Project Palisade

Updates my fellow Palisaders, This September-October stretch has been fairly slow. A few of our members recently have gone through some unfortunate incidents in this stretch and we've dedicated some of our time toward helping them and being a community surrounding them with support. We kept our other drives on hold still such as the 2nd clothing drive for HopeToMillions. Our team is also making strides towards saving up for the production studio in Philly to come and getting the necessary connections. So far we  have set up a webpage using Adobe Portfolio and is open to featuring anyone who has any work in a certain field of art such as music, film, writing, photography, so much more. Please let me know if you are interested in helping design it. There is also a GroupMe for the core members I am inviting people too for those further interested. The End Of The Decade fundraiser is still going on. So far I've compiled a bunch of my own clothes and canned goods to give o...

I would like to preface by saying this particular blog is more of a personal observation that it is a political news piece. History does repeat itself. It's not happenstance coincidence or a mere cliche saying history teachers tell their students to make it seem like they're still relevant. It's basically a proven fact by now. "Those who do not remember the past are doomed to repeat it." - George Santayana The loud extremists are those who ruin any popular idea. The outcry for justice following a series of shootings against people of color and fear of police brutality led to a sect of political men who wished for the freedom of black lives and surged new movements nationwide to speak in styles similar to that of the Civil Rights Movement famous orator Martin Luther King led. During this political movement, a racial divide was sheared into the nation for the first time since that Civil Rights Movement. I personally have witnessed the affects of this as have ...

If you’ve ever heard the term underdog at some point in your life, you probably heard the name “Rocky” attached with it at some point. Rocky is...pretty famous. He’s become the sports icon for underdog stories in nearly any sport. He’s a man who represents an entire city. Philadelphia - The City Of Brotherly Love. The movie “Rocky” in 1976 went on to become a renowned sports movie franchise with 8 high grossing films and a statue dedicated to the film in the city of Philadelphia itself. It ushered in the hype and fame for sports movies, fiction or non-fiction, and there went on to be a lot of those afterwards ( Space Jam, Uncle Drew, Rudy, The Sandlot, Fever Pitch ). What exactly did the producers of this film do to create something so iconic? Something that could be synonymous with an entire city? Firstly, the film is memorable. Especially for how central it is to the city of Philadelphia and the way it perfectly captures the culture of the area. As someone who comes f...

Hello Palisaders, Some things to discuss this month regard talks of new fundraisers as well as the next steps for Project Palisade: As of right now, we're in the process of funding one of our members, Tyler Burns, who's at risk of having his home being foreclosed. Palisade opened up a money pool using PayPal to help fund him which has now been closed, but we were able to help achieve the goals he needed to get to and in his debt to us has been helping Palisade which its transition into creating a new, integrated website. He's also interested in helping the project take the next step from project to foundation and having us become an official 501(c) organization. We're in the paperwork process and communicating with some federal workers to make this happen. With that, we can officially become a non-profit. Under Don Kladky's recommendation, we were considering the possibility of instead of becoming a non-profit, we would become an LLC (limited liability comp...

What comes to your mind when you think about bikes? Kids playing in the streets? Hoodlums riding things they shouldn’t? Or professionals competing in the XGames? Either way, you’re right. Bicycle Motocross (BMX) is a sport for all ages and types. From 13 year old Colin Akerman, to 40 year old Ryan Nyquist. It is an open sport. There is riders of all types, of all ages, heights, weights, color. There are very light bikes, there are heavy bikes; bikes more suited for “street” riding, as well as bikes more suited for “park riding”. I myself currently weigh in the 320s with a height of about 5’9. My bike is built with a mix of park and street parts. I ride street more than anything. When I first got into BMX, it was a terrifying thing. The air you can get, the injuries you could face, the ridicule. There is ridicule because no community is without hate. People were against me for my weight and my unique style of riding I acquired from the beginning. I didn’t learn to balance...

This week I’m going to review Shallow Hal , a 2001 film that criticizes society’s perceptions on beauty. Jack Black has a leading role in it, and to say the least, he’s sort of perfect for the role, not to mock the dude or anything but the criteria for what society is looking for in a man is, well, not Jack Black. Yet his character expects himself to win over these ridiculously hot models of the opposite sex. He’s a woman woo-er. We’ve seen these types before. Whether it’s Swingers , or Sideways , it seems like movies really like the motif of two guys wandering around hoping to get laid. Hal, Jack’s character, isn’t perfect, but he expects to find a perfect woman. That’s the irony that sets up the film at the beginning. And there’s actually a psychological reason present in the opening scene when Hal as a child witnesses his father dying and his final words to him was that he wouldn’t settle for less. That’s what built this shallow attitude in him that caused him to go...

Hey everyone! It's been a while since I've posted one of these since a lot of stuff was going on in my personal life and I forgot to update you all on the wonderful things going on with Project Palisade! The biggest announcement is that the 2nd Fundraiser for Lasting Hope Ministry has ended, but we were able to raise $465 for them and me and Kisakye Steven are planning on making a tribute to this showing everyone who donated and shared how their generosity made an impact. This is the most we've ever raised for any single fundraiser so this is significant progress. Our Earth Day event a couple months ago got some activity and a very wholesome collage and slideshow made for it at the end. We'll see if we can plan it again next year. One of our members Tyler Burns who was at risk of his home being foreclosed, but thankfully our group stepped in and helped him pay off his debts so he could keep his residence. In return, he's considering working on helping the...

Poetry slam! Slam Poetry! Whatever you wanna call it! It’s an upgrade from Shakespeare-fans trying to emulate the old masters and a step below rap-inspired young buhls trying to release their first track. If you're not familiar, poetry slams are just dramatic recitals of poems judged by an array of judges or audience members who have their own experience in the industry. A Chicago-original poetry festival called “Louder Than A Bomb” starting bringing Slam poetry to the entertainment industry by storm. Now I’m aware this festival started in 2001 so before any comments and tells me I wrote this review a good 18 years too late, well not my fault because I was 3 years old at the time… Anyway, “Louder Than A Bomb”; even that name sounds like an epic festival where loud bald bearded guys brag about the weapon grade of their assault rifles and trying to arm-wrestle about it. That’s not what it is but I’m just trying to say that it sounds badass. And that’s because it is, because poetry ...

Benjamin Netanyahu, brother of Jonathan Netanyahu who heroically fought in the rescue operation against Idi Amin in Uganda in 1976, has won a fifth term as the Prime Minister of Israel this past April. Netanyahu's taken the face of Israeli politics for well over a decade now and his political history has been covered in controversy, tainted by the crisis of the Israeli-Palestinian civil war. Netanyahu's name became synonymous with terrorism, fraud, and greed. The U.S. has openly funded money to Israel for years now to justify the U.N.'s decision to declare Israel a country in 1945 and fulfill of Herzl's dream of restoring the Jewish state. Under Netanyahu's persuasion, the U.S. funded $3.1 billion to Israel alone, under the pretense of foreign military aid. Historic events have happened under Netanyahu's reign. The formation of the Hezbollah, a jihadist group settled in Lebanon that despises the Israeli state, which actually just recently called out Israel...

I never hear anyone talk about Birdy? She’s a phenomenal generational British singer but I never hear her mentioned. It’s artists like her and Aloe Blacc who silently release inspirational music and saved the 2010s from being an absolutely dumpster fire of musical incompetence. Now, this isn’t exactly my musical genre, I like to say I’m somewhere between 2000s pop and R&B to 1990s punk and alt rock, but this is that sort of song you catch yourself playing while in the passenger seat of a car; being the center of your own personal music video supercut, and the feeling that the world is yours. “Wings”, to me, sounds like it’s got a sort of awe-enhancing beat to it that commands inspiration on one side, and on the other side delivers an ambient parallel that almost feels like “pleasant sadness”. Oxymoron, I know, but it’s a vibe that’s hard to describe. Listen to “Read All About It” by Emeli Sande or “Iris” by the Goo Goo Dolls and maybe it’ll make a little more sense? I...

2019 has been a radical change in expectations. With the peace negotiations between the U.S. and North Korea as well as the conquering of ISIS and the hopeful end to the Syrian Civil War in sight, the expectations for a peace-filled year in 2019 were not overly optimistic. At the time. However, radical religious zealots have been the cause of some of the worst tragedies this year, the most significance ones being the bombings and shootings in New Zealand, Nigeria, and now Sri Lanka. On April 21st, 2019 - Easter Sunday - suicide bombers blasted and tore open 3 churches and 4 hotels across Colombo, Negumbo, and Batticaloa, killing 290 people and wounding 510. The tragedy spanned three major Sri Lankan cities and killed both natives and foreigners. Sri Lanka Bombing Map credit to  Allison McCann ,  Julie Shaver ,  Jin Wun, and K.K. Rebecca Kai. Sri Lanka, referred to as the "teardrop" of the subcontinent, historically, has always been a sacred island. It's cu...