Storyteller.

3:49 A.M. I woke up in the middle of the night this morning. And cried. And prayed. And remembered. And pledged to God. And danced. And sang. And felt sorry. And regretted. And buried old bones. And dug them up. And threw them around the room. And was quiet. Then hopeful again.

This is a story about “The Ballad of the Sad Young Men,” a song from the 1959 stage play “The Nervous Set,” with lyrics written by Fran Landesman and music composed by Tommy Wolf, Jr., inspired by the 50s Beat generation. On this journey, we travel with this song through the 1950s-1960s-1970s and experience the different musical and vocal interpretations of the tune throughout those decades by several artists.

Let me tell you a story. “Djehuti: The Origin and Mastery of Thought.” This is some backstory on the idea of Thought.

Let me tell you a story. “Hidden Manna: The Discovery of The Essene Gospel of Peace,” the backstory of the collection of four books known to the world as The Essene Gospel of Peace.

Let me tell you a story. “The Eagle Stirreth Her Nest,” a famous sermon from way back in the day. Here’s some backstory.

Is it possible to have “bad blood” between father and son? And just what is bad blood? This is a story of Marvin Gaye and how his very own father took the life of the Motown soul singer.

This is the story of The Grapevine Telegraph – the informal, spontaneous word-of-mouth communication system used by Negro slaves in Civil War America to keep up-to-date on current events, and to stay one step ahead of their white slave masters. This is also the story of how the Motown song “I Heard it Through the Grapevine” came to finally be released as a single, back in 1967.

This is the story of the distinction between the Bourgeoisie and the Proletariat – the Capitalists who actually OWN the means of production and reap surplus value from that production (profit made by the Proletariat, but not given to them!) VERSUS those folks who trade their physical and intellectual labor for living wages. This is also the story of the teachings of Karl Marx.

This is the story of the roots of race in America, beginning in Europe, with Carl Linnaeus, Johann Blumenbach, then moving stateside with Thomas George Morton, and Louis Agassiz – and their scientific racism. This is also the story of race, class, and poverty in the United States. This is the story of the Age of Enlightenment (1700-1800) and the birth, development, and expansion of Scientific Racism – by white European men. This is also the story of Swedish-born botanist Carl Linnaeus and his 1735 grouping of humans into four categories.

This is the story of German-born anthropologist Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, whose craniological research led him (in 1779) to divide human beings into five categories, based upon the size and shape of the human skulls he studied. This is also the story of the Age of Enlightenment (1700-1800) and the birth, development, and expansion of Scientific Racism – by white European men.

This is the story of a Philadelphia-born man, considered by many to be the American father of Scientific Racism – Samuel George Morton, author of Crania Americana (1839), also known as A Comparative View of the Skulls of Various Aboriginal Nations of North and South America. This is also the story of his second book – Crania Aegyptiaca, also known as Observations on Egyptian Ethnography Derived from Anatomy, History, and the Monuments (1844). These two books provided part of the ideological foundation on which Scientific Racism thrived in the 19th century.

This is the story of Swiss-born biologist Louis Agassiz (1807-1873) – one of the fathers of Scientific Racism – known, among other things, for commissioning the photographing of African-American slaves in Charleston, South Carolina, to document racial differences, in an effort to prove to the world (in 1850) the physical and anatomical inferiority of Black folks to white Europeans.

For the brother, Fred Hampton, who ain’t here. This is the story of the U.S. government policy of the No Knock Warrant – which allows law enforcement officials to make forced entry into your home without first announcing or notifying you of their presence and intention. This is also the story of Fred Hampton, a member of the Chicago chapter of the Black Panther Party during the civil rights movement in the late 60s and early 70s. This is also the story of COINTELPRO – a secret and sometimes illegal FBI program of covert operations, designed to surveil, infiltrate, discredit, and disrupt the civil rights and Black Power movements.

This is a story of Saint Augustine and his journey to Consciousness.

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. “A Knock at Midnight.”

This is the story of Mark Essex, who murdered a score of New Orleans police officers and citizens in 1973.

In July of 1961, Mr. James Baldwin sat down with Mr. Studs Terkel to discuss the release of Mr. Baldwin’s 1961 book, Nobody Knows My Name.

This is a story about the 9th Ruler of the Mali Empire in the 14th century.