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Dancing one step forward, two steps back

Reflecting on the past 10 years. To those who filled me up when I was running low, Thank you. All I strive for is to scatter beauty, seed joy, cultivate creativity and compassion - in the way that all of you have for me. I remain hopeful because today’s youth are fierce, committed, empathetic & motivated, demanding change every day & making strides. I remain hopeful because there are millions of people: like songwriter Peter Mulvey, artist Kayhan Irani, artist Millie Chen,  Pixar Wonder Woman Danielle Feinberg, poet Saul Williams - who outnumber the warmongers, the power-hungry, the racists, the tyrants, the misogynists, the homophobic, the bullies, the despots. We outnumber them. We can yet turn the tide. 

  Writing at Ritmo&Blu Studios in 2010.

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Giddy Giggly

There’s a part of me that just wants to move to a little house down the road from my mother in Shreveport and set up house, spend as many hours as I can making up for those lost. Hear her stories. Make her laugh. Learn each other. Then there’s that other thirsty part of me that is so excited, so giddy giggly with the way the NoteSpeak project is progressing.

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Something is brewin' on the NoteSpeak train and lovely Russians

'We cannot but send our compliments to the musicians, because the material turned out at the same time to be incredibly solid and as versatile as possible. They've brought together classics and avant-garde, modern instruments with acoustic, aesthetics of jazz and the energy of electronic music with amazing ease and authenticity.'  DA Vision Saint Petersburg

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Firsts - Back from a deep deep dive Part 4

My first birth family face to face meet. First time meeting Rhonda, Casandra, and their families. First time decorating a Christmas tree with my mother. First time lying in a darkened room and feeling her breathe next to me. First time pajama party sharing confidences and laughter with them all.  First teasing and laughing until we cried. First cuddles, kisses, hugs and mingled tears of an entirely different nature. First meals shopped, cooked, and eaten together. First forays into the world as a family. 

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Sedaris? You wish! Back from a deep deep dive Part 3

At the top of the page on my note-taking app when I began this trip, I wrote: “Clarity, transparency, regarding this account, is paramount. No sugar coating- think David Sedaris.” Sedaris! I wouldn’t blame you for accusing me of overreaching with that comparison, you all would be so much happier, I imagine, if I had his remarkable ability in painting an amusing yet touching anecdote out of all this.  Nonetheless, I can only really tell my own story, and I’m so grateful to my new found blood family for not only allowing me to tell it but to encourage me in “testifying”, in sharing this story for the good that it might bring.

 Mom and her sisters. Silver, Sammy, Selber, Shirley, Stella, Grandmother Laura Berenice White Small, Grandfather Selber S Small

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Love is in the details- Back from a deep deep dive Part 2

I admit to being, if not skeptical, a bit wary of effusive claims on me by these blood relatives who I did not know, but spending time with them, the intimacy of that time, the luxury of sharing it- brought home how true that love is and how deeply it runs.

Mom, Katherine in her lap,A space I see of where I might have been, my older siblings Rhonda, Casandra, Dwayne, and Randolph

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Back from a deep deep dive. Part 1

Just back from visiting my birth mother in her hometown of Shreveport, Louisiana. Back from meeting my birth sisters, an aunt, cousins, my nephews, their children for the first time. Back from stepping foot in the historically dense South, a region I had long sworn held no pull on me. Back from a deep deep dive.

Shreveport Mural "Once in a Millenium Moon" produced by a team of professional artists and 2,600 community painters under the guidance of muralist Meg Saligman.

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Hipster poseurs everywhere - Bamboozled!

Where my people at? 

Hipsters - Really the meaning varies depending on who you’re speaking with. A definition on Urban dictionary suggests…“Hipsters are a subculture of American consumer for whom the idea behind the marketing holds more value than the product being marketed.”

 


Guitarist Simone Boffa, Drummer Cesare Valbusa, me, Sommelier Silvia Revello, Chef Matteo Mangiorotti, Pianist Marco Cremaschini, Guitarist/Singer Christian Codenotti Photo- Saviolam


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