Home for a few weeks...

Latin Translator
Poet, Host, Educator, Speaker, Writer
www.latinsworld.blogspot.com
www.debeforerecords.com
www.daybeforesoundtour.blogspot.com
Learn, Educate, Repeat!

Las Calles de Tour

On the road again! Sitting in the passenger side of our van I pause from looking out the window to writing in my Berry. The Day Before Sound officially began on January 30th. Most nights we end up back home though. If not we were back home within 1 or 2 days. Now we drive for 3 weeks. Educating youth on how to use Poetry and Hip Hop in their classrooms, lives, and beyond. I keep hearing Biggie in the back spit "it was all a dream!" Now we're living that dream. Each time we've set out to do something we've done it. We didn't let anything or anyone get in our way...not even ourselves. My only hope is that the youth we work with get a glimmer of what can happen when you believe beyond a reasonable doubt.

Latin Translator
Poet, Host, Educator, Speaker, Writer
www.latinsworld.blogspot.com
www.debeforerecords.com
www.daybeforesoundtour.blogspot.com
Learn, Educate, Repeat!

Great Start!

The past few days of the tour have been "off the chain"
(really good). We started it off by joining Mahina Movement, Ollin Imagination and Las Gallas in a creativity workshop (Thank You Mahina Movement for hosting the workshop, space and delicious comida). The goal of this workshop was to develop ideas for our performance at El Museo Del Barrio on April 17th. This one is going to be truly inspiring & have you glued to your seat...but how could it not be considering the lineup. Afterwards we headed up to Troy (NY Capital Region) to facilitate some youth workshops. For 2 days we worked with 2 different groups of youth. The reaction was wonderful. The Youth were having a blast & at the same time learned new ways to use their emotions. At the end of the workshop one of the Youth gave a paper clip to Jarabe and when Jarabe asked him what it was the boy said "whatever you make it to be"...Deeeep. On the first night of being in Troy we did our thing at an Open Mic in Albany. While there we revitalized the audience with performances and connected with a few of the night's artists. After 2 days of workshops and a performance we facilitated another workshop for the lively teens of El Puente Leadership Center in Brooklyn, NY. By the end of it we had the Youth sharing their poetic creations with pride and confidence in their eyes. All of this and week one isn't even over yet.

Day 1 CHECK IN!

The tour started yesterday and what a way to start. We spent the day in Queens with Mahina Movement, Olin Imagination, Las Gallas and more. It was a day filled with exercises (as part of the workshop facilitated by Mahina Movement), laughter, fun and connections.

In addition to vibing and creating with everyone we were able to create a Utopian Society within an apt. in Queens. A place where we all shared and did not judge. We listened and did not shut out. We learned and did not impose. It was all about coming together and creating. This was also one of the first sessions we'll be having before we present our theatrical creation to an audience at "El Museo Del Barrio" in NYC on April 17. Check the schedule to the right for more info on this and other events.

At the end of the day everyone was filled with joy...but exhausted. We said our good byes. Thanked everyone for the love (especially Gaby of Mahina Movement who hosted and hooked us up with some bangin food) and hit the road to Hoboken, NJ. That is where our studio is currently located and that is where the magic has been happening. Even though we'd all slept only 5 hours the night before (because we were up late meeting and working on the album) and had just spent an entire day in an amazing workshop we still had magic to make in that studio.

People... this our "Day BEfore Sound" album will have our blood sweat and tears. It'll be the words we tell ourselves for motivation, the stories of our lives and the angst and love we feel for music. Ooohhhh mira. There will be so much new hotness and so many colabo's with other well known and talented artists that u will play it track by track again and again. Day 1 has ended and in the words of everyone from the workshop...

CHECK OUT!

Just Be!

It doesn't matter who u be. Just be you...Be different.Differente mi gente. Don't let someone else decide which road you take. Living someone else's life could be your worst mistake. Walk as you walk, talk as you talk, wear what you wear. Who cares? It's none of your business what others want you to be. Just be different!

Latin Translator
Poet, Host, Educator, Speaker, Writer
http://www.debeforerecords.com/home.php
http://www.myspace.com/readnex
Learn, Educate, Repeat!

That Road...ohhh that road.

So in a few days the much anticipated "Day Before Sound Tour" begins. Soon I'll be taking that road (on the left) to leave the place I've been calling home for the past couple of years. Who would have thought? That I'd be going on a tour across the nation teaching Youth Workshops, Professional Development workshops and Performing. Doing things that I love doing. Seeing new places, meeting new people and passing on various "pearls of wisdom that have been passed down to me.

Years ago, I wouldn't have even thought that I'd be living on this road. The roads I knew were actually streets and they were both impoverished and filled with desperation in the eyes of those that walked them. Streets in Queens, Bronx and Puerto Rico (on the island they're called las calles. Streets that I once called home are now the streets that I work to rebuild. The Youth I'll be working with have much of the same desperation in their eyes that I once had in mine. Desperation that has now been filled with hope, love, knowledge and belief in self.

Who am I not take that road and work with those young people. Quien seria yo to not drive down in and walk up on stages to spit the lines that have kept me inhaling for better tomorrows and exhaling the pains of given yesterdays. WHO AM I TO NOT GIVE BACK! The "Day Before Sound Tour" starts soon. Though I'll miss my loves here dearly. I'll be building up spirits as I build my own. Because every heart one helps to rebuild strengthens ones own.

Learn, Educate, Repeat,
Latin

Que Mundito

Our world...a place with love and hate. Fear and courage. Filled with sadness and joy. Our world filled with life. "Live not for which is green and re-begin living for which is your being"

Latin Translator
Poet, Host, Educator, Speaker, Writer
http://www.debeforerecords.com/home.php
http://www.myspace.com/readnex
Learn, Educate, Repeat!