The Miseducation of Buttafly!

Lauryn Hill says…I treat this like my thesis..well written topics broken down into pieces….. Buttafly imparts it knowledge of the curriculum that truly matters, so there will never be an issue of miseducation.

School

by

T. Semakula

Now I'm in da Spot where I wanna be

Craig Mack spittn flows on a crude track

Mouth hoopin inside vacant bus stops

Queen Laf, the word grand dame, clockin unity fo the brothas

Street poetics, the new urban cannon

Slow/fast alphabetic grooves, pushin the genius of the coloreds

Listen to the sound of miseducation!

The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

Buttafly offers a workshop for those students who need to utilize a curriculum that speaks 2 da people.

The Hip Hop Project

The Hip Hop Project- (Performance Component) From the mc’s to the b-boys, students explore the hip hop culture. What are the components that make up their own personal hip hop world? How can they use hip hop to strengthen their individual or collective voices? Can they compose a critical response to the issues that the hip hop culture addresses within its’ music and various art forms? Whether your students are regular students or average everyday day hip hop heads, it’s time to make some collective noise via poetry (rhyme), a little spoken word, and on the serious tip, some serious composition (essays) that will get their minds to thinking about the issues that are facing our young people today. Word!

To schedule or inquire about this workshop please click here

Young, Gifted, and Broke…..but not for long…..the broke part that is

Young, Gifted, and Broke ... (But not for long, the broke part that is)

By T. Semakula

(text in italics are compliments of Ms. Ariel Gore)

Ariel Gore hits the mark in her book titled How To Become A Famous Writer Before You Are Dead …You don't have time for rejection letter home improvement projects. You can't afford to sit Zazen while your cherished manuscript languishes in some nameless agent's slush pile. You got maybe a hundred years on this planet. Less if you smoke. And you want to be a lit star, man!

To be paid to write is like icing on a good knockout lemon punch cake. That's what most writers aspire to. We aspire to have money to pay our bills, to travel, to walk around New York City and not work around New York City. It's one thing when you work at McDonalds in Times Square, it's another when you are just piddling around after finishing off your novel and you just happen to have a taste for a nice Oreo Mc Flurry from the McDonalds that sits inside Times Square.

You'll need a bulletproof ego and a juicy humble core…I often think about the famous writer Zora Neale Hurston and how she used patrons to get her through her many creative pursuits. These patrons had taken an interest in her as a writer and researcher. She was able to secure an apartment here and there, a trip to Haiti to do some research on hoodoo, and she traveled quite extensively. However Zora, who is considered one of the most brilliant and talented writers of our time, died alone in a small green house in Florida. Her unfinished and rejected manuscripts were burned along with a pile of her personal belongings in her front yard. The only thing that was left was a charred patch of grass and a woman whose bones were resting in an unmarked grave. It was apparent that the interest, that her patrons had in her, had evaporated. It took a decade and a half later after her death, for Alice Walker to pen the article in Ms. titled "In Search of Zora Neale Hurston."

When it comes to being paid for your art, some writers come from the good old school of hip hop- by any means necessary. Us folk, who were weaned on Tupac and Biggie Big, clung to the immortal words of Chuck D-Hip hop is the CNN for black folk. We formed our own networks, created our own means of communication, laid out our own cable wire via hip hop and street corner shout outs. Self –publishing, self promotion, making something out of nothing is the mantra that more writers are grabbing hold to.

Zora took the traditional route of sending out her work. She waited for folk to respond. She waited for folk to pay her in advance. She waited for folk to acknowledge her and keep her from obscurity. Sure, writers still take advantage of sending out their work blind with the SASE, but they are also learning how to promote and market their own work.

Most people would like to receive and smell the flowers that folk have brought for them while they are still alive. I am sure that Zora would have appreciated the much deserved respect and revenue that her creative ideas and pursuits have admonished. To be young, gifted, and broke is a punch in the face to any writer. It doesn't hold any ground as we enter the age of the internet, with advanced printing and media tools which are available to the emerging writer via their own personal computers and laptops. No more waiting for someone else to make it happen, sometimes you have to make it happen yourself!

Buttafly's recommendation for those word warriors who need to get their hustle on!

Another recommendation for those who want to think and earn a living outside the box!

Buttafly offers a wonderful workshop for those who like to color outside the lines.

Tailor made Workshops (Arts Education, Professional Writing)

Buttafly offers tailor made workshops for schools, vocational institutions, community, and educational organizations. We welcome innovative and progressive ideas as we feel that the arts should always be up to the challenge when it comes to pushing the envelope. For more info, if you would like to schedule or inquire about this workshop click here

pushin...
By T. Semakula

low Southern Creole

creepin

pushin fo the hustle

Buttafly's searchin fo Peace!

God and Love

God, giving instructions for the moon....
Love, a consistent concerto trudging through the metro alley

a constellation

a constellation

of metro amazons

wanderers,

womb keepers

hovering over the secret codes

embedded in

moldy slave quilts

disciple

save me lawd

from my need to give love/On Saturday mornins/to poet laden Negrops

from my need fo red knee level dresses, afro picks, and rastas

from the psalms of the metro

sees's I believes in Gawd

and black folks who wear Afros

and youths who pants sag more than their allegiance to Tupac and Biggie

and syllables rhythmically timed to word revolts

and skin blacker than Mrs. Katie's pupils

yes'm jee sus here are saints

who fell ova dead negras

who put brown suga and butta in they oats

who steer shiny blue caddies

who barbecue rib slabs behind urban shacks

oh my save yah, I wud die

fo the pain of laid out folk

fo the one's who shows them how to act

fo them peoples who try to be as they should

fo the love of you

flowspot

point mis s ing

contingent cunning

love for the thought

of being love touched

by the ultimate

I's need that spuka spark

to float on up

Mr. man e ess

cap the strength

the condition relentless

pursuing constantly

that desired privelege of choca women

The Peace Writer’s Workshop- (Exhibition Component) Have your students ever started their own Peace Campaigns? With this workshop, your students can take a stand on the issues that are affecting world peace. They’ll explore ways that they can use their writing to affect change, and hopefully, present effective solutions to some of the problems that keep peace from within their reach. So if your students are rebels, revolutionaries, or just plain old Joes, now is the time to let their voices become known. Power to the people! To schedule or inquire about this workshop click here

Buttafly's Call For Workshop Proposals Winter/Spring 2009

the temple builders

i

who built the temple

that held up centuries

of busted cavities

polished the altar

where women worshipped

the lies of safety

sutured the offerings

where hearts lay open

for constant intrusion

paid the tithes

that subsidized the whorehouse ministries

ii

put jasmines in the baptismal ponds

where flowers float instead of flourish

sang the wimbos of praise

exalting the rape of bridesmaids

All poetry copywritten by Tarsha Semakula

Buttafly's Ode To Celeste.....

The arts must be at the heart of every child's learning experience if…they are to have a chance to dream and to create, to have beliefs, to carry a sense of cultural identity.
---James D Wolfensohn, former chairman of The Kennedy Center

This post is dedicated to the youth who inspire arts education. We kick off this dedication with a special Ode to Celeste! Celeste, an amazing, inspirational ,creative, fourteen year old whose talents are only measured by the Hello Kitty stickers that cover up the front of her composition notebook. After Generation X, came Generation Ipod and Generation Myspace. With this generation, Celeste was raised, nourished, and guided. Celeste, who has amassed a friends arsenal of eight-hundred plus on her myspace, a collection of favorite photographs on photobucket, and a blog that expounds on the daily triumphs and grunts of a teen who sports pink Nikes with fat white and black laces.

Interview with Celeste aka Cece

Favorite Color: Red
Favorite Food: Pizza

Favorite Shoes: Jordans

Favorite Song: Stay In Love by Mariah Carey

Favorite Subject : Reading

Philosophy : Live ya life to the fullest!

Favorite saying: Shut up Doodie

Whatcha wanna be when yur grow up: A lawyer

Current Hustle- Vice President of Online Marketing, Web Page Design, and Correspondence for Buttafly Communications

Where yer like ta hang:

River Park Towers is a fun place to be. We call River Park Towers R.P.T for short. I have mad fun over there in the R.P.T neighborhood. My bestie is Vanessa. Me and Vanessa have a great friendship. We have mad fun when I’m there....We get live over there in the R.P.T Getting live means dancing. When I go over at R.P.T, I gets live . I am the livest person over at R.P.T

Getting Live in NYC !

Check out this video as Bizzy B and Smoove battle to see who is the best at getting live in NYC!

Goin home

by T. Semakula

I am goin home to no museums, cafes, bookstores, or creative outlets.

only to walls painted with tags by invisible spray paint artists

only to those who hip hop habitate

only to the sermons of the Baptist reverends, who whoop inside

swaying churches

only to the young folk who "get live" on the neighborhood sidewalks

their limbs, swaying against the tide

What's on Cece's Blackberry Pearl?

16 @ War by Karina

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTjHZueHiMg

Cece's Bookshelf

Celeste the Eclectic!

Buttafly pays homage to those eclectic students who follow their own paths via a workshop we call, The Eclectic Writer's Workshop.

The Eclectic Writer’s Workshop- Get your students ideas on the page! Be it narrative... expository...creative... In this workshop, students will float through various genres, allowing the writing process to set the foundation for their compositions. In the end, they’ll have an established portfolio that they can do with as they please. To schedule or inquire about this workshop please click here.

Cece's Side Hustles

Cece's Blog

http://cecebreezy.blogspot.com/

Cece's Artwork

Title: The View Outside My Window/ Highbridge, Bronx

Medium- Pencil Sketch/Microsoft Drawing Tools

Cece's Photobucket Photogs

Opportunities

Merriam Webster defines opportunity as... a good chance for advancement or progress.

Opportunity is what most folk strive for. At least that 's what I strive for. I strive for the opportunity to dream, give, and live. ...ts

Buttafly's Call For Workshop Proposals Spring/Winter 2009

http://www.buttafly.4t.com/box_widget.html

The Opportunity to Dream

Martin Luther King had a dream, and if I summarize it correctly ...it was for all of us to live together, peacefully.

Buttafly offers a wonderful workshop titled Project Martin,that allows students to create their own discourse about Civil Rights.

Project Martin- (Exhibition Component)-Students will be engaged with a modern day Civil Rights Movement. This project will allow students to develop their own speeches about civil rights utilizing Martin Luther King's policy of non-violence. Students will create a Civil Rights gallery complete with artistic and written works. (This is a good project to do during Black History Month). To inquire about or schedule this workshop click here.

The Dream Curriculum

The D.R.E.A.M. Curriculum is an educational program, that clearly lays out the road map for youth to set their own goals and take action to achieve them. It's easy to follow and easy to remember with its 5 Step/10 Lesson curriculum. D.R.E.A.M. uses a two-pronged approach, having the students set both a Community Dream as well as a Personal Dream, in order to show that the D.R.E.A.M. approach can be applied to any situation... Michael Davis & Fabian Koss Co-Founders, Reach Your Peak (The Dream Curriculum)

Learn more about the Dream Curriculum

The Opportunity To Give

The Nata Village Blog is a wonderful example of how a blog can serve as a catalyst for giving and social change.

Community Educators at work. Educating the residents of Nata Village about the issue of HIV/AIDS.

The Opportunity To Live

The Life Skills Curriculum

"National Urban Technology Center"

In our society, teens routinely witness shootings on the evening news and see their heroes and celebrities, like Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G., being gunned down. They often think that violence is the only way that people can handle disputes. This module aims to stem the rising tide of aggression by providing awareness and tools to resolve conflicts non-violently.

Access the "Life Skills Curriculum"

Live Yah Life!!!!

Listen To Rihanna and T.I.'s Live Yah Life

Come check out T.Semakula at the following Open Mic

Sweetwater's Open Mic hosted by Michael Ralph and Dedee
at Sweetwater's Bar & Grill
Sunday Afternoon from 2:30PM-5:00PM 2576 Third Ave (at 139th St), Bronx

November 23

A supportive venue for developing artists of music and the spoken word. Dare to be yourself!
#6 Train to 138th & 3rd Ave
FREE DRINK TO THE FIRST 10 PERFORMERS TO SIGN UP!

Lessons

“There are no mistakes or failures, only lessons.”...Dennis Waitley....American motivational Speaker and Author

Teaching, for me, has been more of a calling, then a vocation. For me, teaching represents ministry-work that deals with the soul and its push/desire for progress. Sure, as an English teacher,I had to deal with the basics like grammar, essay writing, nouns and verbs, and such. However, I started to realize that teaching was the ultimate vocation. You are in charge of others. You are in charge of what they learn, how they learn, and to a certain extent, what they do with what they learn. I could go and on and wax poetic about what makes a good teacher, however I believe that poem could never be written, as new ways of learning and being are being sought and discovered, every second. I will say this, for me, the best teachers have been those who have been able to give the best of themselves. The best of who they are and what they represent.... melds into their creative curriculum. Peace. T. Semakula

Lessons about FREEDOM

Popular "Misogyny" classroom scene in the movie Freedom Writers

Hands down, Buttafly picks the movie, Freedom Writers as on of the best movies about teaching and learning. This teacher was so brilliant. She was able to tap into her student's own personal experiences and she utilized it to catapult their potential. She allowed the curriculum to be developed via their personal struggles and triumphs. Their lives created beauty for ashes.

The book, The Freedom Writers Diary, inspired the movie. Erin Gruwell, the teacher who developed Freedom Writers has created a whole curriculum that revolves around the theme of Freedom. She has a foundation called The Freedom Writers Foundation. Check out the Freedom Writers website.

Lessons about TOLERANCE

Teaching Tolerance is a wonderful organization based in Milwaukee that is determined to influence the lives of today's youth. They have a wonderful initiative called Mix It Up that encourages youth to mingle with someone of another race, culture, etc, during their lunch hour. It's an amazing initiative that many schools are starting to become a part of. This is what Martin Luther King and others who fought for Civil Rights were trying to address. Let's come together folks.

Mix It Up!

Lessons about CHANGE

Buttafly teaches a wonderful workshop ABOUT CHANGE called Project SOS (Save Our School).

Project SOS (Save our School) - is your school challenged by gang crime, low achievement, or an environment not conducive to learning? This radical project involves the student body, school officials, and the surrounding community. Students will be engaged in utilizing their social capital to promote change within their schools. This project involves community organizing via proposals, letters to city government, and the creation of an SOS action plan. To schedule or inquire about this workshop, click here.

Buttafly's Call For Workshop Proposals Winter/Spring 2009
http://www.buttafly.4t.com/box_widget.html

Buttafly's Out and About

Come check out T. SEMAKULA at Sam's Soul Food on

November 23, 2008

HEY EVERYONE JUST A REMINDER TO COME ON DOWN TO SAM'S SOUL FOOD RESTAURANT & BAR - LOCATED ON
150/151 GRAND CONCOURSE IN THE BOOGIE DOWN BRONX FOR OPEN MIC FOR ALL POETS, SINGERS, DANCERS,
MUSICIANS WHO NEED A PLACE TO DO THEIR THING.

HOSTED BY APRIL M. JONES & MARILYN THOMAS-KING
FEATURE: THE DYNAMIC DUO HOBO BOB & OBISIDAN
FROM: 5 - 8pm

COME HOLLER @ US AND ENJOY!

SEE U THERE... MTK

Word!!

Buttafly prides itself in creating a climate of power via the avenue of words, lessons, and opportunities. This post has an emphasis on words. From the hollers of the spoken word artists to the manuscript of a first grader, words have always symbolized the way in which we communicate. The better we are at words, per se, the better we are at reaching the masses, finding our way, and obtaining influence and power.

For those of you in love with word collages, there is a wonderful website called Wordle that allows you to make wonderful word collages to post to your blogs, websites, etc.

This is a wonderful curriculum for teachers who would like to teach on the power of words. As we all know, words can cut like a knife or they can soothe like a soft pillow and a warm blanket. This is a wonderful curriculum. To access it click here.

Buttafly teaches a wonderful workshop that involves text journals based on the topic of words.

*The Color Of My Words

(Lower/Middle Grades) This is a wonderful class text (fiction) that focuses on the importance of communication. Students will create text journals in response to the book that will contain info about the author, the setting, the text’s vocabulary, comprehensive activities that get at the book’s main idea, and the reader’s book review. * The classroom teacher can select an alternative text, however the text has to be purchased by the school. For more info about this workshop click here

For a review of this wonderful book by Lynn Joseph, click here

Buttafly's Call For Workshop Proposals Winter/Spring 2009

http://www.buttafly.4t.com/box_widget.html

Of course, we have to pay homage to our spoken word artists. The is a group of tireless cafe warriors, who pound the pavement , conquering open mics with their provocative use of language, lyrical machismo, and the unrelenting quality of speaking truth to power.

Wikipedia defines spoken word as... a form of literary art or artistic performance in which lyrics, poetry, or stories are spoken rather than sung. Spoken-word is often done with a musical background, but emphasis is kept on the speaker.

NOVEMBER 19th
STARK!! OPEN MIKE for Poets/Musicians/Spoken Word/Wild Comics/Performance Arts/Actors
6:30 pm SIGN UP!!! PLEASE BE ON TIME!!
Located: WHERE EAGLES DARE 347 W. 36th St. - 13th Floor (between 8th & 9th Ave.)
New York City
Info: (917) 292- 2683
Featuring!!
APRIL JONES, Poet and Spoken Word Artist
DEMETRIUS DANIEL, Poet/Musician/Teacher
TARSHA SEMAKULA Poet/Singer/Writer
LYRIC, Poet and singer
RAFAEL PEREZ, Poet/Singer/Musician
JOEY SLADE, Comic/Singer
GORDON GILBERT, JR. The Romance Poet of STARK!!!
MICHAEL RALPH, Musical Director
Hosted by Viviana
Poets/Musicians/Actors Performance Artists/Comics An Open Mike for the Wild Mind!!
"If you're not close to the edge, you're taking up too much space!!
PLUS THE ZOO!! OPEN MIKE CHAOS ARE US!!!
PLUS DANCE!! to DJ VIV'S ROCK/SOUL/MOTOWN/DISCO& TECHNO/HIP HOP