I work with THE QUEER DISTRICT Calendar Project: The Queer District Calendar Project was started by a creative group of individuals interested in producing an artistic, sexy and resourceful calendar for the LGBTIQQ community of Washington DC. By photographing queers in a range of settings, showcasing the diversity and highlights of The -Queer- District, our goal is to increase visibility and awareness of the LGBTIQQ community, while also contributing to its cohesiveness.GRUPO AFRO DESCENDIENTE: Grupo Afro Descendiente — a coalition of individuals, non- profits, businesses, activists, and educators — works to acknowledge, represent, and advocate for African descendants in Latin America. Through a global network, Grupo Afro Descendiente seeks to raise Afro-Latino consciousness and identity through culturally relevant and historically representative programs.I volunteer with HIPS: HIPS' mission is to assist female, male, and transgendered individuals engaging in sex work in Washington, DC in leading healthy lives. Utilizing a harm reduction model, HIPS' programs strive to address the impact that HIV/AIDS, STIs, discrimination, poverty, violence and drug use have on the lives of individuals engaging in sex work.I also volunteer with The Women's Collective: The mission of The Women's Collective is to meet the self-defined needs of women and their families living with and at risk for HIV/AIDS, reducing barriers to care and strengthening their network of support and services. As a Washington DC-based nonprofit organization led by women with HIV and their allies/advocates, The Women's Collective works to fulfill its mission by:I love music. I am surrounded by so many talented musicians, people that are so avante garde, so I am really lucky to have such good music in my life. I like to go out with friends: small lounges and resturaunts. I like quiet places, open mics that aren't pretentious. I love to dance- soca, reggea, salsa, down-south booty music (I am from MIAMI). I Love to shop for anything, I go to Ikea at least once a month. I love thrift stores, Soul Vegetarian, food in general, being vegan, books, ballet, my job, extending beyond myself, loving beyond myself. talking about women's issues, challenging gender roles, women of color, volunteering with HIPS, tea, coffee. Acient Eygpt. my camera. my enviroment. Trader Joes, shoes, museums. thinking outside myself. loving outside myself.
you.
The Wiz, Peaches and Herm, Ulali, Miriam Makeba, Stevie Wonder, Donny Hathaway, Bjork, Ella Fitzgerald, Jazmine Sullivan, Celia Cruz, Mint Condition, DWELE, Eric Roberson, Duke Ellington, Musiq, Renee Fleming, "I love you, you're perfect, now change!", Slum Village; De La Soul's newest album; Raheem Devaughn; Georgia Anne Muldrow, Bilal, Musiq, "Aida", Bilal Salaam, "Songs for a new world", Aretha Franklin, Nick Gant, the Clarke Sisters...the whole family...Old Michelle N'deochello, J. Moss; Muhsinah, Tonex; Wicked; Prince; QUEEN, The Young Lions, Ragtime, Kim Burrell, Sarah Vaughn, Guys and Dolls, West Side Story, The Lion King, Rent (B4 the movie) I love Musical Theatre!! Doris Day, Lea Salonga, Calamity Jane, Songs for a new World, Jekyll and Hyde, Tye Tribbett, The Scarlet Pimpernil,(Four jews in a Room Bitching) classical music, especially opera and choral Music, it sounds cliche, but Beethoven, Rachmaninoff, Chopin, I love Mahler, I love Bellini, I love Puccini, pretty much anything in the Bel canto style, Renee Fleming, Charlotte Holloman, Angela Powell, my voice teacher, I just sang Tartuffe by Kirke Mecham, Margaret Bonds, Sylvia Lee, India Arie, Bobby McFerrin, my mom, my brother, bangra, DJ Rekha, MIA, samba, Tweet, Sade, Bob Marley.
Jesus Camp. Deepa Metha- Fire, Earth, water, Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle, City of God, Neopolean Dynamite, the little mermaid, scary movies, Forrest Gump, the Color Purple, Coming to America, Bamboozled. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate factory, anything Disney- although they are sexist, any musical on DVD- especially West Side Story and Calamity Jane, The Wiz, Dreamgirls, The Red Violin, Amadeus, Foreign Films, Bibi Blocksberg, Eine Duetsche Film, The chronicles of Narnia, The Aggressives. Hollywood Shuffle, Little Miss Sunshine, Y tu Mama tambien, Kung Fu Hustle, The Children we sacrafice, The devil wears Prada.
Extreme Home Make-Over, Will and Grace, So You Think You can Dance, and Sex and the City.
This Bridge Called My Back, The Prophet, Wicked, Memoirs of a Geisha, Bel Canto, All God's Children need Travelin shoes, Nectar in a seive, Things Fall apart, Black feminist Thought, Radical Acceptance, Drama of the Gifted Child, From Socrates to Sarte, The Philisophic Quest, Religion in Ancient Egypt, Puerto Rico Negro, New People, Black Indians, Break Blow Burn, She's Come Undone.
My ancestors. Jesus, My dad, Marcus Garvey, Audre Lorde, Sartre, Yeats, my friends, Oprah, My Piano Teacher, Audrey Hepburn, family, CELIA CRUZ, Sarah Jessica Parker, Malcom X, Renee Fleming, Gandhi, the women who have suffered to bring me to this place. Gwen.