I'm Creative. Screw the Rest of it.... Right?

MAKING YOUR OWN JOB

CLICK THIS LINK FOR FULL DETAILS

Date:

Thursday, January 26 2012 @ 6:00pm - 7:30pm

Admission

FREE

Venue:

Catalyst Ranch
656 W. Randolph Street Chicago, IL 60611

Presenter:

Front and CenterChicago Public Media - WBEZ 91.5FM

312-948-4600

THIS NETWORKING EVENT WILL PLACE YOU IN A ROOM FULL OF CREATIVES/BUSINESS TYPES AND WILL HELP TO IGNITE YOUR JOURNEY OF PERSONAL SUCCESS.

MAKING YOUR OWN JOB

It's no secret that the World's economy is in the Toilet, and while the most recent reports state that new applications for Unemployment are down this month, that doesn't begin to speak to the Millions of people currently collecting it.

Speaking to the atrocities of an economy in the toilet would just be overkill. Instead, let's begin to focus on what we can do to ensure your own successes in the world as it stands today. Entrepreneurship and small business ownership have been touted as the means to rebuild time and again, across political and socio-economic lines.

There are hundreds of schools of thought to support this, but when you're an artist, non-artisans have a tendency to look at your craft as a waste of time. While movie ticket sales have slowed only marginally over the last few years, fine arts such as orchestral concerts and gallery sales have suffered.

You may be wondering what all that has to do with you.

I'm currently attending the Institute for Arts Entrepreneurship (The IAE www.theiae.com), the only inter-disciplinary entrepreneurial arts program of it's kind in the USA. Only a hand full of other programs like this one exist anywhere else on the globe!

Founded by Lisa Canning in 2011, this program seeks to empower creatives with the savvy and tools needed in order to create a successful arts based business. For a total investment of 2 years, attendees will receive a post-graduate level education that will change their lives.

Notice I said this program seeks to empower Creatives.

Creativity is the Number ONE resource businesses require in this new market. From Fortune 500 companies, to Niche businesses built from your home, new ideas and new ways of thinking will run the economic and business structures of the 21st Century.

Even Collegiate Art Schools and Arts Programs, regardless of the medium, rarely teach the Business side of your craft! In theatre school, they tell you "It's 10% Show and 90% Business,"

but you spend four years crafting and learning the specifics of the "SHOW" part of that equation! You are expected to pick the rest up as you go along. Some of us have the moxie and aplomb to do that without a battle, but for most of us, Right Brained thinking is all we're focused.

I'm Creative. Screw the Rest of it. Right?

Your Achievements are yours to Celebrate, and the stew is actually missing your spice right now. You've got something to contribute that only YOU know how to build, and you're still looking for the best tools to make it happen.

It's like building the perfect Oscars red carpet gown out of muslin because you didn't know where to get the good chenille. I'm just sayin', at some point, you've got to upgrade the tools you're playing the game with to give yourself the advantage.

NOW IS THE TIME TO START YOUR OWN BUSINESS!

You've probably had an idea for something fantastic tumbling about in your head for sometime now, but you don't know exactly how to make it happen. Here's an opportunity for you to change that.

Perhaps you've already begun to persue your dream business, and you've hit to road bumps and are looking for some help Navigating this New Terrain. This Event is for you, too.

Maybe you don't consider yourself a "Creative." You're a numbers and analytics kind of person. How much more valuable can you become by understanding how to think creatively in a market that needs truly Creative Thinkers?

Our skill sets make us valuable. Our ability to Create Consistently make us Invaluable.

On January 26, 2012, the IAE is teaming up with WBEZ and Catalyst Ranch to hold:

MAKING YOUR OWN JOB

CLICK THIS LINK FOR FULL DETAILS

Date:

Thursday, January 26 2012 @ 6:00pm - 7:30pm

Admission

FREE

Venue:

Catalyst Ranch
656 W. Randolph Street Chicago, IL 60611

Presenter:

Front and CenterChicago Public Media - WBEZ 91.5FM

312-948-4600

THIS NETWORKING EVENT WILL PLACE YOU IN A ROOM FULL OF CREATIVES/BUSINESS TYPES AND WILL HELP TO IGNITE YOUR JOURNEY OF PERSONAL SUCCESS.

It will all start with just a single conversation...


See you Next Thursday.

Young Queers, there is too much Fabulousity coursing through your veins.

In light of the recent Suicides of several Gay Teens, I have decided to dedicate this blog to them. Rest in Power, Young Troubadours. Even in this life's sleep, you have inspired many to action on your behalf. My heart Breaks for you even as I Celebrate you.

*SILENCE*

To anyone that reads this that is feeling as they felt... Baby, It Does Get Better. I have been gay bashed, I have been spat at, I have been called more names than I can remember... Starting in Middle school. And like a good little suburban boy, I tried to ignore all the teasings, the taunts; my own feelings. But I got older. I grew up, and I realized that there is a thriving world that loves me; that there are a million different people who dig me for just being me. I have discovered in my life that I have a mission, a purpose. The ME that I am is no accident. Everything that I have experienced is by my own life's design, to provide me with the best, most conscientious ammunition to be able to grow into the most positive, productive, loving, and fabulous me that I can.

I don't know you, but I, too, love you. You too have a marvelous gift to offer the world, even if you have NO idea what that is yet. That's just the details. As my Mother used to say, "Baby, Keep Livin'." You will be amazed at just how wondrous your life truly is. It's a BIG world out there, and if you can just hold on, You will surprise yourself at how strong you will become to get thru it.

You may not believe this now, but the day will come when you need to twirl, or not, and someone will be there to applaud you. Times change, and the day will come when sexuality is viewed with the same nonchalance as fashion, or food choices. What you eat and what you wear are your personal choices. But that fact that you've a cabinet full of Ramen Noodles ain't gone stop you from eating, right? It's YOUR Food. So eat up! And while some will absolutely LOVE how you serve up your chicken dinners, some people will prefer to wear your chicken dinners. (i.e., Lady Gaga's meat dress)

You feel me, Children? Now I don't if you are or aren't an uber-queen, just salivating to wear your first ball gown and tiara, (and there is absolutely nothing wrong if your goal for the next year is to win Mother RuPaul's Drag Race!), Nor are you all super studs waiting to go ultra butch, sag and use your brother's clippers, but I do know that all over-the-top stereotypical gay models don't necessarily fit some of you, and that, too, is perfectly fine. That doesn't make you any less or more a member of the tribe, and gives you neither less, nor more of a right to hide yourself from yourself.

I recently ran into a large group of young queers. Possibly, 18-22, at best. They were cutting up, queening out and just being in general... very... j'ne c'est quois? Well, hell, they were being Loud, Young, and Gay. Now I am of the mindset that that foolywang bullskit has it's place, and amongst your friends, Do What You Do! But just being ignorant for the sake of ignorance just makes you look stupid. Having pride in yourself is about carrying yourself with your utmost best self, putting the best you out for the world to see. Now there are times when we all do the goofy, but I digress.

I pulled the Young Queens and Studs to the side, and gave a brief little tutorial on the Life. Like anything else, honey, the Life has it's rules, it's players, and it's boundaries. Learn them, and learn them well. Anywho! I pull the Young Queers to the side for a little Chit Chat, and they say to me, "We won't be gay forever, we're Christian. we're just doing this for a little while..."

Hmmm...

This brings me back to my original point: No one. No Person, No Situation, No Setback, No Obstacle can EVER determine Who You Are. I am not a Christian, though I was raised one. I practice Nichiren Buddhism, meaning I chant Nam Myoho Renge Kyo. Yes, just like Tina Turner in What's Love Got To Do With It?. I chant because this practice doesn't discriminate. It doesn't tell any person no matter who they are that they are incapable of accomplishing anything that they envision for their lives. Including being in a happily committed relationship with someone of the same sex. This Buddhism, at its core is about each person fulfilling there own dream of unshakable, unflappable happiness; even in the face of life's challenges.

Now I am fully aware that often the mindset of the Church is damnation and hellfire for all LGBTQIA people everywhere, and people can pull out that Leviticus quote til the cows come home, but Jesus loved everyone. No matter who they were, where they from, or who they were sleeping with (Ahem. Mary Magdalene). Hallo? Then of course, there is the story of the beggar woman who touched Jesus hem, and exclaimed: "Oh Thank You Jesus! You Healed Me!"(or something very near to that) To which Jesus replied: "Woman, your faith hath healed you." God said to love thy neighbor, but to love thy neighbor, You got to Love Yourself. Mama Ru says it all the Time! "If you cain't love yourself, how in the Hell you gon' love somebody else?!" I didn't come here to preach about the merits of religion, I use this context to simply illustrate the point that nothing about your present is set in stone, baby. You can change it! It will get better. The rough times will subside, and you WILL find your Happy!

You just have to let that seed grow. Have faith in your own strength. When that seems weak, seek a hand. Seek a friend. If you're feeling like their are none around, just as sure as you can read this blog, you can go to a website dedicated to Gays and Gay Youth.

The Gay Youth Corner: www.gyc.com
QA: Gay Youth Community: www.queerattitude.com
Bonus Round Gay Youth Page: www.bonusround.com/gayyouth/ :An Invaluable resource.

In most large cities, there is some type of gay youth friendly place to go. Even if you have to sneak away to get there, if it saves your life, if it can save someone else's... Just Go. For more information, click the titles for the links.

In Chicago:
The Howard Brown Broadway Youth Center:
3179 N. Broadway Chicago, IL
(773) 935-3151 x 0

The Center on Halsted
3656 N. Halsted Chicago, IL
773.472.6469

In New York:
The Center: The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center
208 West 13th Street
New York, NY 10011
The Center is between 7th and 8th Aves (map)
Phone: 212-620-7310

In Los Angeles:
L.A. Gay Center
www.lagaycenter.org
Youth Program info: http://bit.ly/ctItCg

Trust Yourself Enough to LOVE Yourself
Yours will be a storied Generation.

Changing the World in Five Minutes or Less: A Guide

Last Friday, Approximately 70 people got to witness the World Premiere/Total Run of The FAG-tionary.

That was mad wicked awesome, because it gave me an excuse to get my hair did up in a mohawk/twist/color fab thing that I am still rocking a week later. The irony is, I still have glitter in my hair. A colleague of mine looked at my hair today and started hysterically laughing, just after a woman I don't know stopped me in a elevator to say. "I love your boldness." While the majority of the populace is not walking around with a twist /mohawk/ color fab thing going on, why is this hair causing such a todo?


It amazes me how few people are willing to be the them that they are when nobody's watching when Everyone is watching but not paying attention. In other words when they are walking down the street hiding in a shell of who they think other folks want them to be?!!

All I can say is this, if you spend your everyday looking for approval from the world outside, you will never be happy. Take some time out of your day, and allow yourself to bloom. Like Alicia Keys says at the beginning of her hew album: "And the day came/ When the risk it took/ To remain tight and closed in the bud/ Was more painful/ Than the risk it took to bloom /This is the element of freedom."

Find you in this world of imitation, pretend, stuffed, plucked, wannabe, and shoulda been. This life is yours! Grab it, take it for a spin, and don't stop til YOU get enough. Shakespeare said it best, Children: "This, above all, to thine own Self be True."


Let the church say Amen, and the Kaikon say Nam Myoho Renge Kyo. We'll chat soon kids. Gotta Switch up my look for tomorrow nights Show.

The FAG-Tionary And Alexander McQueen

HOW TRAGIC!!!!!

Just days after the loss of his mother, Joyce, Alexander McQueen was found hanged in his apartment this morning in London. To make it worse, it was at his own hand, apparently. This is the man who reinvinted the heel! A fashion legend and an Icon in his own right.

This man was to the Lady Gaga and SJP (to name a few) what Bob Mackie was to Cher and Carol Burnett. His indellible footprint on the fashion world can never be filled. He inspired many a young seamster and seamstress to pick up that first pair of shears, cut up those drapes and make it into a couture ball gown. Thank you so much for your contribution, Mr. McQueen. This was your soul's contract this lifetime. Even the flashbulbs of the greatest of photographers burn to quickly, and are gone in a flash. You will be missed.

There is no coincidence in this universe, and I am dedicating my next show to the memory of this Gay-con. Tomorrow night, I will be journeying into a world unexplored publically, especially amongst the Black Community. How appropos that in the midst of Black History Month, I will be doing a poetry set inspired by RuPaul and dedicated to Alexander McQueen that indulges in the subject of Black Homosexuality.

Osiris Khepera Presents: The FAG-Tionary!
Friday 2/12/10 @10PM
2257 N. Lincoln
Victory Gardens Greenhouse
$10 cover

Without giving up the Whole Ghost, I just want to let it be known, that there are way to many damned misconceptions about The Non-Hetero Agenda.

First off, We don't really have one! I mean there are some people who want everybody to just be gay, but that's just damned stupid. There are others who want equality on all accords for Homosexual Couples, and that's real. But that's a civil rights issue, and not the purpose of this production. (But don't think it ain't coming up in discussion, Boo.)

This here is a look inside The Life. A chance for those who either look at the Kids and wonder Why?, or for those who look at the Children with love, to walk a mile in my mocassins, and get to know this Incarnation from the inside out. No H8teration in this dancerey, just a bunch a love, truth, and answers to questions you ain't know you had.

See you Friday!

Permission

I move about in a delirium's gaze.

Neither here nor there, yet bound the same.

Traveling with the inertia of lighted footpaths,

I swaddle my yearnings in cloaks.

Cloistered breaths seek less restriction

So my Bantu'd Sistahs can find chill relax

I Speak.

Someone requires voice

Telling the truth for another so Soul's burdens 

Wash like linens in spring

Hung to dry for the world 2 Breathe.

I claim neither perfection nor dissipation

I serve to channel the coming Dawn.

She Speaks.

Her Yesteryears sang of rivers, loosed skins [Shaken], and crystal stairs less Traveled

She Calls.

Griots for this Generation sought

She Yearns.  She Yarns?

Tales need telling and Truths need Yelling.

This magical lilting turns brass to gold

Melts fire; Frosts glacial snows

Indigo 2 Crystal 2 Rainbow

Doors swing open

Mercurial bouts of understanding flutter through passers-by

Like Mental Butterflies

The Tides shift and the diligent are prepared.

Some choose the nocturnal dance of fairy sleep.

Dreams cemented in lackluster non-reality.

Porous ideas taking shape in wet clay;

They wake to mud and cry "foul"

Balance bears shelter gifts that come with no regret

Uninvited, they arrive at the behest of Karma.

Forewarned is so bitterly and so often forgotten.

She Weeps.  

Not to the last.

She weeps in the hopes for 2morrow

"Matter has reached a point of knowing itself... [Man is] a star's way of knowing about stars."  

                                                                          - George Wald, Metaphysician.

REALLY?!?!?! Barack! You got 2 babies.

     I just ran across a story about a ten year old child in my hometown city of Chicago that committed suicide.  At Ten Years OLD!!!!!  Is anyone else shocked alarmed or completely thrown off by this fact?  A 10 YEAR OLD BABY!  Suicide is bad at any age, but damn it Gina, a ten Year Old?!?!  I cannot believe that this child took his own life!  This happened in Evanston, and if I know anything about Chicago area politics, somebody is trying to keep somebody out of trouble.  Regardless this shit just makes no sense whatsoever.  I wish those truly responsible would come forward...  I know his Momma GOT to be sick right now!  I am so angry about this....

      I love how the medical examiners office is expecting us to believe this shit in GP.  Knowing good and well that  (forgive the truth)  suicide amongst boys in the 10-15 age group in highest in little white boys. But, this was a black child in Evanston, and it seems like the M.E. just went back to his standard protocol without so much as looking for another cause, like some ignant little bastards at this boys' school.  The school says they don't even know where this child was supposed to be when he was found dead.  The cause be damned, can anybody explain to me why NOBODY knew, nor noticed, this child was gone?  For Hours?!?!

    Now...  Mr. President, I know you have been officially in office for less than a month, and everything that needs doing is going to take some more time than this to fix,  but we have got to do something about these babies!  I know that I am not alone when I say that Bush's No Child Left Behind policy has done nothing but leave more children lost in the shuffle than it has helped.  Classroom sizes are out of control, teachers are overworked and underpaid, textbooks and digital supplies are all but nonexistent in some cases, and babies are left to die in a bathroom while not a single person notices they are gone.  The implications of what the next generation is growing into incites my ire daily.  We as Americans have GOT to do better.  I can't condone the state of this union.  None of us can.  It's why we hired you in the first place, brother.  Cause your plans are different.  You charge each of us to incite the change that we wish to see, and to Actively Participate in it's creation.  

     Alright.  I accept.  Now can you tell me how we are to fix schools so that my daughter can have an English book to use?  She's in the fourth grade!  Almost the same age as this boy who was killed! And She doesn't have an English book.  She's being tested on mastery of this nation's primary language without a textbook to study from in the process!  Fortunately for her, both of her parents are writers, so she has the opportunity to ask us, and we can assist.  How many of her classmates and grademates the country over don't have that luxury?  She attends a public school because at this point in her life, neither her mother, nor I can afford to just send her to the University of Chicago Lab School.  At $17-22,000 per year, it's a little outta my budget.  But is she to suffer because of the failed policies of your predecessor?  How many other mothers are to receive a call from a coroner saying that their babies just committed suicide? caught a stray bullet? were malled by angry pits? All because this school system as it stands is not giving them the proper tools to be able to arm themselves on all fronts?  

    Like I said, I know you just got into this position recently, and you warned us on November 4 that it would take you a while to settle in and get things going.  I was in Grant Park that night, and I felt your inspiration waft across it like so many auric blankets.  But I just would like to remind you, bruh, that I am your constituent. I know the financial woes of the US are pressing like never before, but...  

    Sidwell Friends is not an option for most of us right now.  Neither is The Lab School, nor its contemporaries.  I need you and Arne, and whoever else you have in Education right now, to get this ball rolling as soon as you can.

I'm out ya'll.

O.

 

Exclusivity Has Its Perks...

      A Lot Late, but damn it, for the first time I truly understand the Cosby Show, Full House, Family Matters, and all those other patrichial families of the 80's.  I feel like I belong to the FatherHood club.  Although most days I feel like Mr. Mom (go figure).  Here it is, whether you know me or not.  I've got a 9 year old.  My kid is discovering the world in a way that I never even thought about when I was 9.  She's got opinions about her clothing choice, her "crushes" in school, and every other thing that makes a father cringe when he realizes his little girl will soon be entering  high school and going to college.  I know good and well that I'm projecting.  I've still got ten years on the collegiate part, but seeing as how I haven't built the coffer to send her to Harvard yet, so I'm concerned.  

      I know I only want nothing but the best for her.  It's remarkably encouraging to honestly discover the thing that makes your sun rise and your moon glow.  Like I said, I'm alot late.  7 years went past and her Mom and I hadn't spoken.  A lot happens in seven years: 'specially those seven.  But here's the thing:  I'm excited to see where the next 70 go, feel me?  I'm in her life now and I plan on sticking around for along time.  

      Maybe I'm not projecting so much as realizing.  It's less than ten years to college, really, and that is going to be an extra mortgage, regardless of where she attends.  My Daughter is mad smart.  I'm not shocked, surprised, or stunned mind, you.  In fact, it's quite humbling.  To know that you have a child that is interested in everything, that has a mastery of a language, and values the same concepts you do is incredibly humbling.    All I know, is that when the time comes, she will have her pick of the best universities in the world.  I credit her mother substantially for raising our child thus far with none of my input, really, and encouraging such a gifted little girl.    This reunion has been a long time coming and I am glad that it is finally here.

      That's my Baby Girl, and I will love her forever.  Even when she brings a boy home for the first time.  Speaking of which, anybody where to get a great deal on a shotgun...?

Anyway,  this whole FatherHood Club.  I find myself these days cleaning a house, doing laundry, cooking meals, and getting my little girl ready for school.  I'm checking homework, making sure projects are finished AND administering discipline when it's necessary.  And I'm looking for a gig.  A job to stack some cheddar while I'm here.  They say you don't understand your parents until you have kids, and by GOD is that true.  I hear myself now saying things that my Mom said to me and I can't do anything but laugh!  How did our parents not laugh at us when they said things that sounded just like their parents?!  It happens.  Anyway.  I'm still new to this life and learning what it means everyday to be a caretaker for somebody else.  I hate the act that my daughter's mother and I couldn't communicate sooner, but what are you gonna do?

C'est la vie, mon cheris!

I'm out 4 now.

-O.

    Amazing