Here is the third installment from The Porch Swing , a weekly series focusing on a unique version of Reflection and Response. Samuel Bostick, our first resident artist, brings us his WORD of the day project which centers on a word presented with his personal blend of creative writing. His first and second posts bring new light to classic vocabulary. Stay with us as he presents another piece in the ongoing series crafted through the lens of Reflection and Response as part of the LIFESTYLE collective…
Photo courtesy of Creative Commons, Jim Natale.
Perseverance: n. 1) Adherence to a course of action, belief or purpose without giving way; steadfastness. 2) To persist in or remain constant to a purpose, idea or task in the face of obstacles or discouragement
WORD of the day: Perseverance
Day in day out, we move in order to make progress.
Moment to moment each second building on the next
The click clock tick tock
Time keeps running will it ever stop?
Click. Clock. Tick. Tock.
Understand this clearly, all things have a purpose, a charge in this life.
Every day comes with its challenges, this is certain. Some days more challenges than others…
These past few weeks have been rough.
Burning holes in Pockets, Bills marauding mail boxes;
Tough times still my hustle the world will not stop, a rhythm-a passion the world will not take.
This heart beats with purpose.
Yesterday brought word of a woman…she lay in a coma, a fight for life…
all due to the abusive hands of a partner, a lover
Fatal attraction.
Steady increase in teen pregnancy, more and more absent fathers
Fuck. (On second thought…Don’t)
Schools raise tuition and cut classes
…whats the remedy…
prisons yards, military recruits, pockets full of stone
its MEAN out here!!
Move with conviction, keep a balanced mind, follow your passion, keep goin hard, make ‘em feel you! PER.SEV.ERE
Still I Rise.
You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I’ll rise.Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
‘Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I’ll rise.Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don’t you take it awful hard
‘Cause I laugh like I’ve got gold mines
Diggin’ in my own back yard.You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I’ll rise.Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I’ve got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?Out of the huts of history’s shame
I rise
Up from a past that’s rooted in pain
I rise
I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.-Maya Angelou
Reflection and Response.
Samuel Bostick
the LIFESTYLE’s role is to create collective space for active Reflection and Response through the arts. This space is built around dialogue, expression, collaboration, and artistic (ex)change involving international craftspeople and their realities. The Porch Swing series opens up a Reflection and Response residency where we feature a Collective member’s ongoing project through weekly installations.
the LIFESTYLE 