Main themes
• Walking to highlight personal issues
• Walking as both an aesthetic and spiritual practice

On July 4, 1995, my body became a portal and I brought forth life in the form of a baby girl – Clarae Mischelle. My daughter is afraid of heights, but she is willing to TRY to embark on a spiritual journey as we process her 26-years of life through the metaphors provided during this performance – a sense walk across the Golden Gate Bridge.

Together, we will say “no” to the responsibilities of the world and say “yes” to the demands of each other. We will honor the space of parenting while celebrating life and new beginnings. I/we will engage in a Facebook Live sense walk across the Golden Gate Bridge, located in San Francisco, California, on my daughter’s birthday – July 4th.

This iconic bridge is 1.7 miles long, 746’ high, and 1 mile wide. During this sense walk, I will use walking as both art and spiritual practice towards radical self-restoration, a topic explored in a separate paper presentation.

Through eco-spirituality practices such as sense walking, I/We hope to learn to experience walking as a process of personal exploration, freedom, and overcoming. I/We will connect our minds, bodies, and spirits to engage in a love affair with self. In that moment of sense walking, I shall shed all titles except the most important one – Mom.

This performance takes the deeply personal work of self-restoration and shares it with my daughter while paying homage to Jill Scott’s 2004 classic hit, Livin’ my Life Like it’s Golden. Scott sang, “I’m taking my own freedom putting it in my stroll, I’ll be high-steppin’ y’all, letting the joy unfold. I’m livin’ my life like it’s golden!” (2007, Timestamp 1:11).

Reference

Scott, Jill. [JillScottVEVO]. (2007, August 13). Jill Scott -Golden [Video] YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QCXr79Rkcw