Ms. Can-do and Mr. Cutz

Hooked up the magnetic logos for my first day in the community. And away we go…

Long good visit with photographer, educator and multimedia artist Jacalyn Lopez Garcia at College of the Desert today. Learned a lot about her artistic vision and the project called Lifecycles that she did a number of years ago where she interviewed over 200 local residents.  Check it out right here http://www.lifecycles.ucr.edu/

I came away very impressed with Jacalyn's can-do spirit, her desire to contribute to the community, and her soulful sense of humor.  We brainstormed  ways to collaborate in the future, including a hang with a bunch of her friends, writers, activists artists, and others who live in Indio and the surrounding communities.  Jacalyn and her husband Carlos have a terrific idea to adapt a Steinbeck work to set it in the community, her passion and vitality for this are infectious.  Let me know if you are interested in talking to her about this cool idea.

Next stop was Mr. Cutz right across the street from the campus, there I met Able and his partner Junior, two haircutters connected to the community of tattoo artists and hip-hop producers. We talked about getting together over coffee next week. These two guys seem to have their finger on the pulse of creativity in the neighborhood.

I got lucky and ran into Scott Cooper from the college and we made a time to tour the facilities next week, and to go down to the satellite in Mecca.

All in all a good morning of contacts, learning begins…