Damn, It Feels Good to be a Gangsta - Oakland Style

This week is all about Oakland! So as I'm thinking about what to do for the next 7 days, several things came to mind, most of which will happen at some point along the way.

BUT!

I want this week to be fun. I need some fun. Like heart exploding kind of fun. The sort where the moment freezes and you look around and think to yourself, "wow, this is what living feels like." Yeah, that kind.

That being said, this week I will be spending each day doing something new IN OAKLAND! This is totally self serving, I'm not going to lie. I've been looking for an excuse to hit up THE most popular taco truck in the city... or check out some local theatre...or play TOURIST!

I hope that you take this week as an opportunity to explore your city. There has GOT to be something you've been dying to do... so DO IT!

<3 AK

Poems From the Week

The poetry has been moving along at a slower pace than I would have liked but I am really excited about two pieces! As promised, here is a sample...

Move You
For Drew and Kelly

I’m gonna say this now because it might not mean as much later -
But you are the sound of forever.
The way leaves fall in reverse when the wind stops blowing
Long enough for me to notice the smell of the sky.
You are Sundays when I remember to thank God for you
To thank your mother for you
To thank you for you.

You
The tri-tip to my perfect Saturday
The milk to my comfort food
The pea-coat to my winter storm.
Baby, you have one hell of an appreciation for the finer things in life.
Like Tim Burton themed parties with an open milkshake bar,
Or climbing mountains with your fingers or not with your body at all -

You move me.
I want you to move me.

Like the way blood moves through my veins when your lips are against
My heart.
Like the color purple when the sky has all but given up for the night.
Like the pen on this paper.
I will never stop moving for you.

And maybe this does mean as much to you now as it will later
But I hope that it doesn’t.
I want my words and the love in them to shape your fingerprints –
So that every time you leave a mark you leave a piece of me with you.
I want you to cry when you see me not because you are sad or happy –
But because your body can only react one of two ways when I’m around
And the second is something you can be arrested for if done in public.

I want to move you.
And I want you to let me – forever
Or for as long as we can both say I do
In our words, in our thoughts, in our eyes
I do.

So think of me when you brush your teeth at night
And know that I’m thinking of how to take your breath away
And how to move you –
As I search for you in the stars.













Tunnels

Most days she sits in tunnels that are too long to hold your breath in.

Less than two years ago I watched her try to forget about yesterday by erasing tomorrow

I felt her heartbeat in my ears

Her heartbreak in my lungs.

She told me that it didn’t really matter anyway. Any of this.

And so I sat in a dark room that was a little cooler than it should have been

and watched a TV show about nothing.

And felt nothing. And thought of nothing.

Except everything I should have said but didn’t have the heart to.

Didn’t have the guts to.

Didn’t have the patience to.

Do anything more than sit and think about how selfish she was

For sitting in those tunnels all day and forgetting about everything

But the way water burns when it comes from your eyes when you’re not smiling

And how chocolate tastes when it’s the only thing that makes you forget

How much the world hates you –

Hates your dreams and the way they move you

Hates the way you move at all

Because they’ve forgotten what it feels like to exist in a box

Of push pinned bumper stickers reminding you of how perfect you could be

If only you cared a little more about how to suck in your stomach when he walks by

He walks by every day.

And I want you to know that I fucking hate that guy.

And that at your worst you are fucking incredible.

And these days I don’t care where you spend your time –

As long as I know you’ll be on the other end when I call.

Week Six: Poetry Is...

Contagious.

I am SO excited for this week's challenge that I've already started! When I was in college I spent many hours (instead of doing homework) writing spoken word poetry. Skip ahead a few years...

Poetry Changed My Life.

But things get busy. Bills have to get paid. You make new friends who don't live and breathe slam poetry. And so somewhere along the way I got lost. I stopped writing, stopped preferming, stopped thinking in verses.

Until NOW.

This week and I am going to write at least FIVE pieces of varrying lengths and at least three of them have to be about specific people. Of course, I will post them on here as proof of my word. Literally.

For you readers out there - I encourage you to write a little as well. If you're feeling brave, go ahead and email me your work. Id LOVE to read it.

Until then...

Name Game Reflection

Look, I'll be honest - for me, memorizing names is like being able to polish off an entire container of hummus/guacamole/box of cereal/etc... it's a gift. I don't know what I did to deserve such a super power, but it lives within me. Some people can lift cars/do calculus/speak 34 languages, I can remember your name. Now, I know what you're thinking, 'wow, Angela, that is THE most impressive thing I have ever heard. You should probably be on the Hollywood Walk of Fame!' And to that I say, agreed. HOWEVER, I like to stay humble by reminding myself that everyone is, in fact, capable to obtain this magical gift if only they practiced these few simple steps:

1) ASK the person their name. OKAY, fine, seems obvious, but not always. A lot of us don't really care what you're name is. Am I wrong???

2) Say it a few times. Repeat it. Use it in a sentence. Come up with some rhyming words. Even a Jedi name master won't get it on the first try.

3) Give yourself a reason to remember it. Okay, I'll admit it, I am really good at remembering the names of people who I find attractive - SO WHATTTTTTT!?

and finally...

4) Make the commitment. If you know that you're going to see this person again, you need to do all you can to remember her/his name. We all know that one person (or 80) who you've met like 6,000 times and they STILL don't remember your name. I have one word for you... douche.

ANYWAYSSSS - this week was GREAT! I was able to learn all 30 of my kid's names by Tuesday and have spent the week working harder than you know (not really) to learn the 70 something names of the people in my grad program. I think that I know just about everyone - some of the multiple subject peeps are a little fuzzy. But whatever. If I haven't shaken your hand then I haven't really met you...

On that note, I hope that you took this week to make an extra effort to learn some names. We don't think about it much, but our names are almost exactly linked to our identity - which can be a really awesome but also potentially heavy thing. Even though I don't feel especially connected to my name, it still rubs me the wrong way, or makes me feel uncomfortable, when someone calls me by the wrong name. Automatically they are forming a new identity for me and that just doesn't fly. Which is why kids tend to get so frustrated when you call them the wrong name multiple times in one day (sorry Shaun!) - they're just beginning to decide who they are and here you are messing that all up for them.

So let's go ahead and end this week with a greater appreciation for names. Learn them, remember them. Use them.