Theatre for the Free People

Celebrating the work that I do! This workshop was conducted at The Brecht Forum with a group of young black men, exploring the Prison Industrial Complex.

Theatre For The Free People from Joi Sears on Vimeo.

I am thankful for your comments!

King of Pop

I hadn't had the opportunity to properly CELEBRATE the King of Pop because I was off to Africa the day after his passing.. But no matter where I went the world was paying homage to Michael Jackson! Amsterdam was on a sick MJ kick and it seemed that everywhere I went someone was playing this song: "She wants to get it.." So I thought I would share it with you! We Miss You Michael!

W - New York

It is like I woke up this morning and realized how much I loved New York. New York and I have been engaged in the most serious love-hate relationship for the past six years but he knows he will always have my heart. I thought I would just take the time to highlight one of my favorite places in the City.. The W Hotel.

There are a few W New York hotels in the city, each with their own personality. My favorite is the location on Lexington on the East Side. My undergrad dorms being a few blocks away, I would often escape here for a day at Bliss Spa.

It became like my own private oasis away from the noise of the city and the stress. The steam room in this place is heaven sent. I can't count how many hours of my life I spent in there. After operation-relaxation is complete, I like to go down to the lobby of the W Hotel and have a cocktail. I certainly suggest if you are making a trip to the city or are just looking for a relaxing weekend retreat, you should indulge yourself.. this is definitely the place to go. Did I mention they have the most comfortable beds.. EVER?

Brotherhood Sister-Sol

Yesterday I had a beautiful meeting with a young brother by the name of Orisanmi Burton at the Brotherhood Sister-Sol organization in Harlem. They are doing some AMAZING things over there. Brotherhood/Sister Sol offers a safe space full of the resources for Black and Latino youth to speak their minds, acquire knowledge and skills, explore their identity and beliefs, and receive support to make their dreams reality. Their programs and activities - mentoring, leadership development, international study, academic tutoring, internships, community service, job training, writing collective, youth organizing - provide these young people with the knowledge and skills necessary to understand and overcome the negative pressures of poverty, racism, drugs, and violence.

Check Out This Piece: Black Boys Don't Cry: Manhood in Urban America


Check out their International Study Program:

International Study Program--Our International Study Program is a natural continuation of our emphasis on leadership development, Pan-African and Latino history and culture, and global awareness. It is a year-long program with an intensive four-week study program conducted in Africa and Latin America. Our members expand their horizons, develop leadership skills, and gain new and complex perspectives. Language classes, research projects, exploring cultural sites, completing service projects, and visiting NGOs and schools are some of the activities members have experienced in Morocco, South Africa, Mexico, Egypt, Ghana, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and Brasil.

Prior to the trip, participants fundraise to help offset program fees and participate in regular planning meetings, as well as attending a week-long orientation. While overseas, participants begin to learn the language of the country they are visiting, meet with representatives in government, business, education, and community development, and have extended stays in rural villages or small towns. They also plan and facilitate seminars, undertake extensive research and make public presentations

Check out their blog: RealityCheckOnline

LivingHomes

If you don't like your neighbors, pick up your house and move! One thing very little people know about me is that I am very interested in Interior Design and Architecture. I have been following LivingHomes for quite some time and am so intrigued by the concept of a Green, sustainable, virtually portable home. You buy the land and they will bring you your house.

LivingHomes builds homes that are created by world-class architects, which feature warm, modern design, functional amenities, and great price value. Their homes include natural, non-toxic and sustainably-derived materials; and they're made in specially equipped factories that ensure unsurpassed quality, lower construction cost and waste, and shorten schedules. The result of all this: healthier, happier homes that have a dramatically smaller ecological footprint than most new homes. If this sounds interesting to you, I encourage you to visit their website.. you can even design your own virtual home on the site.

Charlotte Olympia Pumps

These Charlotte Olympia pumps are Haute.. and by Hott I mean bangin!



These gorgeous striped wedge "genie" pumps are available from Florence via Luisaviaroma which offers worldwide shipping if you have the loot to throw down 882 Euro.. ($1,255) *sigh* another beautiful item to add to my vision board! Check out these other beauties as well... P.S. My name is Joi and I am a SHOE-A-HOLIC.

Three Things I Miss About Amsterdam

After looking through some of my iPhone pics today on the subway.. (I have over 600 iPhone pics) I started to realize how much I miss Amsterdam!! I am so THANKFUL for having the opportunity to go there. Three things I miss the most:




Yes friends.. These are French Fries.. Dutch famous French Fries to be exact. Fully loaded with cheddar cheese and ketchup mmmmmm. I think one day this was actually all I ate and this was a medium! Just imagine what a Large looks like. The day I took this pic I got an order of these bad boys, a bottle of icy cold water, a fat juicy brownie and sat in Dam Square and people-watched.. Ah! Nostalgia. What I would do for an order of Dutch famous fries like right now.




My mouth is watering just looking at this delicious pancake.. Or PANNEKOEKEN as they say in Dutch. (see my fabulous bi-lingualism coming out <--P.S. Only Dutch word I know.. oh wait "Goedemorgen" means "Good Morning".. Go figure! Anyway, top this bad boy off with some powdered sugar and some syrup.. *runs away from computer to start packing for Amsterdam*




Third thing I miss most about Amsterdam is AMSTERDAM! The canals.. The cute little houses.. The friendly people.. The shopping... Haarlem! LOL I think it is so funny that there is an Amsterdam in Harlem, and a Haarlem in Amsterdam.. but I have a feeling that only amuses me ;-/ I just can't wait to get back there.
-- Post From My iPhone

A Green Apple

It was probably about this time last summer that I attempted my first demonstration of the Law of Attraction. I decided to ask for something small, but something that I would not normally get for myself so that way I would know for sure that it worked. I decided to attract a Green Apple. Not just any Green Apple, but the most delicious Green Apple that I had ever tasted. You can ask my mother.. I am certainly not one to go around willy nilly purchasing fruits and vegetables for myself (even though I do enjoy them) but one might say I could have easily just walked into any grocery store and bought a Green Apple.. case closed. But I didn't want to buy a Green Apple.. I wanted someone to give me a Green Apple for FREE.. with little to no effort on my part.

This may seem odd.. who would go around just giving delicious green apples away? C'mon I live in Harlem.. that type of thing may just get you shot! (just kidding) But I just held steadfast to my vision of a Green Apple. I imagined the size of the apple, how big it would be in the palm of my hand. I even imagined how the apple would taste in my mouth.. how juicy it would be. I created the image and I let it go.. never thinking of it again.

I'd say about week later on a sunny Sunday afternoon, I went on a walk to meet a friend of mine who lived in Harlem. As he was like a super vegan health nut.. and a straight black guy.. how random :) he was going grocery shopping and asked me to come along. Sure 'nuff not after a few mins. of wandering around Pathmark and him schooling me on healthy eating, he picked up a shiny Green Apple and asked if I would like for him to buy it for me. <<---- BEST APPLE EVER!! I wish I could remember HIS name or number.. but that's a different story.

Which basically brings me to my point that in order to get what we want we have to learn how to think a different way. You must know what you want and be specific and definite. You can never get rich or start the creative power into action by sending out unformed longings and vague desires. I wanted a delicious green apple.. not an apple. I knew how it felt in my hand.. I knew how it tasted. If you were going to send a text message to a friend, you would not send the letters of the alphabet in their order and let him construct the message for himself, nor would you take words random from the dictionary. You would send a coherent sentence, one which meant something. That is how you must communicate with God! Be specific and definite. That is why vision boards are so effective! Imagine your dream home. Cut out pictures. Imagine yourself walking through the rooms.. cooking things in your dream kitchen.

AND!!! Do not hesitate to ask a lot from the God. People look at poverty as if it is a part of the plan, a necessity of nature. They have the idea that God has finished his work, and made all that he can make, and that the majority of people must stay poor because there is not enough to go around. <---NOT TRUE! The Universe is infinite! There is more than enough for everyone!

In order to create "something" out of "nothing" a person must pass from the competitive to the CREATIVE mind. Others may not allow you to go on, become something NEW.. but your CREATOR does.. and we are here to CREATE. You must form a clear mental picture of the things you want and hold this picture in your thoughts with the fixed PURPOSE to get what you want, and the unwavering FAITH that you do get what you want, closing your mind to all that shakes your purpose or dims your vision.

Pray the Devil Back to Hell

This is an amazing film that Culture Project has screened in the past and might possibly be a part of our upcoming Women Center Stage programs. I encourage you to check out the trailer below:




Pray the Devil Back to Hell chronicles the remarkable story of the courageous Liberian women who came together to end a bloody civil war and bring peace to their shattered country.

Thousands of women — ordinary mothers, grandmothers, aunts and daughters, both Christian and Muslim — came together to pray for peace and then staged a silent protest outside of the Presidential Palace. Armed only with white T-shirts and the courage of their convictions, they demanded a resolution to the country’s civil war. Their actions were a critical element in bringing about a agreement during the stalled peace talks.

A story of sacrifice, unity and transcendence, Pray the Devil Back to Hell honors the strength and perseverance of the women of Liberia. Inspiring, uplifting, and most of all motivating, it is a compelling testimony of how grassroots activism can alter the history of nations.

Anna Deavere Smith on Oprah's Power List

Anna Deavere Smith number #1. on Oprah's first ever Power List.. WOOT WOOT!


So I'm not as Obsessed with Oprah as certain gay-guy friends of mine.. but it's Oprah.. c'mon. Isn't she like the mother of the Universe err.. something. So of course I was happy when my mother told me that Anna Deavere Smith was one of 20 remarkable visionaries who Oprah was honoring for flexing their muscles in business, finance, politics, justice, science and the arts.

I have truly learned a great deal from Anna Deavere Smith. Not only has she been an incredible teacher to me, but she has been an inspiration and a light in my life. A couple months ago she invited me to come and greet some of her VIP guests at a show she was doing for the World Science Festival. The show was called "Watching Wilson and Watson and the Future of Life on Earth". I am continually amazed at her brilliance, and her ability to play multiple characters Flawlessly. I saw her later that evening at the cocktail reception at the end of the show and I just smiled, cried, and hugged her. I felt that her success was my success and I was overwhelmed by how much of a remarkable woman she is.

As a performer, I believe that Anna Deavere Smith was able to bring something very special out of me on stage.. a part of myself that I had never met. She was intrigued by my emotional range, and the fact that I could "cry on cue".. (something that I have practiced my entire life.. just ask my Daddy). She even cried with me when I told her of how much I LOVE the Theatre and the way that such exciting things happen there..

..and of course she partnered me with my Twin Marion! (see earlier post from France)

She has been hailed "the most exciting individual in American theater", and as her biggest fan.. I have to agree. (I may have some exciting news coming up involving ADS and the New York Times but we will just have to wait and see..) Here she is!

The Power of Loud: Anna Deavere Smith
Actor and playwright

You've seen her in Nurse Jackie and Rachel Getting Married, but Anna Deavere Smith isn't just an actor. Her one-woman plays (next up: Let Me Down Easy, premiering in New York in October) are a form of theater unto themselves, brilliantly conjuring the voices of real people. Speaking of voices, we asked Smith what happens when you turn up the volume:

August, circa 2000, not far from Monte Carlo, at a rehearsal for a concert. The stage—outside in the bright sun and naked except for masses of tangled wires—was on the French-Italian border. Literally straddling the border. Workmen were setting up for a soloist who would sing that night. I was sitting in the bleachers, enthralled. Suddenly a fast-moving train loudly zoomed through on its way from France to Italy. I put down my espresso. Would that train be going through during the concert? Whose idea was it to put a singer in the middle of a train route, anyway?

That night, when the great soprano Jessye Norman stepped onstage, exhilaration was followed by one engulfing human hush. Just at a peak moment, I heard that train approaching. Jessye Norman's voice shut it down.

We don't all have the ability to sing out over a racing train, but we do have the power to speak up—and out. A voice can get a party started, shout down opponents, or lead a country. Vocal cords are like any other part of your body. They are there to be worked.