Spike Lee told his audience about his childhood dreams of being a professional baseball player at his lecture Saturday.

Lee Discusses Politics, College Experience

By: Valerie Calderon

Posted: 3/28/08

Words centered on politics and youth emanated from the voice of writer and director Spike Lee Saturday evening at the Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts.

Lee was the keynote speaker for "The Harlem Renaissance Revisited: Politics, Arts & Letters," a conference hosted by the Institute of African American Studies in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

A rather large audience came to hear the words of the well-known director.

"It's Spike Lee, he's probably one of the most famous, influential guys to come to UConn this year," said Joe Williams, a 2nd-semester exploratory major.

Lee walked on the stage dressed down in jeans and a Yankees baseball cap hung low over his glasses. After quickly bringing up that the UConn men were bounced out of the NCAA tournament early on, he moved on to talk about the current political campaign.

Lee spoke conversationally as he discussed the importance of youth in the current campaign. Other major issues discussed were the state of the economy and the war.

"We are in our fifth year of war. A war we were tricked into," said Lee.

Obama's recent speech on race relations was another topic of dialogue that Lee seemed to feel very strongly about. He said that, in this country, we need to talk about race and the only way that will happen is by starting with a dialogue.

Lee then moved on to discuss how he became a filmmaker, but mentioned that wasn't his first career choice.

"I wanted to be an athlete. It's okay you can all laugh," Lee joked. His original plans were to play second base for the New York Mets.

His baseball dreams did not come to fruition; instead he went to Morehouse College and began school as a C+ student.

"I was totally unmotivated and just B.S.-ing," said Lee about his early college experience.

It was not until a professor encouraged Lee to use some raw footage that he had taken over the summer to create a short film, did Lee realize he would become a filmmaker. The film he created was called "Last Hustle in Brooklyn" and chronicled the summer of 1977, what Lee said was one of the hottest summers on record. This was the summer of the blackout in New York and the first summer of disco.

Lee went on to say that this is the time, in college to find out what it is that you love. He also mentioned that he couldn't have gotten where he is now without his family.

"It's also important to cut the dead and negative people off around you," Lee said. His advice seemed especially relevant for college students.

He finished the lecture by discussing the way the media, including hip-hop music, has its values upside down.

"I hear Flava Flav has a new show now, how does that happen?" Lee joked.

He plugged a film he has coming out Oct. 10 about black soldiers that fought in World War II. The movie, which was filmed in Italy, is about the 92nd division of Buffalo soldiers.

Lee's lecture included advice not only for college students, but he also spoke about his own political ideas and views, which are so predominant in his films.

"I like how he brought new ideas forth," said Jed Mariner, a 2nd-semester exploratory major.

"I thought he was inspirational," said Monica Daniels, a 4th- semester psychology major. "I especially liked how he talked about giving back to the community."

The lecture was concluded by a brief question-and-answer session that was opened up to audience members.

Lee is currently a film teacher at NYU. Besides teaching the filmmakers of tomorrow, his role in the media has been vast - writing, directing, and producing films as well as founding his own production company, 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks.

Notable films directed by Lee include, "Malcolm X," "Jungle Fever," "25th Hour," "The Original Kings of Comedy," "Summer of Sam," "Get on the Bus" and "Do the Right Thing."

Contact Valerie Calderon at Valerie.Calderon@UConn.edu.