Whats Buzzing in the Streets – Page 8

Lynn Toler

Lynn Toler (born October 25, 1959) is an American lawyer and the arbitrator (judge) on the court series Divorce Court.

Toler earned an undergraduate degree in English and American Literature from Harvard University (1981) and a Juris Doctor from the University of Pennsylvania Law School (1984).

Toler served as sole municipal judge in Cleveland Heights Municipal Court for eight years after working as an attorney specializing in civil matters. At 34 years old, she won her first judicial race by just 6 votes in a predominantly Democratic district as a Republican, where Democrats held 5:1 majority. Her cases involved all misdemeanor crimes, traffic, and minor cost civil cases within an inner ring suburb of Cleveland, Ohio of about 50,000 residents. When re-elected in 2000 she garnered 80% of the vote. Toler was known for enforcing nontraditional judgments, such as hand written essays. While on the bench she created and ran a mentoring program for teenaged girls. During this time, she served on many boards including The Juvenile Diabetes Board, The National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI) and The Cleveland Domestic Violence Center. In 2002, she received The Humanitarian of the Year Award from The Cleveland Domestic Violence Center.

While serving as a retired judge between 2001 and 2006, Toler became an adjunct professor at Ursuline College in Pepper Pike, Ohio where she created, and taught, courses on Civil Rights Law and Women’s Rights.

As the level-headed arbiter of Divorce Court, Toler is usually seen providing counsel, words of wisdom, and trying to talk sense into the show’s outrageous couples. She has a strident vocal timbre and uses emphasis in much of her speech. Prior to becoming the arbitrator of Divorce Court, she hosted the short-lived court show Power of Attorney. In 2007, while hosting Divorce Court, she expanded her television presence by becoming the host of the prime time television show and MyNetworkTV’s Decision House. In 2008 and 2009, Toler was a bi-monthly contributor on News and Notes, a weekly news show on National Public Radio (NPR). In 2009, she became a co-executive producer of Wedlock or Deadlock, a syndicated limited-city series based on a segment of Divorce Court.

Toler has guest-starred on The Ricki Lake Show as a marriage counselor. Toler can now be seen on WEtv’s hit show Marriage Boot Camp: Reality Stars.

Toler is the author of My Mother’s Rules: A Practical Guide to Becoming an Emotional Genius, in which she describes lessons her mother, Shirley (nicknamed Toni), taught her to handle both her father Bill Toler’s erratic behavior and her own inner demons. She describes how this later came in handy when dealing with emotional people from the bench. She also discusses how to apply these rules to everyday life.

In 2009, her second book Put it In Writing, co-authored with Deborah Hutchison was published. This book contains agreements for use in common but uncomfortable situations between family and friends such as money lending and grown children returning home.

Toler resides in Mesa, Arizona with her husband Eric Mumford (they married in 1989) and has two sons.

Written by Dianne Washington

Mahalia Jackson

This date marks gospel singer Mahalia Jackson’s birthday in 1911. She was an African-American gospel singer, widely regarded as the best in the history of the genre, and is the first “Queen of Gospel Music.”

Jackson was born in New Orleans and raised in the Mount Mariah Baptist Church where she sang in the choir. At a young age, Jackson knew she was going to be successful but Mahalia refused to sing secular music, a pledge she would keep throughout her professional life. Halie’s Aunt Bell told her that one day she would sing in front of royalty. Halie would one day see that come true.

She also suffered from racism and prejudice throughout her life, subjected to Jim Crow laws so prevalent in Southern states. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was a major mentor in her life was not only because he was a Baptist and a devout Christian, but because he spoke of peace and freedom for all races.

In 1950 she became the first gospel singer to perform at New York’s Carnegie Hall. She started touring Europe in 1952 and was hailed by critics as the “world’s greatest gospel singer.” In Paris she was called the Angel of Peace, and throughout the continent she sang to capacity audiences.

Mahalia Jackson became one of the most influential gospel singers in the world. At most of Dr. King’s speeches and rallies she sang “Amazing Grace” and other uplifting songs. At the March on Washington in 1963, she sang “I’ve Been ‘Buked, and I’ve Been Scorned” in front of 250,000 people. Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. made his famous “I Have a Dream” speech there. She also sang “Take My Hand, Precious Lord” at his funeral after he was assassinated. Her first hit was “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” sometimes called the Black National Anthem.

When she died on January 27, 1972, funeral services were held in both Chicago and New York. Mrs. Coretta Scott King eulogized Mahalia during Chicago funeral as “a friend – proud, black and beautiful.” Dr. Joseph H. Jackson, president of the National Baptist Convention, U.S.A., Inc. of which Mahalia was Official Soloist, delivered the eulogy Aretha Franklin closed the Chicago observance with a moving rendition of “Precious Lord, Take My Hand.” Many landmarks are named after Mahalia Jackson.

Written by Dianne Washington

Calvin and Hobbes

Calvin and Hobbes is a daily American comic strip created by cartoonist Bill Watterson that was syndicated from November 18, 1985, to December 31, 1995. Commonly cited as “the last great newspaper comic”, Calvin and Hobbes have enjoyed broad and enduring popularity, influence, and academic and philosophical interest.

Calvin and Hobbes follows the humorous antics of the title characters: Calvin, a precocious, mischievous, and adventurous six-year-old boy; and Hobbes, his sardonic stuffed tiger. Set in the contemporary suburban United States of the 1980s and 1990s, the strip depicts Calvin’s frequent flights of fancy and friendship with Hobbes. It also examines Calvin’s relationships with his long-suffering parents and with his classmates, especially his neighbor Susie Derkins. Hobbes’s dual nature is a defining motif for the strip: to Calvin, Hobbes is a living anthropomorphic tiger, while all the other characters see Hobbes as an inanimate stuffed toy. Though the series does not frequently mention specific political figures or contemporary events, it does explore broad issues like environmentalism, public education, and philosophical quandaries.

At the height of its popularity, Calvin and Hobbes was featured in over 2,400 newspapers worldwide. In 2010, reruns of the strip appeared in more than 50 countries, and nearly 45 million copies of the Calvin and Hobbes books had been sold worldwide.

Calvin and Hobbes was conceived when Bill Watterson, while working in an advertising job he detested, began devoting his spare time to developing a newspaper comic for potential syndication. He explored various strip ideas but all were rejected by the syndicates. United Feature Syndicate finally responded positively to one strip called The Doghouse, which featured a side character (the main character’s little brother) who had a stuffed tiger. United identified these characters as the strongest and encouraged Watterson to develop them as the center of their own strip. Though United Feature ultimately rejected the new strip as lacking in marketing potential, Universal Press Syndicate took it up.

Written by Dianne Washington

Judge Judy

Judith Susan Sheindlin (née Blum; born October 21, 1942), known professionally as Judge Judy, is an American court-show arbitrator, media personality, television producer, philanthropist, and former prosecutor and Manhattan family court judge.

For 25 seasons, from September 16, 1996, to July 23, 2021, Sheindlin starred in her eponymous top Nielsen-rated court show, Judge Judy. Sheindlin became the longest-serving television arbitrator in courtroom-themed programming history, a distinction that earned her a place in the Guinness World Records in 2015. She received a Lifetime Achievement Emmy in 2019 for her work.

On November 1, 2021, Sheindlin launched the spinoff streaming series Judy Justice on IMDb TV (now Amazon Freevee), another arbitration-based reality court show in which she handled legal disputes. After winning the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Legal/Courtroom Program in 2022 for the first season of Judy Justice, she became the only television arbitrator to have won the award for more than one court show: three for Judge Judy and one for Judy Justice.

Sheindlin was born Judith Susan Blum in Brooklyn to German-Jewish and Russian-Jewish parents. She describes her dentist father Murray as “the greatest thing since sliced bread.” Sheindlin describes her mother Ethel, an office manager, as “a meat and potatoes kind of gal.”

Sheindlin graduated from James Madison High School in Brooklyn and American University in Washington, D.C., receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in government. She next attended New York Law School, earning her Juris Doctor degree in 1965.

Sheindlin passed the New York state bar examination in 1965 and was hired as a corporate lawyer for a cosmetics firm. Within two years, she became dissatisfied with her job and left to raise her children Jamie and Adam. In 1972, she became a prosecutor in the New York family-court system after hearing about the job from a friend. In her role as a lawyer, Sheindlin prosecuted cases involving child abuse, domestic violence and juvenile offenders.

By 1982, Sheindlin’s attitude inspired New York mayor Ed Koch to appoint her as a criminal-court judge. Four years later, she was promoted to supervising judge in the family court’s Manhattan division. She earned a reputation as a tough judge (although she has disagreed with the labels “tough” and “harsh”).

In February 1993, Sheindlin’s reputation made her the subject of a Los Angeles Times article written by Josh Getlin (inspired by his wife Heidi, both of whom Sheindlin credits with her rise to fame) that profiled her as a woman determined to make the court system work for the common good. She was then featured in a segment on CBS’s 60 Minutes that brought her national recognition. This led to her first book, Don’t Pee on My Leg and Tell Me It’s Raining, published in 1996. She retired as a family-court judge that same year after having heard more than 20,000 cases.

In 1964, Judy married Ronald Levy, who later became a prosecutor in juvenile court. They moved to New York and had two children, Jamie Hartwright and Adam Levy. Her son Adam is a former district attorney for Putnam County, New York, and is now a co-star in Tribunal Justice. Judy and Ronald divorced in 1976 after 12 years of marriage.

In 1978, she married Judge Jerry Sheindlin, who was an arbitrator on The People’s Court from 1999 to 2001. They divorced in 1990, partially as a result of the stress and struggles that Judy endured after her father’s death that same year. They remarried in 1991. She has three stepchildren with Sheindlin: Gregory Sheindlin, Jonathan Sheindlin and Nicole Sheindlin, and 13 grandchildren. Jonathan is a retinal surgeon, and Greg and Nicole are lawyers. Nicole is the co-creator (along with her stepmother) of the Her Honor Mentoring program.

Sheindlin owns homes in several states, including New York, Florida, California, and Wyoming. She commuted to Los Angeles every other week for two to four days to tape episodes of Judge Judy. In May 2013, she bought a $10.7 million condominium in the Los Angeles suburb of Beverly Hills. In 2018, Judy and her husband announced spending $9 million on the Bird House, a 9,700-square-foot (900 m2) property on 3.67 acres (1.49 ha) in Newport, Rhode Island once owned by Dorrance Hill Hamilton.

Sheindlin holds honorary Doctor of Law degrees from Elizabethtown College and the University at Albany, SUNY. In 2013, she was made vice-president of the law society at University College Dublin, Ireland, in recognition of her work in family law.

Sheindlin is a registered Independent. She is a supporter of same-sex marriage and, although she has said that she is not a supporter of “big government”, she believes that the issue of same-sex marriage should be handled at the federal level rather than on a state-by-state basis. Sheindlin has stated that she is in favor of increasing requirements for gun ownership. She prefers not to be labelled by political terms, and states that she is not registered with any political party. When asked about the 2012 presidential elections, Sheindlin stated that while she voted for President Barack Obama in 2008 (as well as voting for Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton, respectively in 1980 and 1984, and 1992 and 1996), she did not care for either of the leading candidates in the 2012 United States presidential election. In October 2019 Sheindlin penned an op-ed endorsing Michael Bloomberg for president, despite the fact that he had not announced a campaign. In January 2020 she released an ad supporting him.

Forbes named Sheindlin the highest paid host in November 2018 stemming from her $47 million per year Judge Judy salary combined with the annual income from her Judge Judy episode library. In 2018, Sheindlin earned $147 million between the $100 million from the alleged sale of the present and then future episode library of her show to CBS, in addition to her $47 million arbitration handling salary. In 2020 and 2021, Sheindlin’s net worth was reportedly $440 million and $460 million, respectively.

Written by Dianne Washington

Pink

Alecia Beth Moore Hart (born September 8, 1979), known professionally as Pink (stylized as P!nk), is an American singer, songwriter and actress.

During her teens, Pink was a member of the girl group Choice. Her first solo studio album, Can’t Take Me Home (2000), was certified double-platinum in the United States. The R&B-influenced album spawned two Billboard Hot 100 top-ten songs: “There You Go” and “Most Girls”. Pink gained further recognition with the collaborative single “Lady Marmalade” from the Moulin Rouge! soundtrack, which topped many charts worldwide. Pink refocused her sound to pop rock with her second studio album, Missundaztood (2001). The album sold more than 13 million copies worldwide and yielded the international hit songs “Get the Party Started”, “Don’t Let Me Get Me”, and “Just Like a Pill”.

Pink’s third studio album, Try This (2003), sold significantly less than her second studio album, but earned her the Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance. She returned to the top of the charts with her fourth and fifth studio albums, I’m Not Dead (2006) and Funhouse (2008), which spawned the top-ten entries “Who Knew” and “U + Ur Hand” as well as the number-one single “So What”. Pink’s sixth studio album, The Truth About Love (2012), was her first Billboard 200 number-one album and spawned her fourth US number-one single, “Just Give Me a Reason”. In 2014, Pink recorded a collaborative album, Rose Ave., with Canadian musician Dallas Green as the folk music duo You+Me. Her next studio albums, Beautiful Trauma (2017) and Hurts 2B Human (2019), both debuted at atop the Billboard 200 chart, with the former becoming the world’s third best-selling album of the year. Her ninth and most recent studio album, Trustfall (2023), peaked at number 2 in the U.S.

Pink has been described as “pop royalty” for her distinctive raspy voice and acrobatic stage presence. She has sold over 135 million records worldwide (60 million albums and 75 million singles), making her one of the world’s best-selling music artists. Her accolades include three Grammy Awards, two Brit Awards, a Daytime Emmy Award and seven MTV Video Music Awards (including the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award). In 2009, Billboard named Pink the Pop Songs Artist of the Decade. Pink was also the second-most-played female solo artist in the United Kingdom during the 2000s decade, behind only Madonna. VH1 ranked her 10th on its list of the 100 Greatest Women in Music, while Billboard gave her the Woman of the Year award in 2013. At the 63rd annual BMI Pop Awards, she received the BMI President’s Award for “her outstanding achievement in songwriting and global impact on pop culture and the entertainment industry.”

Written Dianne Washington

WTF DID YOU MISS: CLUB HIP HOP 50

If you are either a New Yorker, a Bronx native, and/or a hip hop head then you were definitely outside during the month of August. August 11th, as we all know, is the day of the fiftieth anniversary of hip hop culture. This year’s month of the fiftieth will go down in history as one of hip hop’s greatest times in New York and hip hop history. Besides the fact that The Bronx is the birthplace of hip hop, the entire state of New York and its boroughs coming together to celebrate hip hop culture is an unforgettable time. So many fiftieth celebration events happening back to back, it feels like one big party and/or club exclusively for all those who are part of the culture. Everyone who’s an artist, to bloggers, writers, interviewers, hosts, there was a space for those specifically involved in the culture to get outside, participate, and come together for the culture. All of the four elements: dee jayin’, emceeing, breakdancing, and graffiti, that make up hip hop culture were also fully present at these celebration events. Lots of great performances from our favorite hip hop artists and DJ’s are more in demand, people are showing up and dressing up in their freshest and best outfits and they’re coming out to dance and have a great time. All throughout the month of August, there’s been non stop celebration events happening in The Bronx. Summerstage’s Grandmaster Flash and Friends, The Mill Pond Park celebration, The Yankee Stadium, and most of all the Sedgwick Avenue celebration. On August 4th, 2023, Grandmaster Flash was the star of the show in Crotona Park for Summerstage; Also called the “Birth of a Culture: The 4 Elements Block Party.” He and a couple of other DJ’s including Pete Rock and DJ Chuck Chillout, put on an amazing four hour show that definitely showcased and celebrated the four elements. The show ended with an incredible line up of MC’s who rocked the mic; MC Sha Rock, KRS-One, Melle Mel, and incredible breakdancers who also showed out. On the day of August 11th, the actual day of hip hop’s fiftieth, The Mill Pond Park celebration happened and was the pre show for those who also attended the Yankee Stadium show. Mill Pond Park is on Exterior Street on 150th Street, in The Bronx, close by where the future first hip hop museum will be located. DJ Kevie Kev Rockwell on the music, MC Sha Rock hosting and performances by MC Shan, Milk Dee of Audio Two, Sweet Tee, Peter Gunz, Public Enemy, and more, just to name a few. Hit after hit, classic after classic, the people are clapping their hands, rapping along to the words, and making sure to capture every moment of classic hip hop bliss with their camera phones to savor the moments later on. The celebration continues that day at Yankee Stadium. Lots of people outside of the stadium selling t-shirts, artists rapping out loud to promote their own music, hanging out, and having a great time. Inside of the stadium, it is complete pandemonium. It is the world’s greatest hip hop show happening on the planet. Way more artists from all eras and decades of hip hop are on the stage. The stadium is completely crowded with people all over the place walking around, buying their food and beverages, sticking with their closed loved ones and even running into other loved ones, seats are filled, people are hanging out in the lanes between sections trying to get their way closer to the stage as possible and there’s a huge uproar from the stadium’s reaction to whoever’s on the stage coming from all sides of the stadium. Then there’s August 12th, 2023. The world return’s to the actual and birthplace of hip hop; 1520 Sedgwick Avenue. KRS-One is being followed around in admiration as he is in his element being “The Teacha.” There are food trucks, vendors, graffiti artists, DJ’s, surprise guests and artists, breakdancers, bloggers, interviewers, photographers, grassroots hip hop organizations in attendance and best of all, a stage further up past the 1520 building set for a huge showcase. Upcoming artists and legendary artists both attend the stage. Again, hit after hit, song for song, word for word, the world has attended yet another huge hip hop show and event on the planet. It was the ultimate hip hop show of the year and what better way to celebrate than at 1520. Fat Joe, CL Smooth, Mad Lion, Talib Kweli, Poor Righteous Teachers, Mr. Cheeks, Cold Crush Brothers, The Sugarhill Gang, Public Enemy and more. Anybody that claimed to be a lover of hip hop, a hip hop head, and part of the culture, you were supposed to be there or any of the fiftieth anniversary celebrations. August 2023 was easily the greatest year in hip hop in recent years. So much celebrating, so much fun. If you truly are a lover of the culture, you were granted your wristband or stamp to enter the club called HIP HOP 50.

Tina Turner Dead at 83

A statement from Tina’s reps reads, “It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Tina Turner. With her music and her boundless passion for life, she enchanted millions of fans around the world and inspired the stars of tomorrow.”

Tina won 8 Grammy Awards over the course of her career, including Record of the Year for “What’s Love Got to Do with It.”

Jerry Springer Dead

A family spokesperson says Jerry was battling a “brief illness.” Our sources tell us it was pancreatic cancer that was diagnosed a few months ago, and this week he took a turn for the worse.

The spokesperson says he died Thursday morning, peacefully at his home in the Chicago area.

We’re told his cancer battle got much worse about a month ago, and he finally had to stop working. He had been hosting a folk music show on a local radio station in Cincinnati.

He’s survived by his daughter and his older sister.

Carol Burnett

Carol Creighton Burnett (born April 26, 1933) is an American actress, comedienne, singer, and writer. Her groundbreaking comedy variety show The Carol Burnett Show, which originally aired on CBS, was one of the first to be hosted by a woman. She has performed on stage, television and film in varying genres including dramatic and comedic roles. She has received numerous accolades including six Primetime Emmy Awards, a Tony Award, a Grammy Award, and seven Golden Globe Awards. Burnett was awarded Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005, the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 2013 and the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 2015.

Born and raised in San Antonio, Texas, her family moved to California where she lived in the Hollywood area. She attended Hollywood High School and eventually studied theater and musical comedy at UCLA. Later she performed in nightclubs in New York City and had a breakout success on Broadway in 1959 in Once Upon a Mattress, for which she received a Tony Award nomination. She soon made her television debut, regularly appearing on The Garry Moore Show for the next three years, and won her first Emmy Award in 1962. Burnett had her television special debut in 1963 when she starred as Calamity Jane in the Dallas State Fair Musicals production of Calamity Jane on CBS.[6] Burnett moved to Los Angeles and began an 11-year run as star of The Carol Burnett Show on CBS television from 1967 to 1978. With its vaudeville roots, The Carol Burnett Show was a variety show that combined comedy sketches with song and dance. The comedy sketches included film parodies and character pieces. Burnett created many memorable characters during the show’s run, and both she and the show won numerous Emmy and Golden Globe Awards.

Written Dianne Washington

Director Vera Edwards honored with Citation

Vera Edwards (March 4, 1966) is an American director, screenwriter, producer, and actor. Born and raised in the South Bronx, New York City, Edwards began her career as an author and then graduated to write, direct, and produce television shows on a cable channel called Bronxnet. The show was titled “Street Line.” It was an entertainment show that not only showed what was happening in the streets, but showed celebrities as well as up-and-coming artists, dance, hip-hop, businesses, current events, and politics. The show revolutionized the urban community. In 2009, Edwards and her son Ricardo Cordero (director of photography) received several Beta Awards for their contributions to television.

In 2011 Edwards published her first book titled “BAND OF GOLD,” which was written by Vera Edwards herself. This was the start of her writing career which jumped started her in the direction of making movies.

One of the first female independent multimedia film director and producer in the Bronx, Edwards has captured the essence of urban life by utilizing members of the community by taking real-life experience and turning it into art. She has become a true pioneer in hip-hop culture and urban day living.

Edwards wrote, produced, and directed with her son Ricardo Cordero her first underground independent feature film, Chicken (2013); The film was an urban drama. The entire cast was first-time actors. The film received worldwide praise from parents, children, teens, and several educational institutions ranging from different fields of study that implemented different story elements into their own syllabuses. It was a scripted reality show at its finest. Chicken showcased unfortunate realism that many individuals face in urban communities even to this day. The movie Chicken sold-out not only at the theaters but also sold out as DVDs in stores. It became one of the most sought out underground urban movies till this day.

Her second film was a romantic love story titled “Waiting for 4 Mr. Wright” (2015), which won a Bronxnet Beta Award. It too had first-time actors, Anabel Castillo, and Hip-Hop artist, Mighty Mike C (Michael Clee), from the legendary hip-hop group, The Fearless 4. The film received a standing ovation which was played at the iconic Mist Theater in Harlem, New York; It also was a DVD hit.

This was followed in 2015 by Edwards’s first novella “Perate,” a movie drama that starred Artie Cordel and hip-hop legend Wilfredo “Tito” Dones, of the legendary group The Fearless 4. It was a challenge for Edwards to write and produce the life of a Hispanic dysfunctional family. Her daughter Bobbi Cordero(writer) helped create the movie, which won Edwards another Beta Award. The movie Perate also played in the iconic Mist Theater in Harlem, New York City.

In 2015-2018, Edwards directed her first web series that started out as a small pitch that led to a bigger series of its own name and a powerful relationship drama, “Rodent,” starring Seven and Antoinette “Toni Styles” Vereen. This was a drama that identified with personal relationships amongst friends and family. The web series had twists and turns. Rodent was in high demand on the internet but ended abruptly because of ‘unsettling’ events created only amongst actors based off their newfound popularity that was developed from the success of the Rodent series.

In 2016, Edwards produced and directed “PPRESSED,” based on the everyday life of battle rappers. The movie starred Karine “Sho-Time” Thornton and Michael Deering (Mikey D) from the legendary group, “Main Source.” Since its success and debut, it has become the anthem and blueprint of videography used in today’s hip-hop rap culture within television and feature digital movie format.

Edwards wrote, produced, and directed “A Teenage Story” (2020) starring LA Sunshine (Lamar Hill), from the legendary group The Treacherous 3, DJ and creator of scratch, Grandwizard Theodore (Theodore Livingston), Stevie D (Stevie Lundy), from the legendary Force Mds and first-time actor Justin Hines. The movie was shot during the COVID pandemic and was set for the theaters, but due to the worldwide COVID restriction lock-downs, the 1:49-minute movie was released on YouTube and generated over 800,000 views.

When asked in a recent interview on the podcast “SHO-TIME TV PODCAST,” the interviewer asked Edwards “How were you able to create so many hit movies in such a short time,” Edwards replied” I couldn’t have done it without my son Ricardo Cordero. He is an excellent cameraman. He and I work great together, I know him, and he knows me. He knows my vision. I leave all the camera work to him, and he makes it happen. I think he is the best director of photography I know. To be able to create and share time as a mother and son is priceless. I enjoy those moments”.

On March 26, 2023, Edwards was honored with a Citation by Senator Cordell Cleare for her work with the community as a Film director.