SPEAK! CD

*FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:*
*March 7, 2009*
*SPEAK! WOMEN OF COLOR MEDIA COLLECTIVE** RELEASING SELF-TITLED DEBUT CD*
*UNITED STATES *

SPEAK! Women of Color Media Collective, a netroots coalition of women of color bloggers and media-makers, is debuting March 7, 2009 with a performance art CD, accompanied by a collaborative zine and classroom curriculum for educators.

Compiled and arranged by Liquid Words Productions, the spoken word CD weaves together the stories, poetry, music, and writings of women of color
from across the United States. The 20 tracks, ranging from the explosive
"Why Do You Speak?" to the reverent "For Those of Us," grant a unique
perspective into the minds of single mothers, arrested queer and trans activists, excited children, borderland dwellers, and exploring dreamers, among
many others.

"We want other women of color to know they are not alone in their
experiences," said writer and educator Alexis Pauline Gumbs, one of
the contributors to the CD. "We want them to know that this CD will
give sound, voice and space to the often silenced struggles and dreams of
womenof color."

The Speak! collective received grant assistance from the Allied Media
Conference coordinators to release a zine complementing the works featured
on the CD, as well as a teaching curriculum for educators to incorporate its
tracks into the classroom environment.

"*Speak!* is a testament of struggle, hope, and love," said blogger
Lisa Factora-Borchers of A Woman's Ecdysis. "Many of the contributors are
in the Radical Women of Color blogosphere and will be familiar names... I
can guarantee you will have the same reaction as to when I heard them
speak, I was mesmerized."

To promote the initiative, the Speak! collective is coordinating
listening parties in communities across America, creating short YouTube
promotions illustrating the CD creation process, and collaborating with organizers and activists online and offline.

The CD is available for online ordering at the SPEAK! Media Collective site on a sliding scale, beginning at $12.

All inquiries for review copies should be directed to us at speakcd@gmail.com. Proceeds of this album will go toward funding for mothers
and/or financially restricted activists attending the 11th Annual
*Allied Media Conference* in Detroit, MI from July 16-19.

SPEAK! CD

Coming soon...



A description:

Speak! is a women of color led media collective and in the summer months of 2008, they created a CD compilation of spoken word, poetry, and song. This is the first self-named album.

With womyn contributors from all over the country, Speak! is a testament of struggle, hope, and love. Many of the contributors are in the Radical Women of Color blogosphere and will be familiar names to you. Instead of just reading their work, you'll be able to hear their voices.

I can guarantee you will have the same reaction as to when I heard them speak, I was mesmerized.

Proceeds of this album will go toward funding mothers and/or financially restricted activists wanting to attend the Allied Media Conference in Detroit, MI this July. This is our own grassroots organizing at its finest with financial assistance from the AMC. We collaborated and conference called for months and here it is, ready for your purchasing.

In addition to these moving testaments, there will be a zine, featuring more of our work and a curriculum available to further process the meaning of each piece for yourself, education, or a group discussion. The possibilities are endless.


You get all of this for less than $20, you can order one for yourself or buy a gift card for friend which can be redeemed to buy the CD. Stay on your toes and look for more information come January 1, 2009. Only 200 copies are available.


Forward this promo vid widely and to the ends of your contact list. See the link here.

Much love.

When I first heard the CD, I described my reaction as something like, "it made me feel good in a place where I didn't know 'good' was possible."

A Friday Morning, "I'm Cold!!!" Poem

The rest of my body knows
As I lay huddled
Under the covers
Trying to create
Trying to absorb
Warmth
But my fingers
(They so often get me in trouble)
Wanted to rub
my cold nose
Wanted to stretch
They felt cramped
Wanted to glide
Across the keyboard,
More curious
than my cold nose
can be
So they crept up
Past the boundary
Of the sheets
Rubbed the cold away
Stretched sinuously
Typed quickly
Warmed, despite the room's
chill
Then, as parts of me urged--
the shoulders now bared
and shivering
the arms
with hair on end
the nose
whose warmth was fleeting--
the fingers paused
compromised
slid away from the keyboard
grabbed the comforter
tugged it gently
re-created the cocoon

Look What Gwyn Wrote!

Not that it's surprising--Gwyn and writing kind of go together. But I felt this the moment I read it.

Side Step
I remember being eleven and doing steps in front
of the four-story tenement we called home
twist
sophisticated lady—you know that’s me
spelling Mississippi
and saying ooo-chie-wally-wally
long before nas and the bravehearts made it a hook
I remember older black women looking at us
and shaking their heads as we battled the girls around the corner
to see who could pop that coochie and twist like this
I remember pumping with all my might
and not really knowing what I was pumping
but most of all
I remember what it felt like to be with my girls
as we each took our turn in the circle
giving off more attitude than anyone under fifteen had a right to
and knowing that we were the baddest girls out there
because we deemed it so
we said things little girls shouldn’t even know
but when I remember how we were when outside
playing
and what it was like to be one with them
and how later we’d jump double-dutch
or skate around the block
I think of how innocent we all were even as we chanted
“my man made me do it, he really, really, really . . . got on down”
slapping our hands and stomping our feet in unison
we must have felt invincible
and all of our steps occurred in the dawn
before we learned that black women’s sexuality
should be concealed
lest it be used against her in the court of public opinion
itself steeped in legacies and histories of lies
when I remember what it felt like to be so free
from cloaked and hidden sexualities
it amazes me that girlhood games gave it to me
and I hold on to it now as I smile at kim, foxy, trina, and khai
maybe they took the side step and remembered what we all forgot
I wonder if I can reclaim some of that innocent
yet brazen and brave little black girl back