This week on The Media Lounge-

Dre has.  He wants everyone to open their eyes and their ears.  Released on June 1st, (and just debuted onSnoop Dogg’s IG page where it gained 250,000 views in under 30 minutes)“Captured On A iPhone” is both a tribute to all those we’ve lost to police brutality when the iPhones weren’trolling, while being Dre’s plea for us to face the elephant in the room head on.

A direct response to George Floyd’s preventable death this week, the piece is an emotional tapestry of the 3x Grammy-Award winning producer and songwriter’s feelings about everything engulfing our world today, from hate to racism, the pandemic and violence, and more. This track is the one bitter pill every American needs to swallow this summer.

States Dre “I’m a huge fan of NWA, Ice Cube, Public Enemy, and Tupac to name a few. They spoke truth to power through their music and I felt compelled to do the same. These are just my thoughts and emotions in this song and in no way do I advocate violence against any human being. We’re just sick and tired of being murdered. God bless.”

If there was ever a comparison to exemplify the diameters of Amara La Negra as an entertainer, it would be identical to the energy given by international musical starlet, Shakira. Amara’s musical inspiration hail from the ambiance of Beyoncé, the bold direction stemmed from Rihanna, and the soft inviting presence of Bruno Mars.

Amara is the embodiment of the woman of today who was created with a hint of the past and a twist of tomorrow. With a Spanish and Caribbean background, the songstress describes herself as eccentric, vibrant, and ambitious. Amara La Negra, born Diana Danelys De los Santos, is an international entertainer, singer/songwriter, actress, model, and esteemed philanthropist. She is a woman of dimensions who feeds her soul with the love and passion she inhales from performing across the world. 

Chef Sean and Chicago Native has been a force in the music industry in the rap/ hip hop genre with ample amount of accomplishments under his belt, charted Billboard charts at number four for "Hot Single Sales" summer 2016 for a rap single entitled "Dope Boy", Rolling Loud Tours, national media tours, and the list goes on.

 Chef Sean is also known as a Trap Rock artist with his rap-infused rock group "Chef Sean & Blaze" based out of Los Angeles, California. He decided to go solo for his newest ventures and feature rap singles. In his music, you can see elements of his Chicago roots where he first began his music career and learned to produce, song write and rap, but also his love of L.A. and the catalyst of his music career. Chef Sean is also a talented actor that has appeared in Television & film since the age of 12. Some of his credits include; lead in "Jason's Lyric" starring alongside Allen Payne, Forrest Whitaker & Jada Pinkett Smith, "There are No Children Here" (Harpo productions) and "Missing Persons" on ABC. A recent   Sci- Fi   / Thriller film "Teeth & Blood" Chef Sean starred in, he performed and produced the theme song in the movie as well as additional song placement.

GABRIEL’S LIGHT LAUNCHES PROMOTING ACTIVE DEVICE MONITORING INITIATIVE TO IMPROVE SAFETY IN SCHOOLS

Gabriel’s Light Urges the Implementation of Internet Monitoring & Alert  Protocols in Schools
While Raising Awareness on Pre-Adolescent Suicide, Mental Health and Cyber Bullying

-Gabriel’s Light, a fund established with the mission to strengthen protocols in schools regarding device monitoring with alerts for school provided technology, supporting suicide education, and offering healing for those impacted by suicide while advocating kindness through youth programs has been launched in Chicago. The organization was founded by Carol and Brendan Deely, who lost their son, Gabriel, 12, to death by suicide in November of 2018.

Gabriel was adopted from Ethiopia as a baby in 2006, joining three biological older sisters, and became big brother to Isaiah when he was adopted in 2009. The family was shocked and devastated when their seemingly happy, outgoing, kind boy so abruptly passed, and set out to try to discover why.    

The night Gabriel died, personal items including his electronic devices were handed over to Chicago Police Detectives for investigation. Like many of his peers in junior high, Gabriel had become increasingly pre-occupied with video games, YouTube and group texts with classmates. His parents actively limited and monitored his online presence on his phone and home devices. The digital forensics examination of home devices found no search history to help answer why Gabriel died. His family planned Gabriel’s funeral under the belief that he must have been trying a prank, accidentally harming himself while goofing around. 

That naivete was crushed when content from the electronic device assigned to him at school, one that never left the school building, was finally made available to the Deely family an anxious three weeks later. The family received two school device internet search history reports. Unlike the CPD reports of benign searches on Gabriel’s home devices, the family was horrified to read the report from his school device indicating Gabe had searched suicide and bullying numerous times the last eleven school days he was alive. Immediately the reality was clear - there was no follow through on device monitoring nor alert protocols despite the school’s IT contract signed by Gabe’s parents and internet monitoring protocols established by the Archdiocese of Chicago “Protecting God’s Children” initiative.

Due to this tragic incident, the Deely family has created Gabriel’s Light to advocate for the implementation of 1:1 device monitoring with alerts in schools.  Technology in schools has given rise to numerous programs to create parameters for safe student use of the web and notification when these parameters are breached. Applications like Bark Technologies (free for schools) allows schools and parents to work in partnership to encourage use of the web within age-appropriate guidelines.

A small notebook found in Gabriel’s room was returned to the Deely family by the Chicago Police Department following his death. That notebook contained one entry and it was from the day he died. Forensic psychologists have interpreted that Gabe felt isolated and alone at school; diminished, not good enough, hopeless. There was evidence of him feeling bullied. Gabriel’s Light will serve as a gateway for parents in what to look for in  signs that your child is being bullied; how to advise your children in this situation; and also lecture/film series with partner experts to discuss these issues with educators, students and parents.

After suffering first-hand from the lack of smart device supervision in their own child’s school, the founders of Gabriel’s Light hope to spread awareness to schools across the country to set protocols in place so future related incidences could be avoided. “Losing a child to suicide is a parent’s worst nightmare,” said Gabriel’s mother, Carol Deely. “Knowing that our seemingly happy, outgoing son, who shared a bright smile with everyone around him, was a target of bullying at school is absolutely heartbreaking,” continued Deely. “The only thing more heartbreaking is our belief that his suicide could have been prevented. If the school had proper technology & keyword alerts in place – an intervention could have taken place.  We want to make sure another family doesn’t suffer the same loss of a child to suicide again.”

“We hope to get our messaging out to every school around the country, so that awareness training and technology monitoring is put into place before it’s too late for another family,” said Brendan Deely, Gabriel’s father. “Our slogan at Gabriel’s Light is that kindness does matter, we’re promoting pro-kindness & partnering with organizations that help youth recognize the unknown burden or pain that someone else may be carrying.”

Carol Deely states, ““As parents, we know the importance of modeling courage for our four surviving children. It isn’t easy sharing our experience of losing Gabe to suicide. But talking about it with others is the right thing to do. Amidst our storm, we want to shine a light on helping keep all children safe at school and everywhere. One of our hopes for our surviving children is that when they are challenged in life, they have the strength and courage to do what’s right, even if it‘s hard. Through Gabriel’s Light, already we have seen people making a difference learning from our experience - they are asking questions, reaching out to others and acting courageously. In just the few short weeks since launch, Gabriel’s Light has been thanked for saving a life.  Making a difference for someone else, the impact of Gabriel’s Light is growing rapidly. “

For more information or to learn how to get involved, please visit www.gabrielslight.org or email info@gabrielslight.org. To make a donation to the Gabriel’s Light fund, click here. Follow Gabriel’s Light on Facebook.  

Born in Queens, New York, Madera was raised with his family in Santiago, Dominican Republic, where he began his acting career in the Dominican Republic television production “Grandes Series Domincanas” with a leading role in the limited-series “En La Olla” and “Trio en Alta Mar,” both helmed by director/producer Alfonso Rodríguez. After college, Madera moved to New York City to pursue acting and began booking prominent roles in feature films including DREAMING OF JULIA with Harvey Keitel and Gael García Bernal, THE LOST CITY opposite Andy Garcia, Dustin Hoffman, and Bill Murray, and THE WRATH OF CAIN alongside Ving Rhames and Robert Patrick, to name a few. While in New York City he also appeared on "Bookies Lament", before returning to the Dominican Republic to star in the mini-series "Asalto en la Lincoln". Immediately after, Madera became a part of the Primetime television series production and cast member of both hit sitcoms "Los Electrolocos"(lead) and "Ciudad Nueva". 

The star then notably played ‘Tavo’ on the action movie La Soga in 2009. Similarly, Madera gave his voice for the character Chorizo in an animated action-comedy movie Rango in the year 2011. Then in 2014, the actor worked in the drama thriller movie Supremacy. In the film, he played the role of Miguel. Madera is best known for his role as Mexican drug cartel criminal ‘Ignacio’ on Showtime’s hit dark comedy “Weeds.” Up next, Madera will star in a recurring role as a retired baseball player on the IFC television series “Brockmire.”

When he’s not starring on hit television shows, Madera enjoys playing guitar, golf, flying airplanes and lending his time to organizations dedicated to spreading awareness for Down Syndrome. Madera resides in Nashville and is happily married, living with his two children and wife, singer-songwriter, Jesse Lynn Madera.

Author Faust A. Ruggiero’s professional career spans almost 40 years. He has consistently established cutting-edge counseling programs in pursuit of professional excellence and personal life enhancement. He is a published research author, clinical trainer and a therapist who has worked in settings that have included clinics for deaf children, prisons, nursing homes, substance abuse centers and inpatient facilities. He continues to provide counseling services for veterans, first responders, law enforcement and other emergency personnel. During his tenure as the President of the Community Psychological Center in Bangor, Pennsylvania, he developed the Process Way of Life counseling program, and has adapted it into the formal text presented in The Fix Yourself Handbook. In February 2020, The Fix Yourself Handbook received the Silver Award from The Nonfiction Authors Association.

For more information, please visit https://www.faustruggiero.com/, or connect with him on social media at https://www.facebook.com/faust.ruggiero; https://twitter.com/faustinspire; or https://www.instagram.com/faustinspire/.