Wednesday, March 25, 2009

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.

Friday, March 20, 2009

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)

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

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.

Monday, March 16, 2009

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

Sunday, March 15, 2009

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.

Monday, March 2, 2009

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.