Corina's Mexico Experience

So we went to mexico with Maria. Twice. We went at night when we visited some amazing people who are doin amazing work. And again the next day when we walked to the border, paid 30 cents and crossed over the bridge from El Paso, Texas into Juarez, Mexico. It was amazing for me to see all of the revolutionary artowrk that was done along the border. It truly is another world down there. When we got in Juarez we were greeted by many people who were workin hard on the street to make ends meets, selling candy, jewelry and other goods. These are beautiful people who are struggling much due to capitalism, and many other forms of oppressions that have worked to destroy the Mexican people. Our host, Maria, lead us aroudn the city, through the markets and the store. We ate and were waitedon by a beautiful and sweet teenage girl who was laughing as some of us struggled to order our meal in spanish.

Maria was telling us about the dissapearances of the women in Juarez. Thousands of women in the recent years have disapeared to late be found raped and dea near the border. These women are young, Mexican workers in the Maquilladores (sweatshop factories) that have over powered and over populated Juarez. These maquilladores were built in the 1960s as an alternative tot he border worker act. Where Mexican workers were previously allowed into the US to work long hours on short visas, these Maquilladores allowed the US coporations and buisnesses to build their factories on Mexican land and pay there workers a fraction of what they had previsouly been forced to pay them when they worked in the US. These women workers that are disappearing are not going unnoticed, no matter how hard the Mexican government tires to hide. While we were walking we passed a few of the memorials for the women; a pink square painted on a surface with a black cross in the middle. This got to me, becuae these women are my age, and rape is used universally as a way to degrade, dehumanize and destroy a culture. These missing Mexican women are peoples daughters, sisters, wives, mothers, girlfriends, lovers and friends...and they are gone. It makes me sad and mad at the same time.

So after our lay in the bordertown of Juarez, we started on our way back, payin the 30 cents to get back over the bridge into El Paso. We had to wait in a line where we were right next to about 100 male deportees from aroudn the US being deported back into Mexico. These men were being forced to all fit in a small trailer with no air conditioner or air flow, on a day that was unbearibly hot, with temparutres at least 105. They were tagged on their arm and mistreated by the guards. They were stripped of their personhood, and made into animals being hauled to the farm. That scene was disturbing to see the mistreatment of "illegal people." No human being is illegal, no matter where they are from or where they live in the present; no human being is illegal. Maria was really upset by the whole scene, because for her this really hit home. She is from El Paso and grew up on the border and she knows whats its like to live in the border community.

To end this blog I want to say that my experience in Mexico made we want to organize outside of our border...sin fronteras..no borders. We should work to learn, connect and work with others that live in another community. When we tear down physical borders we are able to tear down the borders of hatred. So, work on yourself as a bordertown, and see if you can break down your own border. Thank you to all of the amazing people in our stay in El Paso, in Mexico and on the way there.



--
One Struggle. One Love.

El Paso helped us get back on the road.

I'm on the bus across from J-man and Corina. Their working on Corina's computer. Cuttz just woke up and is scrambling for whatever food and drink he can find. Graham, Free and Decora are sleeping while DJ H20 drives. We're officially in the desert. The heat is beating down and I'm trying to stay as hydrated possible. We're on our way to an event in Phoenix, Arizona after having spent a few days in El Paso. Originally we'd planned to perform in Juarez and then drive down to Chihuahua, Mejico. Due to extensive flooding caused by heavy rainfall in Juarez the event had to be canceled. In addition, we'd run out of money for food or gas. So inevitably we decided to do some fund raising in El Paso to help us get moving forward. Monica (our San Antonio, Hondo, Juarez and El Paso connection) hooked us up with a place to stay (her brother's house) some food and pretty much anything else we needed. With her help we were able to book a couple of last minute events (DJ H20 dance parties and short performance) that made us enough money to get back on the road. Local organic food shops donated some food too.
Our first event was at the Percolator in El Paso. There we hosted a dance party and short performance. As soon as we were done we headed to another venue called the Black Market. DJ H20 tore it up with both sets. He was even dancing in the DJ booth at both venues. Decora stood outside where he asked for donations for the DJ while we had a table set up inside selling CD's and accepting donations as well. Overall it was an amazing night and couple days that had us all coming together trying to make dinero to get us back on the road.

Sitting in El Paso

I'm sitting in El Paso, Tejas. I'm sweaty like a puppy that's too stupid to realize that his tail is never going to detach from his body. More tired than than a kid thats had waaayyy too much cake a bday party and decided that he wants to do just one more lap in the pool. But that's what being on tour is all about. It's about not caring how you feel and doing all you can to set a microphone that hasn't done anything to you on fire. As you may have noticed I am very behind on blog entries. It's been a busy few days and I have a Queen ill back at our kingdom. I will do my best to push these blog entries out like refried beans from a Tex-Mex restaurant (it's funny because they make a lot of refried beans...come on people follow me I won't let you down.
The next day in Houston I woke up with Manchita (my quadruped girlfriend...S's dog kept laying next to me) chilling next to me on the hard wood floor that I claimed as my bed. Graham's feet were to the left of me and according to him I played footsie with him all night. In reality every time I'd move my leg some how our feet would meet and I'd reverse punch the floor out of despair. That past night is yet another night that I won't mind forgetting lol. S and her sisters came out of their room and they and Graham made breakfast. They made some great food and a Pico De Gallo that would smack the smile out of any unsuspecting hot food aficionados. One taste of that in the morning equals 10 cups of coffee. Your eyes are open until they can be open no more. S mentioned that her sister had made it and that she chilled with the hotness since we weren't used to it. DAMN! I wonder what it would taste like if she hadn't recalled that our tongues were made of flesh and not steel. After breakfast S asked if anyone wanted to go with her to run some errands. Everyone had gotten themselves set in their work so no other me signed up. S smiled when she realized that not everyone wanted to go and mentioned that her mother didn't want anyone in the house without S being there. She mentioned it and then we laughed as we joked about her hopes that we'd all want to sign up to go run errands lol. We decided that we'd go to the local YMCA for a few hours while S did her thing. We prepped and embarked on our journey to the YMCA.
On route to the "Y" the rain came down like it was angry at everyone on the Highway. We quickly realized that the damage we had sustained the night before (we ran into the Tex-Mex restaurant's roof) had created a leak. Well actually it was more like a little waterfall. The interesting thing about it is that as it hit the engine cover on the inside of the bus it emitted the not so sweet smell of cat urine. Who knew that a hot engine over and rain water would cause such a stench on a bus with 8 persons. But it did...ohhh it did! Fortunately, by the time we had gotten to the YMCA the rain had stopped. Most piled out and headed to the Y while Decora and J-man stayed behind to work on repairing the artificial waterfall. Cuttz and DJ H20 practiced Capoeira, Corina, walked around, and Graham steamed himself while Free and I allowed wireless internet to flow freely into our computing systems. In other words we had some work to do online. This Y was niiiizzziice. They even gave us some Free ice cream which put them on Free's top 3 places to go under hair braider and performance venues. Decora and J-man got there later when we had to head out. Decora wasn't happy because he wanted to do his workout going but we had to go since S and her mother asked us to pick up some chicken while they cooked some comida.
We brought the chicken and they had the rice and refried beans going just like I had dreamt of. Needless to say I was hungry and the feeling was mutual. Free cooked the chicken and when she was done we all got our eating thing goin. Some chicken, rice, refried beans and Pico De FIRE... I mean Gallo later we were "red" to go. We got to "Bohemios" (the venue we were performing at) and were ready to set the mic ablaze....until the host said he wanted to cut our set to three 15 minute intervals. Say WA!!! we attempted to negotiate one 15 minute and a 30 but wasn't having it. He said that he was a slam poet and that his poems were 3 minutes long. We said that we weren't there to slam and that we create a dialogue with the crowd (Edutainment) before our pieces and perform Hip Hop as well. I sat down while Free spoke to him and told S about our situation. She freaked....stood up and walked over there with the strength of her corazon (heart) and spoke with the host. Lupe later got involved and the set was confirmed...one 15 and one 30. We opened up with a few pieces and I improved a funny Intro poem promoting the tour and our merchandise. We needed the help because we were running low on the dinero. Afterwards the poets of the "Word Around Town" fam came strong again and had the crowd amped. At the end we wrapped up with our 30 mins set and called it a night with a standing crowd that clapped as we spoke of how beautiful we all (as a people) are and that all we need to do is connect with each other to free ourselves from mental slavery. Deep huh? Soon after DJ H20 did what he does and some boogied while others break danced (this is when I realized Marlin was more than a breaker he's a creator) and even still others Capoera'd. The Word Around Town fam and the Front Lines Tour crew chilled and chatted for a while until it was time to hit the road again over to S's house.
When we got there Graham, Cuttz and S headed out again cause their adrenaline was still pumping and Steven one of the Word Around Town poets had offered to give us some gas money since we had gone to pick him up to take him to the event. He was a real cool dude and poet (he even finished one of his poems while on the bus) that kept telling me to find him after midnight cause that's when he'd be getting paid lol. While they headed out to chill with Steve the rest of us got ready to hit lay our heads down to rest. S's family was wide awake so Corina and I stayed up with them hablando. During the day Manchita (the dog) was caught being violated by a neighborhood dog so that was one of the big subjects of the night lol. S's sisters also asked questions and DEMANDED stickers lol. It's amazing how much teens love stickers. From now on parents just get them some stickers for Christmas...don't tell them I recommended it though. After we chatted up the night we all headed to bed. Then I heard the family laughing in the kitchen and heating up some comida...suddenly I was hungrier than I was sleepy. I walked in the kitchen and they laughed as they placed a plate of rice and uncooked bananas in the microwave for me. I had never eaten rice and uncooked bananas before but it was gooooood. After I finished up my newest favorite dish (next to anything Mami or my Queen Sofia cooks for me) my head plopped down on the solid wood floor like it was the softest pillow I had ever felt and my eyes slowly shut. We woke up the next morning prepped to leave and headed out.
We'll all miss S and her family. S always has a smile on and no matter what happens all is chill. Her sisters made us laugh as they talked about their many sibling battles. S's mom made some AWESOME food and her bf even recited a poem to us about home that reminded us to keep home in our hearts. We're all very greatful for the time we spent in Houston with S and her family and appreciate all of their love and hospitality.
Hasta La Proxima!
-Latin

Texas Is It's Own Country!

It's been a while since the last blog entry due to our extremely busy schedule.
So much has happened and to write all of it down would require an entire book. Actually, a series of books to be exact. We've met and been embraced like a family by many beautiful and kind people. Heard some amazing lyrical artists on every stop. Seen breathtaking sights and eaten some of the best Tex-Mex food we could find in all of Texas. We've been continuously moving, pushing, performing, and the only small breaks we've had have been to get a little sleep in order to prevent the insanity caused by sleep deprivation. Crowds have been moved, children have been educated and in turn we've been blessed with both as well. Our blessings here in Texas have been numerous. In an effort to keep you all updated and maintain an adequate space I've decided to condense Houston, San Antonio and Hondo in to one entry.
In Houston we met up with S. She's a student at El Paso but she lives with her family in Houston during the summer. She was born in Mexico City and her and her mother moved to the states when she was a little girl. Now at 19 she is constantly under the threat of not being able to live in the U.S. any more. Every year she has to re-file and pay ever increasing fees per document filed. Hearing her story and how after all that her and her family has been through she might have to be sent away was heart breaking. This is just one story of thousands that occur on a daily basis. Stories of people that work their lives away and are then told they are no longer wanted by the government. As Cuttz says "immigrants are the arteries that pump blood into this nation".
We caught up with S outside of Notsuoh's (Houston backwards...get it???lol) a couple hours before we were set to be on stage. We actually thought we were late but when we got there we were all relieved to know we had some time to breathe. While we were breathing we all decided that it would be cool to experiment with our set. The event was a stop of the "Word Around Town Tour" that a collective of poets in Houston was putting on together. The goal of the event is to bring together a group talented poets under one roof at a number of different venues. One of the poets (Lupe) mentioned that there was a divide in the Houston poetry community and that their goal was to bring poets and their words together under one roof to show that with unity comes beauty. They've been putting on this tour for a few years now and each their success with uniting local poets increases. Being that the event was predominantly for poets and those with a love for Spoken Word we decided to switch up our set and rock it acoustically. We stepped outside the venue for a bit where Cuttz and DJ H20 tuned their guitars and experimented with some sounds that we'd might be hearing that night. After a couple run throughs we decided we were ready and headed in to hear some of Houston's most gifted wordsmith's. One by one they blew us away reminding each of us that words have the power to move. When it was our turn the Word Around Town (WAT?) familia and the crowd showed us plenty of love. We did our thing one by one but this time rather than have DJ H20 do his thing on the turntables he did it with the guitar. As he strummed the guitar like it deserved we rocked out on the mic. The crowd bopped their heads and clapped in unison as we went through our final tracks. As soon as we chatted it up the Word Around Town crew and headed to a Tex-Mex restaurant for some comida. When we got there in the process of parking the bus Decora accidently ran into the top part of the restaurant's roof. Fortunately, Lupe was kind enough to take care of the damage for us. When I learned about this it almost brought tears to my eyes. He barely knows us and yet he was kind enough to do something like that. That my friends is a person with a beautiful heart.
We all walked into a restaurant and filled a bunch of tables put together with more than 20 people. All talking about poetry, Houston and that night's event. Free and I chatted it up with Marlin (I later realized he was the greatest break dancer I've ever seen) and Lupe while everyone else chatted with others. This is when I realized that Lupe and Marlin were two of the coolest dudes I'd ever met. Lupe is a teacher and Marlin is a Social Worker. Both are humble, hilarious, lyrical scholars and overall great genuine human beings. They talked to us about the great divide that exists in Houston. Each ethnicity has its own clearly separated community. It's defacto segregation (segregation based on where you live not law) at its most defined state.
After our convo and the great food the Front Lines Tour said goodbye's and headed towards S's house. She got on the bus and guided us as she pointed out things on the way and further explained the division in Houston. We were all exhausted but we had to get gas because it was close to empty and we saw a cheap deal that we couldn't turn down. $3.80! To think that $3.80 can be considered as cheap gas nowadays is amazing to me. I recall when the most expensive gas I had seen was 3.90 and that was high up on route 1 in California. Never again did I see that price anywhere in the country until recent days. The time I saw that price was years ago while on our first U.S. tour .
Day 2 of Houston is next.

BTW... I'm currently in a cafe called Perculator in El Paso. We've run out of money and need to get to Arizona next. The past 2 days have been a scramble with all of us working and thinking up way to make money. We made 35 bucks yesterday but still don't have enough for food or even a sip of gas for the bus. Fortunately, our San Antonio, Hondo and El Paso hook up has us set up at her bro's house. The people at Perculator were cool enough to let us host a party here to raise some money. However, due to the date and time (tonight at 6PM) it doesn't seem like it will be a big money raiser. At this point we could use any cash we get though.

Last Night's (8/1/08) Fundraising

On the bus traveling down a long and lonely road in New Mexico I write you all about yesterdays' fundraising efforts. As mentioned in the previous blogs we a very low on funds and each day finds us working harder to make enough money to get to the next spot. We had hoped that we'd make enough money before the trip so that we could focus on working with communities and performing. However, that wasn't the case. In reality we were only able to raise a fraction of the amount that we needed for this trip. When we realized our situation back home it wasn't a difficult decision to make. Go anyway! Go because we will learn more than any classroom could ever teach us. Go because men, women and children are waiting for our words. Go because some of those children will be inspired by our having gone, words or lives. Go because if we do not go and reach out to these communities and help out... who will? Go because our words have the power to create and we as a people must finds ways to do just that in order to counteract the destruction that exists in our world. That's why we spent all of yesterday fundraising. To continue what we've set out to do.
We picked up Jenny (Decora's Queen) in Phoenix the other and set out to to Whole Foods. Whole Foods is an organic foods supermarket that has been donating food to us along the way. Decora had called and the one in Phoenix was nice enough to set us up with a bag of groceries. PB&J here we come! After we picked up the food we headed towards the YMCA we had been at the previous day getting a workout to keep ourselves fit on this journey of ours. There, Graham had spoken to someone about a teen event happening the next day. The organizer of the event said that it would be cool if we came out and had DJ H20 spin with a possibility of a performance to raise some funds.
When we got to the YMCA we set up and DJ H20 started to spin. In the meantime Decora and Jenny headed towards something called First Fridays. First Friday apparently attracts tons of people for various art displays, street performers and vendors. Decora found a good spot for us to set up and we headed over there after the event in the YMCA. Larry and his family came too.Larry is the Couch Surfer that put us up for two nights. Couch Surfing stems from a website (couchsurfing.com) where people connect online and stay at each others places instead of going to hotels. The idea is to save money and also create an interaction where one can learn from each other by "interacting with the locals". When we got to the area where First Friday is held it was packed full of hundreds of people. Decora was there and he guided us to park in front of an art gallery called Inn Studio. The artist's name is Michael David Little and he had some great work on display. People take houses and display their art all throughout the house. It was a pretty cool concept and the streets were lined with other artists doing the same.
We learned that we only had a half hour before the noise ordinances went into effect so we had DJ H20 setup his equipment right in the bus. With one of the speakers blasting outside. While he spun on the ones and two's I hyped the crowd and mentioned that we had CD's for sale and were accepting donations. Crowds surrounded the bus before DJ H20 and I could even set up the equipment. They were all checking out the bus and trying to figure out what was going on. DJ H20 did an amazing set and we both had intermittent crowds surrounding the bus while he DJ'd and I lured them over on the mic. We made some more donation money while there and sold some merchandise as well(CD's and Shirts). The cops came around at 10pm (time noise ordinances went into effect) and told us we had to shut down. We did as soon as we could because there was a "Couch Surfing" party going on a few minutes away. Larry had put us on to it and we figured it could be another fund raising opportunity. Indeed it was. This house was PACKED full of people. Apparently it was a bday party for one of the people that lived at the house and word got around that there was a Hip Hop group from NY soon to be rocking the mic. The DJ there (DJ Noah) was off the chain and soon after we got there he passed on the equipment to DJ H20. He had the people dancing and groovin to his mixes while I (and on occasions Decora) reminded the crowd that we were accepting donations. A couple of hours later we got the crew ready (I gave a shout out to Free while on the mic because she was sleeping on the bus) and had the crowd movin with a couple tracks. While that went on I woke up (accidently scared her too) Corina who helped out by passing around the bucket and collecting money. After our performance we took some showers at that house and got back on the road. This time to New Mexico.

-Latin

Time is Tight...Simple Update (As soon as time allows I'll write detailed ones)

We're in a reeeeaaaaaaalllllyyyyy nice house on the outskirts of Phoenix, Arizona. We're trying to see if we can set up an event for tonight to raise some money to get to the next spot. It's been a tough couple of days money wise and the Arizona heat doesn't help much. The minute we entered Arizona the sun came down and said ; Hey guys...I'm going to be ticking you off the whole time you're in this state...How do you like them apples? Since time is tight and we're all on the grind I'm going to write a basic update of what's been going on. Don't worry (Monica) I'll write a detailed update soon.
So we made it to San Antonio and met up with Monica. She has one of the most beautiful spirits that many of us have ever met. Not once in the time that we met her did she not smile or have an indestructible love for life. She works with the South West Workers Union (a 20 year old Organization that was created to fight for the rights of teachers and has grown to be an organization that works hard for others) under Ruben and introduced us to him so that we could stay at his house. He has a large house that wasn't as hot as it was outside (which all good with me). As soon as we walked in he welcomed us and let us know about his home's Mexican style plumbing (C=caliente H=helado). Soon after Monica re-arrived with some of the best breakfast burritos I've had. For those of you that don't know...Tex-Mex food is the bomb. During breakfast Ruben taught us an extensive After breakfast we all found a spot to chill out it and relaxed until we had to head over to our workshop.
Monica came by and picked us up so that we could head to our workshop. Actually we followed her in our bus. She stopped by the South West Workers Union office to pick some things up and we were back on our way. When we got to the venue Ruta Maya we found a basement packed full of youth. We presented our "Hip Hop and Poetry Save My Life" workshop and had a great time with this particular group of youth. The kids were wise beyond their years and threw out issues that they were seeing in their communities with no problem. When we did one of the techniques we teach (bubble technique) they immediately blurted out phrases that youth their age should not have to be concerned with. Phrases and words like police brutality, poverty, gentrification and others flew through the room we were in with the power of ancestral knowledge. Later on we learned that many of these youth are very involved in their communities working hard to stand up for the rights of su gente. After the workshop we had a few hours to rest before our performance that night.
The performance was at a venue called Cafe Latino. It was a packed house and some amazing artists vocal and musical artists like Vocab and Bombasta blessed the outdoor stage. We performed our set and dealt with some sound difficulties (mics kept giving off feedback) while at it we rocked a live crowd and had a great time doing so. There was an awesome party afterwards that had us all dancing and enjoying ourselves. There was a guy that liked the event so much that during the party he came up to me and said... You guys were awesome. Dude! Your like coffee...I wanna just drink you up! To which I politely answered thank you and slowly walked away lol.
The next day we had an outdoor performance in Hondo, Texas. the stage was setup on a long trailer and it was under the stairs. After the event there in Hondo we headed straight to El Paso which was a loooong drive. At El Paso we were greeted by Monica's beautiful family. The love and warmth that Monica had given us was granted to us by her family as well. In El Paso we realized that we had no money and needed to do so some fundraising. We were fortunate enough to get a couple of events where we made enough money to get back on the road.
This is a quick update to let you all know where we are. Hopefully if we get more time I can write a more detailed one soon. Thank you so Monica and her familia for being the warm beautiful people they are and for making us feel at home from the moment we met Monica to the moment we said good bye. Much amor para ustedes.

-Latin

New Orleans Opened Their Hearts
New Orleans showed Love!

I'm on the bus recalling our stop in New Orleans while Cuttz works on editing some footage, Decora drives, and others get some much needed rest. The air in New Orleans was thick with heat and judging by the wetness of our clothes we were all slowly melting under the sun. After leaving the hotel without the information we'd hoped for we headed towards our host house. There we met Jocelyn. We'd been put on to her through Keifu from N.C. We'd received word that our goal of assisting in the construction of houses would not work out. However, we still had a performance to handle over at the Lion's Den and Jocelyn was the one that hooked us up with it. She works at a local Hooka bar and works with Fusicology. An online org that helps in the promotion of artists throughout the country and soon overseas as well. Be sure to check them out at Fusicology.com. We were all looking forward to a spot where we could take some showers and cool off. We all called off a spot in the shower (1st, 3rd, 5th...) and while one was in the shower others either napped or worked on their computers. I took a much needed nap because "Mr. Grumpy Wumpy" (the man in my head that gets angry when I'm hungry and or sleepy).
After we rested and showered up we searched for something to eat. We couldn't find many spots that served anything other than Po'Boys (Subs, Hoogies) but we finally found a spot that had some good ole greasy seafood. Lee's Seafood...not the cleanest of places but they sure make some good ole spicy cajun comida. After the food we headed back to the place to prep for our performance that night at the Dragon's Den. When we arrived there was some confusion in regards to where we were going to perform. Some said we had to set up our equipment upstairs and others said we had to set up downstairs. Of course we didn't want to haul equipment upstairs to merely bring it back downstairs. So we sat to discuss it with the event "promoter". After 20 minutes of discussing we realized that the promoter was very confused because he kept saying "If you guys want to do it downstairs then fine but we usually do it upstairs". All of us took turns stating that it had nothing to do with us wanting to perform downstairs we just needed to know where we had to set up. An additional 15 minutes after we decided to just set up downstairs and get ourselves going. He kept saying "Fine if ya want to set up downstairs"...so we did lol. After we set up the host got on and mentioned the event and its purpose along with one by one calling up the local performers that one going up before us. The likes of "One Eyed Willie", Cleopatra, Hieroglyphics, Truth and more did their thing on stage.
Afterward we went on and did a set that we'd been working on for a while. Set went great and we sold a bunch of shirts and CD's that we hoped would get us to the next spot. It wasn't much but it was just enough to get some gas in the bus and get us moving to the next spot. While we were packing up and heading out some happy intoxicated folks decided that we were their friends for the next half hour. Except for one...for some reason she hated the bus. She kept "air slapping" the bus and yelling "F$% the bus". Actually maybe she liked us and just hated the bus lol. So some of the drunk males offered to race J-man. J-man accepted and neglected to mention that he'd beaten all of us and ran track in High School. He of course beat them all and we got some footage of the race to show our kids one day. The heat was suffocating and our clothes had become glued to our bodies. We all got on the bus (Jocelyn had come to check us out and now was navigating us back) and headed home.
The next day we get ourselves ready and headed towards the 9thWard. An air of sadness entered our souls as we drove in to the area that had received the most destruction. We drove up to where the levees had breached. From there we could see the destruction. There was still some debris in the area. Homes that once stood now only have a set of stairs and grass the grows tall with the pain of those that are no longer there. At times the silence in the area was piercing. All that could be heard was the sound of hammers and power tools in the distance. Those that can afford it are rebuilding and giving hope for a better tomorrow. Taking a look at the "new levees" we could see that the Marine Corps didn't really do much to make anything better. Instead of making the levees stronger with distinct materials and more powerful as they are in other parts of the world...they made them a few feet higher. It's not a levee...it's a cement wall that's a little higher than the previous one. In fact, the money that was meant to be used to build up the levee was relocated and used to build the border wall via the Rio Grande. Jocelyn had mentioned to us that the 9th ward should not have been populated anyway. It's next to a canal! Normally communities are not built next to a canal because of the possible danger of flooding. As we drove by and saw what seemed to be ghost towns we could see the places where children once ran. The places where families once convened and the where voices could once be heard. They could still be there...
We performed that night at Sweet Loraine's, held it down and headed back to our sauna (hot living room). Graham had disapeared so we had to search for him through New Orleans...we stopped at a bar to order some food that tasted like the cook has a personal vendetta against us. Graham some how appeared next to us, kept quiet and then disappeared again. We called him a couple of times and then somehow found him in New Orleans sitting down and talking with a pianist that was a bit too curious about who was in the bus lol. He kept gazing inside the bus until we pulled away. Graham got in the bus and fell asleep. All I could think of was "Not all who wander are lost".
-Latin

New Orleans
"They never came back after the storm..."

We're in New Orleans and that's what the woman behind the counter of the Avalon Best Western Hotel told us when we asked about the men we'd befriended the last time we were there. When I asked her and the man behind the concierge counter if they knew where they were now they both shook their heads and said no in a solemn tone.
A few years ago when the ReadNex was made up of only Cuttz, Decora and myself (Latin) we went on a tour throughout the U.S.A. We stopped in New Orleans and after telling "the Reverend" (Manager on Duty that day that was also a reverend) about our music and our tour he let us stay at a discounted price. We were later introduced to Joseph (concierge and shuttle bus driver). He took drove us around New Orleans, told us where to go, where to be extra careful and even picked us up. That night, after he drove us back to the hotel we all (Cuttz, Decora, the Reverend, Joseph and myself) sat down in the lobby for hours and talked about society, God, Faith, determination and following ones dreams. When none of us could keep our eye lids open we began to say our good byes. Before Joseph said goodbye to me he looked me in the eyes, pulled out $25 and said that God had told him to give them to me. He said that he didn't know what I'd need it for but that I would definitely need it for something. I was left without words. When I could muster up something to say I said thank you, hugged him and headed to our room.
The next day while on the road our van decided that it didn't want to work anymore. After further inspection we realized that it was the water pump. Fortunately, we were right next to an auto part shop and got the van over there before it decided to stop running completely. They had the parts that we needed and Decora and I decided that we were somehow going to get the pump on with over the phone instructions from his father later from his brother. We spent the entire day there and every now and then the guy in the auto part shop would come out and give us some pointers. He was also kind enough to lend us some tools. We were traveling with extremely limited amount of money so we had to keep expenses to a minimum. In addition, we had to hit the next event in Texas. The guy at the auto part shop had called a well known town mechanic they called "Super Dave". But Decora and I tried to get it the van fixed ourselves in an effort to save time and money. The sun had gone down and the money crept up in the sky when we finally got the broken water pump off. We still had to get the new one on and were having trouble figuring it out. The auto part shop was soon going to close and we were going to have to return the tools soon. Fortunately, the guy told us we could leave the tools somewhere hidden since we were in a bind and that he'd pick them up in the morning. Right before the auto part shop closed "Super Dave" pulled up with his wife smoking a cigarette in the passenger seat. He was was wearing tanned overalls and that had seemingly been soaked in oil and grease for years. It difficult to say whether his hands, face, overalls or shoes had the most oil and grease on them so lets just say he was reeeaaallly dirty. He walked over to the car introduced himself and mentioned that he'd been called but the guy in the auto part shop hours ago and that he'd heard our situation. He'd been there earlier but he'd spent the day working on other cars. His van was similar to ours only his was full of tools, parts, oils and other car necessities. He told his wife what he needed and with cigarette still in mouth she began arranging the tools. As he prepped for work we all worried how much he'd charge us. It was late, he was obviously experienced and we were just a few young out of towners. Within 20 minutes "Super Dave" had the pump on and the van revving. What took Decora and myself to take out had taken him minutes to replace. While the bus revved Decora came up to me and said "ummmm I need those $25 bucks Joseph gave you". I quickly raised my voice and told him "No....Joseph told me I'd need these $25 bucks and I'm saving them for that moment. Decora laughed and said "Yeah...uhh Super Dave is charging us $20 and I say we give him the other $5 as a tip... At first I didn't believe him and then was amazed at what had happened. We all thanked "Super Dave" and he drove off while we stood mystified but what had happened.
This all happened not long before Hurricane Katrina. As we pulled into New Orleans I saw the hotel sign and my heart began to pound. DJ H20 drove in and parked while Decora, Cuttz and myself walked into the lobby with hopes that we'd see either "the Reverend" or Joseph. Part of me didn't want to get off of the bus. I kept thinking to myself...What if they're not there? My thoughts were confirmed and what we had hoped to be a joyous reunion became a quiet walk back to the bus as the three of us made sense at what had just occurred.
Wherever they are...we hope that they are well...and are as blessed as we were the day we met them. They will always circumnavigate our memories as we push forward and follow the teachings they bestowed upon us that night. Because of the words they told us and the situation that we all participated in...we'll always remember "[To] trust that God will guide us in the right direction".
-Latin

ATL HELD IT DOWN!!!
Another crowd moved!

We finally made it to ATL! When we got there we headed straight toward the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial. It was an amazing experience to write the least. To see all that he had to deal with and the exhaustion he must have experienced was overwhelming. It was a beautiful and inspirational experience that reminded us that the struggle is indeed worth fighting. But it was also a chilling reminder of how far we've come as a people and how long the road ahead of us still is. Throughout the building we read, saw images and even watched videos about his life and all that he did for the civil rights movement of the 1960's and humanity. His words pierced each one of our souls leaving us with a general "watered eyed" feeling that served as a testament of our appreciation for him and all that he'd done. Here was a man that stood when others needed him. A man that spoke when he knew it was necessary. Walked with pain in his legs and even with all of the hatred towards him and his goals he remained peaceful in his defiance of "our sick brothers and sisters". We were honored to have been in a place dedicated to his life and the recollection of his dreams of equality, freedom and justice. For he is the reason that the world exists as it does today.
After our time at the memorial we decided to hit the road towards the venue we were going to perform at. Cuttz was in need of a cell phone because he lost his so we headed to the Sprint store see if they could give him a credit for one.. While he and Free did that Decora, DJ H20, J-Man and myself headed to the sandwich and smoothie spot next door. When they were done we got on the road to hit up the event. Graham had been dropped off because he has a friend in ATL that wanted to hang out with him. When we were all done we tried finding a YMCA before we hit up the event to take some showers but we had no luck finding it and kept driving around ATL. We decided to just hit up the venue and get set up. We headed towards the Project South headquarters and got there a couple of hours before the event began. There we met up with Corina (our second intern until we get to Salt Lake City) and got our things settled. Corina is also the person that put the event together with Project South. Project South is an organization that has been working with the surrounding Atlanta community for years. It's because of organizations like these that various populations are not forgotten. After we set up we did a mic check and ironed out some aspects of our performance. Corina later held a meeting with all of the nights performers (ABYSS, Big Nel, Black Male, and Sharod Allen) to make sure we were all on the same page. A few minutes before the event began the ReadNex met up to prep and discuss a few aspects of the upcoming performance. Each performer there threw it down with a crowd that was loving every minute of it all. Be sure to check out the Front Lines Tour web page to check out some of the photos.
After everyone went we grabbed some microphones, gathered on stage and had DJ H20 set the tone. Well known tracks like War, Fight The Power, Bigger Than Hip Hop and other tracks by various artists echoed the airwaves and DJ H20 spun back and forth. Each one of us performed and Decora got himself a standing ovation. We wrapped it all up with our track Wade and had a now standing and fully energized crowd clapping and singing along. It was a great crowd and we had a good time with the people at the event afterwards. There were a few requests for internships that we had to turn down due to lack of space on the bus lol. After packing everything up J-man and DJ H20 gave tours of the bus to people while the rest put the final touches on the take down. We made sure we had everything and chilled out for a bit.
Unfortunately, our VIP guest for the night (Kathleen N. Cleaver) arrived after the event ended but blessed us with her presence on the bus for about an hour. It was an inspiration to have her there speaking to us about a number of subjects pertaining to the social situation we and the rest of the world finds itself in. She made us laugh and reminded us that we all have the power to build a better world. It all depends on whether or not a person embraced that power. Afterwards we traveled to Corrina's place, spent the night and hit up a soul food restaurant for breakfast. Food was great but knocked out J-man. We were then on route to New Orleans.-Latin

Kentucky Rocks with the Front Lines Tour!
A few days and an enormous of amount of knowledge

I find myself on the bus alone... typing away. Its 2:48pm in Knoxville, Tennessee and the sun is expressing itself exponentially. The rest of the Front Lines Tour crew is inside "Shoney's" finishing up their lunch. I decided to collect my thoughts and begin documenting our experiences over the past few days. They've been days full of conversations with locals, performances and learning experiences. We've found ourselves looking deep within in order to understand the plight of others in our attempt to make their plights be heard. By doing so we hope that some change may be possible. Many have called our goals as a group idealistic. When I looked up the word idealistic in the dictionary to make sure I had the definition correct, my definition was confirmed. The Oxford American Dictionary defines the word as "the practice of forming or pursuing ideals, especially unrealistically". After looking up the word up in the dictionary I smiled and slowly nodded. Since the inception of humanity plight has been present. Our days are no different from the past. They just seem to be due to our current experience of this day and time. Idealism has often been scoffed at due to the apparent unrealistic views of the idealists. The funny thing is that the reality of the non-idealists is often what is unrealistic.
It was unrealistic of me to believe that I could not go to college and graduate Magna Cum Laude. It was unrealistic to believe that we could not buy a bus and retro-fit it with our needs for a US Tour. It has been clearly demonstrated that it is unrealistic to believe that words do not have the power to move. And it is unrealistic to believe that change is not possible. The examples of why this is true are infinite and would not allow space in between these lines for anything else. All it takes...is a dream....some faith...work and some words.
Now our reality is the reality of others. The other day we arrived in Whitesburg, Kentucky. We got there late due to our being behind schedule (the broken belt incident and other bus maintenance) so we missed our radio interview. However, we got there with plenty of time left to rock out on stage (at the Summit City Lounge) and were told by the locals that it was a radical move for us to have been there. Nick told us that the change would continue for years and that we just wouldn't know about it. He works for Thousand Kites. Thousand Kites is an organization that works towards giving inmates a voice. Its acts a "national dialogue to address the issues of the criminal justice system". Nick is a documentarist that works with the APPAL shop. The APPAL shop acts as place that serves as a multimedia resource for many in the community (especially the youth). There they are able to produce radio shows, documentaries, record, and learn learn learn which is most important. The APPAL shop acts as a place for the youth to walk into a safe environment and leave with works of multimedia art.
After the performance we headed to the apartment that Amelia and her husband Joel so very kindly allowed us to borrow for the night. The next morning we ate breakfast at a restaurant that had opened for the first time two days before. We were better off waiting a few more days till they got their things settled because they weren't doing too well with anything. But our bellies were full and we were "read to go". We met up with Nick and he showed us around the APPAL shop. It's a beautiful space and one can tell they have definitely put in work to keep the place going for about half a century. They're funded by grants and are very big on making connections with others. These are the connections that have kept them going throughout the years. It's a testament to what can be done if we all work together. We talked with some of the people that volunteer there at their radio station, record label and the filming department then checked a documentary. Nick played a documentary that he and Amelia had worked on called "Up The Ridge".
This documentary is all about the U.S. Prison System, it's corruptness and the many lives that it has destroyed. The way these "Super Max" prisons are set up is reminiscent of the slave trade. The state will build a Super Max prison to house all of their prisoners. However, they make them so big that they end up having empty cells. These empty cells mean lost money so the state has to find other ways to fill them up. One way is by "encouraging" judges to increase the sentence of prisoners. Another way is by opening their cells to other states. That way both states make money. States find that it is more beneficial to build large Super Maximum Security Prisons and fill them with prisons than to build and fund the improvement of schools. This is because Super Max prisons make more money than schools. In fact, it's a multi-million dollar business. Some one has to sell boots, weapons, uniforms, food, cells, concrete, security systems, razor wire, vehicles, toilets, clothing, toiletries, televisions, overpriced, phone service, etc. to these prisons. In addition, much of the labor the prisoners do is either free or extremely low paying (going to a commissary account for toilet paper and other toiletries) and then goes to benefit large corporations. For instance, if prisoners make doors they might get paid a few cents and hour. That door however is sold at regular market price.
Each prisoner equals thousands of dollars for the prisons. By sending these prisoners away (transferring them from state to state to fill up prisons) their families are longer able to see them. This along with no educational options further diminishes the prisoners chances of recuperation. Prisoners are sent back and forth on a regular basis with no notice. This further destroys families and creates a increased profit for the "prison trade". In addition, the staff members at these prisons are predominantly white with little training in regards to "peoples of color". All they see day in and day out (due to their small communities) is Black and Brown peoples that are criminals. With no training on how to deal with distinct ethnicities racism kicks in and "peoples of color" find themselves brutalized in place where they are no longer human in the eyes of the staff. The atrocities committed by the prison staff is horrendous. Dehumanization is something that is profoundly practiced in this world of evil for the sake of profit. Many of the staff members find themselves quitting their jobs because they find that the "work" they do is against their morals. Fortunately, organizations such as Thousand Kites work towards giving these enslaved peoples a voice against the evils that they find themselves dealing with. After the documentary all of us reflected on what we had seen and discussed our desire to create a documentary based on the unfortunate truths we see on our journey.
Later on Amelia was kind enough to take time (Owner of Summit City Lounge, Volunteer at APPAL shop and Thousand Kites) from her busy day to show us around. She gave us an in depth tour of the region and answered questions along the way. Some of us had known of the corporate colonization of the Appalachia region by Coal Mining companies but Amelia gave us an in depth up close perspective of the matter. Coal mining companies have maintained a strong grip on the regions for decades and they don't seem to plan on letting go any time soon. They've effectively destroyed much of the environment, until recently refused to admit responsibility for black lung (a disease caused by inhaling coal dust) and have even pushed oxycontin a highly addicting painkilling drug on the people of the drug. In fact, Amelia told us that one of the biggest problems affecting the region is drug addiction to "Oxy" and other pills. Learning about all of this further clarified the truth that we as a people are all suffering similar struggles. They're just a liiiiiiittle different everywhere you go. Amelia even showed us an area on the side of the mountain that had coal that locals seemed to have dug out for their own personal use. There she explained black lung to us and we picked up a few small pieces of coal for ourselves. The views and sights we saw going up and down those mountains were beautiful and left us all pondering how greed could dare inflict such destruction on a region that had naturally developed over centuries. Our final stop on the tour was the coal miners memorial. There we saw a monument remembering those that had given their lives in order to provide for their families. The extraction of black gold had cost not only their lives. It had also left their families with a void that no amount of coal or anything for that matter could fill.
After our tour of the area we dropped off Amelia at her house, picked up some things and headed back to her home for some good ole food and a jam session. DJ H20 set up his equipment, as Graham prepared his recording equipment others tuned their guitars, fiddles and banjo's. We ate and jammed until we couldn't jam anymore. First we had the Kentucky crew do their thing and we did ours (incorporated the two guitars we brought on tour with us). Then we all joined in and had a massive jam goin' on. I even freestyled for a while and made sound effects while Cuttz went from the dome, Free spit her pieces and DJ H20 and Decora kept the vibe DJ'ing. Graham recorded as much of the session he could as he could and pasted instruments to create additional music in his own way. The night ended with all of us being exhausted and the Kentucky crew asking us not to leave. We told them we'd love to but that we had to get on the rode and head to the next stop of the journey. There in Kentucky we were embraced as part of the family thanks to people like Nick, Amelia and Joel. We will forever be thankful for their hospitality and let them know that NY has a few homes for them as well.
-Latin