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Educate, Inspire, Entertain
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Spring 2011
TAKING A STANCE
Alysia Harris My Life My Words
GET YOUR VOICE HEARD
DREAM OUT
LOUD
LIBERTY & JUSTICE FOR ALL The System: Our Lives
The Shutdown: Art as an Agent for Change Mission Statement:
The Purpose of The Shutdown:
Art as an Agent for Change is 501 Š (3) non-profit arts organization that works to establish alliances with other artists, combat the plight of the oppressed, engage social apathy, promote social awareness and to inform all of the realities that shape our lives through the mediums of art.
The Shutdown is a literary, arts, and activism magazine created by Art as an Agent for Change, Inc. The Shutdown’s purpose is to...
Vision: Art as an Agent for Change, Inc. was founded in 2006 by three college students who wanted to actively engage their community in art that truly educated, inspired, and entertained. A.A.C. has grown as an organization and has adapted a mission that promotes artistic collaboration, community engagement, and working towards social change through arts education.
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1. Encourage adolescent and adult literacy. 2. Connect the community to the literary wealth of their world. 3. Advocate social uplift in the reader’s hometown or neighborhood.
The Shutdown Staff A.A.C. Founder Paul Ayo Grigsby Editor-in-Chief Rochelle Smalls Writer Jamie Fleming Writer Louis Camille Cassamajor Writer Samm Severin Ad Representative Tameka Dean The Shutdown Sponsors Hanifya Matt Braidologist & Master Loctician Zeta Phi Beta Illustrious Eta Xi Chapter Taximize Accounting Service
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I WRITE POEMS BY EAR Meaning‌ I heard you talking, Speaking, Laughing, Crying. I heard you in conversations Over coffee, behind me, beside me. Over oceans, at the edge of sidewalks, In Leaves of Grass, I heard you rustling In deserts after daybreak. I heard you, In memories, photographs, scribbling Down, rising up, I heard you dreaming, Explaining how to listen. By: Paul Ayo Director of A.A.C
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U
NTITLED
By: Dominque DeButts, GCEC 7th Grade
Don’t let them take your Joy away Don’t let them take your smile Hold your head up high and smile Cause you are beautiful child They talk and look To make your light go out Inside you weep but outside You glow as if you were a diamond You’re the sun don’t let The moon take your light Laugh as they talk, Make A smile, run to the Light, have no fear. Clap your hands at The sight of Joy Ha Ha Ha! Make a Joke at the ones From afar.
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RED PUMP PROJECT By: Jamie Fleming According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are approximately 1.1 million people living with HIV/AIDS in the U.S., and almost 280,000 are women. Additionally, HIV is the fifth leading cause of death in women in the U.S., ages 25-44. Chicago natives Luvvie Ajayi and Karyn Watkins decided to do something about these statistics. In March 2009, the duo created The Red Pump Project to commemorate National Women and Girls’ HIV/AIDS Awareness Day which is observed annually on March 10. The movement began as a simple call to action for women bloggers to Rock the Red Pump on their blogs to represent the strength and courage of women fighting HIV/AIDS or affected by the disease both directly and indirectly. The purpose? To spread awareness of National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. When they put out the call for bloggers to join the cause, Ajayi and Watkins’ goal was 100 bloggers; over 125 bloggers responded and “Rocked the Red Pump!” Now, the project is a national initiative where they do work on the ground and online to ensure that women are empowered with knowledge about HIV/AIDS and the issues
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surrounding it. The organization currently has 30 ambassadors in 20 states “Rocking the Red Pump” to raise awareness about the impact of HIV/ AIDS on women and girls. Ajayi had always wanted to do something involving red shoes and HIV/AIDS awareness, and she went to Watkins with her thoughts. “We were just talking, and I mentioned that I’ve always wanted to do something surrounding HIV/ AIDS and red shoes,” Ajayi says. “So, [Karyn] went, ‘Well, National Women and Girls’ HIV/AIDS Awareness Day is coming up. Maybe we could do something then.’ And THAT is how The Red Pump Project was born.” “Karyn’s a great partner in this because we’re like-minded in that we both have a passion for social justice. So it is truly a partnership.” According to Ajayi, it’s important to increase awareness about HIV/ AIDS to women and girls in particular because women are caregivers, and when women get sick, it affects those around them. “We wanted to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS and women to empower ourselves and others about the issue,” Ajayi says. “Also, women are [more] susceptible to HIV infection [than] men are because of our biology. The susceptibility is showing up in the new stats. Every 35 minutes,
a woman is diagnosed with HIV in the United States.” Having knowledge of HIV/AIDS is important because the epidemic is spreading, and education about it can stop it, Ajayi says. “People need to know that it’s 100 percent preventable. HIV/AIDS is one of the most deadly diseases, yet it is also one of the most preventable. As a society, we need to ensure that we’re making responsible decisions to prevent the epidemic from getting worse.” Ways to get involved with The Red Pump Project include: . “Rocking the Red Pump™” to signify
www.redpumpstore.com. Proceeds go to support the work done to raise awareness. Next year, they plan to re-open the Ambassador program in which Red Pump Ambassadors (official representatives of the brand) have events and support their local HIV/ AIDS organizations with the Red Pump name. Ultimately, Ajayi and Watkins hope to empower women with knowledge about the issues surrounding HIV/ AIDS. “We also want to decrease the stigmas that come with the issue. We want those who are living with HIV/
“People need to know that it’s 100 percent preventable. ” the strength and courage of those affected and infected by HIV/AIDS; this can be done online and on the ground. . March 10 is National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, and on this day, The Red Pump Project asks women to don their favorite pair of red shoes (pumps, flats, etc.), and send a photo. . Online, women bloggers are asked to put the red pump badge on their sites, and dedicate posts on that day to HIV/AIDS and its impact on women. . Purchase a shirt from the new Red Pump T-shirt line at
AIDS to live well with it, and those who don’t have it to maintain their HIV negative status.” For more information about the Red Pump Project, visit them online at www.theredpumpproject.com. Also, add them on Facebook (www. facebook.com/RedPumpProject), and follow them on Twitter (www.twitter.
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The Last Gray on Earth By: Temerius Tuft, GCEC 7th Grade I am Gray, The last gray on Earth. Gray is foggy, With intense mysterious emotion. Gray sleeps lightly, And wakes at the mist of dawn. Gray is sincere, genuine And the true color of life. It’s not white Nor black, nor yells or Screeches pain Nor hits you With the blinding beam Of jealousy It’s the thick fog whom Blocks your light and Guides you with The simple meaning of Life. Gray Gives up rain with its dense clouds And When you have no color left Gray keeps your hair From drifting away Like it or not There it is, The Last Gray on Earth.
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THE UNDERGRADUATE By: Rachelle Eyma, Senior Creative Writing Major GCSU
Work in the day and rush to school at four. She takes the bus at six in the morning. She holds her books close and she feels secure. Plop. She lies on the rough carpet floor, It is an all too familiar routine. Work in the day and rush to school at four. Takes a deep breath. Her head aches, her back’s sore. She studies. Alone. There’s no time in between. She holds her books close and she feels secure. Ma did warn her, said they were just too poor. She told Ma, Don’t worry. Just turned eighteen. Work in the day and rush to school at four. Still so exhausted from the night before and she won’t complain, she won’t cause a scene. She holds her books close and she feels secure. One day she will have that degree, for sure, but until then, all she can do is dream. Work in the day and rush to school at four. She holds her books so close, she feels secure. 11
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MY RINGS
By: Bonay Renfroe, GCEC 7th Grade The greenness of grass BOOM, BOOM, BOOM The playing of football To their heartbeat When they lie against me – The wind blows through my leaves, The crunching of my old leaves Under feet. The smell of dew on grass The taste of dry, cold air And fresh ground water Comes up my roots. The wide out-stretched field And three story high buildings Surround me. The cranking of chain saws, I shake my leaves Almost uncovering myself Will I be the new wooden bench? All polished? The new house cabin? The thoughts disturb My bark.
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I HATE U!!!
By: Louis Camille Cassamajor A recent strain of teen suicides has brought back to attention a longexistent issue, bullying. Bullying is defined as repeated aggression; verbal, psychological or physical abuse by an individual or group against others. Cyberbullying is bullying exercised through Information and Communication Technology (ICT) mediums such as the internet–most commonly
threatening and offensive messages via texting, personal profile comments, or instant messaging. • Impersonation – Setting up fake user profiles and web pages that are attributed to the victim. It can also involve gaining access to someone’s online accounts and using it to contact others and subsequently bully while impersonating the account holder.
“Cyberbullying is bullying exercised through Information and Communication Technology mediums ...” through social networking sites, instant messaging clients, and chat rooms, mobile phones–via texting, or other such means. Cyberbullying is most often times psychological, but typically a mere extension of traditional bullying. Offensive and/or threatening emails, messages, posts, and embarrassing or demeaning photos and/or video clips all fall under the category. Accessing another’s account so as to provoke trouble is also classified as another form. Cyberbullying can be accomplished in different ways: • Personal Intimidation – Sending
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• Personal Humiliation – Posting images and/or videos with intent to embarrass or humiliate someone. This can involve users sharing personal communications with a wider audience than was intended by the sender. • False Reporting – Making false reports to service providers or reporting other users with aim at having their accounts terminated. With all the technological capabilities present today, it seems as if youth feel that they can hide behind their online identities and not suffer the consequences of their electronic actions. Online resources geared
towards the prevention of cyberbullying are making parents aware that they must take responsibility, instilling within their kids respect for others. It is also necessary for parents to be conscious of their kids’ internet and phone activity, know exactly what it is they’re doing when using these mediums. Victims are encouraged not to reply but instead block the sender all-the-while saving the messages for reporting, and to tell trusted individuals such as parents, teachers and other officials, and even friends. For victims, it is not encouraged for parents to take away their access to the mediums by which they are bullied because that will bring the child to not come back to the parent when it happens again; take greater action. An excellent source for cyberbullying advice and resources can be found at http://stopcyberbullying.org. The site offers resources for youth aged 7-10, 11-13, and 14-17, parents, educators, and even law enforcement. A similar site: http://thinkuknow. com offers synonymous resources and is easy to navigate. Seeing as the internet is the source of the abuse for victims, savvy sites have also made the internet a safe haven and a place of refuge for cyberbullying victims. Most effective in this endeavor is http://childline.org. Childline behaves closely synonymous to a forum and allows youth to post their thoughts, issues, experiences, and questions, even going as far as providing means of reporting the abuse. Childline also
has an on-staff professional who answers the kids’ inquiries. Most teens simply may not recognize the harm they are doing because they are sheltered from the victim’s response. The simplest way for parents to identify their kids as either bullies or victims of bullying is if the child acts in ways that are inconsistent with their typical behavior when using these mediums. There is no doubt that bullying, in whatever form it may take place, will lower one’s self esteem, but recent studies have even attributed bullying as a factor in depression, isolation, and suicidal tendencies among youth. The Cyberbullying Research Center recently conducted research involving approximately 2,000 randomly selected middle-schoolers from one of the most populous school districts in the United States. Highlights from the research found that 20% of respondents reported seriously considering attempting suicide, and victims of cyberbullying were twice as likely to attempt suicide versus their peers. With such statistics looking only at a group of 2,000 we must only fear where the stats rank on a national and international level.
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Alysia Harris My Life My Words
By: Jamie Fleming
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A
lysia Harris fell in love with poetry when she was in fifth grade. That was the first time she and her classmates were taught about the art. “The first day, she told us what a sonnet was, and she described it to us,” Harris recalls. “I was like, ‘I’m pretty sure I can do that.’ So, I spent all of class writing [it]. I gave her the sonnet…and she couldn’t believe I wrote it because it was about love, and I didn’t know what I was talking about. I remember one line, the one line that I hated: I couldn’t figure out what to rhyme with fire, so I said ‘all of this passion leads to desire.’” “I really liked [poetry] before then. I used to write short stories about adventures and My Little Ponies and stuff like that, but after fifth grade, I really just started writing poetry. That was it. I was sold, and I loved it.” Harris discovered spoken word in high school when she was a member of the debate team. One day, she read a poem she had written, and her professor told her she was good at it; although she was a little skeptical initially, Harris ultimately realized it was true. She attended Yale University for a summer program and took a seminar in spoken word poetry. And as a student at the University of Pennsylvania, she joined a spoken word collective, The Excellano Project. “It was the highlight of my career as a spoken word artist, being a part of a collective of people that push you, constantly, to write better and
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keep [improving] your craft,” Harris says. A two-time national spoken word champion, Harris was a member of both the winning Brave New Voices 2007 and College Unions Poetry Slam Invitational (CUPSI) 2007 teams. She also appeared on the HBO documentary Russell Simmons Presents: Brave New Voices in 2009 where she also coached her team. “[Winning] is nice, a lot of expectation from yourself and from people around you, teammates who came before you who are holding a legacy, but winning was great,” she says. “My team worked super hard, and I think it paid off.” Harris had no doubt that her team would reign as champions. “I never doubted my team. [I did the competition] with people I was friends with for a really long time, and I spent a lot of time with them,” she says. “So, not only was it an advantage that we all went to college together, we were [also] friends. I was really comfortable around them, I knew their styles, [and] I knew how they would be on stage.” With a B.S.? in Linguistics, Harris is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in the same field at Yale University. Her knowledge of linguistics is not all that helpful when it comes to writing poetry. “My love for poetry and my love of linguistics are born out of the same place: an appreciation of language, but they manifest themselves in
different areas,” she explains. “Linguistics is more analytical, and poetry is obviously more creative and emotional. The thing about linguistics is… you know the rules that apply, and you know how to break those rules and create more interesting phrases. So, it helps in that aspect, but in general? Not really, no.” When it comes to what people take from her poetry, Harris merely hopes people believe her. “I don’t really have any control nor any desire to control what people take from my work. [As long as] they come away knowing that I’m sincere.” In addition to pursuing her Ph.D., Harris is also working on a chapbook (she has around 500 pieces of poetry to date). She’s also planning to pursue a Master’s of Fine Arts degree in creative writing at New York University. Additionally, she wants to spend some time in the Middle East. “[I want to ] hopefully start a program that helps kids learn to express themselves because there‘s so much freedom in the states,” she says. “There are so many programs, so many opportunities and outlets, but that’s not always the case in other parts of the world, especially in the Middle East.” With her future career goals, Harris says she’s open to any path that comes available. “It could be linguistics, more anthropological in terms of helping preserve endangered languages in certain communities or creative
writing teaching. So, I’m really open. That’s five years from now minimum. As time goes on, it will reveal itself.” Check out some of Alysia Harris’ Poetry
STIR CRAZY
By: Alysia Harris, Yale Grad Student BNV Champion The Rain chats over my roof As if it were coffee.
It can be seen straining
Small talk with the Window. The two of them strangers Without the slightest hint of innuendo or Back story, sipping Inertia through sets of small elite
lips. At this time of night The street is a coffee shop Of bumped elbows, A frozen module. A place where everything goes to be seen But rarely recognized. Hands hunched like Tigers on their keyboards Or curled around cardboard Cups.
Hands trying to rub off wedding bands Or tapping one-sided
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Conversations with plastic tables Painted to look like Wood. Hands, in the grip. So many hands. None of them touching. The Rain speaks in a control -led tone, Like it’s never raised its Voice before. Like the only thing holding it back Are the bobby pins Pulling its hair into a neat Psychotic bun. I am on the inside. I don’t do small talk. I will sleep until the Rain Has something relevant to say Until it begs to be heard… like a Street corner after a gunshot. I am not like the hipsters. I don’t avoid the street. There,
I am writing 15 minute books in my eyes. I avoid the coffee shops where people Stare into black, hope To find the will to work. I want to whisper to them In my best pre-professional impression (so as not to be suspected) “Quit faking And spill!”
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The Daylight Moon By: JosĂŠ V. Guerra Awe, GCSU Alumni
The daylight moon awaits the setting sun, sitting at the bottom of a bowl of blue Howlers roar, parrots chatter; a sea of endless green in my periphery. From atop this ancient castle, in the midst of a forgotten Eden, I adore you. You, oh Moon, who waits with such serenity, in that sea of blue eternity. I stare into your sky blue iris; the wind singing softly in my ear.
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Her verse, an ethereal Acapella, it carries a familiar scent. This scent, this etching; one without compare Of two Blue-Morpho eyes that wander, luminescent. As you do, oh daylight moon, I await the starlit archer That cupid’s arrows he may aim and fire Shooting stars that from the bowl departure Piercing through her whom I desire
Memory of Me
By:Fiona Sheehan, Sophomore Mass Communications Major GCSU On a distant landscape I see familiar blurred shapes In the hollowed eyes of a statue there is a mirrored emotion I cannot see, but sense, beating within: Of dreams and trees and serpents in the air Of cloudy skies and barren branches that sketch wrinkles in this mirror Twisting vines beneath the clear surface of my image Beating wings and fallen feathers Disturb it some In the spiraling depths beneath cool darkness And soft light There is a memory of me
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Words of Rising Laughter By: Samm Severin “Humor can change the world if it’s done well.” These are the words of rising come-
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dian, Sean Patton. I got to sit down with him at Buffington’s in Milledgeville after the taping of “Three Weeks in September,” a comedy documentary that followed the lives of 4 comedians trying to break into the upper tier of standup comedy status. Patton’s comedy involves relishing and dancing in the flaws that every human possesses. Social injustice, he believes, stems from human flaw, and unless we learn to laugh at it, we will never overcome it. Sean Patton always knew he wanted to do something big with his life, but he didn’t quite know what. After
much meditation, he became aware of his impeccable ability to make people laugh. Rather than using this skill to pick up chicks at bars, he decided to run with it, so he ran all the way to the stages of HBO Canada’s “Funny as Hell” and Comedy Central’s “Live at Gotham”, and he hasn’t stopped yet. Patton describes comedy at “subliminal preaching.” Anybody can make someone
Comedy is available to almost everyone who’s plugged in, and with big time comedians now gaining rock star status, their audience is widening a little bit every day. Unlike the movie industry, comedy is welcome to anyone with a talent for making people laugh, not just the most beautiful and famous. “Comedy is the last true art form. ‘The Suits’ don’t control it, and they never will.”
“Comedy is the last true art form. ‘The Suits’ don’t control it, and they never will.” laugh, but what separates comedy as an art from comedy as a schtick is that true comedy has a point. If there’s no substance behind the joke, there isn’t a point. Comedy is enjoying a recent boom, thanks to sites like YouTube and Hulu that provide instant streaming of comedian’s acts, so comedy enthusiasts no longer have to stay up late and stalk outside of the house of their one friend who has cable.
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Rehabilitation versus Incarceration By:Louis Camille Cassamajor
Editorial The juvenile court system saw its inception in 1899 in Chicago with Illinois’ passing of The Juvenile Court Act, establishing the nation’s first juvenile court. The court was conceived on the notions that juveniles, not yet fully developed, are unprepared to be held fully accountable for their actions, and thus can be rehabilitated much more effectively than adults. More than ever
actions. While the juvenile courts’ prosecution hopes to deter the next generation of juveniles from becoming offenders, ostensibly, it is in near fact encouraging them seeing as how they will not fully receive the repercussions of their actions. Furthermore, if juveniles were to be charged in adult courts, they would very well be afforded their full constitutional rights.
“States whom exercise rehabilitation can boast a 92% success rate of deterring repeat offenders.” now, the reliability of the juvenile court system is being debated and there are two sides to the issue; one seeking the abolition of the courts and simply trying juveniles as adults, and the alter seeking the preservation of the courts and the rehabilitation, rather than the incarceration, of juvenile offenders. Opposition to the juvenile court system rest their arguments on the idealistic need to punish juvenile offenders, and a general concern for a possible excess of juvenile rights. In their beliefs, the juvenile court is founded on false premise because it prescribes immunity to youth from bearing the consequences of their
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Preservers of the juvenile court system believe that its elimination would not be to the betterment of anyone. Supporters believe the premise of the juvenile court is sound. Seeing as how youth are not fully matured, they shouldn’t be held accountable to the same standards as adult offenders. Altering the social environment in which juveniles live is a proven effective way to reduce juvenile violence versus punishing them in adult courts. While an issue lies in the denial of full constitutional rights for juveniles, this is masked by the court’s objective to serve the best interests of children; trying them based on age rather than offense.
best interests of children; trying them based on age rather than offense. Surplus studies have aided preservers in their position, presenting evidence proving that the rehabilitation of juveniles is not only more affordable, but also more effective in contrast to the alternative. An exorbitant rise in juvenile crime between the late 1980s and mid-1990s led to the “adult time for adult crime” mentality that is heavily present today. In response to fear that juvenile crime would only continue to rise, the 1974 Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act was amended to include provisions allowing states to try juveniles as adults for some violent crimes and weapons violations. Minimum detention standards were also put into place in some states. Antonymous to the beliefs of many, rehabilitation is not-at-all a criminal pardon. The fact of the matter is that it is most effective in reducing crime. Rehabilitation follows juveniles through the process of transformation and reconstruction. States whom exercise rehabilitation can boast a 92% success rate of deterring repeat offenders. While the alternative, incarceration, finds half of its released juveniles reoffending in just a year’s time. But to escape the general context and focus more deeply on the debate, there is one way in which the two sides would be content, if the severity of juveniles’ crime were the determinant of their trying and sentenc-
ing. The fear that coincides with this position is that petty offenders, having been through the age-compassionate juvenile justice system, may commit greater offenses that could have very well been avoided having they been incarcerated. Another position focuses on the hardships the juvenile(s) will face if placed in an adult facility, being more prone to fall victim to sexual crimes via adult inmates and just as likely, death. While rehabilitation proves effective, prosecutors must consider the fact that violent crimes deserve conviction and not compassion. Juveniles should be rehabilitated for petty crimes and non-severe violent acts, but such offenses as rape, murder, and more severely violent crimes, including weapons violations, should classify any offender as an adult. A prime example to support this stance occurred in 1993; Jamie Bulger, 2-years-old, living in Bootle, England, was taken by two 10-year-old boys and mutilated and murdered. They then proceeded to lay his body on a railroad track with intent to disguise their atrocity. The two boys were tried, convicted as minors, and have since been relocated and given new identities. With just one such example it proves evident that rehabilitation versus incarceration for juveniles should not be determined by which is the more affordable alternative, but instead by which suitably allows the offender to face the consequences.
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A word from your Editor ....
Creating The Shutdown has evolved into a design experience unlike any other. From the articles to the poetry, I personally feel I have grown into an individual with not only a better understanding of the arts but also my community. As you flip page by page, I hope The Shutdown will take you on a journey that has you wanting more from your society and more from yourself. Let’s stand together as we fight for the justice we deserve, and The Shutdown will always be there to guide us. Your Editor, Rochelle P. Smalls
Come to spectate or perform at A.A.C.’s Open-mic Poetry Jamz at Blackbird Coffee. Every third Wednesday at 8:30 pm