6) Arrogance and humility. Practicing art in the context of community is an exercise in balancing arrogance with humility. Humility, because you are called upon to listen patiently, to identify the injuries […]
Things That Being an Artist has Taught Me About the World: random installment 2
Running in the Promised Land
I hit the hard streets of Chicago running. They were literally hard. I was literally running. The mountain community that had been my running grounds until that point is covered with a […]
The Case of the Huddled Masses: United States v. Migrante
Your Honor. Members of the jury. My clients stand accused in this court of violating the territorial and legal integrity of the United States, undermining its economic stability and threatening its national […]
Big Brother and the Cop on the Block
Twenty-two year old Terrance Franklin, alone and unarmed, is chased by Minneapolis’ elite SWAT police into a basement where he is killed. While being mauled by a police attack dog he is […]
Some Things that Being an Artist has Taught Me About Living in and Changing the World: random installment 1
These notes are not about what art teaches; only what I have learned from my practice of it. This is an ongoing list that I will continue to post in installments at […]
Maria’s Talisman
I was thinking about you the other day, Maria. Not sure how that happened. People briefly flit across each other’s life paths all the time and leave no residue. Especially at “the […]
Escape from Candyland
Eight years ago this month I walked away from King Sugar. I was at an addiction conference on the Lac du Flambeau reservation in Wisconsin and had stepped into the hallway for […]
I Come from the Sky
I grew up at the edge of the largest body of water on Earth. All the water we drank, cooked and washed with came from it as did the water with which […]
The Invisible Power of Being
Recent pieces by Chaun Webster and Guante, in this editorial space (refers to Opine season where some of these posts originally appeared – rlm), eloquently raised the issue of male responsibility in […]
What Interstate 80 Taught Me About Fighting for Justice
What I learned on the highways of North America made me a good organizer. It would set the tone for how I would grow into a being a movement strategist and community […]
Ricardo Levins Morales