last friday was the release of one mic, the lyrics on lockdown anthology my students and i have been working on this semester.  this is actually the culmination of work from the past 4 years....work the blackout arts collective has done at colleges and universities through lyrics on lockdown.  published by andre maurice press, this is an anthology that gives voice to incarcerated youth.  check it out here.

in addition, i am pleased to announce that i have joined the andre maurice press family and will be working on my first book of poetry this summer.  its titled "riding two cultures" and i can't wait for it to hit the shelves!!  more on that soon...

peace

ella

here's a look at joanne's audition:

Joanne Borgella's Website

Haitian American Idol Page

http://www.westword.com/2008-01-03/news/slave-to-history/
 

my take on this whole thing:

i've been really dumbfounded by this whole idea of memory village for the past week.  when a friend first told me about it, i really thought it was a joke.  a bad joke.  then i saw an article and went on the website and found out it was real.  and it made me so angry.  why would anyone want to relive this horrible past we carry around EVERY SINGLE DAY??  i agree we HAVE to remember...so that we can know where we came from.  but it angers me that $700,000 could be used for so much more than allowing the rest of the world to yet again make a mockery out of us.  i am so tired of haiti being laughed at mocked at and looked at as absurd.  "step right up folks...be a slave for a day!"  what IS THAT????   the creators of memory village talk about it being a venue to bring about healing.  to heal who????  is france going to give back all the money they made us pay for freedom?  is the U.S. going to apologize for all they meddling they've done for the past 200 years?  is any other country going to really help us?  is this going to allow haitians to finally trust each other with the strength enough to unite and face our challenges together?  and is it really going to reconcile all of the race issues that plague our country...the island...the world?  i fear that a black person will go through this and be traumatized.  i would be.  if you want to relive slavery in this day an age, you don't need to build a memory village.  go visit someone in jail or prison.  you'll see all the slavery you need to see right there.

i fear that people will go there and feel somehow they understand what it is like to be black or understand what slavery was like.  none of us....black or white fully understand what slavery was like - we weren't there.  and i think after having read extensively about it, (again, black or white) who would want to relive that?  the creators of memory village talk about the holocaust....but who would WANT to relive that?????   people suffered and are still traumatized by that experience.  again, a museum is understandable to remember, but a theme park to relive just makes no sense. 

somewhere, i know there are really good, genuine intentions behind the creation of memory village but as a person of haitian decent, the thought of it existing  just makes me sick to my stomach.  i don't even know what to do about it.  maybe someone out there has ideas.

peace

e 

everyone should go out and read the alchemist by paolo cohelo.  my girl jenn "juniper superstar" armas kept telling me about it until i finally buckled down and read it. i've read it twice now.  its an incredible piece of literature.  it follows the journey of a young man trying to find his personal legend...his treasure...his reason for living.  it takes him on a journey that tests him, allows him to find love and makes him quesiton everything he knows and believes.

what is so profound about this book is this idea: "if one really wants to fullfill his/her personal legend, the whole universe will conspire to help make that happen." i really believe that is so true.  you have to believe that a goal is obtainable for you even make your way towards achieving it.  finding my personal legend has taken some time....i think i've figured it out and i also think that - at least for me - its not one thing.  i think i am supposed to make change in my community.  i believe i have that responsibility.  and right now, i am blessed to have a job which lets me do just that.  i also believe i'm supposed to do some of that through art.  i've realized art cannot be void from my life.  its just not an option.

i've reflected over the past several years about how lucky i was to have a set of mentors who really helped shape who i am.  from high school on, these people were tough and believed in me to their very core.  one pushed me to really better myself as a performer.  another allowed me to merge my new found awareness for social justice with art.  yet another told me that wasting my talent was like pissing on god (i never did that again!).  and finally, another told me to get my act together (no pun intended)...that there were many things in this world i could do as a smart young woman.  he said if there was anything else i could do in the world besides being an artist, i should do it because you should only be an artist if you can't picture yourself doing anything else.  thats why i say "art or die."  art is survival.  edwidge daniticat says it should be "a passion - one that won't be denied, that won't let you sleep, that's almost like breathing."  (essence magazine)  since i was little, its been the only thing i can think about.  when i went to boston to pursue my graduate degree, i thought i could supress all that, but it just kept coming back to me.  so finally i realized i just had to stop fighting it and go with the flow...

peace

ella

hello out there!  thanks for visiting my area in cyberspace, blackwomyn.com.  i hope you enjoy the content here, because i really enjoy making all of it!  i've never been into the blog thing, but i've been getting really inspired lately. 

my most recent inspiration is m.aladin, singer/actress/enterpreneur extraordinaire.  she's recently decided to pursue her art full time and i'd like to make sure eveyone checks out her various spaces and supports her work!

www.mspotonline.com
myspace.com/mspotonline
www.maladin.com
myspace.com/maladin

what i am certain of right now is that all of us (m.aladin, jessica nyel willis and i) are going to make it.  in fact, we've already made it because we are doing things our own way.  we've decided not to wait for the industry to recognize our talents.  we've decided to just go ahead and do our thing.  and that feels really, really good. 

in 2000, i was chosen as an actor-in-residence at the film and video workshops in maine.  the director of the program gave us a pep speech the first night we were there.  he said something that stayed with me.  this is a difficult industry to break into.  he said it will take about 10 years to get to where you want to be.  he said it will take you 8 years to get 20% of the way, but if you hung in there for that, the other 80% could come in the last two years.  sort of like when it rains it pours.  well, next year will be 8 years for me since i have been pursuing this art.  and i definitely feel like i am making more progress more quickly than in the last 7 years.  so here i come.  watch out!  and i'm taking you all along for the ride.

peace