Moon Mami Writes

I'm so sad that I'm having issues uploading photos to this blog b/c I really wanted to share my photos from the Cherry Blossom festival:-( Kite-flying So, this past weekend was a busy one. I loved it. I hung with the fam on Saturday down on the National Mall, enjoying the cherry blossoms as the National Cherry Blossom festival kicked off. Now, we initially set out to go there to fly kites because the Kite Festival by the Smithsonian was going on, too-- outside on the grass on the National Mall and inside at the Air and Space Museum. However, we missed the Kite Festival festivities and decided we were going to check out the cherry blossoms after we got to flying our kites apart from the festival. I flew a kite for the very first time in my life! Now, as a child, I've made kites, I mean, what child hasn't? But, I always made kites with heavy materials like sticks and construction paper with no sense of gravity and no guidance from an adult to be like, "look kid,...

I was sooo thrilled to find an email in my inbox this morning telling me that my song I had submitted in a songwriting contest last week had been selected and I am to perform in the event detailed in the flyer above. The event is part of a 3 part concert series exploring topics of health, education and the environment. I had written a song about the health debates and political fervor going on about health care and they liked it. The irony is that I was notified the same day that Barack Obama signed the new health care reform bill into law. I'm not sure how I feel about the new bill. While, I think in theory it is ideal to want healthcare to be accessible to everyone, what does that mean? The fact that we will be fined if we do not choose a health care plan is frightening to me. I am part of an HMO now where I receive very substandard health care already (I can blog on for days about that) and to imagine a day that will come soon where I won't have the option to drop them if ...

Anyone who knows me well knows that I have ideas pouring out of me at every minute of the day. I dream about new ideas-- from new play ideas, to new activities to do with my daughter and the other children I work with. This year, I've been about putting my ideas into action in ways that support the causes I believe in most. Earlier this year, I took part in DC Arts Advocacy Day which was my first official foray into policy advocacy and this summer I am going to be producing my second play which specifically speaks to my platform issue of late-- equity issues regarding women and families. My play "Running: AMOK" will debut this summer in the Capital Fringe Fest in Washington, DC and will feature some the best vocalists in the DC area who happen to be great women as well. I was particularly pleased that three of the main characters are actually mothers in real-life who also are performing artists. On the play's website, I started what I call The BAM Network which s...

So, today, I presented my "Body Jeopardy" presentation at a conference in Maryland for girls 13-20 years-old and I had more fun than I expected. I hadn't been doing as many workshops in the last six months around reproduction, self-esteem and the like as I was doing last year and when I was the Assistant Director for a youth program in DC from 2001-2006. I had decided to facilitate at this conference because I always like to keep my feet fresh as a youth worker and the conference was specifically targeting African-American young ladies. I talked to them about Saartjie Baartman , the woman known as the Hottentot Venus, and how her story of exploitation is a useful parable to look at when we think about self-esteem and body image. I learned that my session had been a bit controversial when parents had read what my subject matter was about. Because of my honest approach to reproductive health, self-esteem and sexuality, only girls 14 years-old and up could sign up for m...

Janelle Monae Concert This week's Monday kicked off with an evening concert checking out one of my all-time favorite acts Janelle Monae . This lady is a diamond. She is truly an amazing entertainer. I am drawn to her use of theater in her stage performances and recordings. My sweetie bought the tickets on Friday and by Monday, had forgotten about the concert which I had to kindly remind him about. It was so funny. I had texted him to let him know my mother was going to watch our daughter so we could go out and he texted back, "oh, do you have an event tonight or something." He had forgotten the concert that quickly, lol. He wasn't eagerly anticipating the concert like I was. I came across Janelle Monae in 2008 and have been a fan ever since. Our daughter is also on her groupie bandwagon right along with me. Check her out singing "Sincerely Jane" last year . I've sung Monae's song "Sincerely Jane" at least four times live as a cover during m...

( In photo: Me & the ladies of the theater company The Saartjie Project about a year ago performing "Deconstructing the Myth of the Booty". I was singing my song "All of Me". Since leaving the Saartjie Project, I've been pushing forward my new play "Running: AMOK") Ok, it's almost midnight and I am still up, on a high from tonight's auditions and subsequent casting of almost all of the characters in my play, Running: AMOK . The actresses are stupendous and I can't wait until we dig into production! Our first rehearsal will be in April. The cast has the next month to memorize their lines at least by 30% so that they will be partially off book for when we rehearse for the first time. I want them to spend some time with the script, allowing it to marinate before we dig in. We have scheduled a staged reading and an outdoors concert in the park singing the songs from the play before the play debuts in full-length in the Capital Fringe Fest...

So, my new play Running: AMOK will be in this year's Capital Fringe Fest and I'm excited. Yesterday, auditions began for the play and my former bandmate Quineice was the perfect choice for the character LESHELL. Quineice is an amazing vocalist but yesterday, I had first-hand knowledge on how amazing an actress she is. She took the character LESHELL and turned her into a flesh and bone person and it was so thrilling to watch the transformation. I am stoked! Auditions continue this week and here's hoping that I can cast the remaining characters soon so we can get started on production. I found out also yesterday that the exhibit I had been accepted in, the Making Herstory exhibit, was no longer including me in the exhibit because I missed the two hour window frame to bring in my painting. I was very disappointed at first, especially given that they were extremely disorganized in articulating information and very last minute with giving details on when and where to drop off th...

Today, I took my daughter with me today to participate in Arts Advocacy Day in Washington DC. We spoke with Ward 7 council member Yvette Alexander's chief of staff for quite a length of time about our ideas on arts legislation and funding. It was a wonderful dialogue and inspired my business partner and I to pursue meetings with other council members who chair committees and have actual decision making power. The share of government, foundation and corporate funding being directed to the arts in DC is in an unmistakable decline. Between 1998 and 2007, the percentage of foundation funding directed to the arts decreased from 14.8 to 10.6 percent. The corporate giving share to the arts decreased from 10.3 to 4.6 percent during the same period. Read More HERE After advocating for the arts, my mini me and I did the tour of DC, walking along the numbered blocks taking in the architecture as we made our way to the Smithsonian museums. Today was a great day!