Back from Africa

I'm back folks!!! I must admit that there are no words to explain my experience on the incredible continent of Africa in the country of Tanzania and in the little village of Imbesini right outside the town of Arusha!

So, just enjoy the pictures: http://s52.photobucket.com/albums/g39/arkeithjr/

AFRICA!!!!!!!!!!

HATUJAMBO FOLKS!!

The countdown has officially kicked off. In less than 24 hours I will be on my way to Arusha, Tanzania in east Africa.
As mentioned to many of you before, I’ll be studying abroad for 3 weeks in Tanzania; looking at art as a form of global empowerment and activism.

I will be traveling with a class of about 20 folks – mostly undergraduate students and a few faculty members. One of the students created a website for our class that will document our stay – check it out (if you click on class you can see pics of the students going). http://www.uf-os.net/tanzania/

I’ll be staying at the United African Alliance Community Center (http://www.uaacc.habari.co.tz/). ß this is a community center started by Charlotte & Pete O’Neal (former members of the Kansas City Black Panther Party). Here, we will be teaching classes and organizing workshops on poetry, photography, art, and creating journals.

There is not really much else to say besides I am really excited – I’ve packed my bags over and over again, been poked full of holes from immunizations at the University Health Center, and just started taking my anti-malarial pills.

I’ll try to keep everyone posted on the trip through my blog but there is no guarantee I’ll have time or consistent access to the internet while at the center. So until then – ASANTE!!

~Tony

Oh PS: I won’t be going to South Africa anymore – the internship would not fit into the limited time schedule I had to be on the continent L, but I’ll fill you in on where I’ll be doing an internship instead later on.

Struggle

So i've been suffering from severe writers block for the past 3 years or so....what's interesting is, i remember the point i stopped writting because i was struggling with some identity issues, and now that i am much more aware of my self and my identity, my pen is chasing after the words because they are flowing out too quickly....but last night my pen caught up with these....

Untitled & Unfinished
I wrote a dream about you and read it in my sleep
I clasped my hands, kneeled on the floor and spoke outloud thoughts about you and I sleeping together
Pieces of you I placed in my pen and wrote you all over the sheets of our bed
And then I laid in them and engulfed my self in the poetry of us
The words seeped through the sheets and into my skin and I absorbed our metaphors and turned them into nightmares where I am running
and you are chasing
and I am falling and
you are catching and
we are gliding
while gravity is pulling and
we are yelling yet
we are loving and
we are disappearing before we hit the ground and I wake up to find my self holding on to the letters of us, cuddling inside the curves of our words and smelling the scents made by our sounds……
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Don’t really have too many updates right now, but I am struggling with the idea that despite my academic accolades, I am not guaranteed a major increase in income upon re-entering the working world. I have to ask my self, how do I put monetary value on something I’m passionate about? I am however about 64% sure that I am moving back to DC area after I graduate.

The way I see it – I’ve gained so much knowledge and experience and have so many ideas and so far have experienced a great deal of success within the higher education community and working with college students of color that I’d be doing a disservice if I did not go home and give this back to the community that raised me. What’s weird is, moving up here involved taking my self out of my comfort zone, but now this place has become my comfort zone and now I have to step outside of this place in order for me to move back to DC. Crazy right?

I keep asking my self, what if I don’t get the right job? What if I can’t set my own hours or organize the programs I want? What if I don’t get the opportunity to be autonomous with my projects? What if the University I am working for does not allow complexity? I don’t work well with too much structure lol I need some flexibility and I need to earn enough so that I can buy a home, and eat out twice a week lol I still plan to hold on to “Sasha the Magnificent 1989 Honda” but I mean I might wanna put some new tires on her or something lol

But I do know one thing – I have a year left up here and I plan on maximizing on every last opportunity…..

Oh and i left my clippers last time i went home to DC - so i've been forced to grow a beard until I get them back lol.....how does it look?

Memoradum: Feed the Public

To: My Public

From: Toe-Knee

Subject: Let’s Eat

So…it would appear that I have a public – and the public is hungry for an update on Da Poetree. And I for one know how difficult it is to function on an empty stomach, so for all of you who actually read this (regularly?) THANKS and by all means unloosen your belts, put on a loose tee-shirt, get ya momma’s good china and enjoy the feast I’ve laid out for you……

Spring Break

Pure and utter hotness! “Sasha the Magnificent 1989 Honda” didn’t appear to be a day over 10 years old as she leaped over tall mountains and hills and flew over potholes with an arthritic gracefulness that made me question who needs a 740 Beamer when you can have this. Although her headlights are properly maintained by pieces of aluminum foil wedged in a groove, and sure she screams like a banshee when the passenger seatbelt is not fastened within 2 seconds, and sure her once soft and supple leather seats are like burned brillo pads, and well of course her once beautiful sea blue and autumn green hue looks more like swamp water from the Bayou, but the way the cheeks of my butt melt into the crevice of the driver’s seat and how perfectly my foot gravitates to the worn down pads on the clutch and gas make it all worth it.

“Sasha the Magnificent 1989 Honda” and I were like a recreated Thelma and Louise escaping the shadows of State College, PA for the wide open spaces of Dover, DE to enjoy a simple night of movies, food, and chit chat. Then we were off to Brooklyn, NY to immerse ourselves in the artistic atmosphere created by a painter and a poet – enjoy some fried fish from the local carryout and then stop off in the Bronx,NY for a home cooked meal with my extremely extended family. Next was a quick stop in Philly to enjoy a midnight breakfast, a conversation about baggage, and to watch the hustle and bustle of Philly nightlife while sitting in an apartment on 21st floor of a luxurious high rise with windows for walls that painted a picture of serenity as the Delaware river flowed by. Our journey ended in Washington, DC where I wrapped myself up inside the roots of my family tree and submerged in the warmth of good friends & of course…good food.

Africa

The countdown begins for yet another journey, but this time on the continent of Africa.

The 1st stop is Tanzania. It will be part of a summer course offered by the Women’s Studies Department that will explore art as a form of social change, empowerment and activism. I will use this opportunity to explore the use of art as a strategy to present issues facing underprivileged populations to the higher education community.

The 2nd stop is South Africa! This experience will serve as an internship for my graduate program at the University of Pretoria. Here I’ll be working in the Student Affairs Division examining the college student experience, as well as identifying key strategies to support international students attending institutions of higher education in the U.S.

By the way umm DONATION’S ARE WELCOME!!$$!!

Love is in the air....

It’s too complicated to explain the need to achieve perfection of this emotion…love
It is far easier to explain the need to understand….love
You invite something into your spirit that flows like the Nile…love
Without a compass you lose your way….love
Without a raft you are forced to swim…love
Without balance you can’t float…love
It’s too complicated to explain the need to achieve perfection of this emotion
I do however understand that I need to understand it…love

........I had a front row seat to my little sisters wedding. It is amazing to experience someone elses love - something so deep that a lifelong committement is the only way to express it so that other can fathom to understand....and in a couple of months, I will experience this understanding of love again....(more updates on this soon)

-----> Side note <---- yo I look real grown & sexy in a tux.... <-------

Life is good.

Healthy, broke, belly full, alive, and consistently maintaining my hot & sexy nerd appeal…

and...i'm out...:)

I've been tagged....SHEESH...

Thank you Miss McLaughlin...... Now I Have Something To Post About.....

Four Jobs I've Had: (only four?)

1. Graduate Assistant - Paul Robeson Cultural Center - Penn State Univ.
2. Program Assistant - National League of Cities' Institute for Youth, Education & Families
3. Student Assistant - USDA/Agricultural Research Serivice/Civil Rights Staff
4. Production Manager - Black Explosion Newspaper - Univ. of Maryland College Park

Four Movies I Can Watch Over and Over:

1. The Incredibles
2. Love Jones
3. Pirates of the Carribean
4. Gladiator

Four Places I've Lived:

1. Washington, DC
2. Alexandria, VA
3. Greenbelt, MD
4. State College, PA

Four Shows I Love:

1. Simpsons
2. Family Guy
3. Teen Titans
4. Desperate Housewives

Four highly-touted TV shows ... I don't get the hype:

1. American Idol
2. Survivor
3. CSI
4. Law & Order

Four books I'd recommend to anyone, anytime:

1. A Hope in the Unseen by Ron Suskind
2. Davinci Code - Dan Brown (yes i got on the bandwagon)
3. Angels & Demons - Dan Brown
4. And This Too Shall Pass - E. Lynn Harris

Four Places I've Vacationed:

1. Cancun
2. Miami
3. Chicago
4. Orlando
4.5 - Africa - coming soon!!

Four Sites I Visit Daily

1. Bank of America - gotta make sure things stay above the red lol
2. PNC Bank - i like to keep my $ stashed in multiple places ;)
3. Facebook - the work of the devil!
4. Google News

I don't have anyone to tag - so i'll tag the one who tagged me:

1. Miss McLaughlin

IMissHomeItis....

So i'm sick :( This weekend was the Superbowl as we all know - GO STEELERS...but umm as i was sitting in my friend's overly luxurious apartment (for a graduate student in State College, PA) with 6 other really cool black folks people eating free Pizza Hut and drinking some randon brand of keg beer (ugh) and discussing sports and other randomness, i started to wish that I could walk out of the apartment and somehow walk directly into the store that hug the corner block of my old neighboorhood - ask for 4 packs of 25 cent Now and Laters and a bottle of Cherry Smash soda!

Then walk up two more buildings and go in my barbershop and trip out w/ the local folks and absorb the familiar smells of whatever that liquid they put on your head after you get a cut that's a mix of 2 parts rubbing alcohol and 1 part Polo Sport cologne, and the smell of hot clippers mowing the lawns off the men in the neighborhood. Which reminds me - I need to cut my hair....

After getting a fresh cut - i'd hop in my 89 Honda, make my way to SE, DC (Stanton Rd.) <--- Da Hood....and have fun doing absolutely nothing with my friends besides eating and watching concert DVD's lol

Altho don't get me wrong - State College really is not THAT bad.. I do enjoy the random trips to the Carribean Cuisine (altho they don't sell Cocoa Bread to go w/ my Beef Patties)....I don't mind sitting @ my desk at work and having it hovered around by the undergraduates like vultures giving me their life philosophies and updates on their college experiences. I don't mind getting the Chai Tea w/ Soy Milk from the coffee shop in the Union. I don't mind the smell of my apartment - a mix between vanilla candles and laundry detergent. I don't mind going to a local bar and having a drink or two or three or five with the young ladies from my graduate program. I don't mind clowning around with my fellow black graduate students. I don't mind the sense of euphoria that engulfs me as I wander around Wegmans' grocery store in search of the nights' meal. Eventually these things will become familiar enough to feel like a home away from home.

But you have to admit - State College is a beautiful place. Nowhere else can you find air this crisp and beautiful views of the mountains. Altho I wouldn't mind seeing a "wino" taking his last sip of cheap wine at the stoop of my building while watching the kids play football in the street.....

Re-Soul-Lution

.....striving to make sense of the idea and purpose of "new year's resolutions" i find my self making a re-soul-lution....thus...seeking to understand my life's current purpose...for i'm sure it will change again soon...and it's congruency to my soul....

It is becoming more clearer by the months, days, hours, minutes and seconds, that my soul belongs to the dreams and aspirations of those before me. I am just a vessel carrying forth their visions.

Thank you for getting dragged on a ship, thank you for crossing the waters, thank you for the forced labor, thank you for the pain, thank you for the creation of hope, thank you for escaping, thank you for getting caught and killed, thank you for protesting, thank you for saying No, thank you for never accepting inferiority, thank you for dying, thank you for getting arrested, thank you for opening doors so that I may open doors so that others may open doors.....

I am learning to have a deeper appreciation and better understanding of my idenity and the idenity of others. Thus, in 2006 I predict I will attempt to answer the question "Who Am I?" more times than I ever have before in my life.

Am I? A social change agent
Am I? A leader
Am I? A teacher
Am I? Destined for "great things" - what makes them "great"
Am I? Humble
Am I? Consistent
Am I? Forgiving
Am I? Active....or Proactive
Am I? Balanced
Am I? A friend
Am I? Who I am...or is this a facade?