A Little for the World

After seeing a staging of his work-in-progress "Huis Clos," a dance performance with elements of spoken word, role playing, and storytelling, I had the pleasure of having a conversation with Quaba Venza Ernest about his interdisciplinary world-building, and the many facets that make up these worlds. Emotionally impacted by the piece, I was happy to get to know some of the early building...

Carving through wood, painting, and carefully placing grain into place to depict whole worlds of Black and African people, Prince De León is an artist who spends her time making art as a labor of love and a conversation with self. Together, the two of us revisit some of the most fruitful places in Philadelphia, a city that lives so fully in both of our hearts, and I got to learn about her art maki...

What would I do if I couldn't fail? This is the question I've come to ponder and dwell after this conversation.  Jhelan Gordon-Salaam is a choreographer, movement artist, teacher, fellow deep feeler, and fellow reader who I've gotten the chance to meet during my time spent in Philadelphia. The two of us go beneath the surface and comb through the ways in which Dance has infused itse...

Explicitly candid about healing the inner child through writing, Mark and I comb through these processes and revisit their journeys of how their many novels have been shaped by experience.  Mark Oshiro is a #1 NY Times Bestselling Author of The Sun and the Star: A Nico Di Angelo Adventure, and award winning novelist of YA and middle grade books Such as: Anger is a Gift, Into the Light, Each of us...

Painting, pathways, and "honoring your fate." This week, Ashley Beerdat and I meditate on the guiding or gravitational pulls within her life as a painter, and how following the colors' natural dialogue impacts her relationship to the world, and helps build self-confidence. Ashley is a Canada-based painter who exhibits her work internationally. The two of us met from doing a group ex...

When taking a moment to look back on our journeys, how do we define or perceive the process of finding our own voice? What are some of our defining moments?  This week, I've had the pleasure to talk to Aáisha Naté, a singer-songwriter from Brooklyn, NY, whose love for songwriting and singing has somehow led to this moment where the two of us are combing through some of what led to these songs...