Congratulations!
To Cobb for being named the Aaron Hawkins Award winner for 2008.
My mission remains to be an independent voice representing my fragment of the African American scene, The Old School, and having a critical dialog on the politics, culture and current affairs of our nation. I don't know how big that Old School fragment is, and I get more and more individual every day. But I never forget where I come from and remain true to those origins. Of course the most difficult thing with that truth is that none of us expected what has come to pass - for some of us, we are larger and more complex than we dared dream we might be, and still we carry some of the same burdens. For me they are to embrace the world as it is, and take responsibility for walking through it with a sharp focus. I remain perceptive and articulate and I open up my mind in public for a true Socratic dialog, curious, skeptical and analytical.
As an award winner, I am compelled to be responsible for those who supported me, even though I was unaware that I had been nominated. That means that my mission, as I see it, has been validated without it being all about me. That is a great blessing and for that I am grateful. I very much enjoy being a bulldog, I just need energy to fuel me and a target to bite. I'd rather be strongly wrong than weakly acceptable, and so I will continue to engage the issues with passion for the sake of clarity, and to posterity, so that nobody can ever come back and say that we as a people didn't deal with the world. I've got more energy, so I get more bite.
I look forward to the day when I can contribute not only in writing and on radio to the discussion that animates thoughtful citizens in a free society, but in televised conversations and roundtables as well. I feel that I have something yet to contribute, and with this as my avocation, as my primary responsibilities give me time, I will continue to push forward to that end. Perhaps one day I might even crossover.
I've been following Cobb for a few years now. He gives me insight into parts of America I don't know much about, and he makes me think. This is why I was willing to drive my ass up the road to Baltimore and hang with the man on short notice; he's just that cool. There are other bloggers out there I respect, but damn few that I read regularly. Way to go, Cobb!
My mission remains to be an independent voice representing my fragment of the African American scene, The Old School, and having a critical dialog on the politics, culture and current affairs of our nation. I don't know how big that Old School fragment is, and I get more and more individual every day. But I never forget where I come from and remain true to those origins. Of course the most difficult thing with that truth is that none of us expected what has come to pass - for some of us, we are larger and more complex than we dared dream we might be, and still we carry some of the same burdens. For me they are to embrace the world as it is, and take responsibility for walking through it with a sharp focus. I remain perceptive and articulate and I open up my mind in public for a true Socratic dialog, curious, skeptical and analytical.
As an award winner, I am compelled to be responsible for those who supported me, even though I was unaware that I had been nominated. That means that my mission, as I see it, has been validated without it being all about me. That is a great blessing and for that I am grateful. I very much enjoy being a bulldog, I just need energy to fuel me and a target to bite. I'd rather be strongly wrong than weakly acceptable, and so I will continue to engage the issues with passion for the sake of clarity, and to posterity, so that nobody can ever come back and say that we as a people didn't deal with the world. I've got more energy, so I get more bite.
I look forward to the day when I can contribute not only in writing and on radio to the discussion that animates thoughtful citizens in a free society, but in televised conversations and roundtables as well. I feel that I have something yet to contribute, and with this as my avocation, as my primary responsibilities give me time, I will continue to push forward to that end. Perhaps one day I might even crossover.
I've been following Cobb for a few years now. He gives me insight into parts of America I don't know much about, and he makes me think. This is why I was willing to drive my ass up the road to Baltimore and hang with the man on short notice; he's just that cool. There are other bloggers out there I respect, but damn few that I read regularly. Way to go, Cobb!