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

When people think of hall of fame worthy moments, there're usually times where crowds of people get to witness things outside of the norm being performed. As a former athlete, I've observed some of those kinds of moments. In a recent trip back to my home town of High Point, North Carolina , I had a chance to relive some of those times. In an effort to celebrate the contributions of myself and twelve other amazing people, my high school T. Wingate Andrews , and its' Hall of Fame selection committee, chose us to represent the TWA Sports Hall of Fame class 2015. I can recall on the day that I received the message about being selected, my mind immediately took me on the journey of when and where it all started. I thought about the thousands of student athletes before me that had endured things that made my career simpler than theirs had been. I also paid homage to those that mentored me through my growing pains. Soon after receiving the individual phone call, there was a ...

The world has countless freedoms that it exercises the right to use daily.  Some of us use those freedoms better than others. Why is that?  I believe that our ideals and perceptions are shaped by variations of our exposure to our thoughts about colors. Most people overlook the impact of color. Think about it, from the time that we're conceived, the divide of color is born right along with us. Little boys are put on the blue side, and little girls on the pink side. This concept didn't fully dawn on me until the birth of the "Freddie Gray" protests here in Baltimore, Maryland. Now I know that many of you are asking, "what does the death of a man have to do with color"?  I believe that our upbringing contributes heavily in shaping how we see color. I also believe that color is a stand alone word. It's often used to categorize things in ways that people don't even realize. Ironically, it even applies to those who are visually impaired. It's used ...

In the fall of 2007 when the film "American Gangster" was released, it made an immediate impact at the box office.  Grossing $130 million dollars the films' success was publicly credited for what is typically unfamiliar--its' musical score. I was young in my career and often wondered the impacted of music in everyday life--particularly mine.  As fate would have it, a few months later the opportunity to travel to New York to sit down with Hank and Keith Shocklee presented itself.  Hank and Keith two of rap musics most decorated producers, delivered life-long lessons as it pertained to my world of insight. With both men having been credited to the success of early rap groups like Public Enemy and the famous Bomb Squad, every nugget  of information that they dropped was valuable.  Fresh off producing the hit single "Do You Feel Me", performed by Anthony Hamilton, their ideas and thoughts spoke to my senses. Within that interview I learned every music...