Good morning to all my comrades making it harder for settlers to steal and kill in private.
To those amplifying the ways in which colonialism will continue to prevail until we detach from the systems that rely on our ignorance and silence to protect their fallacies and selfish interests.
To those writing, singing, dancing, and storytelling in all the ways stories can be told. All of it matters.
Learn your role in this fight. I choose to share resources. I choose to amplify the needs of the most vulnerable among us. I choose to love, and heal the parts of myself that prevent me from loving healthily and unconditionally.
I choose to teach the children that there is power in their voices and healing in their vulnerability. I choose to speak life. What you speaking?
Grateful for knowing my role, staying in my lane, and being in alignment with my odu. Thank you Iya @sunnipatterson for another transformative experience. ❤️✨
Much love and gratitude to all the priests, aborishas, culture bearers, musicians, and children that were in attendance.
📹: @xolani504
#algiersancestorfestival #djembelove #omoshango⚡️🔴⚪️👑 #fayemi
It’s giving full circle.
With each new fact I gain and photo I scan, I reclaim a part of me that I was convinced needed to be suppressed or contained.
I was called to this work to remember that kindness is the greatest gift I can give anyone. (Andrew Henry)
That I should stay young as long as I can. (Edward J. Evans Jr.)
That I don’t have to settle for less than I deserve, no matter the cost. (Ida Simpson)
And to remind the women in my family that we can share our stories of love and loss without fear of embarrassment, rejection, or abandonment. We can walk into rooms, with our big hearts and loud laughs, whole.
We are good, respectable folk without shrinking and to all my family members that have upper respiratory issues from holding things in, call me. Let’s talk about it.
The Uncovering Your Roots Workshop continues next Sunday. ✨ A special thanks to those that attended last night. The ancestors are rejoicing 🌹💯
I’m truly blessed to have friends that film and photograph for the joy of it with me. Big ups to the homie Jazz mf Franklin for always being down for impromptu projects and experimenting with light, color, and visual storytelling.
Audubon Nature Institute security didn’t want to see us win, but luckily we got the shots we needed. Cheers to the freedom to create on the fly and the skill to pull it off. 😎💯
Laid to rest so many old ways of being this month. No sense in worrying about tomorrow because I have my breath, community, and gratitude right now. Sending metta to my beloved sangha, from the Bay to the Hudson. My heart has never been so full. 🥹
If I owe you an email reply, give me a little grace. I’m still being held by silence as I make my way home. Much love 🫶🏽✨
In addition to celebrating 34 years of life this Taurus season, I’m also celebrating the inner transformation that’s taken place over the past year.
9 months of sobriety, 3 years of deep Ori work, and 1 year of truly choosing me has literally felt like a quantum leap into this joy filled reality I’m co-creating with my friends, my family, and my spirit team. I’m so grateful for all the love and support y’all been showing me along the way, especially from my sangha. 🥹🫶🏽
As another chapter of my life comes to a close, I’m entering a new era where I center alignment with my purpose over everything.
To trusting Ifa, and myself. 🙏🏾✨
📷: @samuelbirdsong
#blackvotesmatter #sadhusadhusadhu
While everyone’s sharing GiveNOLA donation links, I wanted to pause and share why this one is personal. This is my last semester with NOVAC, but it also happens to be Born Digital’s 10 Year anniversary. 🥹
After contributing to young people in New Orleans learning to tell their stories through media for half of that decade, I’m leaving incredibly proud and hopeful that the work we’ve done can be sustained for another ten years.
But that sustainability is genuinely at risk right now.
Born Digital has been made possible through 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21CCLC) funding. A federal budget proposal would eliminate 21CCLC as a standalone program, cutting billions from afterschool and summer learning programs serving 1.4 million kids across the country.
Programs like Born Digital don’t just fill after-school hours, they alter futures.
If you can give today, consider @novacvideo but if you can’t, share this. Awareness is everything right now. 🙏🏾✨
#GiveNOLADay #BornDigital #SaveAfterSchool
Jazz Fest eve feels like perfect timing for this call. 💫 Some of the first Musicians’ Hierarchy interviews @samuelbirdsong and I shot as a team were at a Sunset Showcase event (because Rocky is a connector without even trying) and it’s giving full circle that a bit of funding is allowing us to collaborate more intentionally.
With the support of Jazz & Heritage Foundation, and an official partnership with @breaksinthesimulation , we’re running production back to finish the journey we started 2 years ago.
Want to be part of our project? Fill out the form (in bio) and Rocky will be in touch to schedule a 20-30 min interview slot. We’ll keep all contributors in the loop through post-production to make sure all musicians have access to their interviews and invites to the exhibition later this year. Can’t wait to hear from you.
Much love family 🙏🏾✨
📷: @samuelbirdsong@504tos
Sometimes the plan changes and what happens instead is exactly what was needed.
Last Saturday at Dillard, our growing community didn’t receive a lecture, they gave us one. Through the kind of conversation that reminds you why this work matters in the first place, four generations walked out with a shared process, written word in journals, and the beginning of a real strategy for repair in this city. These intergenerational gatherings continue to teach us how to show up.
Sending so much love and gratitude to the poets, the proud teedies, and every high school and college student who was in that room with us.
Stay tuned for more reflections on repairing the village as our Rooted in Love, Rising in Power workshop series unfolds. 🙏🏾✨
Two years ago, I let @samuelbirdsong talk me into being interviewed for the oral history project we’ve been co-producing.
Revisiting that footage last night stopped me in my tracks, not because of how drastically different I was then, but because of how many promises to myself I’ve kept.
I’ve lost a lot, but I’ve gained so much more than I prayed for when I decided to make music more of a priority. Now, with a Community Partnership Grant from Jazz & Heritage Foundation, this project is ready to move forward.
Documenting musicians means everything to me. I’m so grateful for all the talented artists I’ve met along the way and for however many more I’ll meet until we hit 111 interviews. 😅
More to come. 🙏🏾✨
Aries energy was HIGH this weekend. I left feeling burnt out but came home with a full heart and up three bucket hats. 🥹
So grateful for a friend like @alabamaqueer who leads with care for community, preserving moments that matter, and who loves so intentionally. Happy early birthday to a real one. 🫶🏽✨
This group photo was made possible with a super clutch @smallrig.us magic arm and a very patient hookah waitress. 😅
Strawberries and a touch of tism. 🍓😎
Glad I got to take a break from editing to soak up some sunlight with these two beautiful humans. Much love to #tangi 🫶🏽
