Everyone is in the Bay right now <3

On my first day in Oakland, we saw Sarah off (who is taking an extended excursion prior to returning to her rigorous schedule at Yale Law). Sarah and I first met during our senior year of high school, Youth Speaks NYC. The defunct program has transformed and changed its name to Urban Word NYC, and is (from what I see) a driving force for many NYC urea youth interested in slam and spoken word. She and I talk about life, our hearts, and we smile a lot while pressed against the orange bridge --- representative of this trip. Sarah and being 17 are reminders of how much I love what I do; that it is a privilege to see my people in other cities. That it is an honor to tour - to have the opportunity to use my work to touch people and be touched. Sometimes, in that classic hippie-hugging way, I get overwhelmed thinking about it. Sarah and Helene and Stephen, during the exchange of random memories collected on the road, remind me that I am lucky. I know that we are lucky.

Fast forward to a disturbing story I heard last night: (hi. this is a story about the summit. i'm slowly accepting that as an organizer for the event, my involvement will never truly end.)

A. tells me that a poet at the Bayan show decided to school him on some shit. In response to a question, this poet decides to bust some shit about the correct pronunciation of his name (while, albeit of incredible importance to said poet, was completely out of context and seemingly uncalled for given the frame of reference A. has.) Anyway. That really affected me. I just don't like it when folks are shitty to good people. And well, upon hearing the story, my face was looking all kinds of grotesque (since my face has this tendency to react quickly unguided by my better judgment.) I am reminded that we are only as good as the support we garner. That in such small micro-celebrity enclaves, it is easy to deify folks, to place icons on pedestals and revere work. Make it canon. To maintain integrity and humanity (both due to the work we do, and who we are as people), we must proceed and understand artistic accountability as an action that doesn't end on the page and in performance after a 20 minute set list. As people on that stage, we have incredible responsibility: not being fucked up and being open to criticism is a dimension of that. We are in this community because we are accountable to one another. We check each other because we believe in going forward, and anyone/anything obstructing the path to the ultimate goal affects us all.

Art is a vehicle of praxis. Vice versa. I'm not one of those "art for art's sake" fools. Fair warning.

In a literal way, being a diva affects us all. It affects the perception of our work; the intention of our involvement becomes questioned. It defines the extent of our involvement within the communities and audiences we impress upon, as well. The person I am in my respective communities isn't based on some "you must not know about me" shit, it is for the love of what I do and a testimony to my commitment in my causes. The people in the audience, the people backstage are just as much extensions of our community as the performers are. The art I create is to be guided by intention and applied to my life on the daily. These opportunities to be on stage, to produce work, to tour the nation are simply the vehicle to a larger ending, not the ending itself.

We must not lose sight of what is important.