Tag Archives: nancy-ostertag

Tyrese Isn’t Fazed By Delaware Radio Ban

‘A lot of us artists are afraid to speak on obvious stuff that’s going on in our ‘hoods … because of things like this,’ Tyrese tells MTV News. By Rob Markman Tyrese Photo: Jerry Markland/ Getty Images Tyrese isn’t afraid to speak his mind, and though his music is currently banned from 101.7 Kiss FM in Delaware, the R&B singer will not back down. During a September interview at the station, the singer and “Transformers” actor aggressively spoke out to keep liquor stores from opening in the proximity of schools. “People drink — it is what it is — but the personalities and energy that liquor stores attract, I think, need to be much further away from elementary schools,” Tyrese told MTV News when he walked the black carpet for the 2011 BET Hip Hop Awards. The singer, who is a national spokesman for Communities in Schools, had a speaking engagement in a Delaware school when he noticed a liquor store directly across the street. Instead of promoting his new album, Open Invitation , during a scheduled radio interview later in the day, Tyrese got on his soapbox and chastised community leaders for allowing the liquor store so close to the school. “I transitioned into talking about that because it had just happened, and that’s when they kicked me off the air and banned my music,” Tyrese said. “Get them cats outta here, man, sellin’ alcohol right across from your kids’ school, homey,” Tyrese said during his radio interview. Kiss 101.7 owner Tony Quartarone told TMZ that it wasn’t the singer’s message that prompted the ban, but more how Tyrese spoke to the listeners. “Tyrese was not kicked off the air for pointing out that liquor stores should not be located near schools … I totally agree with that. But … he proceeded to downgrade my audience by calling them ‘homeys.’ ” Still, the “Sweet Lady” vocalist will not change his position. “I think a lot of us artists are afraid to speak on obvious stuff that’s going on in our ‘hoods and in our communities because of things like this,” he told MTV News. “For me, I don’t want them to play my music. I don’t care; my position won’t change. I didn’t even get on there to do it on purpose, like, ‘Let me start some sh–.’ I got on there to talk about the album, and because it was fresh on my mind, and I spoke on it.” Related Artists Tyrese

See original here:
Tyrese Isn’t Fazed By Delaware Radio Ban

Thomas L. Friedman Warns: ‘Young People Need To Be Paying Attention’

Pulitzer Prize-winning writer discusses with MTV News ‘That Used to Be Us,’ his and Michael Mandelbaum’s just-released book about the U.S. By Tami Katzoff, with reporting by Sway Calloway Thomas L. Friedman Photo: Nancy Ostertag/ Getty Images Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Thomas L. Friedman has been talking about foreign policy with his friend Michael Mandelbaum for two decades. Over the past couple of years, though, they started to notice something different about their conversations. “Every time we started off talking about the world, we’d end up talking about America,” Friedman recalled when he spoke with MTV News recently. “And we realized basically that America — its fate, future, vigor, vitality — was really the biggest foreign-policy issue in the world.” The two friends recognized the enormity of the role the U.S. plays in the world — for good or bad. “We’re kind of the tent pole that holds up a lot of the global economy,” Friedman said. “That tent pole buckles or frays, your kids won’t just grow up in a different America; they’ll grow up in a very different world. So there’s a lot at stake.” Friedman and Mandelbaum were inspired to write their new book, “That Used to Be Us: How America Fell Behind in the World It Invented and How We Can Come Back.” In it, they identify four major challenges this country is currently failing to meet: our chronic deficit, our pattern of energy consumption, globalization and the revolution in information technology. Friedman acknowledged that by failing to tackle these issues, his generation has made things very difficult for its descendants. “Young people need to be paying attention right now, because we’re messing with your future.” He cited the nation’s deepening deficit as an example and listed ways in which it will affect young people years from now if it’s not reversed. “One, the currency you hold will buy less. It will just be worth less,” he said. “Second, it won’t be so easy to get a job. The number of companies that will want to start up here, the number of employers that will say, ‘Hmm, I could hire a machine or I could hire a person, or I could hire cheap labor over in another country — I think I’ll go for the machine or the cheap labor.’ And third, you may be counting on your Social Security and your Medicare for when you get old like your parents are now — it may not be there.” Fortunately, these problems also hold countless opportunities, like for those who can find innovative ways to address our nation’s excessive energy consumption. “Whoever invents these systems and technologies is going to have a huge global market in order to thrive in,” Friedman said. Meeting all these challenges, Friedman explained, will spur economic growth. “And if we’re growing, then there’s money for a lot of things, and there’s a pie for everyone to get a slice. If we’re not growing, then we’re fighting over the slices, and we’re collecting all the crumbs.” Related Videos Thomas L. Friedman Says The Next Generation Will Have To Invent Their Job

See the original post here:
Thomas L. Friedman Warns: ‘Young People Need To Be Paying Attention’