#workshop: a class act ny

[contentinghitss]

The Importance of Continued Learning: Advice from NY Casting Directors

In the fast-paced world of entertainment, staying relevant requires more than just talent—it demands a commitment to continued learning. NY casting directors, often at the forefront of industry trends, stress the importance of education and growth for actors and industry professionals alike. Their advice serves as a valuable roadmap for anyone aspiring to build a long-lasting career in this competitive field.

Why Continued Learning Matters in Acting

Adapt to Industry Changes: The entertainment industry is ever-evolving, with new trends in storytelling, technology, and audience preferences. Continuous learning helps actors stay current and competitive.

Refine Your Craft: Acting techniques like method acting, Meisner, and improv require ongoing practice and exploration. Mastery comes through persistent learning.

Expand Your Skillset: NY casting directors often advise actors to diversify their skills, such as learning accents, stage combat, or even dance, to widen their opportunities.

Ways to Pursue Continued Learning

Workshops and Classes: Regularly attend acting workshops or enroll in advanced classes to keep refining your skills. Casting directors often host these sessions, offering valuable feedback.

Study the Classics: Reading plays, screenplays, and acting books keeps you grounded in the fundamentals of the craft.

Embrace Technology: With self-tape auditions and virtual casting becoming standard, mastering technology is now a critical skill.

Learning from Casting Directors

NY casting directors often emphasize that the learning process isn’t just for actors—it’s essential for all industry professionals. Directors themselves attend seminars, industry events, and even acting classes to stay informed and better understand performers' challenges.

Also read, Top Online Resources Recommended by NY Casting Directors

[blinkaholik1]

ALTERNATE ENDINGS, ACTIVIST RISINGS Visual AIDS Day With(OUT) Art 2018

A Doula’s Guide to ALTERNATE ENDINGS, ACTIVIST RISINGS was created by the What Would An HIV Doula Do? (WWHIVDD) collective and students from the Fall 2018 class, “Life During Memorialization: History and the Ongoing Epidemic of HIV/AIDS in the USA” at The New School: Annalisa Dick, Brad Walrond, El Roy Red, E G Condon, Emily Colucci, Justin Yockel , Katherine Cheairs, Ollin ROdriguez Lopez, Rupert McCranor, Sur Rodney (Sur), Tamara Oyola Santiago, and Theordore (ted) Kerr.

Text by Theodore (ted) Kerr Designed by LPS Edited by Visual AIDS

Day With(out) Art 2018 logo design adn Cover illustration by Nelson Santos

Day With(out) Art 2018 public programming and resource guide is supported by a Humanities New York Action Grant.

Visual AIDS’ Day With(out) Art programming is also funded in part by general operating and programming grants from Alphawood Foundation, The Lambent Foundation Fund of Tides Foundation, The Shelley and Donald Rubin Foundation, Marta Heflin Foundation, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and individual donors.

ALTERNATE ENDINGS, ACTIVIST RISINGS

Visual AIDS presents ALTERNATE ENDINGS, ACTIVIST RISINGS to mark the 29th aniversary of the Day With(out) Art. On World’s AIDS Day December 1, 1989, the first Day With(out) Art was created by the Visual AISD as a national day of mourning in response to the AIDS crisis. ALTERNATE ENDINGS, ACTIVIST RISINGS highlights the impact of art in AIDS activism and advocacy today by commissioned short videos from six inspiring community organizations and collectives--ACT UP NY, Positive Women’s Network - USA, Sero Project, The SPOT, Tacoma Action Collective, and VOCAL-NY. The program represents a wide range or organizational strategies, from direct action to grassroots service providers to nationwide movement building, while considering the role of creative practices in activist responses to the ongoing AIDS crisis. ALTERNATE ENDINGS, ACTIVIST RISINGS seeks to reflect the urgencies of today’s HIV/AIDS epidemic by pointing to pressing political concerns. In their commissioned videos, organizations address political concerns. In their commissioned videos, organizations address intersecting issues anti-Black violence, HIV criminalization, homelessness, and the disproportionate effects of HIV on marginalized AIDS activism, ALTERNATE ENDINGS, ACTIVIST RISINGS foregrounds contemporary engagements between activists, artists, and cultural workers on the front lines.

Visual AIDS commissioned the What Would An HIV Doula Do? collective to develop this resource guide as a supplement to Day With(out) Art 2018.

View and share these videos online starting December 3: http://visualAIDS.org/projects/detail/alternate-endings-activist-rising

A Doula’s Guide To ALTERNATE ENDINGS, ACTIVIST RISINGS

What Would An HIV Doula Do? is a collective of artists, activists, AIDS service employees, chaplains, doulas, and others living with and/or impacted by HIV who understand that community engagement needs to be more visible and better supported in order to maintain and build on gains made over 40 years of AIDS activism. Historically, a doula is someone who provides holistic service to a person during childbirth. Increasingly, doulas have also been used for end of life care, abortions and in considering gender. In thinking about what would an HIV doula do, we have come to understand a doula as someone who holds space and provides support in times of transitions that start long before someone takes a tes, and continues long after someone might start HIV treatment, regardless of their HIV status. Since we began two years ago, we have been using public meetings, writing workshops, art making and social media to bring meetings, writing workshops, art making and social media to bring people together to take action and discuss the epidemic. It was a great honor when Visual AIDS asked us if we would create the ALTERNATE ENDINGS, ACTIVIST RISINGS resource guide to support the videos made by grassroots AIDS activist collectives and groups. For us, these organizations represent the truth that just as no one contracts HIV alone, no one should have to deal with HIV alone either. We need community to support us in our well-being, fears, successes, and expression. To make the guide, we gathered over two nights in small groups. We watched, journaled and discussed together. Among the first things, to be said was how happy we were to see people on screen who are too rarely shown talking about HIV, including youth, black women, people from the South, and people actually living either HIV. With that in mind, we were also aware of who was not on screen, what issues were not discussed, and the limits of any project to fully represent the breadth of the ongoing epidemic. Watching the videos was a reminder that before there was a medical, governmental, or even artistic response to the AIDS crisis, there was a community activist response. It was people living with illness, their loved ones, and related and concerned communities who were the first to serve as end-of-life doulas, caretakers, Peter educators, advocates and witnesses. Similarly, the project is also an echo of early AIDS video activists from DIVA TV, Women AIDS Video Enterprise (WAVE), Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC) and Bebashi, who picked up cameras to document their work as a form of media activism, resource sharing, and community building. Watching all the works together, we appreciate that while each video stood strong on its own, it was helpful to consider the works in conversation with each other, and across time and various AIDS activist histories. As we considered the type of guide we wanted to share, we knew we wanted to make something that opened up the experience of viewing, facilitating the kind of conversation we were able to have. To do that, we knew that our guide would have to do more than just share information; it would have to provide a process. In the end, we hope we have made a doula tool, a resource that holds space for communities of viewers transitioning from what they thought they knew coming into screening, to having more information, and from individual reactions to group discussion. As you watch, we hope you will be inspired to ask yourself and others: What can we do to reduce the harm of HIV, and end AIDS crisis tomorrow?

There are WWHIVDD chapters in New York City and St. Louis. For more info: HIVDOULA.work

Vocal-NY

Vocal-NY.org

Started in 1999, VOCAL (Voices Of Community Activists & Leaders) is a grassroots membership organization based in New York State that builds power among low-income people affected by HIV/AIDS, hepatitis C, the drug war, homelessness, and mass incarceration in order to create healthy and just communities. In the film, we see activist footage of VOCAL demonstrations from the New York State Capital to New York City streets. using direct action, music, humor, statistics, memorialization and what they describes as “political theater,” we see VOCAL activating a multitude of creative tactics to reduce the harm of HIV and end AIDS epidemic in the state. VOCAL’s tactics remind us that there is still a place for direct action, although the system might have us believing otherwise.

Questions

Why is housing important for people living with HIV? What does stable housing and access to care make possible for someone who is living with illness?

Jawanza James Williams from VOCAL-NY suggests that one of the major lessons from AIDS activism history is the power of people putting their bodies on the line. How does VOCaL continue working in that tradition? Have you put your body on the line? If so, what did that look like? How did it feel? What were some of the results?

Go Further

● Housing is not just a New York State issue. To find out more about the US Federal Housing Assistance program, search online for Housing Opportunities for Persons With AIDS (HOPWA), the only federal program dedicated to addressing the housing needs of people living with HIV and AIDS as well as their families. ● Along with housing, VOCAL is also focused on the ongoing impacts of the opioid crisis and the war on drugs. Are you interested in learning more about this worldwide issue? Look online for the Open Society Foundation publication: The War on Drugs and HIV/AIDS: How the Criminalization of Drug Use Fuels the Global Pandemic. Also, visit vocal-nyc.org and check out their Drug Policy page to see what they are fighting for and the successes they have had, including successfully campaigning to legalize medical marijuana in New York.

Act Up NY ACTUPNY.com

Since 1987, ACT UP NY has held weekly Monday meetings, most often at the LGBT Community Center. Their early demonstrations, media campaigns, and direct actions promoted an intersectional understanding of HIV and AIDS as an issue of race, class and gender as well as a medical matter; they were also successful in getting drugs into bodies by lowering drug prices and changing the process for drug trials. They transformed mourning into public action with political funerals and their influential protects against the National Institute of Health, Centers for Disease Control, Catholic Church, and US government harnessed the collective rage and despair of the first decades of the AIDS crisis. In 2018, an arm of the collective organized #HIVPreventionDay in conjunction with the Prep4All, calling on Gilead Sciences to release their patent for Truvada, a drug that has the ability to reduce HIV transmission by 99%. In this video, the ACT UP Graphics and Visual Tactics Working Group pairs audio from planning meetings with seven sites in New York while sharing values and s tragedies the collective uses to build power. While much cultural production has been made about the history of ACT UP, this video is one of the few projects ACTUO has made about its own work in recent years.

QUESTIONS

While ACTUP has history of putting bodies, faces, and reputations on the line through cultural production, direct action activism, and meetings with government officials, this video uses anonymity as a tactic to reduce ego from the work. Why do you think they chose to represent themselves in this way? What are the pros and cons of working anonymously?

ACT UP created #HIVPreventionDay, a day of action to raise awareness about HIV prevention and pharmaceutical patents. What are differences between activism that centers people living with HIV versus prevention for people who are HIV negative? How can they be seen as separate strategies? How can they be seen as interconnected and related strategies? Go Further

● In the Fall of 2018, ACT UP held demonstrations at an exhibition of artist David Wojnarowicz’s work at The Whitney Museum of American Art, reminding Museum-goers that “AIDS IS NOT HISTORY” while Aruguing that the museum was contextualizing HIV as an historical issue. After the demonstrations, the Whitney changed wall text within the exhibition to acknowledge the ongoing epidemic and David Wojnarowicz’s in ACT UP, Search Whitney,ACT UP and David Wojnarowicz for further details. ● Briefly mentioned in the film, the IAC stands for the International AIDS Conference, which takes place every two years. It is slated to be hosted in San Francisco and Oakland 2020. Many activists think this is a bad idea, citing travel bans and the increasing violence directed towards sex workers, trans women and other people marginalized by the United States. For more Information, search #AIDS2020ForAll. ● For Day With(out) Art 2012, Visual AIDS presented the film United in Anger, a documentary about the history of ACT UP directed by Jim Hubbard. Search for it online, and check out the Tumblr Visual AIDS made: Wisdom in Being United In Anger. Positive Women’s Network - USA PWN-USA.org Positive Woman’s Network - USA (PWN) is a national membership body of women living with HIV and allies that exists to strengthen the strategic power of all women - trans inclusive - living with HIV in the United States. Founded in 2008 by 28 diverse women leaders living with HIV, PWN-USA develops a leadership pipeline and policy agenda that applies the lens of gender to the domestic HIV epidemic grounded in social justice and human rights. Every day, PWN-USA inspires, informs and mobilizes women living with HIV to advocate for changes that improve lives and uphold rights. In this video, viewers are invited in as women create masks at the 2018 Positive Women’s Network summit in Florida and screenprint bags at the home of a PWN member in Colorado, providing us a view into the intimate places of mutual care they have created together across the nation. Throughout the film, the power of community is discussed as a source of strategic strength. As PWN members Kimberly Wilson suggests, “the more casual the environment, the more willing people are to say more,” and as a result, the more her community is able to lend a hand.

QUESTIONS

The film begins with activist and PWN member Barb Cardell explaining that, “In the early days when we didn’t have anything but our anger, when we didn’t have medication, we didn’t have an HIV test, we had art.” Decades later, now with medication and HIV tests, Barb and her peers are still making art. Why do you think they continue to create?

PWN organizing director Waheedah Shabazz-El makes a distinction between a support group and advocacy. What do you think differences are between the two?

GO FURTHER

● Until 1993, the US Centers for Disease Control’svdefinition of AIDS did not include opportunistic infections that impacted women, a systemic failure that meant that living with HIV were being denied possible life saving treatment and state support provided to men with AIDS. To learn more about the role that women like Katrina Haslip, Terry McGovern, and others played in making this change, look for the film NOTHING WITHOUT US: The Women Who Will End AIDS and search YouTube for Women of ACT UP NY History. ● Decades into the epidemic, women continue to have to fight to be counted and considered. Medical trails constantly are conducted involving only cisgender men. To read more about this inequality, visit AIDSMaps.com and look up Roger Pebody’s article, Women Underrepresented In HIV Clinical Trials.

The Spot fb.me/jmmfc4m/ The SPOT (Safe Place Over Time) is dedicated to providing services and opportunities to wellness, empowerment, and leadership to young men in Jackson, Mississippi. In her 2017 New York Times Magazine article “America’s Hidden H.I.V. Epidemic,” Linda Villarosa highlighted the ongoing urgency of the HIV epidemic in the American South, particularly in Jackson, where 40 percent of gay and bisexual men are living with HIV-the nation’s highest rate. In this film we spend time with Cedric, Jermerious, and Regi, who were all highlighted in Villarosa’s article, and are invited into a tight-knit community of people using expression, gender play, dance, and other tools to save each other’s lives. The impact of creativity, along with treatment and other forms of care, are vital. As Regi says at The SPOT on camera, “dancing is a healing art.”

Questions

In the film we see young men at The SPOT holding blue mirrors. Known as the “Man in the Mirror” excercise, it is an opportunity for people to really see themselves. What could be the impacts of doing this excessive with your community?

Regi shares his term “hoe-ography,” reclaiming what is traditionally a negative term to encourage people to improve their relationship to their bodies. In a sense, Reginis in conversation with Michael Vallen and Richard Berkowitz who laid out the framework for safer sex and advocated for mutual affection as a form of AIDS care in their 1983 publication How to Have Sex in an Epidemic. How can you continue this tradition of sex positivity to reduce the harm of HIV?

The film begins with a shot of a building in Jackson. For the rest of the film we are inside The SPOT. What does this tell you about the need for safe space and the importance of community privacy? What does your community need to thrive and express? Go Further ● Suggested viewing: Wilhelmina’s War, about HIV’s impact on family in southern United States, and Endgame, a broader look at HIV within Black communities around the US, including parts of the American South. Both are on PBS.org and are powerful to watch j. A group or with a class, clips are available online. Another related video to look up is Ellen Spiri & Cheryl Dunye’s DiAna’s Hair Ego REMIX, commissioned by Visual AIDS in 2017. ● People can connect to their bodies at The SPOT. In his book, Anti-Black Racism and the AIDS Epidwmic, Adam Geary urges us to see how it is not what we do with our bodies that most often determines our health but the limits of what we can do with and for our bodies as imposed by the state. For more information, look for Adam Geary’s interview titled “Anti-Black racism has been central to the structuring HIV vulnerability in the US and globally” on the Visual AIDS website. Tacoma Action Collective StopErasingBlackPeople.com

Founded in 2015, the Tacoma Action Collective is a partnership of Black community organizations working in grassroots action and education. In this video, members of the collective make conversations between anti-Black racism, Black Lives Matter, cultural production, HIV/AIDSnand self care through an exploration of their process as artists, activists, writers and community healers. Tacoma Action Collective responds to interconnected structural violence with the demand #StopErasingBlackPeople. In their video, awe see their 2015 die-in protest intervening against the Lack of Black artists in the exhibjtijnspmAtt AIDS America at the Tacoma RT Museum, their work at the 2016 international AIDS Conference in South Africa, and examples of street art being made.

QUESTIONS

Protesters have “I Am Sandra Bland” sign in the film, referring to the activists from Illinois who was killed in 2015 while unjustly held by police. TAC works “to eliminate systematic oppression and structural violence.” For you, what is the connection between police violence and HIV/AIDS? How do you see HIV as being related to systems and structures of oppression?

In its initial iteration, Art AIDS America only included five Black artists km a toaster of over 100 artist, despite the fact that HIV disaproportionately why is it I,Portland to hold museums and cultural institutions responsible for how they represent cultural histories? GO FURTHER ● From the Tuskegee syphilis experiment, to the dehumanizing experiments of Dr. J. Marion Sims, to the exploitation of Henrietta Lacks, there is a documented history of medical violence and bias against Black people. This creates mistrust, and makes the efforts of doctors, nurses and others doing culturally competent care that much more worthy of attention. Learn more: search the underlined word above and consider a book club with Harriet A. Washington’s Medical Apartheid and Killing the Black Body by Dorthy Roberts. ● Decolonize The Place is a collective calling for, among other things the reparations of African and indigenous objects, a commitment from museums to have increased diversity of curatorial staff and leadership, and occupied indegous land acknowledgement. Learn more about their work at decoloizethisplace.org ● We would be a lesser world were it not for organizations like the Black Panthers, the literary collective Other Countries, The Philadelphia based liberations MOVE, “Where We At?” Black Women Artists, Inc, and The Counter Narrative Project. Why are these groups seldom taught and rarely canonized? Add to this list and peer educate. Sero Project SeroProject.com Sero Project is a US-based network of people living HIV (PLHIV) and allies fighting for freedom from stigma and injustice. The name Sero Project refers to “serostatus,” which is another way to say HIV status. Sero is particularly focused on ending the inappropriate use of use’s HIV status in criminal and potential or perceived HIV exposure. The criminal justice system considers HIV a deadly weapon, and in many states exposing someone to HIV is a crime, regardless of condom use, viral loaf, or actual risk of transmission. For people living with HIV, a contentious relationship, a personal misunderstanding, or even a minor infraction of the law can lead to prison sentences of over thirty years, sensationalized media coverage, and registration as a sex offender. With the Positive Women’s Network-USA, Sero Project produced the biennial HIV is Not a Crime training academy to support advocates mobilizing at the grassroots level for HIV criminalization reform. The 2018 conference included a showcase of visual art and poetry made by advocates working against HIV criminalization. In this film, four of the featured artists are interviewed, discussing creativity and the impact of criminalization on their life chances and spirit.

QUESTIONS

In the film we see Contonnia’s painting which depicts his three hearts impacted by stigma. If you were to make a similar painting, what would your three hearts represent?

Do you think the police and the criminal justice system can be effective tools for responding to the HIV/AIDS epidemic? How might they exacerbate health disparities and inequality in access to treatment and healthcare?

Thinking with others, what are the impacts of HIV criminalization on individuals and communities living with HIV? For people in prison? GO FURTHER ● Visual AIDS collaboration with Avram Finkelstein to create a broadside project to educate about HIV criminalization. Search online for You Care About HIV Criminialization (You Just Don’t Know It Yet) for more Facts about criminal and print your own copy. ● Over 30 states across the US have HIV-specific laws that criminalize people living with the virus, and states without specific laws have been living with HIV. Find out more about your state going online to The Center for HIV Law and Policy. ● In the past few years, more research on HIV criminalization and its history has been published. Consider a book club for: Punishising Disease: HIV and the Criminization of Sickness by Trevor Hoppe; Making Media Work For HIV Justice by Olivia G. Ford and Positive Women’s Network - USA, on behalf of HIV Justice Worldwide; and Cell Count, edited by Kyle Croft and Asher Mones for Visual AIDS. ● To listen to the impacts of HIV criminalization on people who hear been prosecuted, search Sero Project Videos. Share what you learn. Organize a group listening session. Glossary Below is additional information that could be helpful for watching ALTERNATE ENDINGS, ACTIVIST RISINGS.

What words, terms, and definitions would you add?

AIDS ACTIVIST VIDEO is a direct descendant of a rich and varied tradition of alternative cinema. The immediate impetus for AIDS activist video was the deadly, inadequate government response and the meager and antagonistic reporting of the mainstream media. Videomakers felt compelled to tell the real story of AIDS from the point of view of People With AIDS (PWAs), The tapes portrayed PWAs as neither victims nor pariahs, but as empowered activists taking charge of their health in both the political and medical arenas. This was not the whole story, but it served as a necessary counterpoint to the relentlessly negative depictions by the mainstream media. (source: Jim Hubbard)

ANTI-BLACKNESS can be understood through a quote a prompt from Ta-Nehisi Coates: “If there’s one thing missing in our country, it’s an acknowledgement of the broad humanity of Black folks. Racism-and anti-Black racism in par-is the belief that there’s something wrong with Black people.” Anti-Blackness encompasses systemic historical, cultural, political, and economic violence. (source: Aorta)

DECOLONIZATION is the active principle that attempts to identify, confront, call out and resist state violence, including Eurocentric dominance, white supremacy, racism, ethnic cleansing, genocide, slavery, land theft, imposed treaties, broken promises, relocation, forced assimilation, government manipulation, corporate control, psychic violence and all the associated forms of oppression that continue to impact indigenous people and people of color in the Americas. Decolonization attempts to undo the colonization of the individual, the community and the earth with protest, social justice activism, civil disobedience, education, cultural projects and legal battles. (source: Unsettling America, Decolonization in Theory & Practice)

DIRECT ACTION activism can be understood as having three fundamental principles:

Win concrete improvements in people’s lives;

Make people aware of their own power;

Alter the relations of power between people, the government, and other institutions by building strong permanent local, state and national organizations. (source: Bread & Roses Community Fund) GRASSROOTS organizing happen when people are drawn together by something that they have in common that has both personal and community consequences, and they grant desire without institutional support. (source: Janis Foster) The HUMANE IMMUNODEFICIENCY VIRUS (HIV) attacks the body’s immune system, specifically the CD4 cells (T cells), reducing their number, making the person more likely to get other infections or infection related cancers. If not treated, HIV can lead to AIDS (aqcuired immunodeficiency syndrome). People are diagnosed with AIDS with their CD4 cell count drops 200 cells per cubic millimeters or if they develop certain opportunistic illnesses. (source: Centers for Disease Control)

HIV CRIMINALIZATION refers to the use criminal law to penalize alleged, perceived or potential HIV exposure; alleged non disclosure of a known HIV-positive status prior to intentional HIV transmission. (source: AIDS Watch)

INTERSECTIONALITY is a term coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw, who says “Intersectionality is a lens through which you can see where power power comes from and collides, where it interlocks and intersects. It’s not simply that there’s a race problem here, a gender problem here, and a class or LGBTQ problem there. Many times that framework erases what happens to people who are subject to all of these things.” (source: Kimberlé Crenshaw)

PRE-EXPOSURE PROPHYLAXIS (or PrEP) is when HIV-negative people take daily HIV medicine called Truvada to lower their chances of getting the virus. Gilead, the pharmaceutical company that manufacturers Truvada, currently controls the patent and pricing for this drug. (source: Centers for Disease Control)

STRUCTURAL VIOLENCE is one way of describing social arrangements that put individuals and populations in harm’s way. The arrangements are structural because they are embedded in the political and economic organization of our social world; they are violent because they cause injury to people. (source: Paul Farmer)

SOCIAL PRACTICE can include any art form which involves people and communities in debate, collaboration or social interaction. This can often be organised as the result of an outreach or education program, but many independent artists also use it within their work. A dinner, a health clinic, or a dance party can all be considered artworks from the perspective of social practice. (source: Tate Museum)

UNDETECTABLE refers how regularly taking HIV medication can lower the amount of HIV in your blood (aka your viral load) to an undetectable level. People who are undetectable (or, you can say, whose viral load is suppressed) cannot transmit the virus to others. This doesn’t mean you no longer have HIV-it means that by continuing your plan of treatment, you can live with HIV by managing your health on your own terms. (source: Housing Works)

WHITE SUPREMACY can be understood through this quote by Frances Lee Ansley: “I do not mean to allude only to the self-conscious racism of white supremist hate groups. I refer instead to political, economic and cultural system in which whites overwhelmingly control power and material resources, conscious and unconscious ideas of white superiority and entitlement are widespread, and relations of white dominance and non-white subordination are daily reenacted across a broad array of institutions and social setting.” (source: Frances Lee Ansley)

Day With(out) Art In 1989, to make the public aware that AIDS can touch everyone and to inspire positive action, Visual AIDS presented the first Day to cover up their artwork, darkened their galleries, and even close for the day - symbolically reorient the chilling possibility of a furture without art or artist. Since then, Day With(out) Art has grown into a collaborative annual project in which organizations worldwide present exhibitions, screenings and public programs to highlight work by HIV+ artists and artwork addressing current issues around the ongoing AIDS pandemic. ALTERNATE ENDINGS, ACTIVIST RISINGS is the 29th annual Day With(out) Art project.

Visual AIDS

Founded in 1988, Visual AIDS is the only contemporary arts organization fully committed to HIV prevention and AIDS awareness through producing and presenting visual art projects, while assisting artists living with HIV/AIDS and the artistic contributions of the AIDS movement.

AlternateEndingsActivistRisings

DayWithoutArt2018

VisualAIDS

526 West 26th Street #510 New York, NY 10001 (212) 627-9855 info@visualAIDS.org

Facebook: visualAIDS Instagram: @visual_AIDS Vimeo: visualAIDSSnyc www.visualAIDS.org

[xoxoabbeymaddox]

Full name: Abbey Maddox Nicknames: Abs, Bee Birthday & Age: February 5th, 1993; 31 years Birthplace: Brooklyn, NY Family: Ryker Maddox + two more siblings Sexuality: bisexual Relationship status: single/divorcedEducation: went to public school in Brooklyn until 10th grade, then transferred to Constance and studied at University of the Arts in Philadelphia

Bio: Abbey grew up in Brooklyn and was raised by her brother Ryker and their mother until she passed away. She started school at a public school in Brooklyn but later transferred to Constance. Once she finished High School she took a gap year to travel and see the world because she was always a very creative girl who liked to paint and sculpt gifts for her family with clay and such things. After a year of traveling, she decided to go to the college she got accepted into called the University of the Arts in Philadelphia majoring in Illustration with minors in Art Education and Museum Studies. At college she met a guy who she thought was the love of her life, getting married on a whim in Las Vegas when she had only turned 21 and then divorced a year later. Ryker helped her through the divorce so once she finished her studies in Philly she temporarily moved back to New York. As someone who was always on the move, Abbey tried to settle and find a job that felt fulfilling but after dabbling in fashion for a while and becoming a stylist’s assistant she eventually went back to traveling the world, taking professional photography classes and learning new techniques for her art. Two years ago she gave living in New York another try, opened her own art gallery and works part-time at New York’s School of the Arts, giving workshops for those as passionate as her about art. She also recently did an excursion into the acting world through her connections, being casted in the role as 'Barbie' and now winning awards for it but she has decided it would only be a one-time experience as she doesn’t like the shallowness of Hollywood.

[derekklenadaily]

A Class Act NY's Instagram Story (September 3, 2020)

[problematicwelshman]

just saw APAT''s latest stories and am currently trying to do the math on the whole timeline bc she said those pics are from last spring so she would've already been pregnant at the time i guess? but maybe she didn't know about the pregnancy yet? and neither did he apparently bc he looks so much happier than ANY of the subsequent pictures they took together

YEP. She was already pregnant by then. She’s just proving my entire timeline tbh. We all know she can’t keep her mouth shut about her relationship so has to go shout it from the rooftops (instagram) about how in loooooveee they are or whatever but all she’s doing is proving my theories and speculation. She was already well pregnant by the time her acting conservatory workshop ended in NY in March, if what most of us assume about conception happening the last few weeks of December, then fucked off back to the UK with Michael immediately in April and went “public” with their relationship in May despite a few instances where she deleted content which she now seems to be bringing back to prove a point which, lbr, if you’re using content from nearly a YEAR ago to prove a point about your relationship looking like an unhappy one…gurl. At any rate there’s still some content missing and unaccounted for but I’m sure if I keep asking her to pony up some pics, she will happily oblige. If she’s REALLY trying to prove anything, I want to see pics from earlier in their relationship. Show me October. November. December. I want to see how serious it was before it HAD to be. *sips tea*

Anna if you’re reading (which I assume you are) please tell or show the class how and WHEN you met Michael, when you told him you were pregnant, how long you knew you were pregnant before you told him, what his reaction was, and why he decided to pursue you of all people. Were you actually dating or seeing each other in a serious capacity or were you just hooking up? Was the baby planned or did you just plan it conveniently so that you were taken care of after your time in NY? What kind of wit and charm did you possess that seemed to eclipse that of Kate Beckinsale, Rachel McAdams, and Sarah Silverman? I honestly want to know.

[christopherwitt1966]

Living with shyness.

There is a line from Lee Marvin,1970 no1 hit,Wandrin star. From the film Paint your Wagon. “Do I know where hell is,hell is in Hello” For me that has been very true. Especially with strangers and people I do not know well. Just recently I rang the garage up,to book my car in for its annual MOT and service,something I do ever-year.

Yet the act of picking up the phone,terrified me,as thou I was expecting the Spanish Inquisition.

I have suffer from shyness,lack of self confidence,low self esteem&belief most of my life. And have found inter person interactions&small talk difficult.

It has impacted of the quality of my life. Where today,I feel alone at times. Not having a real close friend or social life. Sometimes,I wish I had lead a normal life,with friends,a social life,wife and family. It has even impacted my relationship. Being a contributing factor(thou not only one) in the break up of my relationship.

A lot of it seems from my childhood. My parents especially my mum use to tell me that the world is a dangerous place,full of evil people etc. I remember walking along the road,when I was about 5 or 6,and innocent said friendly hello to somebody.

My mum was furious me,telling me for talking to strangers. It was thou I had insulted him,instead of a friendly hello.

At School I found it difficult to fit in and make friends. There were several reason.

One,being that I struggled with my reading and writing. I was behind with them. Also I use to lose day dream and lose consecration. Something I still struggle with today.

I had special English classes,and when I enter secondary school. I attended the special English group,which was unfortunately refer to by other kids,as the divi English group.

Secondly,I struggle with my speech development. I had my tonsils and adenoids removed in 1974,when I was 7yrs old to help my speech development and in 1976,I to speech therapy,to try and improve my speech. Also had test to see if had a hearing difficulties. My hearing was normal,just sometimes when people talked to me,I was unresponsive. And that still occurs to this day. Sometimes someone would speak,yet I am somewhere else,even thou I do hear them,I  just doesn’t register. It may the combination of these,which may have made me seem slow and stupid. That’s is why never fit in at school. It is no wonder,I started to withdraw and started to live in my own fantasy world.I still today,feel like an outsider trying to fit in,feeling like I am an alien,stuck on an alien planet. Also struggled to fit in to the so call ‘mans world and lads culture’Having been brought up with a younger sister,and the cousin I spent the most with,where both my mums younger Sister and my dads younger sisters children. Who were all girls. I do have male cousins,thou I did not see them as often and were a lot older. That’s why I always felt more comfortable around woman then Men.I developed deep shyness as I moved into my teenage years, preferring to spent time watching TV in my bedroom, or watching trains and latter got into train spotting. I have always love railways and aviation. My parents never drove,so travel a lot on day trips to the coast and holidays by train,so fell love with railways. And I do still today,even thou no longer train spotting. Missed out on what teenagers did when I was a teenager. I remember my sisters 17th birthday party out our house,in 1985,I was 18 at the time. My sister is the total opposite,she can talk for England. She could meet someone and within a few minutes,be chatting away,as thou they know each other for years. Anyway,I got ready had a shower and dressed,and then never left my bedroom! Because I was to terrified to go down stairs.As started in employment,a certain amount of inter action were necessary, and I did try socialise a bit more. Thou as I mentioned earlier,never felt at home with the ‘lads culture’ I prefer small groups,the larger the group,the more invisible I feel. More irrelevant and not having anything interesting to say. Also of course,I started dating. In the Early 90s,I started to read self help books. And in 1999, I attended my first of person growth/self improvement workshop in Oxford. Also in London as well. I meet some wonderful people during this time and made some friends. While our backgrounds,life style and issues varies widely,we were kindred spirits for being there. Also during this time I stared to seeing a therapist about my confidence issues,between 1999 & 2001. For me the turn of the millennium,in my early 30s,was the most happiest and when I felt the most growth and self confidence.

One of the people I meet on that first day,in Worcester College Oxford was my late friend Rachel. We became friends and confidents. We regularly talk of the phone and regularly wrote letters. Express my feeling and thoughts. It was good to have friends who did not know your life,family,work place or ex-girlfriends. Where you could share your deepest feelings. Also about life in general and the nature of happiness.

For also during this time,I began to see that my shyness,while been a blight on my life was also a gift. Not being part of the ‘herd or crowd’ I saw thing differently,especially what makes people happy. That it dose comes within, it also allowed me to appreciate the simply things in life,like nature,my walk around Virginia Water lake,Richmond park,trips to the coast etc. This lead me to the love of taking pictures especially with arrival of the digital era. I not a photographer,just a happy snapper.

Not just Rachel,but some other wonderful people. One the best days of my life came in November 1999,when meet up with a group of them in a cottage,in hills outside Stroud in Gloucestershire. We talked about anything and everything. I felt for once,belonging. In Jan 2002,I made my first trip to New York. Just 4months after 9/11. To attend a workshop,ran by someone who workshop I attended in London in the summer of 2001. This gave me an insight about confidence being relative. I been on my own to NY, 3times now. I love NY. Yet I know confident talkers,would not do that,some who are scared of flying.

Slowly the friends and growth and happiness started to slip away,from around 2004/5. I started to lose contact with my friends and even with  Rachel,became increasingly infrequent,to point where I found out,that she lost her battle with cancer in 2006, from an article on the internet. Which made feel sad,knowing that I did not know her in the last months of her life. She was only 50.

Generally I like to think of myself,as a cheerful happy person,which I am most of the time. Thou I do suffer from deep downs,when I feel like reverting in my own little bubble and push the world out.

When I move into my own flat in 2007, I began to revert inwards,slowly losing the joy,happiness,connections and confidence, I gained at the turn of the millennium.

My flat became my own personal sanctuary from the outside world. Living opposite a McDonald’s and close to supermarkets, junk food became a convenient. And started to put on the lbs,and a shroud around me to keep my confidence in,and people out. By the time I was diagnosed with diabetes in 2017,I was over 17stone. That is well over 4 1/2stone heavy,that in the year 2000.

By the end of 2019,I got down to 16st. When I November 2019,I had a mini breakdown thinking about my life,feeling that I have wasted it and some of the thing I have done to sabotage my life.

I planned to get back on track for 2020. By losing weight,my goal was to get below 13st,by the end of the year. And to go to San Francisco. Well 2020,has not turned out the way I planned,with COVID-19. And the uncertainty it has brought,where I still not certain I will a job in 2021. Thou as of Nov2019. I have got down to 14 1/2stone.

My goal for 2021,is to get down to below 13st. No matter what happens at my job. Hopefully I will still have my health. Losing weight may help control my diabetes,and lose the shroud surrounding me and I can find self confidence,and friendship and hopefully in the spring of 2022,go to San Francisco. Yes the future in uncertainty,yet I shall face it with a smile,well most of the time anyway. I know I will still have my set backs,and indeed still fall into the pit of depression from time to time. The most important thing,is to have belief in my self and accept,that shyness for better or worst,will continue be a part of my life,it is who I am.

[yetanotherknitter]

ok at least one person wanted my Neil Gaiman cryptid story so here we go

(this got. long. I’m sorry but that’s just how it’s gotta be)

there’s a yoga and meditation retreat in upstate NY that has ‘arts week’ once a year, which I affectionately call adult summer camp. it’s exactly what it sounds like. it’s our yearly family vacation. there’s a songwriting class that about 20? 25? of us that go every year and have been going for decades. I always take a different art class (this year was a Bob Ross painting class which was just another layer of surreal) but at least one person in my family has been in the songwriting workshop for nearly 15 years. it’s a whole community of singer/songwriters (and hanger on’s) that use this workshop as our yearly touchstone. I don’t want to get too deep into this part but it’s important

so we all get there and we’re finally looking at what all the other workshops are and my sister kept getting stuck on the compassion workshop taught by Amanda Palmer. the name was super familiar. like. really familiar. like, right there familiar but no one could quite put their finger in it. there is no cell service at this place. there’s no internet. it wasn’t until midnight that my sister got the 4G to google her and reported back with (what she thought was) the most important information for me

Amanda Palmer is married to Neil Gaiman

apparently they live nearby

(I am very bad with names and it wasn’t until the fourth night at the class showcase, where Amanda Palmer introduced a song with “I wrote this for my band The Dresden Dolls,” that the penny finally dropped and I quietly lost it in the audience. am I slightly ashamed that it took that long? maybe, but then again, I am incredibly bad with names.)

anyway

Neil Gaiman’s wife was teaching a class. they lived nearby

“maybe,” my sister said at breakfast the next morning, “he’ll visit.”

“haha,” I said, “too bad I didn’t grab any of my Gaiman books so I could get him to sign one,” because in my anxiety brain I can’t start a conversation with a stranger without there being a very good, preferably tangible, reason and if it was something like a signature, which would give a nice definite end point to an interaction, all the better

which is when I made the mistake of flipping to the dedication page in my copy of Guards! Guards! and realized that Terry Pratchett had thanked Neil Gaiman for laughing with him about L-space

“oh, I bet he’d sign that,” said my sister, like a traitor.

and so that became the plan if we maybe saw a wild Neil Gaiman. use “are you willing to sign a book that’s not yours” as an icebreaker and get out of the conversation as fast as possible.

word got out that there was a possibility of a writer I was really excited about appearing on campus (no one in this group knew who he was but were very excited that I was excited) and it just blew up into A Thing. every time I turned a corner I half expected to see Neil Gaiman. my family pulled up his picture on their phones when there was 4G and covertly (mostly from me) passed it around at breakfast so everyone could keep an eye out. every distant mop of dark curly hair became Maybe Neil Gaiman. I’m not going to say whether or not I carried around a book I had already finished, just in case, but I maybe carried around a book I had already finished, just in case. it was just part of the background noise of the week. maybe Neil Gaiman will be on campus.

fast forward

the first thing my sister said when I got to lunch was “did you get my texts?”

there’s no cell service. even if I had been carrying my phone there was no possible way for me to get those texts. she knew this.

“ok, go fill up your water bottle,” she said. “but not on this side you have to go to the one that’s really far away.��

I got about halfway there and froze

then I about faced and walked past the guy again. just to be sure.

then I went back to my table, without filling my water bottle, and said “that’s Neil Gaiman”

“follow him back to his table,” my sister said

now, that entire first paragraph was needed to make this next part make sense. this songwriter group is my second family. I’ve known them since I was 13 and they are a fundamental part of who I am as a person and this year four of them died. two of those deaths were expected and two were unexpected and while all of them were devastating, one of them was so devastating that the workshop almost didn’t happen this year because no on really knew how to carry on without him.

every morning that week I woke up and promised myself that that was the day I wouldn’t cry. then I would go paint some happy trees, most likely cry during lunch, look for Neil Gaiman like he was a neighbor to the Jersey Devil, paint some more happy trees, and absolutely cry myself to sleep.

again, I’m too anxiety to just. go up to someone like Gaiman and just start a conversation, but I only had Pratchett books and I was so primed to cry that I knew in no uncertain terms that there was no possible universe in which I could have a conversation even tangentially related to Terry Pratchett and not break down.

and, like, listen, I know that the relationship between writers and fans has gotten super loosey goosey in this modern social media age, and I know that Neil Gaiman would most likely have been very gracious and understanding at the whole situation, but tell that to my anxiety. I absolutely could not stalk this person, who I greatly admire and who’s written books that might as well be part of the fabric of my soul, back to the place where he was having a normal human lunch with his wife and have a breakdown about his dead friend. no. just no. not happening. I wouldn’t have been able to look at myself in the mirror ever again.

maybe if he hadn’t been having lunch with his family it would have been different

I did not follow him back to his table

which is when I found out that one of my friends (who, again, did not know who Neil Gaiman was but knew I was excited) had secretly been taking pictures of him while he walked past their table in case I didn’t get there in time, just so she could show me that he did, in fact, exist.

y’all

y’all

these pictures y’all

I don’t know if Neil Gaiman just has naturally high cryptid energy or if all of us acting like he was bigfoot and we were in the forests of the pacific northwest endowed him with cryptid energy but by the time he actually showed the cryptid energy coming off of him was so strong that I’m pretty sure these photos, taken on a relatively new iphone, by a professional photographer, have screen tearing. they look like that one bigfoot photo. they’re incredible. they’re better than anything I could have imagined and, honestly? I feel like having these photos is a far better representation of what this week was like than any actual interaction with Neil Gaiman could have possibly been.

that one bigfoot photo, in case you don’t know what I’m talking about

the rest of the week was spent in almost the same state, but I had already achieved the best timeline and could relax a little. and cry. and paint happy trees. we left without another wild Neil Gaiman sighting but I’ll always have the story at least

[measuringlife]

Measuring Me: Buuuut After This Week Things Will Slow Down a Bit

Week of August 4: My Birthday!  And Bad News

Lots of celebrations including friend visiting from all over the place. I get a call while at the African American History Museum while touring with dear friends and their baby who are in from Boston that my Mom is in the hospital with a broken hip. Kept birthday festivities scheduled as planned, including Jazz in the Garden with a wonderful crowd of friends who made me feel so supported and loved.

Week of August 11: Long Island NY - Round 1

I flew up to NY on Sunday night towards the tail end of my Boston's friends trip. It was grueling deciding if I should rush up there or not, but looking back I made the right decision. I couldn't handle all the business I needed to handle until Monday anyway. It was a flurry of hospitals, rehabs, doctors, etc. There was also going into my Mom's house after having not been inside for close to 2 years. My sister and I who had a falling out in the spring, made amends and were off to the races. Banks, respite housing, lawyers, notaries, a lot was handled in a short bit of time. Let's not forget I flew back to DC on Wednesday with a new addition, my mom's 4-year-old Chorkie (Chihuahua/Yorkie), Louie is ours indefinitely. 

Week of August 18: Fall Welcome Events, and Senior Living Tours

When I wasn't running 3 large orientations, onboarding a new grad student, supporting other major Welcome/Back to school events I was researching and email independent senior living communities near-ish me. Mom was surprisingly agreeable to not go back to the house she's lived in for 40 years and move down to be near me. However, finding the right spot was a multistep task. I wound up visiting 3 places this week and 2 more places the next. I also squeezed in a Hanson concert, and ACA meeting, a 90-minute massage as well as a mani/pedi this week. I've learned I need to take care of me before I can take care of anyone else!

Week of August 25: Grad classes, Vet visits, Musicals, Wedding calls, More Senior Living Tours, and back up to NY

This week was the first work of classes where I work, which was also the first week of classes for me as a brand new grad student! I had 2 classes, one Wed and one Thurs from 5:30pm-8pm. I actually had to race out of my first class which thankfully let out a little early to uber to the Kennedy Center to see am 8pm performance of Dear Evan Hansen - it was amazing! I also visited the last 2 senior living options for mom that week and had 2 Lisbon-based wedding planner calls. One planner was great, but her price tag was steep. One planner was rude and made me feel dumb. I had a wedding planning meltdown, but had a good chat with my dear friend SC who helped me re-group. I've been building (and will continue to build) a nice pot of wedding/honeymoon money. However, when I think about all the side hustles and sacrifices I've made for a lot of this money I don't want to blow it on "a party" that usually has more bells and whistles than we are interested in. So I'm hoping to plan a celebration vacation with loved ones and I'm working with a travel agent friend of mine. I spent Labor Day weekend back in NY, this time I drove - I left as the sun rose on Saturday morning and had a full weekend of bank nonsense, errands, got Mom settled in her "respite" stay at an assisted living community, went over senior living options with Mom, and going through my childhood bedroom - including my sister and I wearing our prom dresses. We took Freddie off all his meds because he health has not been improving and it seems the meds were only making him feel sicker - the change has actually seemed to help outwardly, but still super stressful. Also, poor Louie got neutered this week and was in a cone of shame for 2 weeks!

Week of September 1: NY, Grad School, Hiking, and Pump Official

I was in NY until Tuesday and then drove back down, I had another week of two grad classes, but after sitting through my second nutrition class I was sure that it was too much science and more work than I could handle. I ended up dropping that class before the add/drop period ended and felt relieved. I did another visit to Mom's top two senior living choices to view the exact rooms that were open. I also made time for fitness. I got a permanent gig teaching Body Pump on Fridays at 6pm, I had been long term subbing the class since April, but the instructor decided to give it up and I got to take it over! The half-semester Urban Hiking class I teach started this week, which has once again proven to be a delightful highlight in my life! I also squeezed in another concert too!

Week of September 8: Fitness, Mercedes Bastards, Injury, and Friend Dates

I kicked off the week with an all-day AFAA (Athletics and Fitness Association of American) continuing ed workshop that I had already postponed once due to my crazy schedule. It was really great though, I'm glad I went. I signed papers on a place for Mom which didn't come without its own Mom drama - but at least it was relatively mild. I squeezed in a couple of friends dates: manicures with AL, walk with LH, and a dinner date LB. I was still chugging through my one grad class, but having some concerns about if this program was the right direction for me, it's much more Public Health-oriented than the Fitness and Wellness aspect of health I'm truly interested in. I had a bunch of petsitting clients and have had them during all the previous crazy weeks. I already separately about the ordeal with my Mom's leased car, but Mercedes are crooks! I had toyed with officially taking over the lease, but there is like a $1500 transfer fee that "they can't waive." There's no way they are getting a penny more than we have to pay. I made a bunch of calls to NY based insurance folks I know as well as talked to my mom's insurance agency and my insurance agency to make sure when I start driving her car everything is squared away. Also, this week my colleague aka one other coworker because I manage an office of two had a personal injury that had her out of the office for about a week. As I well know, life happens, but it started to feel like when it rains it pours....

Week of Sept 15: Drag Brunch, Euro Trips, a Resignation, and Back to NY for an Explosive Visit

I kicked off this week with a highly anticipated Sunday Funday with some fabulous work friends. I got all dolled up and headed to a drag brunch in DC which led to gay bar-hopping on a beautiful afternoon. Despite making my way home at 6pm, I still felt like trash most of Monday, but thankfully I was off. I did have my first celebration vacation in Portugal call with my friend DR who is a travel agent. It was a really exciting call and the fact that I know DR already makes things a lot easier. We have a plan for me to make the most of my scouting trip in November which is a relief. I was having a particularly busy week and was just pushing through until we get Mom moved, when my coworker (aka person 2 of our 2 person department) drop a bomb on me, she got a new job and is resigning effective 10/10 which is 3 weeks notice. I can say I'm surprised she's a great employee, had a tough job, and has been with me for almost 2.5 years. I was more shocked by her not giving me any sort of heads up. I went to a tailspin back in Jan 2017 when the other half of my office left and I was alone. Thankfully I am not 5 months into my job like I was then, this time of year is honestly "the best" time to be short-staffed and I am looking to do a re-org that hopefully would make things even better in the future. However, it means a lot more work on me all the way around. I head back to NY via train this time! I actually had my Urban Hiking class start and end at Union Station which made for a great hike and for me to easily make a 4:15pm train. Saturday night was just pizza and wine with my sister. Sunday we headed to Long Island to see my Mom. We needed a durable power of attorney signed - the one we did when my Mom was first in the hospital didn't cover as much as we need and my sister and I need the power to act on my Mother's behalf independently since I'll be handling VA business and my sister is handling NY business. My sister has a friend who is a notary and the friend was also going to on LI visiting family and agreed to come to Mom's assisted living place to have us all sign paperwork. Well, my Mom out of the blue demanded cigarettes and wine before agreeing to sign the papers. This was extremely hurtful. Most of you know my Mother is an alcoholic. Did she fall down down the stairs and break her hip because she was drunk, it's possible. Has her drinking made my life a nightmare especially the last few years? Yes. Having her hospitalized and in the care of others meant she wasn't drinking, she was actually taking her meds, and she had company and therefore didn't need to call me all the G-D time. Well, apparently my Mom's sister bought her cigarettes the week the before (WHY?!?!). My Mom was having bullshit anxiety over an eye doctor appointment because for the 15th time she's convinced she's going blind (she's not, she's fine). She NEEDED the wine and cigarettes and threw a tantrum right in the lobby, right in front of my sister's notary friend (who at least knows some of my Mom's craziness), it was horrifying and embarrassing. My sister started crying and here I am trying to keep it together. I tried to explain to Mom that her drinking was hurtful to us, especially since we've both dropped everything to tend to her situation. I explained that it feels like she is choosing wine over us and she didn't deny it. I needed these papers signed so I conceded and said after we did house stuff that day I'd take her to buy cigarettes, but I don't want to be anywhere near her when or soon after she's been drinking. After some more bank business and errands, I dropped her at a liquor store (walker and all) to get herself her precious wine. I told her I needed to cool off and needed a break from her for a few days, I would call her when I was ready. 

Week of September 22: Grad School Drop Out, Wedding Planning, & Car Sales

As I drove back to DC on Monday knowing that I didn't get a chance to do my reading for grad school or work on a paper, I felt stressed (plus the stress of driving my Mom's brand new Mercedes 300 miles to DC as essentially it's maiden voyage). I have so much stress on between Mom stuff, being an office of one, wedding stuff and just general life I was at my max. The class was something I could do something about. I emailed the professor asking for an extension (I automatically have more compassion for my students now), but also let him know I was investigated dropping the class. Since add/drop and the refund period was over I was worried that since this class was being paid for my employer's tuition benefit that there might be some major financial implication. I reached out to the department chair and the HR benefits lady. The way the benefits work and the fact I hadn't used them before means I'm not on the hook for the $5000+ tuition or any of the taxes related. There is only a $27 gap that I will pay taxes on, OKAY. So I dropped the class and ultimately withdrew from the grad certificate program. I feel major relief, not only over this semester, but over the next 2 years that I had penciled in grad school for. I quickly realized that the AFAA professional development workshop is more in line with what I want than anything overly academic - I mean I already have a masters. I think eventually may get an AFAA nutrition certificate which is far less intensive and way more applicable than the route I was going to take. Now with my Wednesdays free again, I was able to make my triumphant return to my Adult Children of Alcoholics (ACA) meeting and I was so happy to be there with my people. I also tried to carve out more time this week for wedding stuff. Talked through my new vacation celebration idea with some friends who will be on the invite list, talked more with my travel agent D, and with my friend DM who is traveling with me for the scouting trip. I'm feeling more focused and ready to make decisions. I also sold my 2007 Camry to a coworker who happened to be in the market for a reliable used car, just as I was learning that I would be driving my mom's car and therefore wanted to sell mine. We hit a couple of snags, like the fact that my car's aftermarket tints that came on the car when I bought them were too dark to pass MD inspection. Or that I needed to sign the back of the title over to my friend, the buyer. She learned AFTER spending 3 hours at the DMV, oops! I cleaned the car out and removed my stickers from the window and bumper - that 26.2 sticker did not want to budge!

What will the next 2 weeks hold is yet to be fully seen, but here's the summary I'm expecting

Week of September 29: Senior living lease signing, 1000 last-minute Mom things, ACA, Running a 2,000 person Family/Alumni Weekend, Teaching my last Urban Hiking class of the semester and driving to NY with my fiance T and Freddie (we don't Louie thinking he is going back). 

Week of October 6: Pack up the stuff that's going to VA with my Mom in a U-Haul van T is driving, I'm driving my Mom down (AKA the woman who hasn't left NY state in at least 10 years), move her into her new place, have two last days in the office having transition meeting with my colleague before she leaves on 10/10, I also have birthday celebration plans for T and my friend SL whose birthdays are this week. Also, it's my Mom's birthday so I imagine we'll be taking her out. 

[golftrust]

Rec centers near me

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[simply-shakera]

Carnival In New Brunswick?

This Labour Day I had the pleasure of spending the weekend in Fredericton, New Brunswick for Summer Soulsa 2022.

Summer Soulsa can be described as “a vibrant and dynamic music festival that celebrates the diversity and beauty of Caribbean, Latin, and African cultures through art, music, dance and cuisine.”

Carnival Spice was invited as performers to bring our Caribbean Carnival flair to a series of events throughout the weekend.

Although the weekend had a heavy workload for the team and I, we managed to find many bright moments throughout our time in Atlantic Canada.

The People

It was quite lovely to see Black and Brown culture and artistry on full display at the festival. It allowed for many to learn and many to feel connected to parts of themselves that they haven’t tapped into for a while. The most common statements I heard was: “we’ve never had anything like this before in our city” or “we are so happy you are here”.  You can tell Summer Soulsa was the first event of its kind and executed in such a way simply by looking in the eyes of the attendees. There was such a sense of joy and inspiration that flickered when they heard the music or saw their favourite acts come on.

I have hosted hundreds of classes in my career and have performed on countless stages, yet it NEVER gets old seeing someone hear soca or dancehall for the first time and watching how their bodies naturally respond to it. It’s quite beautiful actually.

I also met a young girl who reminded me so much of myself when I was her age - she was about 10. She was so curious; I’ll never forget the smile she made when one of the dancers let her wear their costume feathers.

The Music Circle

The Music Circle is a dance workshop concept where instructors from across Canada joined together to lead Frederiction through a day full of dance. The room was filled this day with folks of all ages and ethnicities. I vividly remember the first person to arrive - a gentleman who came alone and mentioned it was his first dance class. I loved this for him and appreciated his courage to try something new. I had a great time hosting the event and leading a Carnival Spice dancehall workshop to the excited audience. My fellow instructors were Cherelle from Soca Fit (Edmonton) who taught a soca dance workshop and Zumba with Corey (Fredericton) who taught us a bachata workshop.

Video: https://www.instagram.com/reel/CiDp2hBJVc7/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

The Food

Atlantic Canada never disappoints when it comes to seafood. My diet for the weekend was made up of haddock and chips. As a seafood lover, I was in my glory. Everything was so fresh and flavourful. If only I could bring some of those fresh oysters back in my suitcase.

Di Road

Carnival Spice were one of the groups of masqueraders that lead the Fredericton community down di road for the first carnival parade since the pandemic. The weather was perfect, the tunes were running by Dj CJ, and yours truly was on the mic keeping the vibes going. I had the perfect view of hundreds of smiling faces. The children were my favourite - they were so enthusiastic and kept up with us the entire parade.

Video: https://www.instagram.com/reel/CjOvV9_q-Ny/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

The Comradery

There were a wide variety of performers from all across Canada present at Summer Soulsa 2022. From latin dancers, to reggae bands, to hip hop artists. I appreciated how everyone supported each other and/or worked together.

Kudos to everyone who was apart of the festival - it truly made a positive impact on the community and I look forward to seeing how it grows.

AND HUGE THANK YOU TO CHEICK FOR CAPTURING THESE PHOTOS!

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[sidnihoudini]

both seb and chris seem so happy and calm. somebody is having a great time in ny 😏🍆 btw, there’s a rumor that sebi was on reading with broadway actress according to a pic, maybe he’s gonna do some theater play?

He def has been/was hanging out with assorted broadway people, but there’s no indication that he’s reading or working with any of them yet. Genie had a good point that it’s possible he’s just hanging out and workshopping/going to some acting classes, which def seems like something he’d be into.

And yes mario seems to be living his best life right now! 👨🏻

PS: Come join at Page Six Six Six for more goss and speculation!!

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Proletariat exploitation in a Democratic Country

Written by: Brent Loyd G. Licayan

Issue: Republic Act No. 10912 (Continuing Professional Development Program)

Thesis Statement: R.A. No. 10912 traps professionals in a money-making scheme exploiting their financial resources for politicians’ personal gain.

          It is disheartening to hear that the people who bleed themselves to death are continuously abused to fill the pockets of swindlers such as despicable politicians and greedy capitalists to whom hard-earned money was entrusted in an effort to raise the quality of living of these industrious workers. CPD Law or R.A. 10912 requires professionals to earn CPD units by taking additional formal and non-formal training for the regular renewal of their Professional Identification Card in every three years, effective July 1, 2017 (Roxas, 2017).

         With these thoughts in mind, CPD Law or R.A. No. 10912 manipulates professionals into being government’s primary source of income in an impractical obligation of taking unnecessary learning activities such as: seminars, workshops and lectures intent on “improving” the profession but may as well be a front for acquiring money from citizens legitimately providing opportunities for accumulation of wealth by government employees and law makers.

          Marx and Engels (1886) stated in conjunction to exploitation of Philippine Law-makers that capitalist bourgeoisie mercilessly exploits the proletariat masses, the backbone of the nation into carrying out work for less than what would the “material outcome” of their labour really amount to or equivalently value.

          CPD Law brilliantly masks this exploitation of professionals through the use of accumulation of credit units that would warrant a certification if the required amount of credit units are reached apparently at a prize ranging from 3500 to 9000 pesos (Failon Ngayon, 2018).

          Moreover, professionals are forced to take this classes that would make them globally-competitive and workers would be able to go toe-to-toe with the citizens of nations whom are fellow members of the ASEAN (Failon Ngayon, 2018).  This claims that Filipino professionals are able to compete with other ASEAN nations at the cost of revocation of the Professional Identification Card should they fail to register to these programs aiming to inculcate advanced job-related techniques that would ideally turn Filipino professionals on equal footing with foreign professionals which is a rare event for professionals having stable and good paying jobs in the country.

          Furthermore, Filipino Professionals would add these required fees for participating in CPD seminar workshops to their already load-bearing taxes on basic necessities and their actual income tax, significantly decreasing what little money is left for them to use satisfy their never-ending needs.

         Hence, Filipinos need to be more vigilant of the laws implemented by the legislative body of this country because when power remains unchecked, greed and corruption take root in the already brittle foundations of society.

 Works Cited:

Marx, K. & Engels, F. (1886). The Communist Manifesto. New York, NY: International Publishing Co.

Roxas, P.A.V. (2017, August 01). Senate body to probe holes in Continuing Professional Dev’t Act. Inquirer.Net. Retrieved from http://newsinfo.inquirer.net

ABS-CBN News and Current Affairs. (2018). Renewal of Professional ID Card [Television Series Episode]. Failon Ngayon. Quezon City, Philippines: ABS-CBN.

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