to stop at the same time, or else we’d do it again.

At the start of class, we’d toss around a tennis ball and review the prior day’s lesson. And at the end of class we’d toss around that same ball and review what we learned that day.

We discussed a holistic approach to manhood. It was protocol for each young man to stand whenever he spoke. And when they spoke out of turn, it was mandatory that they say “I apologize.” I asked them not to say “I’m sorry,” because they weren’t sorry young men.

Attendance shot up. Discipline issues decreased. Their grades didn’t change during the semester I worked with them, but I could tell they were learning. Everyday there’d be a moment when one of my students would have a tiny breakthrough and I’d exclaim “hot damn.” It was equivalent to getting a star in kindergarten, and it was a constant reminder that we were progressing.

One day I asked my students to read aloud from Ralph Ellison’s “Invisible Man.” They were reluctant to read in front of their peers, but eventually one student began… “I am an invisible man.”

Student after student read with increasing excitement. They were into it, and pleaded with me to bring in additional chapters. It was as if Ellison was narrating their lives. “I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, fiber and liquids — and I might even be said to possess a mind.”

With a Perspective, I’m Pendarvis Harshaw.

Growth: on ice.

1st they fall.

 

...And then, they learn to stand.

...And then, they learn to showoff. no hands.

 

Then they skate away...

 

And then... moms takes a victory lap!

 

...And then, I'm a happy uncle.

 

And then….

And then ... we ate pizza.

 

 

PeaCe.

Hey Little Brother.

Have you ever heard of an organization called “Hey Little Brother“?

Mission Statement:

“Hey Little Brother is a collection of letters written by men and women, young and old, to black boys ages 12 – 14. These letters share, insights, advice, ideas, wisdom, encouragements and life lessons specifically for black boys.”

Hey Little Brother is looking for letters of guidance written from experience, from men and women who have been life’s ups and downs and can speak to a given topic area ( e.g. leadership, relationships, God).

You can email them directly at : heylittlebro@gmail.com

The website (again) : http://heylittlebrother.org/

Change the Game

Game Changers Project.

game changer

Have you heard about the 2025 campaign for Black men and Boys ?

The Grio. com ran a big story on the site at the start of this year, check it out: http://www.thegrio.com/specials/game-changers/about-game-changers.php

The game changer’s project is a media inititative to change the image of young Black men and Boys in the media by simply uploading the untold; by taking stories of men and young men alike doing uplifting things in their communities, and giving them proper acknowledgment.  The theory is simple: become the change you want to see in the world… or in the media.

For more information about the initiative, check the website:

http://www.forwardevermedia.com/gcp.html

A key part aspect to being able to tell the stories of Black men and boys in the urban underbelly of America is having storytellers on site, and the Gamechangers project specializes in that. With representatives in New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Milwaukee, New Orleans, Los Angeles, and Oakland.

… I’m the Oakland rep…. Here is my bio, along with the rest of the game changers: http://www.2025bmb.org/thegame/

Here are a couple of stories that I’ve published thus far in efforts to change the game:

Oscar Grant’s Uncle, and the Oscar Grant Foundation: http://www.thegrio.com/specials/game-changers/in-oakland-oscar-grants-uncle-continues-the-fight.php

An article on an education program in Oakland, The Nation’s First African Male Achievement Initiative:

http://www.thegrio.com/specials/game-changers/nations-only-school-district-to-take-on-educating-black-males.php

And soon to come…

http://www.gamechangersproject.org/

Stay updated on how the game is changing via twitter: @Gamechangers007

peace.

An Oakland Local on OaklandLocal…Dot.Com

 

 

Extra! Extra! Read all about it! Fresh on your virtual newsstand !

Oakland Local.

The good people at Oakland Local messed around and gave me a page:

http://oaklandlocal.com/people/og-penn

 

Here are a couple of articles that i’ve produced through thisOakland Local:

An article on a digital arts and culinary center in the heart of East Oakland…

http://oaklandlocal.com/article/east-oaklands-new-digital-arts-and-culinary-academy-dishes-out-recipe-success-community-voic

 

An article on America’s Got Talent and Oakland’s own “The PopLyfe” and their run to the (near) top…. dang.

http://oaklandlocal.com/article/oaklands-poplyfe-makes-finals-americas-got-talent-watch-them-tonight

Older articles….

An article on Augusta Collins, Bay Area Hall of Fame Guitarist…(Re-published by SF Gate)

http://blog.sfgate.com/inoakland/2011/01/24/music-mondays-oaklands-augusta-lee-collins-has-what-it-takes-to-play-the-blues/

 

An article on the classic debate of W.E.B. Du Bois vs. Booker T. Washington, and how that argument applies to today’s job market…

http://oaklandlocal.com/article/who-asked-us-young-blacks-vocational-training-or-liberal-arts-community-voices

 

Be sure to check Oaklandlocal.com

More articles to come!

Peace.