MOCAMBIQUE

THA train

is tha jump-off + story begins in capetown + got up real early to catch the 25 hour train to Johannesburg + there are only third class tickets available + so we go head and jump on hoping that something in 2nd class will open up around hour 8 of the trip. + Third class on the train is a trip.... any class on the train is a trip + people change residences using the train + the worst/best part + they serve a schmorgesboard (sp) of alcoholic beverages on the train for anyones drinking pleasure + so to take their minds off + the heat + babies cryin + not enough seats + lil chirrins runnin around....erry body on the train was gettin tipsy...everyone is however more sociable on a train than lets say a plan or automobile + my time in third class marked the first time someone assumed that i speak Afrikkans + but again, third class, aint the most comfortable or the safest (especially with everyone gettin inebriated) + so hallelujat, something opens up in second class + where everyone gets their own compartment and whatnot + several highlights + watching the sun go down and the rain approach at dusk + (pics comin soon!) + watching the landscape change from oaisisy green to desert while what can only be described as polyrhythmic xhosa hymns were sung intensly by the 5 drunken women in the compartment next to us. + lowlights....+ the milkshakes on the train are just shaken milk..no ice cream.

HOSPILITALITY and other stumbled upon lessons and experiences in Johannesburg

got to joburg at about 11am on sunday + im in touch with Julia-Lynn + one degree removed from her via her brother Phillip Walker + who was my mom's good friend and whom i remember most vivedly as a child as santa clause, and a constant presence in my parents circle of friends + Julia-Lynn and her her husband Meshack live in Johannesburg in the most impressive home i have ever set foot in + for several reasons + first + because if instantly felt like home + probably because of all the books and CD's and magazines + (anyone's whose ever been to my house knows why that is a homely type of thing) + so it offered that instant feeling of cozyness and warmth that only home can provide + I won't describe the house in detail + ill use these three words + luminescent, tropical, ergonomic + looks like something out of architectual digest + Julia-Lynn is quite possibly the most hospitable person ever + and she helped re-inspire me to make sure my home and life are open to young people in need + we met friends of hers who want to set up a mentoring program for young people in jo-burg + real dope people with positive lives + always good + we had very irreplaceable convo's + we went to a club in jo-burg that night + when we got there it was pretty full but EVErYone was sitting down lookin bored +i was peaved cause ppl refused to dance until the house music came on + and before that they were playing alot of dope stuff + my song ...Mamma im a millionare air air + got on a bus that mornin to go to MAPUTO the capital of mocambique!

MAPUTO eu nao parlais portuguese

so it must have just slipped my mind + but they don't speak english in mocambique + the language barrier made me wanna be a linguist + i used to not know what i wanted to do if i wasn't an artist, now i know + i would study languages + and just bask in my abilitiy to understand everyone worldwide!

the bus ride was extremely long mostly because of the border crossing which was crazy + once u hit the border there are these huge vallys filled with huts and shacks + everyone has to get off the bus twice to verify visa's + there are soldiers and whatnot milling around + when you get off they go through luggage on the bus + but you can't watch them go through it.... + i tried to take a picture of the big vally + and the bus driver was like + "wo there buddy" "hide your camera before the police take it" + i was like... "ok"

so + we got in this convo about Africa and came to the conclusion that SA (capetown specifically) isn't "legit Africa" u can mistake capetown for any part of the western world if you bling to fast + Maputo in contrast is VASTLy different + first of all the urban landscape is extrememly different because of the absense of newness + There seems to be NO cars, buildings, clothing --- anything made within the last 25 years + it seems to be stuck in a western time warp + in a poem i put it something like this + "mocambique is a place abandon in its transition to a forcibly imposed reality"

the demographics are extremely different as well + there are almost no white people + mostly Shangan people speaking portuguese + where as in SA + there are of course alot of White people +the only white people i saw in Mocambique were either visiting from SA or they were 50+ sugar daddies who seemed to have a lock on the 17-30 black woman dating pool + there is really no visible govt or infrastructure i saw potholes that were 2 ft deep and 4 feet wide + i know there is a govt + but the "police" usually turned out to be hired private security + some of them had AKs or sawed offs which seemed to be mostly for intimidation purposes.

i don't want to give a history lesson + but the difference in "colonization cultures" seems directly linked to the colonizing nation + in mocambique's case, portugal, + apparently 98% of the portuguese population JET to either brasil, portugal of SA withen 2months of the liberation of the country + whereas in SA the colonizers stayed there and declated their independence from britan which has led to a more stable infrastructure in the western sense +but SA also got stuff like apartheid which the mocambiquans don't have.+ but now the world has their eyes on SA +i.e. the world cup is coming + their puttin in an olympic bid + etc. whereas places like mocam are kinda ignored by the world community.

to be continued....

(coming next GET on the bus! rural mocambique quickly becomes an action film )

tha chirrins

are sooo dope + as ive said before + i do a lil arts program with the chirrens in khylitsheia (xhosa speaking township) + every monday + yesterday was magic + we decided to do dance with the kids + so after some warm up activities + i.e. the banana's unite song + we split (no pun intended) into eight groups +each group had to coreograph a piece to a different song + each song was from a different culture so ideally one's ography had to fit their song + ....so it was crunk and our kids clearly are brimming with talent + one of the volunteers copped out and taught her group the electric slide + but there was a lil girl in her group who everyone calls ostritch + cause she's real long and thin + she was killin the electric slide + took it to a whole nother level + the highlight of the day i think was on song # 6 with two groups yet to showcase their ablilities + there was a power outage in the school + of which the kids and i responded to by clapping out this house ish - kwaito-ish rhythm for the rest of the chirren to do their dance to + i mean it was surreal to see 70 kids erupt instantaniously in improvised song - came back to the house on a high yesterday and im still on it.

just grateful

i am so grateful, i recieved an email today that said i got into SMFA (tufts in boston), this grad school process has been sooo hectic and for it to come to a positive conclusion is really evidence of god's goodness! i applied even tho i had no money to pay app fees to 14 schools and ive already gotten into two - i definatly wasn't expecting this at all and i'd just like to thank everyone that helped me again.

hallelujah again

so, i got an email saying i got in to cal arts MFA program - hallelujah again - grand total - 1 acceptance - 0 rejections - 13 haven't heard from - i'd like to thank some people - GOD - MOM and DAD and all family first and foremost - and my recommendors - Jennifer Dowlin-kelly first becuase she supervised my main portfolio peice - Dr. Gerald Steenken - Andrea Raynor - John Mallia - and Jay Laird - Horace Porter for the help on refining my goals and the rest of u wonderful ppl out there that im to excited to remember! now lets hope they give me some MONEY!

now for pt 2 of the township + i wanna write something about what was introduced to me as the "chitlin phenomenon" + which is really just the tendency of diasporic peoples to make something out of nothing or very little (i.e. chitlins being scraps given to slaves , now regarded among AAs as a delicatessen) + this phenomenon shows its head in no other place than the color schmes of the shacks in kylitsheiya + you would thing that after constructing a shack out of scrap metal, wood, cardboard and whatever else + it would be kind of an afterthought to consider making an attempt at making a shack aesthetically pleasing ( i know that wasn't well said but i can't think of a better way) but these people CO-ORDINATE theyre stuff + i saw colors that would have had to be mixed by a keen eye @ sherwin williams + i saw alot that had a principal color and then a compliment used for the trim + and these are shacks yall + but they hooked em up + there seems to be an outright refusal to tolerate ugly in the diaspora + if u built a shack would u paint it? + I think nothing speaks more accuratly to the uniqueness and vivacity of black people than the hues of these shack (To be Continued)

skwatta kamp

first time in a township + went to volunteer with SHAWCO and do art with the kids + driving there was interesting + we go inland away from the mountain about 15 miles + of which 20% is populated by couloured or black townships + the "western" nature of the country is starkly contrasted by this drive + first, it seems mostly rural and we aren't even technically outside of the city yet + i saw 2 horses grazing next to a sewer + another hitched to a trailor with large bags or rice or fertilizer or something + when u get to khylitshyeia + it is a quick change of scenery from rural to skwater camp + ..which is neither rural nor urban.... (To be continued)

oooh and this

homo erectus i rap u rap we shoot people shit must end cuz among a billion other reasons + that ultra - voilent / strapped / swole / sexual predator/ amoral / incarcerated black male is the first thing ppl hear about here + those images almost entirely represent African Americans Abroad + so if u are planning on buying any of 50's Game's Bank's Dre Snoop's albums anytime soon - dont nobody will get the point until u start messing with their income

go buy common's album, it comes out soon.

http://www.allhiphop.com/hiphopnews/?ID=4129

the eloquence question

so is this something u should try and be? + i had my grad school interview last night + it was good, not at all what i expected + not one of my pieces was "discussed"+ it was more of a conversation about the university (SMFA) and how i would "work" there + but what interested me was the act of articulating + i didn't say much but i wondered how much of what i said was put throught my eloquence filter + and if i even have one of those + and if i do + why can't i use it at more oppertune times + like difficult emotional situations (which i too often find myself in) + i often am left void of the ability to speak ( which i have illustrated by the wordy mumbo jumbo way in which i just articulated the phenomena of speechlessness) or saying so much so many different ways that i end up not communicating at all + i think i have an aversion to explaining things + which i think has to do with what i feel like is the nature of the universe + AMBIGUITY + so few things are definte (SP?) easily defined, clear, black and white, contrasty, right or wrong, binary, whatever. +

so taking Rilke's Advice given to me so graciously by Qrescent the love philosopher + im trying to vigilantly (sp? again) "Love the Questions" + and maybe ill live my way into the answers + but what if those answers have question marks at the end?

i want to know when im going to get tired of states of limbo - inbetween ness + i think it may just be in my nature to be always trasitioning (sp) to the next thing + i used to think if i am anything + if there is one word that defined me + it is creator + u know i "make stuff" + its my M.O. + but i don't know if thats it anymore + i think the new word is + "transmogrifier" +

transmogrify
v : change completely the nature or appearance of; "In Kafka's story, a person metamorphoses into a bug"; "The treatment and diet transfigured her into a beautiful young woman"; "Jesus was transfigured after his resurrection"

trans·mog·ri·fy (trns-mgr-f, trnz-)tr.v. trans·mog·ri·fied, trans·mog·ri·fy·ing, trans·mog·ri·fies
To change into a different shape or form, especially one that is fantastic or bizarre

yea and im becoming more and more bizarre - ive always been dark and abnormal - but now yes i have become ---- complicated - ive confused myself about myself - i really was convinced i was simple and easy to understand / relate to / be around / but alas im not / and i really badly wish i was / or my complication was of a certain nature that would facilitate ease of understanding /

as all this pertains to S. africa - im not having fun anymore - all the fun experiences have - transmogrified into - awe inspiring ones - so im like wide eyed all the time - and thus worried about everything im aware of - and being a human and having that self preservation instinct - im a lil worried bout me! butterflyish

why are butter fly's named that

that is a wack name

caterpiller -- cocoon -- and then...my vote goes to --- Terences! no thats vain some ppl should post their suggestions on a new name for butterfly's!

(butterfly's live notoriously short lives)