Day 317: Eleven.Eighteen.13

I must first admit that I don’t really like beer.

And I haven’t been too keen on seeing that Heineken is behind all of these art sponsorships lately. It feels like exploitation. Commercialization. Totally my own judgement call – not like I have talked to any of the artists, or Heineken employees for that matter. I would just be admiring an awesome new mural in my neighborhood, and then my eye would get caught on the big beer company’s logo. “Ugh,” I would think to myself.

Now I must admit that I take it all back. (I even drank a beer – it was free.)

I attended the Heineken Green Room event at Liv Nightclub. A free evening that included local DJ talent 2-Tone Jones, California-native J Rocc (one of the most entertaining DJs I have ever witnessed live), with main act Black Thought and surprise guest… Talib Kweli.

I mean, WHAAAA?? It was a talent-packed night in an intimate AND FREE setting.

So, even though my skepticism can’t help but creep out when I see art being pushed by major corporations, I will also admit that it’s not always a bad thing.

Black Thought @ the Heineken Green Room event @ Liv Nightclub

Talib Kweli @ the Heineken Green Room event @ Liv Nightclub

Here’s to another day of creativity…

Advertisement

Day 314: Eleven.Fifteen.13

My step-mom shared this with me. It’s exactly perfect. And validating. And I want to make every person who has ever misunderstood me read it.

Why Creative People Sometimes Make No Sense

Here’s to another day of creativity…

Day 312: Eleven.Thirteen.13

This is crazy. I would do it in a heartbeat.

The craziest OKCupid date ever

In an online exchange after I posted the article and exclaimed I wanted to find a romantic fella like him to take me on this type of grand adventure, a friend told me it was a ‘special’ type of person that would do this (she meant it with love).

It was then I had a sort of epiphany about the kind of person I want to be (am?!), and the kind of ‘special’ a person who wants to be my significant other needs to be. Thank goodness it came when it did. Before that I was swimming in my own salty, wide open ocean of thoughts. Feeling discouraged and downtrodden about the prospect of me ever finding a special someone who lives up to my potential.

Here are a few things that I am now, gratefully, coming to know about myself:

• I live for this type of spontaneity, while at the same time I live a life anchored by details and plans and organization. It’s not a contradiction. It’s what makes navigating open, adventure-filled waters manageable; knowing there is something to keep me grounded when needed.
• I live for this type of creativity. I crave it – no, require it – in equal parts to the oxygen-rich particles my lungs depend on for my existence. This goes well beyond the “forge your own path” mentality. This is about continuously expanding and inventing our reality. Stagnant and status quo will never be good enough to enter my life’s vocabulary.
• I’ve got a full life. This is not me bragging. This is me coming to terms with all I have worked to build. I simply don’t have time to pull someone along for the ride. They need to come equipped with their own full sail, ready to chart even greater distances with me.
• I don’t have a list of required characteristics for my significant other. Except now, it seems I do. Whoever they are, whatever their background (and hopefully, it’s vastly different from mine) they have to, HAVE TO, understand, identify with, and encapsulate the above epiphanies.
• I so want my heart to catch up with my head and let this person in. I don’t want to spend a lifetime of settling in my romantic field all the while planting a rich, abundant life in all other realms.

Here’s to another day of creativity…

Day 311: Eleven.Twelve.13

I spend a majority of my time these days thinking about space. My space. Community space. Other people’s awesome space. Most specifically, how we are going to convince people with space to give us that space. So we can turn it into awesome creative community space for all to benefit from.

—

Flash backwards a few weeks; my boss offered his space – a bar and restaurant – for us to run a weekly party. No begging. No coaxing. No strings attached. He just, well, tried to convince us we should take it.

I ALMOST SAID NO.

I’m not a promoter, I thought.

I don’t know enough people who will come out on a Wednesday night and spend money at a bar to make this viable, I thought.

This isn’t my ideal space, I thought.

—

Flash forwards a few weeks; our party starts Wednesday, December 4th and I’m SO excited about it.

After talking to my collaborators, it became clear how insanely dumb it would be to pass up free, no strings attached space.

So what if it’s not exactly what I envision my space to look like, I thought.

We will make it exactly what we envision a creative party to be like, I thought.

We will find the people to come because it’s a great enough concept to get them there, I thought.

—

It will include all the ‘d’ things that make a party great – DJ, dancing, drink specials… Ours though. Ours will be focused on the ‘a’ things – the art and artists that make this city special. With a little out of the box thinking we have turned a usual thing into something that makes us at ReSourceArts all geeked out – highlighting all the awesome that’s coming out of the creative community in DC, sharing that with the DC community at large, and having everyone benefit from it. (Think art being sold, deals and specials on cool stuff being offered, raffles on one-of-a-kind pieces and experiences, all while there is great music playing and friendly bartenders pouring your favorite drinks…)

—

And the biggest lesson I have learned as I grow into my youthful years of wisdom; I don’t have to do all of this all alone. I’m amassing a small but mighty team with the skill sets to make this awesome.

More info on the party will be available HERE.

Here’s to another day of creativity…

Day 303: Eleven.Four.13

I just realized that One Common Unity quoted my post from way back when, on their website in the Praise for the film section. Awww, that makes me feel so good!

And what perfect timing… as today, we announced that we (ReSourceArts) will be hosting an advanced screening of the movie for our December Reel Talk event.

I’m so so so thrilled. I hope you can, and will, see the movie.

Here’s to another day of creativity…

Day 300: Eleven.One.13

Most people don’t understand why I like gray days. Not all the time, mind you. But the rain, ah the feeling of life kissing your cheeks as you raise your sights to the skies, there’s nothing else quite like it.

I particularly like taking city walking tours on overcast, stormy (not torrential downpour-like, but misty, hazy, slightly-soggy-like) days.

Some of my favorite travel memories (and photos) are the ones taken in the rain. Cuba. Montreal. Stinson Beach.

The light and the water make it possible to see details that might otherwise be missed. Weathered woodwork of an old door, rusting iron gates, even the multidimensional color palette of a city street tapestry.

I didn’t have time for a proper walking tour today, but snapped a few photos on my runnings around:

Here’s to another day of creativity…

Day 298: Ten.Thirty.13

Some awesome videos that made me really, super-duper happy (even on a day where I’m feeling pretty much blah). They are worth the combined fifteen or so minutes it will take to watch them, promise:

Spell Block Tango by Toddrick Hall

 

Virgin America Safety Video

 

Here’s to another day of creativity…

Day 297: Ten.TwentyNine.13

My friends are fiercely talented. My women-folk; these bad-ass, I don’t take no bs from no one, I know my own worth and you better respect that, kind of friends. It’s so freaking awesome to witness. And be inspired by.

The incredible writer, poet, educator, performer Mahogany Browne, who fell into my life at this moment I knew not how much I needed her, took the stage at Busboys and Poets Hyattsville last night. She was the feature in a fabulous event series called Body of Work.

I have seen her perform pieces on many occasions, in all types of settings. This night was different, though. It was all her, and revealed an altogether different kind of performance quality. I was mesmerized, as was the rest of the audience.

She speaks truth and wisdom and love. But more than that, she IS those things. What I realized last night was how much of herself she is on that stage. During poems, in between poems, answering questions, interacting with the crowd – all of it. And that, that is the most powerful tool I think any of us artists can aspire to use. Authenticity.

She had a few surprise guests – an incredible singer and cellist from Philadelphia (middle photo) who had this voice that made you FEEL the moment in a way that is kind of too visceral of a thing to put into words. And me – I freestyled to a poem that I was hearing for the first time as I was dancing it. It’s humbling to be asked by this beauty of a woman to share in one of her pieces. Terrifying, really. But I do it. Whenever she asks. Because I trust in her so completely and have to believe that I, too, may find some truth in what I share when I am in her presence.

Here’s to another day of creativity…

Day 296: Ten.TwentyEight.13

My mama’s story was featured on HuffPost today. It’s awesome. She’s awesome. I’m proud everyday to be her daughter. Today is simply one incredible example of why.

Here’s to another day of creativity…

Day 293: Ten.TwentyFive.13

I took a field trip to see a new design project. An exciting one, particularly for DC. It’s a new community space and outdoor park/garden on a very old and storied piece of property.

It was a failed field trip – I wasn’t allowed in.

Below are a few photos I took through the iron gate. They don’t really do the project justice.

But you can click HERE to learn more about Davis Brody Bond Architects, and see beautiful photos of the project from INSIDE the gate.

Here’s to another day of creativity…