Mini Interview with Adelina Barrios, former dancer of MMCo
22 Oct 2011 Leave a Comment
in Interviews Tags: Area, Bay, Community, company, Dance Educator, malia, Mothers, movement, support, women
Adelina “Cissy” Barrios: Dance Educator Interview 2011 (shown here with her husband Daran)
Q#1: Are you a Bay Area Native? and if not, how long have you lived in the Bay? Cissy: I grew up in L.A. county, in a very small city ironically named Hawaiian Gardens. Ironic because I grew up in this city which does not resemble anything close to Hawaii or a Garden. It’s a small barrio where everyone knew you. I’ve lived in the Bay Area since 1987.
Q#2: When did you start on the creative path you are currently on? Cissy: Honestly, I was at Cerritos Community College in So.Cal. That’s when I knew that I wanted to be a public school teacher and loving nothing else but dance, it was an easy decision. I wanted to be a dance educator and I took the necessary steps to make my goal a reality.
Q#3: Where do you find your inspiration? Cissy: From all over and everywhere. The last big piece I did was about the 10 women I trained with to complete the Na Wahine O Ke Kai Molokai Challenge. The training experience was extremely emotional and I wanted to convey the insanity of the year long commitment and the magic we made in the process of training and completing the race. I find inspiration in my students all of the time.
Q#4: What was the first piece of vinyl you ever purchased? Cissy: Wow! I think it was That’s the Way of the World by Earth, Wind and Fire. I remember sitting by my record player listening to that album over and over again. Wooo, I’m dating myself.
Q#5: Anything else you’d like to share? a joke/quote? Cissy: Yes, the majority of kids today have very little experience with dance. If you love dance take the opportunities to go into the schools and teach what you love. As crazy as it can be to work with kids, they are the future of dance and only when they have been exposed to the possibilities of movement will we receive new and innovative art that speaks to all of us.
Mini Interview with Viviana Rennella
22 Oct 2011 Leave a Comment
in Interviews Tags: Area, artists, Bay, Community, Photographer, support, women
Viviana Rennella: Photographer Interview 2011
Q#1: Are you a Bay Area Native? and if not, how long have you lived in the Bay? Viviana: No, I was born in Argentina and came to the US when I was 10 years old. But the Bay has been my longest lasting home, for the past 21 years. It reminds me of my homeland in many ways.
Q#2: When did you start on the creative path you are currently on? Viviana: I have always done something creative or another since I was a kid. But photography has been my love since high school. My latest project began with a magazine ad I cut out and taped to my fridge over a year ago as inspiration. This year I set myself to actually making it happen and the first takes were stunning! I have been super creative since then with this new series and I have been invited to exhibit it next February.
Q#3: Where do you find your inspiration? Viviana: I have journeyed the past 20 years with photography as both my logbook and compass point. Along the way, I documented my work with women and migrants around the world. I would also capture details in nature when I was drawn to a particular shape, color, texture or pattern. They are like swatches for a design project.
Latest series: Frozen Flowers
Flowers are a meditation for me. Their shape and color bring me to my center when I need grounding. In frozen flowers I discovered infinite possibilities in the interplay of form, texture, tonal gradations and quality of light. This series represents the universes that unfold when I tease abstract details from the delicate essence of the flower in its casing of ice.
Q#4: What was the first piece of vinyl you ever purchased? Viviana: I still have some gems I got as a kid in Argentina. But the first one I actually bought on my own must have been U2’s Joshua Tree or Lionel Richie’s All Night Long. I remember being so excited to hear for the first time anything resembling latin beats on the airwaves in Ohio in the mid 80’s!
Q#5: Anything else you’d like to share? a joke/quote? Viviana: …
Pictorial Gallery #10 by TuffGyal 808 “Occupy Oakland”
21 Oct 2011 Leave a Comment
in Gallery Tags: Occupy Oakland 2011, TuffGyal 808 photography
This is what Democracy looks like
Blessings at an Altar
Angela Davis speaks to the Crowd
Hardknock Radio broadcasting live
Free Posters given out: Hella Occupy Oakland!!
Mini Interview with Franklin Cartagena
19 Oct 2011 Leave a Comment
in Interviews Tags: Activist, Area, artists, Bay, Community, Oakland, Screen Prints, support
Franklin Cartagena: Educator/Artist/Screenprinter Interview 2011
Q#1: Are you a Bay Area Native? and if not, how long have you lived in the Bay? Franklin: Bay Area born and raised. I was born in San Francisco and moved to West Oakland a few months after the 89′ Earthquake. Been in the same neighborhood since.
Q#2: When did you start on the creative path you are currently on? Franklin: I started in 2001, I was in high school and hanging out with the wrong crowd. My friends father figured I needed some guidance and referred me to a gang prevention/youth entrepreneurship program in the Mission… it was called Estudio Oillin. I started off learning how to make jewelry and to be a silver smith. A few months into it they built a silk screen studio in the back, the idea of printing shirts and posters piqued my interest and I transitioned into Screen Printing …. it was written from there on out. I also had dope ass instructors that made me want to come back. I ended up getting hired there and started to help teach classes to the younger knuckleheads in the program.
Q#3: Where do you find your inspiration? Franklin: I find my inspiration in my neighborhood/City. West Oakland Inspires me so much, the history, the people, the music, the struggle, the community. Home inspires me!
Q#4: What was the first piece of vinyl you ever purchased? Franklin: My first Piece of Vinyl ever purchased was Cymande’s self Titled album. This wasn’t my first vinyl though lol. My first vinyl ever was given to me and it was Lateef The Truth Speakers single The Wreckoning. His manager used to rent the apartment below us and had a box of them and he was gonna throw them away… I hella swooped on it.
Q#5: Anything else you’d like to share? a joke/quote?
Franklin: We are taking Oakland back!
Mini Interview with Jennifer Johns
19 Oct 2011 1 Comment
in Interviews Tags: Area, artists, Bay, Community, Jennifer, Johns, Musician, Songstress, support, Vocalist, women
“Besties” by TuffGyal 808
Jennifer Johns: Songstress Interview 2011 (here with Sterling James)
Q#1: Are you a Bay Area Native? and if not, how long have you lived in the Bay? Jennifer: Yes I am a OAKLAND NATIVE!!!
Q#2: When did you start on the creative path you are currently on? Jennifer: I was born an artist. My parents say that I was singing before I could really speak! I think it was my first language.
Q#3: Where do you find your inspiration? Jennifer: Inspiration is hard to speak about because there is no rhyme or reason for me. I am one of those artists who could not be inspired enough to write a song for 2 years and then write 200 in a month. Its about where I am in my spirit and what I feel strong/vulnerable enough to share at the time. Sometime my music is just for me!
Q#4: What was the first piece of vinyl you ever purchased? Jennifer: I dont know what the first peice of VINYL I bought was- but I think the first peice bought in my honor was an Earth Wind and Fire record.
Q#5: Anything else you’d like to share? a joke/quote?
Jennifer: GO LIVE!
Water Writes: Hawai’i
17 Oct 2011 1 Comment
in Videos Tags: The Estria Foundation
TAKE CARE OF THE AINA…
Mini Interview with Cece Carpio
17 Oct 2011 Leave a Comment
in Interviews Tags: Activist, Area, artists, Bay, Muralist, Social Justice, support, Visual Artist, women
Cece Carpio: Visual Artist Interview 2011
Q#1: Are you a Bay Area Native? and if not, how long have you lived in the Bay? Cece: The Bay Area is home for me. It’s the city where I have stayed the longest living here in the US. Having lived in many different places, the Bay Area has been a fundamental place of growth and community for me. It’s been a place where I land and fly out from all at the same time.
Q#2: When did you start on the creative path you are currently on? Cece:I have always drawn, and I have always imagined worlds of lines and colors. I didn’t decide to pursue the arts professionally until 2004. Before then, I was an organizer, an educator, even thought of law as a possible profession. But now, I know I can do those simultaneously, I am still an educator and still actively engaged in social justice and community empowerment work in many communities I am part of. I believe that those roles are inevitably connected, and we all need to be an artist in order to imagine the world we want to change so that we can create it.
Q#3: Where do you find your inspiration? Cece: My inspirations comes from our peoples struggling everyday for a more dignified existence. It is the beauty of struggle, resilience and victories that inspires me and my work.
Q#4: What was the first piece of vinyl you ever purchased? Cece: The first vinyl that I was able to buy and afford was: Aceyalone-The book of Human Language..and bought it at the same time with Pete Rock & CL Smooth’s single “Reminisce Over You”.
Q#5: Anything else you’d like to share? a joke/quote? Cece: it’s about Self reflection and evolution with a lover’s sensitive twist.
Mini Interview with Alena Cawthorne, dancer of MMCo
17 Oct 2011 Leave a Comment
in MMCompany Interviews Tags: Area, Bay, company, dancer, malia, movement
Alena Cawthorne: Malia Movement Company dancer Interview 2011
Q#1: Are you a Bay Area Native? and if not, how long have you lived in the Bay? Alena: I am originally from Portland Oregon and I have been here in the Bay Area since 1997.
Q#2: When did you start on the creative path you are currently on?Alena: I have been dancing since I was in the womb, because my mom is a dance teacher. I started to study ballet at age six and quickly found out that I didn’t have the “right body type”. However, that did not stop me from studying ballet; I continued to study ballet an am still taking ballet classes today. I then went on to study modern and African dance along with Japanese, Balinese and Hula.
For me dance started out as an extracurricular activity, something for me to do every day after school. I realized that it was an emotional outlet, especially in middle school, when I found out that people cannot always be so nice (we all have our stories). I continued my pursuit of dance through to college, attending California Institute of the Arts.
I then decided that I wanted to share my love of dance with as many people as I could. I moved to the Bay Area to teach, choreograph and perform dance, which I did for over ten years. I am now on the next phase of my dancing. I currently make my living as a bookkeeper, which makes it possible for me to enjoy the art of dancing again.
Q#3: Where do you find your inspiration? Alena: When I was choreographing, I would find inspiration from anything from music to clothing. One time I was shopping at a department store and found a gold, shimmery, thin strap top. Nothing I would ever wear out, but I saw it and thought “this would make a great costume”. I sat with this top and thought about what kind of woman would wear this and what would be her story. That is how I came up with the piece Living in Blue, which became about a woman in a piano lounge, falling in love with the music and annoyed by people trying to get her attention.
Q#4: What was the first piece of vinyl you ever purchased? Alena: I think the first piece of vinyl I ever purchased was New Edition’s Heartbreak Hotel, of which I still have and play from time to time (Yes, on a real live turn table). I am sure I saved up every penny I had to buy it too. The record I remember the most though is The Smokey Robinson and the Miracles Anthology. I used to play that record so much that one day my mom said “You’re playing that again?”
Q#5: Anything else you’d like to share? a joke/quote?
Alena: “Live, Love, Laugh”
Live life to the fullest.
Love the people around you, especially yourself.
Laugh because life (“the shit”) is funny.
an Ode to TRUTH
15 Oct 2011 Leave a Comment
in Community Blogs Tags: Hawaii for Hawaiians, Hawaiian, knowledge, support, Truth
Mini Interview with Angelina Quasha
15 Oct 2011 Leave a Comment
in Interviews Tags: Activist, Area, artists, Bay, Community, film, HipHop, Photographer, support, women, Zulu Nation
Angelina Quasha: Photographer and HipHop Historian, UNIVERSAL ZULU NATION SAN FRANCISCO CHAPTER Interview 2011
Q#1: Are you a Bay Area Native? and if not, how long have you lived in the Bay? Angelina: I was born and raised in Manila, Philippines. Been living here in the bay area for 10 years now.
Q#2: When did you start on the creative path you are currently on? Angelina: I feel like I have always been on my own creative path. I just do what makes me happy. Thats the true formula. Nurture your skills.
Q#3: Where do you find your inspiration? Angelina: I find my inspiration in life. Hip Hop. Everyday triumphs & struggles.
Q#4: What was the first piece of vinyl you ever purchased? Angelina: The first record I ever purchased was Spandau Ballet “True” 
Q#5: Anything else you’d like to share? a joke/quote? Angelina: “In this journey you’re the journal I’m the journalist Am I eternal or an eternalist?” -RAKIM
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