Q. First of all, congratulations on the book. What is the book about?
A. Thanks! And much LOVE to you and the UC! Nice to see someone capture all the inspiring things going on Uptown. The book is called “Notes to Self: Vol. 1 Love, Reflection, and Them.” And it’s sort of…I guess you can say a scratch book of my thoughts in the form of poetry. I left in a lot of typos and what not, to give it that raw feel. It’s broken it down into 3 sections (Love, Reflection, and Them). And the first part is introspective, and me battling myself and my thoughts. My personal experiences and how I view MY world, specifically “the hood” and the people in it. Also the negative and positive emotions, that comes from the mentality growing up out here. The second part Love is (which is obviously a concept everyone deals with). My personal experiences with that concept, as well as how I battle the thought of being “in love.” Last is “Them” which is thoughts, on people who have influenced my being…both negative and positive. I wrote a lot of it very abstract, so it can be different things for different people…but ultimately it’s all thoughts that we as human beings deal with.
Q. What made you want to write the book?
A. What made me write the book? Hhmm.. Honestly I’m not sure. Since an early age I have been a writer. In the 4th grade my work was used in school to demonstrate creative writing. At 19, I was a registered songwriter for BMI. I always wanted to be a songwriter for artists. Writing is my outlet! A couple years ago I was in a “dark” place. Went through some very life altering experiences, and it seemed to have a domino effect. Bad ended up becoming worse! I’m not one to really express my feelings to people. The only way I could keep from going crazy, I guess, was to let it out on paper. A lot of it was written during that time, or when I was drunk one night at 5 am (lol). I found after a couple months I had 100’s of little thoughts and pieces. And I compiled the one’s I like the most. They say everything happens for a reason…so I guess the reason I went through that was for me to express those emotions to the world.
Q. What did you want to accomplish with the book?
A. What I want most to accomplish with this book is to show the youth that there’s another way. I’ve done a fair amount of traveling…In my travels I realized one major thing…that New Yorker’s (especially one’s from the hood) are the most materialistic people. Maybe second to L.A.( lol), but yes VERY materialistic. Where am I going with this you ask?…why do 15 year old boys sell drugs? It’s simple, because they want things! They see the older dudes, or even kids their age getting the latest sneakers, new cars, etc. And they want it! When since birth you see this, it becomes a vicious cycle and they take to the streets! Because we are taught from young… that we can’t be anything more than drug dealers, or those that are lucky athletes. So I want to show the youth, that you can be and do anything you put your mind to. And to utilize the lessons the street teaches us, to take over the corporate offices! In the words of one of my idols, Steve Jobs; “When you realize, that the world is being changed by people no smarter than you..you can accomplish AMAZING things…”
Q. Who is Frank Medina?
A. Frank Medina is ONE COOL GUY! Lol..let me stop. Nah man, I’m just another Dominican/Puerto Rican from Washington Heights trying to make something out myself. I guess one thing that separates me from most, is my HUSTLE! I try to do a million things, with the same common objective to take it to the next level. I’m a doer not a talker! I didn’t tell anyone I was writing a book…I just wrote a book! And that’s how I treat everything, I put my mind to it and I get it done..or die trying! Life is too short to live with regret and waste time!
Q. Anything else you want our audience to know about you?
Well, like I said I do a million and one things. I’m also an event coordinator; host, DJ bookie and I even play around with music. You can hear some of my tracks on Youtube (“Hand In the Air”, “Tried So Hard”, “Bounce Kitty remix”) artist name FRANKELITO MEDINA /page is FRANK2HOT4U. Also work with Lomaximoproductions.com, a Latin Music Website/online radio with famous Latin DJ’s from all over the world. That’s about it! Follow me on twitter @FRANKELITONYC, and you can check out my book on Amazon or Barnesnobles.com. Enjoy and remember; you are who YOU say you are, not who THEY say you are…
The book is also available at Word Up Books (4157 Broadway).
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