Sharing Epiphanies

Nuestro Mil Fuegos

Every morning he rose with the sun to express an idea. A prolific shoe-maker with an evolving understanding of constructing and maintaining the soul. My grandfather had several shoe-making factories across Cuba, an entrepreneur of his time and place.  Political forces eventually confiscated all of these accomplishments, but not his family. His children fled to the US and reclaimed their parents.

Cada mañana amaneció con el sol para expresar una idea. Un prolífico zapatero con una persepción expansivo de la construcción y el mantenimiento del fondo. Mi abuelo tenía varias fábricas de calzado por la Cuba entera, un empresario de su tiempo y lugar. Las fuerzas políticas finalmente confiscadon todos estos logros, pero no a su familia. Sus hijos se partieron a los Estados Unidos y, con su residencia nueva, recorrieron sus padres.

As a crusty 16-year-old, I really started to remember… I considered mortality along with immortal presence, aka culture. Each one of us has a unique set of understandings and gifts to share and evolve from.

Un niño crujiente de 16 años de edad, por fín empecé a recordar … consideré la mortalidad junto con la presencia inmortal, aka’ la cultura. Cada uno de nosotros tiene un conjunto único de entendimientos y regalos para compartir y evolucionar a partir de.

I remember him standing over a machine, tweaking knobs and adjusting leather for hours, like I find myself hovering over a sheet of paper, a guitar or this laptop.

Me acuerdo de el parado sobre la machina, ajustando perillas y moviendo cuero por horas- como yo me encuentro sobre una hoja de papel, una guitarra o esta computadora.

My grandfather’s side is from a city called “Cien Fuegos,” meaning One Hundred fires. Out of respect and admiration for his passion and the culture I’m evolving, this is 1,000 Fuegos.

La parte de mi abuelo son de Cien Fuegos, Cuba. Con respeto y admiración por su pasión y la cultura que estoy evolucionando, llamé este proyecto 1.000 fuegos.

I think he deserves a filthy scholarship!

Scholarship  Essay 2

Describe your participation in extracurricular activities.

What have you learned from your experience(s)?

(Examples may include: community service, volunteer work, employment, school clubs, sports, family, church, etc.)





                  The porn industry is not as easy as it looks

… From the ripe age of twelve I began to notice some changes in the mirror.  The foster home I was living in had frequent visitors, i.e., potential parents for the few of us that were “worthy.”  It was the summer after I turned twelve when a gentleman in his thirties came along and decided to take me in.  He said I had great potential, I had no idea what he truly meant.  He gave me my own room, fed me well and immediately started me on a rigorous work out schedule. By the time I turned 14 I had slept with about 23 women, and once I entered high school my step “father” had informed me of the family business. Quite the community service. I started as a driver. It was a big black van with purple leopard print inside. Then, I was the camera man, and sure enough, by 16 I was knee deep in the sexiest, dirtiest pussies in West Virginia. Better than my classmates and their incestuous habits.

                So, every afternoon, after school, it was the same routine. Get home, shave (everywhere), eat a light meal, smoke a joint, and go fuck, for hours. It was normally the same half dozen girls, for artistic settings we’d drive to different areas of the city. From remote parks, to truck stops, to hotels, it was all pretty sleazy. Regardless, it showed me responsibility, discipline, and stamina. It fostered a sense of creativity that may have never been actualized if it weren’t for my precious step father/ boss. Since I did all the dirty ”work” he let me keep 50% of the net sales. I made sure to never look into the camera, hoping any of my naughty neighbors and desperate school mates would never see me or at least recognize me in such obscenity.

                   In most of the videos I am categorized as Hispanic, European, or some handy man. I think I deserve this scholarship because I have truly learned the nature of hard work and what it takes to drive the human spirit. I will succeed in anything I put my head in.     

Truly yours,
Jonathan Nadal

Ojo

OJO

Love in Participation

Ojo is an ancient folkloric character birthed in the perspective of the clouds, embodying the essence of vision in a constant search for the perfect combination between color, composition and substance.

Scene 1: A curtain falls with a cherubic one-line drawing of an eye as the audience sits patiently with a drawing utensil and paper or a camera.

• The curtain swiftly opens revealing the startling image of a man yelling with his hands drawn attempting to prevent another man from stabbing him and they both immediately and in action FREEZE and a voice whispers 1 minute (live string quartet sooths as parts or all of the audience recreates the scene as artists, photographers and visionaries)

• After the minute passes they continue the scene with a successful stab leaving the victim with most of his torsoe lying over a table and blood dripping fluidly off his body from the knife protruding out of his chest - 5 minutes

• Curtain is closed after the 5 minute creation session

Voice: Can one fight without loosing? One will certainly loose if not willing to fight. Why fight if such acts prove this fruitless? - For death… is indomitable.

Throughout a diverse group of visionary journeys across cultures and practices Ojo becomes increasingly dissatisfied with the lack of balance and substance in all images. Therefore, turning the eye around and discovering the greatest lack of character within.

The human body carries two eyes in order to percieve reality with a sense of balance, distance etc… Ojo is merely one eye, with which one cannot truly perceive balance, composition or substance. Ojo then realizes that these journeys were in search for not just the ultimate image, but another Eye. In order to gain a pair of eyes Ojo must be grounded in one perspective, one life, committed to a linear path of site- in turn leaving the cloud perspective he came from.

• Closing Scene: Curtain opens The characters of all scenes combined stand shoulder-to-shoulder behind a gypsyesque character surrounded and covered in silks, sitting in lotus, eyes closed with his left hand at his groin and his right hand flared over his forehead as the pointing finger touches the thumb - highlighting the third-eye where a shimmering jewel is poised. 20 minutes

Ojo: By only perceiving the holy dynamics of life I’ve been shown that my limit is in the sky, my division is in a lack of linear commitment. In my observance of extreme thresholds I have seen more than vision can show… and I choose Love in Participation.

-This physical representation of Ojo drops his hand from his forehead and opens his eyes as the characters approach from behind and walk in circles around him starring at him. He then raises out of lotus position hooking his leg onto a silk loop above him, suspending himself upside-down tearing the jewel off his fore-head 5 minutes

Not only do two eyes share vision for one-self but during this life we share perspective with the outside world through art, which in essence is any participation in the creation of a moment. Ojo becomes more than just a perceiver by opening up to life.

Magic.
Watching Bewitched then I Dream Of Genie with Worth and Ave was a lesson. Worth pointed out that both these shows were on at the same time period and both have a plot based on wives with special powers. Which brought me to memories of The Satanic Witch by Anton Sandor LaVey. Although in the introduction it is explained that this book can apply to men and women, the more I read the more I realized that this book is written for women.
Women have been associated with magic to the extent of these TV shows because from an outsiders perspective magic seems to be solely based on the surface. Women were (and/or are) often birthed with the responsibility of being pretty. They dress themselves up, paint their faces, and burn their hair in order to attract a man that would provide her with resources. Men were controlling most changes in society at this time, a woman could barely speak for herself. So, any powerful woman would use what she had to gain power in society through her man, hence these TV show icons. Now a days women have a voice and equal opportunity so this magic should be redifined- but is it? This affect one has on reality should be expanding to an open, universal and internal process having nothing to do with gender- but is it?
The purpose of magic is to make things occur in reality. There are very real tools that all of us carry with us everyday that control the things we create for ourselves. In order for our minds to utilize the intensity of these tools we must perceive them as more than the words we use to define them and connect them to something greater. This understanding of greater is transferred through current feelings that are independent from the tools.

The Satanic Witch was basically an instructional guide on manipulation. This is one very common form of magic. Persuasion is constantly happening, whether intentional or unintentional, on many different levels every time any human communicates efficiently. Any person interested in creating things for him/her self in the outside world must begin inside. One is constantly persuading the world of the purpose he/she carries, as intangible and meaningless as it truly is. And life, in return, challenges all convictions. Beginning internally is one of the facets of magic that many witches and warlocks skip and in turn, unintentionally set off incongruent cycles of karma. 

On finding without looking

Everything is what it is made to be though.
Breaking points happen everyday. It’s up to you to hold on to what you’ve learned and stick to what you setting up for yourself. That layout you’v put together.
It matters more than anything else in life. Because its the kind of pleasure that comes later. When you’ve forgotten it was even gonna be there. And its because of the layout.
The more you perform the task of planning, the better you get at it. Self-control is something you can practice, just like any other skill.

Lluvia nos presenta’l puente.

Hadas con toque sobre cada media que sigue la vida

Esperando detras de la nota que hace harmonia con la accion que quema a traves de cualquier sentimiento fastidioso - jugando su danza de felizidad para mantener un mundo solido de conceptos sentidos y fe. 

Un saludo como sonrisa timida. Ojos serrados, aceptando crystales de humo que viajan directamente al pecho abriendo costilla, dejando rojo correr por cada gota celestial hasta el fin del universo personal, el espacio unico, nuestro mundo infinito.

Ever-expanding

An efficient form of meditation can begin with a period of efficient relaxation. After this state of mind becomes consistent the dreams commence. Then affirmations close the deal with reality.
This process is very much like every experience one has in which they are actively involved, such as our role in society as a self-sustained collective. A period of affirmations is now splashing into relaxation for the structure of another dream to materialize- lets call it a TOUR!
Portland had us cuddling under it’s wing for longer than we expected and bathed us with as much light as we needed to remember that our purpose is to reach out as far as we can with all the strength we have to create a web of positive vibrations with our music.
Help us make every place we visit another piece of the happiness we believe in.


At times we reach a point of escalation that seems like an apex- a point that one only moves down from. At one of the many plateaus of my life I found myself with 3 men who sat at the corners of our square. In the midst of circulating musical creation, it was clear that bending can occur amongst us so that an ever expanding circle would be created.     

This was initiated, one night we ventured to a spot that Worth had gone to often in his younger years. It was cold and dark but we were prepared with thick coats and flashlights. After an hour of walking through the woods we realized we probably weren’t going to find the exact spot Worth was looking for, so we just stopped searching and settled. After the silence settled in, one could here the ocean near-by, but how close was it?
We set up the wood and fuel for a fire, and felt the night grow for hours. There were few words shared but many ideas and dreams conjured. Inspiring, to say the least, a life of adventure for us all. This was the night we agreed to come together and play music.
As the sun peaked over the horizon each of us rose from our spirits’ slumber to a seashore within a stones throw. The fog rising towards a lighthouse at the peak of a green cliff held my attention for as long as I can remember. We giggled our way back to Portland with a plan of action.