2009

TIME Magazine names Tavis Smiley one of
“World’s 100 Most Influential People”
 
BROADCASTER, Author AND PHILANTHROPIST Recognized in Annual TIME 100 List
 
(Los Angeles) – TIME Magazine has honored Tavis Smiley, host of “Tavis Smiley” on PBS and “The Tavis Smiley Show” from Public Radio International (PRI) as one of “The World’s 100 Most Influential People.” The annual TIME 100 list profiles men and women whose power, talent or moral example has made a significant difference in the world. 

TIME’s “World’s 100 Most Influential People” list is comprised of individuals spanning politics, business, arts, science and more – all considered to have transformed the world in some way.  This year’s honorees include President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, champion golfer Tiger Woods, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, rapper M.I.A., media mogul Ted Turner and actor Brad Pitt.

“Tavis has to go no further than his life to find a good story. It is a story of rising out of poverty with a purpose, of hearing the music of a dream, his hopes to be not just a broadcaster or a businessman but also a leader, a builder”, said esteemed PBS television host Charlie Rose, who wrote the essay about Smiley for the TIME 100 issue”. 
 
In addition to his radio and television work, Smiley has authored fourteen books including the book he edited, Covenant with Black America, which became the first non-fiction book by a Black owned publisher to reach #1 on the New York Times bestseller list.  His latest book, Accountable: Making America As Good As its Promise, examines hard-hitting truths about the issues our country faces, and addresses how our political leaders, corporations and finally, American citizens themselves can enforce accountability and effect change.
 
Smiley is also the presenter and creative force behind America I AM:  The African American Imprint.  This unprecedented traveling museum exhibition is touring the country for four years, celebrating the extraordinary impact of African American contributions to our nation and the world as told through rare artifacts, memorabilia and multimedia. 

2009

Step Afrika celebrates the Washington's first-rate arts scenewith First Lady Michelle Obama.

April 2009

As the festival of Faith and Music at Calvin College, a historic meeting between Dr. Cornel West and hip hop star Lupe Fiasco. Below is a link to the historic interview that took place...

2009

Dr. Cornel West and hip hop Icon Talib Kweli headlined a ground breaking symposium at West Virginia University examining the effect of hip hop on US Law and culture

2009

O Magazine, “Chin’s hurricane-strength memoir of social and sexual dislocation might make her seem pathetic if she weren’t so hell-bent on thriving,” May 2009



The Wall Street Journal - The Other Side of Paradise Book Review



Velvet Park online (lesbian website), “By turns heartbreaking, heartwarming and righteous wrath-inducing, Chin’s story is, above all else, incredibly moving. It is a testament to the power of believing in yourself, of never giving up and of being a kick-ass chick with an impressive arsenal of words with enough of a ‘big mouth’ to wield them,” April 13, 2009 Velvetpark | Dyke Culture in Bloom | Book Nerd Chatter: The Other Side of Paradise



Philadelphia Tribune, interview, April 3, 2009




Suthern Voice - ‘Paradise’ lost
In powerful memoir, Staceyann Chin shatters myth of idyllic Jamaica



After Ellen - Staceyann Chin tells all in "The Other Side of Paradise"




A Poet for the People: Staceyann Chin and The Other Side of Paradise

2009

Dr. Cornel West and hip hop Icon Talib Kweli headlined a ground breaking symposium at West Virginia University examining the effect of hip hop on US Law and culture

2008

Tavis Smiley and Cornel West have quotations on coffee cups at Starbucks stores around the country. Coffee lovers sipping their favorite beverage can read pearls of wisdom from two of our top motivators.

Tavis Smiley, television-radio host and author, offers this insight on his cup (#257): "Love Wins!"














Cornel West, University Professor, Princeton Univerity, offers this insight on his cup (#284): "You can't lead the people, if you don't love the people. You can't save the people, if you don't serve the people."











So, look for some inspiration on your next cup of coffee...

November 2008

What Would West Say? New book kick off!

CORNELSCORNER.COM

November 2008

The Other Side of Paradise debuts Nov '09 on Simon and Schuster

2008

Staceyann Chin will be reprising her role in Howard Zinn's production PeopleSpeak

2008

February 18, 2008

In honor of Black History Month, we’re honoring one of the foremost leaders and thinkers in Black America today: Dr. Cornel West.

Dr. Cornel West is an Ivy League-educated professor of religion and African-American studies at Princeton University. A renown, controversial philosopher, orator, scholar and activist, Dr. West has written close to 20 profoundly influential books on the topics of race, politics, culture and religion, including the best-selling book, Race Matters.

It’s not unusual to see West — a cancer survivor and the son of a Baptist minister — keeping company with everyone from students to senators, rabbis to rappers. In fact, West has a hand in making hip-hop music too: aside from his involvement with Russell Simmons’s Hip-Hop Summit, West has two albums to his name.

On his first album, Sketches of My Culture, released in 2001, he skillfully set the ramifications of slavery to soulful spoken word grooves. On his latest album, Never Forget: A Journey of Revelations, released in 2007 with the Black Men Who Mean Business, he set his thoughts on being Black in post-9/11 Bush Country to funk, soul and hip-hop rhythms. Joining him: hip-hop and R&B heavy-hitters Prince (one of the first times the artist has ever allowed his work to be sampled), Jill Scott, Talib Kweli, KRS-One, Andre 3000, Killer Mike, The Roots‘ Black Thought and the late Gerald Levert.

“This isn’t commentary on hip-hop,” West told Billboard.com. “This is a very political album that doesn’t pull any punches… There are critiques of the Bush administration as well as of unaccountable corporate power, unaccountable police power and homophobia. We’re trying to get young people to wake up and recognize they’re part of the great tradition of struggle, to become organized and fight for freedom of justice.”

This is hip-hop of the deepest, highest order intended to raise awareness, open minds, influence and inspire. As he told the Baltimore Sun, “Hip-hop is a powerful cultural force that can be used as a link to freedom. We’ve always had a group of prophetic musicians that fused the social, political and historical. Hip-hop as a force of change that may not speak directly to the Curtis Mayfield generation, but it speaks to young people and their children. And, my brother, we can’t give up on our young people.”

For his MTV Artist of the Week on-air videos, Dr. West and a few famous friends took that message directly to the schools, directly to the children — specifically to Grace A. Dunn Middle School in Trenton, New Jersey. There, he schooled the young students in Black history, race and class, the Wu-Tang Clan and, above all else, how to lead a respectful, righteous life.

See the photos from Dr. Cornel West’s field trip to Trenton, watch some of his on-air videos below and see them all right here, find out more about Dr. West’s thoughts, and share your views on his.