A $20 Lesson
I just read the quote below; thought it’s worth sharing :)
“A well-known speaker started off his seminar holding up a $20.00 bill. In the room of 200, he asked, “Who would like this $20 bill?” Hands started going up. He said, “I am going to give this $20 to one of you but first, let me do this.” He proceeded to crumple up the $20 dollar bill. He then asked, “Who still wants it…?” Still the hands wer…e up in the air. “Well,” he replied, “What if I do th……is?” And he dropped it on the ground and started to grind it into the floor with his shoe. He picked it up, now crumpled and dirty. “Now, who still wants it?” Still the hands went into the air. “My friends, we have all learned a very valuable lesson. No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value. It was still worth $20. Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make and the circumstances that come our way. We feel as though we are worthless. But no matter what has happened or what will happen, you will never lose your value. Dirty or clean, crumpled or finely creased, YOU are still priceless to those who DO LOVE you. The worth of our lives comes not in what we do or who we know, but by WHO WE ARE. You are special-Don’t EVER forget it.”
My first art attack—installation of My Greatest Fear in Central City.
Check it out: http://www.yayainc.com/news/21/51/My-Greatest-Fear-Project/d,yaya-newsdetail/
My Weekend Update Word Vomit
I had a very productive and telling weekend—one that i think encapsulates the exposure I’m getting to a myriad of social justice issues in NOLA.
Friday: work at YAYA until 9:30pm. I lead a workshop about tradition and spirituality with the artists. It got deep. We started talking about the existence of G-d and the differences between spirituality and being religious. I stuck around for the Domino’s Pizza (it’s a YAYA late night tradition). I waited for the streetcar for an hour to get home and it happened to be freezing that night! I eventually got back to the house and crashed!
Saturday (get ready, this one’s long): started my morning @ YAYA to pick up the recycling and take it to a drop-off site (since Katrina there have been no weekly governmentally funded recycling efforts in the Central Business District, where the studio is located).
After I dropped off the goods I headed to the Lower 9th Community Center for a food justice roundtable meeting. I ate the most delicious food there, including homemade pickled beets and a killer cabbage and leak salad. We brainstormed about food culture, access, and education.
I had to leave early to pick up two the artists that live further out in the 9th Ward in area called Arabi. I got really lost, but eventually found it. We headed off to the 7th Ward for a youth conference with a non-profit called the 4th World Movement. We lead a workshop called “My Greatest Fear”—a project that developed a series on poverty that I had been working on at the studio. I got to hang around the neighborhood and meet some of the residents at the Street Library, which is put on my 4th World. In the middle of the street, on a slab of concrete they put out blankets and children’s books. I helped gather some of the kids in the neighborhood and we read together. It was ADBORABLE. so many cute black babies. I have an especially soft spot in my heart for Montrel, a sassy 3 year old.
While at the Street Library I heard about the Gumbo Festival that was happening in the Treme, which is a neighborhood next to the 7th ward. Listened to Rebirth Brass Band and the Soul Rebels, ate some mac n’ cheese, and then headed to the Music Box in the Bywater (hipster/punker’s paradise AKA gentrification).
I waited in line for two hours t, but it was worth it. The Music Box(pictured above) is a series of shacks that also serve as musical instruments dreamed up by an artist named Swoon. The actual performance lasted only a half hour; the actual show was alright, but the setting was magical. Went to a birthday party a few blocks away and headed home.
One of the best/most fulfilling days I’ve had in awhile!!!
Sunday: Arrived at 8:30am to a house in Midcity for a site visit. Each of my roommates works with a different anti-poverty non-profit. Every month we visit a different organization that one of us works at. This month is Rebuilding Together. We spent the day working lugging bricks from the backyard to a big trash bin in the front to clear the area, mudded, cocked (there were plenty of cock jokes involved), and painted the house a sweet banana creme color. Got home about 5. Chilled out for a few hours and then had a house meeting.
Bucaneer State Park in Waveland, Mississippi with 3 of my housemates
