Welcome To Brooklyn!

Welcome To Brooklyn !

by t. semakula

I love Brooklyn, it’s fat with culture ….from the dread headed Rastas, to the Ricans and Afriques that be poppin off in East New York. Daily, Brooklyn is housing former Manhattan refugees who got tired of the sky high rent and the turned up snozzles of the super rich. These new expatriates are happy to find a new residence in a borough whose motto states… in unity there is strength . I cannot hide my love for Brooklyn. I remember when I slushed from the Bronx to Brooklyn on the train. I took the four to the two, and was happy to shoot out of the subway to get to the library that sat across from Prospect Park.

Brookly is 2.5 million strong. It has birthed the likes of Jay Z, Spike Lee, Mos Def, and the one and only Biggie Big. It’s known for being a city that gives a new meaning to the word ethnic. When you arrive in Brooklyn, you step into a stew of folk that represent different countries around the globe.The International African Arts Festival is held annually in Brooklyn as well as The West Indian Day Parade Carnival and a host of other ethnic festivals, and parties.

Brooklyn has been able to pull off the ultimate heist, it stole the spotlight from Manhattan. Where Manhattan failed ,with its sky scraper rent and infamous lack of livable quarters, Brooklyn became the perfect compromise. Low rent, spacious housing, a good mixture of professionals and the working class, a fifteen minute subway ride into the city, and a fifteen minute subway ride right back out.

Brooklyn has not voted for a Republican in a national presidential election in the last 50 years… with its liberal values and ability to attract artists, freaks, families, and intellectuals. Brooklyn has been able to match, or in some cases, outdo Manhattan when it comes to cultural activities and resources.

But in the end…I heart Brooklyn. When I pass under the Soldier’s and Sailor’s Arch at Grand Army Plaza, or cop a beef pattie and some coco bread, I can’t help but think that I am home. Maybe it’s because I am a writer, an artist, a dreamer…and we are the folk that gravitate toward Brooklyn. We are comfortable, knowing that Manhattan is just around the corner, its borders pushing up against the bridge that took fourteen years to stretch over the East River.

Article Sources

Brooklyn.Wikipedia. (2010) 21 January 2010.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brooklyn#Government_and_politics

What's goin on in BROOKLYN?

Uncle Luis's Brain Damage Open Mic...is poppin Off in Brooklyn!........

Who's The Cultural King Of BROOKLYN?

Learn More About Artist Danny Simmons on Global Grind

A poem by a poet that lives in Brooklyn

Metrocard

by Luis Bernard

Metrocard is a passport.

A seat between a thug Hare Krishna and a Muslim eating an egg roll.

Dark-skinned people sit in the front.

Window view partially blocked by a fruity Sunday hat.

Annoying symphony of needless cell phone conversations.

Fallen forgotten patriots extend dirty hands to beg for change.

Young lovers make plans on park benches inspired by the sunshine.

Luxury cars parked in front of the projects.

Pigeons take aim. Heh-heh-heeee.

Children begin grown portion of life by committing suicide with cigarettes.

Secret society of adults smoke addictively, huddled in alcoves on break time.

Private men bargain with public prostitutes.

Stilettos are from 9 to 5 now.

Rite-aid’s everywhere.

But babies are still pushing strollers.

Liquors stores on every corner until the streets only have 2 digits and the bodegas are extinct.

Rejected def poets stand on corners with signs that read, “Repent”.

In just six weeks life can include becoming a Paralegal,Getting a G.E.D.,Speak EspanolHabla English,And have great-looking Dr Zizmor skin.

Young boys replace penises with handguns.

The homeless get younger.

The return of the space cowboy.

Direct T.V. forest’s litter low income housing rooftops

Minstrels still beat buckets, beat box and break dance on cardboard without blackface.

People rushing to get home to sit down.

Big Ballers Shot callers with escalades carefully counting out single dollar bills for a order of wings and fries.

Ghetto kids get rich and buy symbols of status quo from those who stole their ancestors in order to show successful they are.

Suburban kids try to show how hip they are by trying to look poor.

Hollywood elite stroll down 125th with the lastest must have accessory…African orphans

Monochrome niggers who eat barbaque chicken with a knife & fork.

Abused women who do not leave because they still believe that when the sky is on fire that he can put it out with the sun.

Thugged out gangsters who be lamping & flexing rolex’s, but is of no value because it does not let them not it is time to put down their guns and pick up their babies.

Funny, always heard the roller coaster was the worlds greatest thrill.

Bored to Death’ Brooklyn Is the New Noir

Is Brooklyn the new noir...Click here to read more about it

Buttafly CAN help you write your own story about BROOKLYN...or about...Wherever it is that you live!

Are You the Next Bestselling Author? Let Buttafly help you develop that book that you have always wanted to write. Click here...to see how we can make it happen...

Buttafly Comes To The Light...

Comes to the light

By T. Semakula

i

penda…

ii

Will you comes to the light

kneel down …. on yo knees

Sali fo a poet who…. has no moon?

iii

teseka..only in expectation

iv

drift..only in haste

Buttafly prays for Faith, Hope, and Charity

Faith
The center
We revolve around
If we...believe




Hope
That ridiculous
Notion
That it...might happen




Charity
What we
Give to others
When we...are empty


by T. Semakula









One of Buttafly's Favorite Poets/Jessica Care Moore


Read Her Bio as well as a pretty darn good poem by her
http://aalbc.com/authors/jessica.htm




The Alphabet Versus The Ghetto by Jessica Care Moore/ A good book for anyone interested in arts/hip hop education..a must read

Listen to Jessica spit some real poetry on her myspace!
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=313278101








Buttafly Communications and MTK Entertainment
presents
Sister of Da Soul Open Mic Series

Poet/Activist- Steve Bloom

LouisvilleGospel.Com is now accepting sponsors for the Gospel Slam, a Spoken Word Gospel event that was created as an alternative to Halloween. For more information please contact Tarsha Semakula, Senior Vice President of Marketing at 502-526-5780 or email at buttafly100@yahoo.com

Buttafly Says Knock Knock!

The Door To Opportunity is always labeled PUSH...ANONYMOUS















How do you knock down the doors of opportunity? Do you use your knuckles, your intellect, your influence, your faith? What makes it happen for you?






























Help Buttafly Knock Down The Doors Of Opportunity ...Become a Community Partner!!!!

(all community partners will receive ten percent of the total workshop/s proceeds)

Buttafly Is Looking For Community Partners

View more presentations from Tarsha .

Listen to the Knock Knock Music Player!

PLAYER HAS BEEN DISABLED

Come and join Buttafly for a writer's retreat on God's Acres

(only checks and money orders are accepted at this time)

Click here for more information.

Kickin It Old Skool

Kickin It Old Skool by T. Semakula The eighties. Blue Adidas with fat white laces, Gazelles, and furry white Kangols. Members Only jackets and painted on Sergio Valente. Crack was roaming the hood like a crooked cop, taking out aunties, friends, and mamas. Hip Hop gave birth to a new canon that spit out stars such as Slick Rick, Dougie Fresh, and Special K. Nowadays, the eighties are considered Old Skool-the folk that used to rule this decade have faded like the memory of Rodney King being slapped with the police batons. Let’s face it, Micheal Jackson’s looking for a sponsor, Prince pushed past fifty, and sweet little Rudy, from the Cosby Show, kicked off her old persona, and portrayed a cracked out hooker in Tyler Perry’s latest blockbuster. There is always beauty for ashes. The house of the eighties has burned down, but the frame has remained intact. Hip Hop found its heartbeat during the eighties, pumping out hits such as Paid In Full, Roxanne Shante, and BDP’s By Any Means Necessary. The Hip Hop elite are quick to pay homage to the pioneers that cropped up during this decade. Fat Joe claims to be LL Cool J’s number one fan. …I mean, LL Cool J is, you know, my idol in hip-hop and, you know, every time I rap, after I do songs, I be, like, 'I hope LL likes this. Back in the eighties, Mr. Ladies Love Cool James planted Def Jam on the map with hits such as I Need Love and I Can’t Live Without My Radio. …crack, a cheaper and more potent offshoot of the drug (cocaine), turned the inner cities into war zones Crack made the hood the new location for warfare. The battlefield resembled school playgrounds and street corners. Local dealers and gangs battled for the blocks that drew in the most revenue. The battleground was also in the living room. Children lost their fathers, mothers, and grandmothers. The hood became fat with skinny crackheads who bumped into children on their way to school. Jamaal Shabazz’s book, A Time Before Crack, chronicled via photographs, the hope and promise of black folk before crack moved in and shut us down. This drug, that is smoked through a glass pipe or an aluminum can, caused black folk to wax reflective about their communities. It shined light on how fragile our neighborhoods were, be it economic, social, and political. It charged community groups and churches to stage marches in front of crack houses and dealers. …My Adidas cuts the sand of a foreign land… The eighties gave birth to a new term, urban wear. For the first time, fashion, homegrown from the streets, took over the runway. The look of Hip Hop and the inner city found its way onto the front covers of magazines. Fat laced Adidas, big hoop earrings, and blue jeans became the norm. The sneaker took over the loafer as the shoe of choice and even white boys traded in their Dockers for a white tee and a fresh pair of baggy Levis. The eighties made the look of the hood, fly, and companies such as FUBU, ROCA WEAR, and Phat Farm cleaned up on Wall Street. The look is so potent that the corporate world screams bloody murder as they watch baggy pantsed job applicants sashay into an interview with a fresh pair of Jordans. The eighties is no doubt the Old Skool. However, this skool opened itself up to a new global cannon called Hip Hop. The eighties taught us how to love and cherish what we hold so dear, when folk started folding under the weight of crack. The eighties gave the hood props for having its own style – just check out Kanye West, one of the new crop of Hip Hop bred ultra millionaires, kickin it on the mic, with a clean pair of Jays. Article Sources Fat Joe Says That LL Cool J is His Idol. Yahoo Music. (2002) 25 March 2009. <http://new.music.yahoo.com/fat-joe/news/fat-joe-says-ll-cool-j-is-his-idol--12057038> 1980’s.Wikipedia. (2009) 23 March 2009. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Eighties> Run DMC. My Adidas. Raising Hell. Arista, 1986 MTK Entertainment 4 U and Buttafly Communications Presents Sister of Da Soul Open Mic Series Hosted by Marilyn Thomas-King @ La Pregunta Arts Café 1528 Amsterdam Avenue (135th St.) New York, NY 10031 Five dollars per person Wednesday, May 27th, 2009/ 7:30 p.m.-9:30 p.m. Featured Poet/Writer: Cynthia Toronto Check out Cynthia Toronto’s bio..... CYNTHIA TORONTO, a California transplant, is a seasoned character actress who has appeared in most mediums including stage,film, television, voice-overs, radio, video, and nightclubs. She is versatile, having developed original productions and performed extensively in experimental theatre, theatre for young audiences, dance theatre, and improvisation-based-on-audience suggestion companies on both coasts, as well as stand-up, sketch comedy and as a singer/lyricist in alternative rock music bands. Recognized as a forerunner of cutting-edge Spoken Word Performance on the West Coast, she has pioneered a form combining elements of poetry, music, theatre and media in work that portrays unique glimpses of urban life. Her poetry has been called ‘jolting, shocking, Dr. Seuss-like, relevant, profound, and often hilarious’. An award-winning poet, she has written eight books of poetry and been published in several anthologies and literary magazines, as well as being featured in three documentaries on Los Angeles poets. She has also been featured in several New York poetry venues including, Four Horsemen and Pink Pony readings at The Cornelia Cafe, The Bowery Poetry Club, Brownstone Poets, Stark, Nomad’s Choir, The Green Pavillion, Gathering of the Tribes, Time Out/Shout Out and the national Poets for Peace readings amongst others. She holds a Master’s Degree in Educational Theatre from New York University, and as a Teaching Artist, has created and implemented performance education programs in residencies sponsored by The National Endowment for the Arts, The California Arts Council and Arts Alaska, in addition to public and private schools, and arts/community organizations in California and New York. For the past seven years she has taught at several colleges in the greater New York area, including Spoken Word Performance at New York University; and currently teaches Acting and Speech as an Adjunct Professor at City College of New York and Borough of Manhattan Community College, City University of New York sites, as well as continuing to perform her solo shows and pursue an acting career. To book Ms. Toronto for an event, performance, etc email her at ct347@nyu.edu.

Buttafly Is Looking For Community Partners

View more OpenOffice presentations from Tarsha .

Are You Connecting The Ten Black Dots?

Buttafly is Connecting The Ten Black Dots with Tracey Bond!

Mt. Hermon Baptist Church with Psalm 100/Mixed Media/Artist- Tracey Bond

"Art is literacy of the heart" ~ Elliot Eisner

I have been drawing since I was five years old…these are the words of the amazing artist, Tracey Bond, a Bronx born fellow creative soul , who has kindly given up some of her precious time to sit down and talk to Buttafly.

Buttafly- So who or what inspired you to become an artist?

Tracey- It was my mother who encouraged me to pursue my art. She pushed me to apply to a high school that was focused on developing young artists . Tracey attended Laguardia High School of the Arts which is also affectionately known as the Fame School. It was my mother who made me take my artmaking more seriously. I am glad that I listened to her, at Laguardia I was inspired by the other artists/creative folk . It was an amazing experience.

Buttafly-What mediums have you worked in, or feel most comfortable working in?

Tracey- I work with acrylics because I work in layers and the acrylic paint dries faster. I have used other mediums such as pastels and color pencils. I also dabble with computer graphics to help with the design of my personal line of greeting cards.

Buttafly- Your influences?

Tracey-The impressionists because of the technique. Vincent Van Gogh, because you can see his emotions through his paint strokes. In addition, the visual artists from the Harlem Renaissance did a good job depicting the lifestyle of African Americans.

Check out Gusteave Caillbote's Exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum " Impressionists Paintings From Paris To The Sea"- March 27–July 5, 2009....

”An artist is not paid for his labour but for his vision.” --. James MacNeill Whistler

Basketball/Acrylic/Artist-Tracey Bond

Buttafly-What do you think is the greatest challenge/s that artists face today?

Tracey-Getting started…getting your feet wet…. What is the plan for an artist when they graduate from high school, art school? It's important to break the stereotype of the starving artist. With the ability to keep up your momentum mixed with self motivation and confidence , you are sure to make it as an artist. There was a well known greeting card company (who shall remain nameless) who rejected me as an artist. I decided to create my own line of greeting cards (Cards Made In Faith). Basically, if you don't believe in yourself, no one else will.

Buttafly-As an artist, what do you see yourself doing five years from now?

Tracey- Enjoying life as a fulltime artist….conducting art therapy …..using art as a way to healing.

Praise/Acrylic/Artist-Tracey Bond

"All art requires courage" ~Anne Tucker

Self Portrait/ Tracey as a Masai Princess/Oil Painting/Artist-Tracey Bond.

Check out Tracey's Blog which features more of her beautiful artwork

Check out Tracey's Online Gallery

What Can You Make With Ten Black Dots?

Tracey Bond is offering a wonderful new workshop via Buttafly titled "What Can You Make With Ten Black Dots?" The Ten Black Dots by Donald Crews serves as a catalyst for this workshop that is geared toward students who would like to explore their imagination through literacy. Students will be able to create artistic responses via their artmaking. Via this workshop, students will increase the following:

Physical Development: Utilizing their fine motor skills, cutting and pasting.
Cognitive Development: Solving problems, using numbers and counting, applying knowledge
Language Development: Expressing self, participating in conversations, asking and answering questions.

To inquire about or book this workshop email Buttafly at buttafly100@yahoo.com

Tracey's Bio

Tracey Bond is a freelance artist/ Illustrator who was born and raised in the Bronx, New York. Tracey attended LaGuardia High School of the Arts as an art major. She received a Bachelor’s Degree in Illustration from the Fashion Institute of Technology. Tracey has created an original line of greeting cards called ”Cards Made in Faith”. Her paintings have been published for “Cricket” magazine for children. Tracey is currently exhibiting at The Creole Restaurant, Music Supper Club, and The T&J Bakery Café in New York City.

MTK Entertainment 4 U and Buttafly Communications Presents
Sister of Da Soul Open Mic Series

Hosted by Marilyn Thomas-King
@ la pregunta arts café
1528 Amsterdam Avenue (135th St.)
New York, NY 10031
Every fourth Wednesday of the month
Five dollars per person
April 29 , 2009/ 7:30 p.m.-9:30p.m
Featured Poet/Writer: Robery Gibbons
Contact Info
Sister_of_the_soul@yahoo.com
347-431-7617/ 646-203-7464
Directions/Take the 2, 4, 5 to 125th, transfer to the M100 to 135th and Amsterdam/Take the 1 to 137th and College Station

The City Curriculum

The City Curriculum
By
Tarsha Semakula

Instead of pouring knowledge into people’s heads, you need to help them grind a new set of eyeglasses, so they can see the world in a new way
-John Seely Brown

So, what is your curriculum? This is the question that is usually asked when I tell folk that I homeschool C. Breezy. …I create my own. I am more of an eclectic unschooler. I find ways to reach my daughter via inspiration, her interests, and the jewels that we find along the way as we canvass, the city.

The essence of intelligence is skill in extracting meaning from everyday experience
–Unknown

Sure, I checked out the state standards in regards to assisting me with the subject matter. I used the standards as a back drop to what C. Breezy and I needed to accomplish for the school year, then I moved on.

It’s off to the city. There’s our usual jaunt to Brooklyn’s Central Library. Last week, we went there to research info about creating pie charts to compare the economy of each of New York City’s five boroughs. There’s the geography lesson that compliments our jaunt. We map out our route from central Harlem to Brooklyn, survey the subway maps, and plan out our strategy. We take the one train from 137th and Broadway and transfer to the two train at 96th street. We know once we get to Brooklyn, we’re gonna cop us some beef patties and coco bread.

The library was built to resemble a huge open book. The inside is filled with three floors of texts. On the second floor there’s a room stuffed with wifi users. We usually park ourselves in there. Before we make it to the wifi room, we check out the exhibits that the library has ongoing. Currently, in the library’s grand lobby is an exhibit by artist Lucille Nurske titled “ Beautiful Brooklyn- Collages that celebrate the city.” I’m inspired and make a note to start a new art project with C. Breezy…hmm…collages about everyday life in Harlem?

We like to take fieldtrips to the Social Science library in Manhattan. C. Breezy reminds me that this library was famous for the part it played in the movie The Day After Tomorrow. Jake Gyllenhaal and his classmates were trapped inside it after New York City is taken over by global warming.

The route to this library opens itself up for a study in Art, Greek Mythology and Architecture. On our way to the library, we pass through Grand Central Station and look up to admire the beautiful blue and gold painted backward mural of the zodiac which looms over the commuters’ heads. In the library, there is a photography exhibit by Stephen Duponts titled “Afghanistan, or the Perils of Freedom.” C. Breezy is impressed because she is a photographer as well, her collection is on view at Photobucket and her My Space photo gallery. Duponts’ pictures give us a glimpse into the lives of the Iraqi people, as they live through a war that is still ongoing. I am amazed at how the photographer was able to get so many Iraqi people to sit for portraits with their guns, and farming tools.

While there, we also check out the Map Room. I requested that we look at maps of our neighborhood. We are supplied with maps that were created in 1911 (fire insurance maps) and we compare these old maps with current maps of our neighborhood. C. Breezy discovers that the public school that sits behind our apartment building was once an orphanage. However, the neighborhood is laid out with the same stone apartment buildings and even in 1911 the one train ran alongside Broadway.

On our way back home from our jaunts, we usually are witness to impromptu performances of young men dancing or getting light in the subway isles. I notice that sometimes, their laceless Adidas are spray painted gold.

No week of feildtripping is complete without a trip to the Time Warner Center in Columbus Circle. We step into the huge center and set our eyes on Williams and Sonoma, famous for its seasonal culinary tools, gadgets, etc that are being sold in the store’s pimped out kitchen. The second floor of Williams and Sonoma is dedicated to interior design. This floor is a study in color, art, and creativity. The second floor of the Time Warner Center houses an open art exhibit, the Cartoon Network Store (filled with cartoonists’ original drafts and sketches), and a busy bookstore. In the bookstore, C. Breezy discovered a new series of fiction geared toward urban teens called Tru. She just finished Jaded by Monica McKayhan and is now reading Hustlin by L. Devine.

The knowledge of the world is only to be acquired in the world, and not in a closet. -Lord Chesterfield

When there’s no fieldtrip, C. Breezy and I usually hit it over to La Pregunta, an arts café that sits around the corner from my house. It’s the closest thing that she gets to a classroom. C. Breezy sits in there with her laptop, revising her essays, researching via the net for an upcoming project or listening intently to a You Tube math tutorial.

I admit, sometimes in the café, we people watch. Let’s face it, Manhattan is famous for the cast of characters that roam about in the city. Since the café sits across the street from City College, we get to listen to impromptu student meetings, college professors gabbing about their courses, or watch patrons munch on the café’s famous revolutionary sandwiches.

I am often questioned about how C. Breezy is learning to be social. I think about the many people we encounter and converse with as we trump through the city and I let out a sigh. C.Breezy is a member of a church peer group that meets on a regular basis. Her peer group assists her with learning to socialize, network, and develop appropriate social skills. I am happy to say, via her city unschooling, that my daughter is not only confined to socializing with teens, she also networks with adults, the elderly, and folk who live in different parts of the globe. Recently, we attended an event for entrepreneurs held at Columbia University’s Low Library. The speaker for the evening was Susan Taylor, editor emerita of Essence Magazine. C. Breezy and I had a chance to meet her in person, and I am proud to say that my daughter did a wonderful job socializing with Mrs. Taylor and the other entrepreneurs who attended the event.

I am learning all the time. The tombstone will be my diploma.
-Eartha Kitt

As a trained middle school language arts teacher, homeschooling, via city unschooling, has proven to be a journey dedicated to ingenuity, unlimited resources and a new perspective on what is considered educational. This new perspective has not only me but my daughter looking at and experiencing the world in a totally different way. The curriculum is not only seen as a set of books or texts with themes interspersed for comprehension, but now curriculum is seen as living breathing moving parts of a city on the move. It’s a collection of portraits in a library, a series of workshops at a museum. It’s a conversation with a tourist visiting from Canada or an ad hoc performance of break dancers kicking it on the corner of 42nd and Seventh Avenue.

Buttafly offers a wonderful workshop for those young city dwellers who love to write about their neighborhoods.

The Urban Planners Writer’s Workshop- What’s going on in your students’ neighborhoods? Have they ever written a letter their city councilman? What are some things, if any, that they would like to change about their neighborhoods? Have they ever considered composing their own neighborhood proposals? They’ll take a look at the dynamics of a neighborhood, while at the same time developing creative and critical compositions that explores the question, how can we make our neighborhoods a better place to live?

To inquire about or book this workshop please click here