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I start off every day of the new year telling myself that I’m going to write something new. Telling myself that I’m going to share my life experience, share my mind, open up more. That’s all bullshit. Daily I’m engulfed in a stream of social media.

I wake up, I purse, traverse and read uncountable tidbits of micro-data “news-worthy” information. Go through my morning humanly routine. Go to work, get off work, enjoy some vices and entertainment. Go to the gym, go home. Do some micro home-upgrades, eat, sleep. Do it all over again. Every day is a routine. Every day is a ritual of monotony.

We look to music, lyrics, books, something written or something spoken for motivation. We look at others misfortunes. We look at others perceived ignorance. We look at others success, we depend on others failures. All for self motivation and the pursuit of an aura of success.

The bread crumbs we leave in our realm of social media, in proxy of the selective words we share. Just like we take 10 photos and share one, the others wouldn’t look right for the image we’re trying to paint. We control our image to the fullest, we are our own publicist, we never share who we truly are. Everyone’s real, but everyone else is fake.

Everyone’s doing well for themselves, no one is struggling. Life is virtually issue-less. Image is everything….thirst is a kudos to that image. We yearn for respect and attention, we trophy social acknowledgement.Where does it all lead? What is the motivation? How can one strive to be greater when we are surrounded by facades.

My life’s progress will never be tracked by a digital barometer. But I still check it to make sure the meter is reading accurate.

Nothing is new under the sun, I just want to feel like I’m doing the right things with my life.

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Watch me jam solo, then use the special interactive player to record your own remix. Go ahead, show me what you got!

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Sometimes you wake up, and wonder what you are doing with your life. Sometimes you wake up and wonder what can you do to be progressive. All of these thoughts you contemplate in the pursuit of happiness. Every morning, I personally take the time to think about what is my next step, what do I say, what do I do, where do I go.

Your heart and intuition only can lead you so far. Your logic and critical thinking also must play a heavy part. Doing what feels great, feels great. Knowing what feels great, and doing that may be a little better for the long term.

I was told yesterday to mature to the point where I do not take action that only benefit me, I’m beyond the age and time when my actions have little to no effect on others. I take that to heart.

I want to be a positive influence, and share words that help people get through the daily struggles I’ve often struggled with. I want my actions to reflect my thoughts for uplifting the people around me, and beyond.

Sometimes it simply takes a few minutes, and a few words to put life, progress and happiness into perspective. Happiness is not only measured by how many times you smile, but how many times you make the people around you smile.

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“Great Expectations is a novel by Charles Dickens. It depicts the growth and personal development of an orphan named Pip. The novel was first published in serial form in Dickens’ weekly periodical All the Year Round, from 1 December 1860 to August 1861″

2012, my 3rd decade. I have had extended talks with close people in my life. Some conversations great, some conversations encouraging. Other conversations bland, other conversations emotionally draining. Life is full of expectations. From who you are in life, to what you should be in life. From where you came from in life, to where you are going in life. The outside pressures of other’s expectations of you, and your reaction to them shape who you are, and who you will become.

There was a point in time, when photographs were my outlet of expression. That evolved to written words…then the combination of both. But over time, the stress and influence of life seemed to get the best of me. The more I experienced, the less I shared, and the more I devolved. To a space and a person that only words, written or spoken could raise me from.

In the “all eyes on me” era of social media, digital media, and micro-sharing, an era in which I helped encourage among peers over the course of time, I felt the need to detach.

I never stopped thinking, I never stopped writing, I simply stopped sharing.

Sharing creates expectations. Not the expectations you get from the people who birthed you. Not the expectations you get from the people who raised you. Not the expectations you get from people who grew up with you. Not the expectations you get from people who taught you. Not the expectations of the people who you have created, or who you have helped raised.

I am not speaking of the expectations you get from people who love you, value you, or even appreciate you.

Learning to differentiate expectations helps contour who and what type of person you can and will become. A tapered hierarchy of what is realistic, what is possible, what is positive, and what is detriment to living a productive life.

Knowledge expectations, Wisdom Expectation, Social expectations, Life expectation, Productivity expectations, Financial expectations, Educational expectations, Personal expectations. And all of the other various forms of expectation that we become subject to throughout the course of a life time. There comes a time, when we find ourselves in a space of thought that drives us to go against the grain and intentionally detour from any and all expectations that we have not created for ourselves.

A dangerous place, a subconscious mindset that may not lead to the smoothest road to success.

Be who you want to be, not who others expect you to be. While being subject to, and conscious of many expectations can have it’s negative affect on one’s psyche. Learn to take expectations with a grain of salt. Learn to appreciate and leverage the truly GREAT EXPECTATIONS. From loved ones who matter. They can be extremely motivational. They can carry you to the next level in life, a happy life, a pleasurable and extremely enjoyable life.

Expectations are not all Great Expectations. And not all Great Expectations leads to great accomplishments. Great accomplishments lead to even greater expectations. Expectations can be considered a tool, to utilize, and leverage to help build the greater person we all wish to become.

Don’t let Great Expectation get the best of you, get the best out of your expectations.

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Back in 2010, during the Oscar Grant protest, I had some thoughts about the power of numbers, and the people who participate, or don’t participate in protest around Oakland.

After my time today in front of Oakland’s City Hall, and Frank O. Plaza, or Oscar Grant Plaza, depending how your perspective, I wanted to expand on those thoughts.

First off, I currently live in Downtown Oakland, Uptown area to be specific. I consider this my neighborhood (although I’m originally from high st.). I have been around, or in-tune for nearly every Occupy Oakland protest. I am not however, an active participant, however you may describe that, although I share many of the expressed sentiments.

But one thing that really gets under my skin is the number of professional on-lookers, and media outlets, or “journalist” that tend to complain, or spin the activities or situations for their own personal experience, but complain about being subject to Oakland Police policy and tactics, as if they are exempt from everything young people in Oakland have had to endure for decades.

At the root of it all, if you removed the number of on-lookers who aren’t really out to make a major social change, I have a huge hunch that the total number of people who were actually in the streets would decrease drastically. Thus making it easier for the police to actually FIND the people and contain the people who are out and up to no good. If you have good or great intentions, you likely shouldn’t be in the mix of a crowd with people with ill intentions. Easier said than done I’m sure, but now after spending 29 years of my life in Oakland, it is really not that difficult.

I want to see my city change for the better, and for the positive. I don’t want to see a bunch of out of town Gawkers, troublemakers and unprofessional journalist ruin our image any further than our actual citizens do for themselves. We don’t need the added negatively or stress.

Go home, go back to your university, go back to your apartment. Go back to where you came from, and shed a positive light on a scenario. Don’t stick around and add to the negativity hoping that you’ll get a good photo, video, TwitPic or interview from someone less mentally stable in efforts to help your online presence, or journalistic “career”

Today I’ve witnessed a group of grad-school journalist from UC Berkeley J-School non-the-less (I am a Bear) sit around, joke and debate about how unorganized the Occupy Movement is, but yet they were the ones standing around waiting on a “leader” to tell them what they were going to do. The truth of the matter was, they were equally lost and unorganized, but not really out there to help any true social cause. Simply to “work” and better their “career”. That’s bothersome.

I understand the need for true and good journalist. I understand the need for 1st person accounts of major social events. I even understand the desire to better ones professional career, and the indulgence of experience. But I do not always condone it, and here is one of those situations.

The power of numbers is amazing, and can be interpreted in an uncountable amount of ways. Please don’t be the catalyst for even more negative ways.

—————————- RE: JULY 9, 2010 ——————
I am 27 years old, I’ve lived in Oakland all my life. I grew up in Oakland, and it’s safe for me to say that I have experienced Oakland. I have had my share in mass gatherings, I’ve had my share of interactions with the Oakland Police. It is safe for me to say that I am no fan of the feeling I get when I come in contact with the Oakland Police.

With that said, after doing a lot of reading, shifting through news coverage, searching through twitter data, viewing live twitpics and videos from mobile phones in the Downtown Oakland area…the power of numbers continues to intrigue me.

It all was based on a random thought or premise that the number of people who gathered in Oakland, really weren’t gathering to make a point. They were gathering for a personal experience.

How many people would have actually been in Downtown Oakland if the following were removed?

- People who wanted to simply take a twitpic (The digital age rubber-neckers)
- The people who weren’t willing to be arrested
- The people who were involved with a media/news outlet
- The modern day Bloggers

I have a feeling, that if you removed these people from the area Downtown Oakland, the scene would have been a lot more desert, baron, and controllable. The crowd would have obviously been smaller, and law enforcement would have been able to easily spot those who proved to be a real violent and rioting threat.

It makes me sad that in a city such as Oakland, with such a historically powerful voice in modern America’s civil liberties and injustice is so easily flawed by people who truly aren’t down for “The ‘Cause”. People seem to flock to downtown as if there was a mass parade and fan fare celebrating some great holiday.

My theory is, if you removed those who I listed, who really would be left?

I’ve been that person, digitally rubber-necking, trying to capture my experience in photos and tweets. But realistically…when you’re doing that, you simply make the numbers of people gathering rise and the situation look worse than it may really be.

I’d go out on a limb and say the MAJORITY, of people who were in Downtown Oakland fall somewhere on the list above (which of course can be amended and more worthless categories of people added).

When you take away those numbers of people, who’s really left? What type of standoff would that have been?

Honestly, downtown Oakland was crowded with a bunch of social on-lookers, waiting to see what other people would do, willing to take no action themselves. Not very many people willing to do anything drastic, or violent, or assume any form of leadership role to help guide the mis-guided in a positive or negative direction, Neutralist you might say.

My honest opinion….most people were simply in the way, and trying to enjoy the chaos so they could have a story to tell. Rather that story be for profit, for blogging, or for personal reasons…story chasers never seem to write their own chapters or novels, their life remains a opt-ed article, viewed, heard but providing no long-term affect.

and to the Neutralist, I say with passion…

YOU WERE IN THE WAY, and you raised the numbers of people standing around, making a situation seem a lot worse than what it truly should have been.

Simply to take a twitpic? …metaphorically …and realistically speaking…I hope the number of views you get are well worth it…because that’s what it’s all about in the long run…the numbers…no? Number of photo or article views? Television ratings? Papers sold?

You aren’t willing to make change, you aren’t willing to stick your neck out on the frontline for social injustice. You simply want to document it or what happens…to help improve or sustain your numbers….

Get out the way.

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right·eous   [rahy-chuhs] Show IPA
adjective
1. characterized by uprightness or morality: a righteous observance of the law.
2. morally right or justifiable: righteous indignation.
3. acting in an upright, moral way; virtuous: a righteous and godly person.
4.
Slang . absolutely genuine or wonderful: some righteous playing by a jazz great.
noun
5. the righteous, ( used with a plural verb ) righteous persons collectively.

Origin:
before 900; earlier rightwos, rightwis (remodeled with -ous), Middle English; Old English rihtwīs. See right, wise2

Related forms
right·eous·ly, adverb
o·ver·right·eous, adjective
o·ver·right·eous·ly, adverb
o·ver·right·eous·ness, noun
pre·right·eous, adjective
pre·right·eous·ly, adverb
pre·right·eous·ness, noun
qua·si-right·eous, adjective
qua·si-right·eous·ly, adverb
su·per·right·eous, adjective
su·per·right·eous·ly, adverb
su·per·right·eous·ness, noun

Can be confused:  right, righteous, rightful (see usage note at right).

Synonyms
3. good, honest, fair, right.

Antonyms
3. evil, wicked.

World English Dictionary
righteous (ˈraɪtʃəs)

— adj
1. a. characterized by, proceeding from, or in accordance with accepted standards of morality, justice, or uprightness; virtuous: a righteous man
b. ( as collective noun ; preceded by the ): the righteous
2. morally justifiable or right, esp from one’s own point of view: righteous indignation

[Old English rīhtwīs , from right + wise ²]

‘righteously — adv
‘righteousness — n

righteous
early 16c. alteration of rightwise, from O.E. rihtwis, from riht (see right) + wis “wise, way, manner.” Suffix altered by influence of courteous, etc. Meaning “genuine, excellent” is c.1900 in jazz slang.

Part of Speech: adjective
Definition: good, honest

Synonyms:
angelic, blameless, charitable, commendable, conscientious, creditable, deserving, devoted, devout, dutiful, equitable, ethical, exemplary, fair, faithful, godlike, guiltless, holy, honorable, impartial, innocent, irreproachable, just, laudable, law-abiding, matchless, meritorious, moral, noble, peerless, philanthropic, philanthropical, praiseworthy, punctilious, pure, reverent, right-minded, saintly, scrupulous, sinless, spiritual, sterling, trustworthy, upright, virtuous, worthy

Antonyms:
bad, corrupt, dishonest, immoral, unfair
—–

On a day like today, I can say nothing more than living with a righteous ethos has not been a given for most I have met in my life. It is learned, it is instilled, it is passed down from elders. Consciously, you have to know when you are living your life righteously, minimizing the wrong we do to others. Stay positive, stay upbeat, keep living your life right. Living up to the standards our ancestors have fought for, dating much further back in time than just Martin Luther King Jr. and his life and freedom fight. If that is what it takes to understand and remember how to live positively, and right, so be it. Happy Martin Luther King Jr. day, whatever that means to you.

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Happy New Year to all who read this.

Today is the start of 2012, a lot of my friends and family have been wondering what I’ve been up to, or where I’ve been. The simple truth is, I’ve taken some personal time to myself, to get my life and my mind in order. I’ve taken a slight social media and web hiatus. I’ve taken a cell phone hiatus, and it all feels good.

I could have sent out a simple tweet, or facebook status update simply saying happy new year, but over the course of the past couple of months, I’ve found value in the extended form of written words. I value words and statements a lot more than in the recent year. In 2011 with the rise of micro-blogging, it has seemed to diminish quality of reading extended text or writing among my peers.  Hell, it has taking its toll on me as well.

So to start the new year off before I dive back into the realm of social media, I wanted to write more, read more, learn more, teach more. Life means a lot much more to me now than a status update, a facebook post, or a 4square check-in. And while I can appreciate the fun in all those things, I have to take myself, and my actions more serious. I have to plan goals and accomplish them in a more strategic manor.

With most people, the new year comes with resolution. I personally have made no sensationalized resolutions, because I don’t want to fall victim to not accomplishing that resolution. I have thought about my bad habits, and ways to curtail them. I have thought about my vices, and ways to cut down the consumption of them. I have thought about my life and career, and ways to improve it. I have thought about my loved ones, my friends and my family, and ways that I can be a better person, and a better man to them. All of them very serious and in-depth thoughts, but none of them coming at the hands of a new years eve epiphany.

I want to improve myself, and my habits by the day, by the week, and by the hour. I don’t simply need the end and start of a year to challenge myself mentally, and exercise my own will power.

It is now January 1st, 2012. There are so many places I want to go, so many natural wonders I want to witness with my own eyes, so many people I want to thank and spend more time with, so many thoughts I want to write, and so many ideas I want to make tangible. 1 year will not be enough. A change in lifestyle is required.

I just want to relax, live, love, laugh, smile and enjoy my time here, with the people in my life who have been there for me. From a hug, to a handshake, nothing has changed, but everything feels different.

In a good way.

Happy New Year.

- Keith Tivon Gregory

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What are words worth? A better question would seem to be, what aren’t worth the words.

It is hard to articulate where our minds wonders to, and what we are thinking at times. I am sure more often than not, that rings true for most people, who actually still find themselves thinking. For me, personally, over the course of the past few months I have found myself detached myself from much of the social circle I’ve held throughout the start of the year. Family life has been arduous, personal life in general has come with its fair and expected share of stress. I have no cell phone, I have minimal usage of social media, and I have as well limited the number of social interactions outside of my immediate circle. Not for any specific reasons that I can sit here and explain right now, all of the proceeding has been done due to circumstance, desire and feeling, or lack thereof.

People overall have been extremely courteous of the fact that I have not felt like speaking much, or holding extended conversations in general when we speak casually, and it feels great. The whole concept, of having little social pressures, the lack of having to explain oneself, one’s thoughts, a tweet, a Facebook status, or relationship update. “Why haven’t you answered the phone?”, “Did you get my voicemail?”  At times, it feels so freeing. To be rid of all the connectedness, all the interactions, all the social relationships, all the acquaintances, all the people, all the handshakes, all the hugs, all the salutations. They all come with a price. They have their positives, and clearly they have their negatives.

What interest me, as a person, and as a thinker is the idea of what actions are truly worth the words of an explanation. What actions deserve to be articulated? What thoughts deserve to be expressed to others? How much are those words worth to the author and on a bigger scale, how important are those words to others. Even further, what actions do we think aren’t worth the words? What type of people do you feel aren’t deserving of articulation? As with most, I tend linger in the realm of hypothetical and unrefined thoughts, they haunt me equally as much as they inspire me. What you say becomes extremely important in life, and how others perceive you. What you say defines you, and helps others grasp a image of who and what you represent to them. In extreme contrast to that thought, what you don’t say defines you, to yourself. The words and ideas we think belong solely to us. The words that we don’t speak are often more calculated than we would ever like to think, or even admit.

What is said in any form of medium is and will remain extremely important. What is not said, written or spoken should have a growing importance within one’s mind with age and wisdom. As with any public conduct, words have their place, and have their unwelcome points. But I still find it a struggle to know when to use the power of words, and when to keep my thoughts to myself.

Over the course of the past few years, technology and social media has seem to devalue the nature, and truth worth of what words mean. Blurbs are often spoken for the sake of sensationalism, and crowd reaction or response. Seldom is true calculated thought put into what is said in the realm of social media and status updates. My time detached has helped me regain an understanding for how truly powerful an extended statement can be. What type of affect a paragraph can have. How useful sentences really can be.  Detached myself from a micro-blogging  and status updating culture has allowed me to think more the a speak.

Where we are back in what many call reality, and others call our lives, away from the social circles, away from the acquaintances, what are we doing with ourselves? Are we maintaining proper intellectual progress? Are we allowing our minds and thought process to become stagnant? Without speaking, reading, and writing actively the fate or mental progress no longer lies in our hands. The power of words transcends us as thinkers or authors of a thought. For any author of a thought or idea, one must not allow those thoughts to hold them, without sharing, or exercising the ability to turn those thoughts into words. It is a deadly form of suicide, and mental anguish that can possibly be alleviated.

What we don’t say will haunt us equally, if not to a much greater extent than what we do say.

 

Consider this a thought in progress. I will revisit the idea at a later date, but for now I am a bit tired and barely keeping my eyes open. Proof reading is important, but not as important as getting the initial idea out.

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It’s going to be a long interesting weekend. There’s a lot of events going on around the Bay Area, and I’ll be checking out a few things. I have to say that I’m the most excited about The Henson Alternative Stuffed and Unstrung, We’ll be going to check that out Friday night at the Curran Theater in San Francisco, but Rock The Bells is an immediate second. Great music, great laughs. Any of you going to be checking out any great shows this weekend? Let me know.

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I’ve never been much of the “blogger” type. Posting pictures and videos of random stuff. I typically like to write expressive & creatively.

HOWEVER for the sake of shedding a light on who I am. I’m going to start by throwing these kicks I have my eye on in 2011.






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