NYC December 2013
2013
New Orleans Photo October 2013
New Orleans, LA October 2013
NYC Photo December 2013
NYC December 2013
My PhotoVoice Project at Northgate Elementary (Starting November 13, 2013)
Salutations,
For the next 5 weeks I will be spending my Wednesday afternoons In Zac Stowell’s classroom at Northgate Elementary school working with a diverse group of 5th grade students whom 90 percent of their families live at or below poverty level. While this says nothing about the character of these wonderful students, it does speak to the barriers and challenges these students face.
With this project students will answer the question “How are you a part of your community?” After an introduction to photography, and tutorials about how it can be used for storytelling, students will have an opportunity to go into their communities and document how they are a part of their community through photography. The students will then create collage and an artist’s statement that will be presented to their peers and showcased to their guardians during an art display at a local coffee shop.
Our mission with this project is to use technology, art and photography as a platform for students to share their own stories and the stories of their communities. We hope to explore the artistry that is photography and teach students basic skills, while allowing them to explore their identity and become active participants in their community in creating the world that they would like to live in.
My hope is to also introduce students to Seattleites whom are already using visual arts to share the stories of their communities past present and future. We are interested in the opinions, thoughts and foresight from these brilliant minds in hopes that we will progress the social conscience of this class.
The project will take place from 1:45p – 2:45p on the following dates: November – 13th, 20th; December 4th, 11th, and 18th.
I will be documenting this experience and project and hope to have more to share with you soon. Until then, stay tuned.
Domonique Meeks
AmbassadorNique Productions
www.AmbassadorNique.com
Road To Fuji Blog — FUJI SUMMIT (Day Eight)
THIS IS THE POINT FUJI GOT REAL!!
You know that feeling you have when you first wake up from a nap… The feeling of wanting to slowly wake up, get use to your surroundings, stretch. Yeah, well none that happened for me.
After waking up from a nightmare that bugs were crawling on me and being cold I was jerked awake by Rupert telling me it was time to go as if we were late for something. I jumped from the top bunk of what looked like a huge bunk bed. We would hike in dark up Mt. Fuji from station seven.
The trail would become even more difficult. We found ourselves climbing over rocks trying to dodge the ledges thankfully we had good weather and only dealt with rough winds at times. Thank goodness for warm clothing! Safe to say it was cold! After hours of hiking and stumbling over rocks, it seemed as though we would never get to the top. The mountain was crowded with people! This was a Thursday night / Friday morning, I could only imagine what a Friday / Saturday would look like. We heard conversations, chants, random noises, radios, ect. Definitely not so peaceful.
Hours in I would see the same young elementary school boy that impressed me in the daylight by 2am was in tears crying from frustration and probably pain and lack of sleep.I felt his pain… I would also have an old man fall flat on his face about 30 minutes later! Honestly, I couldn’t help him. I was so tired that I knew if I tried we would both end up on the ground.
Looking forward and backwards we could see nothing but headlamps of people miles ahead and behind us, everyone with relatively the same goal, make it to the top before sunrise. Around 4 daylight would start to break through the clouds. It was honestly a bit discouraging. We looked up and saw tons of people miles ahead of us and my goal changed from making it before sunrise to just making it to the top! Throughout my heart would beat way to fast, head would ache and altitude would cause dizzyness. I would have to stop get water and catch my breath bc I definitely wasn’t trying to end up on the news for dying on Fuji!
As the sun began to peak above the clouds you could hear the roars and cheers from people whom had made it to the top. Beautiful faces of all races of people who had all come for the same thing! People from all over the world (mostly Japan of course) filled the mountain peak.
It took about 5 minutes for me to actually calm down stop and appreciate the moment of what was just accomplished. As I searched for the rest of my team I would meet each of them individually, between bathroom runs, taking pictures and or just finding a place to sit down.
Dez and I would take pictures of the sunrise before I finally sat down with my sister madi and waited for my brother Rupert. I ordered ramen for ¥1000. I was so tired I found my self dozing off and napping (I’ve been told this is a bad idea at such high elevation).
We stayed on top of the mountain for about 2.5 hours just enjoying the moment and mostly looking for each other to take pictures and waiting on one another to receive the final stamps on our sticks.
Our journey down would be a long one… A very long one. About 2 hours down Madi and I realized that the trail we took down was much easier than the one we took up. After putting together this mystery and realizing there were too many elders and children on this trail headed up the mountain. We had seen both on our climb up, but definitely not as many as we saw headed up. We realized Rupert had chosen to take the expert trail. While this honestly made me a little angry at first, we had made it… The past was the past.. Plus it was his birthday so this really was a senseless argument.
After a few near ankle sprains a meeting between my bottom and the ground, a headache, thirst and some bathroom breaks, we finally made it down to the 5th station a few hours later.
We took the bus for an hour down to the train station, hopped in a taxi and would arrive at our ryokan (traditional japanese hotel) 2 hours before check in. We’d use their free wifi, eat at the karaoke restaurant across the street check in, shower and I would fall asleep by 430pm until the next morning!
Domonique Meeks
AmbassadorNique Productions
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DomoVlog: Road To Fuji
Ep. 1 | Ep. 2 | Ep. 3 | Ep. 4 | Ep. 5 | Ep. 6 |
Road To Fuji Blog (Day Six)
The day before the Fuji hike we made sure our bags are packed, snacks are bought and supplies are ready. I am still nervous about the climb but am ready to complete this mission and conquer this challenge. Our hotel is inside Nagoya station so I only went out a few blocks to explore since most of tomorrow and Friday morning will be spent hiking and climbing. We went out to a small restaurant around 7, everyone ate, we returned to the hotel finished organizing bags and slept.
Domonique Meeks
AmbassadorNique Productions
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DomoVlog: Road To Fuji
Ep. 1 | Ep. 2 | Ep. 3 | Ep. 4 | Ep. 5 | Ep. 6 |
President Obama Speaks on Trayvon Martin
One man cannot change this broken system, its always been on us to go above and beyond in order to create a more just society. We all know politics can be dirty and corrupt, and until we find ways to understand, infiltrate and put the people that look and think like us into the system, this fact will remain the same. There is no greater time to be young in this country than NOW! Thank you President Obama for sharing what people that look like myself go through way too often! WAKE UP!
(Source: http://www.youtube.com/)
The Wu-Tang Clan’s 20-Year Plan
I can’t say that I’ve ever been a huge Wu Tang fan growing up on the West Coast, however I can say they have always been a crew that I and everyone else highly respected. Great story by NPR!
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis: Wings, The NBA All-Star Game, & Selling Out
Over the past couple days, I’ve read numerous tweets and a couple articles about the use of our song “Wings” as the intro for the 2013 NBA All Star Game. While most people were congratulatory over the television appearance, it seemed like there were a fair amount of people that were quick to…
Lol I was just talking to my homies about this. I’m glad he addressed it in his own words. I do agree the term is thrown around very loosely
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis: Wings, The NBA All-Star Game, & Selling Out
AmbassadorNique 