Garage Band

I love Garage Band. For the non-Mac users, Garage Band is an easy to use application where users choose pre-recorded background tracks or record their own instruments and vocals to create songs. While I've been a Mac user for four years now, I just started using Garage Band this past year.

I've enjoyed recording tunes that otherwise would only exist in my head unless I found someone who could transcribe the musical notes for me. Since I can't read and write music, but constantly have it playing in my head, Garage Band gives me a new way to express myself that I haven't had. I spend hours recording songs by using my voice to create background rhythms and sing the melody and harmony parts.

This last week was the first time I used the ready made tracks on Garage Band. The track library has pre-recorded instruments and styles that users put together to create songs. Blending the sounds of pianos, violins and an Indian tabla for the percussion, I was mesmerized. While I have a dream to be one of those people who can play a lot of instruments (namely guitar, piano, drums and bass--yeah I know I'm a little ambitious), I'll admit that I haven't been disciplined enough to get anywhere near that goal. So this moment of song creation using the Garage Band tracks was exhilarating. I suddenly had the power to create songs without having to play an instrument or getting anyone else involved in the process.

Even though I'm enjoying Garage Band, I wonder if I'm taking the easy way out in songwriting. Digital applications like Garage Band give ordinary people like me the chance to make and record music, but do they make it too easy? Do they give me the excuse to skip the creative process, since I don't have to write the musical notes or play any instruments?

What are your thoughts?

Mosaic Music Box-- Keri Noble

This week's artist: Keri Noble

I've been slacking on the once a week music features...Man this feels like being in school again with weekly assignments! Anyways...

It's rare that I instantly like a song when I first hear it. I have to let the lyrics and sound swirl through my head for a while before I officially declare that I like a song. Keri Noble's song "Ooh oh" is one of the exceptions. As soon as her song began playing on my Pandora I was captivated by the melody and mellow vibe of the song.

One of the habits I've gotten into since using Pandora is reading the biographies of new artists as they appear on one of my stations. I was interested to find out that Keri Noble is actually the daughter of a pastor, but from the biography it sounds like she wouldn't necessarily identify herself as a Christian.

Her song "Born Again" addresses her experiences with the church and what seems like a desire to distance herself from it. I appreciate her honesty in portraying her experiences with the church, and I'd be interest in learning more about her thoughts on the Christian church. Let me know what you think!

Mosaic Music Box--Omega Bugembe Okello

This week's artist: Omega Bugembe Okello

I met this week's artist, Omega, when performing in the annual Easter play at my church. I immediately liked her as she was sweet, approachable and humble. A few weeks into the play I was excited to find out that she ran her own indie record label (she's currently the only artist on it), and it wasn't until a few weeks later when I heard her sing her solo that I realized she could really sing!

Originally from Uganda, Omega sang with the African Children's Choir from a young age. From jazz to R&B to African, Omega's sound is a highly enjoyable fusion topped off by her beautiful voice. I immensely enjoyed two of her live performances in San Francisco, and I'm continually blessed by her humility, faith and poise.

I've been playing her latest album, "Kiwomera Emmeeme" (meaning "it is sweet to the soul" in Luganda, one of the many languages spoken in Uganda), frequently on my iPod. Most of the songs are not in English, so you may not understand the words, but I'm confident you'll appreciate the vocals and music! Some of my favorites from the album:

"Kiwomera Emmeeme"-Talks about the sweetness of getting something you've been longing for
"Mujje"- An upbeat song inviting listeners to come to Jesus. Super fun to dance to!
"Yaye"
"Amazima"

To learn more about Omega's music, check out her website: http://www.omegaworldmusic.com/

The Art of Discipline

It's easy to fall into the deception that creating powerful art is only about responding to whatever inspiration comes your way, but there's a lot of discipline that goes into the creative process. We cannot control inspiration; however, we play a part in pursuing it by creating space in our lives for creativity to grow and take root. Steadily engaging a craft, even when you don't feel like it, is essential. In those moments of faithful engagement, no matter how dull or rudimentary they may seem, you are not only further shaping your artistic technique, but you are also showing faith by waiting on inspiration.

My roommate shared an interesting piece of wisdom given to her by a professional photographer: She said that the life of a photographer is hard because you really have to live a life of reflection. That comment struck me because it reminded me that being an artist is all encompassing. In the same way that athletes order their diet, sleep and training in order to keep their bodies in peak condition, artists must not only regularly practice their technique, but they must also regularly reflect in order to create authentic art. When we let our art spring out of a disciplined life of reflection, we create art with a powerful, authentic voice.

Mosaic Music Box-- Lisa McClendon

This week's artist: Lisa McClendon

Pandora has largely been responsible for my growing love of neo-soul/R&B artists, so I was excited to discover Lisa McClendon. Her vibe is a little bit like Lauryn Hill. Her sound is a blend of jazz, funk, hip hop and gospel with lyrics that stem from her Christian faith.

I'm always excited to discover Christian artists that are creating music that's more engaging than the standard Christian music fare.

Some of my favorites so far from Lisa:

"Still Alive" (samples the Bee Gee's "Staying Alive" with a Resurrection spin)
"Hey Now"

Enjoy!

Mosaic Music Box

A few months ago my friend introduced me to Pandora. For those who aren't familiar with Pandora, it's basically an online radio where you can direct the music playing according to your tastes by creating radio stations based on artists or songs that you like.

While it can tend to get a bit repetitive, for the most part I thoroughly enjoy Pandora, and it's introduced me to the music of a number of artists that I never would have listened to otherwise. So just as Pandora has introduced me to great music, I'd like to introduce (or re-introduce, if you've already heard of a particular artist/song I feature) you to some of what I'm jamming to while at work:-).

I'll try to post a little something new every week. I do offer the disclaimer that I'm definitely not a seasoned music critic or anything; it's just music I happen to like:-).

This week's artist: Joss Stone


I love her voice, and her music's vibe that's influenced by the sounds of soul and R&B music from the '60s and '70s. I was shocked to find out that she's only around 20! Some of my favorite's from Ms. Stone so far:

"Under Pressure" (remake of a classic Queen song)
"Headturner"
"Security"

Check her out, and let me know what you think!

Multiethnic Churches

I too quickly forget that following Jesus is hard--really hard. The sermon at church on Sunday (given by Chip Ingram, not Pastor Paul who is quoted in the article below) was about learning how to suffer well. What a completely counter cultural idea to the American "pursuit of happiness".

The church in the U.S. is quick to forget that the life Jesus has called us to is one that will include suffering, and maybe that connects to our reluctance to build multiethnic church communities. Just as discussed in the article, it's hard to learn to live life--to really intertwine our lives-- with people from different cultural backgrounds. It's easier to stay cute and smile and say hi on Sunday morning, then get into the messy business of loving and being loved across cultural boundaries. But what would it look like if we really took that step?

Recently, I've been asking God to deepen my journey of crossing cultures (this is probably against my better judgement as I know that God gives me what I ask for!). I talk a lot about valuing people of other cultures, and I like to think I've already "arrived" when it comes to entering different cultural spaces, but the truth is I still have further to go in understanding that even if it's hard to learn to live life together, I need my brothers and sisters in Christ that are different from me.


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Recently CNN featured a special called, "Black in America." I didn't have a chance to check it out, but it turns out that the pastor of my church was featured in an article written in connection to the special feature.

Don't have time to dig into it right now, but the article discusses why multiethnic churches are so uncommon in the U.S.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/wayoflife/08/04/segregated.sundays/index.html

Joy in Justice

For those not familiar with the San Francisco BayAarea, East Palo Alto (or EPA for short) is a community predominantly made up of working class families of color. Happening to border the extremely affluent community of Palo Alto, that features safe, clean neighborhoods and good schools, EPA wrestles with high crime rates and less than stellar schools.

It's startling to drive all the way down University Avenue, one of the main roads that runs through both cities. You drive through downtown Palo Alto with trendy restaurants and cute boutiques, slowly making your way into residential areas of large, gated houses with perfectly manicured lawns. Once you cross, the highway, however, there's stark contrast.

Side walks and roads are cracked. The houses are small with unfinished lawns. There are boarded up stores.

How is it possible that in such a small area two communities have drastically different experiences of life? Admittedly, I have much to learn about the specifics of the relationship between Palo Alto and EPA as well as the general subjects of justice and urban inequity, so I make that disclaimer, but nonetheless, it doesn't make sense and it's unfair.

A current injustice occurring in EPA is an illegal rent increase affecting many of the residents. With these rent increases families do not have enough money to pay for other basic necessities of life, such as food.

There are a number of local organizations in the area that have partnered together for the past few months to inform residents of their rights and run petition drives during which residents can file petitions against the company that has instituted the rent increases. One of my roommates learned about the opportunity to volunteer during a Saturday petition drive through her church small group, and she invited our other roommate and myself to help out.

When I initially received the email, I resisted. Lately, I have constantly felt tired, and when the weekend rolls around, I'm deeply committed to sleeping in and indulging in episode after episode of "The Office" (hey--don't judge;-)). But I realized that this was an urgent opportunity to actively engage in pursuing justice--a value I claim to hold, yet don't know how much I actually live it. So I signed up.

I thought that volunteering would be a somber event. I don't know what I imagined--maybe a veil of oppression with mournful faces as we struggled to help individuals fill out petitions. The atmosphere was the opposite. As volunteers gathered in we introduced ourselves to one another, laughing and joking beneath the blue awnings, under which tables held computers to fill out petitions for residents.

As residents gathered to review their documents with volunteers, children played in the yard. I had the pleasure of being partnered with a fellow volunteer named Sarai who saved me in my fumbling Spanish moments by interpreting for me.

I imagined that after a 3.5 hour shift I would leave feeling drained, yet the opposite surprised me. I left feeling energized--more energized, engaged and present than I have felt in a long time.

As I said earlier I have much to learn about what it means to live justly, and while there is deep grief in the reality of injustice in the world, I believe there is joy in seeking justice. Sometimes I'm scared to take more steps towards actively engaging justice because I'm afraid it means giving up the chance to enjoy life, but something happens when we refuse to submit to injustice. Something happens when we refuse to be apathetic. And maybe the big surprise is that there is joy when we open our lives to pursuing truth, not only for ourselves, but for communities and societies as a whole.

On Mosaics

Admittedly, I've done an incredibly terrible job of starting this blog, but writing the insightful and compelling posts that I imagine takes a lot of energy that seems hard to come by once the work day is done:-p.

That being said, I'm once again going to try in earnest to regularly post. Hope you enjoy!


I struggled a bit in naming this blog. Originally I enthusiastically chose the name "Mosaic" as it resonates with me as a metaphor on a number of levels; however, when I googled the word it seemed like there were about a million organizations with the same name, so I decided to change the blog name to another word that expressed the same idea of many distinct parts coming together to form a whole.

Long story short, I've finally settled on "Mosaic" after all, since, as I mentioned before, it's such an apt metaphor for me in a number of ways.

I've never actually made a mosaic, and I can't say I'm an "expert" on them, but they visually express powerful truths.

Personally, mosaics give me a metaphor for my personal identity. With my family being from East and West Africa, growing up in the United States and building relationships across a variety of cultural lines, my heart feels like a fusion of cultures, some that maybe I can't "rightfully" claim, but that I enjoy engaging with and learning about nonetheless. I love having the opportunity to be a part of communities where I'm not "supposed to be" and expanding my heart to understand the experience of others. My personal experience of crossing cultures is painful and challenging at times, but I continue to find beauty in the process of entering new worlds.

Beyond my personal affinity for mosaics as a metaphor, they're a powerful metaphor for redefining the boundaries between "them" and "us." Socially we have specific ideas about who "they" are and who "we" are. We have drawn clear lines that distinguish the communities we do and do not belong to and somewhere in that process we have deemed these divisions as the right way. Like a number of different colored stones we organize all the blues in one place, all the greens in another and the yellows in yet another space. We have envisioned for ourselves an existence of like with like; same with same; them with them and us with us, and when we disrupt that vision by crossing cultures, we find it strange or jarring.

The funny thing about mosaics though is that all the pieces (the blues, the greens and the yellows) get mixed up into a pattern that looks vastly different than when all the pieces exist in homogeneous groups. In mosaics you can put fragments of different sizes, shapes, colors and textures into one visual piece and it makes sense--is beautiful even. It's not odd or strange or weird, but perfect.

Mosaics visually represent what God has the power to do with our communities. The Creator redefines "them" and "us" by weaving together all of our broken and distinct existences. Through Christ, He has connected men and women of a multitude of ethnic, socio-economic and life backgrounds and made us a family. In His classic divine way, He's ruined our understanding of who belongs with whom. We may think that we make sense in our communities that are divided along lines of experience or class or culture or race or whatever other socially defined role you want to use, but we don't make sense until we're together.

Like the fragments in a mosaic, we're often broken in the way we relate to one another, and so different in many ways, but God shapes us into a community that is imperfect, but perfectly loved that reflects divine artistry.

"Biological" Needs

God is utterly surprising-- and frustrating. Working at a fast paced start up in Silicon Valley, CA, I am somewhere I never imagined I would be. This girl who has been all about faith based, non-profit work has cut off a slice of corporate America.

Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against the for profit world; on the contrary, there are many important ways that we can grow as individuals through working in business, and there are a number of ways that businesses have the power to be influential in the local and global community. More specifically, I've also been blessed to work at a business with a lot of fun, passionate and intelligent people.

The frustrating part? Let me share an anecdote:

Every day I periodically get up from my desk, head to the bathroom. Completely normal and nothing out of the usual right? After all, we all have our biological needs. Bathroom breaks for me, however, are the favorite part of my day. Because when I close that door, I'm no longer in the bathroom at my office, but rather I'm at a solo concert or an unofficial dance party. Yup--when the bathroom door closes at work, I proceed to shamelessly sing and dance in front of the mirror.

Given my regular dance party/solo concert in my office bathroom, how could God, knowing how He's made me, put me in a place seemingly worlds apart from the performing arts?

I don't have an answer. I flat out just don't have an answer, and I continue to wrestle with God on this, but even if I'm not able to work directly in the arts, I am thankful for single room bathrooms;-).

One Thing

Gather my heart around you
Pick up the scattered pieces of me
Hustlin' like I don't have somebody to hold me
Strugglin' like I don't have somebody to save me
Cryin' like I don't have somebody to romance me

Like I don't have a chest where I can lay my head and rest

There's one thing I have and it found me
One thing I have
No more scrounging, worrying, tripping
Scavenging for scraps of life like a beggar
Grasping the love I have like an orphan
No for I've found my one thing

Gazing at the beauty
That conquered the beast in me
In life
Bearing the world's strife

One thing I ask that I may seek
One thing pervading everything
One thing I ask that I may seek
To sit at the feet of my loving king

Here we go...

I've been pondering the thought of starting up a blog again centered around exploring the intersections of three of my passions: faith, art (in all its forms) and justice.

So here it is! Post one of "The Divine Mosaic." The name of the blog is subject to change, and I'm still somewhat skeptical that the world is interested in my musings (although I must fancy that someone is as I went ahead and started this thing right?;-)), but nonetheless, here we go!