NettieBeatrice profile picture

NettieBeatrice

nettiebeatrice

About Me

I am an artist, educator & youth advocate who specializes in digital art & media.
Hip-hop is a way of life and I still live it but I hate commercial rap and r&b...okay not all of it. I listen to Lil' Jon and Dipset (shhhh...keep that on the low). Ha, ha!
I'm not a Buddhist or a Taoist but I like to keep it simple...peaceful.
I've developing a digital art/media project, "Taking Memeories", an interactive, touchscreen art installation. I might seek some funding to do this and take it on the road.
Here's the web site:
This is my tribute to Mpozi Mshale Tolbert (dead at 34) and J Dilla (James Yancey, dead at 32).
Mpozi is from Philly, and was the sole photodocumentarian of The Roots dating back to their inception as "The Square Roots." He was a fixture at okayplayer.com and left his photographic legacy for us all.
Dilla made his name in the 90s working with De La Soul, Pharcyde and Busta Rhymes, and as a member of A Tribe Called Quest's production trio, the Ummah. Some of his most significant production came in 2000, with Common's breakthrough, Like Water for Chocolate, and D'Angelo's last effort, the instant R&B classic Voodoo.
Mpozi took the photo of Dilla you see above. I wish them both a peaceful journey. They died young and left a lot to remember them by.
My mentee just graduated from jr. high school: Go Shay! Jr. high class of '06...lil sis got like umpteen and eleven awards. ..

Looking for me? Check me out here:
MixxnMash Blog
S.O.A.R Blog

Also, I represent for these organizations:
AND
Give these organizations some money or sumptin'.


My Interests



Art and digital media, nature, cultural studies, music, movies, okayplayer.com, reading, learning, teaching, mentoring, meditation/chakras.

I'd like to meet:



Alive: Muhammad Ali, Assata, Oprah, Spike Lee, Chuck D (done), Toni Morrison
Deceased: Romare Bearden, Malcolm X, Harriet Tubman, President Kennedy, Che Guevara, Billie Holliday, Frida Kahlo, Sojouner Truth

Scatman Cruthers scats, "Ah'm a Niggaman!" from the animated film Coonskin:

It's one of the few times in film/media where I think the n-word usage is appropriate.

Music:



Public Enemy (1990-92) and 90s hip-hop/rap, jazz (Miles Davis, Cassandra Wilson, Brandford Marsalis), 80s pop, 70s rock, funk and r&b, dancehall, reggae, house/electronic (Underworld, Bjork)...and so on. Outkast, Parliament/Funkadelic, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, Fleetwood Mac, Abbey Lincoln, The Roots, Rasaan Patterson, Goapele, Corinne Bailey Rae, Jill Scott, Erykah Badu, Chaka Khan, Prince...it goes on and on.

Movies:



Within Our Gates, Once Upon a Time in America, Once Upon a Time in the West, Yojimbo, Cool Hand Luke, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, The Count of Monte Cristo, The Bourne Identity, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Muriel's Wedding, Secretary, Blade Runner, The Matrix, Star Wars, LOTR, Twelve Monkeys, Seven, Akira, Ghost Dog, The Last Samurai, Caddyshack, Old School, Dodgeball, Waterboy, Wedding Crashers, Spirited Away, Castle in the Sky, Killer of Sheep, Nothing But a Man, The Color Purple, For the Love of Ivy, A Piece of the Action, Buck and the Preacher

Television:



City of Men, Animal Heroes, Dog Whisperer, Good Eats, various movie channels (Sundance, IFC, Encore), CSI (the original), X-Files, MI-5, Teen Titans, Samurai Jack, Adult Swim (Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Harvey Birdman), Electric Company & Schoolhouse Rock (ol' school).

Books:

The first chapter of Song of Solomon sets the stage for the rest of the novel and points out its central elements: the theme of flight; the complex interplay of class, race, and gender; and the significance of names.

Song of Solomon, Four Agreements, Barefoot Doctor's Guide to the Tao, The Path to Love, Opening to Spirit, Their Eyes Were Watching God, King of the World

Heroes:



Muhammad Ali, Elizabeth Catlett, my maternal grandmother and mother, Assata, Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Romare Bearden, Malcolm X, my ancestors, and my sister.

My Blog

The 5 Things I Value More Than Anything

Here's the countdown:5) Forward movement4) Open mindedness3) Reverence2) Integrity1) Peace of mind!One could argue that most of these things combined create peace of mind and I guess that is the point...
Posted by NettieBeatrice on Mon, 30 Jul 2007 02:03:00 PST

Ottawa...and Hogwarts

Well, Hogwarts is not in Ottawa but Parliament Hill is and at night it looks like Hogwarts. I can imagine Professor Dumbledore strolling the halls and Harry Potter getting into some kind of mischief ...
Posted by NettieBeatrice on Tue, 24 Jul 2007 06:55:00 PST

why are people being so nice to me?!

just kidding...anyway this was what being at Adobe Headquarters was like:of course some of my closest family, friends, and blog readers are in the corporate "belly of the beast" but i was kinda surpri...
Posted by NettieBeatrice on Wed, 20 Jun 2007 01:27:00 PST

being a "pip" part two

sometimes being a "troublemaker" pays off...so much is going on already in June 2007...so many posts!ever had a moment of clarity when the path becomes crystal clear? all the challenges, trials, and ...
Posted by NettieBeatrice on Wed, 06 Jun 2007 09:49:00 PST

there's no hiding place

"And it was, for we were not strong, only aggressive; we were not free, merely licensed; we were not compassionate, we were polite; not good, but well behaved. We courted death in order to call oursel...
Posted by NettieBeatrice on Sun, 03 Jun 2007 08:40:00 PST

overcoming fear

my surgery is over and i am alive and well. i went in for day surgery last Wednesday but they kept me overnight due the lateness of the procedure and my bad reaction to general anesthesia. i got a pri...
Posted by NettieBeatrice on Sun, 03 Jun 2007 08:04:00 PST

why i gotta be the troublemaker all the friggin' time?

not only have i gotten into the bad habit of typing in lower caps (like this) but i also have to live with the title of "troublemaker". the only problem with the latter is i seldom deliberately stir ...
Posted by NettieBeatrice on Wed, 16 May 2007 08:55:00 PST

spring cleaning

i love the work of rainer maria rilke, a great poet, philosopher, and spiritualist who died in the late 1920s...specifically rilke's letters to a young poet and this part:Have patience with everything...
Posted by NettieBeatrice on Sun, 08 Apr 2007 07:34:00 PST

My Religion

So I was watching Spike Lee's 'Crooklyn' last night and waited most of the movie to hear this song:1, 2, 3The devils after me4, 5, 6He's always throwing sticks7, 8, 9He misses every timeHallelujah, ha...
Posted by NettieBeatrice on Wed, 14 Feb 2007 07:34:00 PST

I'm an artist...with a social agenda

We recently wrapped up the semester and the second round of our pre-college mentoring program. The 'cheesing' youth and college students in the above photo were the most recent participants. Mind yo...
Posted by NettieBeatrice on Sun, 24 Dec 2006 11:10:00 PST