Today is one of those nights you know you're not supposed to go to sleep. Instead, you should sit around a couch and keep talking. We played old school songs. Music videos from back when. Listening to (mainstream) reggae and r & b.
It was matched by a day of doing the same. Listening to the beats and rhythms of goapele, the roots, and random jazz jam sessions. We sat in the open-aired field that made ucla feel more like a people's university. The crowd was 80% people of color, a body politic that subverted what ucla normally looks like, feels like. the possibilites of how westwood coulda been an area with music and spaces inhabited by poc, like uf's scene was at times.
Blankets, and chill time, and beats, and food, it reminded me of rastafari vegetarian food from florida. so good and soulful.. the shop near liberty city, the shop off university in gainesville. good energy, good vibes, good food inside, good love.
i hopped from koreatown, making copies, and double-sided, four-per-sheet, post-card size on the 8.5 x 11. using that damn cutter-blade thing reminded me of undergrad student organizing as well. i got this, i tell myself, i know this.
down wilshire, cutting through ktown, through museum room, through that white-town that shall not be named, and then into more of it, called westwood. i found parking on the street. walked. and jammed. the crowds were not overwhelming, though the food prices were.
this is the first time in a long time that im writing a reflexive/ reflective piece. now that the thesis is done, maybe this will come back.
this week was a whirlwind, especially thursday-friday. point 1: sister and college. major stresser. just keep telling myself that even though the school she's in will demoralize her, at least its still a school that accepted her??? no. thats still messed up. i want her to be with people of color. other immigrant and working class, lower middle class communities that she can relate to.
point 2: future-oriented questions. i don't know! everythings in a stage of nascency right now. anything could happen. connections are being made. change will come. just not sure in which direction, but open, excitied, and happy. point 3: thesis.
but thank goddess that's done. done. done. a few formatting changes. some edits. but lets hope. thats done done done.
and so this weekend. reminded me of what its like to sit and chill. sit and chill and talk. and decompress.
after the festival, i went to the boishaki mela. same old kids singing the same old songs dancing the same old bharatanatyam dances. and we handed out our flyers. translated. one on the clinic and one on prop 98, 99. people would ask me in bangla, but i'd have to speak back in english. i hate that part of this job. language is an essential essential aspect of organizing. when the youth group came out (finally! - and all prim and dressed), it went smoothly. after we handed out the fliers, we chilled too. talked about, you know. dating and the like. parents. food.
meeting up with the other folks, chilling on the couch, and catching up over sean paul, kevin little, monica, aaliyah, brandy, and yes, usher and common and erykah... it felt good good good good good.
im good right now. i know that things will be good. for all of us in my family. for my dad, my sister and i. my mom can rest soon. and it'll make sense. im just waiting.
until then, i need more nights like these. more couches. more music. more conversations. more food. and of course that bit of social justice worked in....
