Eyesocket Miracles

Take the mass out of your communication
We’ve got a cist of innovation
Standing in between
Our vitality and the self same entropy
That used to sustain our reality--
That fear that we forgot how to fight
Is blocking our throats
And catching the things
We might have swallowed
When we knew how to sit close
And close was comfort
When we knew the strings in our throats
Not only connected
Our brains to our feet to our future
But also connected us to our brother
To our dreams
The same ones that even now
Are trembling in our trachea
Too terrified to come true
In a world where lies taste like love
And truth only trickles from sinners’ tongues
And the ears are too timid
Or too tortured
Or too entranced
To transform

So take the masses out of your cords of communication
Burdened and Broken tongues
Sound so stale when spoken
So unceremoniously
And I aim to aim my arrow of community directly
At this misguided misconception of connectivity
Hoping only to hit those things we love most
Because my lines have yet to snap
Because the degradation
Of my poetry
Into commodity
Not only frightens me
But offends me
I am much more grand
Than these strands
Of snapped apart lines and limbs
Connected to the knee bone
Of people all over these over charged
Lines of super market powers
Because we’re forgetting that rib bones
Aren’t the only things that keep
Strong hearts beating
Because 200,000 times a day,
200,000 times our size
We reach out in all directions
To encompass any and every
Lasting thing that leaves us breathtaken
And brush our fingertips against
The fire that used to fuel our feats
Before we were fueled by fast food
And as many times as we pass through the flame
As many times as we force ourselves into the frying pan
We don’t burn out like stars past our prime
We have all the sublime startings
Of constellations
And the zenith of innovations
To tear our own locality in eternity
So I say it’s high time
To re-recognize our autonomy
And assert the authority
We were born to be
Because the truth of me
And probably the truth of you too
Is that we two
Grew not from seeds or misdeeds,
But from thoughts and dreams and beating hearts
And 200,000 miracles a day
Reminding us of the catastrophe of mundanity
And that ordinary is insanity
We were born to be so beyond burdened and bored
We were born to be blazing
And beautiful
And brilliantly
Shining out of eyesockets
Are those dreams of schemes and gleams
Of all that seems beyond our means
I follow them every day like lighthouses
Because I still feel the edges of the universe
With fingertips
There is stardust under my nails
And darkness in my fists
And oceans in my eyes

Waiting like summer
Wading like sons too far out to sea
Wafting like sunshine
Come down to dance
To the evening song played by the beating breakers
They are having a party
Where the land turns to sea
And the solidity of a mentality
Learns fluidity
And flows easily down a throat
To let the swell surge again
With the floodgates open,
Maybe the rivers will flow home
And we can send signals along like synapse
Messages meandering with the current
Meshing and managing
To make it
Even without mechanisms and machines
We still have mystery and magic

Food Not Bombs: nourishing the front lines of social justice

Food Not Bombs shares free vegan and vegetarian meals with the hungry 

in over 1,000 cities around the world every week to protest war, poverty and 

the destruction of the environment. 

With over a billion people going hungry each day how can we spend another dollar on war?

Need It Keep It

So, I read about this the other day, and the goal of this organization is astoundingly modern and at the same time straightforward: let's make "giving" go viral.

The organization is called Need It Keep It, and the process is simple:

Read the letter in its entirety.

If the money in the envelope comes to the reader at a time that it can have a measurable impact in their life, they are instructed to keep it. In other words, "If you need it, keep it."

Whether they keep it or not, the letter simply asks that the recipient let us know, via phone, email, or through our guestbook, exactly if and how it impacted them.

If they don't need the money in the envelope, we ask that they simply pass the envelope along to someone else, ideally, adding a dollar (or more) to it, if they're able, and compelled to do so...

The organization was created by Don Compton, who started the organization by taking 100 of these envelopes and putting a single dollar inside of it, along with the enclosed letters. Already, the attempts at exponential growth of this idea of giving have taken hold, and the organization has started up its own website, along with facebook, myspace, and twitter pages.

http://needitkeepit.org/

I just found its simplicity inspiring, and saw potential for its presence here at UCLA.

K'Naan & J. Period: The Messengers

Free download! Killer 3-part project honoring Fela Kuti, Bob Marley, and Bob Dylan.


 

// FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE //  New York, NY (August 18, 2009) – Some artists are defined by their environment. Some redefine their environment. Still others push the boundaries of convention so fully that their influence is felt around the globe, and across generations. Their music compels us not only to dance but to think, not only to celebrate but to strive, not only to listen but to truly hear. Fela Kuti, Nigeria’s eminent musical activist; Bob Marley, Jamaica’s emissary of struggle and unity; and Bob Dylan, America’s reluctant Civil Rights song leader, are three such artists.

These are “The Messengers.

Today, August 18, 2009, acclaimed DJ/Producer, J.Period, and rising Somali-born MC, K’NAAN, are pleased to announce a unique and powerful remix project, paying tribute to the lasting legacy of these musical giants. Weaving afro-beat, reggae, ska, folk music and rock into this genre-bending musical experience, The Messengers stretches the boundaries of hip hop—and the mixtape genre itself. Remixing the classic work of Fela, Marley and Dylan, The Messengers captures the timelessness of their sounds and the continued urgency of their messages. The result, as fans have come to expect from J.Period, is like no mixtape you’ve ever heard.

Zinnstrumentals: a mix tape dedicated to Howard Zinn

Check out this awesome, awesome mixtape by DJ Ian Head!  You can download the whole thing for free as an MP3.  Just control+click (on a Mac) or right click (on a PC) on this link, and "save as" to your desktop: Zinnstrumentals.

March 2010: Zinnstrumentals
DJ Ian Head
Just as many of us djs and producers look up to those who work and look outside the box, I believe in looking outside the so-called box when thinking about history, politics and society in general. So did legendary historian and author Howard Zinn, who sadly passed just a little over a month ago. His book "Peoples History of the United States" was his attempt to tell history from voices and viewpoints often shut out of history text books. I found it inspiring, as well as his belief that "neutrality" was basically bullshit; that if you are silent, you are siding with the status quo. In his words, "you can't be neutral on a moving train."
So this tape is a bit of an experiment - originally I was going to just do an instrumental tape of some my favorite beats, especially records often forgotten or overlooked. But I felt it needed something more, and so I dropped in some tidbits from various interviews with Zinn, who I believe was often overlooked himself. For someone whose book has sold well over a million copies worldwide, and who has been a commentator, activist and author for several decades, his passing drew very little attention in the media. Columnist Bob Herbert summed it up best, writing "His death this week at the age of 87 was a loss that should have drawn much more attention from a press corps that spends an inordinate amount of its time obsessing idiotically over the likes of Tiger Woods and John Edwards."
The records I pulled for this mix come from a variety of producers, and I tried to keep it obscure but dope, lots of underground 12inches that I feel are often forgotten. I've included a tracklisting of the producers below, in order.
The excerpts of / about Howard Zinn are from Democracy Now! with Amy Goodman, Bill Moyers Journal on PBS, and Prison Radio with Mumia Abu-Jamal.
RIP Howard Zinn.
-- DJ Ian Head

Tracklisting:
1. exile
2. dj vadim
3. hi-tek
4. attica blues
5. kankick
6. portishead
7. asheru
8. no i.d.
9. madlib
10. da beatminerz
11. chief xcel

Thingloop: who needs to BUY STUFF when you can SHARE?

Art | Global Health Center at UCLA

My involvement with the Art | Global Health Center at UCLA began in the fall of this school year, September 2009. The Center was able to get Pieter-Dirk Uys - a well-known performer, satirist, and social activist from South Africa - to come to UCLA and lead a two-week workshop with a group of willing students at UCLA from various academic departments. I participated in this workshop and learned about HIV/AIDS facts, the negative stigmatization associated with HIV positive individuals, and the ways in which all of this can be helped. The group of students that participated in the workshop became the "AIDS Performance Team."

I learned from Pieter the importance of art as a medium for change, which I had previously been quite skeptical of. At the end of the workshop, Pieter-Dirk Uys, Bobby Gordon (Outreach and Project Coordinator for the Center) and the AIDS Performance Team put on an original show about HIV and AIDS. The show was creative, informative, and entertaining all at once. We addressed topics such as condom use, the stigma surrounding AIDS, the importance of testing, and more.

Since then, I have continued my involvement with the Center through volunteer work and even more performing. During Winter quarter, the AIDS Performance Team (which gained some members) created a new show called "When the Situation Gets Slippery". We went to three L.A. high schools with this performance, which included acting, singing, dancing, beat-boxing, and all the fun and informative aspects of Pieter's original idea. In the past couple weeks, Bobby Gordon has arranged filming of some of the AIDS Performance Team's work, which will be edited into a creative and original film. This film will allow us to reach even more high schools in Los Angeles and beyond.

The reason this work is so effective and so inspirational is because it is not just informative - it's serious, it's hilarious, and it's completely honest. The show gets students to listen in ways that a sex ed class never could, and they learn so much more.

The Art | Global Health Center involved in many other projects, and they are always looking for creative ideas or an extra set of helping hands. Below is an excerpt from their website about their mission and the ways they achieve their goals.

"Our endeavors are shepherded by the following guiding principles:

1: The Power of a Global Network of Artists

We aim to facilitate collaboration between artists and advocates working for the advancement of global health, strengthening public health interventions through improved communication via the international artists’ network and database.

2: The Creative Process as a Catalyst for Change

Our programs seek to create points of personal identification through art as a means to elicit empathy, understanding, and emotional growth through recognition of a shared humanity.

3: De-Centered Sites of Artistic Encounter

We aim to expand our audience into sites of encounter beyond elite spaces. These sites are portable, village level, street level; they reach all populations.

4: Education as Action

We seek to develop, implement and evaluate arts-based educational programs, taking advantage of the laboratory provided by UCLA to ascertain the most effective means to educate and empower youth in the battle against HIV/AIDS."

If you want to get involved with the Art | Global Health Center at UCLA, visit their website and click on the "Contact Us" tab at the top.

http://artglobalhealth.org/

Also, if you want to see a sample of some of the stuff I've done with the AGHC, watch this YouTube video that was used as an advertisement for UCLA Campus World AIDS Day.

A Tribute to Kisingani

Hi Everyone! So after hearing Peter tell us about the genocide in Kisingani in 2001 and watching the video of Faustin Linyekula dancing, I was inspired to write a poem for my reflection last week, in tribute of what happened in Kisingani and how beautiful things can still happen in the midst of such destruction. Enjoy!

In the aftermath of bullet showers,
Smoking guns, screams of terror, cries of agony,
All is quiet.
The Congo still ebbs and flows as it always does,
Even as its waters mix with the blood of massacred bodies,
A deadly peaceful and horrifying sight.

In the aftermath of fatal explosions,
Bombings, dying innocents,
All is not lost.
A makeshift space among the ruins of a building,
A few dancers doing what they do best,
A willing crowd gathering to watch spontaneity,
And creative passion once again reigns supreme.

In the aftermath of destruction,
All is quiet,
But all is not lost.

CC -- The Creative Commons

Creative Comments is a nonprofit organization that allows artists to build upon the work of others. The aim of this is to help increase the amount of work being created, allowing artists to share their work publicly with the copyright protection that works best for them. Creative Commons also provides a "no copyright" option, which permits art to be used by anyone, anywhere, without any legal repercussions. The following is a video better explaining the nature of the Creative Commons:

Copyright law no longer requires the "c in a circle" icon; due to changes in law, any creative work is automatically copyrighted as soon as it is made. A goal of Creative Commons is to help people know whether or not something is copyrighted, since the "c in a circle's" absence may not necessarily mean that it is not protected under copyright.

Creative Commons can be used by anyone, but some big names utilize it to publish material--Google, Wikipedia, Nine Inch Nails, and the Obama Administration (whitehouse.gov) just to name a few.

As an artist, Creative Commons allows for the posting and utilization of works, with varying degrees of copyright protection--all of which are clearly posted on the Creative Commons website.

Dancers in WAC (or elsewhere) who want to use a song for their piece can find music that is not protected with an "all rights reserved" clause. DJs or musicians who want to sample material can also find creative comments useful, as the techno beats in a song that they hear on the radio will likely be off-limits for them to use publicly. If you're making a poster to be displayed in the middle of a college campus, you can't just go online and use whatever pictures you want off of Google Images--but Creative Commons shows you, as an artist, what images you can use, without having to worry about getting sued by the illustrator who created the image.

On the other end of the spectrum, if you want take a photograph and want anyone to be able to use it for activist purposes, Creative Commons helps those activists in showing them that your work is open for public use for that purpose.

Here's the website:

http://creativecommons.org/

Public Art - Public Theater - Public Dialogue in LA!

Cornerstone Theater Company's culminating production of the Justice Cycle is right around the corner! 3 Truths is the sixth and final show of the Justice Cycle, a four-year series of plays examining how laws can shape and disrupt L.A.'s communities. With only 5 public performances of this show, it'll be over before you know it. Choose a date (June 4, 5, 10, 11, & 12) and write it down so you and your friends don't miss this epic L.A. event!

 

3 TRUTHS
Written by NAOMI IIZUKA
Directed by MICHAEL JOHN GARCÉS
June 4 - 12, 2010 at Grand Performances

Nationally-celebrated playwright Naomi IIzuka’s 3 Truths weaves together a sprawling cast of Angelenos from all walks of life all asking one question: What Is The Truth? As L.A.’s landmark Hall of Justice stands in the distance, Cornerstone Theater Company transforms downtown’s California Plaza into a dramatic judicial arena where fates are decided and lives hang in the balance. As laws have the power to separate and confine us, we come together in our quest to uncover three truths: your truth, my truth, and the truth.

Directed by Michael John Garcés, this epic world premiere event is the culminating “bridge” show of Cornerstone’s Justice Cycle, a four-year multi-play exploration of how laws shape and disrupt communities. Immediately following each performance, audience members are invited to join in dialogue with L.A.’s important civic and cultural leaders as they come together to discuss urgent issues of justice facing our city and beyond. Click here or go to grandperformances.org for more information about all post-show discussions.

Mother's Day gift for the Mom who has everything

Did you know that the flower industry is one of the worst abusers of commercial pesticides?  Skip the chemical bouquet and do good in your Mother's name.

At Oxfam's chariable gift shop you can buy soap, a goat, a school desk, or have a vegetable garden planted in your Mom's name, directly supporting HIV/AIDS affected families in countries around the world.

What is Oxfam America?

Forty percent of the people on our planet—more than 2.5 billion—now live in poverty, struggling to survive on less than $2 a day. Oxfam America is an international relief and development organization working to change that. Together with individuals and local groups in more than 100 countries, Oxfam saves lives, helps people overcome poverty, and fights for social justice.

How is Oxfam America rated?

Oxfam America is one of the top charities rated by leading charitable watchdog organizations, including the American Institute of Philanthropy. Charity Navigator gives us 4 out of 4 stars. We meet all 20 of the Better Business Bureau’s standards for charity accountability.
To learn more about us and our work, go to: About Oxfam.

All Creative Work is Derivative... Viva the cultural commons!

Afrikan Student Union at UCLA

One of the organizations that has had a lot of influence on my life is the Afrikan Student Union here at UCLA. Currently, I serve as ASU's Administrative Coordinator and my job is to make sure that any logistical and tedious tasks are taken care of. In addition, I hold staff members accountable to the task that have been set forth in our spaces. Simply, ASU serves as the unifying voice for all Afrikan-identified students here on the campus and in the Los Angeles community.

Some of the programs that ASU does have are Students Heightening Academic Performance through Education (SHAPE), Academic Supports Program, and Afrikan Education Project.

SHAPE is a student-initiated and student run outreach program, created to have K-12 African American students matriculate into institutions of higher education, with a focus on holistic development. SHAPE offers tutoring, peer advising, mentorship and various workshops to ensure African American numbers can ultimately increase on the collegiate level.

ASP is the student-initiated and student-run retention program designed to guide Black/African students to a successful college experience and graduation from UCLA. ASP also focuses on helping students with personal management skills, major choices, goal settings, class planning, academic difficulty, readmission work, and much more.

However, one of my favorite projects of them all is the Afrikan Education Project that is a tutoring/mentoring program that seeks to enhance the lives and academic scores of the children who reside at New Wilmington Arms in Compton, CA through African empowerment and education and basic tutoring. All of these different projects are ways to reach out into our Afrikan-identified communities and helping to develop our own people so that we can develop and empower ourselves.

If you are interested in getting involved in any of the projects that were mentioned above, then make sure to check out www.blackbruins.org.

Yoga!

Hi everyone! So I love yoga. I've practiced yoga with my mom for a while, I've taken classes through the WAC dept with Kishan, and I've taken various classes around LA. However, yoga can be pretty pricey and finding a great teacher and a nice studio is tricky. Recently my friend and I found a lovely studio right on 3rd street in Santa Monica (just a 15 min bus ride!) Its called Yoga Co, Santa Monica. It's a donation based studio and as their website states, "What you donate is personal and private. We don’t want you to stop practicing yoga for financial reasons... In the yogic sense of karma, as we are giving to you a gift, it is our hope that you will give back." This is a great philosophy and a great way to get the yoga experience on a budget. Best of all the studio is super beautifully decorated, very clean, environmentally friendly, and light. I am recommending this studio because I think if everyone practiced yoga the world would be a better place! The meditative and breathing aspect of yoga is extremely calming and cleansing. The physical aspect is great too because you get a good workout which is good for your body. The physical and mental aspects of yoga combined create a sense of positivity and awareness of the world that is hard to get anywhere else. I really encourage anyone who is interested in yoga to take a class at yoga co! Its very close to UCLA, very reasonably priced, and it will make your mind and body feel better and more nourished.

Here is the information:

Yoga Co, Santa Monica Yoga, Power Yoga Studio -

About Yoga Co: YogaCo is Santa Monica's largest yoga studio with three unique rooms offering up to 25 classes daily...We believe in a collective community consciousness and welcome all yogis from all walks of life. OUR CLASSES ARE RUN ON A DONATION BASED SYSTEM

**Also its a "green and clean" environment!

- We strive to keep our air as clean and healthy as possible to add to your yoga experience. We do this by placing Hepa-filters throughout the studio, which filter 100% of the existing air 2 to 5 times per hour. We also have oxygen-producing plants, (featured on an environmentally approved list of a small handful of plants which are proven to rid the environment of Benzene, Formaldyhyde, and TCE), all which help to enhance and produce additional fresh air for every breath we take.

- To help preserve and protect our environment, we have placed recycle bins throughout our studio and also use waterless urinals - which can conserve up to 40,000 gallons of water a year, and low-flow toilets (please use respectfully :). We have used quadruple-paned windows to also help mitigate the loss of heat and air for maximum energy efficiency.

- We are big on Bamboo (a highly renewable resource) and have used it for all of our flooring and also used it to custom build our shoe cubbies, bathroom partitions, benches and office furniture.

VanPool

When I was thinking about what to post, I really had a hard time thinking of anything that would be interesting. I wanted to highlight something new,exciting, and outside the box, but needless to say I had a hard time with that. So, I went back to the basics and thought about what my parents did to be sustainable and "green". And the first thing I thought of was carpooling, it may sound hella basic but it is something that has been around since I can remember and it was really affective with my family.

And now carpooling has become even more prevalent in the community at large. One resource that identify as something that was useful to me as a UCLA student was VanPool. The VanPool is not only a good spot for networking with people you might not ordinarily interact with, but it is also practical.

There is a small monthly fee to use the VanPool, but the peace of mind to not have drive everyday to and help the environment at the same time.

CSA

http://www.localharvest.org/csa/

"It's Our LA, Keep It Clean!" Program

In my apartment, we have a small mountain of plastic bags stored in the cabinet underneath the sink. It seems to perpetually stay the same size and never shrink, no matter how much we try to make good use of them in our trashcans or for storage purposes. We have a stash of reusable shopping bags that we use for grocery shopping but on the days when I decide to stop by Ralph's on my way back from class and I am without a reusable bag, I always cringe internally at the thought of adding yet another plastic bag to our collection.

In the face of LA being ranked one of the top cities with the worst ozone pollution and just pollution in general, I was glad to see various green organizations and programs being implemented and one of them is the "It's Our LA, Keep It Clean!" Plastic Bag Recycling Program. The program encourages residents to return plastic bags to stores for recycling and coincides with the passage of the Plastic Bag Recycling Act of 2006 (AB 2449), a new statewide law that requires certain retail and grocery stores to set up an at-store recycling program for customers to return plastic bags to accessible, visible bins for collection.

Stores meeting AB 2449 are required to print or display, on their plastic bags, the words PLEASE RETURN TO A PARTICIPATING STORE FOR RECYCLING. They must also provide a collection bin that is clearly marked for the purpose of collecting and recycling plastic bags. In addition, the store will maintain records describing the collection, transport, and recycling of the bags for a minimum of three years to demonstrate compliance and assess program success.

In this first year of the program, the pilot program commitment will be for one year in which it will focus on areas in LA designated as "high trash areas." After a year, an assessment will be carried out. The state law expires in 2013.

For more information, you can go to http://www.plastics.lacity.org/index.htm to find out more about the program. There is also a new "Take Action!" section on the website, encouraging the public and schools to look at this effort as simple and effective, from knowing what goes into their recycling bin to volunteering for a cleanup, to helping local stores start a recycling program.

Amor Ministries

I have been a part of Amor ministries in the past, and the profound effect it had on me is, in essence, why I have chosen to blog about it. Now, I know what you're thinking...this is one of those organizations that pushes an overly-religious agenda...and you know what, maybe that is somewhat true. Yes, I am religious, and yes I have conviction in my beliefs, but before I continue let me just say, it doesn't really matter what an organization is founded in, as long as it is doing good. At least that's my selling point for this.

What it does

"Jesus calls us to a continuous life of service. Therefore, we choose to serve with love. Join Amor Ministries in our efforts to change the world, one family at a time." The goal of Amor ministries is invested in love, not necessarily Christian love, although it is strongly encouraged. The mission is two-fold: by building homes for impoverished families in Tijuana and South Africa, individual congregations get a taste of spiritual fulfillment, and through building new relationships, families who desperately need new living conditions acquire them. The Amor team has a variety of recruitment sessions with both family and church ministries. All the building materials are provided (via a small fee, well worth it) and once there, hard work takes over. The process takes about a week, and it is truly a humbling experience. I will never forget seeing the mom of my family sweeping her freshly poured concrete floor as if it was the most expensive mahogany.

How it works

The organization is truly targeted as a grass roots approach to issues that God calls his followers to acknowledge. You go with your friends, and you do what Peter outlined in his lecture: You chill out. That isn't to say you don't work. I look at the process almost like a ritual routine. By the end of the trip fatigue and exhaustion usually get the best of you, but what is more shocking is that people live in these circumstances every day. As Peter says, they don't just live, they LIVE, and they learn to enjoy what they have. As members of the UCLA community, based in Southern California, Tijuana is so close...we don't have to go to Africa to spread love and quality of life. It's here in our own backyards.

Recently, the organization has grown tremendously, as the need for housing has become more and more acknowledged by the global community. In the last 50 years, orphanages in Mexico have experienced huge growth...I originally attributed this to crime and unwanted pregnancies, but what I found was astonishing. Parents gave-up there children in order to give them better lives. What I had seen as a lack of love was actually an overabundance of it. Often times, first hand experience goes unparalleled, and in this circumstance, I can't say I would have recognized the ability to LOVE, to AMOR without face-to-face contact.

You don't have to be super religious to participate, Amor is always looking for interns and participants, however a degree of spirituality is essential. As it is for a fulfilled life.

Amor Ministries Global Headquarters

1664 Precision Park Lane
San Diego, CA 92173 U.S.A
Phone: 619.662.1200

WWOOF

http://www.wwoof.org/

Ever long just to get off the grid, flee the city. I'm sure you have. Living in L.A. is stressful. Sometimes you might think t0 yourself, "gah, I just want to go live on a farm." But you can't. Cause you don't know any farmers. Well all that can be changed, easily, with WWOOF.

WWOOF stands for World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms. What they are is a third party between you and organic farmers. All you have to do is sign up for a membership (there's some small fee, but this is a non-profit) and choose a part of the world you want to work in. Once that's all done WWOOF puts you in contact with a farmer in that area. You and the farmer make the arrangements. What you get out of this deal is free room & board, food, and valuable knowledge. All you have to do is work on the farm during the week.

In this consumer culture we live in, we often forget where our food is coming from. Or maybe it isn't that we forget. We simply don't know. This program puts people in touch with a movement for sustainable agricultural practices that can't be learned in the supermarket. Moreover, the volunteer work helps organic farmers keep their businesses up and running. It may seem like a bunch of mundane field work, but what about at the end of the day. It would be pretty cool to see what goes on after hours on a farm in Costa Rica.