Pride and The New Norm: Equal Rights

I grew up IN JAMAICA in an African/British influenced household run by two lawyers; one, an atheist and the other, a practicing Catholic. We had a constant influx of visitors from around the world, many of whom hosted us in their homes when we traveled.  Among our guests were committed gay couples who are together to this day. 

Because of how my parents socialized me - it frankly never occurred to me that there was anything different or untoward about "Auntie and Auntie" or "Uncle and Uncle" compared with "Auntie and Uncle".
(Note: In my culture - out of respect we address our elders as "Auntie" and "Uncle"  even when they are not blood relatives.) 
They were our family of friends and THAT was THAT.

In all the years that followed when living out in the World and encountering other view points - I was constantly shocked that anyone saw my Aunties and Uncles any differently because they were gay.  Being a total ham and hag - I amassed my own gay friends, and many, and frankly felt no need to explain this to the few confused objectors in my life - except to point out that their philosophy of love was flawed if they missed the beauty of a soul based on righteous principle. 

Without realizing that I had inherited a wide emotional girth of activism from my parents, this issue almost immediately spilled onto the pages of the first college papers I wrote with indignant vehemence. (Along with issues of global acceptance of multiculturalism and the legalization of weed.)  I argued that couples in the #LGBTIQ community had the right not only to marry, but to adopt children.  I smile at this now, as adoption was at issue for gay couples in the late 90s; just this year I attended the baptism of two beautiful natural children of a gay friend…just to illustrate our growth since then. 

Every #pridemarch I've gone to in different cities, or to conferences I've been lucky enough to attend, I strongly believed of course in the fight for #equalrights and supported it with a clear heart, but I must admit that I wondered how this would work in a World so bent on the isms and religions which pronounce what is right or wrong.  In the last year especially, I confess to an unusual phase of quiet that came over me from the numbing shocking wave of fear-induced violence and hate in every sphere across this globe.  And no doubt there is a lot of work still to be done. But I am sucker for reinforcements.  We all are.  I weep ecstatically that I am now old enough to speak like my parents have in saying -
"I never thought I would live to see the day that the World could shift this significantly while I am energetic enough to participate in the new norm." 

The New Norm. 

The fact that THIS in ways unseen opens further rights and protections to the full extent of the law for people, for families... is what was at stake here!! Families!! The  fact that this shall become so ordinary a truth and way of life that the Labels we separate each other and ourselves with can, must, and will fall away. That our differences will only be details of delightful interest to be celebrated.

Yes.

WE are on our way.
On our way back.
To the beginning.
To ourselves.

I congratulate and celebrate EVERY HUMAN BEING. 
What we see evidenced before us, WE can manifest again and again if we just reMember to Love.

#LOVEWINS along with mutual #RESPECT.

#enlightmentisabigbang #offwego  #tippingpoint #criticalmass #letskeepthisgoing #loverevolution #theonlyway
#excusemewhileIlightmyspliff

TV Interview: Spotlight on Cocooning Catharsis

PBCJamaica "Spotlight" TV Interview Originally aired January 2014
for the solo photo-Based exhibition Cocooning Catharis at HiQo Gallery, Kingston, Jamaica
(Dec 19 - Jan 13th, 2014)


This was thankfully a casual but in depth discussion on the inspiration behind the work, and some of the methods used to make the pieces.  It was a great hang with the crew too.

Select works available at HiQo Gallery






Related links and articles:

Smile Jamaica/TVJ Morning Interview

Petchary Blog Review

Arc Magazine Release

The Gleaner

For Trayvon Martin: In. The Hood. We. Will. Witness. Lives and Dreams.

A little over a year ago I collaborated with some friends to create levitating imagery as a first reaction to the news of Trayon Martin's untimely demise. The titles of each triptych portrait were part of a whole sentence: In The Hood We Will Witness Lives and Dreams. 

The idea stemmed also from what I have noticed and experienced in American culture especially - and painfully so - the attachment society has to limited, definitive emblems and symbols of a person, rather than to recognize 'the being', the character, the soul. To state repeatedly that we all have soaring dreams whether we live in 'da hood' or in a homogenized or insulated gated community, whether we wear a suit or a hoodie, is indeed a social conditioning that must be created and pressed consistently and actively into our collective psyche if such dangerous misconceptions are ever to change. We witness not only what unfolds before us, but we create what we witness, by bringing our perceptions to a scene, a conversation, or chance meeting.  If Zimmerman saw a child instead of perceiving a black gangster, Trayvon Martin may possibly have lived, or in fact benefited from his protection rather than to be hunted.

For the triptych works - I asked friends from mixed backgrounds and professions to pose for me in their hoodies for front and back portaits, and in levitating action sequences as a visual attempt to represent the static stereotype whilst actively transcending it.

A short film was also in development to accompany this that I'm hoping to complete by the end of the year.

If only we all remembered simultaneously that it's a simple shift in one's perception that can create huge change...just like the butterfly...

In. The Hood. We. Will. Witness. Lives and Dreams.

Via Flickr:

In. The. Hood. We. Will. Witness. Lives and Dreams., a set on Flickr.

Series Title:

In. The. Hood. We. Will. Witness. Lives and Dreams
A response to Trayvon Martin's misidentification...

Crumbling Culture of the Catholic Church

As a recovering Catholic there are many criticisms that I have of this institution and so serve as reasons why I refer to myself this way.   I actively disengaged myself as a practitioner of this faith around the age of 12 before the completion of my Confirmation  because I couldn't reconcile pressing questions I had about what I saw as dangerous contradictions within the culture of this church.


-I am suspicious of a Church (founded on the principles of Christ) that has a secular and political structure whose function of power is wholly undemocratic, where fundamental decisions of leadership are decided by a College of Cardinals - an elite group free of any pressure of public debate or consequential indictments by the main populace of its congregation.  

-I don't support any entity that bars the ascent of women in leadership roles - undemocratic or not. How can the archaic rigidity of a patriarchal heirarchy have real progressive significance in today's world?

-I'm not inspired by rituals or faithful commitments to a life of fear, sorrow, and apology.  I want to joyfully recognize the gift of life, not feel impelled to constantly apologize for the receipt of it.  Is there not for gratitude in seeing our birth as one of a blessing, rather than in original sin for which we must beg for salvation through presumably therefore no fault of our own?  I don't get that.  It makes our God, or any Universal and unifying law seem meglomaniacal. 

-It just irks me that an entity whose expressed purpose is to lead in faith and serve the poor and thus calls itself a 'church', is actually a sovereign state diplomatically known as the Holy See (which represents Vatican City). Though one of the mere 3 non-member states in the world of nations, the Holy See is an 'Observer' of the United Nations and the European Union, and its jurisdiction is recognized by "other subjects of international law" - with its own police, and military protection - the Pontifical Swiss Guard. 

I find it difficult to reconcile the teachings of Jesus with the preachings of an organization that maintains a complex global administrative heirarchal ministry of clergy through whom followers must seek counsel with them as intermediaries for indulgencies, forgiveness, etc with or from the true CEOs of this corporation - The Trinity.  It's inconsistent for me - as all three, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are considered (even after Christendom, and according to hypostasis) mysteriously Omnipresent and thus instantly accessible to all...yes? So why the bureaucratic gates of exclusion?

-I do not like that, unlike most other international institutions with such powerful mass leadership, this Church can harbour alleged criminals of sexual violence and often avoid appropriate modes or warrants for investigations or questioning by authorities, as would be the consequences of any other organization beseiged by undenied charges of child abuse.  That they still have the power to handle legal (civil and criminal) matters internally beyond just elections of their clergy and upkeep of their laws, speaks actually to their immense power. No other independent state in the international body is allowed such control. The few that function this way are referred to as fascist states barred from the international community.  But then - they serve other important pycho-social purposes for keeping us in check, don't they? (See the Investiture Controversy, Simony, the Gregorian Reforms, and Fundamental Law of Vatican City State )

-It's also highly disturbing to me that while being aware of the behavioural dangers of unprotected sex and lack of birth control planning, that this institution still endorses them.  The condemnation of any resistance of such rules as great sins is  dangerously irresponsible in its effect on the poor, and gives the appearance to me, of a power-dependency by the church on the very populations they are credited to aid. It gives the impression that this holy organization thrives only on uncontrolled growth of a psychologically stressed and dependent population so as to remain  purposeful and relevant. 

I know these are harsh charges but they are not at all new or unusual; the merits of these are in the challenges this institution has suffered for centuries, and quite widely in the last decade.  The Church has been emptying out with severe reductions in mass attendance, closures of schools and missionaries; its followers -rather than practicing obediently- have been turning their backs on out-dated and dangerous doctrines; and the conversion rates to the faith have steadily been dropping with most of their 1.2 billion followers being made up of members born into the faith as opposed to choosing it...unlike Islam for instance.  And this doesn't even touch the dirtiest charges of them all...  I mean really, when was the last time you ever heard of an adult searching for spiritual practice saying they're thinking of becoming Catholic...?  People searching for mystical or spiritual meaning and ritual in their lives seem to turn to eastern philosophies and practices these days...

College of Cardinals | Source: Papal Conclave 2013

But - the recent election by the College of Cardinals of Jorge Mario Begoglio of Argentina, now Pope Francis, was a sign from the Cardinal Conclave as being at least politically

thoughtful in how to rescue their influence.  They have made history choosing a new Pope of non-European descent for the first time in Vatican history.  There were many hopes (and bets) that American Cardinal Dolan, African Cardinal Turkson, and a couple other headliners would be chosen.  As a West African, needless to say I would have been quite okay with Turkson being named. And actually - he would not have been the first black Pope - just the newest. The last African to lead the Catholic Church was Pope Gelasius I - 1500 years ago.   Anyway - point being Bergoglio wasn't even on the popular radar as these men were,  which was quite the shock.  But funny that while chatting about this on twitter just moments after the #whitesmoke announcement - there was immediate follow up of excitement over this man and the costume changes!  Older and not so robust eh. He's 76 with only one lung in his chest!  So much for putting a young and healthy guy in there.  Yet he was readily embraced and continues to win the world over with an informal swagger if you will.  

Francis of Assisi | Source: Wikipedia

I remain shocked that given my cyncial feelings toward my childhood faith - I am pleased and hopeful for all ye faithfuls.  He has a history of being a devoted, pious, present, and humble guy who actually lived this way and aptly chose the name Francis after his election in honor of Francis of Assisi (patron saint for the poor and protector of animals - who after living a loud and priviledged life, was inspired by a vision to devote his time to service whilst living in poverty). What does this all mean?  Could it be emotional manipulation.  Could it be a geniunely humble association too though. Honestly I have no idea - but it gave me a nostalgic buzz because St. Francis was my favourite saint as a child. Never mind that my terrible Catholic school days were punctuated by the uber strict guidance of Franciscan nuns - which always somehow felt like a disconnect.  Anyway I just hope this guy makes some decisions that move the Church forward. Can't say I'm surprised that already there has been a little 'dirt' on Pope Francis. But that said,  so far he appears to be giving the Vatican pompous culture a bit of a shake down which is cool to see.  

Pope Francis | Source: AP (via Yahoo)

The world population of those struggling through hardship and in need of faith is larger than it ever has been, and the church needs charisma and new ideas...and perhaps a resurgence of their oldest ideas...you know, the teachings of Christ prior to Christendom.  Will that bring hoards of recovering Catholics back to regular mass?  Not sure about all that - at least for me anyway.  I like to mix my faith and spirituality a bit too much - but I would like to stop calling myself a recovering Catholic.  Nothing can be done about the wretched historical record of this very organised religion, but much can be done to open and illuminate the culture of it's worldwide influence. We'll see.

Support Post: Michaela DePrince - Salone Orphan Turned Elite Ballerina (ABC News)

this has everything for me  - #MindtheGap when following a dream, DANCE DANCE DANCE, and a story of both from my beloved country Sierra Leone.  Thank you Justin for sharing this! Oh my heart... 

View video interview with ABC here: 

 African Orphan Turned Elite Ballerina | Video - ABC News

Michaela DePrince is featured in the just released documentary "First Position" filmed at the famed Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater here in New York City.  I can't wait to see this.  

By the way, another remarkable story of a young phoenix rising from the ashes of Salone's rebel years is world renowned writer Ishmael Beah, a former child soldier who penned his gripping story of survival and evolution in a most heartbreaking, candid, and poetic account: A  Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier.   A beautifully moving and unforgettable read folks, seriously.


NB.  If you are seeing this in your email reader, you must visit blog to view embedded video. Thanks :)

Related Journey Posts:
-SUPPORT POST: Another Modern Salone Pilgrim (February 2011)
-SUPPORT POST: ArtsLawRoundUp (August 2010)

- My Bliss is Dance...what's yours? (April 2009)

Why "i•ma•gine | e•volve"

Art does for society what sports, physical feats, and various acts of heroism do for us - offering hope, catharsis, and dreams, in showing the spectator the full potential of the human when fear is overcome and the bankrupt notion of limitations is surpassed.

How then could this world ever do without art - when it evidently must be credited as the perpetual newborn release of imagination (womb of creation nurtured by hi[story], feeling, experience, and curiosity) which propels mutation, adaptation, innovation, expression from our hungry hearts, and thus the evolution of our species?

(this is an inspired general response to the constant funding cuts and downsizing of art initiatives worldwide as if deemed unimportant, and a further offer of what my logo tag is about...)

last page from my photo student project book- MMC 2001

Never-ending Search for Sweet Spots

May seem like a random thought ...well I guess it is, but I wanted to save it here with a couple of feel-good videos for future reference:

Be confident in what you want

   so you clearly demand it

But remain humble and innocent in the asking

   so you can graciously receive it.  

We are all we need...

  b a l a n c e  

Mind the Gap

A message for life as a creative:

Ira Glass on Storytelling from David Shiyang Liu on Vimeo.

The generous and perfect synchronicity of nature:

NOTE:  If you can't see this you need to visit the actual blog to view the clips

The (Humbling) Humour of Loss, Growth, and Change

Oh how long life is and what a gift it is to have witnesses...life long witnesses, who may not be close to you by any active means, but have seen you either at pivotal shifts on the journey or a few steps in the sub-lifetime of those shifts. These most important beings help to keep WHOLE the picture of your life, the image of yourself, your journey, your growth. They join the dots. They know you in ways your closest friends over shorter and especially recent periods cannot as they are not mired as you are, by the a litany of current distracting details.

--

It was a beautiful Ash Wednesday beach day specifically for the purpose of rejuvenation and support of our dear friend Sean who had recently lost his baby brother Joseph.  After our day out, we settled by the poolside of Jason's mother's home in Kingston.  There we spoke in deep wonder and acceptance of the journey of loss and rebirth that we all have and must endure.  At the close of this, Jason's mum was rushing about, late for her game of tennis, and her sparring partner who came to fetch her was already parked outside:

Friend JH: Berette, do you know who that is in the car outside?

Me: No, who is it?

JH: It's Sister Mary Catherine

Me: What?! No way. From Immaculate??? Lemme see!

I ran outside around to the driver's side of the car where a middle aged woman was seated. Same childlike face that I remember from so many years ago. Except in the place of the Franciscan nun's habit was a tennis headband, bob-length hair flowing free:

Me: Sister Mary Catherine!! Is that really you?!

SMC: Ah...yes...(?)

Me: It's Berette...

Me/SMC: Berette Macaulay (?!)

Me: Yes Yes! Oh my gosh I can't believe it - how long has it been?!

SMC: I know, oh my goodness! I can't believe it. How are you? Where have you been?!

Me: I'm fine! I've been living in the States the past few years. I'm an artist - well currently a photographer...

SMC: How wonderful!! You...you look...well...(!)

Me: Yes, I am.

SMC: I see your mother on television sometimes, and whenever I do, I wonder "what ever became of Berette". And I see you are fine...(as she gazes at me)

Me: Yes, yes I am (smiles, gasps, giggles)

SMC: I'm so glad, because you were such a troubled child. (eyebrows earnestly furrowed, coupled with a smile of disbelieving.)

Me: (laughs in agreement) yes, I was, but alas I've grown to be quite conservative in my old age (laughs more)

SMC: I can see, yes, I'm glad to see you are alright, and healthy, and well.  I didn't know you knew these guys! (referring to our mutual friends) 

Me: Yes, a long time too, in fact I met Jason when I was a young child in Sierra Leone, before my 'troubled' teen years! Yeah - the world is small isn't it?!

His mother comes out to get into the car:

SMC: Berette very good to see you.  Take care of yourself.

Me:  So very good to see you too Sister Mary Catherine (I say this

wondering if I should call her this - as she left the nunnery years prior).  Oh wait! Please, before you go, please can we take a picture together, I must have this for posterity.  

SMC:  Of course!

Darling Sean, whose shock and loss was just a week old - was standing by looking on.  We had all been in the deep conversational search; reckoning with the mystery of life...the whole reason for this day of togetherness in the sun.  He immediately grasped the seemingly random continuity of this moment and runs around happily to oblige:

by Sean John

As they drove off - we (Sean, Nicky, Jason, and me) all laughed and reeled from this mysterious journey called 'Life', and the never-ending opportunity to complete the circles that help us make sense of it all.

Lessons learned and reinforced:


This life is long, and this life is funny, even while it hurts. Stay awake. Keep joining the dots. Keep searching and creating connections.  Keep loving actively. Go on. 

We all piled into our car, and drove off all singing along with this song:

Lovely Day by Bill Withers

(Dedicated to Joseph Buchanan, Feb 3rd, 1984 - Feb 14th, 2012, Fly in Peace beautiful one)

RELATED JOURNEY POST:

- Let Go II: Ties That Bind (Jan 2010)

SUPPORT POST: Death of the Diva

What is a diva?

Answer (from Wikipedia):

A diva (English pronunciation: /ˈdiːvə/, Italian: [ˈdiːva]) is a celebrated female singer. The term is used to describe a woman of outstanding talent in the world of opera, and, by extension, in theatre, cinema and popular music.

Okay.  So we know who those are - the far and few between who happen to be celebrated.  But we also know the new divas...the Kardashians, the Hiltons, or others who I can't name because frankly I just don't pay close enough attention.  

I'm not an avid TV viewer, I go for days, sometimes weeks without touching the clicker.  This wasn't always the case.  There was a time, back when television and cable programming had more 'original', and gasp (!), creative content, and less mind-numbing carnivals* showcasing the most base of human behavior under the heading 'reality'.

At the heart of this soul crushing content is not the celebration of women but the degradation of them.  And though many of us protested this shift that has now become the norm; the reality IS, that this demeaning content 1) entertains the masses, 2) catapults many a vapid being to undeserving supernova stardom from such spectacle, and 3) creates associations for all womanhood that serve more to undo the triumphs for equality and respect so hard won.  The new diva represents nothing of any progressive use, and so hurts those of us who have something inspiring, magnificent, or unique to offer. As performer/actor/DJ Amanda Seale (formerly known as Amanda Diva) aptly notes "we're put in this corner where I may have to be less than the woman my mother raised me to be".

This concern is at the heart of her new one-woman show now up in New York, Death of a Diva, directed by Roger C. Jeffrey.  Roger is a dear friend, past dance teacher of mine, and an accomplished dancer and choreographer.  He has deep social concerns for women, youth, racial inequities, and matters of the soul - he's a gapminder, who works always with superior talent.  So no surprise to me that he's a part of a most meaningful project written and performed by this accomplished female talent.  Seale's conscientiously written work tackles the attack on the image of women in all media and  appears to be every bit as heightened, intelligent, and damn funny in her performance.

Seale takes the stage this month offering ideas, and stories of the woman and the diva, through voices of multiple characters in this performance, each of whom will provoke thought and reopen active dialogue on what appears now to be a frighteningly passive issue.  This is too good, and too important to miss. I mean really, have we killed the diva?!

Amanda Seale's Death of a Diva plays:

March 23rd - April 1st 

at The Helen Mills Theater, NYC

135 West 26th Street (btw 6th & 7th Aves) 

Get Tickets HERE!!

Why do women look so silly on Reality TV?

Support Video:

March 5th, UPDATE:  

ADD'L Performance dates and Venues:

Sat 3/3: Death of the Diva at NCCU Durham, NC 7p

Tues 3/13: Death of the Diva FREE live sneak peak! 8-10p @ Bleu Violin (116/5th ave) spec perf by: Kimberly Nichole

Thurs 3/15: Death of the Diva FREE live sneak peak! 8-10p @ Free Candy

Fri 3/16: The Schomburg Museum presents: Theater Talks w/ Amanda Seales hosted by Elon James (Time TBD)

Mon 3/20: NYU for Women's History Month Events presents: Death of the Diva

*(for further reading that supports this gripe - please see my favourite article ever written on the matter: I'm A Culture Critic...Get Me Out of Here! by James Wolcott, Dec 2009)

Acting in Evolution

This is new kind of share (and update for some of you) about a most timely and beautiful opportunity I had this summer.  I'm always going on about 'the journey' and usually a very internal and personal one at that - with the occassional dash of work/professional news.  But as these two aspects of our lives are intrinsically tied - I must share this recent and particularly meaningful connection. 


I have been excavating a whole heap of stuff over the past couple of years, and one aspect of my past has been left unexplored:  acting.  It's kinda ironic, but not entirely uncommon, to find myself on a professional journey that has little to do with my course of study in college: Theater Arts.  I have certainly created real connections between this and photography, in so far as how I develop my work, and how I attempt to go about the business of creating it.  The principles of collaboration that I seek always to work by, come directly from the culture of the theater world.  But acting - well, this I have not done for some years now. As I often would put it when it came up:  I haven't spoken text on stage/on camera for....  

As I've been on my other artistic explorations, I've missed acting, not sharply mind you, but rather, I've been aware of its absence as a form of expression.

My friend Danae Grandison, another soul-searcher/explorer and accomplished graphic designer, decided to switch gears and explore the artform of film making.  Her first film, Unconditional Love, is a work straight from the highway of personal explorations, directly from the heart, a beautiful distillation of what it means to come out on the other end of a growth passage emotionally in tact, and in fact, to find yourself utterly in love with life and all the vicissitudes therein; to arrive at acceptance, wonderment, and open curiosity to what comes next.  We can only be in such a place when we are willing to release the past, and thus the expectations it invariably breeds for the future.  


I auditioned at precisely the right time for the part in this 2 minute short - when I could understand the meaning of such a personal evolution.  It was also therefore, the right project to bring me back to this art form.  Oh the connectivity!  


Danae's work premiered at SVA (School of Visual Arts) at the end of her film course this past August, and she received the Audience Award for her work.  I was so chuffed too of course - haha! 


Here's our Labour of Love - which was shot in the New York City heat wave of 115ºF!  Not easy, but totally cathartic.  Thank you for this journey Danae!








 
Unconditional Love from Danae Grandison on Vimeo.
Time to release the bags you collect along the way...

Featuring Berette Macaulay
Written and Directed by Danae Grandison
Edited by David Lee

Credit Where It's Due

I got an email today that I had to share here:




    Why is it that a Black Man can create a tiny piece called a filament (electric light - Lewis Latimer) that allows people to see in the dark?   

But can't be seen fit to lead a country to the true light.

Why is it  that a Black Man can create an instrument (clock - Benjamin Banneker) that  all people use to tell time? 

But people don't think it is time for him to run a country.


Why is it that a Black Man can design a place for the high authorities to meet in and a place for the president to live in  (The Capital and the White House Phillip Reid (a slave) and Pierre L'Enfant)? 
      
But not good enough to lead these meetings or live in himself.

Why is it that a Black Man was brilliant enough to do the first open heart surgery (Dr. Dan iel Hale Williams) and show the world how to get and preserve plasma (Dr. Charles Drew)? 

But not good enough to put a program in place where everyone can afford this surgery.

Why is it that a Black Man was creative enough to design an instrument (traffic light - Garrett Morgan) to bring multiple people (traffic) to a halt? 

But not seen creative enough to design a plan to bring all this unnecessary and worthless fighting between countries, to an end.

Why is it that a Black Man could create the soles (shoes - Jan Matzeliger) that people walk on every day? 
But not seen good enough to fill the shoes of a bad president.

Why is it that a Black Man was smart enough and brave enough to teach himself (Fredrick Douglas and Thomas Fuller - both  slaves) and others how to read, write and/or calculate math? 

But not seen smart enough and bold enough to calculate a platform to be President to a country that sure needs another first by us.

So you see my Brothers and Sisters, what I am saying is, let us not forgot our past which led us to our present and can definitely be the backbone to our future.  We were good enough, smart enough, creative enough, and bold enough then, so let us all give Obama the chance to show that we are still these things and more.  We all are as strong as our weakest link, so do not be that weak link that denies our people that chance to show we still can OVERCOME AND BE THE FIRST!   
THE PRESIDENT OF THESE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA !       

LET US ALL CONTINUE PRAYING THAT THIS PRESIDENT WILL ADHERE TO AND BE LED BY FAITH.   PASS THIS ON!       =


 

OWN Your Skin NOW

At last it feels right
No more struggle or fight
Evolving into me
Expanding beyond the deep


The meditation for the past few months, or years, well, my lifetime, is to actualize 'self', which creates such fulfilling connections with others, to keep opening and expanding the heart so as to lead the body with love. 


It is so important to learn how to be ourselves, and not a premeditated, planned out version of this...; and in being who we really are - being the beautiful imperfect beings that we are in every moment of 'now', will inevitably lead to the perfect expression of our essential selves, our inner most beauty, the core light that shines unobstructed and thus brighter from this 'letting'. 


It has taken (and is taking) a lot of time, focus, daring, and fight, ...constant conscious pushing... to grow into me, to grow into myself, to grow into my skin; to stop struggling with the fit as if it belonged to someone else or should belong to someone else, to evolve beyond an old idea that the fit was wrong or would never be a good enough, or worse - that it sometimes felt so itchy that I wanted to rip it off and cast it away. But alas, it is the perfect fit. We settle down don't we (?), and then every crevasse fills in snugly.  

Sweet exhale: Growing into self.  Growing into me. 


Mind the Gap note for today and always...
Be Yourself.  Everyone else is taken.
~Oscar Wilde

Beautiful Ironies

A persistent belief of mine, even in the most trying of times is that unexpected beauty in life shatters our monument to suffering.  When we experience an unlikely turn of events in the last minute of fitful desperation, or  witness a just reward for sacrificial work of an underdog, we cannot help but be inspired; yet to hold on to this inspiration requires a williingness to release the often irresistable need to hold blame.

While I've been busy in my little cocoon these past months, trying to figure out which way to turn next and how to get there with confidence and gratitude as my companions (because it's been a bit challenging to hold the road with them lately...) I have been slapped back to reality with three most inspiring and ironic things over the past days.

As we see a historic end to the Oprah Winfrey Show today (so many of us grew up with this woman-with-a-message, whether we watched all along or not), I tuned into one of her farewell shows last week, and she did me in AGAIN!!   It was a rainy, gloomy day and I was feeling particularly sapped of motivation - and boy did her show bring me to my senses.  She highlighted the lives of two incredibly 'unlikely' beacons of hope and true purpose (Oprah being one too, if we recall this billionaire's beginnings):  

Photo: Oprah Winfrey Website

Mattie J. T. Stepanek - Thirteen years young and centuries old in wisdom, this wheel chair bound prophet spent his very short life from the age of three, spreading messages of love, peace, joy, and delight with life.  A boy who had every reason to sing only woes of his very trying physical existence with muscular dystrophy, but chose (or was chosen) instead to guide his experience here on earth as one of consistent and constant gratitude and wonderment with life. He shared this message with millions through his writings, and by the end of his life, Mattie had 6 New York Times bestsellers of his poems and one of his essays.  He is currently being considered for sainthood!

 

See a short tribute clip of his life: http://www.oprah.com/spirit/A-Tribute-to-Mattie-JT-Stepanek

Your heartsong is your inner beauty.  It's the song in your heart that wants you to help make yourself a better person, and to help other people do the same. Everybody has one.

~Mattie J.T. Stepanek, 1990 - 2004~

photo: Oprah Winfrey Website

Dr. Tererai Trent, Ph.D. -  From a poor rural farming village in Zimbabwe and denied an education simply because she was girl, set her dreams of earning the highest academic credentials in the unimaginably distant United States of America.  She wrote these dreams on a piece of paper and buried them under a rock. Then proceeded to be challenged at every step - sold into marriage at 11 years old, mothering 4 children by the age of 20, being severely abused by a husband who refused her any space to learn anything let alone go to school. But she persevered against these impossible odds to see the suffix 'Ph.D.' follow her name.

Photo: Oprah Winfrey Website

I remember very well my father pointing to my brothers and the other boys in the village and saying: 'These are the breadwinners of tomorrow. We need to educate them. We need to send them to school. The girls will get married.'

~Tererai Trent~

See Tererai's story here: http://www.oprah.com/world/Tererai-Trent-Returns-to-Zimbabwe-to-Share-Her-Story-Video

Then, just yesterday we were given near unimaginable video footage to add to the unfolding shift in inspiring relationships in our world today, when Michelle and Barack Obama were greeted MOST ceremoniously by the Queen of England, complete with a 41 gun salute from antique muskets and canons by the Scottish Guard on the Buckingham Palace grounds.  I needn't wax on about the historical complexity of this image except to express my exact thoughts upon watching the footage - that seated at the 'highest' table were the most elite lineage of our collective  ancestors of slaves and slave masters toasting each other and their 'special' relationship in basically ruling the world.  I felt so awed, inspired, utterly amazed and filled by the meaning of this.  It's no small matter, and irrespective of how we may or may not feel about these people as individuals, this was a sight to behold and one that I know our parents and elders (regardless of race, culture, or social standing) would never have imagined, and unfortunately that my father, one of the first black Queens Counsel attorneys in England, never lived to see. And it got me thinking...

When people can no longer be blamed, or historical atrocities, past indiscretions, or other external circumstances can no longer utilized as reasons for the real or perceived inadequacies of our lives, it simply means we must now take real responsibility for what we dream of, where we invest our energies, and how we work to fulfill our purpose - our 'heartsong'. This is the paradoxical manifestation of desires fulfilled  - individually AND collectively; as the old adage cautions, "Be careful what you wish for..."  

One personal example of a wish, and embarrassing gripe: I keep wishing for money to purchase new camera so I can get on with my work.  But I already have a camera - it may be old, but it still works beautifully, so what do I think will change in my creative process by getting a new one??  It cannot be denied - I AM, we ARE starting at the same line of possibility each day we awake, and the attitude and energy we bring to it will determine how the race is run.  Funny how nothing could be more terrifying, or more exciting.  And how beautifully ironic.

For more footage of this, see BBC links below:

Obama toasts the Queen

The Queen toasts Barack and Michelle Obama

footage updates (may 26th) - Obama becomes the first US President to address the UK Parliament in Westminster, and was introduced most admiringly with the famous quote, so apt for this post and all the people spoken of here:

"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." ~Abraham Lincoln

 

comment from youtube:

 "Great Speech. I am an American who lives in the UK and it feels so good not to have to apologize for my president anymore. President Obama has returned dignity, thoughtfulness and intelligence to his office."