July 5, 2011

HARLEM SEA MONTHLY

Moving forward requires vision.

A message for the future

In July, well be busy building the collective and creating outstanding cultural works and ventures in Harlem. Were particularly focused on the arts and cultural expression. What we want to do is collaborate with other artists and social entrepreneurs or anybody whos interested in creating new and interesting works in Harlem. Its super easy to get involved with us and express yourself. Contact us online through any one of our links on the information page or come to the next meetup. We denitely look forward to linking up with you and making dreams come to life.

HARLEM SEA July 5, 2011

Bondage, freedom, and Harlem in the 21st century

By Shakur Trammel

Juneteenth is a holiday commemorating the end of slavery in Texas in 1856. I got the idea to create and use a piece of shock art that will get folks in Harlem interested in the concepts of bondage and freedom while I was on the A train heading home. Nowadays, these two concepts have a lot of relevance. Economically, the gap between rich and poor has expanded. Socially, the middle class has shrunk, the upper class is incredibly small and the traditional lower-working class has enlarged. These changes in our national economic and social structure are reected locally here in Harlem and Im predicting that these changes will have enormous effect on the culturo-artistic expressions and activities taking place in Harlem. With more frequency, Ive observed more and more of us getting bogged down and bound up by the pressures to earn a sustainable income or to get out of debt. We stop doing the things we enjoy, the things we love, in order to do the things that
Free Ive accepted that I can be me and only me. Its really cool if other people dig me for it. And if nobody can like me for me , thats cool too because I dont lose anything in their not liking.

"I prefer to be true to myself, even at the hazard of incurring the ridicule of others, rather than to be false, and to incur my own abhorrence."
Frederick Douglass

will get us paid. Our heroes have become the richest, the most famous, the most materialistic. Culturo-artistic expression is often bent in favor of being a part of the in and the popular (who are usually either wealthy, famous, highly materialistic, or a combination of the three). I wonder if we who live in harlem will seek to carve out our own cultural identity in the midst of the economic and social changes taking place. As Harlem changes and transforms, what will Harlemites be? Become? Will we be bound to the stale motif of the material rich and famous, or will we nd the freedom, and the courage, to create, innovate and inspire a new pattern?

HARLEM SEA July 5, 2011

Hope

It is my sincere hope that members of the community band up with our collective at Harlem SEA so that we can collaborate and see this great vision through for the benefit of the present and of the future to come. I'm ready. Are you? ! ! !!

execute crucial projects, certain obstacles quickly become evident. By Mavin Okeowo Most of these obstacles hark to the deteriorating economic climate Harlem SEA originated out of a eating away at the foundations of drive to tackle many important yet, Central Harlem, with major factors largely unfullled needs within the including the outlandishly high and Central Harlem community. The rising costs of rents and living, the objectives are certainly ambitious, impoverished state of local however on the route to developing businesses, the rampant lack of viable solutions, we decided to break small business - and no, liquor down each huge problem into stores, laundromats and delis do not several smaller manageable projects. adequately qualify as small For each project, we decided that businesses because they do not coming up with executable solutions employ members of the community would require a network of and are primarily self-serving interested individuals willing and establishments, the!degradation!of able to take on these projects by property ownership among committing resources such as time, members of the community, and the energy, focus and unrelenting will lack of access to liquid capital for power. Out of the intrinsic desire to start-up businesses. All these factors revive the community by seeking out connive to make Central Harlem a and engaging members of the bedroom community, in which the community who possess skills that unemployment is at a dastardly high can be applied toward particular rate of 50%, and in which those projects, we realized that the who are employed commute community itself needed to be downtown or to another borough to collected, so to speak, and thus the work.! Harlem SEA collective was born.!In So let us clear up this picture. the process of acquiring the human We have a place where people live in resources required to and are forced to pay very high rents

The Collective

- upwards of !60-70% of their income. A place where there are no jobs because fast-food chains, grocery stores, laundromats, delis, and liquor stores do not offer livable wages. A place in which small business can barely get started, much less sustain long enough to garner sustainable prot. And lastly, a place where people mainly come to sleep.! Harlem SEA aims to renovate this picture by offering a renewed perspective of potential. Harlem SEA aims to capitalize effectively on the talents and skills of members of the community who are willing to stand together and say NO to economic abuse and oppression. Harlem SEA aims to inspire and revitalize the executive spirit of the community and empower its members to reclaim the space where their homes, lives and livelihoods are. Harlem SEA is the positive force of change that will transform Central Harlem into the respectable hub of creativity and inspiration that it desperately needs to be.!

HARLEM SEA July 5, 2011

Real Life I have no time for liars because Im too busy trying to be the truth.

My Twilight
By Tyree Hawkins

My Twilight channels as if nightfall were eager to leave me. Awful as it shuttles away, shackles on my ankles crying to never let go repeatedly. Immediately in a instant I ran to my sun for a never ending distance. I accept my sentence as a prisoner but I would like to be free in my conscience. Illing in my mind with such nonsense suffering from the paranoia of dying alone and young. With no joy of becoming whole in one. Illing in my brain with no drama stuck between me and my own twilight, fear and the taste of karma. Of the bitten Georgia peach given by my mama.

Birth of the unforgettable tomorrow and heat from the summer. Beats as I run to my Ms. Mystery lover. Music as I lose breath but builds to the sound of the drummer. I really must say awful in this life as I were being robbed by an everyday mugger. Steady as I hear the shackles and I look at the chains I suffer. Refusing to be still. Breaking free is the dream I fulll. Escaping from this awful steel. Watching my twilight dive below the hill. A creation I want formed and let it one day be real. But can it? I want to witness something beyond the planets. Tell them I belong to no one. Nothing branded.

I damn these chains. I wonder what my life would be like without the shackles? A guaranteed change. Stuck for so long I lost what kept me sane. No one to help me break free from my shame.

So to my dear twilight dont go away. Twenty-four/seven through my lane.

This is my note feel my pain. By time you get this note I am going to be snow, hail, and rain. Totally out of sight, shamed that I couldnt reach you before night. Sweet, sweet, lightIm going to miss you my twilight.

HARLEM SEA July 5, 2011

Information
Meet
Well be meeting up on Sunday, July.17.2011 at The Studio Museum in Harlem,144 West 125th Street, New York, New York (212) 864-4500. In the museum, well be located at Romare Beardens Conjure Woman. Heres what it looks like:

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At this meetup, well be discussing art, social entrepreneurship, and creating culture in Harlem. There will also be more information on how to get involved with other HSEA members. 5

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