1.  John Coltrane, A Love Supreme (1964) “A culmination of much of Coltrane’s work up to this point, this four-part suite is an ode to his faith in and love for God (not necessarily God in the Christian sense — in the liner notes of Meditations he says “I believe in all religions”). These spiritual concerns would characterize much of Coltrane’s composing and playing from this point onwards, as can be seen from album titles such as Ascension, Om and Meditations. The fourth movement of A Love Supreme, “Psalm”, is, in fact, a musical setting for an original poem to God written by Coltrane, and printed in the album’s liner notes. Coltrane plays almost exactly one note for each syllable of the poem, and bases his phrasing on the words.” (Source)

2. The Class (Dir: Laurent Cantent) Based on a book by François Bégaudeau about the professional and ethical challenges of an inner-city Parisian teacher during the academic year.  Lauded with a Palme D’or for its riveting documentary realism that dared to reveal the racial tension in Modern France, the film nevertheless manages to escape the local and attempt the universal.  Moral complexity abounds between the walls of the classroom.

3.  The Complete Optic Nerve Mini-Comics By: Adrian Tomine

“Dear Adrian, I’m very sorry that it’s taken so long for me to write back to you.  I’ve been following your work since Optic Nerve No.1 and I think you’re a very talented cartoonist.  Most of the time, you have a good sense of storytelling and artistically you have a strong sense of style.  I think most of your best stories so far have been the ones where you’re not in them as a character (no offense personally!) or where you’re just a minor character.  Perhaps you should consider writing fictional stories.  Pieces like “Train I Ride” or the longer narratives featuring other characters have been far more interesting to read than, say, “My Appearance On The Jane Pratt Show”, which I think is one of your weakest stories to date.  The key is to concentrate on being a writer and not on just being a reporter.  In any case, please keep me updated on all your new work.  I think you’ll continue to improve and I’m hoping at one point, in some form, we’ll be able to publish your work.”

- Chris Oliveros, publisher of Drawn and Quarterly before realizing that work he was critiquing was being done by a 16 year old high school sophomore.