i'm one of this week's profiled artists on urban cusp, a lifestyle magazine highlighting progressive urban culture, social justice and global awareness. it was started by my stanford colleague and friend rahiel tesfamariam, and i'm super excited about it! enjoy. --AL.

"Being a dancer has taught me the most about writing and filmmaking —- about being present and open, establishing a pace and rhythm, trusting in my ability, being courageous, and, above all, remembering to breathe. Every day I do my morning pages, a technique out of Julia Cameron’s book The Artist’s Way that involves writing three pages of text as soon as I get out of bed. Cameron also writes about filling one’s inner well with things that inspire creativity, like taking long walks in nature, visiting the museum, and listening to music." --Iquo B. Essien

i found npr's much-hyped lauryn hill interview to be overly gushy and sentimental. perhaps zoe chace was too young to take a dispassionate view on the artist or too enraptured by her persona (she likens her search for and the apparition of ms. hill to the israelites quest for the ark of the covenant). however. i am ever captivated by the creative process, and i think ms. hill embodies exactly what i'm getting at: self care. care for yourself, then your art, and then everybody else (in that order).

and i must take issue with some of the detractors...as much as i love miseducation, i find the raw truth in her unplugged album a wonder to behold. i guess it's the artist in me that just digs her unfettered representation of self.



i hope that i won't stay too lazy and begin shaping this thing into a derivative blog; more original posts to come. --AL.