This weekend I found inspiration – in friends, in work and in art. It has been a long time since I have written anything on this blog. At the beginning of the year, I decided that in 2016 I was going to return to some semblance of work/life balance. It was two years into my job as executive director at Baltimore Clayworks and it seemed like if I never made it a goal it would never happen. The fact that I found inspiration in so many things this weekend and that I have time to sit h...

“BALTIMORE’S CREATIVE COMMUNITIES ARE COMING TOGETHER TO INCREASE ACCESS TO AND SUPPORT FOR THE ARTS, CULTURE AND THE HUMANITIES IN BALTIMORE CITY. SHARE YOUR TOP PRIORITIES, GET INFORMED ON THE MAYORAL CANDIDATES, AND VOTE IN THE PRIMARY ELECTION ON APRIL 26, 2016.” - Citizen Artist Baltimore

On January 5, I had the privilege of attending the first listening session of Citizen Artist Baltimore, an initiative looking at motivating artists to get out and vote and leverage their ...

I am grateful to have spent some of my holiday weekend in the theater watching the film Creed. It floored me. I expected the exciting build up of a young boxer fighting for more than just a win. I was excited that Ryan Coogler was directing and Michael B. Jordan starring. The impact of Fruitvale Station has stayed with me and I know that both would bring their skills and genius to this film. It is a beautiful film. It is a powerful film. It is a film that addresses more than just box...

Recently at dinner a friend asked what I thought of Tim Wise. I knew he had gotten into trouble for his reaction to critics who questioned his speaking at a Teach for America event. The arguments he made pretty much sounded like he was saying, I'm on your side so I can do what I want.

After this dinner, another friend shared this: http://www.blackgirldangerous.org/2013/09/no-more-allies/, a Black Girl Dangerous blog from September which mentions Tim Wise in an argument about "allies"...

I have been in an ongoing discussion about artists and gentrification. Part of this discussion has stemmed from a piece of artwork by Olivia Robinson Are You There Lord Baltimore? It's Me Olivia Robinson, Citizen Journalist investigating many of the artist-centered developments happening in Station North an Arts and Entertainment District in Baltimore. The piece was on view in an exhibition I curated, Baltimore From Many Perspectives at D center Baltimore from June 15^th - July 21^st. ...

Let's first look at the definition.

development |diˈveləpmənt|

noun

1 the process of developing or being developed: she traces the development of the novel | the development of less invasive treatment.

• a specified state of growth or advancement: the wings attain their full development several hours after birth.

• a new and refined product or idea: the latest developments in information technology.

• an event constituting a new stage in a changing situation: I don't think t...

I think I write every year about how much I like Autumn. Here is this year's post in honor of my favorite season and time of year. I am on a train to New York City, all the trees are yellow orange, except the ones that are red and we just passed by an impressive sculpture of a man on a horse with wings and flags. The air is crisp, the sky is beautiful whether perfectly blue or low and grey. Today it has been both.

It is a time of year for new beginnings, for transformations. A time t...

Struggling to make sense of life. Why we are here. Why our paths cross, why sometimes this is joyful and sometimes sad. Figuring out how to cause the least amount of pain possible. Not causing pain being impossible. We say hello and goodbye. How are you? As long as we care, are we are doing all right? Or is it more about being careful? Not about being fearful, but proceeding with care.

All this has something to do with a quote that I have had in mind often as of late from the book Be...

As you are right that we have a power within us, I would just flip it and in that we have the power to act on a choic...

A friend shared this video with me yesterday: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7X7sZzSXYs

I think it is beautiful. I also think that the stories of Lydia Davis are beautiful. I don't know what these two things have to do with each other, but I think that it is a good time to appreciate beautiful things. Maybe it is the time of year, the air is crisp and clear. I have found a good routine and am happy in my work, both that which I get paid for and that which I don't.

My words ...

I had started a blog about failure, but seeing as this is a joyous time of year, I decided to put it on hold until after the holiday season and write something a bit more cheerful. In truth, the holidays stress me, but there are also some beautifully amazing things that happen at this time of year and seeing as it is the end of the year, there are also many things to be grateful for. The things that I am thankful for at the close of 2011 and the beginning of 2012:

1. All the incredibl...

The last week of my life has left with me with so much to contemplate and write about, I have the feeling this post will be scattered and may be confusing for those without my experience. My apologies, if you bear with me, as I write more in the coming days, I think there will be many insights after the brief glimpse I had into another existence. I spent a week on a farm in North Carolina and it was such an amazing experience that I am conflicted as I transition back into my life in Baltimore...

In consideration of the 1,600[i] public school supporters from Baltimore who demonstrated in the rain in Annapolis on Thursday, March 11^th, 2011 protesting the proposed budget cuts in education spending, I felt it necessary to reflect on the event and how it relates to the state of education. I found myself immediately questioning what effect this demonstration would have on education even if successful in preventing cuts in spending.

It seems that every year in Maryland there are threatened...

Last fall, when I was brainstorming a new project with one of my classes, a student of mine summed up all the ideas that we had and articulated what the project would look like. I said that it sounded right and the rest of the group agreed and I told him he did a really good job in his paraphrasing. He stretched his hands wide and said, “Yes! I am not stupid in one of my classes!” It was an amazing moment and I am glad that he was able to feel this way in my class, but it also made me c...

Continuing my contemplation about video games, what I really want to see in a game and how games can be a tool in social justice work. I had a conversation with a friend of mine last night who had read my post about Fable III and had some comments about what I had said. He is a programmer so he knew which parts of my musings were not possible in the fabrication of games. I understand theoretically and very basically how games are put together and know that a game with unlimited choices is i...

A friend commented on my post last week about home and how he thought that nothing would feel like his childhood home until he was stable enough to stay somewhere and maybe have a family of his own. That something about the homey feeling of childhood had to do with all of the collected memories of that place that created a solid foundation.

I think that continuity does play a role in the feeling of home. Maybe that is why Baltimore feels like home to me – it is the first place I have liv...

I am sure that I have written on the idea of home, what home means, what constitutes a home, etc., but again I am preoccupied with the subject. I suppose it has something to do with the holidays, visiting family, being in the house that I grew up in.  I am also again about to move, which might be more the reason.  I have spent much time over the last 5 or so years packing my belongings and moving them to another place and yet I find myself again beginning to go through the things that I own...

For those of you who did not have the opportunity to view What's Your War? deinstallation began yesterday so unfortunately, you will not be able to. There are plans to put the show online and I will do this as soon as possible, but until then you will have to be satisfied with my continued review of all of the fantastic artists in the show.

I will start with Christine Stiver, whose flipbook The Blind Mole Rat was a huge hit. People seemed surprised to see a flipbook, but were tickled at the s...

The title of today's blog is taken from a book by Walter Mosley called "The Right Mistake." The point in the story where I found the title is one in which Socrates Fortlow, a sixty-year-old ex-con has decided to start a school and has gathered a group of people around a table for food and then an intense discussion. Socrates gathers local people of all races and social statuses and then asks them to think about what they can do. He acknowledges that the world is messed up and that most of the...