Faith and Art

A whopper: in typical 20-something fashion I've forgotten or abandoned ecstatic faith. My former Christian enthusiasm could be ignored but for this: I can still see, perhaps more vividly than lifelong non-believers, the reverent joy of religion. It makes people wave their arms in church and play their guitars (or, on the Red Line last week, the kazoo) for Christ. Tonight's Streetlamp Studio performance, the annual "When Justice and Peace Kiss" at Marlton School, brought together a slew of adults and the lucky kids they mentor to demonstrate that ecstasy through crude but endearing krumping, rapping, guitar-strumming art. I didn't come prepared for a religious event--maybe I missed something in the Facebook ad. But how peaceful and good to see kids from south LA, the risk-laden hub for the city's infamous gang culture, praising something that feels at least as empowering as the communal violence being side-stepped.

I spent most of this weekend in a eating chocolate and brie and catching up on Mad Men. (Where has it been all my life? But I digress...) After so much time in the narrow parameters of fiction, I feel refreshed by the vibrant energy of Streetlamp, by the live arts. In what but the nervous vulnerability of a teen-aged boy's song could the fear of unquestioning faith get across to a person? I feel grateful to glimpse the world the way these amazing kids see it. There's no goose egg on my forehead; I don't feel Bible-thumped, even Bible-tapped. I just feel grateful for arts and the people who help it to happen.

To get to know Streetlamp, visit their homepage. To give money, click here. For updates on my favorite culturally alternative arts organization, click here.

For a new addiction, find the pilot o' Mad Men and a few hours (days) to catch up for Season Three. Enjoy your week.


LADB