transformative grace

Here I am Sunday morning with a bit of a headache from some exuberant celebrating with the BGI C4 and C6 Alumni last night and I decided to capture history. Right here, right now by live blogging from my final social media class giving the coursework and my classmates a collective good bye hug and kiss as we wrap for the Fall quarter 2009 at Bainbridge Graduate Institute. I thought it would be appropriate to share some of our closing thoughts about using the social web for social change class. I think we all feel empowered to express ourselves and our developing change agent rebel yell with the personal branding exercise that was ultimately represented in each of our respective blogs and sustainability topics. The branding exercise was sheer power, after all we are going to be marketing ourselves for life. Hip hop namaste would not exist without the creative outlet the class has provided for me to live my authentic self out loud on my journey to peace. And by the way we made a kick ass video in 3.5 hours yesterday check it out, social media for social change video Fall 2009.


Noteworthy Quotes
"cloud jedi" - Gifford Pinchot III
"when in doubt live blog it" - Three Grooves
"Social media FBI surveillance for Black Friday" - Melissa Dingmon
"A brown woman leading three white men"-browngirlgoesgreen

To close today my creativity and right lively hood has been awakened and continues to elevate and here is an impromptu piece of art, sustainability, and consciousness that came out of my creativity and right lively hood presentation. My trust and the bonds cemented through sharing with my BGI family is helping me to transmute darkness into light. Free.

transformative grace
impromptu power of beingness
multiple intelligences reach up
to the light
grounding into the darkness of the womb
rebirth

Buy Nothing Day

So far my buy nothing day has been great and celebrated it from midnight until 5 am this morning at my friend's house Erin and Christian Behr my ambassadors of hope for Haiti. Not only are they my favorite couple to stay up late night with they are amazingly fun and I can even lurk in the corner at their house with my ever present computer typing away on some damn grad school paper AND socialize. Serious multitasking I know. I am so looking forward to Christmas break. Anyhow we had wonderful conversation filled with ideas of how we pledge to buy nothing today and even deeper conversations about how we are going to unite in one force field of change fueled by Haitian art furthering my vision of the contribution of creativity and culture. Our future together is so damn bright I am still blinking from the brilliance of possibility. Love infinite. In the next several days video footage and photos should be coming in from the Eat, Drink, and Save the World crew. And please keep checking back to this blog and our web site to see the progression. Feedback always welcomed and encouraged.

art. consciousness. sustainability. namaste.
MP

Eat, Drink, and Save the world!!

SLOW FOODS THANKSGIVING 2009

Slow Foods and Buy Nothing Day have intersected and culminated in Mauri Parks and Miriam Easley's Social Media project for Using the Social Web for Social Change. We are two 2010 BGI graduate C7 hopefuls that are great friends, Islandwood roommates, and budding change agents who want to influence our sphere of influence and encourage you to practice your sustainability leadership skills within your own sphere of influence this holiday season. Pay it forward sustainability style. Thanksgiving is a harvest of food and blessings. Let's celebrate that together!

Instructions:
Eat, drink, and Save the world! No action is too big or small, Yes we can!
EAT & DRINK locally; engage in meaningful conversation among friends on Buy Nothing Day November 27th otherwise known as "Black Friday"
No matter how you get involved let us know your plans
Leave a comment on hip hop namaste or greengov

Action Ideas:
Engage in a national twitter online live feed on Friday BND hosted by Adbusters #BND09
Engage a perfect stranger with the a provocative question around consumerism, sustainability, and climate change and post the question in your social media network
Send us your photos
Send us a video log
Post your own blog and link to our blog or eat, drink, and save the world website
Pledge to do your own event

Stay tuned. Tomorrow the website will be unveiled. Keep checking in on our blogs for more information.

Ride the swell of a collective consumer consciousness social media project. Love and gratitude.

Mauri and Miriam


Please respond here:
hip hop namaste
greengov

mauriparksbgi@gmail.com
easleyme@gmail.com

blackface transformed to hip hop peace

As the exuberance of children at play left the co-op preschool room, I switched on the radio to NPR just in time to hear Talk of the Nation. The topic was blackface. You know. The ol' timey minstrel shows featuring white people with black painted faces and exaggerated lips looking absurdly out of place and just well...offensive? Here is the definition directly from the NPR's website, "Blackface — white actors in black make-up, perpetuating over-the-top stereotypes of African Americans — was traditional in theater and the movies in the days of segregation."


photo by wikimedia commons


Whenever I saw reference to this as a young girl in a historical context yet with no mention of how WRONG it felt in my solar plexus, I immediately felt immense shame and was completely horrified at the caricature of my ancestors. Angry yet no voice. No outlet to speak or process what I intuitively knew had violent undertones of injustice yet lacked the world experience at age 10 to express the angst that flared up persistently and hardened into ugly emotions as the years ticked by. These caricatured black people were seperate but equal and good enough to sow the fields, wipe the butts of privileged white children, and provide human labor literally the blood, sweat, and tears of the ancestors built the economic infrastructure of this country. Here began my first conceptualization of the American caste system that is thriving, alive and well to this very day. As a girl I silently felt muzzled into submission to accept this strange theatrical social norm of Jim Crow days during the brief chapter about slaves and the Civil War. Really it is amazing to me that my very own father experienced Jim Crow. Absolutely mind boggling. We have come so far yet have many many metaphorical miles to go on this journey towards peace regarding race and class in America.

And I digress...what I really felt inspired to share today was an infusion of hope that the Tedx Anchorage talk that I attended last weekend. My vision of the world was validated by someone I admire greatly. Awesome. Phenomenal. Inspiring. Off the hook! Solutions to my angst were prolific and allowed me to step into a new mental space cultivated by the one and only Hon. George Martinez a political activist and founding member of hip hop association and global block. My parting words tonight will be those of the Global Block Mission statement.

Our Mission
The Global Block harnesses the spirit of innovation, creativity and activism at the core of the Hip-Hop movement to empower youth and transform communities across the globe.

Picture my black face replacing the ridiculousness of the ol' time minstrel show blackface. I am hip hop. Watch me fly away on the wings of innovation and creativity. I will rize above, my third eye pulsing with the drumbeat of the ancient heartbeat.

Finally the video...

execute

The duality in meaning and juxtaposition of reasoning is just another reflection within the kaleidoscope of possibility that rotates in front of me. Constantly shifting yet staying the same with the stunning beauty of creating new shapes and patterns with the glee of a child. On the bus to channel rock Taj Johns a brilliant woman with a voice of liquid sunshine told a story about multi-perspectives. After reflecting upon the parable about a seal that was the first time that I considered it could be okay to actually hold darkness and light at once, instead of just merely vacillating between the two. Throughout my journey to peace all these 32 years of my life so far, I always observed the duality in the natural world and of the emotion of man. Comedy. Tragedy. And the struggle it brings.

execute: ex.e.cute

To put to death
To make or produce (as a work of art) especially by carrying out a design

And this is exactly what I plan to do. Integration of opposition.

It is just since Sunday morning BGI closing circle that I have felt this amazing sense of peace that is settling over my skin like the silent snowfall that glitters efeferesenctly back up to the artic heavens of my home in Girdwood, AK. I choose to savor this and go forward holding the sacred feeling near, the seat of source within my solar plexus that shines as bright as the sun. Holding space amongst chaos. Thriving with the most intense duality of the pressure cooker of modern times. Those within my sphere of influence congregate into a force field of change agents emanating light, the tipping point slides near.

Sacred Elixir

In the soft sunlight of Sunday morning circle, an amazing sense of calm and peace continues to descend through today as the tiny million pieces of self realign with true purpose. I felt completely compelled to honor my dear friend Simon Goland Sunday morning in circle and again here in the immortality of cyberspace. I am just really overcome with the urge to give voice to how absolutely grateful that I am for his invaluable support as I harvest the courage to live the life I deserve. I laid down my dagger of destruction and brandished a new sword, shiny and glistening, to not behead my opponent, rather to slay my own demons. A shadow was lifted off of my heart through my connection with him, after all I do think of him as the Chosen One. And after some wee bit of polishing off of my heart with intention, I was able to transform the dull surface into a glistening jewel of valor and love, the authenticity of our collective community practice seeking out internal peace and fierce right lively hood. It is second nature for us to feel the pulse of social justice and transformational consciousness spike through our veins, a fabulous competitive factor of the program. Faculty and students alike come together at Bainbrige Graduate Institute, ferverently rewriting the next act in the hero's journey. Initiation has proven to be wicked hard and often dark and scary.

" To be human is to become visible while carrying what is hidden as a gift to others." -Wythe

After my first year with time to reflect, I have such a rich deep understanding of the power of BGI. Such a profound feeling like floating on the air giddy with the possibilities in the face of rapidly approaching death tolls and the worst darkness and fear the world has ever known. And to even compound the profundity of the self discovery is the realization of the powerful significance of relationship and love infused into the ecosystem of humanity of the best sustainable MBA program. Ever. Wanting to feel connected I surfed Simon's blog and was struck by the timeliness of an old post written in February 2009 feels like it was written just for me months later, I love how words endure What to remember when waking. The dia de los muertos theme to the weekend literally and metaphorically was transmuted by an amazing sacred elixir of true deep love and appreciation for each other. After a week of celebration in their honor, the ancestors left behind a parting gift, a deep experience of connectedness as One consciousness. Sunday morning as the ancestors retreated back across the mirror back into the Invisible they were sure to bid us farewell in morning circle with the protagonist brotherly love center stage and so intoxicating. consciousness evolution in progress...

In that first
hardly noticed
moment
to which you wake,
coming back
to this life
from the other
more secret,
moveable
and frighteningly
honest
world
where everything
began,
there is a small
opening
into the new day
which closes
the moment
you begin
your plans.

What you can plan
is too small
for you to live.

What you can live
wholeheartedly
will make plans
enough
for the vitality
hidden in your sleep.

To be human
is to become visible
while carrying
what is hidden
as a gift to others.

To remember
the other world
in this world
is to live in your
true inheritance.

You are not
a troubled guest
on this earth,
you are not
an accident
amidst other accidents
you were invited
from another and greater
night
than the one
from which
you have just emerged.

Now, looking through
the slanting light
of the morning
window toward
the mountain
presence
of everything
that can be,
what urgency
calls you to your
one love? What shape
waits in the seed
of you to grow
and spread
its branches
against a future sky?

Is it waiting
in the fertile sea?
In the trees
beyond the house?
In the life
you can imagine
for yourself?
In the open
and lovely
white page
on the waiting desk?

- David Whyte

SustainAbility

The era of slavery lives deep inside of me. A heritage inherited through the color of my skin and the kink in my hair. Sometimes after a particularly hard or bad day I still look at myself through the eyes of those that hate me. Poor black girl sums up my experience of growing up in Arizona. The state with it’s claim to fame by reluctantly voting in a Martin Luther King Day due to the uber conservative vein reflecting the values of the “white male with money” type political influence. I went to schools with their children my mother understanding the value of education made sure that I got a good one. My psyche albeit bruised and scarred yet intact was a breeding grounding for an anger that continues to burn white hot. I silently seethe with a restlessness.

Deadened to the daily scandal of corporate greed and economic hit men bringing me to my knees. Watch, my heart it bleeds red, white, and blue. Encapsulated in a grief this is NOT a story about a ghetto child overcoming the challenges of the “streets”. This is not another story about how being black and having an intimate relationship with poverty has ruined my life. This is the story of my life. Overcoming cultural stigmas to achieve.

No I am not the smartest or the brightest. I am SustainAbility, a concept I have conceptualized as becoming a pioneer delving into the inner landscapes rearranging my internal landscapes tending the garden inside my mind, body, heart, and soul. Building a bridge from the inner depths of the earths core to the stars of the galaxy about my head. Somewhere in between is the beautiful awe inspiring planet mother earth. Future goals for completion of Bainbridge Graduate Institute education makes my heart radiate and race with an enthusiasm and passion for achieving my goals that are born in the center of my mind’s third eye. Now that the physical chains of slavery have been removed the mental ones remain and that is where SustainAbility was discovered. I'm trying to "shake free from the chains" one of my most favorite lines from Brother Ali title track Us. Sang it brother. And I shall lift my head until it strikes the stars. - Horace

art. consciousness. sustainability.

Creativity is a stream of consciousness. Mine comes in streaks. Usually after terrible moments of dark sticky blackness. I can't stay that way forever. All I can to do is get up and dust myself off and walk into the power that is waiting for me when I stand up. If only I could recognize what shape that might take.

Sometimes I think it might just be easier to give up and die. Death, metaphorically, as in my mortal soul idly waiting for the transfer of physical energy back into the invisible if I accept a conventional fate. If I lived a life devoid of fire then my eyes would reflect a dull emptiness of the apathy I see among peers of a similar generation. "Owning my power" is something my friend Bonnie likes to remind me to do. My friend Julie held out her arms to rescue me across the blogosphere and responded deeply to my existential crisis. I ricochet across so much discontent I am literally numb to the pain, but simultaneously awakening to the acute stinging it brings that I so adeptly ignore. Yet, feeling is trickling back, thawing out and taking over at the seemingly worst timing in the world. I need clarity of mind while I tackle this final year of my graduate studies at Bainbridge Graduate Institute. Instead I find myself in a quagmire. Stupid feelings. I hurl that statement with all the petulance of a child. The ability to focus upon and quantify what ails my soul through teachings of leadership and personal development has been the panacea to self implosion in a hot molten lava sort of way. Or, perhaps a likeness that more closely resembles a tidal wave. Often I find myself riding the crest feeling the high of triumph and then literally and completely being pummeled into a skin bag of bones, crushed under the weight of the wave.

Year 2007 was marked by various occasions where the hook of this mantra slinked through my mind cyclically.

consciousness evolution in progress...

around and around at a predictable clip of frequency that used to be extremely loud in my thoughts has now slowed down to just an echo today of what it was.

I am looking to bring forth my own human genius in the name of sustainability as well as being there to support people finding their own. I lay my feelings down bare before you in testament to the depth and breadth of my feelings expressed in words coupled with the enormous gravity regarding the situation of the world and climate change. I hate this. I would much rather prefer to keep these thoughts of mine between close friends over the intimacy of a dinner party. Instead I am broadcasting them out on the web in a homegrown BGI folksonomy experiment. It is not what I imagined for myself, mucking around to encounter an entrenched path to freedom and peace. It is instead indeed what showed up. I can't say no. I can just pick up where I left off.

Life imitates art.

Living peace out loud.

Building a bridge between that which is divided in two.

MP

Feeling pretty Halloween

I've been feeling like a failure on many fronts. The internal pressure of my head all swirled up with angst, I think it would feel better split in two by a rock dripping blood into my eyes at least I would get some relief from the unrest I feel. Never mind the physical pain. Inadequacy is the word of the week blinking in bright neon across the firestorm of unearthed bad feelings. Rotten and fetid. I guess after all it is Halloween. Far from Namaste I float in a self created purgatory captured by the selfishness of intense emotion. Still struggling to catch up with my life I keep tripping on my peasants clothes, and that elusive finish line moves further and further out into the distance.

hiphop namaste debut

The church of hiphop and my ancestors had a baby. Hiphop Namaste is Mauri Parks, mother, Bainbridge Graduate Institute sustainable MBA 2nd year student, feisty and fierce. Today I take my shaky first steps into wearing the cloak of my authentic self, transitional transformation and consciousness evolution in progress... I had an emotional epipany while listening to Brother Ali on yet another rainy day in the "Wood". His new album Us is so beautiful and uplifting I had to do some soul claps during the final track of the CD. Rule number one of sustainability is if you don't believe enough to evangelize the product maybe think about leaving it alone. Hmmm...that's pretty deep. Okay, how about this? On this day forward and forever more I declare my love for and wed thee sustainability until death do us part. In the mean time I am thirsty, in transition mode and stumbling around in the dark. And have happened upon a body of water with a beam of light shining from up above. I never thought to look up. Following the spiral of my soul levitation, finally I have risen to the surface to meet the reflection of myself diving into a long deep abyss into the shadows. I suppose we could call this my cyber blogosphere coming out party. After several weeks of deliberation and dissection of mental models I finally landed in the brave new world of me. The evolution of my voice in my own time. Only love and gratitude for you sharing namaste prime mental landscapes. A debut peek glimpse into my world of words, the physical manifestation of hiphop namaste thoughts.