Update from Hurricane Season

The Hurricane Season tour honestly changed my life.

There were so many "moments" that I could have filled volumes and published them for a hefty price tag with a Random House label!

I got to spend time with some of the crew Tuesday evening in Oakland. (I know my blackberry picture is whack - tell Naima to hurry with the ones from the "good camera!)

(Lindsay, Li, Sallome, Naima, *Alixa is camera woman)

One of the most memorable stops on our tour was what we'd call a break. We didn't have a show in Yellow Springs, OH, but there were amazing women and a little boy whose welcome was possibly more special than any other stop.

There we made sushi, we saw Water by Deepha Mehta, we talked about childhood & politics (Zapatistas), I learned about Venezuala's inspiring campaign to end illiteracy, we looked at treehouse books, got stung by bees, Lindsay made portobello mushrooms taste like steak, we heard of a sunflower field that shows the shifting of the sun's daily light through the moving "heads" of the flowers, climbed trees (I nearly died!), and listened intently as our friend's parents shared of their emigration from Iran to the US during a revolution I'd never heard of.

I just "friended" one of our amazing hostesses - Amanda - on Facebook. Seeing her name alone in my Inbox made me smile.

(To read blogs I wrote during the Hurricane Season Tour, click here.)

In her message to me today Amanda says:

We loved following your blog posts. Austin would ask "how are the aunties (that is how he referred to y'all) or where are the aunties?" so we would read the blog posts. I heard him telling some friends about the aunties in the bus with birds that ate vegetable grease so that they could stop hurricanes from happening. and of course, the bee stings.

Austin was our best PR, clearly. (lol)

If only they knew just how much that one stop shifted my experience of the tour. I needed to be around mommas and babies...

To read about the bee stings click here. To continue reading about the rest of the Yellow Springs tour stop click here.

Workspaces

Laundromat somewhere along the road

Sam Seidel's parting gifts for the Hurricane Season crew

Planning 8 months in advance for Brooklyn Honors Spike Lee

Hurricane Season coming to NYC in May 2009

COMING TO NEW YORK CITY IN 2009!!!

Just in... New York City premier at the National Black Theatre, May 1, 2009. More info to come.

HURRICANE SEASON:
the hidden messages in water

a two-womyn show
about unnatural disaster
and a great shift
in universal consciousness

Climbing PoeTree presents a multimedia show and 50-city tour that obliterates the boundaries between performance and activism. HURRICANE SEASON: the hidden messages in water interweaves spoken word poetry, sound collage, shadow art, dance, film and animation to explore critical issues facing humanity through the kaleidoscope Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath.

Water, the performance's extended metaphor, guides the audience on a vivid journey of unthinkable tragedy and undeniable promise from a single drip into a violent storm that culminates in climactic moment of possibility and resurrection.

Hurricane Season tackles global warming, environmental injustice, policing, prisons, militarization, corporate domination, gentrification, and displacement as they manifest from one gulf to another, with a powerful tale of resistance, resilience, creativity, and survival.

Hurricane Season connects the issues that surfaced in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina to the "unnatural disasters" disenfranchised communities are experiencing nation and worldwide.

The objective of Hurricane Season is not only to stir in people the fervor of transformation, but also to channel that energy into immediate, meaningful, and tangible action. A "solution-cipher", facilitated by Sallome Hralima, follows every show with community leaders and grassroots organizations whose work addresses the issues raised in Hurricane Season on a local level. The aim is to cross-pollinate creative strategies for self-determination, and to turn the passion generated in the show into action manifested in the community.

Hurricane Season will tour the nation beginning on the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina (August 29, 2008). The crew will travel throughout the country in a vehicle converted to run on recycled vegetable oil from America's fast food addiction.

As Facilitator for the Solution-Cipher, I aid local organizations in each tour stop in presenting the work they do to audience members. This Cipher enables organizations and residents to cross-pollinate solutions to the world's seemingly insurmountable issues and demonstrates that another world is possible - and we ARE proof.

Follow the tour through my blog: dopeswan.org/sallomazing!

To discover more about the show, the strategy, the tour, and the artists, visit hurricaneseasontour.com. Find out ways you can get involved in this exciting movement and help Hurricane Season have the widest impact imaginable!