\u201cYou can\u2019t depend on the sunshine for symmetry\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I could I go through a day and not have an evil thought or hurt anybody, I have a good day\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cA part of being a feminist is to discover how to dress like a woman\u201d<\/p>\n
(Shange)<\/p>\n
Shange\u2019s visit was one that was both an \u201cout of body\u201d experience and one that felt very real and inescapable because her ability to capture one\u2019s attention in person, just as she does in her work. It was a very compact and I am still in awe of her humbleness and her willingness to be a vessel both in her works and her being.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
You cd try direct<\/p>\n
When i\u2019m vulnerable & survivin<\/p>\n
I get each moment back\/ i want to know<\/p>\n
what we make<\/p>\n
in the world\/survivin us\/makes us<\/p>\n
non-fiction\/unless yr holdin back<\/p>\n
then you are fiction & i am a plot<\/p>\n
so my silence is a kind of gratitude how often am i understood if i open my mouth<\/p>\n
we give each other empty paper bags & ticket stubs<\/p>\n
we\u2019ve been someplaces or are going<\/p>\n
this not camp<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
this is a wide open hand\/ unsettled unclaimed<\/p>\n
in the hinderlands of ordinary\/we cd homestead it we cd save it till the next time<\/p>\n
we cd burrow our feet in soil & gather up sky wine& music<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
you know whatta breeze is at twilight in autumn<\/p>\n
the horizon lays out in violet & sepia<\/p>\n
jets of orange wisk thru our hands<\/p>\n
that\u2019s why my neck gets so hot when you touch me<\/p>\n
the last heavy breaths of the day belong to us<\/p>\n
non-fiction\/<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
-Fiction\/Non-Fiction (Okra\u2019s intellect addresses Green\u2019s mind)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Poetry is mobile. Okra and Greens <\/em>showed that poetry is transferrable spatially and temporally. Through its transferability it creates room and the necessity for archival spaces. Archival spaces illuminate the importance of memory and storytelling. As it is a recollection of experiences that create an arsenal of one\u2019s life. The dynamism of storytelling and archiving encourages conversations across disciplines.<\/p>\n Archival spaces serve as sites for remembrance, accountability, documentation of empires, preservation of knowledge and the control of knowledge within the context of imperialism. Poetry\u2019s ability to create memory and record the sentimental emotion allows the a space for sentimental archiving. Within the context of Shange\u2019s work and her decision to donate her work to Barnard\u2019s archive speaks to the importance of referential work for black women and students at predominantly white institutions. Shange\u2019s archival materials despite it\u2019s magnitude and multiple genres felt personal due the intimacy and the honesty that lives in boxes. It removes the formality and rigidity from the research process and personalizes the experiences. Though the formality and rigidity is removed the process of archiving Shange\u2019s work, these is a reverence in the way that I, along with my peers handled her possessions which is attributed to the gravity and the depth of writing. The organization of Shange\u2019s archival materials reflects her concept of \u201ccarnal intellectuality\u201d as it incorporates both spatial and the temporal component, which extends across borders. Her archives are self-defined. Shange\u2019s archival material are interactive and multidisciplinary. For example, combining both her work, works that have been inspirational as well as personal items- the nipple duster.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Post our class with Shange, I had a conversation with a friend and the topic of patience surfaced and she repeated a cultural proverb, which states \u201cthe fruit of patience is sweet\u201d which is directly related Shange\u2019s encouragement to be patient with ourselves as young writers, artists and intellectuals. Patience is essential to practicing combative breathing, which was reflective in the breathing exercise with Shange.<\/p>\n Shange states, \u201cyou have to ready your body for language\u201d. Language is not static. It is translatable perhaps not verbatim but by integrating tools such as histories, memories and movements, Shange makes the claim that people across the African diaspora can communicate and relate by using the colonizers\u2019 languages or a mixture of the colonizers\u2019 languages which Shange does in her work. Which puts the importance of creolization on the forefront. Shange\u2019s words forces us to interact with words with movement. In addition to that Shange\u2019s work both in content and style, queers the representation of language by coining terms and combining languages of theAfrican Diaspora which allots an openness and the selflessness that Shange presents in her work and its is reflected in her archives.<\/p>\n https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=1sQjh261rU8-<\/a> To zion lauryn Hill<\/p>\n