While home for the holidays, I got to visit some of my favorite places in Detroit. Along side my tour de Detroit, I also got to shoot some young and pretty darn cool Detroiters. CMPND (an up and coming production team) allowed me to spend the day with them, taking in all their spirit, humor, and love for their city. It was a wonderfully dope time (especially since one of CMPND's members is my closest friend, China) and the shoot definitely renewed the love I have for my hometown.

With a little Egyptian inspiration, paracord, and determination, I set out to make my first "statement" necklace. After several hours of lost beads and twisted fingers, I managed to produce this lovely little neon piece. I'm hoping to make #afrowhimsychic a trend of some sorts, starting with this necklace (although its just a prototype at the moment). It was pretty fun trying my hand at DIY accessories, I'm hoping to be inspired to make more. 

I love being inspired by my fellow creatives. Not only does it motivate me to get my act together, but it also gives me a fresh perspective on the world around me. I always leave a conversation with a sense of fulfillment whenever I hear the amazing things that artists hold within their minds. The ways in which we view society, though quite similar in beliefs, have such amazing visual differences- and its most certainly a beautiful thing.

 Being able to feed off of their incredible creative energy is one thing, but being able to actually work with them is another gratifying experience in itself- so when I was approached by a fellow Corps Member, who happens to be a fantastical writer, I was all to thrilled to help bring her concept to life. To bring attention to the splendors of writing and its contributions to society, especially our cultural demographic, Nakia at Damn WRITE imagined "Will Write For", a social commentary on her craft and the world that inspires her words. Showing the need for writing and all the good that can come from it, love, equality, and justice to name a few, we set out to demonstrate the critical need for literary artists.

 It was most certainly a phenomenal collaboration. I look forward to whatever our minds bring together in the future. 

For our after school program a team member and I have the honor of leading the arts and crafts club. In our introduction of art to the students, we gave them a community project to work on to unify the team. After discussing briefly the different forms of public art, murals and graffiti being amongst the favorite, we dived right into our own community mosaic.

Sadly we didn't have enough time to finish, so its still a work in progress, but it was definitely amazing seeing everyone contribute in their own creative way. Allowing the students the opportunity to work together to create something beautiful was inspiring and I can't wait for the projects to come!

Today I did some much needed uploading to my lovely site Ghetto Fairytales. I had been sitting on photography from not only the summer but even a project from my last semester at CCS, one that reminded me how homesick I truly am...

I miss Detroit, there is no denying that, but my mission out here has yet to be completed, I've only just begun this adventure and so much more lies ahead of me. Now that school has gotten into a nice little groove my posting habits will be much more in tune with my creative and personal growth.

My portfolio is in motion, the wheels in my head are turning at top speed for the Imaginarium, and life in City Year is still proving to be an amazing experience. I can't wait for whatever comes out of my mind next. Whatever it may be, I'll be sure to post it quickly and not hold it hostage on my hard drive.