This reblogged from my quote blog, Dichos y Vida . I am feeling to INSPIRED by Cornel West in this interview with Tavis Smiley.  You have to watch the video to really FEEL this quote- I love Cornel West!  The entire interview can be found here. He talks about his break with Harvard, the role of academia, and the fetishization of success in America.  (thank you Tanya and Jessica)

My favorite part of this interview is this quote below - I also translated it into Spanish.

You have to have a habitual vision of greatnesssssss. You have to believe in fact that you refuse to settle for mediocrity. You won’t confuse financial security with your personal integrity. You won’t confuse your success with your greatness or your prosperity with your magnanimity…..You have to have a vision of something that is luring you all the time that for something grander than you….[What is] the quality of your service to others? Do you find joy in your service to others? Do you actually believe in fact that living is connected  to giving?

Now some people may not believe in that. I’m the hedonistic narcissistic individualist type. That’s just not who I am. I am not into that kinda stuff.  I say that’s fine, that’s fine. I chose to attempt to pursue this role.

———————-
Tienes que tener una visión habitual de grandeza. Tienes que creer en el hecho de que te niegues a conformarte con mediocridad. No confundas seguridad económica con tu integridad personal. No confundas tu éxito con tu grandeza o tu prosperidad con tu magnanimidad…Tienes que tener una visión de algo que te esté atrayendo a algo más grande que tu…[¿Qué es] la cualidad de tu servicio a otros? ¿Encuentras alegría en tu servicio a otros?  ¿Realmente crees en el hecho que vivir está conectado a dar?

Quizás alguna gente no crea en esto. Soy del tipo individualista, hedonista y narcisista. Eso no es lo que soy. No me interesan esas cosas. Te digo – está bien, está bien. Yo escojo tratar de seguir este tipo de vida.

This has to be the best Know Your Meme episode yet! great rhythm with the editing. informative historical contexualization.  masterful weaving in of popular culture. and freaking WEIRD AL is in it! COME ON! this is tooooo cool. I grew up on Weird Al!

This is American culture at its best - only Weird Al could exist in America - everything about this episode speaks to the unique experience of growing up with pop culture in the US.

Appreciating this episode requires one to understand the technological feats of audio engineering, iphone apps mania, misogynistic off-tune popularity of *some* rap artists, hip-hop’s intimate yet under-appreciate relationship with technological innovations, Weird Al as as cultural commentator long before South Park and John Stewart, internet memes as a cultural phenomenon, kanye’s popular tantrums, and satiric political commentary with popular media.

Essentially, this episode won’t make sense unless you know where to culturally place/appreciate all these aspects - yes there’s even a place for a rapper like T-Pain who can rap/sing (badly) about his love for the strippas and strippas and more strippas.  Oh and T-Pain twittered this Know Your Meme homage to his cultural legacy.

If I EVER forget why I love America - which often happens sometimes when I’ve traveling/living in other countries and fetishizing their health care system or affordable non-organic hormone pumped food or political participation levels or slower non-materialistic lifestyles - REMIND me to watch this episode of Know Your Meme.

it also looks like Sony is releasing a Weird Al compilation album. awesomeness.

elspethjane:

As Jamie Dubs just said, WE BEAT THE INTERNETZ, GUYS!  So, T-Pain just tweeted our KYM episode.  :)

This is a drawing that I saw hung up inside the women’s bathroom of a veggie restaurant/buffet across from Yongehe Gong temple in Beijing, China.

translation of the poster:

keep your intestines clean. you still have secular things to do in the real world. so leave the heavens temporarily

The best part is that she’s a got a cigarette in her hand while she’s pooping AND it looks likes she’s massaging her tummy.