Tuesday, April 24, 2012
ME! ME! ME! CX Museletter "Bliss Followage" ediccione
ME! ME! ME! A Cassendre Xavier Museletter
The "Bliss Followage" ediccione, as it were. (If you will.)
Monday, April 23, 2012
"Living with power isn't about having no setbacks. It's about using your power to set aside the setbacks and continue moving forward and upward." ~Cassendre Xavier,
(aka Amethyste Rah, aka Amrita Waterfalls), renaissance negresse
Dear friendlings and famlettes,
I trust this museletter finds you doing well.
I am taking each day as it comes, living the material for the last 2 of my 4 part "Affirmations for Survivors" spoken word guided meditation series, "Sexuality" and "Life Skills." (The first 2 "Affirmations for Survivors: Self-Love", and "Affirmations for Survivors: Spirituality" were released in August 2007 and until recently were available for sale as CD and MP3 download at www.lulu.com. I've since found out that account is no longer current (Yay! One less unrewarding responsibility gone!), but those CDs are still available directly through me, and at some point, at CD Baby where my other (music) CDs are http://tinyurl.com/CXCDbaby.
I am not sure what exactly is going on with me these, days, but I do know that it's directly affected by my diet (I've been eating lots of cooked food and more meat than before, much less raw vegan foods), my self-care (I've stopped exercising, stopped going to my eating disorder recovery group meetings, etc.), and by my busier social schedule (I am seeing several people in different cities). I am realizing lately that I want to get back to the place I was when I believed in my own success. When I followed my bliss without doubt. When I felt I could be happy and I had no shame in making myself so. I'm talking about my creative life here, not my romantic life, which seems to know no bounds, and for that I am truly grateful. What I'm trying to do is parlay that lack of blockery units (aka "blockation") into my understanding of what's possible for me in the way of professional possibilities and prosperity of kinds other than romantic/sexual.
It takes courage to be who one is. Perhaps I only have enough courage for one area of expression of my life at a time. This statement doesn't ring true to me - it hurts in my belly when I write it so I know it's not true. I sense I have courage enough for fuller bliss in all areas of my life. And I'm working towards that.
I take it when we decide we want something, the Universe steps in and says, "Yeah? You really mean it?" Then prove it!" And that's when the tests come.
I experience tremendous pleasure in one area of my life, then BOOM! Here comes a breakdown here. Then bliss another area, and BAM! Breakdown there. What's the meaning of all this?
I am trying to learn my lessons through joy rather than struggle now. That's from http://orindaben.com. Yet, I understand that life is part joy and part pain. That's from a hit song. Apparently, life is full of sunshine and rain as well, according to that song. http://Abraham-Hicks.com teaches that we are "deliberate creators" and that we use "contrast" to know what we want. Through Abe-Hicks' teachings of the law of attraction I am trying to feel as good as I can all the time. I know this works, because I experience it. And I know it works because I do believe that feeling good is a godly state; it's the closest we in our physical states can get to our Source. And this is why I know the food is jacking me UP. Because raw vegan food feels good in every direction. Yes, I mean that, too. Just because I can. Sorry :-)
Anyway, I don't want this to be a long letter. I wrote it because I needed to, as therapy.
My cell phone was stolen today. I was busking and charged it a distance from me, then forgot to pack it up. When I returned less than an hour later, it was gone. I did the usual lost and found business but I know that thing is gone. I am soooo grateful that the Cassendre of today didn't stay in a funky feeling place for too long. In the olden days I probably would've spent the entire night and maybe even he next day angry and upset about it. Now, I don't think I was even upset for a whole hour. And I know someday that will be even less. Here's some of what I did:
I thought about how it actually happened:
I was distracted. I forgot. I wasn't paying attention.
I thought about how maybe I made it happen subconsciously:
I was self-sabotaging. Maybe I'm feeling "too happy" in my relationships and am trying to suck things up a bit so that I'm miserable more. I was avoiding seeing one of my sweeties, because I'm feeling overwhelmed and maybe don't know how to say no. I was trying to remove a responsibility from my often overwhelming-feeling life (these days).
But those self-blaming thoughts felt bad, and I know now that whenever something feels bad it's not true to my highest being. It isn't real, so I needn't pay any attention to it. I thought of other possibilities and was led to them by how I felt...
I thought about how I created this to learn beautiful lessons and grow into my chosen places:
I am learning that I can choose my feelings at all times. I am learning to not be angry so easily. I am learning to release feelings of resentment, fear, doubt, and worry. I am learning not to be at the whim of circumstances. And how lovely that I chose my very old, very inexpensive phone to learn this lesson!
Those thoughts made me feel much better, and I knew they were true! More thoughts came:
I don't have to worry about this. So, I've lost my phone, so what - or rather it was stolen. Okay. That happened. Good for whoever has it. They have a new toy for a few minutes. What can I do. Let me call and suspend service (I did). Let me not worry about anything. ANYTHING at all. I'm not worried about how I'm going to get a new phone. I'm not resentful that I'm paying for service I'm not using. I'm not worried. This is a gift. And I'm willing to see it as such. What else is in this gift?
I realized that for the last couple of weeks I've been thinking "I need a new phone". This one is low on storage, it's kinda annoying to always have to delete texts immediately upon receipt because I don't have room to hold more. Wow! I've been manifesting a new phone and I didn't even know it, because I wasn't doing it directly! But I was. I was thinking a lot of about the fact that I would sometime soon have a new phone. I just didn't know how it was going to happen. I put out the call, albeit unwittingly.
I corrected worry thoughts:
Oh no! I have risque pictures of myself in that phone! That one was easy: Good! They'll give someone a thrill! Then another thought: Oh, no! What if someone publicizes those pics? Another easy one: Good! They'll give my fans and enemies a thrill! Bad press is still good press, especially for a black female singer who has no interest whatsoever in running for public office! Look what it did for Vanessa Williams? Can YOU name another Miss America? Didn't think so :-) Nah, those pics would only do me good, especially in my work as Amrita Waterfalls http://AmritaWaterfalls.blogspot.com ;-)
So, there you have it, folks. My day went from kinda challenging (started early with 1st day of day job - you know how those go - the training, the stress, etc., to busking afterwards - on my tooties all day - from 8am-7pm) to pretty sucky (phone stolen), to pretty darn good (having this opportunity to recognize my progress as a student of law of attraction)!
Right now I am grateful that I trust I will soon have a phone, I am grateful that I passed muster at my first day of paid training to return as staff to my new day job tomorrow, I am grateful to have had a wonderful conversation with my professional writer friend Christopher Sebastian McJettershttps://www.facebook.com/christopher.mcjetters, who gave me such good advice about my writing. I told him that I have so much I want to say and share, but I'm afraid of how to do it. I don't want to take the time to create a manuscript and then do a book proposal and try to find an agent a publishing deal, although I feel confident I will have a deal soon. And I didn't want to just blog and waste my work by putting it out there for free and possible plagiarism and others using it to make money for themselves. He told me that most people do blog, and that you want to create value for others, then your value will be recognized and compensated. He said that the cream always rises to the top, and that if you're creating and sharing something that folks want, you can't help but succeed. I believe that's true. I've been trying to muster up the gumption lately to release my fears of having my work not valued. But a truth kept sneaking up on me, "Give it away." That's what kept coming up over and over again. And Sebastian confirmed that for me when he said the same words, "You've just got to give it away." And we ended up singing the Red Hot Chili Peppers song. Not the whole song, just the chorus. And then a little of the "Whatcha got you gotta give it to your mama. Whatcha got you gotta give it to your papa," you know, that part. That part is cool as shite, man. Anyway, where was I? Yeah, I'm thinkin' I'm gonna start giving it away. Man, that's gonna be challenging for this jaded, burnt-out beeotch. But you know what? Methinks mayhap all's I need is a little o' ye olde hair o' of the dog that bit Moi. Yeah. I think I was so "ARTrepreneur" oriented of years recent that I don't know what it's like to give something away on a grand scale and NOT WORRY that it won't be appreciated.
I think it will help greatly that I'm gainfully employed in a steady paycheck way, that doesn't rely on how many ebooks, iTunes or CDs I sell.
Let me share some of what my Lady Friend shared with me a few minutes ago regarding handling breakdowns. She's an Abraham-Hicks student and fan, as I am:
I was feeling bad about my stolen cell phone, so I decided to try to feel better. What helps is to think about good-feeling things and to ask others to share good-feeling thoughts, etc. So I texted a few loved ones, including Lady Friend (LF)
CX: Tell me something good, plz :-) Me first: I made my quota & get to go back to work my new job tomorrow! 7:39 PM
Lady Friend (LF): Yay! And "like a treasure found at home" revere the teachers that really irk us (stolen phone) as it is them that help us the most by giving us a reason to practice! 7:41 PM
CX: Thank you. I am also helped by the lesson of choosing to learn thru joy rather than struggle http://orindaben.com, which this contrast reminds me of :-) 7:43 PM
LF: If we want to work on being less angry, patient, fearful, etc, what happens is those things get even BIGGER than before we vowed to work on 'em!! So, perhaps you will find this is something you can get a lot of mileage out of? How's that :) 7:45 PM
CX: Really? I thought if I worked on learning thru joy, that's what I would get - more joy? 7:45 PM
LF: It means that you just begin to SEE more where you aren't patient, etc. 7:46 PM
CX: I AM getting a lot of mileage from these "contrasting" situations." My vision is definitely getting clearer. 7:47 PM
LF: Yep. Easy to be easy when things are easy :) Not so easy when they aren't 7:48 PM
LF: I just found some helpful stuff online from Abe-folks on LOA & breakdowns. I'll email it to u and say gnight now. Thx again :-) 7:52 PM
Here's that email I sent to Lady Friend (LF):
From an AbeForum website:
"Abraham has stated that we don't want a peaceful river, where there isn't much flowing going. If that were the case, we wouldn't be propeled to grow. And the propulsion, to experience greater joys in this life, comes from the contrast. Some of my greatest growths in my life came from contrast. I think, though, as we get a hang of this deliberate creator stuff (grin), our work is to find a way to manage the contrast before it gets too big. It's the big manifestations (car accidents and stuff) that get our attention, as well as our pocket books to pay for cleaning up all that (grin), but they don't have to get that big, if we consistently manage our point of attraction. Contrast is what propels us forward, and we just have to learn how to manage it, along our ride on this Journey called Life." CX: Hope you liked that - I did :-)
So, this is why I called this issue "Bliss Followage", because I'm learning to both follow the bliss of my naturally creative instincts and desires, as well as learning to follow the bliss of my emotional state - not allowing myself to remain in a state of suffering - as it's only a mindset and I can change that at anytime. Of any circumstance, one can choose how one will react and how one will remain. You don't have to remain motionless and not express displeasure if you experience something very painful and shocking. But you don't have to stay in that space for any longer than you have to. You can choose a better feeling way and that will attract better circumstances. That's what I choose. I am choosing bliss in all its forms. And I appreciate sharing my journey and lessons with you, in hopes that they help you somehow.
Well, folks, this feels like a "Good time for segment of refreshment!" as Esther Hicks says on the Abraham-Hicks recordings of live workshopshttp://Abraham-Hicks.com. Let me just thank you so much for being here, and caring about what this young gyal has to say about the workings of her wild and wacky mind. Here are some wishes for you to take into you, well, wherever makes you happiest to take them in!
May you always know your power,
May you be willing to learn and grow
May you easily accept assistance in all forms,
May you learn to learn from joy rather than struggle,
May you accept the struggle as a part of life that is a gift,
May you easily let go of bad-feeling thoughts and invite and grow and focus on the good-feeling thoughts,
May you enjoy the journey as the destination, knowing you will never be completely satisfied because
where would be the fun in that?
May you embrace and be excited by and attracted to challenge,
May you master pleasure and be a great keeper, giver, and sharer of it,
May you achieve all your goals, and receive all your heart's fondest desires, surpassing all your expectations,
This, or something better,
And may it be for the good of all.
With love, in art and community,
Cassendre Xavier (aka Amethyste Rah, aka Amrita Waterfalls)
renaissance negresse (musician/writer/actress/fine artist) & ARTrepreneur (Award-Winning Founder & Director of the Black Women's Arts Festival and the Women's Writing & Spoken Word Series)
Ordained Interfaith Minister
CD Baby http://tinyurl.com/CXCDbaby
YouTube http://tinyurl.com/CXYouTube
iTunes http://tinyurl.com/CXiTunes
http://www.cassEndrExavier.com
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FRIENDS' NEWS
JANET MASON RELEASES NEW BOOK "Tea Leaves: a memoir of mothers and daughters"
Greetings!
I wanted to let you know that Tea Leaves: a memoir of mothers and daughters (Bella Books) is now available from a bookstore near you and also online -- in book and eBook formats. I'm delighted, of course, and very excited about sharing this story with those who find it meaningful. I am working with the SAGE Center in New York and SAGE (Services and Advocacy for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered Elders) Chapters around the Country, with PFLAG (Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) chapters, and with individual LGBT Community Centers including Rainbow Serenity of Northwest Indiana. Special thanks to these organizations and to members of OLOC (Old Lesbians Organizing for Change) for the help in spreading the word about Tea Leaves.
I am very interested in working with other organizations. Please let me know if you have any suggestions. I also have a number of readings and appearances scheduled beginning with the Equality Forum in May. For more information, click on the following link:
http://tealeavesamemoir.wordpress.com/readings/
I also wanted to let you know that there are a few openings left in my writing class at The Mt. Airy Learning Tree https://learningtree.ccwis.com/CourseStatus.awp?&course=12SWM06.
The six week class held on Wednesday nights includes in-class writing exercises that delve into the deep sources that we all have inside of us. The class will also include instruction on podcasting, blogging, self publishing and the traditional routes of using an agent or publishing with a small press.
Ultimately, the course will address the rather radical notion that all of our stories are worth telling and that we become more powerful by giving voice to them.
yours in celebrating our stories,
Janet
Note: If the Mayan predictions are right, then let's go out in a blaze of self expression. It would be great to see some of you in class (and please forward the information to that special someone who may be interested)!
Visit http://amusejanetmason.com/
Janet Mason, a second generation feminist, intimately explores the paradoxical legacies of family and culture. Any woman who has borne witness to the passing of her mother will be moved by this account and any woman who has yet to face this life-changing transition will be illuminated and directed, as if by a map.
-Sheila Ortiz Taylor
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LACEY C. CLARK! of Sisters' Sanctuary presents Phenomenally U: Three Candid Conversations about Sex, Self-respect and Success for Mothers and Teen Daughters in the Reality TV Era.
Saturday, May 5, 2012 from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM (PT) Philadelphia, PA, FREE!! http://sisterssanctuary.eventbrite.com/
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CAROL MOROTTI-MEEKER - COUNSELOR/COACH
Carol Morotti-Meeker MS,MLSP, CRC has been a counselor/coach for over 25 years with hundreds of satisfied clients. She holds numerous certifications for holistic practices such as massage, flower essences,Reiki, Reconnection and breathwork. Carol has been working with astrology and numerology for over 30 years. She lives near the northwest (Chestnut Hill) section of Philadelphia and can be reached at 215 233-0227 and via email at: mallard033(at)comcast.net.
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SEX TALK WITH TAMARA PINCUS - This Week Diana Adams
Tuesday, May 29, 2012. 7:00pm until 8:00pm
This week I will be interviewing Diana Adams, family lawyer and winner of the 2011 Fulsom Street East Sexual Freedom Award. Ms. Adams does law with GLBT kinky and poly families and is an outspoken activist for the rights of alternative families.
Ms. Adams speaks nationally about legal alternatives to marriage and the future of family law as the face of the American family shifts. She is on the Advisory Council of the Woodhull Freedom Foundation, advocating for sexual freedom to be recognized as a human right, and is involved with the Alternatives to Marriage Project, advocating for the legal rights of people who are unmarried. In 2009 and 2010 alone, she has spoken on these topics at venues including Yale Law School, New York Law School, the Manhattan LGBT Center, numerous national conferences on sexuality, Current TV, and MTV, and her work has been noted in the New York Times, the Washington Post, and New York Magazine. This coverage is due in part to her outspokenness about her own nontraditional family. Ms. Adams' ability to speak boldly about her own life and about proposals for legal reform reflect an unflinching perseverance which she brings to advocacy on behalf of her clients. Please click here to read more about her legal activism.
Diana Adams is an active member of the Brooklyn Bar Association, and an avid pro bono volunteer with the Brooklyn Bar Association's Volunteer Lawyers Project (VLP) in their programming for domestic violence victims, the elderly, and debtors being sued by their creditors. Ms Adams has received annual commendations for her pro bono work from the Brooklyn Bar VLP and New York State's Empire Counsel.
When not practicing law, Diana Adams is a self-defense instructor and nationally ranked martial artist, a relationship coach and workshop leader for individuals and couples seeking greater honesty and communication, a freelance writer working on her first book, and is involved in the New York City art community.
Event link/s: https://www.facebook.com/christopher.mcjetters#!/events/340137776045982, www.myqrad​io.com
Contact Tamara Pincus: http://​www.tamarapincus.com, https://www.facebook.com/tamara.pincus
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SUSANA MAYER, PH.D: NEXT EROTIC LITERARY SALON - MAY 15
Hello Friends of the Philadelphia Cultural Salons,
Thanks to all who made April's Salon another wonderful evening of steamy readings. The discussion at the end was most inofrmative, and enjoyed by those that stayed to listen. May 15th next Salon - Dr. Frances will be back from her snowbird hideout. I know she will be excited to see all and share one of her stories. May's Press Release can be viewed at www.theEroticliterarysalon.com. Check navigation bar - Press Release. I also blog daily (almost). Postings usually deal with newsworthy & not so newsworthy s+exual issues that include my s+x positive spin, steamy stories, and interesting events. IMPORTANT: Format change for signing up to read. To reserve a space to read at the Salon, please add your name to the sign-up sheet posted at upstairs entrance. 15-20 names will be accepted, depending upon the program for the evening and length of pieces. Names will be collected starting at 7:30. I am tweeting, do follow @TheEroticSalon.
Partnering and cross promoting the following events and workshops:

First Person Arts: http://www.firstpersonarts.org/

Dr. Sketchy's Anti-Art School: http://www.drsketchy.com/branch/Philly
Peek-a-Boo Burlesque Revue: http://www.peekaboorevue.com/

Cabaret Red Light: http://www.cabaretredlight.com/
Plum Dragoness: http://new.plumdragoness.com/
Monica Day: http://www.thesensuallife.com/
Please post information and reviews regarding the Erotic Literary Salon to various blog sites you visit. If you write for any blogs, please contact me and perhaps we can create an interesting article or interview you can post.


***Parking lot (123-27 South 12th St. / 1140 Sansom St.) around the corner from TIME. Offering a $5 rate for the evening (enter after 5pm). Need special coupon. Follow directions at the site and print out coupon. Must pay with credit card. 
http://philadelphia.centralparking.com/Philadelphia-123-South-12th-Street-Parking.html
Save the Date: May 15th, third Tuesday. Come early for a good seat.

Susana


Susana Mayer
Ph.D.
Founder & Host The Erotic Literary Salon
www.theEroticliterarysalon.com


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BARBARA CARRELLAS - SEX EDUCATOR
I am Barbara Carrellas and I love what I do! I am an author, sex educator, university lecturer, workshop facilitator, sex/life coach, motivational speaker and theater artist. My new book, Ecstasy is Necessary: A Practical Guide was just published by Hay House. My other books are Urban Tantra: Sacred Sex for the Twenty-First Century and Luxurious Loving: Tantric Inspirations for Passion and Pleasure.
I founded Urban Tantra® as a way of bringing people together to explore the vast range of sexual, spiritual and emotional possibilities open to all of us. Most of us have been taught to compartmentalize our lives—to keep our work, spiritual and erotic lives as separate as possible—in order to keep the peace and not offend anyone. I advocate exactly the opposite approach. When our erotic energy is aligned with our spiritual purpose, it releases our creativity and manifests in prosperity and happiness in all areas of life, including fulfilling relationships with other people.
I offer workshops, lectures, keynotes, Sex/Life Coaching and special events to individuals, conferences, businesses, and schools. I hope that this web site will offer you the opportunity to get to know me and my work a little better and will encourage you to join me for a life-changing adventure in the infinite realms of sex and spirit.
Website: http://urbantantra.org/
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BETTY DODSON & CARLIN ROSS - SEX EDUCATORS
Betty Dodson and Carlin Ross are two intergenerational, sex-positive feminists whose dialogue on sexuality and feminism entertains and educates while delving into the Politics of Women's Sexuality:
We believe:
* Masturbation is the foundation for all human sexual activity.
* Sexual repression begins with the prohibition of childhood masturbation.
* Masturbation is how we learn to like our genitals, discover our sexual responses, and build sexual self-esteem.
* Every individual is entitled to contraception. Intentional motherhood is essential for the health and well being of women, children, men and the planet.
* In the sanctity of the human body. We denounce all forms of genital mutilation; circumcision, female genital mutilation, cosmetic vaginal surgery and genital surgery in infancy.
* All genital imagery is protected by the first amendment. No religion or government has the right to create shame by censoring the depiction of our sex organs which are the source of profound beauty, pleasure and life itself.
* In comprehensive sex education that includes information on how to achieve sexual pleasure in a variety of sex styles and relationships.
* In the freedom to choose from a range of different lifestyles such as remaining single, couples living together casually, monogamous or open marriages and all variations of communal living based upon personal choice.
* In eliminating myths surrounding human sexuality from virginity to monogamous marriage, love everlasting and the necessity of motherhood for all women.
* The concept of beauty is arbitrary and controlled by corporations that prey on women's lack of self-esteem.
* Sexual pleasure and orgasm is the source of life and creativity. As we awaken our bodies through the senses, we awaken our minds to the knowledge that we are all related and connected to every living thing on planet Earth and throughout the vast universe.
For their complete bios and more info, visit http://dodsonandross.com/
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INSPIRING QUOTES
"What is most precious becomes memory. Paths not taken are forever gone. The only useless endeavor is to resist the command knit into our very souls: Move. Move on." -Unknown
"I don't do affirmations about prosperity, I'm too busy making money. I don't do affirmations about love, I'm out there loving people". -Main Squeeze
"Live your life and forget your age." -Norman Vincent Peale (1898-1993), author/minister
"Friend, you are a divine mingle-mangle of guts and stardust. So hang in there! If doors opened for me, they can open for anyone." -Frank Capra (1897-1991), Italian-born, U.S. film director.
"Learning and sex until rigor mortis." -Motto of Maggie Kuhn (1905-95) U.S. activist; at age 65, founded the Gray Panthers to empower elderfolk.
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Enjoy life. ~CX
ME! ME! ME! A Cassendre Xavier Museletter. (Except friends' website/content) (c) Copyright 2012 by Cassendre Xavier. All rights reserved.http://cassEndrExavier.com
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Me! Me! Me! CX Museletter “Wacky Universe” ediccione
Me! Me! Me! A Cassendre Xavier Museletter
The “Wacky Universe” ediccione, if you will. (As it were.)
Wednesday, March 07, 2012
TABLE OF CONTENTS
WHO IS CASSENDRE XAVIER?
GREETING
NEW!! YOUTUBE VIDEOS
BLACK WOMEN'S ARTS FESTIVAL NEWSLETTER
RENAISSANCE NEGRESSE MUSELETTER/CATALOG
I LOVE HAVING MY PERIOD!!
NEW QUOTES BY CASSENDRE & PEOPLE WHO ARE NOT CASSENDRE
THAT WACKY UNIVERSE!
WITH A LITTLE HELP FOR MY FRIENDS
FAREWELL BLESSING
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WHO IS CASSENDRE XAVIER?
Cassendre Xavier coined the term "renaissance negresse" in 2002 to describe her work as a musician, mult-genre writer and community cultural arts organizer. A 1st-generation American-born citizen of Haitian & Chinese heritage, she is a Brooklyn, NY native who has made Philadelphia her home since 1990.
Her 6 independently-released albums are described as "a cross between Tracy Chapman, Sade & Enya" (Borders Music Expert, Steven M. Wilson). She also creates spoken word guided meditation and affirmation recordings under the name Amethyste Rah and erotic writing under the name Amrita Waterfalls. The founder and director of the Women's Writing & Spoken Word Series (Est. 2002) as well as Philadelphia's Annual Black Women's Arts Festival (Est. 2003), Cassendre is a recipient of a $15,000 Leeway Transformation Award for her work in art and social change. For more information, please visit http://cassEndrExavier.com.
GREETING
Hi, folks. Not ready to say much right now on a personal level, maybe because I say so much on Facebook, or maybe because I’ve raging cramps and a lot to do before I leave my Main Squeeze’s place here in Nueva Jork, but suffice it to say you’re on my mind, hence my writing to you right now, so hopefully that makes up for it. I trust you are well and I look forward to writing again soon. Meanwhile, do read below at my usual thingies, plus a whole list of what my esteemed associates are occupying themselves with these days. May you be enrichified (aka “enrichicated.”)
NEW!! YOUTUBE VIDEOS
10 Tips for Dealing with Depression - by Cassendre Xavier (Part 1)
Video link: http://youtu.be/b8J1c1tJ1vQ
Introducing Amrita Waterfalls - The Sexy Side of Cassendre Xavier Video link: http://youtu.be/obnpFVWJGLM
Dream Vision Board with Cassendre Xavier - Part 2 - February 29, 2012. Link: http://youtu.be/4MgpeiHdqXc
BLACK WOMEN'S ARTS FESTIVAL NEWSLETTER
Feb 4, 2012 Issue http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BWAFphilly/message/4315
RENAISSANCE NEGRESSE MUSELETTER/CATALOG
This was posted on Feb 7, 2012, and features my latest news and available products. Read at http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/cassendrexavier/message/294
I LOVE HAVING MY PERIOD!!
(A funny song about that Time of the Month) Today’s day 1 of a heavy flow-moderate cramps cycle. Yo soy muy allegra! Did you know that dried apricots are awesome for PMS? Apparently it’s the vitamin A content. A few months ago I forgot to eat them and boy did I feel the difference! Also, I’ve been eating a lot of baby carrots, and today I read the vitamin content on a bag I was noshing from and it says they’re crazy high in vitamin A. And then I noticed I had no PMS this month at all. None. Very good stuff, the vitamin A. Take note, ladies. Never let it be said!
On the Rag Again (words by Cassendre Xavier, music by Willie Nelson)
Video link: http://youtu.be/S6wJBYpE9uU
Lyrics:
on the rag again
oh i'm so glad to be on the rag again
some women say that it's a great big drag for them
but i'm so glad to be on the rag again
on the rag again
guess you could say that i'm a bleedin' fan
oh how i love to welcome my sweet monthly friend
i celebrate being on the rag again
on the rag again
like a herd of witches circling round the moon
it's that time again
the PMS and cramps, it all can't come too soon
i think i'm gonna swoon
'cos i'm on the rag again
everyone knows i'm on the rag again
'cos i can't stop myself from saying when i can
that i'm so glad to be on the rag again
so true i'm glad to be on the rag again
yeah this here gal is on the rag again
guess what, you guys, i'm on the rag again
don't hate me 'cos i'm on the rag again
so beautiful to be on the rag again
NEW QUOTES BY CASSENDRE & PEOPLE WHO ARE NOT CASSENDRE
I am thinking of a best-case scenario. ~CX
I choose my life to be a blissful tour of imperfection. ~CX
I don’t know how lucky I am, I’m just not stopping. –K.J. Denhert
Your daily life is your temple and your religion. -Kahlil Gibran
Money is my very essence, which when properly expressed, returns to me as an all-sufficiency of legal tender, to be used in exchange for goods and services. -"The Abundance Book" author John Randolph Price, who coined the acronym for M.O.N.E.Y.: "My Own Natural Energy Yield." Visit www.quartus.org
BECAUSE I LOVE MYSELF, TODAY I DID THE FOLLOWING
1) Quickly released fear thoughts. 2) Relaxed and trusted that all is well and everything's gonna be okay. 3) Called a friend and asked to hang out with him the same day, in an attempt to learn to be more sp- sp- sp- spontaneous. (Sorry, even saying the word's a bit of a challenge :-) 4) Refused to feel guilty about my desires, both acted on an not yet acted on. 5) Exercised discipline. 6) Drank more water. 7) Ate less carbs. 8) Started day with total gratitudational qualities. 8) Went out of my way to make myself more comfortable. 9) Didn't worry. Was happy. 10) Wrote to make myself happy, then spilled the joy outward to whoever wisheth to partake.
THAT WACKY UNIVERSE!
I just chose to turn down an invitation to the opera (only the 2nd opera of my entire life & the 1st as an adult) because it's on the same night of my audition for - you guessed it - an opera! Oh the irony! Ya got me, Universe, u sick sonofabitch, ya got me! (I kid, I joke! :-)
WITH A LITTLE HELP FOR MY FRIENDS
(Cool stuff some of my peeps are doin’.)
THE EROTIC LITERARY SALON
http://theeroticsalon.com
====================
MARTINA PLAG
Puppeteer & arts founder/dirctor
http://www.studium-praxis.org
=======================
LAUREEN GRIFFIN
Fine artist & instructor
http://laureengriffin.com
=======================
MONICA MCINTYRE
Cellist, vocalist, composer
www.myspace.com/monicamcintyre
==================
KJ DENHERT
Urban Folk & Jazz Artist
http://profiles.sonicbids.com/artists/KJDenhert/shows/
====================
TOSHI REAGON
Rockin’ folk artist
http://toshireagon.com/
============================
RUPERT WATES (music)
http://rupertwates.com
=================================
MICHAEL ALBANY (photography)
http://www.michaelalbany.com/
================================
MOONSTONE ARTS CENTER / ROBIN’S BOOKSTORE
http://moonstoneartscenter.org
====================================
THE ROTUNDA
http://therotunda.org
=====================================
LEEWAY FOUNDATION
Funds women & transwomen artists creating art and social change
http://leeway.org
=======================================
KELLI DUNHAM
http://kellidunham.com
========================================
LOVING MORE (support and outreach organization for people in polyamorous/non-monogamous relationships)
http://lovemore.com
=======================================
JORJ BAUER
Hello there, people that have expressed interest in my casein-on-glass prints!
I'm delighted to report that one of my works will be on display as part of the Phillips' Mill annual juried photographic exhibition, from March 18th through April 8th. Details of the show are on their website:
http://www.phillipsmill.org/photoexhibition.htm
Phillips' Mill is located just outside New Hope, PA:
2619 River Road
New Hope, PA 18938
215-862-0582
I'm hoping to be in the gallery on the afternoon of March 24th. Perhaps I'll run in to some of you there!
-- Jorj
============================
Gretchen Elise & Seff Al-Afriqi
Thurs March 8 - 8pm SHARP - 9:30pm
@ the Hype! Variety Show
Headhouse Lounge & Cafe
122 Lombard St. Philadelphia, PA 19147
Hey all -
Rehearsals have been fun so far...
We're bringing Seff's friqi fashion vibe to this gig. This is a clothing & lifestyle line that he runs with his brother Mack Al-Afriqi and Najma53.
It should be a great time with some new original music. Seff the poet/MC will rock out to my live band!
BAND DETAILS--Gretchen Elise vox; Seff Al-Afriqi poet/MC; Luke Walker Guitar; Anam Owili-Eger keys; Brandon Krakowsky bass; Ricardo Martino drums; Esteban Sanlate perc.
EVENT DETAILS--This event is put on by Boy Wonder and features bands & other entertainment acts from 8pm to 12pm. On March 8th we are the FIRST ACT. Don't sleep!!!
VENUE-- the Headhouse Lounge & Cafe is a great restaurant/cafe/bar with good Japanese and American fare & an artsy, laid back atmosphere. Almost dinner-theater-ish.
COVER CHARGE--$6 cover 21+ (Ages 18-20 $10)
PARKING INFO--If you Park at The Park America Lot on 215 Lombard Street HeadHouse will validate your Parking so it'll only be $5
--
check the new release Time & Space
www.gretchenelise.com
===================
Music OUT Loud presents BROTHERLY LOVE with SHEWHO Opening the Show!
Saturday March 10th, 7:30 pm!
The Unitarian Universalist Church of Delaware County, Media, PA, PA
Discount Tickets at: www.brownpapertickets.com/event/222806
Ticket also available at the door! Doors open at 7 pm.
===================
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
7:00pm until 9:00pm
Michelle Taransky reads for Poets and Prophets
Robin's Books and Moonstone Arts Center
110A S. 13th St., Philadelphia, PA 19107
Michelle Taransky is the author of Barn Burned, Then. She teaches critical and creative writing at the University of Pennsylvania and poetry workshops at Temple University and works at Kelly Writers House.
An open mic follows the feature. A $5 donation is requested and greatly appreciated.
==========================
Phyllis Voren’s “What’s Funny About That”
An Evening of Subversive comedy with Nicky Sunshine, Phylis Voren, Noah Holihan, Chris Cotton, and Josh Rosen – Like you Don’t Need A Laugh?
Wednesday, March 14, 7:30pm – $5 donation recommended – Comedy
Location: http://www.moonstoneartscenter.org
===============================
Barbara Carrellas' Ecstasy is Necessary Virtual Book Tour
Began 1 March
The Ecstasy Hour Debuts on Hay House Radio 6 March
Info: http://urbantantra.org
======================
Alex Kudera Presents Kim Gek Lin Short, Eric D. Goodman
Wednesday, March 21, 7pm – Poetry
Location: http://www.moonstoneartscenter.org
============================
FAREWELL BLESSING
May you continuously be aware of your total, complete, and permanent connection to Source.
May you focus on what you want and not on what you don’t want.
May you dwell on what feels good and quickly release what does not.
May you learn to accept what is.
May you learn to love your shadow.
May you know balance and moderation.
May you do well for, serve, and please yourself, first.
May all your fondest heart’s desires come true, surpassing all your expectations. This, or something better, and may it be for the good of all.
And so We say that it is… now!
In art and community,
Cassendre Xavier (aka Amethyste Rah, aka Amrita Waterfalls)
renaissance negresse (musician,writer,actress,fine artist) & ARTrepreneur
(Founder & Director of Philadelphia’s 8th Annual Black Women’s Arts Festival)
http://cassEndrExavier.com
© Copyright 2012 by Cassendre Xavier. All rights reserved. http://cassEndrExavier.com
The “Wacky Universe” ediccione, if you will. (As it were.)
Wednesday, March 07, 2012
TABLE OF CONTENTS
WHO IS CASSENDRE XAVIER?
GREETING
NEW!! YOUTUBE VIDEOS
BLACK WOMEN'S ARTS FESTIVAL NEWSLETTER
RENAISSANCE NEGRESSE MUSELETTER/CATALOG
I LOVE HAVING MY PERIOD!!
NEW QUOTES BY CASSENDRE & PEOPLE WHO ARE NOT CASSENDRE
THAT WACKY UNIVERSE!
WITH A LITTLE HELP FOR MY FRIENDS
FAREWELL BLESSING
------------------------------------------------------------
WHO IS CASSENDRE XAVIER?
Cassendre Xavier coined the term "renaissance negresse" in 2002 to describe her work as a musician, mult-genre writer and community cultural arts organizer. A 1st-generation American-born citizen of Haitian & Chinese heritage, she is a Brooklyn, NY native who has made Philadelphia her home since 1990.
Her 6 independently-released albums are described as "a cross between Tracy Chapman, Sade & Enya" (Borders Music Expert, Steven M. Wilson). She also creates spoken word guided meditation and affirmation recordings under the name Amethyste Rah and erotic writing under the name Amrita Waterfalls. The founder and director of the Women's Writing & Spoken Word Series (Est. 2002) as well as Philadelphia's Annual Black Women's Arts Festival (Est. 2003), Cassendre is a recipient of a $15,000 Leeway Transformation Award for her work in art and social change. For more information, please visit http://cassEndrExavier.com.
GREETING
Hi, folks. Not ready to say much right now on a personal level, maybe because I say so much on Facebook, or maybe because I’ve raging cramps and a lot to do before I leave my Main Squeeze’s place here in Nueva Jork, but suffice it to say you’re on my mind, hence my writing to you right now, so hopefully that makes up for it. I trust you are well and I look forward to writing again soon. Meanwhile, do read below at my usual thingies, plus a whole list of what my esteemed associates are occupying themselves with these days. May you be enrichified (aka “enrichicated.”)
NEW!! YOUTUBE VIDEOS
10 Tips for Dealing with Depression - by Cassendre Xavier (Part 1)
Video link: http://youtu.be/b8J1c1tJ1vQ
Introducing Amrita Waterfalls - The Sexy Side of Cassendre Xavier Video link: http://youtu.be/obnpFVWJGLM
Dream Vision Board with Cassendre Xavier - Part 2 - February 29, 2012. Link: http://youtu.be/4MgpeiHdqXc
BLACK WOMEN'S ARTS FESTIVAL NEWSLETTER
Feb 4, 2012 Issue http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BWAFphilly/message/4315
RENAISSANCE NEGRESSE MUSELETTER/CATALOG
This was posted on Feb 7, 2012, and features my latest news and available products. Read at http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/cassendrexavier/message/294
I LOVE HAVING MY PERIOD!!
(A funny song about that Time of the Month) Today’s day 1 of a heavy flow-moderate cramps cycle. Yo soy muy allegra! Did you know that dried apricots are awesome for PMS? Apparently it’s the vitamin A content. A few months ago I forgot to eat them and boy did I feel the difference! Also, I’ve been eating a lot of baby carrots, and today I read the vitamin content on a bag I was noshing from and it says they’re crazy high in vitamin A. And then I noticed I had no PMS this month at all. None. Very good stuff, the vitamin A. Take note, ladies. Never let it be said!
On the Rag Again (words by Cassendre Xavier, music by Willie Nelson)
Video link: http://youtu.be/S6wJBYpE9uU
Lyrics:
on the rag again
oh i'm so glad to be on the rag again
some women say that it's a great big drag for them
but i'm so glad to be on the rag again
on the rag again
guess you could say that i'm a bleedin' fan
oh how i love to welcome my sweet monthly friend
i celebrate being on the rag again
on the rag again
like a herd of witches circling round the moon
it's that time again
the PMS and cramps, it all can't come too soon
i think i'm gonna swoon
'cos i'm on the rag again
everyone knows i'm on the rag again
'cos i can't stop myself from saying when i can
that i'm so glad to be on the rag again
so true i'm glad to be on the rag again
yeah this here gal is on the rag again
guess what, you guys, i'm on the rag again
don't hate me 'cos i'm on the rag again
so beautiful to be on the rag again
NEW QUOTES BY CASSENDRE & PEOPLE WHO ARE NOT CASSENDRE
I am thinking of a best-case scenario. ~CX
I choose my life to be a blissful tour of imperfection. ~CX
I don’t know how lucky I am, I’m just not stopping. –K.J. Denhert
Your daily life is your temple and your religion. -Kahlil Gibran
Money is my very essence, which when properly expressed, returns to me as an all-sufficiency of legal tender, to be used in exchange for goods and services. -"The Abundance Book" author John Randolph Price, who coined the acronym for M.O.N.E.Y.: "My Own Natural Energy Yield." Visit www.quartus.org
BECAUSE I LOVE MYSELF, TODAY I DID THE FOLLOWING
1) Quickly released fear thoughts. 2) Relaxed and trusted that all is well and everything's gonna be okay. 3) Called a friend and asked to hang out with him the same day, in an attempt to learn to be more sp- sp- sp- spontaneous. (Sorry, even saying the word's a bit of a challenge :-) 4) Refused to feel guilty about my desires, both acted on an not yet acted on. 5) Exercised discipline. 6) Drank more water. 7) Ate less carbs. 8) Started day with total gratitudational qualities. 8) Went out of my way to make myself more comfortable. 9) Didn't worry. Was happy. 10) Wrote to make myself happy, then spilled the joy outward to whoever wisheth to partake.
THAT WACKY UNIVERSE!
I just chose to turn down an invitation to the opera (only the 2nd opera of my entire life & the 1st as an adult) because it's on the same night of my audition for - you guessed it - an opera! Oh the irony! Ya got me, Universe, u sick sonofabitch, ya got me! (I kid, I joke! :-)
WITH A LITTLE HELP FOR MY FRIENDS
(Cool stuff some of my peeps are doin’.)
THE EROTIC LITERARY SALON
http://theeroticsalon.com
====================
MARTINA PLAG
Puppeteer & arts founder/dirctor
http://www.studium-praxis.org
=======================
LAUREEN GRIFFIN
Fine artist & instructor
http://laureengriffin.com
=======================
MONICA MCINTYRE
Cellist, vocalist, composer
www.myspace.com/monicamcintyre
==================
KJ DENHERT
Urban Folk & Jazz Artist
http://profiles.sonicbids.com/artists/KJDenhert/shows/
====================
TOSHI REAGON
Rockin’ folk artist
http://toshireagon.com/
============================
RUPERT WATES (music)
http://rupertwates.com
=================================
MICHAEL ALBANY (photography)
http://www.michaelalbany.com/
================================
MOONSTONE ARTS CENTER / ROBIN’S BOOKSTORE
http://moonstoneartscenter.org
====================================
THE ROTUNDA
http://therotunda.org
=====================================
LEEWAY FOUNDATION
Funds women & transwomen artists creating art and social change
http://leeway.org
=======================================
KELLI DUNHAM
http://kellidunham.com
========================================
LOVING MORE (support and outreach organization for people in polyamorous/non-monogamous relationships)
http://lovemore.com
=======================================
JORJ BAUER
Hello there, people that have expressed interest in my casein-on-glass prints!
I'm delighted to report that one of my works will be on display as part of the Phillips' Mill annual juried photographic exhibition, from March 18th through April 8th. Details of the show are on their website:
http://www.phillipsmill.org/photoexhibition.htm
Phillips' Mill is located just outside New Hope, PA:
2619 River Road
New Hope, PA 18938
215-862-0582
I'm hoping to be in the gallery on the afternoon of March 24th. Perhaps I'll run in to some of you there!
-- Jorj
============================
Gretchen Elise & Seff Al-Afriqi
Thurs March 8 - 8pm SHARP - 9:30pm
@ the Hype! Variety Show
Headhouse Lounge & Cafe
122 Lombard St. Philadelphia, PA 19147
Hey all -
Rehearsals have been fun so far...
We're bringing Seff's friqi fashion vibe to this gig. This is a clothing & lifestyle line that he runs with his brother Mack Al-Afriqi and Najma53.
It should be a great time with some new original music. Seff the poet/MC will rock out to my live band!
BAND DETAILS--Gretchen Elise vox; Seff Al-Afriqi poet/MC; Luke Walker Guitar; Anam Owili-Eger keys; Brandon Krakowsky bass; Ricardo Martino drums; Esteban Sanlate perc.
EVENT DETAILS--This event is put on by Boy Wonder and features bands & other entertainment acts from 8pm to 12pm. On March 8th we are the FIRST ACT. Don't sleep!!!
VENUE-- the Headhouse Lounge & Cafe is a great restaurant/cafe/bar with good Japanese and American fare & an artsy, laid back atmosphere. Almost dinner-theater-ish.
COVER CHARGE--$6 cover 21+ (Ages 18-20 $10)
PARKING INFO--If you Park at The Park America Lot on 215 Lombard Street HeadHouse will validate your Parking so it'll only be $5
--
check the new release Time & Space
www.gretchenelise.com
===================
Music OUT Loud presents BROTHERLY LOVE with SHEWHO Opening the Show!
Saturday March 10th, 7:30 pm!
The Unitarian Universalist Church of Delaware County, Media, PA, PA
Discount Tickets at: www.brownpapertickets.com/event/222806
Ticket also available at the door! Doors open at 7 pm.
===================
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
7:00pm until 9:00pm
Michelle Taransky reads for Poets and Prophets
Robin's Books and Moonstone Arts Center
110A S. 13th St., Philadelphia, PA 19107
Michelle Taransky is the author of Barn Burned, Then. She teaches critical and creative writing at the University of Pennsylvania and poetry workshops at Temple University and works at Kelly Writers House.
An open mic follows the feature. A $5 donation is requested and greatly appreciated.
==========================
Phyllis Voren’s “What’s Funny About That”
An Evening of Subversive comedy with Nicky Sunshine, Phylis Voren, Noah Holihan, Chris Cotton, and Josh Rosen – Like you Don’t Need A Laugh?
Wednesday, March 14, 7:30pm – $5 donation recommended – Comedy
Location: http://www.moonstoneartscenter.org
===============================
Barbara Carrellas' Ecstasy is Necessary Virtual Book Tour
Began 1 March
The Ecstasy Hour Debuts on Hay House Radio 6 March
Info: http://urbantantra.org
======================
Alex Kudera Presents Kim Gek Lin Short, Eric D. Goodman
Wednesday, March 21, 7pm – Poetry
Location: http://www.moonstoneartscenter.org
============================
FAREWELL BLESSING
May you continuously be aware of your total, complete, and permanent connection to Source.
May you focus on what you want and not on what you don’t want.
May you dwell on what feels good and quickly release what does not.
May you learn to accept what is.
May you learn to love your shadow.
May you know balance and moderation.
May you do well for, serve, and please yourself, first.
May all your fondest heart’s desires come true, surpassing all your expectations. This, or something better, and may it be for the good of all.
And so We say that it is… now!
In art and community,
Cassendre Xavier (aka Amethyste Rah, aka Amrita Waterfalls)
renaissance negresse (musician,writer,actress,fine artist) & ARTrepreneur
(Founder & Director of Philadelphia’s 8th Annual Black Women’s Arts Festival)
http://cassEndrExavier.com
© Copyright 2012 by Cassendre Xavier. All rights reserved. http://cassEndrExavier.com
Monday, February 13, 2012
ME! ME! ME! “With Pleasure” Valentine’s Day Ediccione
ME! ME! ME! “With Pleasure” Valentine’s Day Ediccione
February 14, 2012
WHAT I’VE BEEN UP TO SINCE JULY 2011
WITH PLEASURE – AMRITA WATERFALLS MUSELETTER
BLACK WOMEN’S ARTS FESTIVAL NEWSLETTER
RENAISSANCE NEGRESSE MUSELETTER/CATALOG
THINGS I WROTE & POSTED ON MY FACEBOOK WALL
COME SEE THIS PLAY TONIGHT (IF YOU WANT)
============================
WHAT I’VE BEEN UP TO SINCE JULY 2011
I’ve been doing a lot since I last posted a ME! ME! ME! Museletter. I’ll tell you very soon what I’ve been up to :-) Meanwhile, check this out…
WITH PLEASURE – AMRITA WATERFALLS MUSELETTER
http://amritawaterfalls.blogspot.com/2012/02/with-pleasure-amrita-waterfalls.html or http://tinyurl.com/7cygraj
BLACK WOMEN’S ARTS FESTIVAL NEWSLETTER
I am the founder and director of Philadelphia’s 8th Annual Black Women’s Arts Festival, affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania and Moonstone Arts Center. To learn more, please visit http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BWAFphilly or visit http://BWAFphilly.homestead.com and click “News”
RENAISSANCE NEGRESSE MUSELETTER/CATALOG
This was posted on Feb 7, 2012, and features my latest news and available products. Read at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cassendrexavier
THINGS I WROTE & POSTED ON MY FACEBOOK WALL
On February 7, 2012 - And a hearty goooood MORNing to you fine people! Well, ahem, "26" years ago today (!) I chose to incarnate upon this glorious big blue marble of ours. What a ride it has been and what a ride it continues to be! "Moving forward," as we say in the biz, I wish myself, all my sistren/fellow Aquarians, and everyone who celebrates every day as their New Day, a happy birth/born/earthday! May this new year bring us all a new level of peace, courage, and increasedself-love to expand our capacity for joy, demand, work towards, and achieve our personal, creative, and professional goals, now! May we receive all ourfondest heart's desires, surpassing all our expectations, now! And may we always remember we are worthy of this, now! This, or something better, and mayit be for the good of all, now! And so We say that it is, NOW! :-)
================================================
Now, *that's* how you greet a woman! (Re: my best ex-boyfriend, who ran into me at Suburban Station yesterday and said, "Are you SURE you've only lost 29 lbs??"
=============================================
One of my favorite things to do is listen to my music after someone particularly special to me has received a copy. I listen, imagining them hearing these songs and experiencing them for the first time. I send them love thoughts and the intention that, having heard my original songs, and my arrangements of others' songs, they now know or want to know me on a deeper level. That's what I've been doing while doing my daily writing assignments the past 2 or so hours. Albums: The Whittenberg Sessions (2002/Serious Creature Music), and Beautiful (2004/Serious Creature Music) both available at http://tinyurl.com/CXCDbaby
======================================================
One of the ways to make yourself instantly and significantly attractive to prospective mates is to think of what you will bring to the relationship-how you will love, assist, and support your mate on their path. Imagine them looking at, and speaking of you to others with such pride and appreciation for how you enrich their life. And imagine you feeling the same way about them. Be in and live the flow of love. ~Cassendre Xavier, artist, lover, and multiple soul mate manifester
====================================================
Always take the most loving view of any situation or life challenge you may be going through. Give yourself permission to create, and only dwell on, thoughts that make you feel good. Remember, you and everyone else are always doing the best that you can, everything you truly desire is possible and happening for you on some level and in some way, it is never too late, you are never cursed (unless you choose to believe you are), everything in your life is athought, and you can always choose what and how to think. All is well! And so We say that is, Now!
======================================================
Often when we are feeling badly that someone we have desired is not desiring us, we forget the many who have desired us without our returning their desire. There are at least 10 people who expressed romantic/sexual interest in me yesterday, and I'm all hung up on the one who flirted, chatted, then ran away! I'm all "What's wrong with me?" and "What did I do?" and "Was it something I said?" Meanwhile, the other 9 I'm sure would be glad to be alone with meand my supposed or imaginary dating/communication flaws! Never let it be said!
==================================================================
What doesn't travel well: Bananas, nail polish, garments that are easily wrinkled and/or contain any kind of boning or underwire, certain mismatched persunalities, any type of fear, sunglasses or extra eyeglasses without a hardshell case, and most liquids. What does travel well? Confidence, street smarts/hypervigilance, certain persunalities together, pens, postage stamps, and hotel stationery to write letters from the road, clothes made of that materialyou can bundle up into a tiny ball for 3 days and nothing, I mean NOTHING happens to it - you unwrap the dress, wear it in performance, it's flawless andno one's the wiser! I love that material! Oh, and ost "adult novelties" travel well, too. Yup. Don't say I never learned ya nuthin' ;-)
Everything in your life was created by a thought, and a thought can be changed in an instant.
=======================================================
Be still and know that you are beautiful.
============================================
Excessive flirting and hypersexuality are still ways of keeping real connection from happening; they are just the other side of the same coin: Fear of Intimacy.
=============================================================
I had a nice time with my monthly Girls Night Out crew o' chicklets. Then hung out with new friend who'd joined us. Incidently this is the 2nd new persun Imet in the last 2 days who produces plays &asked me if I act. Both times were so exciting to answer &think about: "Yes! I act! Yes! I would love to do more acting!" I guess the universe wants me to do more acting, too, or it wouldn't keep putting these writer/producers in my path! So, guess who's soon auditioning for her first operatic acting gig ever? The renaissance negresse singing opera? Be still mine chestal area! I'll keep ya posted!
===============================================================
The solution to every problem is love, and joy is the most powerful tool we have in manifesting our desires. Joy is the key to everything you want. ~Cassendre Xavier, "She's Slutty AND She's Wise!" http://tinyurl.com/cxwisdom
======================================================
slut (slut) [Middle Eng: slutte] 1. a persun of any gender who shamelessly enjoys and embraces high amounts of pleasure in various sexual and non-sexual ways 2. an empowered, self-possessed, confident, sex- and sexuality-affirming womon - adj: sluttish ~excerpt from "The renaissance negresse Dictionary," a work in progress by Cassendre Xaver. Are there any other words YOU would like to reclaim? Please comment!
===================================================
COME SEE THIS PLAY TONIGHT (IF YOU WANT)
Here’s a plug for yet another new associate (whom I met today and is one of the actor/producers of the following): Go see "The Playdaters" - a play by Neil Haven. (Tagline: "Love happens. You can't go planning it. Play the game.") Produced by Matchbox Theatre Project. Featuring Amanda Berhardt, Sean Bradley, Dana Kreitz, and Griffin Stanton-Ameisen. 2 shows on Valentine's Day only! 8:30pm & 10pm. $10. Plays and Players, 3rd Fl Studio Theatre, 1714 Delancey Place (BtwnSpruce & Pine Sts), Philadelphia, PA 19103. Purchase at the door or at http://matchboxtheatre.ticketleap.com/playdaters
© 2012 by Cassendre Xavier. All rights reserved. For archives, visit http://cassEndrExavier.com or http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cassendrexavier
February 14, 2012
WHAT I’VE BEEN UP TO SINCE JULY 2011
WITH PLEASURE – AMRITA WATERFALLS MUSELETTER
BLACK WOMEN’S ARTS FESTIVAL NEWSLETTER
RENAISSANCE NEGRESSE MUSELETTER/CATALOG
THINGS I WROTE & POSTED ON MY FACEBOOK WALL
COME SEE THIS PLAY TONIGHT (IF YOU WANT)
============================
WHAT I’VE BEEN UP TO SINCE JULY 2011
I’ve been doing a lot since I last posted a ME! ME! ME! Museletter. I’ll tell you very soon what I’ve been up to :-) Meanwhile, check this out…
WITH PLEASURE – AMRITA WATERFALLS MUSELETTER
http://amritawaterfalls.blogspot.com/2012/02/with-pleasure-amrita-waterfalls.html or http://tinyurl.com/7cygraj
BLACK WOMEN’S ARTS FESTIVAL NEWSLETTER
I am the founder and director of Philadelphia’s 8th Annual Black Women’s Arts Festival, affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania and Moonstone Arts Center. To learn more, please visit http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BWAFphilly or visit http://BWAFphilly.homestead.com and click “News”
RENAISSANCE NEGRESSE MUSELETTER/CATALOG
This was posted on Feb 7, 2012, and features my latest news and available products. Read at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cassendrexavier
THINGS I WROTE & POSTED ON MY FACEBOOK WALL
On February 7, 2012 - And a hearty goooood MORNing to you fine people! Well, ahem, "26" years ago today (!) I chose to incarnate upon this glorious big blue marble of ours. What a ride it has been and what a ride it continues to be! "Moving forward," as we say in the biz, I wish myself, all my sistren/fellow Aquarians, and everyone who celebrates every day as their New Day, a happy birth/born/earthday! May this new year bring us all a new level of peace, courage, and increasedself-love to expand our capacity for joy, demand, work towards, and achieve our personal, creative, and professional goals, now! May we receive all ourfondest heart's desires, surpassing all our expectations, now! And may we always remember we are worthy of this, now! This, or something better, and mayit be for the good of all, now! And so We say that it is, NOW! :-)
================================================
Now, *that's* how you greet a woman! (Re: my best ex-boyfriend, who ran into me at Suburban Station yesterday and said, "Are you SURE you've only lost 29 lbs??"
=============================================
One of my favorite things to do is listen to my music after someone particularly special to me has received a copy. I listen, imagining them hearing these songs and experiencing them for the first time. I send them love thoughts and the intention that, having heard my original songs, and my arrangements of others' songs, they now know or want to know me on a deeper level. That's what I've been doing while doing my daily writing assignments the past 2 or so hours. Albums: The Whittenberg Sessions (2002/Serious Creature Music), and Beautiful (2004/Serious Creature Music) both available at http://tinyurl.com/CXCDbaby
======================================================
One of the ways to make yourself instantly and significantly attractive to prospective mates is to think of what you will bring to the relationship-how you will love, assist, and support your mate on their path. Imagine them looking at, and speaking of you to others with such pride and appreciation for how you enrich their life. And imagine you feeling the same way about them. Be in and live the flow of love. ~Cassendre Xavier, artist, lover, and multiple soul mate manifester
====================================================
Always take the most loving view of any situation or life challenge you may be going through. Give yourself permission to create, and only dwell on, thoughts that make you feel good. Remember, you and everyone else are always doing the best that you can, everything you truly desire is possible and happening for you on some level and in some way, it is never too late, you are never cursed (unless you choose to believe you are), everything in your life is athought, and you can always choose what and how to think. All is well! And so We say that is, Now!
======================================================
Often when we are feeling badly that someone we have desired is not desiring us, we forget the many who have desired us without our returning their desire. There are at least 10 people who expressed romantic/sexual interest in me yesterday, and I'm all hung up on the one who flirted, chatted, then ran away! I'm all "What's wrong with me?" and "What did I do?" and "Was it something I said?" Meanwhile, the other 9 I'm sure would be glad to be alone with meand my supposed or imaginary dating/communication flaws! Never let it be said!
==================================================================
What doesn't travel well: Bananas, nail polish, garments that are easily wrinkled and/or contain any kind of boning or underwire, certain mismatched persunalities, any type of fear, sunglasses or extra eyeglasses without a hardshell case, and most liquids. What does travel well? Confidence, street smarts/hypervigilance, certain persunalities together, pens, postage stamps, and hotel stationery to write letters from the road, clothes made of that materialyou can bundle up into a tiny ball for 3 days and nothing, I mean NOTHING happens to it - you unwrap the dress, wear it in performance, it's flawless andno one's the wiser! I love that material! Oh, and ost "adult novelties" travel well, too. Yup. Don't say I never learned ya nuthin' ;-)
Everything in your life was created by a thought, and a thought can be changed in an instant.
=======================================================
Be still and know that you are beautiful.
============================================
Excessive flirting and hypersexuality are still ways of keeping real connection from happening; they are just the other side of the same coin: Fear of Intimacy.
=============================================================
I had a nice time with my monthly Girls Night Out crew o' chicklets. Then hung out with new friend who'd joined us. Incidently this is the 2nd new persun Imet in the last 2 days who produces plays &asked me if I act. Both times were so exciting to answer &think about: "Yes! I act! Yes! I would love to do more acting!" I guess the universe wants me to do more acting, too, or it wouldn't keep putting these writer/producers in my path! So, guess who's soon auditioning for her first operatic acting gig ever? The renaissance negresse singing opera? Be still mine chestal area! I'll keep ya posted!
===============================================================
The solution to every problem is love, and joy is the most powerful tool we have in manifesting our desires. Joy is the key to everything you want. ~Cassendre Xavier, "She's Slutty AND She's Wise!" http://tinyurl.com/cxwisdom
======================================================
slut (slut) [Middle Eng: slutte] 1. a persun of any gender who shamelessly enjoys and embraces high amounts of pleasure in various sexual and non-sexual ways 2. an empowered, self-possessed, confident, sex- and sexuality-affirming womon - adj: sluttish ~excerpt from "The renaissance negresse Dictionary," a work in progress by Cassendre Xaver. Are there any other words YOU would like to reclaim? Please comment!
===================================================
COME SEE THIS PLAY TONIGHT (IF YOU WANT)
Here’s a plug for yet another new associate (whom I met today and is one of the actor/producers of the following): Go see "The Playdaters" - a play by Neil Haven. (Tagline: "Love happens. You can't go planning it. Play the game.") Produced by Matchbox Theatre Project. Featuring Amanda Berhardt, Sean Bradley, Dana Kreitz, and Griffin Stanton-Ameisen. 2 shows on Valentine's Day only! 8:30pm & 10pm. $10. Plays and Players, 3rd Fl Studio Theatre, 1714 Delancey Place (BtwnSpruce & Pine Sts), Philadelphia, PA 19103. Purchase at the door or at http://matchboxtheatre.ticketleap.com/playdaters
© 2012 by Cassendre Xavier. All rights reserved. For archives, visit http://cassEndrExavier.com or http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cassendrexavier
Monday, February 6, 2012
renaissance negresse museletter/catalog February 7, 2012
art | inspiration | community
brought to you by Cassendre Xavier
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
1) WHO IS THE RENAISSANCE NEGRESSE?
2) BLACK WOMEN’S ARTS FESTIVAL UPDATE
3) WOMEN’S WRITING & SPOKEN WORD SERIES UPDATE
4) WRITING/LITERARY UPDATE
5) RENAISSANCE NEGRESSE CATALOG
6) BOOKING/CONTACT (HOUSE CONCERTS, PRIVATE/PUBLIC/CORPORATE AND/OR LITERARY EVENTS, ETC.)
=====================================================
1) WHO IS THE RENAISSANCE NEGRESSE?
Haitian/Chinese-American multi-media artist Cassendre Xavier coined the term "renaissance negresse" in 2002. A musician, writer, actress, andvisual artist, Xavier (who sometimes works under the names Amethyste Rah and Amrita Waterfalls) says the term describes a black woman who is skilled or gifted in 3 or more arts. Xavier is a recipient of a Leeway Transformation Award for her work as a community cultural arts advocate, having founded and directed several Philadelphia arts initiatives including the Women's Writing & Spoken Word Series (Est. 2002) and the Black Women's Arts Festival (Est. 2003). She is originally from Brooklyn, NY and has resided in Philadelphia since 1990. ["Negresse, Negre: In the French- and Spanish-speaking Caribbean Islands, these words often have a connotation of affection, entirely non-racial in meaning. `Ma petite negresse, mon negre, are equivalent to `My dear, my darling, my sweet.'" [From Masters of the Dew, a contemporary classic novel by the Haitian author Jacques Roumain, translated by Langston Hughes and Mercer Cook.]
2) BLACK WOMEN’S ARTS FESTIVAL UPDATE
For the latest news about the Black Women’s Arts Festival’s PARTNERSHIP WITH MOONSTONE, its PLANS OUTSIDE OF PHILADELPHIA, and how you can SUPPORT THE BLACK WOMEN'S ARTS FESTIVAL, please read our latest Newsletter (dated February 4, 2012, please visit http://www.groups.yahoo.com/group/BWAFphilly/message/4315 or http://tinyurl.com/6rl4xxz.
3) WOMEN’S WRITING & SPOKEN WORD SERIES UPDATE
For reasons similar to those stated in the Black Women’s Arts Festival’s latest newsletter listed in the previous section, the Women’s Writing & Spoken Word Series is on hiatus insofar as producing events until further notice, however we are still archiving the various video and print materials we’ve gathered since 2002. Please visit http://www.WomensWritingSeries.homestead.com or stay tuned to CX newsletters for further news and updates.
4) WRITING/LITERARY UPDATE
Cassendre is doing a lot of personal journal writing for self-actualization and the accomplishment of certain specific personal, creative, and professional goals. Currently she resigned from her monthly column commitment of Wisdom Magazine’s online edition. As with Skrewtips and the PGN columns, Cassendre’s columns ran roughly a year each. You may read archives of Cassendre’s Wisdom Magazine columns at http://www.tinyurl.com/CXWisdom.
When new items of Cassendre’s writing are available, they will be included in the renaissance negresse catalog portion of this newsletter.
5) RENAISSANCE NEGRESSE CATALOG
Below are the places where you can find Cassendre’s various works for free, for sale, in various print, and recorded formats. Enjoy and thank you for your interest in and support of the renaissance negresse!
Below is the section about Cassendre’s music. Here is a brief bio of her music: “Described as “a cross between Tracy Chapman, Sade & Enya” (Steven M. Wilson, Borders Music), Cassendre Xavier has been performing her brand of jazzy-soulful acoustic pop in a folk/rock style since moving to Philadelphia in 1991. Her CD Live at Tin Angel garnered the high praise from Philadelphia City Paper music critic M.J. Fine who said that had live albums been eligible, it would’ve been number 9 of the “Top 21 Local EPs of 2007” (Jill Scott was number 21!). She has shared the stage with folk/rock greats Cheryl Wheeler, Toshi Reagon, John Flynn, Charlie King, and Pat Humphreys, among others, and been featured on Power 99FM, WXPN, in the Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Daily News, among other local media. Also an award-winning community arts organizer, Xavier is the founder and one of the organizers of Philadelphia’s 6th Annual Black Women’s Arts Festival. Her 8th indie release Capable of Love was released in January to critical acclaim.”
MUSIC CDs
Capable of Love (2009)
Live at Tin Angel (2006)
Beautiful (2004)
The Cassendre Xavier Collection, Vol. 1 (2004)
Live at the Kraftbrau, Kalamazoo (2004)
4OUR: A Cassendre Xavier Sampler (2003)
Live at Café Improv (2002)
The Whittenberg Sessions (2002)
The above titles are all available from CD Baby at http://tinyurl.com/CXCDbaby
MUSIC DOWNLOADS
Capable of Love (2009)
Live at Tin Angel (2006)
The above titles are available from CD Baby at http://tinyurl.com/CXCDbaby
They are also available from iTunes at http://www.tinyurl.com/CXiTunes
GUIDED MEDITATION CDs
Affirmations for Survivors: Spirituality (2007)
Affirmations for Survivors: Self-Love (2007)
The above titles are available for $12 each or $20 for both (includes shipping in the USA). Send an email to cxmusic(at)gmail.com or send a blank self-addressed, stamped envelope to: Cassendre Xavier, POB 30204, Philadelphia, PA 19103-8204 USA to receive an order form.
PRINT AND EBOOKS
NEW!!! Cassendre’s ebooks are now available for donation only! That’s right, for a donation of any amount, you, too, can have an ebook in your inbox in a matter of hours (or minutes, depending on whether I’m online when you order!)
(Print book) Expanding Your Capacity for Joy: a Raw Vegan Comfort Book, Sourcebook & Journal $18 (includes shipping in the USA) Order at http://www.cxbooks.eventbrite.com
(Print chapbook) This is What a Millionaire Looks Like: Inspiring Essays - a Curious Bookling ($7 includes shipping in the USA) Order at http://www.cxbooks.eventbrite.com
(Ebook) Expanding Your Capacity for Joy: A Raw Vegan Comfort Book, Sourcebook & Journal (Donation of any amount) Order at http://www.cxbooks.eventbrite.com
(Ebook) This is What a Millionaire Looks Like: Inspiring Essays - a Curious Bookling (Donation of any amount) Order at http://www.cxbooks.eventbrite.com
You can also make a www.paypal.com “Gift” donation to cxmusic(at)gmail.com (be sure to remove the “at” and replace it with @).
VISUAL ART (TO VIEW)
From Cassendre’s official website, “I painted and/or drew these images between 1985 & 2005. I use acrylic on canvas; watercolor, markers, chalk, and/or pencil on paper. I am currently working on expanding my collection of paintings and drawings, including sculpture, and I hope to someday have a group or solo exhibit.”
To view, visit http://www.cassendrexavier.com/Visual_Art.html
COLLABORATIONS, ANTHOLOGIES & COMPILATIONS
Cassendre has contributed to various musical and literary projects currently available for purchase:
MUSIC
Joe’s Café, by Rupert Wates (2010 Bitemusic Limited) Cassendre sings Track 6 “Snow in New York”, an original Rupert Wates song. Listen /order CD/ download : http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/RupertWates1
Darimar Presents (2003 Darimar Records. Tracks 8 & 9 “Friend”, and “Life of the Party” original CX songs and performance) Listen / order CD / download: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/darimarcomp
BOOKS
Butch Cookbook , edited by Lee Lynch, Sue Hardesty, Nel Ward ((June 15, 2008 – TRB Cookbooks) Cassendre contributed a raw vegan dessert recipe. http://butchcookbook.com/detail2.php?photo=8 (That’s Cassendre’s author page with butchy pics. Click on “Home” for more info about the book and other contributors.)
Dykes with Baggage: a Lighter Side of Lesbians in Therapy, edited by Riggin Waugh (Nov 1, 2000 / Alyson Publications) Review / order: http://www.amazon.com/Dykes-Baggage-Riggin-Waugh/dp/1555835686/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1328589486&sr=8-1 or http://tinyurl.com/6s267j8
We’Moon: Gaia Rhythms for Womyn (1999 / Mother Tongue Ink) Order from www.amazon.com or http://www.wemoon.ws
We’Moon: Gaia Rhythms for Womyn (2001 / Mother Tongue Ink) Order from www.amazon.com or http://www.wemoon.ws
When Falls the Coliseum: a journal of American culture (or lack thereof) edited by Scott Stein (Sep 7, 2001 / Free Reign Press) Cassendre received a wonderful Philadelphia City Paper review (by Karen Gross) for her several pieces in this anthology. Review / order: http://www.amazon.com/When-Falls-Coliseum-journal-American/dp/0970155417/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1328589643&sr=1-1 or http://tinyurl.com/6lgac83
CXTV (VIDEO / YOUTUBE CHANNEL)
Cassendre has music, raw food prep, guided meditations, affirmations, humor, poetry, erotica, tomfoolery, shenanegans, and malarckey at her official YouTube channel at http://youtube.com/cassendrexavier or http://www.tinyurl.com/cxyoutube or at her official website at http://www.cassendrexavier.com/CX_TV.html
6) BOOKING/CONTACT (For HOUSE CONCERTS, PRIVATE/PUBLIC/CORPORATE AND/OR LITERARY EVENTS, ETC.)
Music booking email: cxmusic(at)gmail.com
Literary booking email: cxwriting(at)gmail.com
renaissance negresse Museletter is © 2012 by Cassendre Xavier. All rightsen reservenitzken. www.cassEndrExavier.com
brought to you by Cassendre Xavier
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
1) WHO IS THE RENAISSANCE NEGRESSE?
2) BLACK WOMEN’S ARTS FESTIVAL UPDATE
3) WOMEN’S WRITING & SPOKEN WORD SERIES UPDATE
4) WRITING/LITERARY UPDATE
5) RENAISSANCE NEGRESSE CATALOG
6) BOOKING/CONTACT (HOUSE CONCERTS, PRIVATE/PUBLIC/CORPORATE AND/OR LITERARY EVENTS, ETC.)
=====================================================
1) WHO IS THE RENAISSANCE NEGRESSE?
Haitian/Chinese-American multi-media artist Cassendre Xavier coined the term "renaissance negresse" in 2002. A musician, writer, actress, andvisual artist, Xavier (who sometimes works under the names Amethyste Rah and Amrita Waterfalls) says the term describes a black woman who is skilled or gifted in 3 or more arts. Xavier is a recipient of a Leeway Transformation Award for her work as a community cultural arts advocate, having founded and directed several Philadelphia arts initiatives including the Women's Writing & Spoken Word Series (Est. 2002) and the Black Women's Arts Festival (Est. 2003). She is originally from Brooklyn, NY and has resided in Philadelphia since 1990. ["Negresse, Negre: In the French- and Spanish-speaking Caribbean Islands, these words often have a connotation of affection, entirely non-racial in meaning. `Ma petite negresse, mon negre, are equivalent to `My dear, my darling, my sweet.'" [From Masters of the Dew, a contemporary classic novel by the Haitian author Jacques Roumain, translated by Langston Hughes and Mercer Cook.]
2) BLACK WOMEN’S ARTS FESTIVAL UPDATE
For the latest news about the Black Women’s Arts Festival’s PARTNERSHIP WITH MOONSTONE, its PLANS OUTSIDE OF PHILADELPHIA, and how you can SUPPORT THE BLACK WOMEN'S ARTS FESTIVAL, please read our latest Newsletter (dated February 4, 2012, please visit http://www.groups.yahoo.com/group/BWAFphilly/message/4315 or http://tinyurl.com/6rl4xxz.
3) WOMEN’S WRITING & SPOKEN WORD SERIES UPDATE
For reasons similar to those stated in the Black Women’s Arts Festival’s latest newsletter listed in the previous section, the Women’s Writing & Spoken Word Series is on hiatus insofar as producing events until further notice, however we are still archiving the various video and print materials we’ve gathered since 2002. Please visit http://www.WomensWritingSeries.homestead.com or stay tuned to CX newsletters for further news and updates.
4) WRITING/LITERARY UPDATE
Cassendre is doing a lot of personal journal writing for self-actualization and the accomplishment of certain specific personal, creative, and professional goals. Currently she resigned from her monthly column commitment of Wisdom Magazine’s online edition. As with Skrewtips and the PGN columns, Cassendre’s columns ran roughly a year each. You may read archives of Cassendre’s Wisdom Magazine columns at http://www.tinyurl.com/CXWisdom.
When new items of Cassendre’s writing are available, they will be included in the renaissance negresse catalog portion of this newsletter.
5) RENAISSANCE NEGRESSE CATALOG
Below are the places where you can find Cassendre’s various works for free, for sale, in various print, and recorded formats. Enjoy and thank you for your interest in and support of the renaissance negresse!
Below is the section about Cassendre’s music. Here is a brief bio of her music: “Described as “a cross between Tracy Chapman, Sade & Enya” (Steven M. Wilson, Borders Music), Cassendre Xavier has been performing her brand of jazzy-soulful acoustic pop in a folk/rock style since moving to Philadelphia in 1991. Her CD Live at Tin Angel garnered the high praise from Philadelphia City Paper music critic M.J. Fine who said that had live albums been eligible, it would’ve been number 9 of the “Top 21 Local EPs of 2007” (Jill Scott was number 21!). She has shared the stage with folk/rock greats Cheryl Wheeler, Toshi Reagon, John Flynn, Charlie King, and Pat Humphreys, among others, and been featured on Power 99FM, WXPN, in the Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Daily News, among other local media. Also an award-winning community arts organizer, Xavier is the founder and one of the organizers of Philadelphia’s 6th Annual Black Women’s Arts Festival. Her 8th indie release Capable of Love was released in January to critical acclaim.”
MUSIC CDs
Capable of Love (2009)
Live at Tin Angel (2006)
Beautiful (2004)
The Cassendre Xavier Collection, Vol. 1 (2004)
Live at the Kraftbrau, Kalamazoo (2004)
4OUR: A Cassendre Xavier Sampler (2003)
Live at Café Improv (2002)
The Whittenberg Sessions (2002)
The above titles are all available from CD Baby at http://tinyurl.com/CXCDbaby
MUSIC DOWNLOADS
Capable of Love (2009)
Live at Tin Angel (2006)
The above titles are available from CD Baby at http://tinyurl.com/CXCDbaby
They are also available from iTunes at http://www.tinyurl.com/CXiTunes
GUIDED MEDITATION CDs
Affirmations for Survivors: Spirituality (2007)
Affirmations for Survivors: Self-Love (2007)
The above titles are available for $12 each or $20 for both (includes shipping in the USA). Send an email to cxmusic(at)gmail.com or send a blank self-addressed, stamped envelope to: Cassendre Xavier, POB 30204, Philadelphia, PA 19103-8204 USA to receive an order form.
PRINT AND EBOOKS
NEW!!! Cassendre’s ebooks are now available for donation only! That’s right, for a donation of any amount, you, too, can have an ebook in your inbox in a matter of hours (or minutes, depending on whether I’m online when you order!)
(Print book) Expanding Your Capacity for Joy: a Raw Vegan Comfort Book, Sourcebook & Journal $18 (includes shipping in the USA) Order at http://www.cxbooks.eventbrite.com
(Print chapbook) This is What a Millionaire Looks Like: Inspiring Essays - a Curious Bookling ($7 includes shipping in the USA) Order at http://www.cxbooks.eventbrite.com
(Ebook) Expanding Your Capacity for Joy: A Raw Vegan Comfort Book, Sourcebook & Journal (Donation of any amount) Order at http://www.cxbooks.eventbrite.com
(Ebook) This is What a Millionaire Looks Like: Inspiring Essays - a Curious Bookling (Donation of any amount) Order at http://www.cxbooks.eventbrite.com
You can also make a www.paypal.com “Gift” donation to cxmusic(at)gmail.com (be sure to remove the “at” and replace it with @).
VISUAL ART (TO VIEW)
From Cassendre’s official website, “I painted and/or drew these images between 1985 & 2005. I use acrylic on canvas; watercolor, markers, chalk, and/or pencil on paper. I am currently working on expanding my collection of paintings and drawings, including sculpture, and I hope to someday have a group or solo exhibit.”
To view, visit http://www.cassendrexavier.com/Visual_Art.html
COLLABORATIONS, ANTHOLOGIES & COMPILATIONS
Cassendre has contributed to various musical and literary projects currently available for purchase:
MUSIC
Joe’s Café, by Rupert Wates (2010 Bitemusic Limited) Cassendre sings Track 6 “Snow in New York”, an original Rupert Wates song. Listen /order CD/ download : http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/RupertWates1
Darimar Presents (2003 Darimar Records. Tracks 8 & 9 “Friend”, and “Life of the Party” original CX songs and performance) Listen / order CD / download: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/darimarcomp
BOOKS
Butch Cookbook , edited by Lee Lynch, Sue Hardesty, Nel Ward ((June 15, 2008 – TRB Cookbooks) Cassendre contributed a raw vegan dessert recipe. http://butchcookbook.com/detail2.php?photo=8 (That’s Cassendre’s author page with butchy pics. Click on “Home” for more info about the book and other contributors.)
Dykes with Baggage: a Lighter Side of Lesbians in Therapy, edited by Riggin Waugh (Nov 1, 2000 / Alyson Publications) Review / order: http://www.amazon.com/Dykes-Baggage-Riggin-Waugh/dp/1555835686/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1328589486&sr=8-1 or http://tinyurl.com/6s267j8
We’Moon: Gaia Rhythms for Womyn (1999 / Mother Tongue Ink) Order from www.amazon.com or http://www.wemoon.ws
We’Moon: Gaia Rhythms for Womyn (2001 / Mother Tongue Ink) Order from www.amazon.com or http://www.wemoon.ws
When Falls the Coliseum: a journal of American culture (or lack thereof) edited by Scott Stein (Sep 7, 2001 / Free Reign Press) Cassendre received a wonderful Philadelphia City Paper review (by Karen Gross) for her several pieces in this anthology. Review / order: http://www.amazon.com/When-Falls-Coliseum-journal-American/dp/0970155417/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1328589643&sr=1-1 or http://tinyurl.com/6lgac83
CXTV (VIDEO / YOUTUBE CHANNEL)
Cassendre has music, raw food prep, guided meditations, affirmations, humor, poetry, erotica, tomfoolery, shenanegans, and malarckey at her official YouTube channel at http://youtube.com/cassendrexavier or http://www.tinyurl.com/cxyoutube or at her official website at http://www.cassendrexavier.com/CX_TV.html
6) BOOKING/CONTACT (For HOUSE CONCERTS, PRIVATE/PUBLIC/CORPORATE AND/OR LITERARY EVENTS, ETC.)
Music booking email: cxmusic(at)gmail.com
Literary booking email: cxwriting(at)gmail.com
renaissance negresse Museletter is © 2012 by Cassendre Xavier. All rightsen reservenitzken. www.cassEndrExavier.com
Monday, October 3, 2011
Diary of a renaissance negresse - 03 Oct 2011
Monday, October 3, 2011
I am feeling very good today. Getting lots done. Really healing and connecting with and understanding and being patient with myself and others.
Today is day 5 of a water fast I'm doing to spiritually heal from unhealthy eating habits. I drink water, and I allow myself to drink coffee (highly diluted decaf mostly during the day and evening, regular coffee in the morning to help me not sleep all day due to this highly drowsy-making allergy over the counter drug I'm on temporarily. I also allow myself to put lime or lemon juice in the water I drink all day (usually fresh-squeezed). I also allow myself to chew sugarless gum now and then. I allow myself to do whatever I want. I'm just choosing based on the consequences.
For instance, it is far from ideal to consume the chemicals that make up the artificial sweeteners in the gum I eat. And caffeine is also not good for me.
However, the benefits are:
1) It helps me greatly in avoiding eating anything right now, during my fast.
2) Neither coffee nor artificial sweeteners have any significant nutrients, which is the basic idea behind water fasting. Your body must rely on itself to fuel it. So it starts using your cells, starting with the sick, dying, or excess fat ones. So, I'm losing weight and detoxing as I ought to on a water fast.
3) Coffee and sugarless gum are toxic, so my detox is more gradual, as are the unpleasant detox symptoms. Once I accepted I wasn't "perfectly" doing my water fast - I realized the benefits - including that soon after detoxing, I wouldn't get the painful, and lipline-altering cold sore I always get when I've been 100% raw for a couple of weeks.
So, today and the previous 4 days, I am consuming no, or very low caloric, non-nutritive substances in liquid form only. (Gum is chewed but doesn't go down solid like candy does, so I allow myself gum but not candy, not even sugarless/low or no calorie or nutrition candy.) There are many benefits to this fast, and I just remind myself that even though numbers-wise I want to eventually see 140 or less on the scale, the idea is to: Get Healthy, Get Spiritual, Love and Accept Myself and Others, Be Serene with my Eating, and Live a Joyful, Powerful, Positive, FEARLESS Life!
My plan is to do the water fast for as long as I feel comfortable (people can live up to 60 days or more on water alone), then go to a juice "feast" as us rawheads call it, and then go to a lifelong, and easily maintained habit of eating only raw vegan foods and drinking a large amount of my other nutritive intake. My plan is to learn how to eat right and to get all the support I need to do it. Support group meetings, potlucks, and dining with friends very often will be a large part of my life in the next few months. And writing every day as well as prayer, meditation, reading the books and listening to a lot of very encouraging and healing recordings of my teachers, mentors, and peers is a large part of my healing journey now.
I am writing and keeping my day to day schedule of activities. Making progress in all areas of my life and getting stronger every day. More accepting of others. Praying to God and calling on the constantly available assistance of God's angels.
So grateful to be alive and able to share my journey!
May you be blessed and know it.
Cassendre
Cassendre Xavier is a Haitian-Chinese-American artist, musician, author, actress, and award-winning community cultural arts organizer whose mission in life is to share joy, inspiration, and sensuality through the creative and healing arts. Coining the term *"renaissance negresse" in 2002, and also working under the names "Amethyste Rah" (spirituality and guided meditations http://stores.lulu.com/cassEndrE) and "Amrita Waterfalls" (sexuality and erotica) Xavier is the founder and director of Philadelphia's Annual Black Women’s Arts Festival (Est. 2003 www.BWAFphilly.org) and the Women's Writing & Spoken Word Series (Est. 2002 www.WomensWritingSeries.org). Xavier has been an imperfectly practicing raw vegan since 2005 and is author of the print & ebook Expanding Your Capacity for Joy: a Raw Vegan Comfort Book, Sourcebook & Journal (ARtivist Publications 2009). On September 19, 2011, she celebrated her first year as an ordained interfaith minister. Visit http://cassEndrExavier.com.
*"Negresse, Negre: In the French- and Spanish-speaking Caribbean Islands, these words often have a connotation of affection, entirely non-racial in meaning. `Ma petite negresse, mon negre, are equivalent to `My dear, my darling, my sweet.'" (From Masters of the Dew, a contemporary classic novel by the Haitian author Jacques Roumain, translated by Langston Hughes and Mercer Cook.)
Copyright © 2011 by Cassendre Xavier. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to reprint this article, in part, or in whole, only with the inclusion of the author bio, copyright credit, and contact URL http://cassEndrExavier.com.
I am feeling very good today. Getting lots done. Really healing and connecting with and understanding and being patient with myself and others.
Today is day 5 of a water fast I'm doing to spiritually heal from unhealthy eating habits. I drink water, and I allow myself to drink coffee (highly diluted decaf mostly during the day and evening, regular coffee in the morning to help me not sleep all day due to this highly drowsy-making allergy over the counter drug I'm on temporarily. I also allow myself to put lime or lemon juice in the water I drink all day (usually fresh-squeezed). I also allow myself to chew sugarless gum now and then. I allow myself to do whatever I want. I'm just choosing based on the consequences.
For instance, it is far from ideal to consume the chemicals that make up the artificial sweeteners in the gum I eat. And caffeine is also not good for me.
However, the benefits are:
1) It helps me greatly in avoiding eating anything right now, during my fast.
2) Neither coffee nor artificial sweeteners have any significant nutrients, which is the basic idea behind water fasting. Your body must rely on itself to fuel it. So it starts using your cells, starting with the sick, dying, or excess fat ones. So, I'm losing weight and detoxing as I ought to on a water fast.
3) Coffee and sugarless gum are toxic, so my detox is more gradual, as are the unpleasant detox symptoms. Once I accepted I wasn't "perfectly" doing my water fast - I realized the benefits - including that soon after detoxing, I wouldn't get the painful, and lipline-altering cold sore I always get when I've been 100% raw for a couple of weeks.
So, today and the previous 4 days, I am consuming no, or very low caloric, non-nutritive substances in liquid form only. (Gum is chewed but doesn't go down solid like candy does, so I allow myself gum but not candy, not even sugarless/low or no calorie or nutrition candy.) There are many benefits to this fast, and I just remind myself that even though numbers-wise I want to eventually see 140 or less on the scale, the idea is to: Get Healthy, Get Spiritual, Love and Accept Myself and Others, Be Serene with my Eating, and Live a Joyful, Powerful, Positive, FEARLESS Life!
My plan is to do the water fast for as long as I feel comfortable (people can live up to 60 days or more on water alone), then go to a juice "feast" as us rawheads call it, and then go to a lifelong, and easily maintained habit of eating only raw vegan foods and drinking a large amount of my other nutritive intake. My plan is to learn how to eat right and to get all the support I need to do it. Support group meetings, potlucks, and dining with friends very often will be a large part of my life in the next few months. And writing every day as well as prayer, meditation, reading the books and listening to a lot of very encouraging and healing recordings of my teachers, mentors, and peers is a large part of my healing journey now.
I am writing and keeping my day to day schedule of activities. Making progress in all areas of my life and getting stronger every day. More accepting of others. Praying to God and calling on the constantly available assistance of God's angels.
So grateful to be alive and able to share my journey!
May you be blessed and know it.
Cassendre
Cassendre Xavier is a Haitian-Chinese-American artist, musician, author, actress, and award-winning community cultural arts organizer whose mission in life is to share joy, inspiration, and sensuality through the creative and healing arts. Coining the term *"renaissance negresse" in 2002, and also working under the names "Amethyste Rah" (spirituality and guided meditations http://stores.lulu.com/cassEndrE) and "Amrita Waterfalls" (sexuality and erotica) Xavier is the founder and director of Philadelphia's Annual Black Women’s Arts Festival (Est. 2003 www.BWAFphilly.org) and the Women's Writing & Spoken Word Series (Est. 2002 www.WomensWritingSeries.org). Xavier has been an imperfectly practicing raw vegan since 2005 and is author of the print & ebook Expanding Your Capacity for Joy: a Raw Vegan Comfort Book, Sourcebook & Journal (ARtivist Publications 2009). On September 19, 2011, she celebrated her first year as an ordained interfaith minister. Visit http://cassEndrExavier.com.
*"Negresse, Negre: In the French- and Spanish-speaking Caribbean Islands, these words often have a connotation of affection, entirely non-racial in meaning. `Ma petite negresse, mon negre, are equivalent to `My dear, my darling, my sweet.'" (From Masters of the Dew, a contemporary classic novel by the Haitian author Jacques Roumain, translated by Langston Hughes and Mercer Cook.)
Copyright © 2011 by Cassendre Xavier. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to reprint this article, in part, or in whole, only with the inclusion of the author bio, copyright credit, and contact URL http://cassEndrExavier.com.
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Diary of a renaissance negresse - 02 Oct 2011
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Day 4 of water fast to heal food addiction with spirituality and the raw vegan diet. Lost 10lbs in 4 days. Miracles are already happening. The plan is to detox, get really really dependent on God, and engage all the support systems I've been researching, collecting, and using, from support groups, potlucks, eating with friends, and writing.
Will be very happy to repair my laptop, although going to the library daily and for very limited amounts of time encourages me to publish every day and be concise in my posts.
Have been writing so much, it's amazing. Focusing on making it useful to self and others. Grateful beyond measure.
Every day I pray and breathe and relax and tell myself to calm down and not freak out about anything. One moment at a time...to serenity.
Drinking my food is fine. It's the eventual chewing and learning of moderation that scares and usually tosses me into the inferno of active overeating and out of control eating again. But I remind myself that all is well and I don't have to think about anything but the next 5 minutes and all the love and power available at my disposal of mere thought, acceptance, surrender, and community.
Highlight: I weigh 203. I started at 238.
Friday people I know from the early 2000s said I've lost a lot of weight. I didn't think so, but then I saw my journal from 2009 and I weighed 230 then. This means that even thought I have 60lbs to lost, I can honor and see that I did lose 30lb in the last few years.
Again - grateful beyond measure.
Sorry for any typos. No time to proof :-)
Enjoy your week and see you tomorrow if I stay on my plan and I will ;-)
Blessings abounding in thyself,
Cassendre
Cassendre Xavier is a Haitian-Chinese-American artist, musician, author, actress, and award-winning community cultural arts organizer whose mission in life is to share joy, inspiration, and sensuality through the creative and healing arts. Coining the term *"renaissance negresse" in 2002, and also working under the names "Amethyste Rah" (spirituality and guided meditations http://stores.lulu.com/cassEndrE) and "Amrita Waterfalls" (sexuality and erotica) Xavier is the founder and director of Philadelphia's Annual Black Women’s Arts Festival (Est. 2003 www.BWAFphilly.org) and the Women's Writing & Spoken Word Series (Est. 2002 www.WomensWritingSeries.org). Xavier has been an imperfectly practicing raw vegan since 2005 and is author of the print & ebook Expanding Your Capacity for Joy: a Raw Vegan Comfort Book, Sourcebook & Journal (ARtivist Publications 2009). On September 19, 2011, she celebrated her first year as an ordained interfaith minister. Visit http://cassEndrExavier.com.
*"Negresse, Negre: In the French- and Spanish-speaking Caribbean Islands, these words often have a connotation of affection, entirely non-racial in meaning. `Ma petite negresse, mon negre, are equivalent to `My dear, my darling, my sweet.'" (From Masters of the Dew, a contemporary classic novel by the Haitian author Jacques Roumain, translated by Langston Hughes and Mercer Cook.)
Copyright © 2011 by Cassendre Xavier. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to reprint this article, in part, or in whole, only with the inclusion of the author bio, copyright credit, and contact URL http://cassEndrExavier.com.
Day 4 of water fast to heal food addiction with spirituality and the raw vegan diet. Lost 10lbs in 4 days. Miracles are already happening. The plan is to detox, get really really dependent on God, and engage all the support systems I've been researching, collecting, and using, from support groups, potlucks, eating with friends, and writing.
Will be very happy to repair my laptop, although going to the library daily and for very limited amounts of time encourages me to publish every day and be concise in my posts.
Have been writing so much, it's amazing. Focusing on making it useful to self and others. Grateful beyond measure.
Every day I pray and breathe and relax and tell myself to calm down and not freak out about anything. One moment at a time...to serenity.
Drinking my food is fine. It's the eventual chewing and learning of moderation that scares and usually tosses me into the inferno of active overeating and out of control eating again. But I remind myself that all is well and I don't have to think about anything but the next 5 minutes and all the love and power available at my disposal of mere thought, acceptance, surrender, and community.
Highlight: I weigh 203. I started at 238.
Friday people I know from the early 2000s said I've lost a lot of weight. I didn't think so, but then I saw my journal from 2009 and I weighed 230 then. This means that even thought I have 60lbs to lost, I can honor and see that I did lose 30lb in the last few years.
Again - grateful beyond measure.
Sorry for any typos. No time to proof :-)
Enjoy your week and see you tomorrow if I stay on my plan and I will ;-)
Blessings abounding in thyself,
Cassendre
Cassendre Xavier is a Haitian-Chinese-American artist, musician, author, actress, and award-winning community cultural arts organizer whose mission in life is to share joy, inspiration, and sensuality through the creative and healing arts. Coining the term *"renaissance negresse" in 2002, and also working under the names "Amethyste Rah" (spirituality and guided meditations http://stores.lulu.com/cassEndrE) and "Amrita Waterfalls" (sexuality and erotica) Xavier is the founder and director of Philadelphia's Annual Black Women’s Arts Festival (Est. 2003 www.BWAFphilly.org) and the Women's Writing & Spoken Word Series (Est. 2002 www.WomensWritingSeries.org). Xavier has been an imperfectly practicing raw vegan since 2005 and is author of the print & ebook Expanding Your Capacity for Joy: a Raw Vegan Comfort Book, Sourcebook & Journal (ARtivist Publications 2009). On September 19, 2011, she celebrated her first year as an ordained interfaith minister. Visit http://cassEndrExavier.com.
*"Negresse, Negre: In the French- and Spanish-speaking Caribbean Islands, these words often have a connotation of affection, entirely non-racial in meaning. `Ma petite negresse, mon negre, are equivalent to `My dear, my darling, my sweet.'" (From Masters of the Dew, a contemporary classic novel by the Haitian author Jacques Roumain, translated by Langston Hughes and Mercer Cook.)
Copyright © 2011 by Cassendre Xavier. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to reprint this article, in part, or in whole, only with the inclusion of the author bio, copyright credit, and contact URL http://cassEndrExavier.com.
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Diary of a renaissance negresse - 01 Oct 2011
Saturday, October 1, 2011
A good day starts with a smile knowing that rent will be paid! Ran lots of errands today - totally on schedule. Amazing. I write I want to be at the post office at 1:50pm and I arrive at the post office exactly at 1:50pm. You'd think because scheduling my days works so well for me that I'd have been doing it since I discovered that benefit years ago and would still do it everyday. Only increasing self-care has made this a more regular habit for me. And writing this blog, which I just started three days ago but has been helping me a lot.
I am so affected by what I write - it's so easy to co-create with the universe what I want when I write things down. That's why I started a novel for myself a couple of months ago. It has no form, and it changes all the time in style. It's probably terrible, but I don't care, because I'm writing it for myself. I'm writing the dreams I've been wanting to womanifest, and I'm writing a world I want see and live in. I'm writing my life. That's all that matters. I want to see if it works.
I've noticed that some novelists write a beautiful fictional story, probably choosing a heroine they identify with. They give this imagined creature all their dreams and make them come true. Then, a few years after the publication of the novel, many of these things have occurred in the novelist's "actual" life.
One of the featured artist's of Philadelphia's 8th Annual Black Women's Arts Festival (http://BWAFphilly.org), Kendra, whose band is "Vie Boheme" said our dreams are just like our waking life. There is no separation or difference. I love that idea. Grace Jones said "Whatever I dream, I want to do." And she does it. Why not?
So that's what I've been doing - blending the line between my dreams and my waking life. I was very inspired by that talk I had with Kendra.
What are your dreams? Are you writing them down? Because, that's a huge part of making them happen! Here - let me help you :-)
My Dreams Are To:
1)_____________________________________________________
2)_____________________________________________________
3)_____________________________________________________
4)_____________________________________________________
5)_____________________________________________________
(I stopped at 5 because that's the number of change, according to general numerology. You can continue to 8, which is the number of prosperity :-)
What can you start doing right now, and every day, to begin blending the fake/so-called "line" between your night dreams, your day dreams, and your so-called "actual" "waking life"?
I Could:
1)_____________________________________________________
2)_____________________________________________________
3)_____________________________________________________
4)_____________________________________________________
5)_____________________________________________________
Helpful Hint: Get yourself a journal that you keep your spiritual daily writings and/or dreams and goals in. Or get several for several different purposes. But if having just one means you'll write every day, no matter how little, and no matter for what purpose, start there. You be as simple in your choice as a single-subject notebook, all the way up to a very fancy journal. It's better if it's lightweight and easily portable.
I myself have many different notebooks for different purposes. I have many single-subject notebooks for my various works in progress and journals, then I have a small but thick fancy leather one I write other people's quotes in, and I have my one and only "Dreamer's Journal" by Paula White (http://PaulaWhite.org) which I saw in one of her newsletters or mailings and ordered for dirt-ass cheap at Amazon! I highly recommend it regardless of your spiritual or religious faith, just because it's highly motivating, and you can always enjoy what you put into it rather than read every page of the quotes, etc. Because she is a Christian minister, it does include a passage of biblical scripture on every page, but what's perhaps even more valuable - at least to me, is that every other page also has an original, highly motivating quote by Paula herself. Check it ooot!
May sunshine have its way with you today and every day.
Make the art and be happy.
Cassendre
Cassendre Xavier is a Haitian-Chinese-American artist, musician, author, actress, and award-winning community cultural arts organizer whose mission in life is to share joy, inspiration, and sensuality through the creative and healing arts. Coining the term *"renaissance negresse" in 2002, and also working under the names "Amethyste Rah" (spirituality and guided meditations http://stores.lulu.com/cassEndrE) and "Amrita Waterfalls" (sexuality and erotica) Xavier is the founder and director of Philadelphia's Annual Black Women’s Arts Festival (Est. 2003 www.BWAFphilly.org) and the Women's Writing & Spoken Word Series (Est. 2002 www.WomensWritingSeries.org). Xavier has been an imperfectly practicing raw vegan since 2005 and is author of the print & ebook Expanding Your Capacity for Joy: a Raw Vegan Comfort Book, Sourcebook & Journal (ARtivist Publications 2009). On September 19, 2011, she celebrated her first year as an ordained interfaith minister. Visit http://cassEndrExavier.com.
*"Negresse, Negre: In the French- and Spanish-speaking Caribbean Islands, these words often have a connotation of affection, entirely non-racial in meaning. `Ma petite negresse, mon negre, are equivalent to `My dear, my darling, my sweet.'" (From Masters of the Dew, a contemporary classic novel by the Haitian author Jacques Roumain, translated by Langston Hughes and Mercer Cook.)
Copyright © 2011 by Cassendre Xavier. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to reprint this article, in part, or in whole, only with the inclusion of the author bio, copyright credit, and contact URL http://cassEndrExavier.com.
A good day starts with a smile knowing that rent will be paid! Ran lots of errands today - totally on schedule. Amazing. I write I want to be at the post office at 1:50pm and I arrive at the post office exactly at 1:50pm. You'd think because scheduling my days works so well for me that I'd have been doing it since I discovered that benefit years ago and would still do it everyday. Only increasing self-care has made this a more regular habit for me. And writing this blog, which I just started three days ago but has been helping me a lot.
I am so affected by what I write - it's so easy to co-create with the universe what I want when I write things down. That's why I started a novel for myself a couple of months ago. It has no form, and it changes all the time in style. It's probably terrible, but I don't care, because I'm writing it for myself. I'm writing the dreams I've been wanting to womanifest, and I'm writing a world I want see and live in. I'm writing my life. That's all that matters. I want to see if it works.
I've noticed that some novelists write a beautiful fictional story, probably choosing a heroine they identify with. They give this imagined creature all their dreams and make them come true. Then, a few years after the publication of the novel, many of these things have occurred in the novelist's "actual" life.
One of the featured artist's of Philadelphia's 8th Annual Black Women's Arts Festival (http://BWAFphilly.org), Kendra, whose band is "Vie Boheme" said our dreams are just like our waking life. There is no separation or difference. I love that idea. Grace Jones said "Whatever I dream, I want to do." And she does it. Why not?
So that's what I've been doing - blending the line between my dreams and my waking life. I was very inspired by that talk I had with Kendra.
What are your dreams? Are you writing them down? Because, that's a huge part of making them happen! Here - let me help you :-)
My Dreams Are To:
1)_____________________________________________________
2)_____________________________________________________
3)_____________________________________________________
4)_____________________________________________________
5)_____________________________________________________
(I stopped at 5 because that's the number of change, according to general numerology. You can continue to 8, which is the number of prosperity :-)
What can you start doing right now, and every day, to begin blending the fake/so-called "line" between your night dreams, your day dreams, and your so-called "actual" "waking life"?
I Could:
1)_____________________________________________________
2)_____________________________________________________
3)_____________________________________________________
4)_____________________________________________________
5)_____________________________________________________
Helpful Hint: Get yourself a journal that you keep your spiritual daily writings and/or dreams and goals in. Or get several for several different purposes. But if having just one means you'll write every day, no matter how little, and no matter for what purpose, start there. You be as simple in your choice as a single-subject notebook, all the way up to a very fancy journal. It's better if it's lightweight and easily portable.
I myself have many different notebooks for different purposes. I have many single-subject notebooks for my various works in progress and journals, then I have a small but thick fancy leather one I write other people's quotes in, and I have my one and only "Dreamer's Journal" by Paula White (http://PaulaWhite.org) which I saw in one of her newsletters or mailings and ordered for dirt-ass cheap at Amazon! I highly recommend it regardless of your spiritual or religious faith, just because it's highly motivating, and you can always enjoy what you put into it rather than read every page of the quotes, etc. Because she is a Christian minister, it does include a passage of biblical scripture on every page, but what's perhaps even more valuable - at least to me, is that every other page also has an original, highly motivating quote by Paula herself. Check it ooot!
May sunshine have its way with you today and every day.
Make the art and be happy.
Cassendre
Cassendre Xavier is a Haitian-Chinese-American artist, musician, author, actress, and award-winning community cultural arts organizer whose mission in life is to share joy, inspiration, and sensuality through the creative and healing arts. Coining the term *"renaissance negresse" in 2002, and also working under the names "Amethyste Rah" (spirituality and guided meditations http://stores.lulu.com/cassEndrE) and "Amrita Waterfalls" (sexuality and erotica) Xavier is the founder and director of Philadelphia's Annual Black Women’s Arts Festival (Est. 2003 www.BWAFphilly.org) and the Women's Writing & Spoken Word Series (Est. 2002 www.WomensWritingSeries.org). Xavier has been an imperfectly practicing raw vegan since 2005 and is author of the print & ebook Expanding Your Capacity for Joy: a Raw Vegan Comfort Book, Sourcebook & Journal (ARtivist Publications 2009). On September 19, 2011, she celebrated her first year as an ordained interfaith minister. Visit http://cassEndrExavier.com.
*"Negresse, Negre: In the French- and Spanish-speaking Caribbean Islands, these words often have a connotation of affection, entirely non-racial in meaning. `Ma petite negresse, mon negre, are equivalent to `My dear, my darling, my sweet.'" (From Masters of the Dew, a contemporary classic novel by the Haitian author Jacques Roumain, translated by Langston Hughes and Mercer Cook.)
Copyright © 2011 by Cassendre Xavier. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to reprint this article, in part, or in whole, only with the inclusion of the author bio, copyright credit, and contact URL http://cassEndrExavier.com.
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