The Audacity of Hope...New Work Coming Your Way

Whoooo hooo! I just received notification that I will be a recipient of the Outer/Space Creative Residency Grant for the 2008-2009 season! What that means is that Dance Theater Workshop is giving me 100 hours of rehearsal space to analyze my creative process and to create a new work!
I have to cheer about this because this spring I have applied to SO many programs like this getting rejection, rejection after rejection. Just wanted to share this with you because there is ALWAYS hope...

Michelle Obama: An American Girl

Michelle Obama. Strong, Intelligent, Educated, Feminine, Witty, Outspoken, Daring, a Dreamer, and American in every sense of the word.

When Anderson Cooper asks is America ready for a Black first lady I have to step back and think for a minute. Sometimes I forget that some people in this country would like to think I do not exist.
I grew up in a middle class Black neighborhood, went to 85% Black magnet schools in the Prince George’s County Public School System and went to a top ranked Historical Black College.
Going to college in Atlanta, living in an affluent city with Black people who were down to earth, friendly and intelligent, going to school where most of my friends graduated with high honors and went on to become published journalists, doctors, lawyers, investment bankers, and engineers, I was fully immersed in an environment where greatness is expected.
So the question, is America ready for Michelle Obama, is like asking is America ready for me?
Is it truly uncomfortable for people to see a Black woman going after her dreams with a strong mind, as a great wife and a mother?
Why does it feel better to characterize her “Obama’s Baby Mama?”

Do Americans feel more comfortable seeing Black women as sexual deviants locked up for their own fantasies?

Who are these unready or unprepared Americans that we are talking about anyway?

Love poems...

Love For Hashim#1

Your love is sweeter than honeysuckle/or ripe mango ready to be devoured under a Senegalese sun/patient like the moon wating for a new days kiss/everlasting like a northeast winter/ gentle like the end of a summer night's rain/peaceful like an ocean's song/a full and powerful deluge/ tender like the breeze on my arm/deeper than the unknown/brighter than the starlight/constant/the pull between me and you...
A.L.E.X.

Lest We Forget

Sometimes, when I begin to feel run down I hear God's voice whispering for me to open my eyes, take everything and remember. Last week I devoured James McBrides's Song Yet Sung. The language flows like music, the plot gripping and layered. It is powerful. lovely and though-provoking. It took me back to the feeling I had when I stood at the Point of No Return, in L'Maison Des Esclaves at Goree Island in Senegal. I was reminded of the strength of the blood that runs through me. My ancestors SURVIVED so that I could do what I am doing now. In the book, there are details about how a code is passed for slaves to escape to freedom. Black people worked together and risked their lives daily for others to live a better life than they would ever see. It's also filled with bittersweet prophesy. This story, based on true events takes place right in Eastern Shore, MD just across the bay from where I grew up. If you've read it, post a comment and share with me how it made you feel. If you plan to read it, please let me know what you think.