Alicia profile picture

Alicia

So shines a good deed in a weary world

About Me

"WE ARE THE MUSIC MAKERS. WE ARE THE DREAMERS OF DREAMS.""Vita Brevis Ars Longa": Life is short, but art is long... I am a Black Woman. I am a Latina. I love that the two can co-exist. I belive in God. I see Her in everything. I find beauty in small pleasures and hurts. I read. I don't don't have cable. If I did- I'd watch the FOOD network. I studied Opera. I play the violin. I went to Howard. I am a womanist. I volunteer. I like shoes. I'm a vegetarian. I have a cat named ZOEY. I have an HRC bumper sticker and keychain. I have great friends. I believe that we create our own families. I challenge authority. I challenge the box, the doctrine, the ideas. I have been hurt- but I am not broken. There is good in humanity. I like pears. I like finepoint, pink sharpies. I like art. I was a member of the Florida Grand Opera. I started at 9. I wish I could go back there. My ipod is important to me. I like the beach. I like to give. we have all drank from wells we have not dug, we have been sheltered by roofs we have not built. I work at the DC Rape Crisis Center. the earth is fragile. Recycle. I recieve little miracles endlessly. Life is a gift. I love to laugh.

My Interests

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.

I'd like to meet:

you.

Music:

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.

Movies:

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.

Television:

Extreme Home Make-Over, Will and Grace, So You Think You can Dance, and Sex and the City.

Books:

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.

Heroes:

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.

My Blog

Yo Tambien Soy Boricua, Part 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p40wqsSKhvY ...
Posted by Alicia on Wed, 07 May 2008 02:05:00 PST

Yo Tambien Soy Boricua, Part 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78RyIaOAY5s ...
Posted by Alicia on Wed, 07 May 2008 02:04:00 PST

The Golden Buddha

"Your pain is the breaking of the shell that once enclosed your understanding."- Gibran   Those words give me the image of the Golden Buddha. The true nature of the Golden Buddha might not have ...
Posted by Alicia on Mon, 05 May 2008 12:36:00 PST

Somos Africanos Tambien

Somos Africanos Tambien By: Priscilla Aviles, MiGente Posted: 2/26/07 As Black History Month comes to an end it may have passed without much consequence to Latinas/os who just don't see the m...
Posted by Alicia on Sun, 27 Apr 2008 08:21:00 PST

La experiencia Afro-Latina

The Afro-Latina experience By Ria Richardson, Page Editor10/02/2003Puedes leer la traducción de este artículo aqui: La experiencia Afro-LatinaAs I enter the small bodega, I feel a little nervous becau...
Posted by Alicia on Sun, 27 Apr 2008 08:13:00 PST

Hillary Clinton’s Scarlett O’Hara Act

Hillary's Scarlett O'Hara Act By Melissa Harris-Lacewell | TheRoot.com Why some of us aren't falling for it. Feb. 8, 2008--There's been a lot of talk about women and their choices since Super ...
Posted by Alicia on Sun, 27 Apr 2008 07:55:00 PST

Ulali

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhw8iwEYWkM ...
Posted by Alicia on Sun, 27 Apr 2008 07:45:00 PST

In Honor Of Sexual Assault Awareness Month: Please Read!

In recognition of Sexual Assault Awareness Month, here are two articles by Melissa Harris-Lacewell and Salamishah Tillet, on confronting rape in non-monolithic African-American communities. Both of th...
Posted by Alicia on Thu, 10 Apr 2008 09:05:00 PST

Haiku: I

feet on earth and stars galaxies inside my breast arms as wide as suns
Posted by Alicia on Thu, 20 Mar 2008 09:21:00 PST

Transition

Transition. I feel like my whole life is in uproar. It feels like just a few years ago, all I wanted to do was sing, and somehow, I have been thrown into a whirlwind of activism, and can't get out. S...
Posted by Alicia on Tue, 11 Mar 2008 02:32:00 PST