A community-oriented art & graphic design collective. We make graphic apparel, hand-crafted accessories and produce events. And most importantly, spew randomness about important and non-important topics.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Fela!



I remember my sister and her friend practicing shaking their booties because they wanted to be Fela dancers. It's crazy that he is gone but his music and legacy still lives. I read this review of the broadway musical Fela! and the pictures reminded me of when I saw Femi Kuti in concert a few years ago. That was pretty amazing! I thought it was the closest you can get to seeing the real Abami Eda deal; but it looks like this musical may just be a little closer...
Source: NYT
- C

Saturday, November 21, 2009

c.u.r.r.e.n.t ( in this moment)

  • fruit obsession: Persimmons &; Pomegranates
  • reading: Immortal: Love Stories with a Bite. not because that's the kinda shit I pick up to read, but because I'm doing a 5 for 5 book exchange with a teen (we read/finish at least 5 books given by the other). Apparently that's all teenagers read/watch these days: poorly written stories about the undead.
  • song stuck in my head: Yori Yori by Bracket; Poison by Bill Bev Devoe; My Name by Lhasa De Sela
  • creative project: Earrings for myself & friends, Dance piece for my Pocos Locos dance class, invitation cards for a teenager's baby shower 
  • coordinating project: Loco Bloco's 2010 Blocura Gala
  • favorite place to be: on a plane away from here
  • event: the classic house party that i threw with like 10 other people last weekend; Nneka @ Cafe Du Nord (pics coming soon)
  • pet peeve: none
  • social justice outcry: ...
  • general mental state: oppressed bliss
  • random happening: walking out of the BART station in Berkeley with my friend, and getting vocally harassed by a bunch of young black boys; the weirdest thing was they almost let us go all the way through without saying anything to us (phew) but then as soon as I thought we would make it, they started out talking to us, and got exponentially louder and messy the further we got away. strange.
  • current one3snapshot tee i can't stop wearing: Charcoal gray "Frida" Tee with neck line cut off
  • social networking site: okcupid.com
  • online destructive habit: reading live EVERY live feed update on fb (i do only have 200 'real & close enough' friends)
  • all time destructive habit: orderings crafting supplies on amazon & other sites so I can feed my obsession about receiving packages in the mail
  • pics: 
these are my obssesssionnssss

one3snapshot is now available at artillery apparel gallery in the mission @24th

some gooooodd sweet potato & pear pie (that my friend made) with plain yogurt on top.: nutritious and tasty
 
jars of applesauce from an apple-sauce making workshop with kids & families
 

bye bye
,n

Monday, November 9, 2009

What's White Gotta do with it?

Okay so I checked my email this morning. and this link: 'we don't need another anti-racism 101' was sent to my by a friend . who is white (keep reading ). So I read it. And it felt like someone had finally put a period at the end of a sentence I've been trying to put together for a while. I used to write a lot. Now...I just sleep-think. My most passionate moments are when I wake up in the morning; I've spent all night reflecting on something, and it finally clicks when I wake up. I haven't been writing as much due to various reasons. So now most of my thoughts on world views are chucked up to individual conversations with a handful of people that I feel comfortable going there with.
I have a lot of strong opinions, but I also am such an emotionally private person that I run far as hell away from discussions about these things. Because I feel so strongly about them that I just chuck these conversations to one on ones discussions with a few people in my life, and for a while now there's basically been one person who I really can go there with.

I've been thinking. Maybe I should try to verbalize more. Maybe I should try to start writing more. I'm struggling, with the whole thing.

All this to say:
I read that post. And if you look at the comments you'll see a typical response from me. From my comment you can't tell anything about me or what I think. That's me, that's what I do. I am so filled with thoughts but I'll say something mundane because I can't go there. But then I started reading all other comments and sitting and thinking, and so I went back and started writing a comment, and it got hella long, so I was like umm Blog post!! and here is my response. It's maybe not really a response more like me  thinking out loud...
....
Right now in my life about half of my close and intimate friends are white. This is hard. Why? Because these are people that I've shared personal experiences with and have grown to love. But also people who I find myself in lots of conflict with simply based on their skin color and what it perpetuates in society.  I start to question if I should have certain people in my life based on my formal values & their informal actions. i.e. Should I take a firm stand and say "I'm not going to be friends with you anymore because you're a white person that did xyz, or doesn't do abc"? Even though you're a human being that has pretty much the same formal values as I do. I mean I can't divorce my family (biological & acquired) members because of values & beliefs, actions that differ from mine, so should I do this to some simply because they are white?

I guess I could... it's my choice.

I'm in a group of 'artists' where I'm one other person of color. I am constantly struggling with my role in the group, how much time/energy/soul I should put into resolving conflicts or highlighting certain issues? I've gotten the blame feedback sometimes that I don't bring issues up; and I should try to be more vocal about issues that I observe. As if it were my sole responsibility to realize that certain actions are 'racist' (this being a general term)and try to redeem people from these actions.

sooo..

Okay I've brought it up. It's said. It gets discussed. Nothing gets done about it. It happens again and again.

Is it my place to be the secretary and timekeeper for a bunch of white people who obviously really don't care in the first place? Should keep harping on how I'm being wronged? "C'mon guys remember we talked about this! C'mon guys what are we gonna do about you all carrying out racists behaviors & situation? C'mon guys let's do something, remember we had that three-hour long meeting about it?"

I think the thing I have the hardest time with is. I tell this white person my  problem. They don't ask me how they can help me. Maybe I tell them. But they ignore it, and they come up with a grand plan of how THEY think my problem should be solved, or what they think I need to get or do to solve my problem. But when it comes down to getting grimey and following through with what I need and what I decide and how I see it needs to get done. Instead we get wrapped up in rhetoric and I forget what the fuck it was I was talking about in the first place. That's the shit that drives me crazy.

I am tired of being the token black person whom the white man employs to make themselves feel better about how 'anti-racist' they are. There has to be a better way.

no pictures.

just ramble,
N

Friday, November 6, 2009

r.a.n.d.o.m

The Vietnamese restaurant down the street from my job knows me. My voice over the phone and everything. Okay so I pretty much order the same thing all the time, and before I'm done, she'll say "(my name) right?". So the other day I changed up my order. I'm like "may i get some curry chicken over rice?" she asked "what's your name?" and when I said it she was all confused, sounded stunned and was like err err. And I said. "Ha I changed it up you!" I think I threw her whole day off. Haha! That'll teach her.

Other random shit
  1. Coming soon: not that awesome Pics & Video Clips from Loco Bloco playing in San Francisco's Dia de Los Muertos Celebration in The Mission (highlights include me doing a dance inviting a police van to run me over, because I wouldn't move outta the way).
  2. I'm gonna celebrate Sadie Hawkins Day this year. Like hardcore. I'm gonna gather some other girlfriends and get it popping. Maybe next year I'll even throw a party. Holla if you down.
  3. I need a spa day.

random post. random pics

i've been on an earring making frenzy. i swear i'll be making them and not eatphckorsleep
 
outtakes from ZARA's flyest video shoot. that was a styling collaboration with one3snapshot & cocoacentric (yeah I styled those 'butlers')


outtakes from ZARA's flyest video shoot. that was a styling collaboration with one3snapshot & cocoacentric (ZARA herself rocking the 'You never Imagined I'd make it this far Tee'..., 'cos in a bit we won't have imagined it)



random cocktail hour, cos sometimes you should just rock your shades and sip som'n

the end,
N