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https://www.blackenterprise.com/michael-bennett-second-career-design/
Rather than analyzing NFL plays, Michael Bennett is focused on a mission to integrate social justice into his post-NFL career. This journey includes various endeavors, such as writing a boo (2018’s Things That Make White People Uncomfortable) and creating designs for public exhibition.
According to Bustler, in September, Bennett crafted designs that were showcased during New York City’s Archtober, described as “New York’s premier public design exhibition” by NYCxDesign.
During his time at the Heritage School of Interior Design he established a scholarship for Black designers.
“I want to open up a multi-disciplinary studio that would include furniture design, architecture planning, as well as community planning,” he told HSID in an interview. “I want to work in a central space with many other individuals where we can all work together. I feel like in design there are so many systemic injustices, and we can work to dismantle those. Unless we have designers and people who can understand that there are problems that need to be solved, there will be no solving them.”
Bennett has achieved that goal, according to Fast Company, the multi-hyphenate plans to open a design practice, Studio Kër in November.
Studio Kër, Bennett tells the outlet, takes its name from his Senegalese ancestry and it means home. Bennett draws his inspiration from historic figures Angela Davis and Booker T. Washington.
Bennett told Fast Company that his design ethos is one that works absent of labels.
“I think of myself more like a spatial designer, or a spatial practitioner,” Bennett said. “I just like space; so wherever media that needs to be expressed to talk about a particular emotion or talk about a particular idea, I want to dive into it. I don’t want to put a title on it.”
Bennett’s design display at the recent exhibit, entitled Public Display, was made of cross-laminated timber. Two panels of the material create the framework for a display framing slices of life or pieces of sky, surrounded by benches and stools, giving its viewers the opportunity to contemplate city life in a community space. Bennett said that it was the COVID-19 pandemic that first allowed him the space to breathe.
“Usually during life, the water’s so rough you can’t really see a reflection; and during COVID, the water was still, so we had a chance to reflect on a lot of things,” Bennett recalled. “During those reflections, you can’t hide. You have to truly look at yourself and see that in its purest form. I had a chance to realize my family is beautiful. I reached the highest of the heights, and it’s time to try something different.”
His brother, Martellus, is also a designer, retired NFL player, and similarly, a bit of a Renaissance man. Martellus has written four children’s books, one of which is getting turned into a Disney animated film. “I don’t think he always knew that—where he would go after—but I think he has this relationship with the game to understand that and know that it’s going to end,” Martellus said of Michael.
Martellus described how his brother and his design piece, Public Display, mirror each other.
“The piece by itself is strong, but it’s the strongest when people are around it, and why I think that is important is because I feel like Michael is the same way,” he told Fast Company. “I think Michael by himself is strong, but Michael with family and people around him is at his strongest.”
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Summer is nothing but a memory now and fall is coming to a close. It’s time to start preparing for a long Hoth-like winter. It’s also time to start filling out our holiday wish lists. Fortunately Columbia Sportswear is back to help us with both. The company has announced its newest Star Wars winter collection. This year’s lineup celebrates the iconic flightsuit worn by one of the greatest Jedi ever. The new special-edition Skywalker Pilot Collection is an orange-ode to Luke’s X-wing garb.
And this set is Columbia’s biggest Star Wars one ever.
On December 1, 2023 Columbia wants you to take on both the elements and the Empire. That’s when it’s launching its special Skywalker Pilot Collection. The nine-piece orange and white set will keep you toasty from head to toe in the style of the famed Rebel. (It will also lead to you explaining Aurebesh to those unfamiliar with that galactic alphabet.)
The five big ticket items include:
- Skywalker Pilot Ski Suit ($500) – Luke flight suit inspires this online, limited exclusive. It’s Omni-Tech waterproof-breathable and has Omni-Heat Infinity lining. It also comes with multifunctional pockets and Star Wars extras like a T-65 X-wing Starfighter and R2-D2 blueprint graphics.
- Skywalker Pilot Ski Jacket ($350) – Luke Skywalker’s flight jacket is the foundation of this ski coat. It also features all the same features as the collection’s Ski Suit.
- Skywalker Pilot Lightweight Jacket ($200) – This is the set’s second coat based on Luke’s flight jacket. It has Omni-Heat Infinity lining, as well as comfort cuffs and zippered pockets. And it is comes adorned with a T-47 Airspeeder/Snow Speeder graphic on the security pocket.
- Skywalker Pilot Pullovers ($150) – This zippered sweatshirt is made of heavyweight cotton-blend fabric and has high-loft fleece backing. It also includes a utility chest pocket with flak-vest inspired baffling. Plus it has the same Star Wars details as the Ski Suit
- Skywalker Pilot Snow Goggle ($300) – This limited snow goggle takes its inspiration from Luke Skywalker’s helmet and visor. It comes with two interchangeable lenses with Swiftlock lens change system. It also has an anti-fog treatment and a triple-layer face foam and armored venting. It comes with a carrying pouch that features T-65 X-wing Starfighter and T-47 Airspeeder/Snow Speeder blueprint graphics. The snow goggle has its ow custom box, a Rebel patch, Star Wars logo on the inner strap, and silicone and prints inspired by helmet insignia.
Fans who want to stay warm this winter can also grab four other items. That includes a Skywalker Pilot Long Sleeve Shirt ($70). You can also opt for the short sleeve version (55). And you can round everything out with Skywalker Pilot Ball Cap ($40) and adjustable Pilot Crossbody Bag ($50)
Like we said, Columbia’s yearly winter Star Wars collection really makes filling out your holiday wish list easy. Just so long as you don’t lose track of time filling it out and get ambushed by some TIE fighters. The Skywalker Pilot Collection does not include a way to call Han Solo for help.
The post Columbia’s 2023 STAR WARS Skywalker Pilot Collection Turns Luke’s Flight Gear into Winter Gear appeared first on Nerdist.
Richard Roundtree was simply put an icon who helped popularize the blaxploitation genre thanks to his role in the 1971 film Shaft. As an uncompromising private detective, he wouldn’t be denied. We know because the infamous theme song by Isaac Hayes told us so:
They say this cat Shaft is a bad mother
(Shut your mouth)
But I’m talkin’ ’bout Shaft
(Then we can dig it)
The theme song helped catapult the movie into the epitome of pop-culture status. Isaac Hayes said before he died in 2008 that the song was “like the shot heard round the world.” The single won an Academy Award for best song in 1971 and two Grammys the following year.
Roundtree embodied the role of John Shaft. As Roundtree professed in a 1972 article in The New York Times, he was portraying “a Black man who is for once a winner.”
Richard Ronald Roundtree was born in New Rochelle, New York to his mother Kathryn, a cook and housekeeper, and John, a refuse collector and later a church minister. He attended New Rochelle high school and earned a football scholarship to Southern Illinois University. He left school soon after arriving to pursue an acting and modeling career. After working at Barneys department store, he toured with the Ebony Fashion Fair. He then joined the Negro Ensemble Company in New York City and starred in its 1967 production of The Great White Hope.
It would be his role as detective John Shaft that changed the game. He was 28-years-old and this was his first feature film. The popularity of Shaft turned Roundtree into a superstar with two subsequent sequels: Shaft’s Big Score (1972) and Shaft in Africa (1973). He appeared in numerous films throughout the 1970’s, including the ABC television miniseries Roots (1977).
In the 1970’s, blaxploitation referred to independently produced films that usually had extremely low budgets. They were predominantly made my Black crews for Black audiences – everything from action to horror, and even musicals. Crime, sex, drugs, and racial tensions were common subjects for these ‘Black’ and ‘exploitation’ type films.
Blaxploitation films actually had a moral purpose and a political mandate. Within this, audiences were able to talk back to the screen, yell if they wanted to, voice their true thoughts about what was happening in the world, all while enacting this sort of vengeance and speaking truth to power. These films were liberating and spot on with capturing the cultural awareness of the time within Black identity.
When Richard Roundtree came upon the screen in Shaft, with his perfectly groomed afro, mustache, and sideburns, the swagger in his walk let you know this was going to be something to remember. The turtleneck and brown leather trench coat sealed the deal. He was an instant superhero.
Roundtree introduced us to a new type of Black masculinity to mainstream film. Where previous Black actors such as Sidney Poitier had played civil, poised and asexual characters, Roundtree’s Shaft was heroic, sexual, wisecracking and unapologetically Black. Although he was a hard-nosed private detective, he didn’t emulate his white counterparts or look up to them. He said what he wanted to; he did whatever he wanted to. He didn’t take crap from anybody, and we loved it.
What I find interesting about Roundtree is that he could never shake being Shaft. Regardless of how many films and television shows he did, he was always recognized for being the iconic character.
We also loved him as Paul Patterson, Sr., Mary Jane’s father on the BET hit show Being Mary Jane. He actually loved that role as well. It was the response he received from people who connected with the relatable themes of the show, including the rising suicide rates among Black men. His character had heartfelt chats with his children which made him wish that he’d been equipped with things to say to his own children. “I wish I could be that forthright. I wish I could have been that forthright with them and it shows — the unnerving part is it shows my shortcomings with my own kids,” he said.
Roundtree’s work served as a turning point for Black leading men in film, and opened the door for actors like Fred Williamson, a blaxploitation legend, in Black Caesar (1973). Thalmus Rasulala made his mark in the blaxploitation genre by co-starring in films such as Cornbread, Earl and Me (1975), and alongside Pam Grier in Friday Foster (1975). We can’t forget about Ron O’Neal who became the most controversial blaxploitation star in Superfly (1972). We loved to hate this pimp who abused women and cocaine. His character Priest was like an urban James Bond-type who did not play with anyone.
Roundtree inspired an entire genre of film where Black leading men were taking up space on screen. He continued to inspire new audiences who were discovering new reasons to love his work. We will always dig that.