aaron hall says...

who'd be your guidance giva? we get scared about askin' for it, don't we? actually, we talk ourselves out of everythin' sumtimes. that fear grabs a hold and before you know it, you've convinced yourself that you're gonna stay in the banking game, you ain't gonna take that long-awaited trip to tonga, and you won't find a way to meet get a date with the ice queen at work. but surprises await are there to curb them fears.

my southern french ami, antoine, went to cannes years back. young filmmaker that he was inspired to receive guidance from anyone who would listen. met tim roth at the screening for the film he directed, the war zone. swallowed up that fear and asked mr. roth if he had time to talk with an aspiring artist. mr. roth took mon ami out to lunch the next day and provided guidance and a hollywood tab to an unforgettable lunch.

give yourself some huevos, people. time to make your life yours.

esquire, 1994

mr. mark will never talk himself out of buying that cardigan again. it was the lead singer and it was for charity.

retrospective for life

one of the toughest things about bein' a parent has got to be your own sense of failure with your kids. your kids screw up, that gets forged into you screwing up. i don't blame too many people for not wantin' them. we're so messy as human beings, i can't imagine having to raise someone in my image. unless you're really cool. if you're tony hawk, toni morrison, or tony the tiger, that's an image that would be pristine to be under. and if you're tony the tiger's son, what's the legacy you create? frosted flaked drink?

now i'm just confusing everything. maybe some of us should remain abstinent.

gaithersburg, md, 2006

mr. mark would know every tactic that his kids would pull to sneak into the house.

Episode 6- Bathroom Graffiti

Hip Hop From Mom's Basement- Bathroom Graffiti from Mr. Mark on Vimeo.

oh, the mystery that is woman...

leaders of the new school

if i had my choice of early ed curriculum, i would come up with my coloring book of famous failures. we get told how wonderful people are and feel like we can't match up, yo. lincoln was an honest man and then became a president. benjamin franklin did a few experiments and then created a lightbulb. rob lowe just woke up pretty.
what's left out is the fact that people worked, failed, failed, and failed until they got somewhere. my man einstein spent decades on the theory of relativity. yet, my school books used to have him nailin' it out in one page. quick fix society, no wonder we're ready to give up at such an early age. teach failure as an investment strategy. don't invest in failure.

also, give kids free pumas to stop 'em from using those fuckin' wheelie shoes everywhere.

washington, dc, 2007

mr. mark would like to be your next calculator.

castles made uv sand

what would it be- mountains or beach? the masculine side of me thinks tha mountains are top. right? i get to chop wood, grow a beard, and make fire when i'm all shivery from them winds. the feminine side of me thinks tha beach. i done get my vanity fulfilled with a cocoa butter tan, lose weight off of sweat and a sedated appetite (that heat works wonders), and hear a poetic thrill in listenin' to waves crash in.

the youthful side of me still thinks tha clouds are a possibility. at least that's what lando calrissian done taught me.

luquillo, puerto rico, 2000

mr. mark is a little confused after writin' down that name for the first time...was lando calrissian armenian?

the illest

they say that physical sickness can be cured by your mental capabilities. isn't that wild, dog? we can fix ourselves. now, i don't know that i'd try that with a 9mm chest wound, but a sniffle and some rawness in the throat might be countered with positive thoughts and some optimism. sometimes, we need an extra hand there. i'd keep the people in your life that can do that. even if you have to call a 7-year-old to give your stamina a boost in the midst of a flu like onset or heartbreak.

kids are wise or somethin'. maybe they're ghosts.

washington, dc, 2007

mr. mark saves his co-pay 'cause his niece has got mad jungian skillz.

...if you are what you say you are...

yo, imagine you were someone's hero. would you really want them to see what you do at home? i mean, it's hard enough tryin' to meet people's expectations. i dunno that i wanna mess that up with images of clippin' toenails with a can opener, watchin' reruns of "designing women," and scroungin' up pennies to buy a copy of men's health just to put that cologne sample on my person to impress the indian bank teller named sheri when i go in and ask for two fives and four ones in exchange for my obscene collection of copper lincolns.

at least, that's more exciting than the alternative...sittin' here writin' an entry about being a hero.
damn, i still wish i was british.

washington post, 1994

mr. mark imagines ll cool j just eats pink cookies in a plastic bag at home.

knowledge reigns supreme over nearly everybody

i aim to learn. use this thing called google a lot. but a lot of my information comes from kids. they pick things up and pass them on to you. kids are the real google, yo.

i knocked my arm months back while i was teaching. funny bone tinglin'...lost my concentration. dc youngin' says, "funny bone, right?"

"what about it?"

"give it a few seconds. that sensation happens because your bone is moving and it keeps it from breaking."

i will never trust information from the internet again.

kids are lil' scholars, yo.

washington, d.c., 2008

mr. mark stops 4th graders to ask how to stop hiccups.

papá large

offspring, pupil, or kidnappee, we all want someone who relies on us for wisdom (of sunlight). as the youngest and only male in the house, i was reeling for youthful admiration. occasionally, as an adult i've found it. however, when the moment is sealed, it is often me who looks like the pupil.

kids are life lesson givers, yo.

santiago de chile, 2006

mr. mark wants to be like mike, too. his dramatic work in dirty rotten scoundrels was mad underrated.

3 tha hard way

best pic eva. 'nuff said.

children remind me of my childhood, son.

colegio anakena, santiago de chile, 2005

yo, mr. mark would like to add "adorable" to his description.