photo by Frank Cone courtesy Pexels
Some of the many creative arts speaking through and to CLP alumni in 2019:
“On day -15,165, I was welcomed into the world at the end of the week, in the middle of the year of the mid-’70s to two loving parents, giants in stature and heart… But this is not about my life from then to day one. It is about my life from day one to day 730…” –Wali Muhammad (Cohort 23) in Creative post 730 Days
“…Wu was the first hip hop that actually made me cry. It was the symphony to my struggles, a stark contrast to the sanitized environment my mom tried to create for us in our home. It told the tales of everything that was happening right outside my door. My rebellion finally had a home; when the Wu tape was popped in, it was like the world outside stopped and we began. Together in the same struggle, the same history, in community, potential, consciousness. I finally felt like I found my tribe…” –Maza Rey (Cohort 23) in The World Needs More Wu-Tang
“I play the steel pans – double tenor – in a group that Debbie Teason, a CLP’er, teaches at the Neighborhood Music School. I love it. It’s a deeply soulful suspension. And it creates a connection with the other people playing. Music is transformative.” –Lisa Anderson (Cohort 8) Interview
“Here’s the thing: nothing makes a kid (who then turns into a grownup) more interested in attending a live performance than having the opportunity to participate in the craft. Nothing turns them off more quickly than telling them: look but don’t touch; listen but stay in your seat.” –Mandi Jackson (Cohort 18) in The Music We Make: Defining Equity in the Arts
“Lunarfest is New Haven’s very own Chinese New Year celebration every February, which I am proud to have founded alongside incredible colleagues and partners throughout New Haven. We grow every year. Please reach out to me if you think there is a way we can partner together.” –Annie Lin (Cohort 19) Interview
“My love of superheroes, combined with my love of art, Puerto Rican culture and a sense of accountability to the greater good, led me to imagine and create my own collection of superhero characters. This exploration and evolution took about a decade-and-a-half to develop, as the time I had for art diminished as other life responsibilities increased. But I’m finally going to share a five-part series featuring my own heroes!” –Malwin Davila (Cohort 8) in Creative post Salsa and Super Powers
“…His doctors know these drugs can create dependency, and aren’t always enough to ease the suffering. So they’re trying something I’ve never seen before… Music therapy has very old roots here in Turkey… It’s extraordinary to see the seemingly sedated man instinctively respond…” –Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Ep. 6 of Chasing Life (CNN), Bridges post
“…the joy of making music is the conversations I can have with the musicians around me, and the only way to create that give and take is through intense listening.” –Deborah Fischer Teason (Cohort 21) Interview
“…related to my core value of ‘self-awareness’ and ‘introspection,’ I am an actor and am really happy to have gotten back to it recently. Theater has always challenged me to go inwards and connect with a part of myself that is necessary for a compelling performance… In day-to-day life, how often do you get to explore different parts of yourself, especially the ones you’d rather not sit in because they’re unpleasant, or selfish, or mean. But we all have those parts. So it’s a safe space to jump into and play in.” –Andy Friedland (Cohort 23) Interview
“…almost no U.S. news organizations have made poverty a beat. As an activist and full-time writer, my response – together with Joanne Goldblum, CEO of the National Diaper Bank Network – is Broke, a podcast we created earlier this year and which we co-host. (We’re also putting the final touches on a book with the same working title.) Our focus is on poverty in America, which we investigate and discuss with both wonkishness and passion. Listeners have been saying that we sound like two pissed-off, well-informed people who have known each other forever. And that’s pretty much on the mark. –Colleen Shaddox (Cohort 1), Poverty Is Our National Policy: Introducing Broke
“My friends who are blind have told me that audio description of live theater, movies, and television opens up a whole world for them. For example, one performance of each play at Yale Rep is described live; a person who is visually impaired can get a receiver with an ear bud, and listen to the description of what is happening on the stage… Same with descriptive audio for movies, so they don’t have to have a friend sitting next to them describing everything.” –Anne Fortunato (Cohort 5), Seeing Those Who Can’t See
“It’s about following your heart, looking for answers in undiscovered places, and daring to go to places internally that you didn’t even know existed. Then suddenly getting it! When we follow our heartstring, there’s no telling where we could end up…” –Genese Clark (Cohort 13), Following Your Heartstring
“The process of writing my book was very cathartic for me. It’s funny, I really wanted to take an academic route during the framework development for urban trauma. When I gave the first manuscript to my publisher, she sent it back and said, ‘I’m not interested in publishing this.’ It was clear to her, through a lot of our initial conversations, that I had a story to tell. She asked me, ‘why are you hiding from this story?’ And the reason I was hiding is because of the shame around my childhood… But for me, doing that and being challenged in that way, was extremely liberating. It’s like what Brene Brown says, shame grows in darkness – and when you bring it to light, it’s gone, it doesn’t really matter anymore. You can author that. You can drive how that comes out to the world. You do not have to allow someone else to shame you.” –Maysa Akbar, PhD, ABPP (Cohort 14) Interview
“The experience of being photographed is just as important – if not more – than the portraits themselves. The lasting, tangible beauty of the images are a declaration of our capacity for liberation and healing from societal systems that hurt us all, but have landed with particular force on womxn and their bodies, to varying degrees. The sessions are an invitation to travel the path of radical self love back to our bodies and hearts, in the ways we need it most.” –Rachel Liu (Cohort 22), Bloodroot Sessions: The alchemy of self love
“When there’s uncertainty, when you’re looking for meaning beyond this world – that takes people to poetry. We need something to counter the hate speech, the divisiveness, and it’s possible with poetry.” –Joy Harjo, Poet Laureate of the U.S., Bridges post
Curated by The Circle’s Creative Director & Editor, Lara Herscovitch (Cohort 10). To reach Lara directly: thecircle@clpnewhaven.org or Lara@LaraHerscovitch.com