Feels like a play on wishy-washy and I like that… makes me aspire to own a laundromat like so, click on this post to learn more about interior design in the most unexpected place!
Teotihuacán
HEALING RECIPE LOADING…
Woke up at 6am coughing, and blowing my nose.
I’m sure whether it’s the air quality, elevation, Fabuloso, dust, or all of the above.
I got up and took a spoonful of olive oil with three drops of oil of oregano.
Boiled water, inserted two tiny shards of eucalyptus crystals, and sniffed on that concoction.
Felt better ex·pe·di·tious·ly.
Mind you, it hasn’t been twenty-four hours since I landed after a twelve-hour flight.
With all my clothes ironed the night before and laid out, school field trip style. I am prepared.
GETTING THERE
The mapping application suggests it will take roughly twelve minutes by rideshare and up to thirty minutes on public transportation.
I try to request a ride, but the app keeps spinning.
I head down several flights of stairs to find a literal parking lot on the street.
They are not interested in keeping intersections clear here. There is no way on god’s green that a car will arrive in time.
I dash to the metro station, or what I thought was the station.
I insert two hundred pesos, and the machine gingerly accepts the currency but spins for two minutes before returning only a receipt. No card, no pesos, no ticket. The transit agent allows me into the station. I get on the first thing smoking.
According to the map, the bus is veering away from the proposed route, but I see it will connect along the transfer route.
After showing the next transit agent the receipt, he directs me away from the exit. I explain via the translation app that I need to transfer. He writes back, “Stay here.” After a few minutes, my gut says you should exit and walk to the next station.
The transfer station’s shutters are down because it’s closed, and each bus that passes headed in the general direction is packed out.
I don’t have a pass, so what would I pay or say?
I called John and let him know, and he asked the tour coordinators how much time they had before departure and whether I should try to meet them at the first stop. They say to be here by “8:25.” It is currently 8:08…
John says, “You need to book it.” John is a friend who does not like being tardy for any party. I try my best to be on time to honor that because I know he does not do late birds. John loves a good schedule, and the Capricorn rising in me understands his Pisces propensities.
So down the expansive thoroughfare, I go running, walking, running, walking.
I should have tried to skip. The altitude and fatigue forbid momentum.
The map tells me to go left and then right.
I feel in my spirit that it is like Istanbul. If a clear path is not seen ahead then the footpath has moved underground. But this clicked well after the map directed me onto the auto-turnpike.
Bless God there was a bike lane.
I found the stairs to go underground and then turned onto the street. The tour buses are still there!
We are headed to Teotihuacán.
FIRST STOP Plaza de las Tres Culturas
Our guide Cristian explains a host of things to us. The same stones used to build temples for indigenous worshipers are used to construct Catholic churches. The Spanish deconstruct or demolish temples to build cathedrals next door.
Cristian explains that because of how the Aztecs treated other indigenous groups, the people were happy to welcome the Spanish as their new “rulers.”He said the Aztec gods divined to them in war terms, and they were a people of warfare. This is shocking to many of us who feel historically “rulers” were chosen for us. Please take a moment to reflect on welcoming with arms outstretched people carrying just as much hope as they carried germs. Folks eradicating a population through breathwork and bedding is just as bizarre today as it was yesteryear.
Our tour group filed into the church with the instruction to be silent. The locals are knee-deep in prayer while other tour guides orate an octave above their incantations.
We gather outside for more history. Cristian tells us about the Tlatelolco massacre. It was a horrific event that occurred during a university student protest. The country hosted the Olympic games just fifteen days later as if nothing happened. He maps out snipers on the top of buildings that no longer stand due to the subsequent earthquake.
The energy in that square is palpable.
We get back on the bus.
SECOND STOP: The Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe
I have always had a hyperawareness of worship styles. I may have mentioned I was born to an atheist mother, a Muslim father, and a Baptist grandmother. My grandad paid for private catholic school due to Oakland Unified’s... chile’ never mind.
Blind faith is a sight to behold. Faith without sight has the power to generate healing solely through high regard.
At the shrine, old folks arrive with their good dress shoes on.
Several decades my senior and ascending at an incline even I cannot foot. Pairs are holding hands, losing and gaining ground, three feet forward and one foot back. The sun is blazing down and beaming off the worn cobblestones, but they keep clamboring steadfast and devoted.
Gallery left to right: inside the basilica, the roses revealed, the dog sitting in our shadows for shade, poinsettias (my Grandma Mary’s favorite she was English, Irish, and Mexican I see these as her totem, love you grams), inside smaller chapel x2 (need to find a map), exterior, steps, another church at the top of the hill, why is the saint black holding a white Jesus, notice the colored folks are present but the whites are closest to the father, San Jose who knew?, gilded ceiling…
OUTDOOR WORSHIP
Cristian told us the Spanish often delegated cathedrals and outdoor worship areas specifically for indigenous people. This was not a point of segregation but rather to appeal to indigenous people’s customs before Spain arrived in the Americas.
The inside of the church gets eerie sometimes, especially for someone who loves kisses from the sun. The great outdoors is where I feel and have always felt God and what I now know as the ancestors (the good bunch, plants included).
I read days later that the first people folded other cultures’ worship into their own seamlessly. Foreign objects became familiar through shared meaning, usage, and reverence. They expanded their pantheon and simultaneously offered new things to existing deities. The text suggests that most had no objection to Christianity. Jesus just became a part of what already existed, seen as if he added value. New things are seen as additive rather than disruptive.
THIRD STOP: FOOD AND DRINK
Sorry, I forgot the name of the restaurant. The tour guides gave us the choice of tequila tasting or food and in which order. I prayed folks would raise their hands in favor of coating our stomachs first. Queue the compromise we received church offering cups of pulque. I like that Pulque ba·by. It tastes like a richer cousin of coconut water and, although it’s fermented it tastes nothing like beer or kombucha. Not sure why I thought it would have the consistency of rhume (French for snot or a cold).
The sun feels hotter in Teotihuacan. I was leery of drinking more than the first Sunday communion cups. I wish I would have consumed more because it tastes good and it does not have high alcohol content.
BOTANY
The maguey plant is the cousin to the blue agave plant. After six years, the plant matures, and the cultivars kill maguey by extracting its sap. The byproducts of one plant are pulque, maguey worms, paper for cooking (original foil/plastic wrap), sewing needles, textile fibers, mescal, etc.
Top: The maguey plant is seven or eight feet tall by my estimate, needle and thread are from the plant and the tread is dyed with floral pigment I think geranium… Bottom Left to Right: maguey paper used for cooking, floral pigment, maguey needle and dyed thread
STONES MINERALS
Can I get some South American jade? I’d like that as a keepsake. Wearable, I don’t want to hang it, I’d like to wear it. Green is one of my favorite colors. How would I know if it was genuine? The rainbow and black obsidian can be sharper than steel. The stone is mined for its healing properties. I thought about picking obsidian massage stones, but it’s too heavy to cart back…
Shout out to Sahel for the photo concept, a photo taken through a piece of black obsidian, the orange circle is the sun, thank you!
CHARISMA
We loved our guide, and I forgot her name. I’m horrible with names, but I can remember every other detail about a person. She’ll remain in my memories for a long while. I couldn’t decide what to buy. I gave the money I would have spent to our tour guides. An expression of gratitude, returning something for the knowledge exchanged.
Pyramid of the Sun
LAST STOP — Teotihuacån
It’s the way the word sits in the mouth for me: tay·uh·tee·waa·kaan.
Babacar has been teaching me about the Anunnaki. Honestly, that is all I can see here. This place reeks of extraterrestrial influence. “Give Jackie jacket” as Pier says which means give credit where it’s due. I cannot diminish the extraordinary actions of the humans who receive messages in dreams. I do believe all things are made possible through the Creator, but which creator are we talking about?
I can barely remember names, and you mean to tell me the human brain functions according to its own will and at this architectural/structural pace? Substances and divine assistance had to have been involved.
Cristian said babies were sacrificed and buried upside down…What? (Russel Westbrook voice). The number of people sacrificed here points to an energy source that we don’t have common knowledge of… this was and is some secret society sugar honey iced tea. I do not believe this energy has expired, it is very much alive and well today, but not as evident.
Teotihuacan is a space for master architect ish. Either way, this place is mesmerizing.
You know you’re looking at it but can you perceive it?
Mind blown.
Gallery Left to Right: Don’t have my bearings not sure if that is the Moon Pyramid, the homes were mostly used for sleeping and covered at a point in time, they dug a pit inside for some reason, the small pebbles in the mortar are signs of restoration x2, the Moon Pyramid, the Sun Pyramid, us gawking x2, the side of that thing is wild, the Moon Pyramid, the clay dirt in the parking lot (maybe I’ll write about the vision I had years ago)…
COLORS, SYMBOLS & SIGNS
Snapple facts in no particular order because I didn’t take notes. I was trying to be present and test the hippocampus. Cristian showed us how pigments for paint were derived from flowers and stone fragments. The color blue is associated with the rain god and he wears goggles. The flowers represent the cardinal directions. The square shown below had water in it and reflected the stars at night. I wish I could see something or recreate something like that in this lifetime. Imagine what that was like in the absence of light pollution.
imagine water in the basin, the moon illuminating the stars, just wow!
GRATITUDE
Glad to be in the number and with friends, thank you John for introducing me to your peeps.
Thank you Sahel, Hank, and Kevin for being so welcoming.
Thank you Jasmine for revising this via Grammerly while trying to keep the coloquialims and your personality in the writing. How do you write properly and develop style? According to the application, there are forty-two advanced issues with this, patiently widdled down from 75+.
QUESTIONS
The feathers of what bird was used? Resplendent quetzal
This place was five lakes? Yes, but how?
Why does the Maguey plant die when extracting sap?
Is South American jade still a big thing?
How many years did it take to complete the city?
Which architectural style is it built in?
Has the city inspired other cities and structures? If so which ones?
If the Aztecs didn’t build this place, who did?
RANDOM RESEARCH LINKS
https://historicalmx.org/items/show/78
https://www.spiritualtravels.info/spiritual-sites-around-the-world/south-america/guadalupe/
https://www.focusongeography.org/publications/articles/mexico/index.html
Frida Kahlo
TEAM TIME
HEY…
It’s Jasmine
Asset Framed Introduction: I collaborate with others to create culturally competent spaces that encourage healing through activism and art… (Your Winning Story Workshop)
Welcome!
It’s a pleasure to be here, and to nerd out with you about film…
Environment
Oakland, California (94604, 94607, 94601, 94602) | (510)533 1458
It was at this big age when it dawned on me that I experience “my city” as if I’m still a child.
The memories that circulate aren’t the best associations, derivatives, and residue.
I see a lot of things now I’ve seen before and some things I never thought I’d see… Most of the time I can’t distinguish whether what I’m seeing is:
the past,
the present,
the future,
all of the above.
LIVED EXPERIENCE
Film is a portal for me, always has been…
One of my favorite film terms is, the suspension of disbelief: to allow oneself to believe that something is true even though it seems impossible. The plot is ridiculous, but if you can suspend disbelief, it's an enjoyable movie. [Merriam Webster Dictionary]
Reads like the definition of life…
Predisposed
MY LOVE FOR:
Why?
Idioms/Figures of Speech
Rapid Eye Movement (REM) Dreams
Counterculture
People Watching (making up stories about them)
Coded Speech/Code Switching
Recipes
Accents
Differences
Inside Jokes
Glass Half Full/Empty
2 Sides to Every Story and the Truth/Contradiction (in moderation)
Researching/Googling/ Rabbit Hole
My Opinion (lol)
Photo/Composition
Conspiracy Theories
Movie References
Documentaries/Mysteries/Black Cult Classics (Mom made sure)
Hegemony ; he·gem·o·ny
definition: the social, cultural, ideological, or economic influence exerted by a dominant group [Merriam Webster Dictionary]
Around the age that I learned about the concept of Hegemony. Miss Boy’s Social Studies Class at Saint Elizabeth High School, Oakland. Age 15/16???
What’s your major?
African American Studies with an emphasis in Film and Television.(University of California, Los Angeles)
This is where the plot thickens.
The powers that be paired a girl from Oakland with a girl from the OC.
When I spoke to my lived experience they didn’t believe me. My major taught me the terms and gave me the tools to research and “convey” life’s happenings… (politically correct way to put it)
Visual Literacy
definition: the ability to interpret, negotiate, and make meaning from information presented in the form of an image, extending the meaning of literacy…
I aspire to capture fragments of what we see and how it affects our navigation in the world. I am in search of who I am, who you are, and why our universes decided to collide.
Thank you for being here, and thank you to spirit for moving in this space.
Built Environment
I’ve always wanted to travel around with an architect and botanist. Now I have you all :)
The term built environment refers to human-made conditions and is often used in architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning, public health, sociology, and anthropology, among others. These curated spaces provide the setting for human activity and were created to fulfill human desires and needs.
Conspiracy
In my humble opinion, everyone here could be classified as a conspiracy theorist, simply due to the nature of the work that we do, and what we say we believe.
con·spir·a·cy the·o·ry
/kənˈspirəsē ˈTHiərē,ˈTHirē/
noun
a belief that some secret but influential organization is responsible for an event or phenomenon.
Rabbit Holes
Maybe I should keep some of them to myself, but if you’re interested I have a long list… This film will open the dialogue into some of them
Dedication
I want to dedicate this presentation to my Dear friend Jorge Sanchez, an Ethnographer. We met in Sydney Australia, he lived in SF and kept his word to keep in touch. He transitioned during the pandemic…
Jorge would invite me to all sorts of things. One of my favorite things was the film club he supported. He’d say, “Come on Miss Brown we’re going to see…” We’d get there, watch some obscure film at the SF Art Institute with a bunch of students, parents, and patrons, then discuss what we’d seen…He was a hoot and such a joy to be around.
Those were the days and I miss him dearly, my heart is filled with joy and a lot of pain. I still ain’t right… I stopped watching movies for a good while after finding out he passed away.
Thank you for indulging me this evening…
We have dinner plans with his partner Miguel on Saturday. What a blessing…
FILM CRITICS IN THE ROOM?
Watch films of all genres, often several times… make notes about scripts, music, storylines, and influences. look at technical details like camera angles, lighting, and editing. submit reviews by strict deadlines.
BY THE END OF THE NIGHT
The goal is to turn you into a mini conspiracy theorist and film critics. Let’s analyze this filmscape through the lens of the built environment. Hone into how the filmmaker uses the environment to create conditions that interfere with or guide the character’s free will. Look to the elements of light, shelter, access to food, etc. I encourage you to apply some of your lived experience to the mix. If you can or can’t relate, ask yourself, “why?”
Answer the following questions from the vantage point of the built environment. Answer as many or as few as you’d like…
study guide created for team time by visual_lit —
Team Time — DJDS 2021
““Who is the real you?” Someone once asked me. “The me who happens to be in front of you at the moment, that’s the real me.” ”
What I’m Into at the moment
In no particular order:
YouTube Channel — Never Too Small (ask team)
Anything Travel (my love, languages, waking up elsewhere, the peace it brings me, etc.)
Arboretums
Co-Star App — Astrology
Daily Affirmations for People of Color — Auntie Iyanla Vanzant
Food (that someone else cooks)
Museums
Photography
Stones, Crystals, Natural Remedies, Recipies for Healing (ask team)
Being Quiet (noise-canceling machine and headphones)
Before we close, I want to hear from you about one of the photos in your favorites, your opinion on design as it pertains to tiny homes (clip), and a recipe for healing.
milestones
I was born connected to these people on November 24th in Oakland, Ca. Below are photos of some of my loved ones…
I feel like life has its seasons and one that resonates most with me today is my first time visiting the Continent…
Thereafter I began to ask for the opportunities that would get me back into spaces such as SA… (art, culture, creative capacity….
Nudge…Advocacy (because doing for others is a big part of who I am…)
Next step…Retreat (well sorta)…
“Empty the clip.”
Essie Justice Group
Because She is Powerful Report | Had the privilege of being on the Demands Committee The Burden of Bail on Women of Color | Jezebel
A Matter of Justice | Vogue Article Written Feat. Essie Justice Group's Founder Gina Clayton
Issues with work because I need the time to stretch…travel, go back to school, create…
BlackFemaleProject + Independent Contract Work gave me what I needed to sort through things…
Storytelling
Recipes for Healing…
Seeing things differently…
Morton Arboretum
Black Folk + Bisa = Bisu
Same thing different ways...
I have been mercurial to say the least. Glad I got out today. One thing at a time. Not much else to say. Oh I think security showed up, but it didn’t register to me until later. An old black man in a black car asked if, “everything was ok?” As ok as it was gonna be today.
On Sundays we shoot.
Canon Rebel T7
24mm Canon lens
Trying Out Product Photography
Hegelian Dialectic
These photos are spooky. Taken on my friends Samsung. I was helping them with a special project and my charger broke. I asked if I could use their phone to shoot. I’m not missing the mark these days. The energy out there is interesting, the title of this blog speaks to how I think that energy should be categorized.
on Sunday’s we shoot…
tools: Samsung something
We talk...
We talk…
Well really, they talk (plants), I listen. I had trouble getting into the groove this week, but I am glad I went to shoot anyway. I had another allergic reaction to something I ate, my eye began to swell a bit, but I went out and shot for as long as my eye and dslr battery would allow. I took additional photos on my phone throughout the day. It was really nice to get outside, I’d been indoors for a week. No resolution for the new year. Just asking that the universe add sweetness to this period in my life. This is what I have for this week.
On Sundays, we shoot.
Themes: haze but in a good way, far out, never would have noticed, grateful, keep going…
Tools: Canon Rebel T7, 50mm fixed lens & iphone 7+ (second set of photos)
Blurry but ok?
Highways and Byways...
On Sundays We...
To practice my practice, I made a commitment to shoot on Sundays. This is what I found today. No disclaimers allowed today. Learned a few things about depth of field as it pertains to camera aperture, the lower more open (i.e. f2.8) aperture offers a shallow depth of field, and the higher less open (i.e. f8) offers a deeper depth of field so you see farther in focus. I also learned that the settings on the photo gallery can be changed so that you can lessen margins and change the aspect ratio to suit wide and narrow angles.
Senexpat
Senexpat provides safe and reliable taxi & transportation service throughout Dakar and Senegal. I Jasmine highly recommend their services to anyone traveling to Dakar/Senegal. They provide door to door service, air conditioned cars, transport for one or more, translation, all of the things. I felt like the Princess President during my time with them. It genuinely felt like I was traveling with friends and family.
Why Dakar?
I see a taxi with the two front doors open, in neutral and being pushed forward by two men. I think, “I sure hope that ain’t the next one.” Honey when I say they popped the trunk on that thang so fast. Before I knew it my bags were in the trunk, but not before I had a glimpse of the trunk’s contents: a 10-gallon bottle of water and a white and blue rope. LAWDNESS!!! If Imma die today just let it be right where I’m standing!
Paris Taught Me
Reflecting on many of the things I learned about life in Paris. There were times I had to re-evaluate why I was in Paris. I took the trip to add to my series around how the women in my network choose to heal themselves. I was there as a stop before Dakar, as well as to interview Karen but she has so much going on in her life that we were not able to contribute to the series. We will get around to it organically. I have faith that it will happen someday. I came to realize that this series of blogs is my contribution to the series around healing. Check out the summary of things that stand out for me as a part of my healing journey in Paris.
Musee d'orsay — Modele Noir
Exhibition Summary: Designed to provide a long-term perspective, the exhibition looks more particularly at three key periods: the era of abolition (1794-1848), the new painting era up to the Matisse’s discovery of the Harlem Renaissance and the early 20th century avant-garde movement and the successive generations of post-war and contemporary artists.
Kizomba
If you know me I have a huge fear of choreography it just don’t click with me. I’m more of an improv girl. I just don’t feel choreography. People say it’s muscle memory but as someone who has disassociated with their body for a number of years that 5 6 7 8 boom kat Lorie Ann was serving to the honey bunches of oats made me nervous.