Digital Memories

God must have given me a photographic memory because He knew it would take the boy this long to buy himself a camera...

I mean, I didn't buy this camera for my own leisure actually; it's for me to capture the ongoings in the community to broadcast for the world to see and such. There's a lot of things that people overlook for whatever reason, and I'm trying to do my part to give them less room to miss what's important.

Still... I have a camera now. I haven't had a camera since... this little blue Mickey Mouse camera that my Godmother bought for me when I was too young to even know how to use it. No more 8mm film; ya'll done got sophisticated on me, using memory cards and stuff, lol.

I don't have a lot of pictures from my life relatively speaking. I have a lot of shots from when I was a child, then a handful from one or two occasions in high school. Pretty much none from college, except somebody else's photo that I forgot to return to them. So yeah... even though this cam is for recording activist exploits, I'm definitely going to save a few personal memories. It's just a cool thing to be able to do, and having something to look at and reflect on will be nice.

Even though cameras have been upgraded over the years, I think they've still maintained their "magic". Cameras are some of the most unique and special instruments I think man will ever create. The sole purpose of a camera is to do one of the least "profitable" tasks in our society; remember things past. Sure, we use them for surveillance and such now. But really, I don't think when the first image was captured that the inventors were considering the spying capabilities of the camera. They were excited that a moment gone by might possibly be made to last forever.

And that significance still remains, in crystal clarity.

I'd be lyin' if I said I wasn't a little geeked about the possibilities. 'Kinda got me feelin' like gettin' out the house more often just to see some action; action that I can take back and show my peeps, that is. I'm sorely tempted to take this lil' gangsta to school with me tomorrow just for kicks and distractions...

But I've got more important things to attend to: 6PM, task force meeting at the Hyde Park Community Center. I'ma be there... when I should be in class. The cam is gonna be ridin' shotgun. And that's how we're doin it!

They Used to Use Darkrooms to Bring Things to Light... B-J