senduQ

mind entropy of the ethiofrican

prickly self-expression

12 December, 2008 | No comments | Category: for.the.love.of.words!, madness!, prose.tales, thinking...

a fuzzy tube of void fills with the aroma of congested, stifled breath… a ball of feeling anchors it in the pit of the stomach.

feelings…tiny bubbles of unsettled distaste rise along with flittering flattering flimsiness traveling like smoke from an incense burner through the throat up into the mouth, where the tongue rests motionless. pity;  swallowing heightens tastes of bitter sweetness; the pleasurable fragrance of incense replaced with breaths of bafflement.

the face expressionless, those delicately-crafted tender lips down-turned, as cheeks lunge in concert with the lids and fragile soft skin sags under the eyes…contrary to its age.

swallowing hard, her mind races …speeding stamina of thoughts do not dissipate, as if regenerated as the race drains the perkiness from her face channeling energy to her mind keeping it reeling.

have you ever closed your eyes and kept typing? …a lady emerges as a foggy image from whatever is streaming through fingers as the keyboard and cushy finger tips step a staccato tap dance.

is there anything like releasing emotion through expression?…anything as cathartic? the disconnect between the physical and the abstract paralyze while, mysteriously they fuse to make the tangible feelings…prickly.

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Kenna.i.love: Grammy Nominee EthioAmericans!

4 December, 2008 | 1 comment | Category: madness!, musiqa, thinking...

This is way beyond surreal! I was writing up this post last nite before going to sleep-- and this morning I woke up to an alert on facebook: Two Ethiopian American Musicians have been nominated for Grammys!! Way to PUSH the envelope! CONGRATULATIONS- Way proud of you guys!

Best Urban/Alternative Performance

Say Goodbye To Love -- Kenna

Wanna Be -- Maiysha

Be OK -- Chrisette Michele Featuring will.i.am

Many Moons -- Janelle Monae

Lovin You (Music) -- Wayna Featuring Kokayi

____________________________________________________________

Kenna.i.love?

such love!

its inexplicable! wheew!

its beyond the realm of words i tell ya….

it’s a feeling located in a place only music can reach.

Kenna Zemedkun, is an Ethiopian-born American musician- a rocker…

i didn’t like his music just a year ago…i thought it sounded like empty ruckus muckus suckus. tehehe i know, so harsh right?

but now--NOW i hear him and i quickly connect…he is like a genre of his own which u acquire a taste for. his voice is so singular, so clear…so confident. his style is so unapologetic…which i just love. His artistry is like he has a little caption under his music: this is me *shrug*. that’s kinda deep… that’s a lot deep…!

yes, part of his stuff sounded/s kinda the same…but thinking more about it, to me, he’s kinda like gnarls barkely in that -- his distinction and sometimes sublime lyrics have an enthralling clarity. hmm…his stuff is always so recognizable, and catchy…great ‘on the move’ music.

what i am in love with the most tho is that …from his work i sense he’s a creator…a musician  who flows passion into his work, pours it all right out, splatters it onto the guitar strings, sound mixer and keyboards from his heart. exhaling ‘there!‘ An artist friend of mine once said to me “creativity comes from the heart” and i was like …hu? the heart spits out innovative cartoon thought-clouds? sawweet  …it’s all subjective anyway, i guess…

been looking @ some stuff on creativity. The “creative personality” article on Psychology Today was an especially intriguing commentary on creative people’s personalities… had some fascinating observations including -- ‘creative people are more like ‘multitudes’ rather than ‘individuals.’ ‘one word what makes their personalities different from others, it’s complexity.’ Here are some more abstractions from the article…

  • great deal of physical energy, but they’re also often quiet and at rest
  • smart yet naive
  • combine playfulness and discipline, or responsibility and irresponsibility
  • alternate between imagination and fantasy, and a rooted sense of reality
  • tend to be both extroverted and introverted
  • humble and proud at the same time
  • escape rigid gender role stereotyping
  • both rebellious and conservative
  • very passionate about their work, yet they can be extremely objective about it as well
  • openness and sensitivity often exposes them to suffering and pain, yet also to a great deal of enjoyment

Well i don’t know how this all sounds to anyone else but, to me, these descriptions paint portraits of people who are full of contradictions and frankly speaking- plain ol CONfuSION…I think it’s like they’re comfortable with the confusion and ambiguity…they choose to be at that itchy middle point, the interface, on the edge. They are comfortable with discomfort because they know the Brink is where they can push themselves off the edge into something new. after all…one wise dude once said ‘necessity is the mother of innovation’. out of a survival instinct standing at a void-at emptiness and a lack of fulfillment of what is humanly necessary or comfortable, these creative minds make do and use what is available to create…

ok enough philosophizing for one sitting. handing it over to a queen of creativity herself…

lo and behold the world-renown ‘Joy Luck Club’ author Amy Tran asking where Creativity Hides. Quite the edgy, quirky, rambilicous talk seeped with sarcastic humor. video again courtesy of Nani

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Yell-o nailpolish

31 August, 2008 | 11 comments | Category: I.dentity, for.the.love.of.words!, poetry, thinking...

did she know? she got a sticker stuck on her,

in a box with labels pressed to hips.
they read a sign on her forehead
in bright orange sharpie scribble
did you know? or you imagined?

yellow nail polish on fingertips and toes.
even as paint flakes where paint cracks…
messy dry dribbles on toe tips
speak out bright loudness in yell-o

tears… despite smudges of eyeliner smearing
crying out speaking
drawing lines on eye lids
dulled shades of dark. shades of sad.
shades of thoughts.

echoes resounding
screams bouncing
on the afro, nail polish, tear smudges.

pent up breath explodes
release me
release. let be

and you, with raised eyebrows and crinkled lips
shrink mignon!

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Closeted Artist

11 August, 2008 | 13 comments | Category: I.dentity, for.the.love.of.words!, nostalgia.personal, thinking...

do you remember?

pencil and paper

There were days the pencil wants to do nothing but make love to that paper…paper from the ‘agenda’…from that coveted hardcover planner of the commercial bank of ethiopia.

Those days flakes of black graphite smudge on off-white papers with abandon … contact leads to gradients of smudge and a deliberate set of slowly materializing scratches…focused dots and translucent shades. squinting eyes. In this unwitting rumba of an interplay, the artist is in the zone, an outside observer…experiencing the state of flow.

I found my agenda recently, here are scribblings from 10th grade.

I was a closeted artist who sat in class and drew caricatures of my classmates and teachers. Instead of paying attention, I was on the prowl for irritating teachers and rebelling from their expectations…because that was what we do…

It did not occur to me i could actually pursue art. It felt comfortable being ‘good enough’, and lauded by others. So, I made variety my forte…an expertise. It was all like a sprinkle of swank…With the worth given art in the society and what i thought was the mediocrity of the art i produced… didn’t believe I had the authority to claim a peg: Artist.

Looking back, it was frustrating when I couldn’t fulfill misses art teacher’s biddings and replicate nature in photo-copy mode. And for the love of destiny (or the hate of it?)- there always were those kids much more talented, it seemed, always effortlessly scratching together unearthly creations while… I… busily nursed growing pains, cramps and coughs trying to be creative – writing, drawing …

’seeped in mediocrity!’ an amusing thought, without really trying to develop…?

identity…creativity

Trying to explain all this… grappling with perplexities that tease the society I grew up in, I peg part of a stunted creativity on a conformist culture. how much does creativity develop in a conformist society? Where is the space for ‘being different’ …?… a space that encourages exploring individuality, personality…. self-expression? In some ways… living in Ethiopia resembles growing up in a training ground for peggers and cliques.

Meanwhile,

Hi! My name is tpeace. I thank you for not pegging me.

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brothers who are enemies

19 May, 2008 | No comments | Category: book snip, peace & conflict

And then there are incredible stories that knock u right out of your daily conundrum!

Have you ever heard the bizarre idea about creativity being the most potent weapon individuals have against war?? I thought it was a bit too ‘happily optimistic’ at first…until closer consideration… Ever heard the saying “necessity is the mother of innovation.”? Well, Wednesday’s news made me say: “heck ya!”

The quirky reflection that came to my mind reading the news goes…

“”It is in creativity, in the fashioning of self and world, that people find their most potent weapon against war.”

…1st, meandering to a tiny bit of intro….I first stumbled upon this bizarre concept in Carolyn Nordstrom’s “A different kind of war story” on her experience in the devastating 16-year-long civil war of Mozambique. As an anthropologist, she reflects on the messy nitty-gritties of war, civil society intricacies and the trajectories of individual lives within a land that is plagued with strife and struggle, where people are migrating between refugee camps and daily fearful for their lives…

she says “……ultimately, war victims have taught me, violence is about the destruction of culture and identity in a bid to control/crush political will.” She saw human condition at its ‘lowest’, when people were helpless, vicious, greedy, desperate and deeply disturbed. According to her “It is often in what we relegate to the margins of life process and theory [violence and the unspeakable] that speaks most fundamentally about core aspects of human existence.”

i think it’s real; in times of war, strife and struggle people have very few choices. when they are caught in the most devastating corner of all, they either create ways to survive, maintain/revivie their humanities and fight back…or get sucked in to becoming helpless puppets which push the gears of a viscous ‘war [insert other term] industry’.

According to the book, some resistance tools toward survival, restoring humanity & peace include the care and love in communities, creative expression and non-violence… (more…)

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