FINDING JOY IN ADVERSE TIMES

Greetings Friends and Colleagues,

Hey, we all know these are some oppressively sad times in the U.S., with unlawful mass deportations, blatant racism, rollback of DEI programs that we fought so hard to create, disinformation, deep-fake AI videos, and worse of all, the relativity of TRUTH itself. No wonder young people, whose brains are still forming, are confused and easily led astray by Capitalism and consumerism's long arm into every aspect of our lives.

BUT we cannot allow these negative forces to have power over our INNER JOY! Your Inner Spirit, which will never die, is stronger than any of these socio-political forces in the long run. I DO NOT allow them to have power of me. I define who I am, and no one else. Remember your individual power is the building block of our COLLECTIVE RESISTANCE.

MEDITATE, DANCE, SING, AND GIVE THANKS FOR WHO YOU ARE BECOMING!

Our Ancestors Have Told Us!

Looking Back Over 2025

I marked 2025 as my year for REAL RETIREMENT, deciding to finish my major community projects, and not take on any more. I decided to give my self more GRACE to simply do less, while focusing on the personal. I started with my Herb Garden and having our kitchen remodeled. I'm learning how to do less and accomplish more!

But of course one doesn't go "cold turkey" immediately. I finished the Black Choreographers Festival project with Kendra and laura and taught a Full-Circle Stanford Dunham dance class along with a lecture on Dunham and Afrofuturism at that august institution where taught for 12 years (1981-1993). Thank you Raissa Simpson.

Then I started my personal journey: visiting my friend Linda Goodrich in Mississippi to do some healing work around her cancer diagnosis; visiting my daughter Ayo Walker (who just received tenure at Columbia College Chicago) that was a wonderful reunion. I also poured Libation for the Ancestors on Juneteenth for Celebration Arts in Sacramento. Gene and I traveled to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland to enjoy some theater, and most importantly, in July I celebrated my 22nd year (Odun Day) as a Priestess of Oya, the Deity of the Winds of Change and Transformation.

But the highlight of 2025 for Gene and me was our return to Hawai'i, visiting O'ahu and the Big Island, which I reported on in my last Newsletter. For sure, 2025 was a transition year for me. Let's see what 2026 has to offer.

Tale of Two Husbands

The Passing of Kimathi Asante

Kimathi Asante (AKA Thomas Williams, 1951-2025), my first husband, has passed in Toledo, OH. A former musician with The Pyramids, a Bay Area based Afro-Jazz music ensemble that started at Yellow Springs College in Ohio. After moving to Oakland in 1974, he and I were married for 25 years (1978-2004). We started Everybody's Creative Arts Center together, and achieved many creative projects. He was recently discovered by young musicians in Toledo, and was brought out of retirement to play one last concert in August 2025. He will be missed by many.

Gene Howell's New Website and Pending Exhibition

Gene and I have been together since 2006, after meeting online (of all places), and have been together ever since. He is most known as an painter of mixed media, having exhibited in The Arts of Living Black in Richmond, CA for many years. I hope to organize an exhibit of his work with Oakland artist Nedra Williams in 2026. More on that soon!

But Gene is also a poet, having organized the monthly "Fireback Poetry on the Waterfront" event at Barnes & Noble in Oakland's Jack London Square for many years. A man of many talents, he is also a budding playwright, . Please see his new Gene Howell Website that explores the many sides of his artistic inspirations.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!

KEEP THE FAITH!

Check out my new Wikipedia Page!

Dance is Life & Life is a Dance

Dancing in Blackness:

A professional female dancer’s personal journey over four decades, across three continents and 23 countries, and through defining moments in the story of black dance in America.

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Dancing the Afrofuture: Osumare's sequel memoir chronicles her transition from performing Black dance to writing it into history as a Black studies scholar. Emulating her mentor Katherine Dunham, she studied and performed hula, while researching hip-hop youth culture.

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The Africanist Aesthetic in Global Hip Hop: Explores the two reasons for hip-hop’s globalization: 1) American dominant pop culture internationally, and 2) hip-hop’s beat and empowerment of youth.

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