The Hallway of enlightenment. The temple of inconvenient truths and intoxicating humor.
The venue for intellectuals to congregate as we observe, laugh, and discuss life and its many twists and turns.
Well folks, it's here. The one week out of the year its socially acceptable to lose your mind everyday from partying in the name of your school's pride. A young alcoholic's paradise. A chance for old friends to reconnect for a weekend to reminisce, relive, and revisit their old stomping grounds. A high school reunion on steroids. Enter GSW Homecoming.
Can someone please tell me what the hell I was doing with my hands.
As a young alumni I've definitely peeped the growth my school has experienced over the years. So what better way to celebrate that with what looks to be a promising week full of unforgettable memories, missed discussion assignments, and amusingly poor decision making. At a school where everybody knows everybody, our homecoming experience is uniquely different than most despite our small but growing size. Fake love, squashed beef, random hook ups, not so random hook ups, spontaneous pregames, and unread text messages are just but a snippet of events that's sure to transpire this week. GSW Homecoming grants you the rare opportunity to walk past your ex, your former friend, and your current crush all in one go. This week will surely be deserving of every popcorn munching meme that's ever been generated on the internet.
In all seriousness though it really feels as if there's a different kind of hype surrounding this year's homecoming. From what I've read and what I've been told there's a general consensus of real positive excitement that's being echoed by students and alumni alike. "Fun" operates under the laws of perception so let's make that perception a reality this time.
I really have no idea where I'll be or what I'll be getting into. I'm a dice roller so I usually don't have a road map for these sort of things. I'll just let vibes guide my steps. If you spot me out and about, flag me down, don't be shy. Let's have a conversation(and a drink). From the 7PM pregame to the 3AM Waffle House layover, here's to good times, better memories, and safe travels.
Ohhhhhh and one more thing, to anyone out there who might be bringing bad vibes and negativity along for the ride and aren't really sure if they should come I have a bit of advice I'd like to share with you today...
It's Friiiiidaaayyyyyyyyy!!!! The greatest invention mankind has given us next to iphone's block caller feature. So as to keep up with my promise to expand this blog in every direction possible I'm launching a new segment called Feature Fridays. Every other Friday I'll be shining the spotlight on any blogger, vlogger, photographer, youtube personality etc. that I feel deserves your precious attention.
So today we have someone joining us who's earned that spotlight. Someone who's naturally funny without even trying (my favorite kind). Someone with so much energy you can't help but snap in a better mood when he's around (Does this guy even sleep). And finally, someone who has more personalities in his arsenal than your psychotic ex-girlfriend (Who still wants those J's back she bought you). The Kadeem Show is a series of short comedy skits featuring a wide range of characters and personalities as they're placed in very humorous and sometimes awkwardly funny situations. The right amount of funny mixed in with a healthy dose of satire and insanity seems to be the working formula for The Kadeem Show and I look forward to seeing it grow and prosper in the days to come. So without further ado I want to welcome Mr. Kadeem Williams to The Stoop!
Kadeem! What's good man welcome to The Stoop. Gon' head and let these folks know who you be.
This Ya Boooooy Kadeem Williams aka Iamthesquare aka Ceo of Big Guy Little Guy Corporation. Founder of the Kadeem Show! Yezzirrrr!
Miss the GSW college days?
Of Course!!!. ...I will choose College Struggle over Real World struggles Anyday. Always had Food options from the Cafe, Canes Den, CookOuts, Frat & R.A Functions. The Parties were always Fun & classes were Never far.
Will you be attending homecoming this year?
Yeeeeeaah Man!
What inspired you to start your own show?
Growing Up I was always told I'm Funny & should have my Own Show. Vine & Instagram had short sec videos in 2013. I never got into Vine & I felt that IG were too short for my ideas so One day I looked up Apps for making Movies. Found One that fit my Liking. Ever since Ep. 1 I would explore its Features.
How did you come up with all the different characters on your show?
The Characters. ...Stewart Long branched from my Best Friend Jephry Milloy. He played the role in one of his own videos & had me play as Stewart Long in one of his Skits a While Back. ..After a Halloween Party I dressed up as Stewart Long & took over the Character. As for the Rest. They are different sides of my Personality or my version of people we all know. KarL Wilson (the Cousin) is my Goofy Side. Mr. 100 is my Hood side. Morris Plump is Forrest Gump. Willy Glaze is Billy Maze (Rip). & So etc.
What future plans do you have for the show?
More Characters some you seen in Ep. 2 The Cast: Stewart Long, Willy Glaze, Morris Plump, Michael Fatson, more of Mr. 100, Karl is gonna get a Friend soon, More characters I won't Speak on Now. More Dances, more Drawings, Songs, Parodies. I got The Show Planned Out Up to Season 4.
What’s the toughest part about making your own videos?
The Toughest part is figuring out ways to angle the camera when I want to show both my Hands. I record my own videos with Just my Phone so I'm always holding my Phone with one hand. In the Black Super Saiyan episode my Wife helped me with the Toe to Head angle.
Where do you hope to see The Kadeem Show in 5 years?
5 Years I Hope to have at LEAST 100k Followers on YouTube. 50k is Enough to get Thousands of Views but 5 Years I Hope to get at least 100k.
What would be your advice to the people out there who want to do their own thing but are afraid of taking that dreaded first step?
My Advice would be to Take Baby Steps. ...Break your Steps Down. Each Day take a Small approach & after your first attempt & success. Keep Pushing!!!
How can they follow you?
YouTube type in The Kadeem Show or @Iamthesquare. Instagram you can follow me @Iamthesquare!
Any shoutouts?
To my Wife, my Friends: Obi, Jeph, Ian, Jay, & Both Joshes.
Check out my personal favorite episode below and make sure you subscribe to his channel!
Nobody likes getting left behind, but that's exactly what's happening to a large amount 20 year old's who think our education system is enough to keep us sufficiently educated. Sorry but high school isn't enough, and no, college doesn't count either. In fact, no amount of formal education is enough to keep you in the game and ahead of the curve. There's so much vital knowledge out there beyond your studies waiting to be consumed by you. When you choose to self-educate you get to pick the topic and you get to be the boss. So do yourself a huge huge favor and make self-educating your next favorite hobby. You'll be glad you did.
Here's 5 reasons why self-education is necessary in your twenties:
1. Self Education Will Help You Find Your Passion.
When you devote free time towards learning about things outside of your own daily bubble of life it helps you better figure out just wtf to do with it. When you find that one thing that you don't mind shrugging off work fatigue for, that one thing you could have endless conversations about, that's when you're in a good place towards finding your passion. You'll never be in that space though if you don't take the time to see what all this wonderful world has to offer. Make sense right?
2. Self Education Grants You The Ability To Verify What You See, Hear, and Read.
This might as well be considered a super power with all the dense-minded headasses that walk the earth today and the ignorance that surely follows them. Being self-educated is critical in a world full of misinformation and propaganda. Remember Stop Kony 2012? The fight to stop a man who had already been uhh....stopped. Any amount of research would've stopped several million people from blindly supporting this scam ran as a faux campaign against child-slave trafficking. When you perform your own research and do your own digging you equip yourself with real knowledge. And with that knowledge comes power. The power to know when to smell, hear, and also see incoming bullshit at an astounding rate.
3. Self Education Allows You To Gain Unbiased Knowledge Of The World Around You And Everything In It.
Question everything. Never take anything anyone tells you as fact. No matter how educated or experienced they seem to be. You can show three people the same picture and they'll each have a different interpretation of what it means. Never allow someone's translation of information to autofill your brain as "facts". That's lazy. And dangerous. There's a real sense of self-empowerment from simply being knowledgeable that a ton of us are missing out on. In other words, "Do your ****** research". - Sean "Big Sean" Anderson
4. Self Education Gives You The Freedom To Never Stop Learning.
When you normalize the habit of self-education the world instantly becomes your oyster. You become limitless in your capacity to gain knowledge and succeed throughout life. You're no longer limited to semesters or 8AM's to teach you something. Listen, the world is moving, fast. And a day without learning is a day wasted.
5. Self Education is FREE!
Well, almost. It cost me $0.00 to educate myself on the process and purpose of the electoral college and its history. It cost $0.00 to learn how to properly read food labels to decipher what's actually healthy for me with assassin-like precision. It cost me $12.87 to read a book that taught me how to do my own taxes. Sounds like a deal to me. This is no knock against formal education though; just an emphasis on the free kind.
So let's get with the program and hop on all this free knowledge out here. Ignorance tends to be a bit more costly.
Millennials...this one's for you(us). And for all you non-millennials out there; don't allow your seniority to judge us too harshly please, we didn't choose to be birthed into the largest, most confusing, polarizing, technologically dominated generation in recent memory. As millennials, we're more susceptible to relationship woes as we're all steadily changing and growing at the fastest rate of our lives. We're all aboard a bullet train with no conductor present and no instruction manual in sight. Mind the dust.
Ahh...situationships. A term made popular by one of Hip Hop's greatest, Fabolous, and a song I highly recommend you listen to. A situationship is an extended amount of time two people invest in each other with no defined outcome.A ship with no sail. A maze with no end. A race with...hell y'all smart(you must be if you're reading this blog) so y'all get it. Now let me place further emphasis on "an extended amount of time" so I can properly contrast that with the talking stage. You have to be all the way loco to expect any man or woman to drop everything and commit to your request of lifelong companionship from the jump. We're all looking for someone to grow old and die with, every one of us, consciously or not, that's just how we're programmed. Knowing this we go through various trial runs with potential candidates to see how many i's they can dot and t's they can cross on our mental checklist. Some of us settle(bad)...some get it right(good)....and the rest....well the rest are just stuck(yikes). And that my friend is what this blog post is all about. We're not here to promote the idea of a committed relationship or the single life. We've simply gathered here today to help free those out there who are indeed stuck and discuss the dangers of falling into the proverbial quicksand we call situationships.
Honesty is confusion's biggest nightmare in a world where intentions are everything. So how can we unhex ourselves from this dilemma that plagues our generation so and avoid being a victim at the same time? I Just told you, honesty. Be honest. Define what you want. Be clear. Lay it out. Communicate. They're not down? On to the next one. Why is this simple advice so hard to follow? I believe that deserves a two-folded answer.
See firstly, being transparent grants freedom but transparency makes one vulnerable. No human wants to be vulnerable, it's in our DNA to not only protect our bodies but our heart as well and thus we become guarded. "I like you, I think about you all the time and I want to hopefully be yours one day". Can't get more clear than that right? Right, but let's review the play. This statement has forced your hand, for this moment in time your chips(and only your chips) are on the table, you let honesty win but in turn you've also just made yourself what? Yeah see there ya go, you're learning. Good. To escape this feeling of vulnerability we guard our words and water down our feelings. Secondly, a lot of us suffer from the infamous people pleasing syndrome. We say whatever to keep the other person happy so we can ultimately get what we want. "I enjoy hanging out with you, the sex, the late night convos, the dinner dates, but I don't see us going much further than that". Can't get more clear than that right? Right. But again, let's review the play. This statement goes against every people pleasing bone in our body. Letting someone know they're basically only good for a good time and a good time, however honest, is a direct attack to that person's self-worth. That's definitely the fastest route to not getting what you want. So what do we do? Tell them what they want to hear. That way we continue getting what we want while keeping the other person "happy". Quicksand folks...quicksand.
Honest hearts produce honest results. Don't let desperation determine your decisions. Don't let fear determine your fate. After all, honesty is the highest form of intimacy. If you're not ready for that then hit the bench, you're making the rest of us look bad, thanks.
Anyone who knows me knows I'm a tough movie critic. It's often why I'll usually go it alone when it comes to the theater; so don't take my high praise of this movie lightly. This is definitely a must-see, not just for blacks, or whites, or young, or old, but for everyone. It seamlessly combines the importance of space travel to the United States with the plaguing issues of racism and sexism during that era. This is a racial-barrier breaking, inspiring, comical, smart-witted film that reaches across all borders and will have everyone leaving with a little more love and respect and a little less hate and ignorance.
Taking place in the 60's Hidden Figures covers the story of 3 young, intelligent, charismatic black women named Katherine Johnson (Taraji P. Henson aka Bae), Dorothy Vaughn (Octavia Spencer), and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monae also bae). Working for NASA, these three black women made a tremendous impact not only on American Aerospace travel but on the progression of desegregation and female equality. This movie is great because it showcases what humans can accomplish when hate and ignorance lose the battle for once. Brilliantly acted and directed, it immediately draws you in without losing sight of the plot despite its rather long running time. Pharrell Willaims provides a soundtrack that gives the film a classic but urban undertone that further fleshes out the attitude and theme of Hidden Figures.
So go see it. As I said on my snapchat, it'll make you fall in love with black women and space all over again.
This message may come off to some as a bit vain or narcissistic even. That alone tells me you don't even know your own self-worth (which is very scary) and thus I need y'all to make a beeline to the front row. This blog is about educating and enlightening, not shaming; so y'all need to hear this the most.
So what exactly is dopeness? Is it taking the trendiest off guard Instagram photos? Is it always being caught wearing the latest fashion and saying the coolest things? Just what is it? What makes someone.....dope? And do I have some of it? Why yes my young padawan, yes you do. We all do. Being dope...."dopeness" is simply being who you are to the fullest possible extent, not what you are or what you're wearing as society tries her hardest to make us believe.Ok so we've defined what dopeness is but why should I be so stingy about deciphering who gets to experience it in all its glory? I'll tell you why.
Your dopeness is essentially your soul.
Our soul is the single most vital component of our genetic makeup as human beings. It's sacred; it makes us who we are, gives us an identity, and should be treated as such. Everybody's not worthy of this transfer of energy because everybody's intentions with that energy (your energy) are not always pure. We are finite beings. We run long enough we'll eventually tire out, We study too much we'll eventually get a headache, we drink too much we'll eventually pass out (#TB Homecoming 2014). Our energy...our soul...our "dopeness" also operates under these very same conditions. Giving too much of your energy to the wrong person eventually causes an imbalance inside the core of your soul and causes a chaotic cesspool of negative emotions to spew forth. Suddenly you aren't who you use to be anymore. Suddenly you're agitated by the smallest of things, neglecting the ones you were once close with, and letting the entire situation distract you from being the best you that you can be. Old goals you were awesome enough to set for yourself are almost forgotten and replaced with worries and concerns of reciprocated affection and attention. That's like taking an unnecessary detour on purpose. Life gives you enough of those already. No need to add more right?
There certainly are people out there who are deserving of your dopeness and vice versa, I'm just saying you need to tread carefully while you navigate through that selection process.Who you let in has a very profound effect on who you are and what you will become whether you realize it or not. Your dopeness shouldn't be paraded around and given out freely like yellow starbursts.
Don't treat your soul like yellow starbursts. You deserve better.
2017 has arrived! It feels like we finally turned the page to that one chapter in the book nobody wants to read but later on proves crucial to the rest of the story. 2016 just gave us all a story. So let's live to tell it instead of talk about it cool? Cool. So moving forward I'd like to spend the first few days of 2017 self-assessing, writing down new goals, renewing my sense of positivity, and minding my own business. But wait! That sounds a little new year new me-ish. If so we got hella memes on standby if you dare go live with this public declaration of self-improvement! - Sincerely, The Internet.
Listen...you never want to stunt the growth of your evolving spirit by only allowing a new calendar year to motivate you into greatness....BUT....absolutely nothing is wrong with seizing the symbolism of a new year to rejuvenate your personal pledge to your life goals or make news ones. We scoff at anybody who dares to have the stones to proclaim greatness and highlight all their previously failed attempts as a means to justify our ridicule. I just have one question. What have we become? We sound like the same haters we love to wave at. We sound like the same "They" DJ Khaled warned us about in his garden while he water pressured his plants into the next dimension. Imagine how many times people laughed at him every time "We the Best" came out his mouth? Now look where he is vs the peanut gallery that mocked and ridiculed him every step of the way. The power of the tongue is not a joke. Speaking and writing things into existence are very real very credible sources of power...sources you can draw from to do a bit more living and a little less chasing when it comes to dreams.
I'm a philosophical connoisseur of sorts. A walking anomaly. A lover of pretty feet and healthy edges. The good vibes enthusiast. I'm the guy you choose to hang out with because although my gas tank is on E all drinks are still on me.
