Spoken Word Activism!

What form does creativity take when we surrender to its power so it flourishes in any educational adventure? How does it feel to flow forward into a career path that honors creativity in your work? In a world that can serve the human heart and feed belly and soul?

Living Lessons Library’s co-creative collaboration at a local level here in Philadelphia, PA with Reclaim Philadelphia and Wild Indigo Poetry is an example of powerful and purposeful expansion that can serve and heal connected communities. Strangers, friends, families, workers, and elders in our town, our city, our country. Our World.

Wild Indigo hosts a monthly live gathering featuring talented poets of all genres, ages and styles. Reclaim Philadelphia is a sponsor of this event. I support these community resources that unite needed activism while keeping an eye on our humanity.

In August, Reclaim Philadelphia called for community action when one our own, Anou, was ripped from his family and his tax-paying restaurant "Das Good by a visit from ICE. Our community got busy. Stepping up to support Anou and his family.

One simple action. Neighbors and friends gathering at Das Good to rally and to write messages of support and caring. These messages were sent to Anou at the Moshannon Detention Center. Soon after Anou's arrival at Moshannon, a young Asian man who was completely overwhelmed by the circumstances of his detention committed suicide while in custody a Moshannon. Tragic and an unacceptable consequence for not being born in America.

Anou received hundreds of handwritten messages and one copy of poems I read at Wild Indigo in August. Anou read and shared these words with fellow detainees. 

This armchair activism needs to be extended and you can help! Here's how: 

1. Find out if there is an ICE Detention center in your state
2. Call your Federal Representative in the U.S. Congress & Senate and demand the names of all ICE Detainees, their serial numbers, and specific locations
3. Demand a fiscal accounting of taxpayers dollars that pay for ICE operations, management of all detainees, and human psychological terror.
4. Express this: I vote and I will not vote to re-elect a representative who won't demand federal accountability or defend our rights as birth citizens, naturalized American citizens, and that my vote will reflect conscience when it comes to deporting minors to Guatemala, to a country they have never seen, without an accompanying adult or extended family member who is in America legally.
5. Become a member of Reclaim at $5/month to cover postage, volunteer snacks and messages delivery to various detention centers across the United States.
6. Contribute a poem or message of support for ICE detainees and email your message/poem to anaiis.writes@gmail.com

I awoke this morning knowing exactly what to offer as a keynote talk to college and university students: The Power of Deep Listening: Connection, Creativity & Community