| Lo Fun Fact #1 |
| "Lolita Files" is my real name. It is not a pen name, as incredible as that may seem. There are plenty of Files family members and people who have known me for years capable of validating this. As for the "Lolita" part, my mother named me after the movie based on Nabokov's book, although she saw or read neither. For as long as she lived, she had no idea there was anything sexual or seedy about being called "Lolita". |
| Lo Fun Fact #2 |
| I love fried chicken and fabulous shoes. If you ever want to get on my good side, send Popeye's or Mr. Chicken (my favorite spot in Cleveland) and a pair of
Christian Louboutins. |
| Lo Fun Fact #3 |
| Never show up unannounced or without a Pepsi (preferably Pepsi Jazz Caramel Cream). Better yet, how about not show up at all? |
| Lo Fun Fact #4 |
| I hate the telephone. Don't get mad if I don't call you. I don't call anyone. Don't call me asking why I don't call. Just don't call, okay? |
| Lo Fun Fact #5 |
| I love the internet!!! I love communicating through the internet!!! You can e-mail me and odds are I'll e-mail you right back (if I'm not in the middle of a major project). Makes up for my hangup about the phone, doesn't it? See, I'm not so bad after all!!! |
| Lo Fun Fact #6 |
| I can't stand IMing. Please don't IM me. You will get the cold shoulder. I don't like giving people the cold shoulder, so please don't put me in that position. |
| Lo Fun Fact #7 |
I have four five six wonderful, slap-happy dogs, a bird (some kind of dove/pigeon mix), and a cat, all of whom I love to pieces. If you meet me and ask me about my dogs, bird, and cat, we'll be instant friends. If you meet me and ask me why the f*ck I have four five six dogs, a bird, and a cat, see the above fun fact for how I will respond. |
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| Check Out This EXTRAORDINARY Brother. |
| Monday, March 13, 2006 |
Please be sure to watch the next airing of My Two Cents, a new one-hour program on BET J (formerly BET Jazz) with four distinct voices taking on the issues of the day, including race, pop culture, the prison crisis, and current events. This week's show, which premieres today at 1pm and 9pm EST (10am and 6pm PST), will feature a very, very dear friend of mine (check for him in the acknowledgments of my new book), my "little brother"---Bryonn Bain, one of the most incredible, dynamic, multi-talented people I've ever met. That's not an overstatement. Seriously, folks.
 Bryonn's credentials are too many to name. His impact upon the socio-cultural landscape has already been noteworthy, and is increasing exponentially as I type this. To wit, a cover story on Bryonn done by the venerable newspaper The Village Voice generated the largest reader response in the history of the paper---ultimately, some ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND letters and e-mails.
 He was later profiled and interviewed on 60 Minutes by award-winning veteran reporter Mike Wallace in a segment that was seen by over twenty million viewers. Bryonn was again featured in the The Village Voice in yet another incredibly compelling chapter of the journey that is his extraordinary life. Bryonn has been trailblazing his way across the country and around the world since I've known him---as, among myriad other things, the youngest adjunct professor ever at NYU's Gallatin School, making history by teaching the very first course on The Spoken Word.
He is an author; an artist (hip-hop musician, Slam Poetry Champion of the world-renowned Nuyorican Poets Cafe in 2000, and more); an activist (with national outreach work through the Lyrics on Lockdown campaign that uses hip hop, spoken word, theater, dance, and the visual arts to raise awareness and mobilize action to abolish America's prison crisis; co-founder of the Blackout Arts Collective); an academic (lecturer, professor, president of his class all four years at Columbia University---a first in the history of the school, Masters Degree in Urban Politics and Culture from NYU, law degree from Harvard University); an actor...
...uhhhhhh...you starting to get my drift here? This man is a walking phenomenon.
Another extraordinary man, Dr. Cornel West...
 ...describes Bryonn as a poet who "...speaks his truths with a power we desperately need to hear...one of the leading legal minds of his generation."
True dat to the nth degree.
Please, people...again, check him out on BET J's new show, My Two Cents. You'll get several chances to see it this week, but try to catch today's airing if you can, at 1pm and 9pm EST (10am and 6pm PST). This young man is someone you will be hearing from very soon, if not already, on socially, culturally, musically, and internationally-significant levels. For real. Trust.
Bryonn Bain.com
The Village Voice: Walking While Black - The bill of rights for black men
The Village Voice: Walk Black Live
The Village Voice: Three Days in NYC Jails
Blackout Arts Collective
Bryonn Bain.com: PROBLEM CHILD: The Philosophy and Opinions of Bryonn Bain |
posted by Lo @ 9:05 AM   |
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| 6 Comments: |
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When I grow up I want to be like Bryonn. Learned about this brother a few years ago. It makes you wonder what was in the oat meal that gives some of these youngins the drive and motivation they have. Go, man, go.
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Isn't he something, Juan? I remain in perpetual awe of him and his talents. And he's one of the most accessible, down-to-earth people you'll ever meet. Truly someone special. I am quite proud to call him "family" and friend.
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thanks lo, for turning me and US on to bryonn. i've seen his name before in credits, but didn't really delve into him and find out what he was all about.
now, i see.
good lookin' out!
and you know, THE MAN, Dr. Cornel West is badddddd. he was in the matrix revolutions! ;-)
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More than happy to, Lance. Bryonn is a powerhouse. I want to make sure as many people get turned onto him as possible, which is going to happen ANYWAY, but now you're on the cutting edge of it, when the groundswell is starting to really take hold.
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bryonn, huh? i guess he's aiiiight... :)
friend & brother since the days of Kwame polka-dots and high-top fades. before diorgen started harmonizing. since the homegirls rocked the biggest bamboo & Nefertiti door-knocker earrings one could find (& then wore three rows of them, mmmm-hmmmmm....)
family since i wore my hair-pulled-back-so-tight-inna-bun-or-ponytail (still amazed my brain developed properly), and all the girls dressed like guys, with matching sweatsuits & reeboks.
ya'll get it now that i've known Mr. Bain for a long time. therefore, i can vouch that he has been extraordinary since a pre-teen.
yeah, he's a big f---ing ham, but his works aren't done with such ulterior motives. too many people in this "culturally aware" segment of society, are narcissitic and very much about themselves....a true revolutionary doesn't have to constantly remind people that he or she is one.
AND....they still raise up the fist when there aren't any cameras around.
see, if B were a phony, or solely wanted the admiration and glorification of self that comes with fame, ya'll wouldn't even know about his ass right now.
i state the above, because if most folks went through some of the shit he has, they would have quit this gig a LONG time ago.
trust me, Bryonn is about as real as it gets.
it's a beautiful thing to see him consistently get so much love, and to watch as he is recognized, more and more so, as a mighty force to be dealt with.
and Miss Lo....u said the truth about B being so accessible also; always there with an answer to a question, providing help or information, even if you didn't ask him for it! true friend, good soul.
large up yuh chest mi likkle Trini bredda weh deh pon di road; long time still yuh galang like so, neither wid praise nor thanks...time fi buss weh NOW! is pure bumboclaat a go scurry; u stand firm as truth.
thanks for giving me a "real" person i can tell my little cousins, nieces & nephews to look up to.
besos y un gran abrazo pa' ti - V
nice site Miss Lo, by the way :)
so spread the word peoples; go now & check ur local listings for
BET J & "My Two Cents".....
...if you have any assemblence to that of a intelligent person, you will enjoy the series. boom. V
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You said it, Victoria!! We got much love for that boy up in here. Bryonn's my little bruddah and he's the real deal. It's easy to understand why he's so loved.
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When I grow up I want to be like Bryonn. Learned about this brother a few years ago. It makes you wonder what was in the oat meal that gives some of these youngins the drive and motivation they have. Go, man, go.