Vision Beyond The Lens by -J.J. McQueen-

5 years ago today my world changed forever. I was sitting in front of my Mac Apple G5 editing a highlight reel for the Maryland little league super bowl game. For me it was the shot heard around the world. Unfortunately, in that moment the bullet felt like it hit me. I remember a thick silence and a loud ringing in my ears. It was probably the sound of denial being unmasked as pain at the sound of hearing my mother had passed away... Several years removed from that moment, my thoughts are much different about her absence. I focus on the things that I learned from her existence. I've often made reference to one of my first loves being football a sport that she probably hated. Mainly due to the risk of the game, but she cared so much about my dreams and beliefs she took the extra time to support me. I remember my dad being away at work one weekend and she had to put my pads in my game pants. What a day that was. I looked like a replacement player, but she never let me kno

In 2010 I was blessed to make strides that one could only dream of. Personally I was able to revise special bonds and build on consistent ones. Professionally, I don't even know where to begin. I have 5 new business partners who I plan on making history with, ( www.greiBo.com , greiBo Cru coming soon). With such a productive year behind me, I've had to ask myself how do you top that? So 10 days into the new year the answer came to me. I don't. I've come to the conclusion if I focus on all that I accomplished last year that this year will be a bust. My focus has to increase in places that are unfamiliar to me. In doing that, I will have then opened myself up to the windows of change and progress. The things of yesteryear are yesterdays news. So to my family and friends, let's go make some new history in 2011.

Never in my life have I been an avid reader. However, this year I've made it a point to become one. Aside from reading the Bible I picked up The HP Way by David Packard , one of the original owners of the Hewlett Packard Company , and Black Faces In White Places by Randal Pinkett the first African American winner of the Celebrity Apprentice . I purchased these two books on the same day and little did I know that it would be the perfect marriage of things to read. Going into 2011 the economy was down and so were people. I took an unstable time as a personal challenge to be more creative. This meant I had to increase my working knowledge of the business of business and redirect my attention to forging new and meaningful relationships. With my new reading material I've learned a great deal about both elements that I mentioned above. In ten years of being in the visual media world I've worked with who I believe are the best of the best in the industry. However, there