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Who Am I

Me

These days life is taking me further away from my affiliations and bringing me closer to my family, friends, and love. I’m starting to find that all of the labels provide little insight into who I am and even less value to me personally. Poet, Christian, Que Dog, Black Man, Manager, Engineer, Activist, American, or whatever else I’ve been called.

Who am I? I am a child of God trying to use the gifts God gave me to walk in the light and to be a blessing to everyone I come in contact with. I am an incomplete work of art being painted one stroke at a time. I am a traveler who hasn’t yet reached my destination, therefore my story is incomplete. I can not change what I’ve done or where I’ve been, but every second is a new stroke that leaves my portrait slightly more finished.

Who am I? We’ll have to wait and see what the portrait looks like when it’s complete. Even then, the interpretation will be debatable to everyone but the painter. Even then, only God will know what he intended me to be.

Who am I? I am not an artist, I am a piece of art in God’s collection of love.

Responsibility of an Artist

In my opinion, there are two things an artist must do. First, we must use our voice to create imagery with our words, movement, paint, and sound that give voices to the billions of people who for one reason or another are unable to articulate their story. Second, we must use our art to create a future so beautiful, that we give those souls that are barely hanging on enough hope to keep believing that as cruel as the world has been, that it’s not time to give up yet, that there is something beautiful enough in these crazy times to keep fighting for.

Slavery

Soulful II: Telling OUR own Stories OUR own Way


A night dedicated to the healing power of storytelling:  

12/15/2012 from 8 p.m. until 9:45 p.m. @ at Café Rande Vu
2430 Broadway Ave, Oakland, CA  94612 (between 24th St & 25th St)


Ladies and Gentlemen:
Please join us for “SOULFUL II: Telling OUR own Stories OUR own Way” on Saturday December 15, 2012 at Café Rande Vu in Oakland (2430 Broadway) at 8:00pm. Soulful is completely dedicated to the healing power of storytelling and on 12/15/12 we will be raising money to cover the medical expenses of Kim Glanville who on October 27th was shot 5 times in a tragic case of mistaken identity.  Kim will be telling “Her own story her own way” on the 15th.  In addition, we offer some of the hottest writers in Northern California. Check out the lineup.

Sean King
Sean King is a husband, a father, a writer, a published author, a spoken word artist, a computer geek, a community activist, a dreamer, and someone who loves life. He’s been fortunate to meet countless numbers of diverse people from all over the world and all walks of life, he’s performed on stages and in different venues across the country, and self published three books of poetry (Through My Eyes I, Through My Eyes II, and Hypnogysms) while simultaneously studying Computer Engineering. He is the mentor to numerous youth in the Northern California area and pledged Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc., the greatest fraternity in the world.

Luisa Leija
Luisa Leija’s work arrives in the form of dances, prayers, and invocations of a universal spirit. Her words are smoke signals, calling us to recognize ourselves within the world we inhabit; a world that equally inhabits us. Drawing from the indigenous traditions of the Americas, native culture, and Mexican culture, Luisa unifies themes of community, family, history, and ceremony into a seamless journey through the mystery of human existence. A multi-genre writer, Luisa’s talents are as diverse and plentiful as her words. A search for transformation, for truth, for connection, is ever-present throughout Luisa’s work, an endeavor that is both timely and inspiring for our present world.

Sayre Quevedo
Sayre Quevedo lives in Oakland, California. He works as a reporter and producer for Youth Radio and has had worked featured on National Public Radio, Marketplace, National Geographic, Huffington Post and in the San Francisco Chronicle. He has been a featured poet at the Bitchez Brew and Lyrics and Dirges reading series’.

Vanessa Jezebel Delilah X
Feminist Afrocentric Black Queer Femme Lesbian Artist Writer Performer Curious Dreamer Fighter Champion Love-Warrior Activist Faerie Princess Mermaid Gangsta Revolutionary: Jezebel Delilah X, is a performance artist, writer, filmmaker, and teacher. She is co-host of East Bay Open Mic, Culture Fuck, a member of the story telling performance troupe, Griot Noir, and one of the founding members of Deviant Type Press. She uses a combination of performative memoir, theatrical poetry, and feminist storytelling to advance her politix of radical love, socioeconomic justice, anti-racism, and community empowerment.

Zarina Zabrisky
Zarina Zabrisky moved to San Francisco from Moscow to escape the aftermath of a collapsing communist empire. Her work has appeared in Eleven Eleven Journal, Bluestem Magazine and other publications in the US, UK, Canada and Nepal. Her debut short story collection “Iron” explores the nature of oppression, revolt and survival.

Kim Glanville
Kim was born in the Bronx New York 1982; 2 years after her mother came from Kingston, Jamaica. She comes from a line of Strong women that are no nonsense, independent and hard working. Her passions and commitments to community transformation through social movement and accountability have been the driving force in her personal and professional development. Her healing mechanisms are purging with the power of the pen and dancing to Soulful House. She is currently a grad student at the USF School of Education Human Rights program. On October 27th she was murdered into excellence by surviving attempted murder without fear, and thus owned her freedom to live.

Hosted by Roger Porter

PS Suggested minimum donation of $4 to the Kim Glanville fund or suggested purchase of Iron by Zarina Zabrisky….no one will be turned away. See you on the 15th of December.

This event will be Simply Beautiful and oh so SOULFUL
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOxFl4dna3o)