WORKING WITH KIDS AND MAKING ANIMATION

Maybe I have too many passions… Maybe, I am involved with too many things.  I believe the quote goes a "Jack of all trades, but a master at nothing" and it may very well be true.  But last night I had a dream(no not like Martin Luther King, Jr. but literally a dream) and in it I dreamt I went to the movie theaters with my son Christian, only to see on the screen a cartoon movie that I had made along with children I have worked with in the past at Kids Creative.

What kind of sucks in the modern day society is the split we have created between faith and the public life.  In my dealings with people in the church, they are surprised when they find out that I am not paid to do ministry full-time… The fact of the matter is, despite all of the public works you see I am still a 24 year old minority single father who has to pay child support and ministry won't formally pay me to do what I do in a way to sustain that.  The other problem is that in my working in the public world, I am not allowed to be as open with my faith as I would like to be.  Yes, I am constantly being an active symbol of love, and peace but to get to the nitty gritty talks about Christ and wear the more explicit spiritual message clothing I want in the public school building I work in.  Of course I could "go back to school" and get a degree to do something different, but God keeps telling me to labor where I am at.  So I don't write this from a place of glory and prestige but from the common man who is struggling still giving all of his talents and efforts for the greater glory….

Anyway, I have always had a thing for being with children and in fact, many times I am too much of a big kid myself!  Those who know me on a personal level, know that my real long term passion beyond this Hip Hop to truly cultivate culture is by creating cartoons.  My dream of one day having "The Symbol" superhero cartoon with action figures and collectors items is really where my heart wants to be.  Waking up from the dream last night, I felt that pain again of not being able to do this now in a way more than ever… Maybe its because in Kids Creative, although I did not make much my level of productivity of teaching and co-creating with children is something that has been missing this year.

In September I finally stepped back from being a teaching artist because I had the income to sustain with my School-Aide job for the time, while I cultivate more the all is love brand, the AMDG movement, and more!

The above video is a stop animation music video I did with my kids in an after school program here in the Bronx last year.  Teaching the children basic music skills in 4/4 time we produced the music, wrote the lyrics, and recorded the song. From there they created the artwork used for the stop animation, which I finally put together in the end.

Below is another video I did with my children over the summer for a play where they came up with the characters and wrote the script. My co-workers and I helped to cultivate the entire thing alongside them, teaching them basic acting skills in order to put on a performance for their peers, family and friends at the end of 2 weeks.  The video was the intro to our story recorded, and created by the children as well.

Prayerfully, I will be back at Kids Creative this summer if it be God's will.  Either way, I ask for your prayers and support as I continue to work towards creating this culture of complete self-sacrificial and service giving love for all of mankind through the arts and media entertainment…. One day may it lead to my dream for creating cartoons for all youth to enjoy and learn values from.

- The Symbol
- All is Love