I believe in being more curious than critical. And yet, my training and extensive practice in critical theorizing offers me a unique creative process that, when executed properly, has the potential to catalyze deep personal and cultural reflection, to offer a route into creative practice, to facilitate deep transformation for those engaged in the process and to connect people from diverse communities, backgrounds and geographies that might not otherwise find themselves in a power balance.

But how does one go about weeding a psychic garden? I wasn’t concerned much with focusing on one particular individual or even focusing on the beliefs themselves. They’re not new. They don’t reveal anything I don’t know. Recounting where they came from (again) would have been a waste of time. When you see a weed, do you sit there and contemplate where it came from? No. You pull it out because it’s in the way and stealing energy from what you’re trying to grow. If you pull it out properly, you take all of it — including (especially) the root.

A revolution is not a war — it’s an uprising. A true revolution is always born from the hearts of those rising up. It is always an act of love — for oneself, for the planet, and for one’s fellow planet-dwellers. Uprisings can be violent, but they don’t have to be and they’re often most successful when they’re not. The best metaphor that I’ve ever encountered to teach social movement theory is the metaphor of a mushroom. Social movements are rhizomes.

It’s a difficult reality that you may not be the person who created your trauma, but you’re still the only person who can allow yourself to heal. The truth is that every single one of us has been participating in a system that got us to where we are today and every single one of us is responsible for changing this system and creating something new. The new Earth isn’t just going to show up one day. Like any birth, it requires some really hard work alongside some of the deepest surrender that exists.

“Who’s a Bahamian?” was a public art project that interrogated Bahamian identity from many angles, beginning first with the question: What does a “Bahamian” LOOK like? I was OVERLY privileged to be asked to assist with this project.

Refinement requires stripping the truth, but sophistication and real integration are like forms of cultural and personal fermentation — everything alive remains in tact. Maybe sometimes you try to hide the most rugged and raw pieces of yourself for your safety or perceived safety. What would other people think if they knew how wild, loud, cold, hot, raw, and full of flava you really are? Don’t pasteurize your soul!

The environment does not need to be “saved”. The Earth is an incredible organism that will always renew and rejuvenate Herself. Sure — she may have to throw a few thousand species off the planet in the same way that people lose organs or most of their energy while battling terminal illnesses, but then recover. But she’ll always survive.