It's What's Inside That Matters Most

Isn’t it funny how at times we feel that we have transcended the consciousness of the status quo…that consciousness being one of hierarchy and compartmentalization. We erroneously feel that we have stopped looking at people in terms of their socio-economic status and the corresponding box they fit into, and actually believe that we are void of judgment, criticism and condemnation. Well go head and laugh at me, if you like, because I thought that I had arrived and was really convinced that I was accepting of others with no regard for their corporate or academic affiliation. Professor Jonathan Feng unknowingly made me aware of my inaccurate self-identity, and thankfully caused me to take a look inside.

I first learned of Professor Feng through a lecture series at the University Of California Irvine (UCI) campus entitled ‘What Matters To Me And Why’. Professor Feng is a member of the UCI Advisory Council on Campus, Climate & Inclusion and serves on the Diversity, Inclusion and Programming Work Group. He, along with a colleague, initiated the series and I was intrigued by their concept of bringing members of the campus community together through an experience sharing modality…which in turn would lead to the creating and sustaining of a sense of ‘Oneness’. I learned later that my new associate was a professor of Physics and Astronomy and that he specialized in research. That’s when I became aware of the need for a self-assessment because my initial reaction was how in the world is a scientist involved in matters of the heart.

Of course my desire to interview Professor Feng on the radio show was intensified because I realized that here was an opportunity for others to be made aware that the seeming paradox inherent in the merger of the spiritual and the scientific is unfounded. No matter what our vocation or endeavors may be, we should all strive for collaboration rather than separation because each of our personal contributions increases exponentially when our focus is on the big picture rather than our own wallet-sized photos.

This brings us back to my limited understanding and acceptance of my own shortcomings in regard to who and where I am in relation to others. I am grateful to have been reminded that I must, from time to time, reassess where I stand in regard to others and whether I am more concerned with putting people where I think they should be or with meeting them where they are. Thanks Professor Feng for reminding me to never think too highly of self, to stay green and growing, and to always be in touch with what matters most… right now.

I’ll holla…

To comment or respond click on the word comments at the bottom of the page or email me at grace.calvin187@gmail.com.

Watts Can't Stop But The Riots Can

I met playwright Donald Jolly at the world premiere of his play Riot/Rebellion, a depiction of the Watts Riot of 1965. What struck me most was that I knew this guy was too young to have been there, yet his familiarity with the incident and decision to premiere it at the Watts Village Theater gave a knowledgeable and nostalgic temperament to this heart rendering presentation. Being a part of that era, and having participated in the 1968 riots in Chicago, it did my heart good to know that the underlying and not often discussed reasons for those uprisings were not forgotten. I will have interviewed Donald on the radio by the time this blog is posted, but you can contact me at grace.calvin187@gmail.com if interested in hearing his story as told by him.

To our youth I say learn who you are by way of those who have gone before you. To those of us in our prime I say allow those not yet where we are, an opportunity to learn not just what happened with us, but also the reason why.  Donald talked to about 10 people who were there when the Watts Rebellion took place, and spent 2 years developing a personal relationship and garnering pertinent information that was grounded in credibility rather than speculation. His actors were a mixture of those who lived during that time and of those who had not yet been conceived, with both groups presenting to the audience a collaboration of personal depictions of a time that should not be forgotten. The truth is that the rebellious consciousness that existed then is still exists today because the conditions that caused it have not gone away. We all have a role in the decision of where do we go from here, and only the recognition of and commitment to our 'oneness' will develop and maintain a positive direction.

From the 'Hard Scrabble' riot in Providence, Rhode Island in1824 till the Oakland riot in Oakland, California in 2009, there have been a total of 245 documented racial or ethnic riots in the world. America is first with a total of 125 and the United Kingdom second with 30. Two of the so called leaders of the so called free world, whose history is steeped in racial and ethnic animosity. People don't rebel just cause it's hot, or throw rocks because they're "…like monkeys in a zoo", as Watts police chief William H. Parker is alleged to have said. People rebel against what they feel is not right. Something is wrong ya'll. Something that was going on in Rhode Island in 1824 is still going on today. I, for one, am grateful that Donald Jolly and others are reminding us that we have work to do, but we all need to realize that doing the same thing expecting different results is regarded as insanity. We need to stop supporting an individualistic, hierarchical mindset, both inside and outside of our respective ethnicities, and start looking at how to establish a 'we're all in this together consciousness. Only then can we be proactive in regard to stopping the cause of rebellion, rather than reactive to the riots that ensue.

I thank Donald Jolly, Director Barbara Roberts, all the cast and crew, and give a special thanks to the Watts Village Theater Company for giving others an opportunity to explore and be exposed to what's really going on and fostering an initiative to be a positive part of it. We learn by listening to each other ya'll, so access http://wattsvillagetheatercompany.ning.com/ and go to one of the 4 remaining performances of this wonderful presentation. I implore all of you who can, to take advantage of an opportunity to be educated...to be inspired...to be entertained…all at the same time.

I'll Holla…





To comment or respond click on the word comments at the bottom of the page or email me at grace.calvin187@gmail.com.

Do You Know Nicole?

The theme of my radio show is ‘Things you might not have heard from people you might not know’. The underlying reason for this theme is that although we might not hear from folks we have never heard of, it does not negate the significance of what they may have said or done. The purpose of the show is to allow some of their voices to be heard and some of their endeavors shared. Nicole Mitchell, someone you might not know, is our upcoming guest.  What I’d like to do is share a few things I’ve heard, that because of her modesty, you might not otherwise hear.

Nicole was born in Syracuse, New York and moved with her family to a neighborhood in Anaheim, California at the age of 8. Being one of the very few children of African American descent in that area, her elementary and high school experience was riddled with both overt and subtle racial animosity that she still recalls from time to time. Not only did she devise a means of dealing with the years of being referred to as ‘Spider Web’, because of the texture of her hair, or being constantly called the N word.“  Her beige exterior did not adequately reflect her  “I’m proud of being black…. don’t get it twisted attitude”, and she grew stronger in what would become a precursor to and preparation for the trials and tribulations that lay ahead. Probably most disheartening was Nicole’s being only 16 when her mother transitioned. No longer a child, not yet a woman, she consciously resolved to continue her mother’s artistic path, through music.  “There’s something I’m supposed to do she vowed. I’m going to have to do it on my own, but Anaheim is not the place I’m going to do it in.

She continued her education at UC San Diego and augmented her flute playing skills by playing music on the streets of La Jolla. Adorned in eveningwear, this young performer astounded the passers by with the virtuosity displayed through both her classical and jazz renditions. She subsequently moved to Oberlin College in Ohio and later to the city of her mother’s birth, and the place where that something she felt she had to do took on a more recognizable form. Chicago was now the hometown of Nicole Mitchell.

While living in Chicago Nicole accomplished her educational goals, taught for years at several Universities, while playing the piccolo with the Chicago Sinfonietta. She still performs with the several jazz bands she started while living there, served as the first and only female president of the almost 50 year old Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, has been and is still recognized for the past 4 years as the world’s best jazz flutist by the Jazz Journalists Association and Downbeat magazine.  Not to mention that on one of her many trips to Europe she was approached by a college student in Italy who wanted her to sign an Italian magazine that had her picture on the cover.

You may have heard some or none of these things, but what you might not have heard is the fact that she’s more respected and renown in Europe than she is in her hometown. You might not have heard how some folks in Chicago tried to sabotage her classical concert career because a black woodwind player was rare and not readily accepted. You might not know that the jazz arena is still male dominated and female performers, with the exception of vocalists, are at times looked upon with disdain and oftentimes scrutinized in terms of their ability and success. Did you know that her avant-garde musical approaches ruffled the feathers of a more conservative Chicago college administration? Were you aware that her first encounter with Chicago’s finest was being arrested in downtown Chicago and charged with a noise violation. Accolades on the one hand, rejection on the other, and in spite of it all, her resolve is still reflective of the Maya Angelou mantra “… Still I’ll rise”.  

Well, that’s enough for now and I hope you guys have realized that my intent for both this blog and the radio show is to unveil the unknown. Like Nicole, we all have a place on this planet and we all have something to give. We need a platform for doing so and Nicole Mitchell is one who has made that platform for herself because, rather than opting to have her dream deferred, she chose to develop and maintain a consciousness committed to doing what she has been put here to do. When you hear her play her piccolo or flute, when you listen to an orchestra perform one of her composition, be aware that you’re witnessing a ‘heart form’, not an art form; and that Nicole’s intent is to inspire you to continue doing whatever it is that you do to contribute positive energy to this universe in which we all reside. All I have left to say right now is, “Play on Nicole…Play on.”

I’ll holla 

To comment or respond click on the word comments at the bottom of the page or email me at grace.calvin187@gmail.com.

WHY AND WHEN THE REVOLUTION COMES

The term revolution itself is an alarming yet accurate expression of how a necessary change can be implemented. It is common knowledge that most people of the world are dissatisfied with our economic, social, political, and yes even spiritual conditions; and that we are either wondering or working on what can be done to make things better or at least tolerable. We're experiencing shootings, looting, occupying, downsizing, sitting in, shutting down, and all other forms of revolutionary responses to the sense of 'not enough' that confronts us. All of which is adding fuel to the fire of despondency and hopelessness. From the homeless and the hungry, to the wary and well off; from the laborer in the corporate factory to the official in the governmental chamber, we are looking for a means of either making it better for ourselves or garnering at least a response from someone who can. The problem is that none of these means are working as we think they should and albeit revolution implies the employment of drastic measures, its far reaching effects sometimes make it the only means available for meaningful change.

As far back as 40 AD when the Trung sisters led a three year uprising of the Vietnamese people against Chinese domination, up until today when a civil resistance uprising that started in 2011 is still going on in Bahrain, some form of revolution has been employed to secure a brighter future for the groups represented.  We can look at this country's Revolutionary War, or even the Occupy Wall Street experience, and rightfully surmise that from one end of the spetrum to the other a physical means of initiating change is highly favored. However, we should realize that revolution, in a physical sense,  is simply a manifestation of a particular state of mind, and that an alteration in our communal consciousness can also create and sustain a condition of revolutionary proportion. After all, the way we think constitutes our actions, and if we think that our present day conditions are not as they should be, then we have already substantiated why we need a revolution. The question then becomes when, if ever, will we have an interior uprising in the way we think.

The fact of the matter is that we think in terms of lack rather than abundance. We focus more on what we don't have individually,  than on what we do have collectively. You see until we see life for what it is rather than what we think it should be, revolution will continue to be a necessary occurrence. The entire universe is set up with more than enough for all, and until we look at ourselves in terms of 'we' rather than 'me', in terms of all families rather than just mine, there's never going to be enough because we are only focusing on what 'I' need rather than working with what 'we' already have.

The why of revolution is that something is going to happen if current conditions are not acceptable to all. The when factor comes into play when one or more make a decision to implement a change in these conditions. The means by which the change takes place is left to the inclinations of the participants, and the outcome dependent on the attitude of those affected by the transformation. The primary objective, rather intended or not, is to have a common acknowledgement and acceptance of the fact that unless each and every one of us is ok with our situation, none of us ever will be. 

It is my contention that true revolution must first take place in our consciousness on an individual and then collective level. We must recognize and accept the fact that change is always and every where, so why and when the revolution comes is not nearly as important as "What we gon change about ourselves to support a beneficial change for all?" An attitude adjustment, on the part of all of us, can negate the why, when, and even the need for a physical rebellion, but a personal transformation is a must if we are to effectively deal with the why and when of future conflicts. Things, right now, just ain't right, but if we each make a meaningful change on the inside, we'll be prepared for the revolutions yet to come, no matter in what form they might appear.

I'll holla…





To comment or respond click on the word comments at the bottom of the page or email me at grace.calvin187@gmail.com.

THE BILLION DOLLAR BLOG

One of the questions I ask my radio interviewees before the show is: "What would you do with a billion dollars?" The answers range from "I would buy my mother a house" to "I would feed the children in North Korea." We all might have a basic idea of what a billion dollars can do, and I'm sure most of us wouldn't mind finding out. Oprah Winfrey is actually living that experience and we're pretty much aware of some of the ways in which she's putting her money to use. Be that as it may, I believe that every one of us would be able to envision what we would do with that kind of money, so let me pontificate, in a minute, on what I foresee doing with my first  billion.

First let's bring the significance of having a billion dollars to the neighborhood. A person having that amount of money would be able to spend $1,000 an hour, every hour on the hour, for over 114 years. One could buy a total of 3,703 houses (for $270,00 each) which is an equivalent of purchasing 74 houses in each of the 50 states. An automobile aficionado could buy 20,000 motor vehicles costing $50,000 a piece. Invest that billion dollars at only 0.5% interest and one could earn hundreds of millions in the first year. That's a lot of money and it's incomprehensible to me how the U.S. government has an annual budget of almost 4 trillion, which is over 1 billion dollars a day, and still owes China and Japan over a trillion a piece. The majority of us can't even imagine what a billion dollars looks like, but I'm sure we can learn, from the mistakes of others, how not to go into debt once we get it.

What I'm going to do is to buy enough land to establish a retreat site for a yet undetermined number of families. It will be a free six month to one year program, with the option of staying indefinitely, and each family will having their own personal residence.  While residing on this site, we will all participate in growing our own crops, raising our own livestock, building and managing our own schools, hospitals, and businesses, and all within the realm of the governmental policies of that as of yet undetermined locale. All of our constituents must adhere to the tenets of our governing body, and must refrain from lying, stealing, killing, sexual misconduct, and the taking of intoxicants that lead to recklessness and irresponsibility. There will be no set religious doctrine and/or denominational adherence, yet each person must be in accordance with some set of spiritual principles that require one to treat all others with love, honor, and respect. While in residence, and/or in good standing while in abstention, all members, of every age, will jointly own every economically related component situated on the premises, and will be directly involved in all aspects of both social and governmental undertakings.

Now this probably sounds like the conversation of a Socialistic idealist, or maybe even a Utopian fanatic. Be that as it may, it's our money and that's how we gon roll unless something better comes along. Check out the future blogs, maybe a couple of the radio shows and let me know of your ideas and what your plans are looking like, and in that way you'll be kept aware of what's going on at this end.

I'll Holla…





To comment or respond click on the word comments at the bottom of the page or email me at grace.calvin187@gmail.com.