Freedom

Weekly wisdom to level up your creative life in 3 minutes, for free.

A SHORT STORY

This past week my friend and student Suud Olat was featured on Business Insider, chronicling his journey from Somalia and his new life as an American citizen.

I met Suud 12 years ago while living and working in the Dadaab Refugee Camp in northeastern Kenya, on the border of Somalia. After 20 years of living in Dadaab, he was granted resettlement to the United States in 2012.

Since then, he has received a college degree, run for public office, and chosen to become a truck driver so he could buy a house for his Mother.

Beyond being in awe of his accomplishments while reading the article, I was particularly struck by Suud’s words.

He said: “Freedom is one of the things I didn't have. I have a degree, I'm an American citizen. I can drive the truck wherever I want. This kind of freedom is just something that I could never get anywhere else in the world. “

I was humbled by his insight into the power of freedom. I immediately thought of our mutual friends who do not have the same freedom and feel imprisoned as they wait for a better life in Dadaab.

I thought about how I often take my freedom for granted, and how lucky I am to be an American.

What is something that made you feel free today? If nothing comes to mind, how can you spend the next 5 minutes in a way that will make you feel free?

A CREATIVE TOOL

As creative tools become more and more accessible, I think it’s important for all of us to experiment with their possibilities.

Today, there are a variety of free and open-source AI systems that can create realistic images and art from a text description that you can provide in natural language. These include Dall-E and Stable Diffusion, — text to image generators that uses algorithms to create unique, one-of-a-kind pieces.

Here is a resource to get started:

• A free Dall-E Prompt e-book with 82 pages of artistic inspiration and over 300 AI-generated images. Download yours here.

A PIECE OF ART

In honor of World Refugee Day that took place on June 20th, I thought I would share with you a poem that brought my students in Dadaab a lot of comfort. I haven’t come across a piece of art that so beautifully speaks to the power of transformation since that time…

ODE TO THE DRUM

by Yusef Komunyakaa

originally published in the Internet Poetry Archive

Gazelle, I killed you
for your skin's exquisite
touch, for how easy it is
to be nailed to a board
weathered raw as white
butcher paper. Last night
I heard my daughter praying
for the meat here at my feet.
You know it wasn't anger
that made me stop my heart
till the hammer fell. Weeks
ago, I broke you as a woman
once shattered me into a song
beneath her weight, before
you slouched into that
grassy hush. But now
I'm tightening lashes,
shaping hide as if around
a ribcage, stretched
like five bowstrings.
Ghosts cannot slip back
inside the body's drum.
You've been seasoned
by wind, dusk & sunlight.
Pressure can make everything
whole again, brass nails
tacked into the ebony wood
your face has been carved
five times. I have to drive
trouble from the valley.
Trouble in the hills.
Trouble on the river
too. There's no kola nut,
palm wine, fish, salt,
or calabash. Kadoom.
Kadoom. Kadoom. Ka-
doooom. Kadoom. Now
I have beaten a song back into you,
rise & walk away like a panther.

Grateful,

Michael