#WebseriesWednesdays: BLACK BOOTS

For those of you that don't know I am an alumnus of Morehouse College, a prestigious historically black college (also known as an HBCU) located in the heart of the southern mecca, Atlanta, GA. In addition to being conferred my degree a few years back, I also left those hallowed grounds a member of a Greek fraternal organization, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity of America, Inc. With my membership came experiences, responsibilities and bonds of brotherhood that I will always cherish. Shortly after my matriculation at Morehouse, I also became a member of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc. With my love and dedication for both my fraternal organizations and the brotherhood of Morehouse, I was quite excited to have stumbled upon this weeks webseries, BLACK BOOTS.


BLACK BOOTS, is the creation of the artistic think tank, Band of Artist Filmmaking Collective [BOA] founded by Geno Brooks, Jared Wofford and Lamont Pierre. BOA was recently featured on IndieWire's "32 Web Dramas Upstaging TV With Their Diversity". BLACK BOOTS lives up to the credit as one of the five series presented from the collective. Set on the fictional campus of Brooks University, BLACK BOOTS is shot through the lens of college freshman Grant Boyer who finds himself on one hell of a journey as he begins his membership intake process of a certain fraternity. Between the rigors of pledging, school work and a few other surprises, the first few episodes had me flashing back to my college days.

This series is nobody's School Daze, you won't see any musical numbers or Sam shouting on Morehouse College's century campus, but it does still capture an experience that leaves you nostalgic and even a bit regretful at times. I'll also will say for the record, that I don't condone hazing and there are instances in the film where the conversation of "pledging vs paper" certainly does arise. What I enjoyed after completing the first several episodes, was reading the comments under the video and seeing viewers (both Greek and non-Greek) challenging what they were seeing in the film. As you know, the first step to solving any social problem is to have a open dialogue.

So, I share this series with you to make you think, give you some college memories and for some give you one of the many different experiences of Greek Life (some of the things in the series are a bit...well I'll let you judge for yourselves.)


#artsupportsart

Keep up with BLACK BOOTS on Facebook, here.

Watch BLACK BOOTS Episode 1 here:

There's always enough black to go around,

Pat

#5 Broadway

14 SOLDIERS

Fall 2008

Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity of America, Inc.

#2 Othello

Blue Phire

Fall 2013

Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity of America, Inc.