Help folks get free,

March 28, 2010
but don't get in the cage in order to let them out.

Having made the decision to commit myself to working toward a more just and equitable world and a world in which I can achieve freedom, but not at the cost of others' freedom, I begin to realize the scope of how this commitment has changed my life. I realize the extent to which it causes me to reflect on my actions, both personal and professional. And also the extent to which it has made me realize, in working with people who have been oppressed, and having been oppressed myself (both by outside forces and me) how careful I must be not to fall into habitual roles of (for lack of a better term) master and slave. Freire writes in Pedagogy of the Oppressed that "Solidarity requires that one enter into the situation of those with whom one is solidary" and "true solidarity with the oppressed means fighting at their side to transform the reality which has made them these 'beings for another.' The oppressor is soidary with the oppressed only when he stops regarding the oppressed as an abstract category and sees them as persons who have been unjustly dealt with, deprived of their voice, cheated in the sale of their labor - when he stops making pious, sentimental, and individualistic gestures and risks an act of love." Why is love a risk? I ask myself this, but think that I know the answer. It is the confusion that can come along with love, when one understands where someone is coming from, has empathy, but then forgets oneself and the standards with which one lives and must hold up the other to. If these standards are forgotten then I am getting into the cage and allowing myself to act the role of slave along with the other. And of course these moments happen. In the last several years, I have come closer to experiencing what the poor face in the United States then ever before. I have learned what it is like to have to ask for help and how alienating and dehumanizing things like the department of social services and free clinics can be and how much some people look down on having to take advantage of these things. And how stressful this can be. I have been on the other side of the counter from all the people that look like me and have waited in waiting rooms with people of a different race and class then the one I grew up in. And I know that I have not had the experience of the people I have been waiting with because of who I am, I have been singled out, given preferential treatment, and at the same time, been written off, my concerns taken lightly because they are not as dire as those around me.

It makes me think of the film Todo Sobre mi Madre (All About my Mother) directed by Almodovar. The two characters Manuela and Rosa are linked by their involvement with a transvestite named Lola. Manuela knew Lola years earlier and goes to find him when their son is killed. Lola is HIV positive and is an elusive character in the movie. Rosa is a young nun who becomes pregnant by Lola and also contracts the disease from him. I think of Manuela and Rosa as two women who are also committed to something greater than themselves, Rosa however, gets into the cage with Lola when she sleeps with him. Manuela does not judge Rosa for this decision, but also does not take it lightly. And Manuela has also made this decision, albeit under different circumstances, but when those circumstances changed, she chose differently. We will all choose to get into a cage at one moment or another, it is a matter of realizing this and then choosing again to get out of the cage and acting as an example to others that it is possible to free oneself from oppression. As more people leave their cages, it will be possible to transform the world so that there are less cages to get into and so that less people will begin their lives in them.

Freedom is a choice and within freedom are myriad choices. From one choice to the next our freedom increases and decreases and our choices also affect others freedom. It is why reflection on our choices is crucial, why we must be in a constant state of action/reflection. We all have the potential to act as oppressor or oppressed, we all have the choice to change how we act. One last word from Freire, "Liberation is a praxis: the action and reflection of men and women upon their world in order to transform it." Let us transform the world, it is possible through our decisions.
 

Should We Censor Our Youth?

March 27, 2010
I have already written about YouthSpeaks Seattle and how impressed I was by the young performers. I was also impressed by the variety, depth, and intensity of their topics and with the fact that they spoke seriously and reflectively about subjects as varying as crushes, family, rape, sex, sickness, death, race, and culture. The organizers of the show seemed to trust the young people to perform what they felt, to write their experiences and truths, to express their emotions. The poems were raw...
Continue reading...
 

Do You Love Yourself?

March 27, 2010
I ask this question to people I get involved with. Sometimes it surprises them, sometimes it perplexes them, but it is important. And having asked a few people now, gotten a variety of answers, and been asked it in return I realize that it is really about caring for oneself. Maybe care is a better way to describe it considering how "love" is characterized in this society. I have had a lucky span of time where I have been confident in myself and what I am doing. Of course this is not how I fee...
Continue reading...
 

Thoughts on Home

March 26, 2010
Adding to my post of two days ago The Spaces Must Change, I wanted to discuss home. Someone's home can be a warm, comfortable, inviting place to be, but only if it is livable. I love walking into a beautifully designed house with rich colors on the walls, comfy furniture, and great lighting, but if the house is not livable, if the objects are not meant to be used, worn, loved, then the house ceases to be homey. I think about my childhood. About parents with white carpets who filled with rage ...
Continue reading...
 

The First Day of my 30th Year OR Birthday Thanks

March 25, 2010
Today, on the day that I turn 29 and start my 30th year, I wanted to take this space as a place to honor and thank all of you that I have known in my life. You have been part of making me who I am and who I will be. It has been a pleasure to meet and know youall. Without your love and support I could not accomplish as much as I do. I hope that in the years that my life continues, we will continue to know each other and share in the joy of life.

Some words from Rumi I think are quite beautiful ...
Continue reading...
 

The Spaces Must Change

March 24, 2010
As a community artist, I end up working in many different spaces - schools, clinics, youth centers, office, outdoors, etc. What has become clear through my work is how we can and must alter spaces to allow for more direct human interaction, open communication, and to create space for healing and love. The ordinary institutional spaces of society do not allow for this. I find schools especially oppressive. By moving desks, playing ice-breakers, and sitting in circles the classroom space begins...
Continue reading...
 

Tim Rollins and K.O.S. at the Frye

March 22, 2010
After seeing the Tim Rollins and K.O.S. exhibit at the Frye Art Museum in Seattle, and seeing him speak there, I have noticed a difference in the way that I approach my programming with youth and how Rollins does. I still admire what he does and think that he is successful at it. The work that he and his students make is beautiful, the grown up young people he has worked with are successful and seem to be doing well, their artwork is housed in museum collections around the world, and I do thi...
Continue reading...
 

The Power of Words, the Voice of Youth

March 21, 2010
This is my response to "Youthspeaks Seattle" the youth poetry grand slam finals held at the Moore Theater in Seattle on Friday, March 19th. I randomly happened past the Moore in my exploration of Seattle while there visiting and the marquis drew me in. I work with youth, I love poetry, and the Youth Dreamers and I just committed to co-hosting Wide Angle Youth Media's Poetry event on Tuesday, April 20th at Metro Gallery in Baltimore. So I went. I knew it would be good, but I was blown away by ...
Continue reading...
 

Seattle, First Impressions

March 19, 2010
I started my trip to Seattle overtired (having awoken at 4am Eastern time), hungry (not having eaten since 4am, except some crackers on the plane), and having to cancel my rental car because they added on fees and charges that doubled the cost. My initial panic at being alone, in a strange city, and faced with a public transportation system whose map I didn't understand, I attribute to my tired, hungry, and cranky state. Once I decided just to get on the light rail and head toward downtown I ...
Continue reading...
 

Social Deviants as Heroes

March 16, 2010
Society does not support its artists. This leads many to stress, poverty, and the outskirts of society, which then seems to have created the myth that genius comes with madness, excess, and oddity. This myth is perpetuated by popular culture and the art world. And artists that challenge this myth are few and far between. Too many happily accept that to be a genius they must remove themselves from others, make themselves different, special somehow. Instead of nurturing their ties with the worl...
Continue reading...
 

My blog


This blog will address issues of communication, art, and life from my point of view. It is a means for me to keep writing, thinking critically, and finding meaning in my life and work.