Posts Tagged ‘Dwight Hobbes’
Something I Said: Mario and Melvin
By DWIGHT HOBBES The original title of Mario Van Peebles’ Baadasssss! (Sony Pictures, 2003) was How To Get The Man’s Foot Outta Your Ass, entirely fitting for the social commentary his father Melvin Van Peebles’ film Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song (Yeah, Inc., 1971) put forth in a time when grassroot black America had grown sick and tired of this country kicking us around to keep us down. Indeed, Baadasssss! is a dramatized, making of historic document, looking at what went into Melvin returning the favor and putting his foot in American cinema’s behind, profoundly challenging its cherished tenet of supremacist propaganda. There is a reason, after all, The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense lauded it, in Huey Newton's words as "the first truly revolutionary…" that, in the opening credits, starred "The Black Community," It became required viewing for Party members. There is the same reason Bill Cosby, who’d narrated CBS’ Black History: Lost, Stolen or Strayed [...]
Society of St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Shop
Something I Said By DWIGHT HOBBES Society of St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Shop is, in very good terms as the euphemistic parlance goes, a beast: the South Minneapolis operation has made it through the corona contagion thus far, the catastrophic 2020 riot and the ongoing economic climate which, stimulus or no stimulus, is in lousy shape. That rioting, supposedly in the name of George Floyd, absolutely devastated the very community it's alleged to have been for the sake of. Overnight - actually the course of a few days - the business outlets along Lake Street that it didn't shut down were flatout destroyed, depriving whole neighborhoods of affordable goods and services in an area where affordable goods and services amount to a godsend. Not to mention store staff glad to have a job with all the contagion-related layoffs and firings suddenly were left wondering how to pay their bills. Fortunately, more than a year later, much, in fact most, of Lake Street's thriving commerce has [...]
Ani-Meals Brings Meals on Wheels to Furry Family Members
By DWIGHT HOBBESÂ In the best of times folk who have trouble making ends meet have enough of a challenge feeding themselves, much less Fido and Kitty. These are far from the best of times. Accordingly, Ani-Meals is more than ever a pet owner”™s godsend, spun-off from Meals on Wheels through a Meals On Wheels America grant to PetSmart Charities in 2015. Soon as word got out about the supply, demand grew. Melanie La Pointe, Ani-Meals director at the Community Emergency Service location, recalls, “It exploded pretty fast. At first, we had about ten animals, then, it went up to about 70.” That number is now 163 pets belonging to 90 clients of MOW. For confirmed animal lover La Pointe, the program is a heartfelt undertaking. “It”™s really important for people to be able to keep their pets. Pets are family. A lot of our clients don”™t have any family. They”™re basically isolated.” A condition the corona [...]
