THE GUNSHOP Fall 2009 launches this week on October 30th with a writing workshop focused on Power: The Role of Law Enforcement in Society & The Prevalence of Police Brutality. The workshop is set to take place at Catalyst Space: 430 East 1st Street, Long Beach, CA 90802, from 7-10PM.
Bring pen and paper, an open mind, and a willingness to participate. Emerging and established artists are both encouraged to attend, discuss, learn, teach, share, connect, and above all, WRITE. Email Big Brother at [email protected] to register. We hope to see you there! "Never Satisfied? Try these Six Negativity Busters" source (all text copied from website)
Don’t always “one-up”: It’s annoying when an acquaintance does it to you in a bar, so don’t do it to yourself. When you meet a goal you worked hard for, take a moment to celebrate the achievement instead of immediately focusing on what you can, or should do next. Live in the moment: As Ferris famously said, “life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” People who get bogged down in the past or are always looking ahead to the future miss the small joys of life—like eating a perfectly well-done burger or seeing their baby smile—that are right in front of them today. Find a positive angle: Everyone experiences setbacks, but be careful not to allow a negative turn of events to color your view of the world. Look for something in the scenario that will help you learn and grow, and focus on that as you weather through. Look for the good in people: It’s easy to ruminate on your friends’ and family members’ flaws, as I’m sure there are many of them. But by having unrealistic expectations of what people should do or how they should act, you’re setting yourself for disappointment. The truth is that most people mean well, even if they screw up every now and then. Be thankful for the big things: In my house, we have a tendency to “sweat the small stuff.” But come on. I have a great career, a stable family, a roof over my head, and a healthy body. Do I really need to fret over the fact that Bass didn’t take my expired coupons? Beware of the “grass is always greener”: You don’t know the intimate details of other people’s situations, so it’s irrational to be jealous of them. And remember that you can be satisfied without being perfect. Even if you have your dream job or your dream family, you’re bound to have bad days. That doesn’t mean you should overhaul everything because you think you can do better someplace else. -J.GUAVA Mos Def, Immortal Technique, and Eminem 2 comments:
Rudy said... Dude, I put that on replay. Diggin' it. Consciousness for the masses! April 17, 2008 2:11 PM Kayla said... I told you. Our Revolt, rebellion, movement, awakening, whatever you decide to title it. It's coming. This is intense. Thanks for sharing it. April 18, 2008 12:19 AM Powerful words from revolutionaries. Sad how true civil rights leaders have been locked up, assasinated or exiled. Fake ones run for president. -Ryan 1 comments: jumakae said... dude, this beat over his speech is giving me ADD. i can't concentrate ahhh! March 19, 2008 10:47 PM Okay, not really. I am postponing my return date.
'Little Folks' has invited us to go to the beach with them for a two-day retreat. Marissa and I haven't done anything touristy yet besides Angkor Wat, where even there we ended up doing it like the locals. We overslept past our Vietnam tour and changed our bus ticket to come back to Cambodia earlier in order to spend more time with the children. This will be a good end to our trip. So, SEE YOU SUNDAY NIGHT! I genuinely miss you all dearly and as much as I wanted to buy all of Cambodia for you, it is much too priceless. I would rather have you here to experience this with me. Rudy: The teacher who began this program is starting an Art & Social Action in India next winter. There will be a new art educator taking his place for the Cambodia program, though I will not be going through it. I will still be here but without obligations. I have learned that when we focus too much on social justice and action or even the term activism we lose sight of the people. Instead, we must do what is right for them and not what we percieve to be right for ourselves, aka what we think is best for them. Names will not be specified, but Little Folks has been dropped from the Art and Social Action program -much of it dealing with our presence being there. However, they do not seem to be reacting to this at all. Instead they look forward to my friends and I returning everyday to play with them. I have been teaching them recreation games and it is a blessing to see the children from both Little Folks and CDCC run up to me singing songs or beginning games I taught them from the previous year. Last year, as part of the Art and Social Action curriculum, I had them do a painting about family. I thought I really screwed up because I forgot that many of the children were orphans. One child wrote on his painting "I have no mother, father, brother, or sister. I am an orphan." That is when my teacher suggest I teach them the soul song "We are Family". As corny as it was, I gathered all 80 students in a circle and as my friend Teeda translated for me, I explained to them that in America and in many parts of the world the concept of family are not those who are directly blood related to you. Rather they are the people who you hold close to you, especially your friends or those who you grew up with. I started referring to all the children as my brothers and sisters and everytime I walk through the gates they start singing "We are Family, all my brothers sister and me! We are family, get up everybody and sing!" The child who originally wrote he was an orphan changed his painting, or rather he added to it. "Now I have a mother, father, brother, and sister because I am at CDCC." Anyways, see you all on Sunday night. And incase I have not let you known already, I am so so SO thankful to have brothers like you. WE ARE FAMILYYYYY. Agape, -Jmk *Edit* I am very sad because I updated this blog and it was twice as long. Anyways, I'll just show you the two NGOs I visited that are helping to sponsor Tiny Toones. Please visit their links: WOMYN AGENDA for CHANGE (WAC) -an NGO consisting of radical feminists striving for revolutionary change for their people of Cambodia and all of SouthEast Asia. It is an organization started by sex workers for sex workers. They also fight for farmer's rights against privatization. (they even do songwriting workshops to empower the workers. I'll share it at the next open mic) KORSANG -an NGO distributing out clean needles to drug users as a form of risk reducation. (Many 'returnees' are provided a job here. 'Returnees' is the term preferred over 'deportee'. "We didn't get deported! We're returning to our land!") both NGOs are providing funding for Tiny Toones as long as they bring in English lessons combined with the elements of hip hop to their students. Sessioning with the khmer emcees tonight! This will probably be my last blog before I see you all again. Toootles. However, funding and school supplies is still lacking. I went to buy school supplies yesterday for my friend who is teaching the English because he said he allowed his students to take them home but their parents sold it... now he is making them keep it at the center. I think I am buying sound equipment today too because their speakers blew out. Donations, anyone? haha. 2 comments: Rudy said... Listen and you will hear.... India's call gets stronger and stronger. Last semester I had a conversation with my I/ST 319I [International Development] professor on the needs of communities, she mentioned that many mistakes organizations make when going into community is already having this ideas of what people need WITHOUT asking the people themselves what it is they need. As activist we get filled with ideals, and a way, a sort of universality about the world...how we all have the same needs and desires. In many ways we do, the danger is in putting people into one mass collective and forgetting our specialized HUMAN needs. You've seen it for yourself though, can't wait 'till you comeback so you can share more of your experiences, and new found wisdom...so that we may take some of it into our own lives, and future travels. January 16, 2008 7:23 PM jmk said... yes yes I remember this conversation. Human rights over politics. Fuck politics! See you Sunday. Love u muahmuah. January 17, 2008 2:38 AM Let us rise up and be thankful,
for if we didn't learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn't learn a little, at least we didn't get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn't die; so, let us all be thankful. -Buddha Gautama A celebration of one of the greatest genocides in history, or Thanksgiving as the traditional American refers to it as. For those who see the festivity of this so called holy day as a mockery towards the actions committed to the indigenous people of this land, others criticize the resistors calling them heretics and unappreciated of the positive aspects that today has to offer.
As much as I am appreciative of families coming together to give thanks for everything they have I cannot deny the atrocities that inspired this holiday to exist as a facade to mask the truth behind the 500 year holocaust that still takes place today - maybe not as harsh as it was before, but the process of border patrol is parallel to the ethnic cleansing being committed by supremacists claiming to own this territory they believe they alone pay taxes for. It is not money that is the root cause to all evil, but it is greed and corruption. Greed for land, greed for power, and greed for money. Like Christopher Columbus, these minutemen harm innocent people attempting to cross the invisible border, perhaps innately as a calling to reclaim the land which was forcefully taken from them. Is it so difficult to embrace their arrival like the Arawaks did when Columbus arrived to what was soon to be called the states? Or are we so afraid of disturbing the economy run by capitalism, corrupted politicians, and paper money? Some may say that I am too sensitive about worldly issues but I would argue that many of us have become insensitive since we have come to accept what has happened in the past and neglect how it affects us now. Because of this, history repeats itself in different forms. Often times it is inevitable, but if we recognize the patterns maybe we would be more conscious of the similarities to the root cause of these impositions. Then what? It is not my desire to change the minds of the masses, but for you as the reader to ask yourself if you have truly mourned for the millions of lives that have been lost due to greed and domination. This greed led to the first illegal immigrants of America, the Europeans settlers, to exploit and exterminate the Native Americans with ruthless actions unimaginable- from stripping their skin from their bodies and cutting off females’ breasts to enslavement and deadly disease. But who is it they call illegal now? We are celebrating this day based off of false history but we use family values to wholly justify ourselves. This is not just a day to mourn the loss of the population which used to make up 100% of this whole nation and now makes up less than 1% of CSU Long Beach, but to mourn the physical and cultural genocides from all over the world - anywhere from Rwanda to Cambodia. The drive for these genocides has stemmed from the same force as it will always be for future ones. Is there a real solution to what can be done to change the way we celebrate this holiday? I cannot ask you to do anything that you truly do not want to do. The way you commemorate today is based off of your own decisions, and it is your choice to acknowledge the truth or to brush it aside. However, the change needs to be greater in thought rather than action, so it is not necessary to feel guilty about eating or celebrating unless something within you much deeper drives you to do so. As for my own outlet, I have chosen to fast in solidarity with the remaining folks who mourn the loss of their people all the way on Plymouth Rock. Rejecting the food offered to me is not to be rude, but it is a personal decision I have chosen to follow for personal and spiritual purposes. Am I changing the world because of this? If changing my inner being to better myself mentally and spiritually is a step to changing the world, then yes. But other than that, the choices that we make are the benefits of free-will so it is up to you to find what is right for yourself. Will we regain the empathy that has been lost in our textbooks? It is solely up to us to develop a critical consciousness of the world around us, for we percieve our own realities through personalized lens. So with that being said, give thanks to your life and loved ones. And if you have room in your day, honor those who have been lost through thoughts and prayers. May your tears water their soiled graves to nurture the seeds that will provide for us shade in the heat of corruption. And despite manifest destiny, I am thankful to be able to speak in the same tongue with my friends who are of a different ethnic background than me. In solidarity, I love you all Jumakae http://www.zeitgeistmovie.com/index.html
copied from the site's statements: "Zeitgeist, produced by Peter Joseph, was created as a nonprofit filmiac expression to inspire people to start looking at the world from a more critical perspective and to understand that very often things are not what the population at large think they are. The information in Zeitgeist was established over a year long period of research and the current Source page on this site lists the basic sources used / referenced and the Interactive Transcript includes exact source references and further information." I was rummaging through the campus library today, investigating random topics which popped into my head. First came Pedagogy of the Oppressed, which is the critical thinking method theorized by Paulo Freire. This man was one of the most important educators of our time. He advocated for a search for critical consciousness and revitalized the way educators would teach. His basic principle relies on the teacher not only teaching but at the same time being taught and caught in revelation by their own students. It's the constant cycle of education. Not to propose a plan for recycling knowledge, but for constructing and exvacating new ways of critical thinking.
But, besides that, I came across "A Good Book, in Theory" by Alan Sears. This book, a "guide to theoretical thinking," touched upon the foundations of critical theory as a practical living experience. Anyways, at the end of the first chapter was this reflection question: Write a paper from your own experience that supports or challenges Terry Eagleton's argument that children make good theorists. On that note, here is Eagleton's quote: "Children make the best theorists, since they have not yet been educated into accepting our routine social practice as 'natural' and so insist on posting to those practices the most embarassingly general and fundamental questions, regarding them with a wondering estrangement which we adults have long forgotten." Use this question as a discussion point the next time we meet. -JOHN.GUAVA 2 Comments: jumakae said... PROFESSOR JOHN!!! :D November 2, 2007 8:48 PM One Imagination said... Haha. Wait, do you have a G-mail account? November 3, 2007 12:38 PM |
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