Latism: A Live Painting In Process & Words of Wisdom From Dolores Huerta

Last year, I was thrilled to see Alex Grey and his wife Allyson do live painting at Moksha Art Gallery in Miami during  Art Basel week. I have had one of his books titled, Sacred Mirrors, for the past 20 years on my coffee table. So seeing them in person for the first time was a huge treat, plus the ambience of live music in the background made it a WOW.

I also was lucky to attend Latism 11 in Chicago last week, happily sponsored by an amazing company, I Hispano serving the Latino community with huge resources for jobs! Besides that, the people behind it are so down to earth and real.

Anyway, I know, you are wondering, “What does viewing a live painting have to do with the Latism conference?”  My answer comes in a few words: Vision, Passion, Love and Creation. A good artist friend of mine, Anya Nadal, once told me she always sees the paintings in full detail before she even puts one stroke of paint on the canvas. Sometimes, she even sees them in dreams in a huge wall sized canvas.

I’ve heard Ana Roca-Castro, founder of Latism, say a couple of times: “We can change the world”.  That’s vision. And, when I first met Elianne, co-chair of Latism, in person at Blogher in 2010, I asked her what vision she had for Latism. Her answer was that it was about empowering the Latino community. That’s love. When you look beyond yourself for the betterment of others, I believe it is real love.

Now for passion, all you have to do is follow the #latism hashtag and join a Thursday night Twitter party to feel it. It’s about people’s freedom to express their voice in blogs, tweets, Facebook statuses, pictures, videos, you name it….in a multicultural way and lots of Wepa,  #wepawave  and fun times at the Latism after parties with DJ Chancla (aka.. @ergeekgoddess) until 1 AM most of the time!  The community has grown like wildfire as a result of the vision linked with love.

The Latism 11 Conference was like the beginning of  something new.  I have been feeling this feeling for a few years now, but here at this conference I saw it. It was like I was inside of this live painting and I knew something beautiful was happening – a creation in process.

If you were there, I was the one in the  paparazzi mode. I kept clicking away with my new camera only because I wanted to catch those moments, like a true artist does when they transfer something special on canvas and it stays etched in time. That something special was seeing all these beautiful people that I wished I would have more time to talk and connect with!  So I snapped away so I could remember these new found friends and  those that I already knew and was able to make deeper bonds with, like my blog hermana friends.

You can also see the pictures  on Facebook with all the passionate comments, and please, please tag yourself if you are in any. I would love to continue to connect if I didn’t get a chance to say hi or give you a hug!

I have so much more to say about Latism and later will share in other blog posts. Some moments that stand out were:

– Inspired to tears by Tony Melendez when he said: “I am whole without arms,” and watching him play the guitar with his feet.

-Empowered by participating in the White House Town Hall with Jose Rico, representing the White House for @hispaniced

-Moved by watching a video of a group of teenagers at Fundacion Origen meditating  and awed by what Mary Anne Muller, the founder  has created.

-Hearing Dolores Huerta in the taxi with Elianne on the way to Navy Pier say that she would speak about “what the holy spirit strikes her with.”

-And….getting the “Best Inspirational Blogger” award!!!! I got so nervous that I stumbled in words when I am usually a chatterbox. Hopefully, I can make up for it here on my blog. ;)   I must say that my co-nominees and awesome bloggers, Juan Alanis,(@juanofwords) and  Sabrina Vourvoulias (@followthelede) deserved it as much.

When I first started Mi Caminar, I shared videos and pictures of my butterflies which are the symbol for transformation. It has evolved into asking others via video what inspires them and even interviewing men and women in corporate leadership positions on the definition of leadership.  I promise, there will be more butterfly posts as I get more time from my busy work weeks!

I love being a part of  the Latism leadership team, this non-profit organization which is brimming with Vision, Passion, Love and Creation and I look forward to seeing the transformation of this beautful live painting in process.

In closing, having had the honor to recently be named Co-director of Latism South Florida Chapter, I will share video where I asked Dolores Huerta (@doloreshuerta) what her definition of leadership is, so I can continue to be inspired to expand in my leadership skills in the making with Latism…who takes a BIG part of my heart….. #latismcorazon.

There is a part in the video where I ask Dolores to give one of the Latism directors, Brian Cockman (@bcockman) of Rooster Communications, some words of wisdom when she spoke about the need to support the LGBT communities.  I am so glad that Latism is inclusive of everyone! Although I am not gay, I am proud to say that I have several best friends who are gay and believe we should stop focusing on judging others and focus on what Dolores says:

“Step up, have courage and not be afraid to be criticized, to take risks and get out of our comfort zones. Leadership is a choice of how you are going to use your time.” So let’s get to it!  Let’s spend our time wisely into contributing to make a world a better place..and as Ana Roca-Castro said change the world.

But to do that, we all must grab a hold of the paint brush and etch a part of our own vision into the canvas..because together as a community… WE CAN!… SI SE PUEDE! And that is what Latism is all about!