With John Forté being an influence in my life in the 90’s through his work with the Fugees, coming from humble beginnings, and going through a life-altering event that took him on a 7 year life-detour I find a lot of parallels to my own life in his and it was such a privilege to hear him speak at a recent Creative Mornings NYC session.

Kehinde has a unique way of exploring the conventions of glorification, history, wealth and prestige by placing young black and brown men and women in poses historically reserved for the social elite, royalty, and Western ideals of beauty. Not one to shy away from the complicated soci-political histories conveyed in traditional Western paintings, Kehinde’s larger than life portrait paintings awaken complex issues that are striking and intriguing. What I find most compelling is how a simple pose can speak volumes and change the conversation around the subject matter.

Kehinde Wiley in his Bejing Studio (Photo: Matthew Niederhauser/Institute)

Here are some additional portraits that I found compelling:

Scenic: “Le Roi A La Chasse”

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An Economy of Grace: “The Two Sisters”

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Rumors of War: “Le Roi A La Chasse II”

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I recently came across Abelardo Morell’s camera obscure work at the recent Annenberg Space For Photography exhibit “National Geographic: The Power of Photography”. I was familiar with the technique from my college photography classes, but found Morell’s work captivatingly charming and visually potent. Morell states that “I love the increased sense of reality that the outdoor has in these new works. The marriage of the outside and the inside is now made up of more equal partners.”

Below are a couple of my favorites that give a whole new meaning to “a room with a view”.

View of Central Park Looking North – Fall

Time Square in Hotel Room

Boston’s Old Custom’s House in Hotel Room

Brookline Room In Brady’s Room

Morell has also developed a “Tent Camera” which is “a light proof tent which can project views of the surrounding landscape, via periscope type optics, onto the surface of the ground inside the tent.” I feel that this approach adds a dynamic layer of texture and tension to the technique as the ground surface becomes the photo canvas. Below are a couple of my favorites from this series:

View of the Golden Gate Bridge from Kirby Cove

View of Cathedral Rocks From El Captain Meadow. Yosemite National Park

View of the Grand Canyon from Mohave Point

View more samples of Morell’s work »

Take a moment to celebrate this milestone with me! My wish for my 30th birthday was to give clean water to those in need and through your generous donations you made my wish come true! I cannot express enough how incredibly thankful I am for your generosity and friendship! With approximately 800 million people still in need of clean water I am excited to know that we reduced that number by 150! Your donations will get sent to the field on May 8th and charity: water will be sending updates in the coming months. Thank you again making my 30th birthday one to remember!

My Wish For My 30th Birthday Is To Bring 150 People Clean Water

On March 8th 150+ of my friends and family came together to celebrate my 30th birthday and raise money for clean water projects in developing countries. With 800 million people without access to clean water I wanted to do my part by pledging my birthday and asked for donations to my charity: water birthday campaign instead of gifts for my 30th birthday. The night started off with a taco cart serving up tacos and Jarritos generously donated 300 sodas in support of our cause! A big thank you to Jarritos for their generosity and support!

No party is complete (at least in my family) without piñatas so we had three piñatas made in the likeness of the three birthday boys. They were a great hit (pun intended) although it felt weird to watch some of my friends beat my cardboard likeness – some with more force than was necessary to get the job done! I’m looking at you Jake Shaffer!

We encouraged extra style points for people to dress up from their favorite dance era and gave them glow sticks to get the party started.

We took a break in the middle of the night to share a video from charity: water’s September campaign to help give a greater sense of the real world impact of our birthday campaign. After the video I was able to share my heart behind the event and got a chance to express my appreciation for everyone in attendance (Thank you again to everyone who came!) and thank them for their influence in my life. We followed this up with signing “Happy Birthday” to the 3 birthday boys and cake which was generously made by my aunt. (As you can see it got a bit jostled in transit)

We Reached Our Goal of $3,000!

It has been such an encouragement to watch the donations come in over the past couple months! Through generous donors we reached our goal of raising $3,000! That’s incredible! A big heart-felt thank you to the 34 donors who helped us reach our goal! On May 8th our funds get sent to the field and put to work to bring clean water to people in need. I’m looking forward to posting updates in the coming months!

2014 is a milestone year for me as I get to celebrate turning 30! My friends all think I’m weird, but I have always looked forward to being thirty. I finally get to say that “I’m thirty, flirty, and thriving” (thanks for a great line Jenna Rink). Ok well not so much flirty, but definitely thriving! In all seriousness though, I’m really looking forward to what’s ahead and that I have an opportunity to reflect on the past 29 years of my life.

One reflection that I can share is I realize that I have been blessed to be a blessing to others. I am over simplifying when I say this, but my 20’s were difficult years with stories of which I am still trying to bring myself to write (a goal for 2014). But through it all I have seen nothing but God’s blessing in my life. The last verse of the often quoted Psalm 23 continues to resound with much weight and significance. Verse six says that “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life…” and I get this mental image of the wake from an ocean liner disrupting the traveled path and permeating outwards for miles. Like the ocean liner I get a real sense of how I have had many opportunities to leave God’s “goodness and mercy” in my wake as God has lead me through various situations and circumstances over the past 10 years.

With this realization I look forward to taking a moment to pause and celebrate both who God is and what He has done. Along with Matt Kleinhans and Daniel Neiditch (who also have February birthdays) we will be throwing a dance party to celebrate and as a way to be a blessing to others we are asking for donations, (instead of gifts) to our charity:water birthday campaign.

“Water Changes Everything.”

Why charity:water you may ask? charity:water’s mission is simple: “bring clean and safe drinking water to people in developing countries”. It has been incredible to watch charity:water bring clean water to over 3 million people over the past 8 years with simple solutions like freshwater wells, rainwater catchments and sand filters. charity:water has a 100% model where 100% of public donations are used to fund clean water projects. All operational costs are funded by private sponsors and even credit card fees from online donations are reimbursed. Literally every penny you give goes toward funding clean water projects! And to round it off charity:water has a 4 out of 4 star rating on Charity Navigator

More than all the facts is charity:water’s simple statement that “Water Changes Everything.” “Clean water means health, income, and education – especially for women and children.” below is a film from charity:water’s annual September campaign profiling their partnership with Gram Vikas in Orissa, India.

The following video gives a glimpse of charity:water’s work on the ground through partnerships in developing countries. “Our ultimate goal at charity:water is to put ourselves out of business every where we work. When we are no longer needed that means everyone has clean water to drink.”

Scott Harrison, charity:water’s Founder and CEO, is currently in Ethiopia touring water projects and you can follow him on Instagram to be introduced to more stories of how “Water Changes Everything.”

Help make my 30th birthday one to remember and leave “goodness and mercy” in our wake.

California is loaded. From Disneyland to farmland, we’ve got Scientology and superstars, Silicon and silicone, crips and bloods. The border. Krumpin’ Clownin’ Jerkin’. The surf and the turf. The boom and the bust. California is humanity run amuck and then packaged, branded and sold. California Cuisine, California Love, California Casual, California Gold, California Girls, and of course, California Dreams. If it exists in the world, it exists here and it does so with pizzaz.

Below is a taste from Oakland, CA. Watch more videos at californiaisaplace.com

Scrappertown

Here are a couple of my favorite stories.

The God or the Man

“Snap Judgment veteran Jamie DeWolf crashes against a towering family legacy with a breathtaking performance.”

Pen Pals

“Storyteller and artist Christy Chan is an American-born Chinese woman. She was confident in her identity until her family moved to a new town and she began getting letters from a mysterious, (possibly magical) stranger.”

J Dilla’s Lost Scrolls

“When record store owner Jeff Bubeck buys an old record collection out of an abandoned storage unit, he has no idea what he’s stumbled across. Jeff learns the collection once belonged to the late great J Dilla, one of the greatest hip hop producers of all time. Along with the thousands of LP’s from Dilla’s personal collection, there is something else that is uncovered, something huge. . .”

“Stack And Scare™ is a series of 4 stackable wooden monster block sets. Each Roar! set contains 14-18 pieces in various shapes and sizes. Featuring eyeballs, teeth, horns, arms, rounded shapes for shoulders and eyes, monster heads, hands, feet, legs, torsos, patterns and more. Mix and match shapes or combine with other Stack And Scare™ sets to unleash endless (and taller) creature combinations!” (via Invisible Creature Blog)

Via: Soh Tanaka