Here Comes the Neighborhood

Ran into this story of the revitalization of a lower-income industrial part of Wynwood, in Miami Florida done all using street art. I thought it was beautiful and interesting. I want to visit this city at one point in my lifetime. ... Enjoyed watching it.

HCTN EPISODE 1 : INTRODUCING THE WALLS from Here Comes the Neighborhood on Vimeo.

HCTN EPISODE 2 : GAIA from Here Comes the Neighborhood on Vimeo.

HCTN EPISODE 3 : KENNY SCHARF from Here Comes the Neighborhood on Vimeo.

HCTN EPISODE 4 : INTERCAMBIO from Here Comes the Neighborhood on Vimeo.

HCTN EPISODE 5 : SEGO & SANER from Here Comes the Neighborhood on Vimeo.

HCTN EPISODE 6 : IRAK from Here Comes the Neighborhood on Vimeo.

HCTN EPISODE 7 : MARTHA COOPER from Here Comes the Neighborhood on Vimeo.

We must not forget about our mothers

We must not forget that our mothers were once young women

That they had lovers before our father

That they too once longed to belong

longed to feel at peace when alone 

at home ..(s).

and with other(s)

...

We must not forget

That they too were lost like we are now...

(...at some point)

This thought came to me yesterday after spending my Sunday evening with my friend's family. In the company of good conversation marinated in Trinidadian and St-Lucian accents. ...Yesterday I felt homesick. Reminded me that I might possibly spend my first Christmas without the fam this year.

We cannot forget that our parents were and maybe still live a life of uncertainty. ... In this quest of finding answers and clarity to my path..(lol) ... I also spent my yesterday taking a personality test. This test showed that I was a "INFJ type" ... (there's this link too) ... then I proceeded to google which careers would fit me. Only to find out that with my "personality type" I cannot be boxed into a certain career path...  ...(still trying to figure out what this means).

(currently vibing out to Eric Lau's instrumentals while I'm looking for jobs... I've noticed his name on a couple of blogs, but have yet to really listen to anything yet until tonight.. so far :) .. so good)

Being Grounded

Life is interesting... 

I'm moving/looking for a job/looking for specific purpose/looking for myself/ looking for a right path/ looking to be less hard on myself/ looking to not be on my laptop and copped up inside/ looking to exercise more/ looking to pray more/ looking to cook more/ looking for more money. lol.. / looking to laugh more..

....

".. Ultimately I intend to be more present and aware through them (spiritual practices), ... to be more compassionate and see the world through a more compassionate lense as opposed to my own pride, my own fear " - SK

...

"...Being oriented in such a disorienting and distracted world.." - SK

Today hearing his story makes me feel sane. 

thankful

Erykah Badu Lecture (RedBull)

Lecture: Erykah Badu (Madrid 2011) from Red Bull Music Academy on Vimeo.

Première Semaine

DAY2
So this journey begins. I've been granted the opportunity to take part of this fellowship program with the UN. Today is was day 2, I can't believe that we're already going on day 3. My days are heavily packed with crash-course about Human Rights courses taught by UN specialists. I got my UN pass, mad books. We were told that the first week of the journey will entail learning the basics UN-Human Rights /International Law 101. Readings are hectic. There is almost no time to rest. ... to enjoy the scenery, that is all so new to me.

There's not much to say but that. ... Trying to find the time to eat. sleep. Keep my family and friends updated as much as I can... aaannnd blog. ..lol. It's happening... slowly... somehow.

 I'm practicing my french :) .... I'm the unofficial translator in the group. I'm realizing that I may have an ear for languages because I'm finding myself translating certain words from English to french, Spanish, Portuguese.

DAY3
If I could find a way to put together what went down today... you would get why at 1:22 am I'm smiling from ear-to-ear and I'm in awe of ...this. Today was a learning experience. I took in for the first time the dynamics of Treaty bodies, International Law and states. .... to break that down, I took in the international instruments that are specific to the United Nations and learned how states can be legally bound or softly tied to these laws. Today I understood the detailed technicality behind the reason why sometimes when the UN suggest states to do certain things they don't necessarily implement it. I knew this before... but never like this. Since I was told by one of the coordinators of the fellowship program about the 1st week is meant to be introductory, learning the basic structure is necessary to know in any circumstance.

I think what's more exciting about this part of it is that I tasted the possibility of hearing about specific ways in which people of African descent can mobilize themselves and pressure their government to be tied to these conventions and treaties, most if not at least some they are signatories of. For anyone reading this who may be wondering, NO I don't have a background in International Relations, (though I took 1 class during my undergrad at York U) and NO I don't have a background in Law (though I took a class at York U, then dropped it half way through it lol)... But I do recognize and accept that with the work that I've done I am an activist in my own right.  ... I will admit that there were /(still are) moments where I'm dozing off, in the middle of some of these sessions... I can't deny the lessons that I'm taking in. I can't deny the space that I'm in and everything that it encompasses.

UN-related learning aside, the people that I'm around have an energy to them that I can't put into words. Their struggle and activism in their community ... and obvious frustration and exhaustion is visible in their tones even if I don't speak Portuguese or spanish. It's an expression and vibe that is all to familiar to me, and some people that I know in my community as well as my own home. Today I found myself eating, laughing, joking, celebrating a birthday, and singing bob marley anthems outloud from the bus ride, train ride and walk from the Brazilian restaurant to the hostel where we're all staying. ... then somewhere in-between I found myself finding abstract bars of Tupac &Biggie tracks and reciting the lines to these songs I heard vaguely with the fellow from the UK and the US. ...lol. ....(how did I get here?).
(1:48am 20/10/11)

...
Ever so grateful.

Reebok Classics Presents: Lauryn Hill

Lauryn Hill's take on creating one of my favourite albums ever in life. "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill"

old lady & book & ttc

The story below was meant to be publish a while back, but for some reason I never got around to it. Appologies.

"yesterday on the train ride home from work, I saw an old woman whose 'race' I couldn't quite decipher find a seat accross from me at a subway stop that shall remain un-named. lol... Her face was folded and patterned in wrinkles that held a million words... she had in her hands, a few bags, some plastic some cloth. Either way I couldn't quite make-out the contents that filled them.

She glanced around for what seemed like a second before she eagerly reached out in one of the bags a book that read something along the lines of "The book of Catholic jokes"... She opened the book and I could see her eyes quickly skim through the first couple of pages and she turned one page after the other (probably skimming the prefaces and intros)... and I saw the faint prelude of what seemed like a half-cracked smirk when she landed on the first page where the book began. ... It was cool to watch that moment.

.... of course she didn't know I was staring at her.. but I was. lol... I saw her eyes dance accross what I assumed to be words, phrases and ideas and then I saw her smile. It seemed like every joke she read was funnier to her than the next one. Almost like she could relate or was hugging the memory of her youth, the memory of something past and the possible irony that may have found itself hidden in between the sentences she found.

... her smile would get bigger as she read on. At one point I noticed that she must've ran into a joke that was super funny because she was smiling really widely then looked up to see if anyone was looking at her ...lol. (it was adorable).. we exchanged glances, as her eyes skimmed around her surroundings then she returned to her book.

It was the most heartwarming sight I'd ever seen on the TTC in a while. ... oooooorrr Maybe I was reading too much into it.... LOL."

^^

(Strange Fruit)
-

Oprah Presents: Maya Angelou's story [Master Class]

I just finished watching Maya Angelou's featured episode in Operah's Master's class. To say that this woman is amazing would be one of the biggest understatement ever.

And among the biggest lessons I took from that was:

Who you really are:

"If a human being dreams a great dream, dares to love somebody; if a human being dares to be Martin King, or Mahatma Gandhi, or Mother Theresa, or Malcolm X; if a human being dares to be bigger than the condition into which she or he was born—it means so can you. And so you can try to stretch, stretch, stretch yourself so you can internalize, 'Homo sum, humani nil a me alienum puto. I am a human being, nothing human can be alien to me.' That's one thing I'm learning." — Dr. Maya Angelou

On Becoming who you are meant to be:

"What I think it really means is: I'm a teacher. I am a teacher. I teach all the time, as you do and as all of you do—whether we know it or not, whether we take responsibility for it or not. I hold nothing back because I want to see that light go off. I like to see the children say, 'I never thought of that before.' And I think, 'I've got them!'" — Dr. Maya Angelou

....

For the past little while it's been a lot of back to back madness... so running into this video was amazingly necessary. and a Blessing.

Suppose I am going to be somebody, then the greatness of my being must reflect the light in me and not me. So when I hear Maya Angelou say that she prays for humility, It makes me feel uplifted and not alone in that idea. Suppose that I am as great as this light that I recognize in so many people, this light that I recognize in truth and I recognize in God, then I have to continue to breathe in this life and take everything in.... and master it.

Veuillez Veiller sur vos Rêves

Soulection // Teaser by SOULECTION

I haven't written anything solid in a while. I've scribbled here and there, but nothing solid. Part of it is because I'm uninspired, and part of it is because I'm trying to make sense of these words that fell from my brain to my laptop screen. I have a document of 5 pages worth of words, and ideas that I'm trying to convolute into a poem or 2 or 3 and I'm stuck.



So here's the idea: I'm going to attempt to do sort of like a writer's bloc. lol... except that I will be alternating between words and sketches... not sure when this will start but right now March 1st looks very probable. I don't think I will share any of it on this blog though, unless the outcome of my penmanship far surpasses what I thought I could produce... umm.. yeah.. that's the idea, so we'll see.



(I used to log on myspace (chhyyeeaah remember myspace??lol) just to play this song over and over again, cuz I'm cool like that)

Dear Eye problems, please go away.... Dear Essay, please write yourself.... Dear inspiration, where are you??? :(

(Strange Fruit)

All that jazz...

.... (interesting... lol ... fashion, sometimes makes me laugh out loud and shake my head profusely)

[2 asians w/ high tops ...LOL. This pic is awesome!]

Still working on this vision board. ...lol.. hopefully I'll have it done before the 1st of feb.I should be doing work right now, but I've been finding a lot of gems for the past few hours. Mostly all Jazz... which is fine, because I've been on that tip for the last little while. I'm rediscovering old favourites, notably "My Baby Just Cares for Me" - by Nina Simone. The other day I went to HMV, in hopes of finding some juice to fuel my ipod, and I was sooo close to purchase a Coltrane discography, then I remembered the amount that was sitting on my bank account, and I walked away with a sad pout, sincerely wishing my financial situation was different than it was. .... *kicks can, with hands in pocket*

Nina Simone - My Baby Just Cares for Me by samprofeta

When I pay attention to how much time I spend just looking for songs, and sharing it with people, I keep thinking I should find a job where that's all I do, I think I would be VERY happy doing that. ... uughh...

Jose James
VICADIN by josejamesworldwide

I found another video from the Influencers series. A few posts ago, I posted their first short film "Influencer" series, which till this day, I keep replaying over and over again, almost memorizing what is being said. Here is an interview with a dude named Steve Stoute, the CEO of Translation [a brand management firm that arranges strategic partnerships between pop culture icons (JayZ, Gwen Stefani, Lebron, Justin Timberlake...) & Fortunne 500 companies]. Interesting enough in my management class, we were talking about branding and everything he's saying, we discussed. Anyway, watch it and be inspired!

INFLUENCERS in-depth Series / STEVE STOUTE from R+I creative on Vimeo.

[Sidebar: morning stretches, thinking, writing and quick workouts are awesome!! I highly recommend it!]

Oprah Presents: Jay-z's story [Master Class]

On this blog, and in my life, I always try to emphasize the importance of stories, and story-telling. Which is why I love hip hop, and poetry and conversations with people in general. I just ran into this video on one of my favourite blogs. I love this story, I find it inspiring. I think it's a great way to start of 2011. (thank you Oprah! lol)


1/3
Uploaded by 3030fm. - Explore more family videos.


2/3
Uploaded by 3030fm. - Family events, birthdays and parenting videos.


3/3
Uploaded by 3030fm. - Discover videos of people, family and friends.

Fearless is my word for 2011. It is the word that I will embody, and I will walk in Faith and make this happen. I want to find my 'truth' whatever 'it' is. I don't know what my 'thing' is yet, and I hope that I will find it soon, I can feel it.

I got a feeling...

Blu - So Perfect (prod. Exile) by mmmikeyt

The other day, I woke up and I can't remember what I had to do that day but I remember walking out of the house feeling beautiful. Everything about my hair, my skin, what I managed to accomplish with my clothes, was just good. I walked outside feeling simple, not at all conceited but feeling blessed that God gave me the spirit and the body wrapped up into what is me. I felt confident in how and who I was. It was random but it was kind of cool. That feeling was like a high that lasted a couple of hours, and then it faded into the background of my being. lol...

I tried to figure out the reason behind this random feeling. Funny thing is that I don't think transitioning is the reason for it. I think I always had those moments but I just never thought about these moments, until I started to think about being. (makes sense?). It's almost like I'm looking at myself outside of myself. Strange Fruit of the week.

John Legend & The Roots "SHINE" (Re-imagined by Ahmed Sirour) by Ahmed S.

While I'm at it, I guess I could give an update on my hair: My braids are dreading. lol.. I think it's that time where it needs to come off. But I've solved the scalp situation I had going on, and my hair seems to have improved dramatically, and so has my routine. Pretty happy with it, I'm just praying that I can actually undo the dreading action that's going on under there. For some reason I have this feeling that I may be frustrated enough to just big chop before new years or something drastic and random like that, but we'll see lol.

Hocus Pocus - Mr tout le monde by Manuel Orkestar

I finally finished the 1st draft of my project. The easy fun part is coming now, and I get to enjoy my break! I found a DOPE 100 best Native Tongues songs from Complex mag! I found out Lauryn Hill is coming to Toronto a few days before my birthday!

Ran into the trailer for this movie feat. Liya Kebede, which I NEED to watch as soon as it comes out.

Desert Flower (Wüstenblume) - Trailer English from MajesticFilm on Vimeo.

And here's a mini-short film I just ran into. It's the story of a man who started his own suit company in NY. It's kinda cool.

Lessons from a Tailor. Directed by Galen Summer from Ed David on Vimeo.