Latest Work
Rise
Is it better to stay dumb in the dark curled up and numb
Wait and hope to ride it out scared to speak, scared to shout
Does it help to normalize misinformation, hate and lies
Those with millions they can spare say there’s not enough to share
So we fight because we’re scared but remember when we dared
To be kind and understanding now the times they are demanding that we
Rise
You don’t have to be strong, you can see you’re not alone, we just need to stick together and
Rise
Here today, not tomorrow. We don’t have the right to borrow from the future of our children just
Rise
Feel the calling in your heart to be more than just a victim of the tyrants in charge and
Rise
Know your rights not your place play it true, don’t play it safe and
Rise
What would it be like if we talked to each other like another who has lived a life and loved and laughed and cried
What would it be like if we worked for each other like we work for the ones who only see the bottom line?
What would it be like if we loved this home we live on knowing that if we don’t change it’s just a matter of time
Whose imagination are we living to sit back and watch the killing
Put the world up for rent pay it to the one percent
The rest of us are split by fences that are made of false pretenses
That a difference is a color that a language makes you other
But if you’re the other to me then we can never be free
To grow and learn not to be repeaters of history
Don’t you crumble don’t you cry and together, we will rise!
Rise against money,
Rise against power,
Rise every second, every minute, every hour.
How much more can we stand?
Don’t stand for this just rise.
We challenge you to
Rise
- 2/13/2025
Quejas, o la Maja y el Ruiseñor
In college I was a double major, art and music. I studied printmaking and piano.
When working on a plate in the print studio, sometimes you do what’s called “pulling a proof” because with a print you don’t know what it will look like until you put ink on it and run it through a press. In simple terms it means you ink up the plate in the state it’s in and you run it through the press. Then you can see how you need to work on it - what areas need more depth, or need to breathe more or need more clarity. This also applies to music.
I’ve been practicing this piece for a bit so I decided to run it through the press. I hit “record” and played it through a couple of times to see where it’s at. Continuing with the analogy of printmaking it’s fun to see where some colors have smudged and where some things can be brought out more and where some things can be clearer. It’s also fun to peel off the paper and see the print. There are two full length youtube videos of the piece if you want to listen to them.
On Falling and One More Step
What I find so moving about working with the choral groups at SRJC is the way they take ownership of the songs I bring to them. You bring in this song, this little thing you’ve made, and they take it up and say, it’s ours! It’s really a tremendous honor. It is challenging also because I have to let go of what I expected the piece to be and let it become what we all will make of it together. But that process is oh so worth it.
Falling is about so many things. The main point is that we cannot share this world. We have ways of translating into so many languages. And yet, we still don’t understand each other. We have come so far as a species and with all the capacity to think and create. Still, our solutions are economic, religious, and physical violence. When we make each other the enemy, we are falling. We see animals and nature as other. When we separate ourselves from this, we fall. When we choose money over life we fall. We have the potential to do better and we choose not to.
Falling is also a story of love. You say to the universe that you want so much to find someone to have a deep connection with, someone who inspires you, someone who devastates you with their presence. You want someone to give your breath and body to. The universe answers and you are unprepared. You are not enough to deal with the gift. Regardless, you fall. You fall in love. And you fall because you have been taken to the height of your being. You’ve set foot in paradise. But paradise is fleeting. Once you set foot there it begins to disappear and nothing you have can contain or save it.
One More Step says to keep going. It’s what we do. It’s what our bodies do. And when they’re done, someone after you will keep up the journey. You can fall and your friends will be there to walk with you.
This is the audio only version I recorded with my friend, Deanna Lamour. We live across country from each other. For this project I used a kalimba for the opening and midi instruments for the rest. I sent Deanna the music file and she sang into her phone and sent me the vocal line. Then I put them together.
