Sep 4, 2016
The Bad Tequila Experience rocking Mighty Monday in Silver Spring MD.
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The Bad Tequila Experience rocking Mighty Monday in Silver Spring MD.
Baltimore Artist Alex Alexander Walks in Her Purpose
Laughing and crying with a wonderful artist.
Interviewed by Ian Glispy
Photos by Fer De Lance
Alex has a wonderful voice. She is a photographer and a painter as well. We are sitting in her living room. Her apartment is immaculate. There is art everywhere and her kitchen is full of pots and pans. She is an artist in the kitchen as well.
MH: Can you please tell us your name?
A: I am Alexis Rasheeda Alexander.
MH: Do you have a nomme de plume?
A: Everybody calls me Alex. So I am Alex Alexander on the scene.
MH: I am looking at two books here “The Awakenings” and “Nudes of the Awakenings”. One of these became your…
A: Senior thesis.
MH: Very provocative pictures. Very interesting. Before we get into the books, tell us what made you get into the arts? What was the initial inclination?
A: Honestly it came from having been dealt the worst possible hand when it came to vision, period. I grew up and I had several pairs of glasses before I could even dress myself. It was that thought that I might not see as well as other people. As I got older I realized that could be my thing. That is what motivates me. The difficultly that is seeing. So I realized that I had a unique perspective and I couldn’t limit it to one medium. So it had to be painting, writing, had to be drawing, sculpting, photography. My parents encouraged that, they understood that I thrived on being told “no”, or “maybe not”, or “maybe not right now”. My mother pushed me into being the best artist I could possibly be. Gave me all the tools, all the direction. All the money [LAUGHING] I would need to get to where I could be. Not having me think that I was limited to anything. So in high school I got my first camera and I was put in a dark room, and I had the greatest idea that we are all equal now. We are all equal in the dark room, it is about touch and sound and clicks and temperatures. The vision can be spoken about and you see the proof in my prints, my film and my negatives. My focus was often better than well sighted folks.
MH: What age was that?
A: About 12.
MH: Do you have a signature style?
A: My love for high lights and low lights. Very contrasty. Chiaroscuro. For me personally that is how I see best. Light and dark lights and the beauty in between. I just love dramatic lighting. Light over the body, period. I am very sensitive to what light does to things and you can see that in my work.
MH: Did you have a mentor? Or is this your own thing?
A: There was an artist that I had the pleasure of meeting who was legally blind and he did it all by touch and the people around him. His name was John Patrick Dugdale. I did very extensive study in his field. I treated blankets and paper with light sensitive material. He came to MICA and I showed his partner who was able to explain what I did. He taught me how to master that light. I think back to the experience of working with him. It was like no other. It was like somebody spoke my language about how hard it is being a less than sighted photographer. That pushed me into doing it more and harder and more precise.
MH: Tell me about your equipment.
A: I have a D3200 Nikon. I’ve had it for about 2 years. Before that it was a Nikon D70. My equipment matters the least to me, as long as I am there and have a camera I’m fine. I did a lot with alternative processes and that was my thing. Alternative processes like UV paper. I got off on that. Experimental image capturing. When it came around to digital, it didn’t matter, I traded my grain for pixels. I learned to deal with it. My camera didn’t matter at all. So when I see people going around and they’ve got these huge lens and it’s awesome and I know what they do but my situation [LAUGH] doesn’t allow me to have such an arsenal of capturing equipment. It doesn’t limit what I do at all.
MH: Let’s get abstract.
A: Okay.
MH: Finish this sentence. Beauty is…
A: …what it is and what it isn’t, who’s to say? [PAUSE]
MH: Feel free to go further. [LAUGH] That was good one of the best sentences I’ve got.
A: [LAUGH] Beauty is and is not. I wish someone would fight me on what was beautiful and what is acceptable or aesthetically pleasing, you know. I dare someone to define beauty. I almost wanna know how other people would finish that sentence.
MH: You gotta read the MightyHip interviews. That is one of my signature questions.
A: [LAUGH] I will check it out for sure.
MH: In your day to day life what are your likes and dislikes with the art scene?
A: Since I do this for a living I am really close to artists who make a lifestyle out of this. One thing that I love is the camaraderie. They will lend a comment. When you are too close to a project another artist will lend and eye or an ear. That grounds us when we think we are against the world. We kinda come together. But then, there is a certain politics in it that I can’t rock with. There may be favoritism sometimes, or a person is put in a spotlight and they haven’t paid their dues so to speak. There are people glorified for less than talent and I can’t get down.
MH: [LAUGH]
A: When I got into this heavy after graduating from MICA I realized that I started to lose friends. That was fine with me because my artist community became my friends. Without knowing or trying they became the closest people to me outside of my family.
MH: Are there any artists that you want to biggup, in that artist camaraderie way?
A: Of course, I would say Quinton Randall. Quinton is the epitome of soul in the sense that he lives every guitar riff and every wail of his voice. I don’t know if I can count on my hand people who are that. I just did a photo shoot of him for his EP that is coming out “The Cleanse” and he was just so raw and ready to shoot. We broke onto some train tracks and had this gritty shoot. It just speaks to his character, it was raw, honest and real.
MH: You mentioned your mother, tell us about your father.
A: My step father was very supportive. My father wanted to take credit for certain attributes that I gained during his absence. Like once I graduated and had all this knowledge artistically, “Oh well I gave you your first camera.” [LAUGHS] I’m like, “No you didn’t.” He fought me for my ideals and the woman I had become while he was away. I don’t give him as much credit as he gives himself for my growth and my journey. He has always been a very knowledgeable and incredible human being but very jaded in a way. Like the World owed him something. I share my accomplishments with him but they never seem to be up to par with his standards. I could care less at this point I am living for myself.
MH: So your home is lovely. Are all the pieces in here yours?
A: Ummmm Hmmm. [NODS]
MH: You have an abstract style. We are talking about everything on the walls except for the African masks. The paintings and pictures are yours?
A: Yes.
MH: What are your pictures trying to say? I see a lot of sexuality, and images of people of color.
A: It is all a part of a glossary of experiences I have recorded. Putting experiences to a photographic narrative accompanied by words. The poems are the narrative behind the illustrations. I try to evoke the dark side of love and sexuality. Accepting of your body, what it does and what it’s capable of doing and becoming. One of the things that I came up against while I was presenting these pieces was that I was giving too much information. If I have the photography why do I have this poem telling me what it’s about? But we don’t get to pick and choose the information that is thrown at us. I didn’t feel like I needed to be dissected that way. It comes together, one couldn’t happen without the other. I never thought of it as too much information I thought of it as the perfect combination. I call it photopoetics.
MH: As a Jamaican I can appreciate all of these images and the words in your book. [LAUGH] words like “Murder She Wrote” “Inna di Red”. I look at it and I get it. I gather the academic folk did not?
A: [LAUGH] They did not understand it. I was in a critique and our critiques were six hours long minimum. People passed the book around skimmed through it and grimaced in my direction. Very little was said. These were usually very long winded critiques you couldn’t get people to shut up, but they kinda came short when it came to mine. I took it to a life drawing teacher I had. He was most honest with me. He was standing on a ladder. I remember handing him this book and telling him, “Tell me what you think of this, be real with me, because others weren’t.”. He’s up on this ladder looking through it reading everything taking his time. He puts it to his chest and he says, “It’s uncomfortable damn it! It’s scary but no less it is a work of art.” I felt that if somebody had articulated that I would have left there with more confidence.
MH: That’s not a bad thing to hear that something makes you uncomfortable.
A: I love it!
MH: I am shocked that an art school would try to cramp your style, with silence.
A: A lot of the freedom that I thought I would enjoy at art school I found was not the case. At least that was my experience. In terms of my personal growth it knocked me down before it built me up.
MH: So did you go to vocal school?
A: No.
MH: Did you sing in a choir?
A: Yes for a little. In high school I joined the show choir and the theater for a little bit.
MH: When did you realize you had the voice?
A: Just always going back and forth with my mom. My mom always sung and I would try to keep up with her. She would always let me know if I was flat.
MH: So she trained you.
A: [LAUGH] She trained me. It was such fun that I never thought of it as training. She did whip this voice into shape.
MH: Another artist once told me that church is where she learned to get free. I think about that a lot because it is a place that tells you to emote, you are allowed to be free.
A: Yes. For sure.
MH: Church is a training ground. A cultural training.
A: It certainly is. [CRYING] I think back to my mom. I clearly get really emotional.
MH: I know you’re crying.
A: She is just [PAUSE]. She literally is my backbone. [SOFT CHUCKLE]
MH: It’s beautiful that you cry talking about your mother.
A: It’s nothing sad. Every chance I get to speak of her it makes me happy. [LAUGH]
MH: I don’t want to take up too much more of your time. Is there anything you want to advocate for?
A: To love yourself and to listen to yourself. Base your opinions on what you want to do and your love of doing it. Be honest with everything. With every move you make. Literally walk in your purpose and no one can beg your pardon.
MH: Amazing. Thank you.
Editors Note: This is part one of my interview with Alex. The next part will go into her music. She has a CD out entitled Perfect Vision. The Bolton Hill Open Mic event that she runs happens every third Friday of the month at 1111 Park Ave Baltimore MD 21201 in the Lounge.
Ultimate bad ass. Always had a positive message. Biggup.
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LOVE's gonna getcha. Baltimore artist "Love the Poet"
The fastest artist.
Interviewed by: CanePiece
Photos: Fer De Lance
Love is a mover-shaker, rainmaker, hustler artist. Successful in that she is a full time artist doing things her way. When we first met I was impressed with her quick wit and artistic eye. She is a play-write, an actress, a poet, a photographer, an athlete and a show host. Her camera is never far away. She is always working. We invited her to lunch in her city for an interview. My friend Trice from the "Colorado Reggae Scene" was with us.
MH: What do you call yourself?
L: Michelle Antoinette aka Love the Poet.
MH: Define your art-self, please.
L: Well my art-self is my whole-self. I am a career creative.
MH: People who know you from your college days speak highly of you. Were you a career creative then?
L: No that was not my initial intention. I have a degree in Criminal Justice. I was torn better going to law, or going into the police force paramilitary operation. I was actually in army ROTC to be a JAG officer. I didn't really have to I had a full scholarship track and honors, it was something I was interested in. I really like order and justice and...
MH: All right!
L: Yeah. I know you're like how did I become. [LAUGH] I have been writing since I was 11. When I got to Coppin, I watched Native Son and a sistah named Danielle Fuller performed at the auditorium, poetry. I had never seen anybody do that. I had been in talent shows in highschool and all of those wonder things but I had never seen it like that. So I walked up to them afterwards and said "Can you show me how to do that I've been writing for a long time." They were like okay. Took me under their wing, me 18 years old got into that. Then Olu Butterfly Woods started battle of the schools. Collegiate SLAM. I was a part of it and I slammed against Lyrical the Lyricist, and Slangston Hughes shows up. All these people who have big names in the poetry set all convened in this space at 19 and 20 years old. We did that and I was dubbed Love and all these things and I started to do poetry events in the dorm, because I was an RA. That was when I started working in the creative area but I still wasn't like I am going to be a full time artist. There was no rubric, there was no map.
MH: So where did you go to Coppin from?
L: Columbia Maryland. Howard County.
MH: Okay, close to here.
L: Yeah, I got recruited to run and the honors scholarship I thought this is the best thing for me.
MH: You are among Jamaicans we can appreciate track and field. What did you run?
L: [LAUGH] I'm a sprinter. I ran 100M, 60, 200M, long jump...
MH: What was your fastest 100M time, do you remember?
L: Yes actually 11.06. Got me to Nationals.
MH: [IMPRESSED] You're fast.
TRICE: [SLOWLY NODS HEAD & WITH JAMAICAN ACCENT] That's fast.
L: [LAUGH]
MH: So do you have artistic goals?
L: Well I just wrapped my one woman play, this run at STRAND Theater. My goal is to continue to travel it. To continue to get it picked up, you know...
MH: Funded.
L: Yeah with people who want to produce it and present it. For my photography it is to continue to get showings. Continuing to apply for exhibitions. I want to get overseas by any means necessary so be it with my photography, my poetry, my play. I definitely want to take my art abroad.
MH: What about your guitar playing?
L: Inadvertently my guitar playing became what my poetry was to me. Poetry was once just very therapeutic, to get through stuff. My parents separated and that was my therapy. I played a whole lot at home and rarely outside. Lately I have been dedicated to taking it out with me. I've been playing for five years. With my guitar I like to incorporate it where I can. I am a big fan of accompanying people.
MH: Who do you most admire?
L: Overall?
MH: Let me make it easier. Who do you most admire as a poet?
L: As a poet and an artist, an activist, and speaker I would say I most admire Audre Lorde. When I read her piece "Poetry is not a luxury" that was just a speech.
MH: She writes great stuff.
L: I have the book "Sister Outsider" I have notes in it you would have thought that's my Bible.
MH: [LAUGH] I'm with you.
L: You Know being a black lesbian woman [FOOD ARRIVES] Being a black lesbian writer [PAUSE] her message was so clear about what our role is. Or as a black woman what your role is when you have a gift. She said poetry is not revolutionary it's revelatory. So it is your responsibility to be revealing, to be out, to be transparent, so that the people who do not have the voice you have can heal. To me in the revelation lies the revolution. If I do it, then somebody else does it, then somebody else does it. We're empowering people to exist beyond themselves. So Audre Lorde's message was clear to me.
MH: I was told a story about your first group. It had a great name. Do you want to share that?
L: We formed it when I was talking to you about the "Battle of the Schools" You could SLAM individually or come up on stage as a group. Since we all went to Coppin State College and it was two capricorns and a sagittarius we named ourselves "CSC Trilogy". It was myself, Danny aka Smiley and Angie aka Assata Silence. We formed that group in 2001.
MH: People reflect on it well which is a sign that it was good art.
L: My role was to be the one who handled all the business and got us the gigs. We all had positions we played. I would do my poems and stuff and present but [PAUSE] E (The Poet Emcee) told me once that people will rewrite your history. That's real. [PAUSE] Danny was my mentor. Angie was younger than us and she was a writer's writer, she was really abstract and brought this whirlwind of imagery. I think it shocked people when the group disbanded that I stepped out and stepped up in such a way. I recall people thinking I wasn't good. That was fine by me. Not that I wasn't good but that I was not the one in the group that they thought would be whatever. I know who those people are by name and that's fine. I played my role. I just know that I shocked a lot of people. Now some of those people are like, "Man I knew you were the one!" I'm like no you didn't."
MH: [LAUGH]
L: Have you read the letter circulating about the new Hendrix movie?
MH: I know what it is but I love Hendrix and I want to see Andre 3000 play him.
L: I support Andre 100% but if the story is wrong...
MH: Well, you know Hollywood is gonna create a story.
L: That's what I'm talking about. People are gonna rewrite your history. So I think interviews like this, people like you who want to interview artists and get their words from them is extremely important.
MH: If there's a problem with the World and you are a God how would you change it?
L: The problem with the World is that as much as we say we believe in God I don't believe that. Man says God but I don't think we believe in God wholeheartedly. And this is a blanket statement. There are some who understand me and others who will not. If I was God I would make my presence known. I think people have lost the idea that they have God in themselves. Constantly looking for the God within ourselves through the eyes of other people. If you can't see the God in you then how can you see it in somebody else. How can you identify? I think we have lost our way. Everything is masking ourselves. Our phones, our computers, our fashion whatever. Our doctrine, our denominations, you find that word in math our divides. Our divides are stopping us. The help method in this religion is why I don't like it. You go to church this day I don't like it. You sing too much I don't like it. Why is there an ATM in the building. There is so much that has gone into breaking people's spirit, and redirecting it into okay, "I have broken your spirit now let me help you rebuild it. Send me half your money. Tithe 10% of your check." I am very passionate about that topic and that is why I created the "God's Country" piece. If I was God I would figure out. Well if I was God I would just make it happen. [LAUGH]
MH: Finish this sentence. Beauty is...
L: [INSTANTANEOUSLY] Pain. As a woman that is what you are taught early. Out of the gate beauty is pain. I remember the first time one of my friends told me that. I was like I disagree. We were in middle school and I don't think she realized how real that was. There is a certain level of pain that has to be achieved to realize that their is beauty for yourself. Like childbirth. There is a certain amount of pain that exists in this amazing thing. Yet for a woman it is a near death experience. How do you know the joy of that if you do not walk a line feeling that it can be extremely beautiful or extremely detrimental.
MH: Wow such a great answer.
L: There's a crazy beauty in an artist taking the pain and making it beautiful.
MH: Phyllis Hyman. So many. Many right here in Baltimore.
L: That whole 27 club. Hendrix, Winehouse.
MH: What was the best time of american art in your eyes? For me it was the songs of the 70's and early 80's.
L: That being said I have a fondness for late 80's to early 90' music and art and expression. I don't know maybe that is because that is when hip-hop was doing it's best. It was a fun time. I am an 80's baby.
MH: Punany Poets tell us about it.
L: It's a sex education theater troupe. It was on HBO's Real Sex in 2001 Jessica Holter is half Jamaican and half white. She was the founder. There were men in the troupe. We addressed black love, diseases. Our tag line was "saving lives one rhyme at a time." I didn't write erotica ever. She saw me, found me came down from on high and asked me to audition in New York . Gave me three assignments, I had to get 'em done in four days and be ready to go. The video that she posted of my audition has probably gotten 6 or 7000 hits. She just scooped me up.
MH: Okay.
L: What I realized writing the erotica is that it is a gateway drug. If you can write good erotic poetry you can do anything. People believe in you. They love you for that. First we'd titillate you with the erotic dances and such and then we hit you with the AIDS poems. The domestic violence poems. Then bring it back to love confessions. Tell your partner how much you love them.
MH: I see. I see. Anything you advocate for?
L: Human rights across the board.
MH: Would you shoot the sheriff but not shoot the deputy?
L: I shoot them both. What's the point of shooting the sheriff and not the deputy. What's the problem? Think about it. If you go as far as shooting the sheriff you got to shoot the deputy too.
MH: [LAUGHS] MightyHip thanks you very much Love the Poet.
L: Thank you for interviewing me I am honored.
http://www.lovethepoet.com/
Last Week at Capoeira class. FICA DC is MightyHip.
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"Pages Matam" the Standard Bearer in D.C. Poetry.
This is a hard man to find. Pages was named by his friends in high school because he wrote poems that spanned many pages. He is a very busy man. Countless phone calls made and then I was finally able to corner in a time to meet. His book was being launched later this day. He has a tour coming up as well. We are in his office he is answering questions and doing three other things at the same time.
MH: Please tell me what a day in your life is like.
P: Hectic. Organizing, running around the city, teaching, informing, hosting, coordinating, being a dad. Then doing the sh*t all over again. It's a lot [LAUGHS]
MH: Even weekends?
P: Even weekends. I work seven days a week. I don't get days off.
MH: Is Matam your actual last name?
P: Matam yes. [PRONOUNCING IT CORRECTLY]
MH: Let me guess Central West Africa.
P: It is central Africa. It is Cameroon. Which is where I was born and raised for a good part of my life. Did some stints in Europe and other parts of Africa but for the most part born and raised in Cameroon until I moved here when I was 11 years old. In North East D.C. for a little while, then moved into Maryland. Been bouncing around Maryland ever since, even though I always worked in D.C.
MH: Okay so African parents hearing their son say he wants to be this performance artist poet. How does that go over with them?
P: Not well [LAUGHS] that did not go well at all. As you may know in a lot of African cultures or all African cultures [LAUGHS] doctor [CLAP], lawyer [CLAP], banker [CLAP]...
MH: Or engineer.
P: Right, or engineer. Those are your options for jobs. So yeah when I said this is where my passion is in education, in informative work it did not go well. My mom disowned me for like a year. That was fun. Other than that peachy.
[WE BOTH LAUGH]
It's not the traditional thing, you know.
MH: They can't see it.
P: They can't see the immediate, like how you gonna feed yourself. Especially when you starting thinking about the components of the patriarchal man and having to be providing and blah blah blah and the quantification of manhood. A lot of that is what is your status. Your physical stature and then your socio-political economic status. So it was tough getting that support at first but it came around.
MH: I might add that when they hear names like Achebe or others the parents are down and are like "He's great!" but when you say you want to be like that it's like "Naw". [LAUGH]
P: Right it's like those things happen and they're like anomalies. No one actually believes that is possible. They're like you are not Chinua Achebe. The mentality is that there is no security in this type of work, being an artist. Which in actuality is kinda true. A lot of your income relies on your work and if the fans support it. There is going to be a lot more struggle than there is going to be success. I don't care about that. Success to me is seeing a kid having his life saved because he wrote his first poem about healing from whatever trauma he went through. This work is about connecting with people and being an agent of healing. If that magic happens then its cool. That is in the work satisfaction. In the personal I write for me cause I need my own damn healing as well.
MH: I travel around a lot for MightHip and you are known and respected around the country in poetry circles. In fact you seem to be the top dog or at least in the top five in D.C. when people think top poets. What is that like superstar status in the poetry world?
P: To be honest I hate it. I don't like attention.
MH: You gotta be kidding.
P: It's so funny, people say "Do you see the work that you are doing?" Exactly, keyword "work". I treat it like a job. I hate attention I don't like being around people.
MH: Do you put up the youtube videos of yourself?
P: No other people do. I don't like listening to my work and seeing myself. I am extremely shy which is also why I don't know how to take compliments.
MH: So wait when I said that to you did you not know that about yourself?
P: [PAUSE] I may. Yes. I do.
MH: [LAUGH]
P: It's not something that I harp on. I don't believe all the time because honestly there are like ten cats that are way better than me.
MH: So when you step on stage for a slam are you not trying to slay and think I want all 10's.
P: I'm past that now. When I was younger and using that to mask my own insecurities maybe. But now when I have confronted my insecurities and I am very honest about that sh*t. Now its more of a place where I am trying to connect with people. If I connect I connect if I don't I don't. Especially with slam the competition, it is extremely fickle.
MH: Yeah you can get cheated.
P: At one venue you get 10's and at another you get 5s and 6s. If you let that get to you, it's gone f#ck witchu. I had to learn that the hard way. Them scores don't matter at the end of the day. Those 6s and 5s from those random people that you are never going to see again but you have that one woman or one man that comes up to you after and was like "I needed to hear that." Like, if it wasn't for this, this would have happened. That's the best score right there!
So that's where I am at now. A lot of these kids that I mentor are hella good right now. In about two three years they are gonna surpass all of us. I work hard at this and I look back at yesterday like it never happened.
MH: So what is the next level after this?
P: I am trying to get back to playwriting. My first piece of art was writing plays and play acting from a young age. Poetry just found me in high school and kinda took over my life. I wanna do plays and maybe go back to music. A fusion of the three. I am trying to do this travelling school thing. My biggest dream is to own my own school. A performance art school or a school that teaches everything in life through performing arts and imagination. A Charles Xavier school for gifted youngsters but the power is their imagination.
MH: Finish this sentence for me, "Beauty is..."
P: In the eye of the beholder. [LAUGHS] Beauty is an act of radical self love.
MH: So just to make sure you are not telling people to go out and masturbate a whole lot. Expand. [LAUGH]
P: Right. Right. Right. When you love yourself. When you love you. Everything about you holistically. Physical, mental, spiritual, emotional level and you have the awareness and the maturity of those aspects of your life and you know to nurture your light. Take care of your different energies and different points of your chakras. Understanding yourself within so that you can understand the world outside better and know how to interact with it. Understand how it interacts with you. That's when you find the beauty in things. That's when you find the beauty in yourself and the beauty in others. Even the beauty in the darkness. That is beauty for me, it is an act not a spontaneous thing. A diligent act. A choice.
There are people who have deemed things beautiful and not. People who say coarse hair is not pretty. Wearing certain kinds of clothes is not classy. Classy is just another word for beautiful. Everything is about aesthetic and keeping it that way. Speaking this way is not beautiful. Acting this way is not beautiful because it is not proper, it is not western. It's not European. It's not white, are a lot of the standards applied throughout this World. We have to adhere to this gendered, male-centric white European system of beauty. That's why when you find that radical self love, don't nobody can tell you nothing.
MH: Since you brought it up let me ask you something. Black beauty and the perception seems to be changing in mass media. For example the sistah, actress Lupita you know her...
P: Yes
MH: She is getting all this press. She is getting recognition for her beauty from white people. Are they fetish"ing" us?
P: When aren't they? [LAUGH]
MH: I don't know, I kind of think they are really acknowledging our forms now. It is not the Halle Berry beauty, this is the more African image the non light skin recognition of beauty now a days.
P: There are certain levels of genuine appreciation. I am not discounting that at all. For the most part there is still a more prevalent rate of the fetish-sizing. Especially when it comes to the black body. That's been around for thousands of years. It's still going to happen because when it comes to the white gaze it is always going to be with this envy. Always. Why is this like this? How is this like this? Instead of those types of questions coming from an empathetic active listening and understanding place. It comes more from a "dissective" place. Like, "Oh my gosh what can I do with this?" or "What can this do for me?". "How can I acquire this and make it mine?" Versus "How do I appreciate it for what it is and celebrate it?"
MH: Well said.
P: You get a lot more of the former than the latter. It's very mean, it's very cruel. That's where you get these whole aspects of racism and class and gender and all these different kinds of things that try to knock down that beauty. If I can't have it then no one else can. So what systems can I put in place to knock that down.
MH: You are very intellectual. Is that from your parents, the travelling, your contacts in school, what?
P: All of it. I am an amalgam of the many lands and territories and atmospheres and people that I have been around. I have been blessed in that way. There are kids I know here that have never been past the ten blocks that they live in. I'm talking from the suburbs to the hood.
MH: Or they go to Jamaica and don't leave the confines of the hotel.
P: Exactly. They want 1-800-Sandals Jamaica.
MH: Would you shoot the sheriff or would you shoot the deputy?
P: I don't like guns. I don't want to shoot nobody. I'd put a gun to they head and say, "we gonna sit down and talk about this." That's what we're gonna do. I might shoot you in the kneecap.
[WE LAUGH]
MH: Thank you for this interview.
P: Appreciate you man.
http://www.pagesmatam.com/
Editors Note: Support by purchasing his book "Heart of a Comet"