red eyes

red eyes fly high, like butterflies... sleep is an illusion, I dream restless skies...

Hustle and Bustle

.
People-watching is a talent;
An art to master.

Peering out the thin-filmed window,
your mind dives into two
disparate worlds of thought.

Each one, a link in the chain
that holds the city together.
Some are broken, decrepit, bereft,
laden with neglect;
others are strong, brand-new.

Snapshot glimpses of life at its best and worst…
At its first…
…simultaneously…
each individual is just that…

The cadence in his hobbling gait,
Perhaps his bane,
is an honor of distinction in your eyes.

And you, amazed,
can actually see the medium that colors her existence.
You can hear the timbre of her chuckle
and smell the character of her comfort.
Who knew sharing would feel so rich?
Certainly she didn't.

Each individual, by being unique,
offers a novel pigment with which you may paint your world.
Your palette is expanding,
And like a seasoned artist,
Your work grows with age.

You can’t help but smile.
.

natural beauty.

This place is SO beautiful. I can’t help but gaze into the mountains and think about what must have transpired there years ago when native Mesoamericans inhabited the area. I keep finding myself wanting to tell people of its beauty, but then I realize that I’ve already expressed this to them… numerous times. ☺ I suppose that’s a good thing - being thankful for being here.

I mean, I should be thankful; it’s an amazing opportunity, really. Through this program, we are able to give of our time and effort to really make a difference in other people’s lives, furthering our skill sets with field work, while at the same time, enjoying a cultural and regenerative experience. And not to mention, the hotel we’re staying at is dope!

In all seriousness though, I think one of the greater things I’ve gained from this trip so far is my reflection on this idea that has been recurring in my mind lately, bubbling in my consciousness even before I came to El Salvador. It is the idea that all things in nature, and life, really, revolve in a larger scheme… some sort of grand ecosystem. It is echoed in the flight of the vultures circling overhead as they search for carrion, indicative not of death, but of renewal. It flows through the tiered natural water system implemented in our hotel, and is reflected in the sad eyes of the hungry stray seeking for food to nurse her pups. Each element is constantly moving, affecting some other integral piece in the system, and continuing in its natural ebb and flow.

I feel like what is even more beautiful about our being here in El Salvador is how the school we are working on will serve to educate the children about their environment, the world around them, and how to take care of it. It acts as a facilitator in the ecosystem, promoting sustainability. I’m a huge proponent of education, in all facets really, but this school is truly something special, as its focus on biological systems and environmental sustainability will teach students the importance of caring for their surroundings. This will not only preserve this cycle of environmental awareness within generations to come, but will allow El Salvador to maintain its powerful natural beauty that has so captivated me. In my opinion, this is a most worthy cause.

blackprezident

blackprezident

A phrase/term/concept used to indicate a person's well-being in spite of any setbacks in their life or barriers hindering personal progress.  Derived from the phrase "Black President" and referring to Obama's unprecedented victory in the 2008 Presidential Elections, despite the centuries of oppression and racism Blacks have faced in America, "blackprezident" is a testament to the hope that these recent events have placed in people's hearts everywhere. 

Can be shortened to "blackprez" or used in the phrase, "My president is Black."

Ex. - "Yo, I heard you got laid off this week. I'm sorry, man."

      - "I'll make it. My president is Black."

      - "What's good son?"

      - "Blackprezident...  blackprezident."

It's funny.

It's funny, the things that you learn from living, especially from those seemingly insignificant eccentricities that are so unique that they can only be described as functions of "life." It's funny when you're in the midst of one of these occurrences, and you incredulously think to yourself, Really?  Right now?... weeeeiird...  I mean, you could think of this logically... as a matter of probability.  This has to happen to someone, right?  What are the chances that it would happen to me... is it because I walked this route today?  Would this still have happened to me if I had done something else instead of this?  It's funny because it doesn't seem right that life can just so carelessly fall into place and still be perfectly woven together to make you exactly who you are - but that mess still happens.

Well, I had one of those "weeeeiird" experiences today.  As I rode the bus home from dinner after watching an Iranian film called Three Women at the Museum of Fine Arts, I encountered an [I'll say interesting] woman.  She sat slouched in her chair, as if the plastic bags she held in her left hand were tugging at her, coaxing her to the ground.  She wore a brown face with black eyes that peeked from behind heavy curtains.  I also noticed the tissue she had wadded up in her right ear... how long had that been there?  Lord knows...

So... I'll be frank...  this lady was crazy.  And I ain't playin eitha...

Shortly after I sat down, she began giggling at something unbeknownst to me. She was babbling some stuff about how "she gotta know where to get you that burger."   What is she talking about? 

Anyways, I didn't think she was talking to me, but I did look around to see who else was witnessing this humorous sight.

Then I realized she was looking at me, knocking on my forehead with her beady eight-ball eyes. "What's in your bag?" she demanded.  I'm like... hol' up... is she comin at me? ... Maybe this lady's hungry... Well,  I guess I can spare her my leftovers - even though these days I feel like I'm a homeless and hungry college student.  I stammered, uhh... well there's some foo- 

"NO!! Uh unh..." she interjected.  "The girl's in the bag."

*blink blink*   .................  Whaaaat!?  

"I'm tellin you, yo' girl has to know where to get you that hamburger, if she can't do that... then it ain't worth it.... Haha... look at you.  Yeah, wipe yo' mouth.  Haha... yeah.  What? ... What? haha...."  And she kept comin at me with these aggressive lunacies that put me on edge.  

At this point, I was pretty sure she had "three women" inside of her.  Yo, this lady is straight loca...  Just look to the front, I told myself as I smiled with disbelief.  But the thing is, she didn't stop talking to me, or looking at me, for that matter.  She was trying to pierce me with her dark onyx orbs. 

So I capitulated.  I turned to listen to her, to respond to her ridiculousness and treat her like the human being that she was.  And in doing so, I realized how important it was that I do just this, for how many people have treated her as insignificant, burdensome, annoying, and invisible in her lifetime? Shortly after I began to try and listen to her, she softened up, and was not so hostile.  She had a story to tell, a jumbled up one, but a story nonetheless; one that was spawned from a hard life and adversity.  Before getting off the bus, she repeatedly told me, "What I'm trying to say is you gotta be yourself, that's what it's all about.  You gotta be yourself... gotta be yourself."

As I stepped off the bus, I thought about the realness of her message.  She was trying earnestly to impart some of her worldly wisdom upon me.  And even though her message was clouded by her many layers, I was able to wade through them and connect with her person to person.  Now, I doubt that she'll ever remember me, especially considering her waning mental facilities, but my experience with this looney lady will become one of those didactic anecdotes that will be with me for many years to come. And yeah, it's funny, but I wouldn't have had it any other way. 

ONE WAY Skre^(2)t

"ONE WAY Skre^(2)t" - spray paint stencil

This piece is entitled "ONE WAY Skre^2t."

Lately I've been thinking about the irreversible nature of life.  In a way, life is a work of art.  It's infallible form, is molded,  fired, and glazed by the Master's master hands.  It is a mass, growing, rolling, and flowing, ...never stopping - until it stops.  These aberrant defects are anything but... they're perfect[s].  They color our essence, and season our sight. We learn and we live...

"Life is a ONE-WAY Skreet."

D

Fatigue

Flippant, you flippin' 

wave things off.  

[And what ticks me off...

... is this happens oft.]

My voice box doesn't seem to function. 

I turn the key,

and suddenly, I'm filling my gas tank

up to E.

PLEASE, Tell me...

Honestly,

What's the use, in feeling emp-ty?

It's like cleaning a grime-stained, 

habit-ingrained 

bathtub

to be defeated.

Beat down

by the dense fist of the muck.

I've tried to use some elbow grease.

But Alas, I'm running low, it seems.

Straining,

strength waning, 

and the filthy waters, draining... 

they're

gurgling, gurgling... straining.

"Je suis fatigue de ceci..."

Oh! Sorry...

Please excuse my French.