Climbing PoeTree presents a multi-media two-woman show about unnatural disaster and a great shift in universal consciousness.

 Trust me, you don't want to miss it.

When I saw Climbing PoeTree perform at the Empowering Women of Color Conference at UC Berkeley earlier this year, I was overwhelmed with a call to action. Their passionate art comes alive and inspires the soul to reach out to the world...to turn challenges into opportunities...to join the movement and build community. 

Hurricane Season interweaves spoken word poetry, sound collage, shadow art, dance, film and animation to explore critical issues facing humanity through the kaleidoscope of Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath, namely: land rights and housing rights; water access and food justice; over-policing and mass-incarceration; state violence and militarization; racism, classism, sexism, and homophobia; environmental justice and climate change; globalization, migration, and economic justice. It is centered on building bridges, creating safety nets, and finding solutions through art to the interconnected problems our communities face—how can we become agents for change rather than victims of circumstance?

A “solutions-cipher” follows every show, where audience members participate in a dialog featuring local grassroots organizations, visionaries, and healers. The objective of the post-show “solutions-cipher” is to address the issues surfaced in Hurricane Season on a local level, to cross-pollinate creative strategies for self-determination, and to turn the passion generated in the show into action manifested in the community. 

Get invovled in your local city and don't miss this amazing tour! 

Last night I went to BloomBars in Columbia Heights for the first time. Don't let the name fool you, BloomBars is not an establishment that serves libations. If you're thirsty or just like to get loose before you listen to music, you can go next door to Wonderland.

I have been to the Portrait Gallery several times and still love it. Located in Chinatown - Gallery Place, the small museam has only three floors of temporary and permanent exhibitions.

Check out some very cool, if slightly unnerving, graffiti coming alive in Buenos Aires:

Since the Afghan diaspora first discovered it, Khalid Hosseini's landmark debut novel The Kite Runner has managed to be one of the most loved and loathed pieces of cultural art ever. Everyone had their opinions on the novel and its companion film -- was it good for Afghans or just "lifting your skirt over your head" as Afghans would say?

Now, the same questions are being asked of Hosseini's second novel A Thousand Splendid Suns. Having recently read it in its entirety in a single 24-hour period I can say that A Thousand Splendid Suns is indeed good for Afghans, and more importantly for Americans wanting to understand historical and political situation that created the current state of affairs in Afghanistan.

Shortly after the events of 9/11 Afghanistan, the Taliban, Al Qaeda, and Osama Bin Laden dominated the news, as if they all naturally went together and the Afghans had control or even a true engagement with the post cold war politics of Afghanistan.

This artist is making a statement about the composition of the feminist movement. It's a movement mainly composed of white (middle class) women. 

“Tonight these styles that you will hear will do for you what they did for me, I mean, hopefully.  Give you a sense of self, no longer so lonely.” 

Kevin Coval, the first of four performers at Campus Progress’s annual Spoken Word event, started the night off with this pledge/prospect for the audience.  I think everyone in attendance that night would agree this promise was thoroughly fulfilled by each artist.