Occupy the Hood!

Some intelligent commentary on the real deal regarding Kony, and why our relationship to our phones and computers may be more to blame than any single man could ever be...

The Most Astounding Fact (Neil DeGrasse Tyson)

"I will be a hummingbird" - Wangari Maathai

In The Streets

In the Street (1948) by Lost_Shangri_La_Horizon
In the Street is a short 1948 silent film shot in New York City directed and edited by American photographer Helen Levitt, assisted by novelist and critic James Agee and fellow photographer Janice Loeb. In the Street was shot with small 18mm hidden cameras and documents the grim realities of Harlem street-life, especially that of its children at play. It can be seen as a continuation of Levitt's exploration of children's street culture prevalent in her photography, but also explores the mundane life led by their working class parents.

Word!

No Competition

I've been keeping my eye on what's been going on here in Denmark.
Few artists surprise. I'm just saying.
But I have hope for Aisha. Her heart is in the right place. And she has the voice to match it.

Freedom Fighter Kid: Young one speaks on race, freedom, equality

As Above, so below, as within, so without...

The Doctrine of Signatures is profound ancient wisdom that is purposely being suppressed. It states that every fruit and vegetable has a certain pattern that resembles a body organ, and that this pattern acts as a signal or sign as to that fruit or vegetable’s benefit to us. Modern science confirms that the ancient “Doctrine of Signatures” is astoundingly accurate. Why does this vital knowledge remain hidden?

I first came across the idea of the Doctrine of Signatures a few months ago on this site.  


I discovered this doctrine  by accident, and was completely excited when I did. The information spoke to my intuition and appealed to my sense of aesthetics. The first thing I wanted to do, the more I found out about this, was make it available as a Bandit Queen Press publication. Why? Because we are living in a time where using plants for ailments, growing certain plants, using certain plants, seeds, is becoming illegal!

How can the law come between a human and a plant?

Let me remind you that our ancestors did not make it thus far due to the wonders of modern medicine. I am not blasting what we as human beings have accomplished. What makes me weary is when we remove choice. What makes me weary is the fact that growing your own vegetable garden is becoming an act of banditry throughout the United States of America and throughout the rest of the world.

What right is more basic than for someone to be able to grow his or her own food? What right is more basic than for someone to choose, which remedy they desire?

Large companies, who will remain nameless, are controlling our food. They have people working in our government who have stocks in their company. They claim that they are controlling the food to stop world hunger. They are terrorizing farmers. Spying on them, to ensure that they control the seed. 

I will go so far to say that these companies (or company) are the reason for world hunger.  Bill Gates' stroll into philanthropy involved one of these companies, where he himself is one of the larges stockholders. 

These large companies are the same companies who are making hazardous, toxic products for war, and then "cleaning their toxic waste" by feeding it to bacteria, who then passes it out (aka takes a dump). What do these companies do with this bacterial fecal matter? They use it to sweeten our food.  They have so much power, they have managed to get the FDA (which they carry a highly incestuous relationship with. The FDA is supposed to represent the American people. Instead they have either worked for these companies, are given financial rewards, or will eventually work for these multi-national, whose salaries are much higher than government jobs, ofcouse)...anyway, back to the point. These people who are supposed to protect us have managed to not make is necessary for our food labels to include whether we are consuming GMOs or not.  If you don't believe me, look into all of this yourself. I have. And what I'm finding out is increasingly unsettling. 

And don't tell me I am anti-science. Many critics of the whole GMO debate will tell you that the biggest problem behind the current GMO engineering is their method: and why are they choosing the method that is linked to so much disease & death? Because it is cheapest. 

These large companies are in bed with government, with the military, and other large global corporations who don't pay taxes. 

So in an effort to preserve some of the ancient, intuitive knowledge that has been handed down to us through the ages, Bandit Queen Press is proud to offer you this introduction to the Doctrine of Signatures. 

Get bandit. Grow a garden.  If you're on lock-down in a city like I am, imagine a seed of light. Plant it in your soul. And watch it grow. So far, that's not illegal. Yet. 

homegrown

Here's my debut album, released in 2009. I'm currently working on another album for release...in the meantime, do enjoy this labour of love...

click here: homegrown

"Obama Is A Puppet" - Eddie Griffin Speaks Out

What's Up With this Picture?

NASA released this picture on February 1st, 2012. This is the most recent, and most detailed image NASA has ever released. The problem is twofold. Firstly, the earth is not flat. I want to know what the other sides look like. Secondly, why doesn't anyone ever talk about the fact that this isn't an actual picture of the earth, just a composite?  

Bandit Queen Press is proud to announce Blackgirl on Mars, Thursday February 9th at Kimia...

click on flyer for details

Amager, January 2012

amager, january 2012

Blackgirl on Mars joins the internet in opposing SOPA.

Blackgirl on Mars joins the internet in opposing SOPA. For more information here 

Shit Trini Moms Say

this made this homesick woman laugh today...

Shit Trini Moms Say

It's all about the land...

the story of land ownership takes place all over the world. Looking into Hawai'i (pictured above) will reveal the same patterns many other cultures have experienced throughout the world. 

I think a lot.
Always have.
When I was a kid and jumped double-dutch on Ocean Avenue, I couldn't help but wonder what was under the concrete. Funny for a child for whom it has been said was afraid to walk on grass.  That makes sense when you realize, like many other city kids, my first life experiences took place inside a carpeted apartment.
On my way to school I would always be fascinated by the trees that lined my Brooklyn streets. The ones that ran along Midwood Avenue, following me to school. I often thought about those who were there way before me, way before the way people before me, way before the people way before them.
My family always had an interesting relationship to everything around them. As immigrants, they could see U.S. policy from a critical perspective. They witnessed the U.S.'s military presence in their country. But they were also seduced by certain aspects of this new culture. For my father, it were the artists. For my mother, it was the promise of perhaps, easily-acquired goods. In those days, things were "hard" in Trinidad, meaning quite frankly, that although they were modeling the U.S. they couldn't quite operate like the U.S. Many Trinidadians would be angered at my saying this...I'm not saying that all Trinidadians lack this awareness, but when you look at the state Trinidad is in, with its corruption and C&C (carnival and church) those who speak with reason are quickly silenced.
Like Brooklyn, those who live in Trinidad are not its true descendants. Like Brooklyn, there are inhabitants who have struggled under the system, without looking back and deciphering a pattern. There was promise of it when Eric Williams became the country's first Prime Minister, but such promise waned under the riches of oil, corruption and just plain old wanting to be like what it looks like on t.v. But unlike Brooklyn, Trinidad has (I'm not sure if this is the case anymore, and I wouldn't be surprised if this has changed) there is something called squatter's rights. This means that if you own a piece of land and do not use it for a certain period of time, if someone else builds on that piece of land and lives there for a period of time, that land is then theirs. This ensures that no one is without a means of producing their own food.
Colonialism is about land. People think when they hear about colonialism, it's about something  that happened a long, long, time ago. Put it this way: when I told an 8th grade class about the ideas of imperialism and colonialism, one student added, "That sounds like integration!" Most of us on this planet have been effected by it. The thousands of young Europeans whose battle from poverty continued outside thier original borders (Who owns most of European land? Who owns most of Britain's land? The questions and answer are all there for you to look into). Who is the biggest landowner in the world?  Why is it important to own land? The people who they encountered. The land that was conquered. The people who were conquered.
With companies like Monsanto vying to control the seed, to patent food and attempt to control the world's food supply through pretense of good, I say we've been getting it all wrong. It's not about race. It's not about gender. It's not about money. It's about land. And the very sick idea that anyone could ever own it.
Here is a writer from Cowbird who is chronicalling one such fight in India. The other day it came to me. You want to know what is really going on in the world? You want to see what matters? Look at how  indigenous people, poor people, continue to be treated throughout the world. That should speak volumes.