Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Poetry in the Pub

Poetry in the Pub
Maggie

The Rebel Arts Union participated in Willimantic's Poetry in the Park series, sponsored by Curbstone Press on July 23. The event was moved indoors because of rain, and so we performed in the Willimantic Brewing Company/Main Street Cafe. Poetry in the Park became Poetry in the Pub (though the three of us had ice water with a slice of lemon, yo). Maggie, Elizabeth and Ed presented a large number of works in a relaxed but fast-paced rotation where each poem built upon the previous in style, emotion or theme. Each of us took pleasure to present our works in a fashion that was mutually supportive, and the audience noted and enjoyed the result. They also exclaimed that our style of delivery was uniquely rich in emotion, and captured their attention. It was a fun night for all -- even if we got lost in the rain for a bit, and Jon was putting out All Points Bulletins on us to the cell phone left in the car . . . but we made it through on time and without a faltering step.

Elizabeth

A photographer from the Willimantic Chronicle was there, and we made the paper with pictures and a blurb.

Ed

And we be ready to do it again, yo!

Monday, July 6, 2009

Putnam Gallery Stroll, July 3


Samantha, Ed, Maggie and a Stroller

The Putnam SBA Gallery Stroll went very well -- nine artists had a large section of the covered alleyway filled with examples of their work, and seven poets & musicians performed at the poetry slam at Victoria's Station. We'll have more photos for you soon! It was a blast, and we're invited to these Strolls every season, and a smaller gallery stroll every month. Yo! Everybody gets "cool beans"!

Andrew, Elizabeth, Maggie and Ed

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Edges, Fractals and Doorways

re-posted from http://www.dearcharmides.com/2009/05/edges-fractals-and-doorways.html

Edges, Fractals and Doorways


Richard Taylor, associate professor of physics at Oregon University, has discovered a relationship between the "drip" paintings of Jackson Pollock and Benoit B. Mandlebrot's geometric fractals. Using a computer program the "repetitions of patterns at different magnifications" became apparent. Taylor went on to say:
Pollock wouldn't have known that fractals were out there, and he certainly wasn't a mathematician. He must have tuned into some natural process to create these.
Taylor also inferred that his exploration into Pollock's fractal-like working method could help scientists to authenticate works of art.

From my work in making marks and images, there certainly is a point at which you arrive, a tuning-in to a natural process or a state of no-mind (mushin). You feel it much in the way that you know you are "in the zone", intention, action and energy unite. Previously undreamed of possibilities emerge. And yeah, it will be authentic in every sense. This transcendence in Pollock's work from the time of the "drip" paintings onwards has always bothered art historians. The aesthetic progression and development of this artist just didn't jive with the sudden greatness of his achievement. I believe that Jackson Pollock attained mushin (the no-mind, fractal-like zone) that has been the conduit of many of the arts, artifacts and disciplines I have discussed in Dear Charmides. These paintings were the byproduct of that experience. We have all experienced these moments, if only briefly.

Celtic culture abounds with quantum/chaos/fractal references. Several years back I thoroughly enjoyed reading Mary Pat Mann's article Doorways to Other Worlds, The Infinite Fractal Edges of Faery (Parabola, Fall 2003). In it she says:
Rational order is not a prominent feature in Celtic myth. Heroes and seers who deliberately sought out other worlds in quest of power, inspiration or both, inevitably found the strange and unpredictable. Those who returned told tales of beautiful people who never aged, but also of sheep that changed from black to white and back again by jumping over a fence, shouting birds, giant ants and wondrous beasts that twisted their bones within their skins and their skins over their bones. Among Celtic people today, the doorway to the between ordinary reality and these other lands are still ajar. At any time, ordinary people can find themselves, suddenly and without warning, in the presence of magic.
She goes on to say:
Edges are rich environments...setting the stage for interactions and exchanges that happen nowhere else. In Celtic legend, the opening between this world and another is always an edge. These include the meeting of water and land, but also the hilltops (where earth and sky meet) or openings in the earth like caves (the boundary between above and below).
There is in painting another stunning example of the magic of edges in the work of Johannes Vermeer. In his paintings Vermeer created each of the edges, or meetings between objects, surfaces, materials and people in a way which also taps into all of the comments above. He made an edge, not by drawing a boundary, but by approaching that meeting place from each side, in turn, with its own touch, its own sensations, its own level of focus, truly "setting the stage for interactions and exchanges that happen nowhere else."

Mural On Indian Red Ground, 1950, Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art
Girl with a Red Hat, c. 1666-1667, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Friday, May 22, 2009

Devil's Poetry

Devil's Poetry
AFRO-SURREAL: Bob Kaufman's California duende blues

AFRO-SURREAL Sadly, the mythology of poet Bob Kaufman almost rivals all we have left of his poetry. However, to place Kaufman within a mere "cult of personality" (along the lines of some of his contemporaries) undermines the innovation of his process and what it brings to the tapestry of American poetics and the complicated and surreal orality of his poems.

Called "the American Rimbaud" by the French, Kaufman lived as a poetic assassin. A frequently arrested union organizer, like Stagger Lee wielding a .44 of devil's poetry, Kaufman assaulted the willing and unwilling (even white police officers) with verse. If you were cool, you knew his assault was meant as a cipher, a juxtaposition of rhythm, image, and sound meant to invite the listener into a dialectical examination of identity, even the identity obtained from syntax: "I went to a masquerade/ Disguised as myself/ Not one of my friends recognized."

Kaufman's poetics were Kerouac's spontaneous prose without the notebook, taken literally.

Think an un-choreographed version of "Amethyst Rocks," the prison yard scene in Slam (1998) where Saul Williams stops a would-be beatdown with poetry. Except for Kaufman the beatdown was always real, inevitable, and though sometimes provoked, never for the camera.

Kaufman was the spirit of true North Beach bohemia: the street poet who stood "on yardbird corners of embryonic hopes drowned in a heroin tear," panhandling "with moist prophet eyes" free styles of surrealism, the blues and duende, meant to disturb, disrupt, and ultimately liberate.

Kaufman's "crackling blueness" is distinctly Californian. In poems like "Carl Chaessman Interviews the PTA," Kaufman filters the "west of the west" through absurdist reflections that juxtapose outlaw figures such as Chessman (a 1960s serial killer on San Quentin's Death Row) with figures from California's mythology, all to the rhythms of a radio announcer calling a ballgame: Carl Chessman is in sickly California writing death threats to the Wizard of Oz, his trial is being held in the stomach of Junipero Serra, at last the game starts, Chessman steals all the bases & returns to his tomb to receive the last sacraments from Shirley Temple.

Ultimately, according to poet and scholar Nathaniel Mackey, what Kaufman creates is a cross-cultural poetics difficult to categorize. Though he lived in North Beach and is credited with coining the phrase "beatnik" — and infused his poetry with jazz and Eastern religious influence — Kaufman transcends the singular categorization of "Beat poet." By aligning himself with the pain of "all losers, brown, red, black, and white; the colors from the Master Palette," Kaufman creates a new American poetics — a hybrid poetics of projective California duende blues, an examination of the exhaustion that comes from the persistence of breath.

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Basic Grounding Meditation by Starhawk

A basic grounding meditation led by Starhawk, and done very well. The visuals are an amateur's attempt (artists don't use jpg, and especially not blurry ones) and most are poorly adapted to this video, but some are OK. I closed my eyes -- it's the voice that's important.

This video originated at: http://www.hypnose-leben.com/?p=847

Friday, May 15, 2009

One Bullet


One Bullet


It's cold
Too cold
I can't see you, from across the room
I move closer
Slowly
Urging myself, just keep going
It's not you
It can't be
They made a mistake
It's just an arm
Could be anyone
That big, white sheet
So deceiving
Curious
No, don't pick it up
The tattoo tells me
They're right
It is you
Cold
Too cold
No real hand is that cold
Something is not right
This is all wrong
I'm angry
I want to yell at you
I do yell, but you can't hear me
I cry
For you
For me
For all of us
Left here
Picking up these pieces
One bullet
So much damage
A life gone
Too soon

Monday, April 27, 2009

RAU Poets in the Street at the Putnam Shuck-off

RAU Poets in the Street at the Putnam Shuck-off

Emad, Maggie and myself, aided by Paul Gundy (B&W photos) & TJ LaFollette (color photos), attended the Putnam Shuck-off at the invitation of Carly (Silver Circle owner). We persevered through crowd fear and apathy and ignorance to get a few people to enjoy our wares, and Carly was happy with our effort. We read poetry on the corner, at the tables, in the crowd, in the covered alley, in the art gallery and on the sidewalk. We learned a few invaluable things about street performing, and we learned a few invaluable things about ourselves, as well. Sorry the rest of you couldn't be there, but we had a fantastic day, and a wonderful night reading/writing poetry to ourselves, a canine companion and a tomato-basil pizza.

Poets On The Street

People strolling about, vendor to vendor.
People clustered about, table to table.
People eating and drinking, beer to oysters.
People listening to many musics, jazz to pop.
People mill in two directions, west-east to east-west.
People babbling incessantly loud, blah-blah to blah-blah.

People in numbers too large for three poets
with word and song from heart and soul
to drown out the insanities
of the sane and tame

Wait! What's that?
The road is barricaded!
The police stand close by!
Poets on the street?
Are we sure of what they say?
Do they have wild thoughts?
Yes!
Wild with pain, love, comfort
and rebellion.

Dare I listen, dare I walk away, dare I scream?
"Poets on the street!"

Disheartened, the poets three re-grouped.
Unconquered, the poets three tried again.
Undaunted, the poets three were relentless.

But then, what matters in all of this,
our universe?
What matters?

Three we are and three we will be in all
of this,
so,
what matters?
We three went home to a home that was not home to two
. . .
until now.





Saturday, April 25, 2009

Edwin Morgan International Poetry Competition 2009


This is a new competition for me, named in honour of Edwin Morgan, Scotland's first national poet: The Scots Makar. The prizes are huge so expect a lot of competition. But who knows? Last year it apparently attracted over 1000 entries.

Vital Synz is pleased to launch the second Edwin Morgan International Poetry Competition in association with our sponsors - Strathclyde University.

Prizes: first prize £5000, then £1000, £500 and £50 (x 2)

Last year's winners and poems are found here.
This year's judges will be the distinguished poet, novelist and playwright, Ron Butlin and the young up and coming poet, Polly Clark.

Deadline: 1st June 2009. Midnight GMT
Maximum of 60 lines per poem
Fee: £5 per poem up to a maximum of 3 poems

The authors of the winning poems must grant the Glasgow Poetry Society the right to use the poems for one year from date of award

Prizewinners will be notified in writing by July 14th 2009.

You can enter online or by post.

Let's Do It!

Monday, April 20, 2009

Ed Ochester Presents a Poem by Robin Becker

(re-posted from The Best American Poetry blog.)

Ed Ochester Presents a Poem by Robin Becker

"Robin is one of the most varied of the poets on the Pitt list in her style and subject matter -- and the foremost feminist poet of her generation. If the word 'feminist' scares you, or calls up some cliché like ‘no sense of humor,’ you should become acquainted with her work. And grow up." —Ed Ochester

THE BATH

I like to watch
your breasts float like two birds
drifting downstream; you like a book,
a glass of wine on the lip
of the porcelain tub,
your music. It is your way of dissolving
the day, merging the elements of your body
with this body. The room fills with steam
like mist off a river—
as intimate to imagine you
pleasuring yourself: watery fingers, slow
movement into fantasy.
You call me in and take my hand
in your wet hand. I have to shield my eyes
from the great light
coming off your body.
When you ask me to touch you
kneel by the water like a blind woman
guided into the river by a friend.

from American Poetry Now $27.95 • 408 pp. © 2007 University of Pittsburgh Press

Also by Robin Becker from the Pitt Poetry Series:

All-American Girl $14.00
Giacometti’s Dog $14.00
The Horse Fair $12.95
Domain of Perfect Affection $14.00

American Poetry Now (ed. Ed Ochester) features poems by Robin Becker and many others from the Pitt Poetry Series.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Should PEN condemn Radovan Karadzic's poetry?

(re-posted from: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2009/apr/15/1 )

Should PEN condemn Radovan Karadzic's poetry?

PEN Slovakia has criticised the publication of a poem by Radovan Karadzic but the line between myth-making and lying is a fine one

A pedestrian takes pictures of posters supporting the war crimes suspect Radovan Karadzic in downtown Belgrade

A pedestrian takes pictures of posters supporting Radovan Karadzic in downtown Belgrade. Photograph: Andrej Isakovic/AFP/Getty Images

It's tempting to use the news that PEN Slovakia condemned the publication of a poem by Radovan Karadzic to criticise PEN for failing to stick to its principles on freedom of expression: International PEN's statement that "everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression" doesn't sit easily with a PEN centre arguing that a 'poet' shouldn't be published. But to reduce it to a simple censorship versus freedom-of-expression debate does a disservice to PEN's extensive work, and also evades larger questions of what to do about Karadzic's work, and the appeal it still holds to those who see him as a hero.

Although it's worth noting that national PEN Centres are semi-autonomous within the organisation, the action raised uncomfortable questions that are presumably the subject of much internal debate. The last time many saw PEN's name in the news was when Margaret Atwood, vice president of International PEN, pulled out of Dubai's literary festival in February, expressing her dismay at news that a novel with a gay protagonist had been debarred, although she later appeared via videolink to participate in a discussion about censorship.

Do Atwood's actions contradict PEN Slovakia's position on Karadzic's poems? Or, if PEN stands for "the freedom to express ideas without fear of attack or…persecution", does this mean that writers whose work incites persecution of others shouldn't be protected? Perhaps it's not PEN's failure, so much as a larger, collective one, that we're yet to figure out a clear position on hate speech in 'literary' works. Even if we don't agree with PEN Slovakia's decision - and I'm not sure I do - it provides PEN with the chance to further public debate about free speech specifically in relation to hate speech, building on recent discussions in Dubai.

Which leaves the more fundamental question of what to do with Karadzic's poetry. Although few would argue poetry can be used as evidence at The Hague, Karadzic's poetry was part of a larger project of myth-making, like glorifying the 1389 Battle of Kosovo to legitimise claims of Serbian superiority. His poetry is also considered an affront by some because it was still published (or merely republished, the debate goes) even when the Serbian government vowed it was searching for Karadzic: one poem published in 2005 references a remote Montenegrin monastery where Karadzic was rumoured to be hiding. In his poems, Karadzic both rewrites nationalist myths and stitches himself into a mythologised modern history.

One of many sad ironies is how Karadzic's name echoes the 19th century philologist Vuk Karadzic. Vuk's compilation of the first Serbian dictionary and documentation of Balkan stories means he is often hailed as the grandfather of modern Serbian identity, a Balkan Goethe mixed with the brothers Grimm. But his singular life, from his youth in the Serb revolt against the Ottomans, to his involvement in the Illyrian movement, and pan-Slav affinities against the Austro-Hungarian Empire, contains the multitudes of regional identities that Radovan, and other extreme nationalists on all sides, tried to destroy.

And yet, Vuk Karadzic, Radovan Karadzic and many PEN writers do engage in the same ancient act: rewriting myths. A few years ago, aongside writers such as Jeanette Winterson, Margaret Atwood contributed a novel, The Penelopiad, to a publication series on the subject of "myth". Atwood's sensitive reworking of the Odyssey from Penelope's viewpoint was a testament to the vitality of rewriting myth, and particularly its power to reclaim the 'lost' voices of traditional history: wives, handmaidens, servants. Though often dark and haunting, the fiction in the Myth series celebrated myth as a means of resisting life's reduction to (patriarchal? Western?) history-book 'facts'.

Radovan Karadzic's myth-making doesn't contradict this position, but explodes any cosiness there may have been in occupying it, opening the uncomfortable idea that another word for "myth" may be "lie". While Atwood rewrites myths to give voice to the voiceless, other writers hold the power to rewrite myths to silence those weaker than them. Perhaps the point PEN Slovakia raises is to what extent we can distinguish between the two. Recent Balkan history, perhaps more than anywhere, shows the damage myth-making can do, and Radovan Karadzic drew power from his ability to spin poetry, of various sorts, from historical half-truths. Can we celebrate the co-existence of different 'versions' of truth, as the Myth series did, if some writers' versions entail denying other histories, denying other nations, and afterwards denying that systematic persecution took place?


Friday, April 10, 2009

Busted

2009 Julius Sokenu 1st Place Award for R.A.U.

Busted


The cop takes your ID.
The cop takes your keys.
The cop takes your money.
The cop takes your jacket.
The cop takes your wallet.
The cop takes your jewelry.
The cop takes your belt.
The cop takes your top shirt.
The cop takes your shoelaces.
Then the cop takes your shoes.

C'mon, man, leave me my sneakers.

No. Do you want your socks?

Yeah, I ain't goin' in there barefoot.

From in there
is a welling of yelling pooling under the door.
Loud and angry, drunk and drugged, forlorn and obscene.
There's a lot of fear coming from
in there.
Caged and wild, raw and tense, explosive and desperate.

Do you want your pants?

Disbelief!
Eyes meet eyes, a moment.
One pair daring, one pair watching freedoms die,
perusing the endless parade of replicates
behind this particular cop
suffocating the breadth of the world,
so even if rebellion is possible
there would be no end to the fight,
there would be no end to the flight,
there would be no end to the days like this,
there would be no sanctuary,
there would be
only worse . . .
so,
shattered,
believing,
blinking back
a tear of despair
in a sag of shoulders
and briefly bowing head,
a muttered:

Yeah.

Good. Let's go meet your new friends.

The captives hear us approach the door,
there's a jostling for position,
pleas to the cop to get meds
and to use the phone
begin before the door is reached.

On the other side of that door is another universe.
On the other side of that door is everlurking danger.
On the other side of that door is blood.
On the other side of that door is the naked Self.
On the other side of that door is Evil.
On the other side of that door is Submission.

Each step brings more
resigned composure,
back straighter,
shoulders higher,
muscles relaxing . . .
must maintain control . . .
nothing but a thing . . .
time to define a life . . .
it's just another day . . .
I know how it works . . .
I belong . . .
this is home . . .
again
no fear
until nobody's
Here.
Oh.
Please no.

The cop eyes you to stop,
unlocks the door,
opens it,
the decibel level rockets,
the shit stench rolls out
bearhugging the last hopes of freedom into submission.

The cop motions you in.

And with a sighful sigh
a signal from your soul
sends a silence so clear
it's easy to hear
as it fills your ears
. . .
Aw, damn, once more into the breach.

A frenzy of visuals assault the senses.
Shaggy beards, bald heads, tattooed faces, pierced bodies,
dirty, torn, ragged clothing
piss and spit mix with shit and vomit,
testosterone,
crusting
the environment
of steel bars and steel floors and steel slabcots
no padding
steel sinks and steel toilets
no handles
no seats
and cinder block walls
painted steel gray
and chipping with steel violence.

A frenzy of sounds assault the senses.
Guttural, spitting, angry, snarls
tinged with the diarrhea melt of underbelly fright,
questions, demands, pleas, wailings
directed mostly at the cop
pleading with venom . . .
some at the world,
in whipped whimpers . . .
and some at the newjack,
snarling hungrily . . .
who
looks back as if to say
this is no time to play.

A frenzy of feelings assault the senses.
Cold, hard, flat, unforgiving
nowhere any cuddles, any snuggles, any handles
on the razor slices of emotional combat
in a purgatory
where all the exits lead anew to another place,
that's the same place,
here again
to a land of fear where anger is king
and love is life's lost lyric.

A frenzy of smells assault the senses.
Biohazardous, sharp, biting, clawing
permeating the lungs and invading every pore,
rending sanity like bear claws through cheap toilet paper
as each breath is like a sloppy, chunky kiss
with the triple-turned bard of disease . . .
no escape . . .
the smell brings a hiccup of fear
quickly suppressed
but not before peeking,
in the barest mewl of silence,
as a tremor of a glint of a twitch of an eye.

oh mama, no.
I am
home.

Only the cop felt it,
Only the cop smiled.

Monday, April 6, 2009

Okay Grandma . . . what just happened here?

eat

Said the 4 year old,

upon disembarking

into

a completely different place

after his first

cognizant ride

in an elevator.



(cross-posted from http://www.raveneye.org/?p=167 )

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Words that Reshape a Country’s Identity

Words that Reshape a Country’s Identity
Kristin Palitza interviews BILLY KAHORA, editor of Kenyan journal Kwani?

DURBAN, Mar 11 (IPS) - The goal is ambitious: Kenya’s first literary journal, Kwani?, wants to bring new thinking to the country - and ultimately the continent - and reshape African identities. The journal aims to provoke, create, entertain and develop a literary community that isn’t afraid to question the status quo.

Knowing that the publication of an annual journal might not be enough to bring a new vision to a country, Kwani? banks on regular interaction with the public. It organises two literary events each month - a prose reading series and a poetry open mic evening. Kwani? also runs an annual literature festival that features 40 poets and writers from the continent.

Kwani? was set up in Nairobi by contemporary Kenyan writers, Binyawanga Wainaina and Muthoni Garland in 2003. Its editor, Billy Kahora, launched the journal’s fifth edition this week at the 12th Time of the Writer festival in Durban, South Africa.

IPS: What does Kwani mean?

Billy Kahora: Kwani is a Swahili word and means literally translated ‘so what?’. We chose the name because it indicates a stance, a reaction. It’s our form of rebellion against a country that has unilateral, prescriptive, too-structured ways of doing politics. We want to question the status quo with new, fresh ideas and new thinking.

IPS: Who contributes to Kwani?

BK: Most of our writers, 60 percent to 70 percent, are from Kenya and East Africa, but we also have contributors from Senegal, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, South Africa and the diaspora, especially in the later editions. With every new journal, we include more contributions from different countries on the continent.

Our writers tend to be in their 20s and 30s and are generally interested in expressing themselves in a more modern way that questions political, social and economic structures. They are journalists, writers, photographers, cartoonists and poets. We are a space for new voices.

IPS: Some of the writers published in Kwani? have won or been shortlisted for the prestigious Caine Prize. How do you select your contributors?

BK: We are interested in new expressions, sensibility and making evident what is happening in day-to-day live but which is usually not articulated. We want to entertain, provoke, create. We choose writers who grapple with issues and force us out of our comfort zones.

IPS: What differentiates Kwani? from other African literary journals?

BK: What makes Kwani? different is that we are non-academic and non-institutionalised. While most journals are situated within a university context, we come from an unstructured place, from fiction and social commentary backgrounds. We want to celebrate African stories.

Our aim is to promote East African writers, develop new talent and create a literary community.

IPS: Kwani?’s aim is to open up new socio-cultural and socio-political spaces through literature. How?

BK: We want to re-define what Kenyan day-to-day life is. Usually, socio-political and socio-cultural spaces are defined by government, the media, universities and local constituencies. But that’s not enough. We want to open additional, alternative spaces.

Kwani? is interested in starting a more direct interaction with the public. That’s why we are not only a journal, but we also do readings, organise literature festivals and offer workshops in places that fall out of the ‘official’, such as youth clubs and community centres.

IPS: Do you intend to reshape or revision Kenyan identity?

BK: It’s happening all the time. Narratives in our journals are about unrecognised Africanness - not how it is usually defined by the church, the state, the media and universities. Those institutions see culture and identity in descriptive, one-dimensional ways. Kwani? tries to open this up and represent the rest of society without being prescriptive.

IPS: What are some of the key themes of the journals?

BK: We are interested in investigating the relationship between people and power. Our concern is the image of Kenya and Africa and creating a new political consciousness.

We aim to interrogate Kenya from a post-national space. Who are we? is the question we constantly ask and try to answer in our writing. As a result, Kwani? tends to publish very personal stories about issues of identity, self-discovery, family, crime, ethnicity, poverty and urbanisation.

IPS: The latest Kwani? examines Kenya in the context of the violent aftermath of the 2007 elections. Have these events changed contemporary literature in Kenya?

BK: They haven’t. What Kwani? does is offer a mirror, a new beginning of thinking about society. Concerns of writers are always influenced by the events around them and their writing reflects upon society.

When a crisis like this happens to a country, you start looking for answers. As a result, the journal dealt with the country’s big, current issues, such as unfair distribution of wealth, land and resources.

IPS: You published a mini-Kwani? titled "How to write about Africa?". Have you found an answer to the question?

BK: We asked the question in a satirical way that points a finger to all the books that have been written about Kenya and Africa in the West, based on colonial thinking. The question is meant to indicate that there isn’t one single answer to it. There are many ways to write about Africa, not only they prescriptive, colonial, patronising way.

IPS: Do you believe literature can help bring political and social change?

BK: In Kenya, socio-political conversations usually follow what politicians decide the important issues of the day are. There is too much agenda setting by politicians, to a degree that it is difficult for anyone else to squeeze in a word.

If you write about what ordinary people think and how they live, like Kwani? aims to do, you open up another conversation and that’s important.

IPS: Is Kwani? in search of a new nation?

BK: Because of national state failure in Kenya, people have become sceptical of anything to do with nation building. We want to allow for and start off a debate that enables democracy and creates an economy that everybody can take part in and benefit from.

(END/2009)

Monday, March 30, 2009

Anonymity ≠ Freedom


Anonymity ≠ Freedom

The voice that speaks
that speaks no lie
speaks only one way
and speaks to die.

The voice that speaks
that speaks no lie
speaks so to obey
not what others say.

The voice that speaks
that speaks no lie
speaks out its Name
not Anonymously.

The voice that speaks
that speaks no lie
speaks soft and dimpled
because Truth is simple.

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Reply to the great "FUCK" !!

Our Art is an expression and an extension of ourselves. I live this, hence my choice in this approach with the free speech board. The difference between my opinion and yours of this matter is that I was investing my time in placing a wonderful curiosity towards Rebel Arts...You on the other hand wasted your time battling with a fellow member only to achieve hostility and further perpetuation of this "ignorance" you so dimly referred to. Far too often our Artistic extension can be misinterpreted. The fact that "Fuck" became the theme of the board shows me just how blindly these folks read my expression. Did I...Gain attention? No press is bad press.

Remember our mission statement:

"To bring motion and momentum to the student/human voice through the vehicle of the arts."

How I attain this motion and momentum should be least of your concern so long as I am successful in the cause...I believe I was. What I did was align and prep my canvass with beauty and hate and sweet caramel.

-T.J. Brady

Friday, March 27, 2009

I find a Stronger rope to Hang On

Rebels,

With the great company of my friend and fellow Rebel Artist Rachael, I made my way out to the Windham Arts Collaborative Ctr. in Willimantic this Fri. eveningto enjoy a great poetry performance put on by the "Young Poets" of Windham HighSchool. Led by a truly inspirational teacher, Lynn Frazier, these talented and motivated Windham high school students absolutely inspired me. Not only arethey remarkable writers and performers, but they possess a passion for growingand learning in this world that I will use to get out of bed in the morning...

You see...woe is fucking me but most days I dont get out of bed. I don't go outside much. I have no faith in current humanity.I was given a gift by these young adults this eve. Truly amazing!

They unite like we all should. They stand together as artists and celebrate like we all should. When Eddy and I first came up with this notion of the Rebel Arts Union,part of what we considered is our dissapointment with the perpetuation of the stigma that is the lonely, depressed, fucking cracked and torn artist who lives and dies alone.

You see where Im going with this...I want you all to just do three things as Rebl Artists:

1. Admit out loud to a crowd that "I AM AN ARTIST!"

2. Truly unite with this fucking beautiful organization of Rebel Artists.

3. Produce your most inward and challenging works of art for this group willsupport you and help you get to where you need to be.

Hey guys...Fuck the heat Im getting lately for this crew! I will go down if it helps oneof you to feel even the slightest bit of support and success.

I love you guys,

-T.J. Brady

Moving On

Frankly, I found it very amusing, a lot to do over nothing. I took it all down tonight. The board was full. There was no room to add anything. We start anew Monday. Hopefully the next message will do more than just rile people up, hopefully the next message will make people pause and think . . . and the whole thing might perhaps be a bit more on the artistic side.

Until then . . . here's an article about somebody we ought to know about (yes, I think we are getting way off direction . . . we are here to express ourselves through art, not be the social justice nazis of the free speech board).

Dance, art and spoken word combine in a multicultural tribute

By Al Rudis, Staff Writer

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The implements around Jennifer Tehani Sarreal represent the multiplicity of world dances she performs. (Photo courtesy of Josef Sarreal)

When her father, Josef Sarreal, died in a traffic accident last year, Jennifer Tehani Sarreal looked for a fitting tribute for him.

Josef was a stock photographer who also did art photography, so part of tonight's program at Awakenings Coffee House in Lomita is devoted to an exhibit of his work.

But there's a lot more than that, because there's a lot more to Jennifer Tehani Sarreal, 25, a Long Beach performer and educator.

She began dancing at age 8 and in 2008 won the fusion category of the Belly Dancer of the Universe Competition. Her other dancing specialties include ballroom, Latin, hip-hop, salsa, Polynesian (including fire poi), West African and Filipino.

Sarreal does educational programs in public schools, libraries and museums that center on dance anthropology (she has a bachelor's degree in anthropology from Cal State Long Beach), incorporating sociology, history, arts, spirituality and social activism.

Tonight, after a warm-up performance by champion juggler David Cousin, a friend of hers, Surreal will do her first one-woman show, titled "Tradition and Fusion." It begins with a spoken-word piece on the theme "Why Art Matters." Sarreal (pronounced surreal) is also a freelance writer about art.

"It's the most powerful way to connect people," Sarreal, whose heritage includes Spanish, Filipino, Portuguese, Irish and French, said in a phone interview this week. "It builds bridges between gaps such as culture, language, gender and religion."

Sarreal described what she does as "artivism," a combination of art and activism.

After the spoken piece comes a traditional Middle Eastern belly dance, part of which involves her balancing a scimitar on her head. Then there are a couple of Polynesian fusion dances, an original speak-song performed with ukulele that takes a funny look at her first visit to the Philippines, in 2007.

Afterward, she'll dance an auna hula, "Wanting Memory," by Kealii Reichel, which talks about using memories of a loved one to move forward.

Awakenings, which is an event space on the site of a former coffee house, doesn't allow pyrotechnics, so Sarreal's fire poi Maori dance from New Zealand will feature silk strips emblematic of flame coming out of the sacks at the end of the long strings she uses, rather than fire.

The show concludes with a fusion dance that mixes Latin, hip-hop, belly dancing and Polynesian dance.

Admission is $15, with funds benefiting the Josef Sarreal Foundation that Sarreal is in the process of setting up. She wants to provide free visual and performance art workshops for children and teenagers in select cities around the world "with the goal of empowering youth through creative expression."

Funds also will go toward humanitarian and environmental aid in areas near her art projects.

Sarrealism 2009

What: Exhibit of photos by Josef Sarreal and a one-woman performance by Jennifer Tehani Sarreal.

When: Tonight; photo exhibit opens at 7, with juggling by David Cousin at 7:45 and the dance performance at 8.

Where: Awakenings Coffee House, 24100 Narbonne Ave., Lomita.

Cost: $15 donation to the Josef Sarreal Foundation.

Information:

(562) 230-9194, www.dancingtehani.com.

Al Rudis (562) 499-1255 al.rudis@presstelegram.com


Thursday, March 26, 2009

The Other Side......

I'm sorry to say that I am not for this word being posted on the free speech board. I understand that people have the right to use it, and I do beleive that it started out with the best of intentions. However, it no longer has a point or purpose. The "censorship" you see was an attempt to make the board presentable for an open house that night. I for one proudly took part in trying to camoflouge all the many f-words up there. This board is a reflection of our school. In turn it is a reflection of me as a student at QV...right now, with these messages up, I am not proud to attend. For those of you that know me, you know that it takes a lot to offend me. I'm a very open person, but this has now offended me. If you have a purpose then thats fine. If you are writing that word just because everyone else is then, quite frankly, I don't consider that freedom of speech. THAT is just following the crowd. There have been more updates to the board since this picture was posted. There is one posting that talks about the difference between a wise man and in ignorant man, and at the end it tells the ignorant man to continue using the word...Someone drew an arrow pointing to the statement and said something to the effect of "Thanks, I f-ing will". Now I ask you. Why would you admit to being ignorant? What purpose does it serve? I think it moves into idiotic territory at that point.

I saw the board when it was first put up, before all the additions to it. I stood back, and thought that it was a good display. I thought that it was informative, and not offensive...I see that board now, and am shocked at how much has gone on. Freedom of speech is the right to seek, receive, and impart information and ideas. Where is the information? Where are the ideas? The only information I have seen supporting the word was written at the very beginning and has now been written over many times. The information I see opposing the board is now written on sheets of paper and stapled to the board...If someone were to write something informative supporting the word again maybe I would have a different view. Maybe I could change my opinion....until then all this board is, to me, is ugly.

How Free Are We

Here is a picture I took of our Free Speech Board at QV yesterday... which has led me to ask the same question that some of you have already asked...HOW FREE ARE WE? If you can't tell by the picture what happened was, one person wrote a word (FUCK) on the wall and then some fellow students censored him. What ensued is actually quite amusing. I say we all wear shirts that simply say FUCK on them on a particular day next week. Or if someone is creative enough to come up with a phrase that uses F. U. C. K. that sends a message, we could do that.
free speach wall

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Earth Nebula

This one, I think by Jon, reminds me of a nebula . . . for some instinctual reason . . . This painting is slightly other-dimensional, it seems, as getting it in "good light' is difficult. However, with the magick of 21st century painting technology (i.e. digital photography & computer programs) the quantum dimensions can be breached. The photo fix I applied changed the color hue, saturation and intensity . . . and thus gives the painting a new color meaning. The representation posted here, from a photo by Ginny, reminds me of the beginnings of the earth, before it coelesced into a solid mass.


. . . and this photo fix is more like the original . . . as far as my memory serves right now . . .


Just an example of the power of 21st century technology in the arts. A power we can wield. A power we need to wield.

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Judgement

This one is by Tom, and he demonstrates the use of the human body (me) and a hypodermic filled with paint (no needle), as well as a wide brush used for stroking and for splattering, and spray paint to tag the painting for the Rebel Arts Union. He mentioned the impetus for the painting was the feeling of being jailed, but he wasn't sure what it evolved into during the creative process - hence the name I applied here. this image is reduced.


Tom used the hypo-paint application method on several of the works we made Saturday the Fourteenth.

The Sky Is Falling


This is tempera, acrylic, latex and spray paint on canvas, by me. Fingers were used as tools to apply the paint.

Example

Here is a detail from "Inside-Out" and two of an endless variety of ways this, and every detail, from our orgiastic paintings can be further creatively modified as computer art to use in any number of forms . . . including poster-size prints . . . yo.

This is the original from a photo by Ginny, reduced:


And these two (click pic to enlarge to see detail) are just a couple idle tweaks i did in less than a half-hour's time, reduced:




And here we have a poster made from the second modification:


. . . and that's what this blog is for, us, all of us, to experiment, exchange ideas, and most importantly, CREATE. C'mon, lemme see what ya got. (just remember to go to the official groupsite ( http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rebel-arts-union/ ) to get the original photos from the Files section, don't use these as these are all reductions & modifications)

Monday, March 16, 2009

Timeflow, Detail, Cropped, Flipped, Reduced

This one is one of Jon's old oil on canvas paintings re-done during the Orgy, hence the interim name I gave it. This presents some very interesting, and evocative, options in style and message. This specific painting is in its 3rd incarnation (if I heard right), being twice painted over now. I really like the possibilities that this gives us: painting over old paintings, but leaving the previous painting partially visible.

I don't know the artist, but this is latex paint over oil paint on canvas.

Late Hanging Canvas, Cropped, Reduced

Our group effort creatively led by Jon. I don't know how late in the day this picture was taken, but by this time we have tempera & spray paints joining the latex paint on canvas. You'll notice that the canvas was turned, and the early-version bottom is on the left now.

Designer T

This t-shirt design has combined several elements that ended up being common group elements, and so may be an early study in the RAU style. Note the latticework, bold straight lines, red circle, shocking pink tinge which is also a graffiti. I don't know the artist, but that's latex, tempera and spray paint on cotton.

Atomic Landscape, Detail, Reduced

"Atomic Landscape" imagine yourself so tiny as to be atom size . . . perhaps this would be a view from there. I don't know who painted this one (but I should because I was talking to you about this painting . . . if you give me three guesses . . . Sarah, Samantha, Stephanie). This one emphasizes the bold use of red circular structures that we seem to use as a group.

I was right on the first guess: Sarah is the artist!

Designer Jeans, Detail, Reduced

"Designer Jeans" just a name -- all these names you guys can edit and put your own names in for your works. I'm just putting a name on for my own ease and benefit, but we can edit those names real easy. This is latex paint on denim by Stephanie.

First Step, Detail, Reduced, Flipped

(I don't know who did this one but love it and the concept. I gotta feeling Sarah is the artist.)

Charly informs me this is Tom's work. I still love it :)

Hey, all of us can go right in and edit the original posts as well as leave comments. Go right ahead and edit out my stuff on your pics, and edit in your stuff! No rules, yo! go for it. Be You.

This picture is cropped, reduced and flipped.

Street Cred, Detail, Reduced

"Street Cred" is just what came burbling up when I saw this spray-paint-silly-string-latex-paint boldness proudly announcing the RAU! Samantha is the artist.

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Desert Mirage, Detail, Reduced

This painting by Brandon reminds me of a desert sun and mirage images, hence the name I associate with it. It shows an example of latticework in the foreground, and multi-color swirls, spirals, circles, oblongs, etc in the background . . . something I am fast becoming partial to. This picture has been cropped and reduced.

Butterfly Detail, Human Canvas

This is me, cropped, flipped, reduced (need a better camera next time) . . . the aftermath of my left boob after being used to add artistic touch to Tom's painting. Latex and tempera paint.

White Lightning, Detail, Reduced Image

"White Lightning" is the name that popped into my head when I first saw this painting. Why? I dunno. On second, third and subsequent looks saw Conflagration, Bird/Eagle/Phoenix Spirit and the latticework that seems to be a common element in some of our works.

Charly is the artist, and I think it's all latex paint. (and finger paint...haha)

Murder, Detail, Pollock Paint Orgy

"Murder" is just what I called this one in my head when I first saw it, it'd be great for a book cover, cd-cover, etc -- Jon painted it, latex paint and mascara. This picture is cropped and reduced.

Early Hanging Canvas, Pollock Paint Orgy

This is the hanging canvas, our group effort, at about the midway point or so. Latex and tempera paint.

Four Details, Pollock Paint Orgy

Four details of 2 of our canvases from the Pollock Paint Orgy. Latex and tempera paint (the black) on canvas.

These 2 details from "Inside Out" - the group painting we did at the end. These pics are from before Jon & I moved it inside . . . it got real funky-looking the second time through the doors. I wonder what is waiting for us under the strips once the paint dries . . .



These 2 details from "Rainbow Crow" - my painting done with a crow feather, a shaved stick, latex & tempera paint.