I moved...

Hey everyone,

I'm not very good/consistent at this blogging stuff. However, due to my affiliation with www.theundeniables.org , I have relocated my thoughts to wordpress.com

It seems as if more people are consistent with checking the wordpress, but maybe when I'm ready I will return to here hehehe.

(in high school i was all about xanga. Funny how technology works on us.)

www.jumakae.wordpress.com

The Cure

Talia: :)
me: hello!
i have finals and i haven't studied. hahaha
Talia: no!
ah! i present to the director of the department of health monday, i haven't slept
lol - i want to be the shining student she asks my professor about after hehehe
i'm presenting the molecular risks of co-infection with the swine flu and australia's drug resistant staph. it's fucking scary! and i had my HIV presentation yesterday :) yay!
me: i dont know what u said but wow ok!
r u top student in your class? smarty poo! you are a hard worker and u will go on to discover the cure to HIV and aids -then the government will exterminate you
Talia: fucking hard worker, maybe near the top :) but all my fellow students are DOCTORS!
hahaha exactly
me: unless you move to a 3rd world country
and practice there!
Talia: that's why i'll make it candy, give it to all the kids in africa, and never tell anyone
:)
me: HAHAHA
i'm going to post that!
Talia: i will only tell you, and you'll sit back and laugh when you're 70, when the world rates of HIV disappeared :)
me: then u can teach me
and i'l turn it into a rap
to teach ppl about it!
Talia: awesome!!!!!
OOOOooo i LOVE it!!!
that sounds amazing


I surround myself with beautiful people - we make a great team!!!

rush..

I was rushing to make it to school for my first final of the week. Gotta get that piece of paper. On my way down Palos Verde to look for close parking, I noticed a homeless woman waiting at the bus stop. One hand was on her face, shielding it from the sun. As I hit the red light, I took another minute to just observe. Her other hand went to the opposite side of her face, her shoulders tightened up, and her lips stretched into a frown. She buried her face into both hands and started to cry. Cars dashed by to remind me that the light had turned green. Gotta get that piece of paper.

For what?

Women & War

well, it's the War VERSUS Women...

If our founding fathers see us as children then why would they send us to die?
Where were the mothers who knew the pains of labor, but through sweat and blood found the nature to love? Did we voice her decisions or was she stuck in the kitchen silenced and told to shut up?

Allowing men who plan wars to plan peace must be boys who have rebelled against their mothers, or mothers who have neglected to love. And although the strong women should be the central to peacemaking, we still allow grown up boys to negotiate peace but use our babies as pawns instead of their plastic toys.

I was asked to speak about war but I’ll let the men speak for that.
For while the news report speaks of the government’s decision on when the bombs will be dropped, our women, bearing heavy bags, dad missing since a couple months have passed, fear to report the soldiers who guard her doors every night like vultures waiting for the moment when they can no longer stand without water – and as a “good example” for daughters she sacrifices a piece of her being – the women act as a team, this night is yours and the next will be my body.

With fathers unknown, babies are left on the street to die, masking the truth that was forced between her thighs. Girls learn to stay quiet when women plead for help, but desensitized the only sentence she is given is - adultery. Movie theatres don’t exist, so people gather for the matinee performance of Punishment. It’s like the carnival but the only game to play is toss-the-rock. 10 points to the face and 20 to the womb- Everybody’s a winner and the only loss -is her life.

Mothers warn their children about the dangers to face and the only escape to freedom is through Education.
While Afghan mothers dream of a better future for their daughters, little school girls soon to be women walk for miles with visions shattered as acid sprays their eyes, blinding the path to freedom beyond their visual sight. It is no surprise that the school of 1,300 has now dropped to 35.

Poppy farmers marry off their daughters as young as seven years old to pay back the debts of his privatized crops, but when she finds the strength to leave- her nose and ears are chopped off. What happened to the land that once belonged to our ancestors? Mother Earth wants to weep -to water the soil her children walk on, and as she speaks in soothing whispers through the wind – she cannot compete with the gun shots that force everyone to cover their ears, deaf to the song she wants to sing -to let us know she is still here.

While the latest music craze is Ciara’s Love, Sex, and Magic, our women in Darfur have never known Love, only Sex, and seek this Magic- Magic from the herbs man to cure her dying baby from diarreah, because the western doctor has gone away. Faith is manifested through the prescription of charcoal, water, and glue poured over holy Quranic scriptures – and shea butter covers her body to shield herself from the bullets soon to come.

Men’s cure to their decaying body and the lesions breaking out of his skin are to simply rape-a-virgin, hoping to take the place of a child’s innocence.
So while the village men suffer from AIDS the soldiers march in to begin their own raid.

Doors kicked down, guns pointed between the tears in her eyes, and though only fifteen she felt she had already died four times. Blanks being fired they laugh and inquired which soldier will have their turn tonight?

So WHILE THE GUNS ARE SHOOTING, THE PENIS STILL PENETRATES.
-Deeper than flesh. Our weapons of mass destruction are not man - made, but simply the weapon of man. One man at a time pounding their heavy body on top of hers – deep enough to reach the earth and soiling it with their putrid sweat, with words whispering “We want to make a light baby”. Submit to me because your dark skin a disease and you were meant to be a slave (abd) for all eternity!

From Vietnam to the Philippines American men assisted in war for peace, and my women are taken as workers to satisfy their sexual needs. And though they leave thinking they have succeeded in amity, they have left and never met half white babies. 30 years later they call my ladies whores and prostitutes, Thailand has the highest rate of women still selling their bodies- but people fail to see its roots.

So we say peace by any means but I say my women are making ends meet by any means. And it is beyond for peace, but it is for love, love for the family and the future – our children. With love forgotten- this is how we find ourselves in war. And if a women who knew the pains of labor made the decisions, who do you think she would speak for?

<3 Jumakae.

Apologiez

To everyone who wants to perform at the Tiny Toones fundraiser... it's overwhelming the amount of support I am receiving!

And as I open up my heart to you... I find myself saying yes so much only because I fear it would disrupt the number of people who attend. I really want this night to be about Tiny Toones so I apologize for the disorganization that may come across from my side within the next three weeks.

Every decision being made brings me back to question what will be in the best interest of our youth... I am trying my best to ensure the happiness of everyone and some of my decisions may disappoint or hurt others, but I promise that everything I am doing is fully with good intention.

So with that said, this is not MY event. I am only organizing it, and it is an event for the COMMUNITY. Not just for Inglewood and its surrounding cities, but it is an oath to hip hop and its global partners we have the beautiful opportunity to support:






(See Los Angeles event @ www.tinytoonescambodia.com)

...

i feel heavy and empty at the same time. :(

Five Types of Tribes

This is an email excerpt I received from a community organizer I met at a Be the Cause Meeting:

Yesterday I attended the TED conference at USC, with an autidorium full of brilliant minds. One speaker, Dave Logan, spoke about the five type of tribes that exist in the world. According to his book on Tribal Leadership, all groups and organizations come together one of 5 different levels of consciousness:

* Life Sucks - those who hate life and seek to survive through destruction (gangs, terrorists, etc)
* My Life Sucks - ineffective hierarchichal organizations that stifle spontaneity, creativity, and individual expression (DMV, public utilities, bad companies) but understand that a better life exists elsewhere
* I'm Great - individual high achievers who come together to compete with one another for greater levels of recognition and accolade (professional orgs for doctors, lawyers, etc)
* We Are Great - groups of high achievers who transcend individual ego to work with the emergent properties of the individually great (Google, Zappos)
* Life is Great - tribes that emerge around shared, deeply cherished values (Desmond Tutu's Truth & Reconciliation Council)

Logan says that only 2% of organizations are in the 'Life Is Great' category, and they are the only ones that make fundamental and widespread changes in society.
Can you guess that I was smiling as I was thinking about our tribe? :-)

Life is Great.

Fighting Words

Ryan the Lion and I went to support the Oct 22 Coalition (Anti-Police Brutality March) @ their open mic called "Fighting Words" held every 3rd Thursday of the month at Chuco's Justice Center, which is also the location where we will be having our Tiny Toones event on Sunday, May 3rd, 2009.

I am in love. With the people and the movement.







On January 23rd, Annette Garcia, a mother of three, was shot to death by Riverside Sheriffs after they received calls that she was suicidal and under duress due to a marriage dispute. Reports by the family and witnesses state that she "posed no harm to the officers involved, yet she was shot at six times until a bullet hit her in the back as she tried to run for cover." It took over an hour to get medical attention and Annette Garcia died in the arms of her children.







(This one was just for fun. lol Ryan)

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa


nuff said. now ask Obama about his criteria on immigration rights!
(For reals, he's down the street right now. i heard his military aircraft land yesterday from class at the Long Beach airport... lol)

Tiny Toones VISA approved!

Here is the email I recieved from Lisa, our new administrative director and my lovely sista from New Zealand:

Update for USA hosts/ sponsors:


Bright and early this morning, the 7 youth peer mentors ventured down to the US Embassy and waited eagerly (and nervously) for 3 hours before they received their visa interviews. I waited patiently outside and was called in towards the end of their interviews to speak with the Consul. Our experience turned out to be much better than expected, having been alerted that the Embassy is difficult to deal with and getting the peer mentors visas would be a major obstacle. However, everyone at the US Embassy knows KK and Tiny Toones. We’ve performed for them several times in the past years. The Consul was very friendly and easy-going on the peer mentors. She even requested for a short demonstration at the end. The peer mentors laughed as the Embassy staff walked out of their booths, escorted us to the courtyard, and watched them do airtracks and flares (despite being in flip-flops and burning their hands as they danced on the hot concrete). The Consul handed me her card and said “We know Tiny Toones is a legit organization and we are aware of the work that KK has done. I will approve of their visas- just make sure they come back from the USA please.”

The 7 peer mentors were so excited and thankful to have their visas approved. This is a huge accomplishment, since the USA embassy is very strict on whom they issue visas to. Today we witnessed many other Cambodian citizens who were denied visas. Applicants usually need to prove strong ties to Cambodia such as land ownership, 6 digits in the bank and family. These peer mentors barely have anything and are considered a flight risk to the US government, however everyone at the Embassy loves Tiny Toones and knows what a great opportunity this is for them. The peer mentors are training hard daily and are looking forward to the amazing experience they will have on this tour. Thank you everyone for your help and support so far and we look forward to meeting you very soon!


Lisa Ho- Administrative Director for Tiny Toones

Lisa Ho

Administrative Director

Tiny Toones Cambodia
House #4, Street 460,
Psar Toul Tompong
Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Mob: 012 520 294
lisa@tinytoonescambodia.com
www.tinytoonescambodia.com

TINY TOONES PERFORMANCE @ US EMBASSY



THAT MEANS....
MAY 3RD!!! TINY TOONES HIP HOP JAM/FUNDRAISER.
Keep the date open, I will keep everyone posted as I scramble myself together =)

(it was originally Sat. May 2nd, but the CSULB breakers will be having their End of the Semester Jam and Manny Pacquiao will be fighting, too!)

And please donate sleeping bags to Jumakae for that weekend.

Pai Reggae Festival

My brudda (P'Jo from Kai-Jo brothers) just sent me this video from Northern Thailand.
Chai the Islander is also from the same province as my mother so they invited me to jam out on stage with the band, along with my sista Apsara jammin out next to me.



I got on the mic and yelled "THAILAND, PICK UP YOUR TRASH!" after this. I have never seen so many hippies in Thailand in my life, both foreigners and Thai people. I wish to throw things at them.

But I love my indigenous family of artists who come from the villages like my mother's and understand the need to know your roots and have respect for the land. KaiJo brothers, Sista Apsara, are just to name a few. (Jo is playing the djembe on stage with us, too!) They are rasta Thai and know their history - from Thailand to Afrika. I can't wait to go back and learn more about my own roots from them...

These tourists I think are to blame the most. Have respect or go home!

Pai, the place where this reggae 'green' festival took place, was once an escape for Thai people but now has become a favorite for rich investors looking for a cheap vacation spot. =(

Chai the Islander has a song about Songkla, which is the beautiful lotus lake closest to my mother's village. He speaks about the fish diminishing, how the waters are not as clear as they used to be, and the lotuses are not blooming. It makes me sad because this is one of my favorite places to visit while in Thailand, once only known to the locals until the need for profit opened the doors to tourism...


Anyways, back to Pai. It was very depressing to be in the audience as the host kept yelling on the mic "are you DRUNK? Thailand, are you HIGH?" interchangeably speaking in both Thai and English to cater to both audiences of East meets West. Not once did he mention the theme of "Pai Reggae Green Festival".
All around me was trash. There was styrofoam in the surrounding waters. And what hurt the most was to see who was picking up the bottles people were tossing. I observed as two elderly women of Thai descent wore gloves and carried trashbags, working together to find bottles to recycle while drowning out the loud music filling the atmosphere. What have we done to our elders? And most importantly, why?

Northern Thailand is the poorer part of the country where the land has become so unhealthy that crops cannot grow. With privatization increasing and families being unable to feed themselves off of natural resources, they are forced to leave their villages to find work elsewhere. Were these the women from the local villages in the nearby hills that hid above the rich tourism industry of Pai?

anyways, they said i talked too much on the mic. i think everyone was too drunk or high to really understand my rage. Oh well, nonetheless, I miss Thailand!

Here is an inspirational music video from the bruddas:


We are BORN TO BE FREEEEEE! *blap!* the police! just keeding. not really. sometimes. Well, i feel bad for the guy cuz he's one against all us youth. ;D

-Jumakae

Hip Hop 101

Burnett Elementary School *next to Poly High
East Side Long Beach, CA
3rd grade
History of Hip Hop + Tiny Toones, Cambodia March 12, 2009


I was contracted out by the Arts Council of Long Beach to "perform" and talk about my experience in Cambodia, but instead I decided to teach these kids the root of hip hop and how it has become a global movement by using Tiny Toones as an example.

BIRTHPLACE OF HIP HOP

Look at this ol' school picture of a cat from the Bronx:


And in this video look at this kid from Tiny Toones. Any similarities?


We in solidarity, yo! I asked the kids what hip hop was to them, and surprisingly one said "Hip Hop was born in the streets!"

These kids were the most conscious third graders I ever met. Hip hop = Peace, Love, Unity, and Having Fun. Not Getting Rich or Die Trying. I'm not going to argue about who exactly started hip hop because in reality it was born in the souls of people. Members from bboy crews Squishy Doscious and Deuces Wild assisted me in displaying one of the four elements of hip hop to inspire them youth. I MCed while my homie Edwin aka Selph Conscious beatboxed for them. If people were practicing breaking or freestyling in the streets back in the days they didn't always have a DJ so beatboxing was their alternative, and it is also a powerful artform aside from the other 4 elements. Imagine a room of at least 150 kids chanting out Nas, "I Know I can, be what i want to be, if I work hard at it, I'll be where I wanna be!" (No videos were taken of the presentation. boohoo! But use your imagination =D)



Afterwards we celebrated at Roscoe's Chicken & Waffles down the street.



MAKE GOOD CHOICES! =D


Maybe when I feel like it I'll post up my presentation, but honestly I have felt extremely disconnected from posting anything online about myself or my projects. Maybe it is laziness, or that I'm completely uninspired to do so. I hope people's interactions with me will speak enough about what I do and what I hope we can collectively accomplish together. May all of your dreams come true =D
Or, shut up and just post shit, Ms. Jumakae.

Ok, OK. Let's just record some events I can remember at the top of my head:



So I performed at this event and the power went out during my set. It's okay because the drummers were playing to my beat during my Sex Work song and it went perfectly well with it. I did the rest of my set with the drummers, a random beat boxer, and other people who picked up instruments lying next to the dj booth. I keep it organic, yo. Before technology this is how we did it!



I met my favorite femcee, Mystic . Mad inspirational! She's above Lauryn Hill for being so down to earth and for the community. This is in no way to discredit Ms. Hill since she is definitely one of my inspirations, but I think she has turned extremely prophetic that her focus has become about her spiritual growth. I completely support her in this search for self (aren't we all on it?) but it seems as if she is hiding from mainstream society. No worries, while she's doing that and recording dope songs like Selah, I'll kick it with Mystic. =D




One of the things I learned at this fundraiser is that we lost focus of its intension. Although its aim was to bring hip hop heads together for a just cause, I noticed hesitation in some people to pay the entrance fee yet so much money was spent on all the hip hop vendors tabling at the event. I am guilty, for I bought a $20 dress made by an artist that could have gone towards the Darfur benefit, but hey I deserve a treat sometimes! I also put in my own money for the benefit. I have to say though, despite all the dope hip hop artists who volunteered their performance time, the profit made was $541 - much lower than the expectancy. This was disappointing since there was over 500 people who attended the event and if each of them donated $5 the fundraiser would have reached its goal.

Anyways, the reason why I mention it is because it will prepare me for the Tiny Toones fundraise I will be holding on May 2nd, 2009, with the 5 bboy, 1 bgirl, and 1 emcee flying in from Cambodia who will all be sleeping on my downstairs floor. Party hard! NO hip hop vendors - only community artists, love, and inspiration. You better be there! Chucos Justice Center in Inglewood... but it's still in the works.

Oh, yea, I also attended EVENING OF AWARENESS: Art for Peace with a focus on GAZA. I hate politics. and borders. But it did get me connected to the Chucos Justice Center and dope activists!

Today was...


Did a set with spoken word, hip hop, freestyled with the acoustic guitar with Ismael of Canela Negra. Put love out there with One Imagination. Sorry I cut people short! We were fifteen minutes overtime...

Down the street coincidentally the Art Council of Long Beach was hosting their SPOKEN WORD WEEK so we met dope artists such as Beau Sia and Jerry Quickly. Quickly was the reason why I became connected to Bavubuka, the hip hop organization based in Uganda started by Silas Babaluku. Over a year ago, I was listening to his radio station (90.7fmKPFK) and he was promoting the documentary screening of "Diamonds in the Rough", the hip hop revolution of Uganda, and I rushed to the screening to meet Silas because what they were doing in their country was exactly what was happening in Cambodia. Since then, he has been like an older brother to me.

Anyways, I kicked it with Quickly after his set we talked for at least an hour about hip hop, globalization, incarcerated youth, deportation, 3rd world countries, white supremacy, and other fun topics. He invited me onto his radio show to discuss the work I'm associated with in Cambodia (www.tinytoonescambodia.com) .. yeaaa 90.7KPFK is my favorite radio station. People's radio, yay!


My parents went to a political concert celebrating the overthrow of Prime Minister Thaksin at a Thai Concert held at the Pomona Fairplex today. Who would have ever thought...

ok bye for now.

Words.

A while it has been since I last touched you
With my hands to caress the slender tip
bleeding colors onto blank sheets
like blankets waiting to be filled
with Our poetry.

Where the Hell is Matt?

Too inspirational.



http://www.wherethehellismatt.com

Rocket Power

Okay, so I consider my life a mystery with everyday offering some new adventure, usually forgotten until someone mentions "Hey remember that time..."
Memories are triggered by conversations, images or videos, and I appreciate these records.

So John, aka Twin, thanks for the video and making me come off as a lost drug addict:

Until next time...

-Jumakae

Human Interaction

... always prevails over emails and text messages.

Let's learn to communicate like real people again.