Life is Living is a national campaign developed by the good peoples of Youth Speaks, the Living Word Project, and MVMT, geared towards shining the energy-efficient spotlight on communities of color who are making contributions in the green movement.  Last year we had the great honor of participating in one of its first events Red, Black & Green, and this past year it expanded to four cities across the map.  Here’s a video put together by the great Eli-Jacobs Fantuzzi of the ongoings in Harlem earlier in the summer.  Click HERE to learn more about Life is Living!

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It’s that time of the year again!  Youth Speaks’ Living Word Festival is an annual megazord ultrazord of an event, bringing the hottest community arts events to the Bay each fall.  Last year Dahlak ended his run with Marc Bamuthi Joseph’s international hit Scourge, and this year we’ll see the debut of Nico’s new play, War Peace (more on that soon).

But first, join us this Saturday at West Oakland as we do a quick thangy-thang with Mos Def, Los Rakas, and Urban Word NYC!  It’s a whole day-long event and it’s FREE, in case you need an incentive to miss the end of them Saturday morning cartoons.

Click here for details about Saturday’s event and the rest of the Living Word Festival (including the FREE Goapele show in SF on the 17th!)

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Today the Brave New Voices International Youth Poetry Festival hit Lafayette Park in front of the White House to speak on their views of America’s crumbling educational system. Speakers included Dahlak and Adriel of iLL-Literacy, Amiri Baraka, Chinaka Hodge, George Watsky, Marc Bamuthi Joseph, Lauren Whitehead, Jose Vadi, and dozens of youth from throughout the world.

Check it out more photos at Adrizzle’s blog.

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Oh, whatever happened to the good ol’ mixtape? Remember those days…by the radio with the tape in the deck and your finger on the record button, waiting for Immature’s “Feel the Funk” to come on so you could grab it into your cassette collection to give to Tiffany who hung out by the lockers after 3rd period? Okay, maybe a bit personal.

Well, from tomorrow through Saturday our iLL-homie Marc Bamuthi Joseph gets up close and personal with you at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in SF for his new production, the break/s: a mixtape for the stage. From Broadway to Def Poetry to several critically acclaimed productions (including Scourge which co-starred your homie Dahlak), Bamuthi’s been setting the scene on fire, and we’re oh so excited to witness his return to the Bay!

This is definitely something that you don’t want to miss if you’re in the area. And if we’re lucky, maybe he’ll outro the whole thing with “It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday”…but he probably won’t.

the break/s: a mixtape for the stage
Thu, Jun 19 – Sat, Jun 21, 8 pm
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater
701 Mission Street, San Francisco
$30 regular
$26 students, teachers & seniors
$23 YBCA Members
Cop your tickets here

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