A good time for art

America's economy is in danger. A generation-defining election is a month away. And change in the U.S. of A seems inevitable regardless of the outcomes of the economy or the election. Across the Atlantic, South Africa is dumping its sitting president, Nigerian oil revolutionaries have declared war, all the while Zimbabwe is attempting to balance itself out with some sort of wobbly power sharing agreement. With a plethora of other shifts and turns going on around the world, I can conclude to only one thing: Right now is a good time to make art. Why do I say this? Well, when else is a better time to influence the direction of culture than when it is naturally (or unnaturally) moving on its own? Artists are cultural workers, meaning they influence and critique culture to a point where they could actually have an effect on policy. Thus, given the cultural climate of today's world, more specifically RIGHT NOW, there is plenty of room and opportunity for artists to mold, create, and contribute to new, dynamic cultures and ways of being.


This "Now" that I speak of is partially rooted in the idea that hardship is a catalyst for change. While it is not true that only hardship brings change, artistically speaking, it is true that hardship has always inspired the best art. When people's backs are against the wall they tend to do one of two things: become more conservative and fear-ridden, or they take more risks and let it all hang out. For those artists who have the confidence and courage to take on the world's problems while still dealing with their own personal problems, this could be what they have been waiting for. From fighting Jim Crow and injustice in America to fighting apartheid in the Free South Africa movement, artists have defined periods in history with their work when they chose to seize the moment. This could be ours. Imagine painting that picture of the faces and spaces and places that define our current reality: Obama and the "next generation"; drizzle and rain on a sunny day; the turn in the American psyche. Imagine penning that song that your children's children will sing, study, and enjoy, getting a feel of what it was like to be alive now right now. Imagine....just imagine.


The most important time in history is now. As artists, it is our job to interpret and reinterpret the times that we are living in. Though hardships and unforseen changes are eminent, we can turn this into a cherished moment in time. We need to take chances and step out of the box, out of our comfort zones. We need to let it all hang out, invest in the moment and behave like tomorrow is not promised. We can do this and stay above the fray if we keep moving, keep producing, keep creating the newness that we seek. Right now and anytime is a good time for art. However, because the "Now" is loaded with so many other variables I believe it should be responded to with more factors if we are to balance the equation. Artists should respond by giving more of their hearts to their work and working their hearts out to touch hearts. We can inspire others to capture this moment, unveiling creative energy and expressions that have been suppressed, witheld, untapped, or just unseen until now. And when we do, when all of this is realized as more people allow themselves to be empowered by choosing creativity, we would not have only captured the moment and owned it, we would truthfully and sincerely be being the change we want to see...Now.

The Art of Backflipping

For years now I have been trying to do a backflip. I can dunk a basketball and walk across a room on my hands, still to jump backwards and over was a feat I dared not attempt. The fear has been paralyzing. What made it worse was seeing people who were less athletic than me complete the task, yet not wanting to fall or hurt myself kept me from even trying at all. Imagine fervently wanting a car but won't buy it because you are afraid to crash it. Well, I broke free the other day and finally gathered the courage to purchase that vehicle and take it on a test drive. I didn't crash once, though I swerved a few times.

Last Wednesday morning, at Far Rockaway Beach in Queens, I jumped backwards and over. I lept into the air and I trusted. I trusted myself, I trusted the universe. Though nerve-wrenching at first, I eventually completed the feat enough times that I felt comfortable doing it. By doing so, I didn't only complete a back hand spring but I conquered a phobia: the fear of falling. I know that the fear of me falling from a back flip is directly related to my fear of falling while trying to do artistic acrobats. As charasmatic and out-going as I am, sometimes I get nervous about standing out from the crowd, to do something that someone else can't do -- or chooses not to, and live with some excitement and dare in my life. Although I know that I am capable and probably even positioned to do so, I can be conservative with some of my expressions for fear of not getting the unique one correct. But this thinking doesn't make sense. Why would you have all that potential if it was not meant to be used? Why should you be strong if you are not meant to be powerful? It is this question that has nagged me and challenged me to keep trying, keep moving. I understand that backflipping is an advantage, an edge, another option. Owning its execution opens the gateway for more exciting and empowering opportunities. But I'll never know these opportuntities unless I believe I can get them. So I must go for them without fear, not being afraid of falling because I know how to get up and I am focused on where I am going. The mind can conceive what the body cannot yet acheive. Thus, as long as you are not physically paralyzed, there is no reason to mentally paralyze yourself too because there is still work to do.



I have come to find that the art of backflipping, the discipline of creating new options for yourself, is about having faith. You can have all the abilities in the world, and then work and prepare and plan for as long as you want to do something about it, but if you don't have the courage to act on your potential then you will never be satisfied. Your movements don't have to be as fancy as a backflip, they should just reflect the creativity and courage you possess inside of you at that particular moment in your life. And then when it's time to do your own interpretation of the "backflip," remember why you are doing what you are doing and how you will feel if you don't. Then just do it. Choose faith over fear and you will make it there...wherever that there may be for you.

But seriously...

Okay, so I've been living in New York for almost a year now. It's been an interesting journey so far, comprised of stories of exploration, concentration, and self-determination. I moved to NYC to be closer to the theatrical world, to find my place in it, to create my role within it. Despite the the challenges that I face and have faced, I believe am doing just what I set out to do. After a three week trip to California this summer, which was a much needed getaway and active meditation, I'm back in NY (just moved to Brooklyn, baby!) and more determined than ever to make my mark through my art. Specifically, I've printed out business cards and I am networking like crazy. The result: I'm being offered more roles for acting and other creative gigs. It could also be because I am approaching everyday life with more confidence, secure but not overbearing, feeling empowered by the process and possibilities of this discipline of expressing myself. In the meantime in between time when I am not involved with the theatrics of playmaking, I am playing percussion and starting to record vocals again. The result: I'm beginning to gig as a percussionist around NYC and I am finding producers and all sort of musicians that I'd love to work with....and we're actually following through on the process! So, the question is, with all of these opportunities brewing, raising my value in my own eyes as well as in the eyes of others, how seriously I should take myself? I mean, pretty seriously, right?


I am a theater artist and musician. Playing a character in a production is a lot like playing an instrument in a band: you are going for one voice, one theme, one sound, one story. And after watching Barack Obama's acceptance speech last week, I was reminded of what I felt were the four most important words of his speech, "It's not about me."



All of this is to say that I shouldn't take myself too seriously. For one, there is always someone out there who is better than me at something. And two, taking myself too seriously ruins the notion of working together, in communion, with my fellow collaborators. I am not a solo artist, though I could perform alone. What I mean is that I represent something that is bigger than me, something more profound than any group of words I could string together. I represent a culture, a lifestyle and perspective, shared by a new generation of thinkers, global citizens, and cross-cultural workers. I once told a good friend of mine that while on stage I don't want people to look at me, I want them to look at the world we live in. Similarly, choosing to study and play and instrument is reflective of the importance I put on the sound of the collective, only emphasizing the individual's voice as an addition to the whole, not as a whole onto itself. Consequently, my individuality allows me to be whole. My connection to the whole allows me to be an individual.


It is my belief that artists who take themselves too seriously have lost, or are loosing, their connection to the whole. I don't want to become like that, although I understand how it can come to be. However, I try to stay grounded by doing things to humble myself, like remembering my family overseas and being thankful for all that I have here on this side of the Atlantic; bigging up a partner's performance to take some of the attention off of myself; and/or controlling impulsive urges to remind myself that discipline determines distance you will travel, just to name a few. In either case, no matter how many breaks come my way and no matter how successful I am at those endeavors, my intention is not to ever take myself too seriously. I know that I am only here because of those who came before me and because of those coming after me. So, at the root of it all, I am only playing a part, I am only a piece of a continuum. My role is just as important and unimportant as a character actor: the other characters in the cooperative are dependent on me for the story to exist but the story is not focused on me. It's as simple as that. Play your part, and play it well, but recognize that there are more parts, more stories, more expressions than the one that you occupy. You are only as important as the importance of your collective. I guess the key to balancing it all, I believe, is to master your solos and monologues, for that is when you can be just as important as you want to be. But even then it probably won't be as serious as it seems.

On Money

“I was told that cash rules everything around me
And I should get the money…”

Quoting myself (with a little help from Wu-Tang), I wrote these words a few years back to begin a lyrical poem about making money. I called it “Money for the Movement”. My inspiration – besides growing debt, bleak job opportunities, and the desire for less stress due to cash flow – was to express my reasoning of why getting money is so important in today’s world…if not yesterday and tomorrow’s worlds as well. You see, at the time, I was fresh out of college and still heavily influenced by a predominantly pure socialist way of thinking. Having studied political science, I became aware of the so many immoral actions and ill-gotten gains of countless people and nations in the name of money. Consequently, I rebeled against the idea of such behavior, surrounding myself with like-minded thinkers and building up a united mental front towards the philosophy of capitalism. To add fuel to the fire, I traveled around the “Third World” for my last semester in college (Semester at Sea, Spring '02) and concluded that with a two month stay in Nigeria, my bloodline roots, of which I had taken a decade and a half long hiatus from (not of my own doing). In Nigeria, I re-experienced what it was like to not have the resources you needed when you wanted them. It took a little getting used to again, but some things I never got used to and just wanted them changed for the better...forever. Yet, not even then was I fully convinced that making money needs to be a high priority. What really got my going about this whole idea of making money was coming to terms with my creative self and the desire to make art, and starting to calculate what it would cost to actually actualize some of these ideas.

“So now my eyes are open to the words that were spoken/
Money makes a man go to having it from hoping…”



Actualize. That’s what did it for me. From thinking up an idea to funding it to distributing it, actualizing your intentions takes money. I’ve witnessed this truth on all fronts, whether personal or not, ranging from independent music projects or budgeting for a movie, throwing a party or holding a fundraiser, money is needed in some form or another to see your dream turn to reality. And so, I’ve changed my mind about having it, using it, acquiring it. My philosophy now is that money is not the root all evil. People are the root of all evil. Our lack of self-control, self-awareness, self-respect and self-love make us act evil to each other because we don’t see ourselves in each other. We fight over crumbs and stiff our neighbor to get a bigger piece of the “pie”, yet it is that same neighbor that we will need in a different situation that will remember the wrong doing we’ve done to them and not trust us enough to help us out. It’s an age old scenario. The East calls it karma. I guess this would be bad karma. I believe in it. I also believe that using money unselfishly, yet still investing into Self, brings about good karma.

“I need this money for the movement/
Paper for the purpose/
Equity for evolution to watch my dreams surface/
I got fam overseas yall that need to eat/
And still got fam in America need relief/
I got a heart from the poor but don’t come from the streets/
Just know that: too many starve, while too few feast”

I am still a student of political science. I still want to, and will, live in the “Third World” (starting with Nigeria again) and seek to influence their policies and culture. Yet, settling in on a career in the arts has challenged me to be more about what I am saying, express this intent through action. In doing so, I have had to reexamine my relationship with money and figure out how I will fund my ambitions of being a bi-continental cultural worker and agent of change. What I have concluded is that money is going to play a big role in succeeding with this ambition. Does this make me evil? No, I don’t think so. It can’t. Because the intentions in my heart are not evil, they are pure. The intentions in my heart are good and just, thus the way I handle my money will be the same. Thus, I am rededicating my mind to thinking about getting this money. I used to think that I would feel guilty for having a lot of money, but I would willingly accept millions today if it were offered to me. Money will help my mother retire from her three jobs she works at 58 years old. Money could pay for the college education of my younger sister. Money could build in schools and feed my cousins, aunts, and uncles in Asaba, Nigeria, the place I call home in Africa. Money can create more jobs by investing into industries, small businesses, and new ideas. Money could decrease crime because basic needs and wants are met, lessening the temptation to stoop to one's lower self to get them met. Money can do a lot of good in the world if our minds and hearts are in the right places.



“Let’s be real/
Love makes the world go ‘round/
Money only makes it easier for us to exist in it/
If we know we are the children of God and can hold it down/
Why accept being broke and all its inner limits”

How you get money is just as important as getting it. I don’t condone stealing, robbing, killing, lying, or cheating to get money. At the end of the day, being a good human being and treating others the way you would like to be treated takes all precedence over getting money. However, once those things are in place, I say that you go full force about getting, receiving, acquiring, obtaining, attaining, and holding onto money in the moral manner that you see fit. It can, and probably will, make a world of difference. I write all of this today as a reminder to myself, and anyone else who reads it, to give ourselves permission to be financially well-off. If you work hard you should be rewarded. It just so happens that many of those rewards come in the form of money these days. So why not accept it? You are not a bad person for doing so. A lot of good can come out of it if you will it to. And so, if you already have the will to make the world a better place, go ahead and make a little money to help you in your mission. I guarantee that it will help.

Well, there's really not much more to say. I’ll simply leave you with the last line of the poem:

“Get that money yall”

Joga Bonito

Okay, so I haven't written here for a while. Everytime I try something comes up and I don't get to finish it. I came to realize that the hustle and bustle of it all was more in my mind and less in my actions. I mean, yes, I have been "keep moving" and trying to get things done, but some things wouldn't have to be done now if they were taken care of before. For example, I moved to New York to pursue acting and artistry as a career. However, since I have never done this before, so to speak, I didn't quite know where to start. What I have learned, or re-learned, is that a career is exactly what it sounds like: a career. I have been jumbled up with work-for-survival responsibitilies, both pleasurable and not so pleasurable, since I came to NY and it is affecting my focus on my artistic ambitions. Although the places that I work for are respectable institutions with valid missions and credible curriculums, my tasks there don't fully further my ambitions. Now, to part ways or recreate relationships with them that are more in line with my vision for my future has taken me one day, one email, one conversation too long because I am a sucker for positive causes in the world. Yet, my personal cause is slowly fading into oblivion as I attempt to assist others with theirs.


Stepping into and up to your destiny is a personal decision that requires courage, confidence, persistence, and patience. I have to admit that I have been lacking in the arena of confidence to go at my career goal with full vigor and a one-track mind. I used to think that it was selfish to focus solely on what I wanted to do but I have changed my mind. It is not selfish. It is self-love. I am not hurting anyone by focusing on what I want to do, what I believe I have been put here to do. Nor am I hurting myself, as I have integrity and class when I approach my art. In addition, I have my own ideas of how to contribute positively to the world through the formation of institutions and/or foundations. Yet, they will never be realized if I don't actualize my intentions and stay true to their course of growth and development.


Joga Bonito. I play Capoeira Angola. It is a Brazilian-African dance-fight-game that requires a lot of athleticism, flexibility, and cunningness. The ones who master, or attempt to master, these traits in tandem with each other are known to play beautiful, or what we call joga bonito. Like in life and your destiny, you must approach the game of capoeira with courage, confidence, persistence, and patience. You need courage to try new moves, confidence in yourself that you can actually do them, persistence to keep trying, and patience to know when to try them. If you stay on this path, you should reach your goal of expressing yourself freely while still safeguarding yourself from threats and entertaining, more specifically edutaining, an audience at the same time. I guess this could be seen as one way to reach the people while still having fun
:-D.


So, in conclusion, this entry is about reclaiming your right to your destiny and taking control of it with the confidence you need to do it well. The whole world is a stage and people are watching. Give them a show. Be the example that they want to emulate. Be the example for others to learn from. Go back to your destiny and play this game of life with athleticism, flexibility, and cunningness. Express yourself freely. Have a little swagger, it's all right. Yet, still safeguard yourself from outside threats and be humble along your path. There is always someone bigger or better than you (God, for example) and they may not always be as nice as you are. However, when it's your moment to reap the rewards of the path you've sown, own it, flourish, dance, smile, jump, skip, sing, trick and sometimes treat, just never stay down if you so happen to trip. Just joga bonito, people, joga bonito.

Chike

P.S. The clip below is a demonstration of a joga bonito. After watching this last night and speaking to my brother this morning about approaching your destiny with confidence and a little swagger, I was inspired to write. Hopefully I'll capture more of these moments in the future and enter more entries into this online journal.

P.P.S. This is not me in this game. I don't have too many videos of me playing yet but I am becoming more conscious of the importance of seeing myself within the roda, not only to study my movements but also to record the history of my participation and contributions to this beautiful art form. Alright, enjoy.

Mama said knock you out

Despite another primary election between Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama is occurring today, no one seems to be talking about it.





No "watching parties" are scheduled, no overwhelming excitement has mounted. I think it is because many people got tired and uninterested after the numerous other (Super) Tuesdays that passed and no clear winner seems to be emerging. Well...let me retract that. Actually, a clear winner does seem to be emerging. However, it is just taking too long and most people don't have the patience for politics. Being a graduate of Political Science and now relying on Youtube and Yahoo TV to provide me with some brief snippets of what is currently happening in the world (I don't have a t.v.), I really can't afford for my patience to run thin on this election. Besides being interested in the outcome and the process of this primary battle, it is simply one the most exciting "shows" to follow out of my options right now. Needless to repeat again, another primary is occurring today.


Last December, before heading out to Nigeria to bring the year to a close, I told a co-worker that I think Senator Barack Obama is the right man for the job...and I think he could win. This was before any primary had even taken place. She reminded me, a black woman, that this country is still very racist and that America is not ready to see a black man in office. I told her I believe this country is indeed ready for change but that his candidacy is just as much about us -- the people -- than it is about him -- the representative. Plain and simple: If we the people step up and vote and be activists for this cause, he will be sworn into the White House next January and we will have a new president.



We continued to discuss his chances but didn't come to an agreement. Fast forward to April, five months after that prediction, and everyone seems to be on the bandwagon now. African-Americans who originally didn't think he could win are supporting him in record numbers. Liberal white Americans are falling in line too. College students seem to be his bread and butter constituency. Yet, with all of this support, people's endurance are still starting to stagger. It seems like there is still some doubt of his chances of winning, suggesting that the longer the primary goes the more chance there is for Sen. Hillary Clinton to win the nomination. But I wonder and ask, did they genuinely believe that Sen. Obama could win in the first place?


As I told my co-worker 5 months ago, and others since then: every president Nigeria ever had was black. And every president Ghana, Zambia, and Ethiopia ever had were black too. Plus, Liberia has a woman president now and that's just in Africa. There have been other women presidents and prime ministers around the world before Senator Hillary Clinton arrived, if she were to win the presidency. The point I am making is that we shouldn't base a candidates likability on their race or gender. Although we have been trained and socialized to do so, I think we all know that innately that is a flawed argument and couldn't pass the test of time. Moreso, when that characteristic is stripped from a candidate's "presentation", what is left? If you believe in that "what", then that is the candidate you should endorse. I endorse Barack Obama because he is an ambitious change agent and willing to attempt to change this country...radically. I don't believe he will be about the same old politics that we have endured for so many years. I believe he is indeed someone who will fight to change America and change the world, from the ground up. Yet, I don't think he will be perfect at doing this job either, as he himself has said this, but I do think that he is the best person in position to do so in this election cycle. His understanding and connection to the youth, his common sense and common cause intelligence, his good writing and speaking abilities (I don't think this ability is as stellar as everyone wants to make it out to be), all contribute to his superior vision for this country that surpass any other candidate running. The fact that he is black comes secondary to why I would like to see him in the Oval Office...although it would be a nice thing and very much welcomed visual and cultural adjustment to our national landscape. However, as I read from an interview of the talented Q-Tip this past weekend, if Barack wins, "it's great, now everyone get to work and create more history."




So, this blog today is dedicated to the politics of this nation. If Barack wins this primary today he would effectively have beaten Hillary Clinton in the numbers game. If he doesn't win today then the primary will continue on and we won't know who gets the nomination until much later...although it is still likely to be Sen. Obama. But I want him to win today, deliver the knock out punch. No one expects it today, but that's what makes it even more exciting. He is trailing in most polls by 6 points, give or take 3 points for the margin of error. But I think he can do it though. I have the audacity of hope. I too am getting a little tired of this drawn out process. But I am even getting more tired of talking about politics by myself. A win for him today can attract everybody back on board and we can keep the train moving. So for those in Pennsylvania, those democrats who believe in this Senator from Illinois, do the rest of us a favor who are not voting today....and knock Hillary Clinton the f*ck out!!!!

Tomorrow today

Okay, so it's been about a month since I wrote in this blog. Man, how time flies. It's been a busy month though. I made my NYC stage debut with a Hip-Hop musical called "Apple Turns to Cider".



It was a good play and good experience. Sometimes I wished I had a bigger role, but the story was what's important and the story is always bigger than me. So on that note, it was a good story and good production. Big up to everybody that made that happen. Let's see, oh, I also dug deeper into that acting class too. And it's a little deeper than I thought it was. Acting is such a way of life. You've got to be it. I wrote a little this month as well, but not as much as I wanted to. Time and energy would get small, as I was also practicing capoeira and my mandinga... jogo de dentro. Add business and work on top of all of this and I had a lot of things going on. Yet, I kept going on. I think it was a combination of wanting to challenge myself and allowing the universe to fully challenge me that gave me the strength, dare I say audacity, to keep on. It was rocky trying to meet all of these demands but I knew I wanted to meet them. So I tried. And I failed. And now it's April. So I'm trying again again.

Who knows what this month will bring? Who knows what any month will bring? All we can do live in the moments and pass each day with intention and purpose. The rest is up to the will of the greater creator. One thing I do know though, something that I have learned, is that the way forward is not behind you. Tomorrow looks more like you than yesterday does, yet yesterday is precious because you gave birth to it and are living with it now. But tomorrow? Tomorrow is your individual picture in the mosiac of all of life's image. Comparatively, that's small in the grand scheme of things, but it's yours all the same. The trick is that you can make whatever is yours as big or as small as you want it to be. It's all a matter of perspective, imagination, innovation.



I am going to stop writing here. Not because I feel like I made some point for readers to go away and think about, but rather because I just need to prepare for tomorrow (it's passed midnight and I have a full day's work waiting for me in a few hours). Either way, I didn't write as much as I wanted to last month and I just needed to get it back going again. I needed to get back in the groove with it, into the rhythm of all of my endeavors. I will try to post at least once a week now and stay on beat with that commitment. Until then, allow me to excuse myself here. Tomorrow is waiting for me....and I don't like to keep myself waiting.

Be well,

Chike