When was the last time you thought of politics as something fun, engaging, and inspiring? Let's face it -- daily headlines about mounting deaths in Iraq, domestic spying, broken health care system and sinking economy are overwhelming and depressing and that's not a good state of mind for fighting long-term battles. Where do we find strength and inspiration in these dark days? Try Music for America.

The San Francisco-based group was started by three pissed off, young guys, who were tired of formulaic and boring ways that dominate political discussions and meet-ups. They wanted to leave more inspired, talk about what can be done, have some fun while at it and see other young faces engaged. So, they started throwing their own kind of meet-ups with a little bit more music, positive messages, and discussions that relate distant D.C. Politics to the lives of students, punks, hipsters, hip-hop, or reggae fans. Online, they now have 60,000 members. Offline, they've paired up with over 200 bands and went on 2000 music concerts across the country to register voters and to talk about things young people can relate to and do to make a difference.

This Thursday, March 9, Music for America will throw their biggest party of the year to celebrate 2006 Icon Award winners, such as the outspoken bands Green Day and Death Cab and Cutie among others. If you live in the Bay Area, check out their After Party. Green Day, Moon Zappa, Nate Query from the Decemberists, Boots Riley from the Coup, MFA staff and hundreds of their members and fans will be there to talk about some positive things in politics and listen to some of the most edgy and inspiring music to recharge our spirits.

If you don't live near San Francisco, you can be there online at Musicforamerica.org from 7-10 p.m. PST, as Bob Bringham blogs live from the event.

Did you notice censored words during this year's Rolling Stone's performance for NFL's halftime show? Lyrics that haven't been bleeped out for half a century. Ever wonder who's pushing those buttons? And who makes those decisions?

Dead Air Dave has been hitting the omnipotent button of the dump machine since 2002. He was in charge of removing all those mischievous words from The Howard Stern Show, as dictated by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). In this recently published, fascinating interview with him on FMQB.com, he talks about the changes in the censorship of commercial radio in the post-Janet era.

The most absurd outcome seems to be the banning of words like 'piss' while racial slurs continue unabated. On the brighter side, Dear Air seems inspired by the rise of Sattelite Radio.

Dead Air Dave also produced a short documentary about his experiences as the supreme bleeper.

[via Rockrap.com]

Tomorrow, February 1st, Congress will take a final vote on the Budget Reconciliation Bill. If passed, this bill will cut $12.7 billion dollars from student loan programs. This will be the largest cut to student aid in history. It will add on average of $2,000 to each student's debt each year.

American students already graduate with more debt than students in any other industrialized country. Two-thirds of college students now graduate with loans, and their average college debt is nearly $20,000 -- an increase of more than 50 percent since the early 1990s.

These cuts affect everyone -- dems, republicans, greens, independents -- especially low-income students and anyone who wants to go into lower-paying positions after school, such as teaching, social work, or public sector.

The United States Student Association, the League of Young Voters, Campaign for Our Future and hundreds of other organizations across the country are calling for a National Day of Action today.

For more information on how to stop this bill, please visit Ourfuture.org or Usstudents.org.

Here's your chance to show how to filibuster!

It's not every day that you see a Saudi foreign minister going against the Bush administration's assessment of Iraq.

While the White House continues to offer a generally upbeat assessment of Iraq, The New York Times reported this morning that "Prince Saud al-Faisal, the Saudi foreign minister, said Thursday that he had been warning the Bush administration in recent days that Iraq was hurtling toward disintegration, a development that he said could drag the region into war."

"Prince Saud's statements, some of the most pessimistic public comments on Iraq by a Middle Eastern leader in recent months, were in stark contrast to the generally upbeat assessments that the White House and the Pentagon have been offering."

"There is no dynamic now pulling the nation together," he said in a meeting with reporters at the Saudi Embassy here. "All the dynamics are pulling the country apart." He said he was so concerned that he was carrying this message "to everyone who will listen" in the Bush administration."

(Thanks for the lead Gerry.)

The Student Aid Action just reminded me that on September 26th, the Congress is considering a proposal to cut federal financial aid programs by nearly $9 billion dollars. If this cut passes, it will be the largest cut to student aid in history, forcing the typical student borrower to pay an additional $5,800 for his or her student loans and further closing the door on affordable college opportunities.

When the U.S. government can spend $1 billion on military operations in Iraq every day, we should be able to find a fraction of it for helping low-income students.

As I've mentioned in previous entries, student debt in the U.S. has risen dramatically in the last decade. Two-thirds of college students now graduate with loans, and their average college debt is nearly $20,000 -- an increase of more than 50 percent since the early 1990s.

American students already graduate with more debt than students in any other industrialized country. Financial Aid cuts affect low-income students and growing debt overall closes opportunities for graduates that want to go into lower paying positions, such as teaching and social work.

Take Action -- make a quick phone call before September 26th and urge your representative to oppose this proposal. Visit Student Aid Action website for instructions.

The Worcester-based Participatory Culture Foundation just released free, open-source software for video -- DTV -- that allows individuals to create their own alternative TVs on their computers. DTV also allows millions of independent video bloggers and makers to bypass mainstream distributors and reach their viewers for free.

In a world where a new blog is created every three seconds, it’s hard to keep up with and filter such massive amount of information. DTV helps to view our favorite video content or ‘channels’ -- without visiting their website every day -- and learn about the new comers to the open source community.

This type of software might be covered in the “10 Things that Changed the World� specials in the next decade. The distribution barriers have been higher for video than for other mediums. Even short video files, lasting just a few minutes, can be many times larger than an average MP3 music file. With the inclusion of RSS feeds, it is now easy to share and view video content.

DTV turns into a DIY TV hub or aggregator on your computer with easy archiving and viewing tools. It takes no more than five minutes to download the software. DTV has an intuitive interface and flexible folders for ‘channel’ management. And it already comes with a few independent news channels that you can subscribe to, like the Media Matters’ daily updates of the right-wing, well ... nonsense. Like when Jim Dobson compared embryonic stem cell research to Nazi experiments.

Every serious movement needs a band.

Social change takes years, often without an end in sight. Luckily, there are socially conscious musicians who help keep that hope and perseverence alive. Both the civil rights movement and the Vietnam war protests became more visible, personal and bigger with the help of Bob Dylan, the Beatles, a "We Shall Overcome" song created by African American textile workers, and Harry Belafonte, among many others, who often accompanied Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Operation Ceasefire" is a new coalition of concerned musicians determined to drum up the fight against what they believe is a misguided and immoral occupation of Iraq. Representing the breadth and diversity of the anti-war movement, "Operation Ceasefile" will bring some of the world's best punk, hip-hop, electronic and indie musicians to D.C. for a free, day-long concert on September 24. The concert will feature Thievery Corporation, Le Tigre, The Pharmacists, The Coup, Head-Roc, Ted Leo and many more. Activists Wayne Kramer, MC5, and Greg Palast will speak. The concert is a part of the larger four-day rally in Washington D.C.

For more information on the concert and rallies, click here.

Young people in Oakland and Fruitvale are fed up with Clear Channel. They are going door to door to explain to local communities how to shut them down.

In an article called “How to Turn Your Red State Blue,� Christopher Hayes found that religious groups that actively proselytize door to door -- Mormons, Evangelical Protestants, Islam -- are experiencing the highest membership growth. Political science studies Hayes cited also show that “Roughly one out of every 15 voters approached at the door will add their vote to your tally.�

And even though most Americans remain progressive in their support for taxation, health care, education spending, Social Security, and a safe environment, more call themselves ‘conservative’ today and vote seemingly against their own interests.

One popular explanation for this puzzling disconnect between the values of most Americans and the actual conservative voting record is the rise of right-wing and Christian radio. Ever since the Federal Communications Commission relaxed the radio ownership rules from in 1996, the hateful views and frequent lies of Rush Limbaugh and Michael Savage have gone from 50 stations onto 1200.

Clear Channel -- who sponsored pro-war rallies throughout the country and hired Michael Savage after he was fired by MSNBC for labeling a caller “a sodomite� and telling him to “get AIDS and die� -- is now the world’s largest radio broadcaster, concert promoter and billboard owner. Clear Channel’s cookie-cutter stations shut out independent musicians, replace DJs with computer-assisted voice segments, and ignore local community issues.

California youth are finally getting fed up and are taking matters in their hands. Last week, Oakland-based Youth Media Council kicked off their campaign “Talking Back to Radio� in which they are demanding that Clear Channel increase community-based programming to 50 percent. If not, they're asking the FCC to revoke the broadcast licenses of three stations: 106.1 KMEL, Wild 94.8AM 910AM KNEW.

Youth Media Council and allies went door to door to talk to people about how local media affects their lives and collected complaint cards for a mailing to the FCC. At the end of this year, many radio station licenses are coming up for renewals and it is your chance to talk back to your radio.

Check out Youth Media Council’s and Free Press’ websites for more information about a variety of national radio license renewal campaigns this year.

Are you fed up with radio in your community? Which stations and why?

Pew Internet and American Life project just released a fascinating study on our technology habits. AlterNet readers have of course known for years that getting news and analysis online is often more efficient, environmentally-friendly, cheaper -- sometimes free (thanks to hard-working fundraisers at AlterNet) -- and allows for a variety of views that the conveyor-belt of mainstream media misses.

Turns out the next generation is geared up to amplify this trend.

A survey released on July 28, by the Pew Project found that nearly nine in 10 teens (87 percent) are Internet users. By comparison, only about 66 percent of adults use the Internet.

Eighty-four percent of teens reported owning at least one communication device, either a desktop or laptop computer, a cell phone or a personal digital assistant.

They are likely to share links, photos, music and video files by instant message. Between IMs, they play games online.

It showed a surge in the size of the wired teen population at seventh grade.

The study also summarized what teens do online: (the percentage of U.S. Internet users, ages 12-17)

84% - Go to Web sites about movies, TV shows, music groups, sports
76% - Go online to get news or information about current events
75% - Send or receive instant messages
57% - Go online to get information about college
22% - Look for information about a health topic that's hard to talk about

And while adults increasingly use e-mail for impersonal communication, which according to the recent Forbes analysis is getting more confrontational and rude every day, teens prefer cell phones, instant messaging and inter-personal communication to connect with their peers. Nearly half have cell phones to keep in touch with home and friends.

Every month I painfully send away a quarter of my paycheck to pay for my student loans. Since I and millions of other students have to do it for the next 20 years, how are we ever going to be able to save for anything?

Last week, the GOP-dominated House Education Committee had a chance to help students out by changing financial aid laws, but they didn't. Earl Hadley, the education coordinator of TomPaine.com just reported that the new Higher Education bill favors lenders over students. The new bill raises maximum interest rate from 6.8 to 8.25 percent and it rejected a bipartisan amendment that would allow schools to provide more aid to students.

GOP claims that the bill has good things in it, such as an increase in the amount you can borrow. But no provision alleviates the fact that our college students graduate with more debt than students in any other industrialized country.

According to Student Loan Watch, student debt in the U.S. has risen dramatically in the last decade. Two thirds of college students now graduate with loans, and their average college debt is nearly $20,000 -- an increase of more than 50% since the early 1990s.

Our growing reliance on loans to pay for college has serious implications:

- Low-income students are extremely reluctant to take out loans. They either skip college, attend it part-time and usually in lower-quality schools, or work excessively, or they join the military.
- Recent graduates who hoped to go into public service -- teaching, social work, non-profits -- find that their college debt pushes them in other directions, usually toward corporate jobs.
- Increasingly, students are extending loan repayment to 30 years, which makes home ownership impossible and retirement saving difficult.
- Unpaid internships, which constitute majority of opportunities out there are not an option for low- and middle-class folks.

The House and Senate will review this bill in September.

If you'd like to stay informed about the ways you can affect national policy related to student debt, sign up on TICAS e-mail list. This non-profit is one of the few groups in the U.S. building an alternative national initiative to reduce student debt.

The U.S. Department of Education only recently removed false statements from its website regarding the financial aid eligibility of students with drug convictions after the organization Students for Sensible Drug Policy raised objections. While SSDP requested the changes in early June, the change took place after this year’s aid application deadline, denying help to thousands of students.

For those of you who read a personal essay by Marissa Garcia, 24 on AlterNet, you already know that since 1998 more than 160,000 students have been denied financial aid because of prior drug convictions. Garcia was caught with a pipe containing marijuana residue. And even though she pleaded guilty and paid her dues, the government in essence told her that there was nothing she could do to redeem herself. Garcia was not encouraged to get her life back on track by going to school.

This provision was slipped into the Higher Education Act (HEA) without debate or a recorded vote in 1998 by Rep. Mark Souder (R-IN, 3rd District). Since then, more than 180 organizations have risen in opposition to Souder's HEA Drug Provision, such as the National Education Association, the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, the Association for Addiction Professionals, the NAACP, and the United States Student Association.

In response to this outrage, Souder has backtracked, but his new proposal still denies aid to students that are convicted while enrolled in college.

There is nothing wrong with a slap on the wrist or a warning (which is already accomplished by a drug conviction), but taking students out of college does not keep them away from drugs and prisons. What’s more, this law punishes only students from low- and middle-income backgrounds. Those from wealthier backgrounds who do not rely on aid are not affected. This law stifles social mobility and undermines meritocracy.

As Students for Sensible Drug Policy states, “It simply doesn’t make sense to push less fortunate and at-risk students out of school for their mistakes. Judges already have the authority to revoke student aid from drug convicts, and universities can expel problem students.�

The House and the Senate are currently considering revisions to the Higher Education Act, including the Drug Provision. Contact your representatives in Congress and urge them to fully repeal the Drug Provision and help young people get the education they need to live productive lives and be responsible citizens.

Take Action: Contact your Representatives in Congress here.

If you’ve been denied financial aid as a result of this policy, the Perry Fund has scholarships for you.

I love coming across new words. Just when something seems clichéd, overused, misunderstood, loaded with contradictory meaning – like the words ‘democracy’ and ‘freedom’ -- someone has a gift of being more precise, more thoughtful or just dead witty in defining a new reality.

Jessica Clark, the managing editor of In These Times, recently surprised me with an excellent new term “practivists,� which essentially means practical or pragmatic activists. What’s more, in her insightful essay Move Over, Boomers, Clark does what great writers are supposed to do -- they describe things that you see around you, but don’t have the time, skills, or talent to define in a way that makes perfect sense of it all.

Clark separates practivists from boomer-activists, and defines them as 30-somethings, who “prefer to emphasize similarities rather than dwell in the 'silos' of various '-isms.' Pragmatic, visionary and entrepreneurial, these "practivists," molded by the social and political trends of the last 15 years, are reshaping progressive politics. ... Like other, less-politicized members of their cohort, practivists are also savvy consumers and media critics. ... Their political and cultural mobility allows them to imagine alliances that confound older activists trained in identity politics or issue-based organizing.�

Clark points our their strengths, “Many are women, as educated, technically skilled and ambitious as their male counterparts, but less interested in inter-organizational competition and high-profile ideological sparring.�

But she also points out their weaknesses, “Taught that identifying with or romanticizing the oppressed is akin to colonizing them, many of these bloggers, culture jammers and radical consultants operate from a place of privilege not rooted in working America.�

To sum it up, contrary to boomers, practivists will help forge necessary alliances and build infrastructure for our fragmented progressive movement. But they are largely white and middle class.

Fortunately, there are groups like the National Hip Hop convention, the Independent League of Voters, Project Underground, Youth Media Council, Justice Now and many, many more that provide a missing link. These young activists go where practivists won’t go. And they keep doing that thankless, most crucial job of building direct relationships with their home backyards. They are organizing and moblizing -- to use Jeff Chang’s term -- a “militantly skeptical� generation that --thanks in huge part to these groups -- voted in record numbers in the last election.

If I ever leave my favorite job of editing and writing, I’ll be knocking on their door for a fundraiser’s position.

As I flip through the TV dial, I have to wonder if there are any moral taboos left at all on Reality TV. Are there still any frontiers of shock that can be crossed in the name of TV ratings?

For over a year now, MTV’s I Want a Famous Face Show is breaking down yet another moral barrier of what is acceptable and encouraged. The show selects obsessed fans and gets them a plastic surgery to make them look like the stars they admire. So far, the only celebrity that seems to be bothered by it is actress Drew Barrymore.

A few days ago Barrymore convinced a teenager not to undergo a plastic surgery that would make her look like Drew. Apparently, when Barrymore discovered MTV was set to film an episode about one of her fans, she tracked the girl down, and by phone informed her, "You're beautiful just as you are." The woman canceled the surgery and pulled out of the MTV series. Hopefully, it will inspire others to do the same.

At the start of the third year of the occupation of Iraq, the final session of the World Tribunal in Iraq (WTI) took place June 23-27 in Istanbul, Turkey. The culminating hearings are the result of two years of investigations into violations of international law and human rights by the United States and its allies.

The WTI's international testimonies and verdicts come on the heels of mounting evidence that the Bush administration might have been cooking its books to justify invasion. Nearly six in 10 Americans now say the U.S. should withdraw some or all of its troops from Iraq, and the House of Representatives just announced a formation of the Out of Iraq caucus with 61 founding members.

The Tribunal investigated various issues related to the war on Iraq: the legality of the war, the role of the United Nations, war crimes and the role of the media, as well as the destruction of cultural sites and the environment. WTI participants came from around the world and included Iraqi witnesses and experts as well as distinguished international figures. In his opening remarks, UNESCO Peace Prize holder Richard Falk said the Tribunal was "primarily an expression of popular democracy, of ethical conscience about what is right and wrong in world politics, and an expression of resistance to what is understood around the world as an American project to achieve world domination."

Deep Dish Television, the first national grassroots satellite network, has produced a 13-part, award-winning series called "Shocking & Awful," about the war and occupation of Iraq. The newest segment, just released, is on the World Tribunal on Iraq. Check this schedule for locations. Deep Dish is also selling DVDs with excerpts from the hearings. Contact them at (212 473 8933) or deepdish@igc.org. Watch excerpts from WTI proceedings.

"Could people below thirty raise their hands?" asked Mark Lloyd at the national Media Reform Conference in St. Louis. In a crowded room of about 50, eight hands slowly rose.

"People, this is your movement!" Lloyd, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, charged.

The recent conference -- held May 13-15 and organized by Free Press -- was both a milestone in grassroots organizing and a tribute to populism. More than 2,500 people from 50 states and eight countries came together, barely fitting into over 50 panels. There were community media producers, low-power radio station builders, city-owned internet advocates, hip-hop activists, lawyers, countless concerned citizens and some of the best-known voices in progressive media, including Bill Moyers, Naomi Klein, Al Franken, Davey D, and Jim Hightower.

Free Press, a national, media reform non-profit and conference organizer, cited increasing the diversity of participants as "one of the top priorities." The group put together an Outreach Committee including Youth Media Council, Clamor Magazine, and Media Tank to bring in younger faces and interests to this year's gathering. The Outreach Committee awarded $50,000 in scholarships and fee-waivers to youth and low-income activists.

But similar to most progressive movements, young people under 30 -- especially young people of color -- were an obvious minority. The median age of most participants hung stubbornly above 40.

Getting young people to give up their school breaks for a policy conference is not an easy task, though Free Press should be commended for attracting as broad a range as it did. The Youth Caucus that gathered about 40 partakers, revealed a broad cross-section from different sides of the map. There were 14-year-old high school students who in some cases heard about media reform for the first time, as well as 30-year-old veteran student organizers.

"Josh Breitbart from Clamor magazine invited me and got me a scholarship," explained Gavin Leonard, 24. Gavin heads Elementz, a Cincinnati-based hip hop arts center for low-income youth aged 14-24. Located in the city's Over-the-Rhine district, Elementz provides a free arts after-school program in a neighborhood where over 70 percent of residents are African-American and close to 90 percent of them live below the poverty level.

Jeanne Frith, 21, is majoring in Theater and Peace and Conflict studies at Cornell College. Jeanne belongs to a progressive student group of about 500. "I really enjoyed the conference. My friend told me about this," Frith said.

Colin Rhinesmith, 31, co-founded one of the first student-led media reform groups, called SCAMM (Students Concerned About Mass Media), at Emerson College this year. He got an invitation from Earl Dax, who heads student organizing efforts at Media Tank. "I wanted to see how people were talking about media reform ... in a clear and simple language. Students and youth have no idea what reform and policy means," says Colin.

Cynthia Blancaflor, 27, heard about the conference from Youth Media Council. She is an artist, singer and video coordinator for Oakland-based Youth Sounds. "It was useful to learn who calls the shots, to learn about consolidation and the recent FCC rules being pulled out," says Cynthia.

Why should media reform groups spend limited resources and energy on engaging youth?

"Historically, if you look at major social change movements, students were always at the forefront of it," Dax explains about why he chose to volunteer his time to organize students within media reform. "Students are one segment of society that is insulated from the real world responsibilities--high-paying jobs, mortgages. They can risk taking a confrontational stance."

As a genuinely grassroots, bi-partisan effort, the media reform movement is a unique success story. Free Press has become its de-facto national voice, and it's engagement with grassroots organizations around the country helped place media as the number two concern among Americans, according to recent surveys.

Most other progressive causes--environmentalism, civil rights, labor and women's issues--are suffering political defeats. Organized and managed in a top-down hierarchy, these movements have become inextricably linked to the Democratic Party.

But the continued success of media reform will depend on the willingness of its key leaders -- like Free Press -- to broaden their agenda-building meetings. "We want media in this country that reflects the American people in all of its diversity: racial, class, gender, voices, opinions," says Colin Rhinesmith when asked to articulate the vision of a just media system, which his student group is advocating for. "We should be invited to planning meetings, funders meetings. ... Also, as much as I like [Al] Franken and [Amy] Goodman, they are not speaking to me. We need to stop interviewing one another. We need to open up that circle," says Jared Ball, a professor at the University of Maryland, who trains young people of color to create their own music and radio shows through FreeMix Radio in Washington D.C.

Media reform groups also seem to lack a unified, clear vision of what media they are advocating for. "The first myth of [media reform] is that US media used to be democratic and has become less so over time. ... For people of color, women, and queer people, there has never been a free press," said Malkia Cyril of Youth Media Council arguing that communications rights must be tied to economic and racial justice.

Cynthia Blancaflor believes that adding diverse perspectives to the table will help activists make media issues more relevant in their back yards across the country. "They poked at corporations, inundation of logos, brands. They talked about the Big Six owning all media outlets," says Blancaflor. "But when I tell my largely poor youth community of color about the Big Six, I gets the 'So, what?' stares. There are more urgent concerns--poverty, violence, drug addictions."

Gavin Leonard argues that opening up media reform and progressive circles in general to youth will make media reform ideas more appealing to mainstream America. "Three years ago I subscribed to the Nation, Utne, the Progressive... And I felt depressed by how disconnected they are from young people, people of color, urban populations, regular people in the mid-west. At times, this conference felt like reading aloud from the Nation. ... I didn't hear anything new," comments Leonard.

"Progressives don't pay enough attention to design, marketing and presentation," Leonard adds. Young people can help make dull, serious information more entertaining and appealing.

As participants packed their suitcases and returned home, they shared suggestions for increasing youth engagement. "We need more young presence on the panels. It's adults talking about young people," Blancaflor reflected. She would like to hear young panelists share their methods of connecting national media policy issues to more immediate local needs. Discussions like these can help turn abstract political concepts into personal issues.

Leonard would like to see more long-term, ongoing, earnest conversations between the different groups at the conference. "Calling us once a year and inviting us feels very alienating. It breeds a process of tokenism. The left needs to spend time in their communities and build trust and relationships. Crossing this line is very important. ... We need to be more patient, do more planning, work together on that plan."

Jeanne Frith left wanting more tools for action. "I've heard about consolidation before and left somewhat depressed. There is so much corporate money in there. It's a much bigger beast than I thought."

"We need more caucuses and organizing on campuses. Panel workshops for students by students," says Rhinesmith. "We will work with Media Empowerment Project at the United Church of Christ to develop clear messages on why young people should care about media reform. ... We will tell them about existing policy groups, public access channels, encourage them to write for independent papers."

Earl Dax summarized key suggestions at the Youth Caucus and found that most participants asked for a national youth coalition. "We need to create a follow-up beyond the conference," says Dax, who is coordinating an online youth discussion group that will appear on Media Tank's website in the next few weeks. " We probably need separate tracks for high school and more advanced college students. ... And we need a youth introduction session before conference begins next year."

As debates over the long-term future of social security, war, environment and education policies continue, young people have arguably more at stake than any other group. With conservative cable networks expanding, church-groups mimicking Clear Channel in its domination over the low-power radio stations, and corporate advertising increasingly moving into the public education spheres, the battle over young minds and hearts becomes more urgent than ever.

"We're not going to win or lose -- it's a continuing battle," Mark Lloyd explained to a group of eight young students in a room full of veteran media activists. "But the continued success of this movement depends on your talent and your energy."