Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Call to Empowerment

When I was in Peace Corps back in the day I worked in Morocco, North Africa. It was a wonderful, stressful and life changing experience. One of my vivid memories from the experience is the Call to Prayer that blasted throughout the streets on a loud speaker. Aside from the beautiful Arabic singing, I also loved how it mobilized entire communities to stop any activity to pray and meditate.

I think it would be a great idea to have a "call to empowerment" in communities all over the country. Maybe a poem, positive quotation or meditation could be read or sang from rooftops on loud speakers all over the hood. Five times a day we could use sound and words to heal ourselves and to empower and uplift.

My work as lady Terror is one of creative empowerment and an experiment in guerilla art, spectacle and performance art. My latest stunt was the releasing of balloons with a poem tied to it. My hope is that someone will find the balloon, untie the poem, read it and be inspired. It's also symbolic of a lesson that I re-learn daily: You must let things go in order to receive. The more you give with purpose, the closer you get to living out your life's purpose. Life is beautiful but also rough sometimes. I believe deeply that poetry and words are therapy.

Enjoy the footage from the stunt filmed last week and my original poem "The Cubicle Project," whch was written at a call center, cubicle job that attempted to kill my creative joy. Pain can bring art sometimes. What poem or quotation would you want to release into the air as a gift or have blasted on loud speakers in your hood?



If you enjoy my mission please think about bringing me to your school or organization for a Creative Empowerment Workshop or to create a theater project. Lets build!



Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Marathon towards new income

All of my horoscopes for the month of August have been speaking about new sources of income and money being plentiful in my life. I accept this and see this point in my life as a shift. It seems as if the entire nation is going through a shift in thinking when it comes to employment and income. With the recession and high unemployment it is harder than ever to land a job and once you get one, the threat of being terminated is even stronger. I finally had an epiphany the other day. It has been one that has been buidling in the back of my head for years. The epiphany: I need to never work in a cubicle ever and I need to be self employed.

My horoscope also has been lamenting a lot about being funded for creative and artistic projects this moon cycle. I also accept this and preparing myself for this by creating proposals, ideas, brainstorms and presentations. So, for anyone out in the universe who is looking for a creative life coach, performance artist, poet, writer, teaching artist, solo theater performer, actress or radio commentator, here I am (waving my hands and smiling.)

I am visiting my family in Chicago and my fantastic niece who is a makeup artist and fashionista has a book that was peeking out from under her mounds of makeup. I was sneaking into her room to find some fabulous OPI nail polish to paint my nails and this wonderful book was just laying there: "Creative Girl: The Ultimate Guide for Turning Talent and Creativity into a Real Career." Whoa! This is exactly what I was looking for. I will be reading this while I continue my long vacay here. I plan to take notes and will share the knowledge here. So excited.

Do you have any books that have helped you in your creative journey?

Can't wait to eat this book up.

Monday, August 1, 2011

Ace Hood - Hustle Hard

Shouts out to Ace Hood. Make your own definition of hustle. Just strive for your dreams and wishes!! Play it loud and bop your head.

Lady Terror Rants: Speaking what you want Mondays!

Lady Terror Rants: Speaking what you want Mondays!

Speaking what you want Mondays!

Transitions in life, whether smooth or bumpy, always are a good thing. Nothing is constant but change. The last month has really turned my world upside down. Do you remember the oppressive cubicle job that cried and worried over? The one that attempted to drain all my creativity? The one that sent out a snarky memo instructing us to only get up from our seats twice in an 8 hour day? Well, they ended my employment, along with two other ladies two weeks ago. *cue the dance music*

While, I am a bit stressed about some bills, I am truly happy and relieved that I now have the space and time to find new ways of income that are aligned with my love of writing, performing and education. I have this strong, deep down feeling that things will be fine and that I will soon be very successful doing my art. Ever since I moved from Chicago to Atlanta last year I have had this strong vibe that I am about to blow up real, real big with my Lady Terror work. I have vivid dreams and visions of standing in a very large theatre on stage. I can picture every detail down to the carvings in the wood on the seats in audience. I see the light sequences on the stage as I perform, I see my outfit and I get this tingly feeling in my heart when I perform and write. I know that my purpose in life is to write, perform, educate and empower others to live creatively.

For months now, I have been not focusing on what I want, instead on what I don't want. I meditate for 20 seconds each day on what I want my life to be. I have been creating little snapshots of the end result in my mind. I wrote down all the key qualities I want in a career on a sheet of paper and taped it to my box of Wisdom Meditation Cards. The list reads:
-creative
-flexible
-employee centered
-relaxed
-artistic
-flexible
-empowering
-ability to travel
-humane and fair
-outside of the box
-unique
-involves writing and teaching
-social justice is important
-great pay with ability to help others make money too
-visionary
-innovative
-stable
-honest

One of the main concepts of my Lady Terror Performance Art is Ranting. I am so passionate about ranting and believe in the power it holds to create change and empower. The act of ranting puts your concerns and wishes out into the universe in a way that's so intense it creates this ripple effect and rhythm which is necessary for movement. You have no choice but to hustle and hustle hard(shouts out to Ace Hood). I see graduate school, radio shows, books, teaching, producing and performing theater pieces in my future. I see large checks being deposited into my mailbox and bank account. I see grants, scholarships, fellowships and blessings. I will not take anything less. I'm screaming into the sky and holding my hands out and up to receive. It starts now.

WHAT ARE YOU CLAIMING TODAY? WHAT INTUITIVE BELIEFS DO YOU FEEL ABOUT YOUR FUTURE?

Artist Statement

I create art for the ones who lost their voice a long time ago. I believe that impromptu spectacles can bring awareness to social justice issues that paralyze our communities. Lady Terror examines the relationship between public space and performance space and also explores ranting as a medium to address social issues and as a tool to empower communities. My art is local and neighborhood specific in its execution but global in its ideas around poverty, injustice and violence.