 I'm Antoine Hunter, also known as Purple Firecrow. Welcome to Deaf Woke. I'm your host. I'm really excited for today's event. Today, August 26, 2021. We're here. I gotta let y'all know, man, I'm still recovering from the Bay Area International Deaf Dance Festival. Woo, hi. But that doesn't mean I can stop. I gotta keep it going. I thoroughly enjoy meeting various types of people, learning from their culture, cultures within Deaf culture. I feel like connecting with those people. It's like new family members. It's like just, it's warm. It's powerful. My mind is still growing, you know? And I wish the world can experience that every day in life. You know, for example, just going to meet somebody, you know, meeting Deaf leaders that own their own business. It's incredibly inspiring for me. Now, before we start our show, I want to introduce our two beautiful interpreters. Well, hello, hello. This is Jay. And good to see you, Kaylee. Y'all doing all right? Kaylee says, yeah, yeah. Okay, woo, woo, woo. All right. I hope you all have a good time with us today. Thank you for being here onto our fabulous guest. Let me give you a little information about her. Our guest for this evening is Alitha Lindsey, A-L-E-A-T-H-A, last name, L-I-N-D-S-A-Y. Lindsey is a Atlanta-based, award-winning multi-disciplinary artist, independent curator, disability advocate, and published author. She is a graduate of Georgia State University, Russell Sage College, as well as the Savannah College of Arts and Design, where she holds a master's of arts and creative business leadership. She's trained in classical ballet. She's appeared in films and theater productions. She also studied dance movement therapy in Kohl Ruff, Greece. After completing her studies, she went on to pursue post in the mental health, arts community development, and special education arenas. She's been deaf at the age of two. She credits her early exposure to the arts with helping her overcome the challenges related to her disability. Her work has been purchased by collectors nationally and exhibited in Atlanta, New York, Spain, Morocco, and Norway. Lindsey is the founder and curator of the IKUE, I-K-O-U-I-I Creative, an organization that supports artists with disabilities globally and assists organizations in adopting more inclusive attitudes. The IKUE Creative serves artists worldwide in countries including the United States, Canada, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Australia, Japan, Israel, India. The organization offers diverse spectrum of exhibits, events, and programs to amplify its impact in the arts sector. Please welcome Alia Lindsey. Come on on, come on, come on, come on, come on. I'm so happy to be here. I'm happy to see you. Likewise. So my first question, man, how are you? I'm great. I'm great, I'm great. It's been a busy week, but I'm great. Well, busy doing what? Oh, oh, so many different projects and we're getting ready for our next exhibition and editing book, I'm just, it's just been crazy busy with a lot of projects. Let's go back to your book. Okay. So tell us a little bit about it. Okay, well, the IKUE Book Project, I started it through the organization. In 2019, the IKUE Book Project, the mission of the project was basically to reiterate one of our values that people who are really able, individual artists can be an integral part of the arts. Has, you know, art professionals, artists, performers, patrons, art collectors. So I thought what better way to educate people by putting it in a book. And so the first edition came out last year. And so we highlighted 30 individuals from all over the world, 13 countries. Some of the artists that were highlighted in the book are actually deaf. And I just wanted to highlight different people who were doing different things and educate about the need of access and diversity and being inclusive. And I'm just excited to work on the second edition. And hopefully I can get Mr. Hunter in the second edition, hopefully. But yeah, the book is doing great and it's been sold to 15 countries. It's in libraries all across the US. It's in the collection at Gallaudet University at RIT. It's amazing. So I'm ready to get into that second edition. What was it like growing up in Georgia? Great, I had a great upbringing. I was homeschooled from a young age due to being deaf, actually. They were telling my mom that I wouldn't pass the third, fourth grade level if she was just like, forget that. And so she took me out of school, homeschooled me. I graduated, obviously, I have three degrees. So yeah, and being homeschooled actually allowed me to pursue creative endeavors. So I spent a small amount of time in school, but I got into painting. I started going to ballet from a young age and I was just really immersed into the creative activities. So that's how my upbringing was. That's right, you just decided to prove people wrong. Exactly. I love education. I love people telling me that I can't do this, I can't do that, because I'm gonna get out there and show them I can do it. Exactly. Sometimes, though, it gets a little tiring. So what do you do to keep your energy, your motivation going? What motivates me is just the passion, the desire to do what I do. I love what I do, so that's what keeps me going. That's what keeps my energy going. As long as you love what you do, I mean, you will find the energy. You know? Yes, yes, yes. Yes, I concur. Doing what you love doing, that's how you get that energy. It's a transferable transaction, you know? Correct. So you have three degrees in what? Well, I originally wanted to be a creative art therapist. I'm still passionate about that. But I eventually wanted to work in museums and work in art organizations in a leadership role so that I could create programs and do... My lifetime mission is to be inclusive and diverse. So that was the way that I can do it. So my first degree is in fine art. And then I went and pursued a creative art therapy degree. And then the third degree is my graduate degree in creative business design and leadership. So it's a full circle kind of thing. Can you tell me more about the dance movement therapy that you were describing? The dance movement therapy. Well, I think it was just a progression from starting classical ballet training from a very young age. And so it was ingrained in me to be a dancer. I was a dancer all along. That's all I knew for a while. And so I did that for 15 years. I started to do modern dance, jazz, and that type of thing. And so when I pursued my degree in creative art therapy, which was dance movements, art visual therapy, music therapy, all that stuff, it was just so exciting. And so, yeah, at one point I was gonna be a dance movement therapist, but you know how life is, your plans change. And so, yeah. Yes, yes, yes, yes. So, do you believe that people should attend something like that dance therapy that it could be inspiring? Absolutely. What did you learn about that transition from what you were starting to where you are? Hold on. Before I had been a performer, and so dance movement therapy is about tapping into the inner person. And it's about healing and recognizing dramas and the different things that we go through in life. And so it's interesting to work with people doing the dance movement therapy and seeing how they address things about themselves and they learn new things and they experience healing and some awoke moments of realization through dance and movement. So it's not about performing, it's about working on your internal. It's some deep stuff. Yeah. Yeah, so in my training I worked with a lot of people, the elderly children, people with differently-abled abilities. So it was amazing to see when they go through this dance movement therapy, how they make a progression, and it changes a person. It's not easy, but wow. Learning that it's more, especially being deaf, especially being a person of color, we really need, I mean, all humans need dance therapy. Speaking of deaf people, my understanding is you recognize that you were deaf at age two? Yeah, right? At age two is when you were identified. Yeah, I lost my hearing at around the age and it's interesting because I didn't have any idea of disability or that I couldn't do things until probably college. That's when I started getting experiences where I felt limited. And I think being homeschooled, I didn't really experience a lot of access issues. I mean, even in dance, what I was doing ballet, my ballet teachers were very cautious of making sure that I was following the music and making sure that they put in an effort to make sure that I understood the class and the steps and whatnot. So I didn't really experience like feeling like, oh, I am disabled or anything until I got into college. And then there was access issues and discrimination and that type of thing. So yeah. Yeah, yeah. You know, were you involved with the deaf community, deaf culture, the hearing community with the disability community, the black culture? I said, I realized that we had mentioned that you are a strong advocate. Yes, yes, yes. You are working and making sure people understand their rights, supporting because of your experience, things that were taken away from you as an artist. What did you learn when providing the space for people like you, people like me? What did you learn during this journey? Is it easy? Was it easy? Well, that's a great question. Well, I have worked for some time in the arts as an artist and as art profession. I was directing at a gallery. I was coordinating programs at art museums and whatnot. And after a while, I noticed that there was still such a need for more access and there was a lack of diversity and it wasn't inclusive. And so that is what led me to start iCoupie because I wanted a space where I had access myself and that other people would have access and that it was diverse. And so just to give a little statistics, two or three years ago, they did a big survey, research on art galleries and art museums and organizations. They found that of the staff that's being hired in these organizations, only 4% identified with a disability and then only 4% were black. And they looked at the art that was being shown in major art museums and galleries and we found that it was less than 2% that were by black artists. And that's ridiculous. And this right here really blew my mind was that black people are the second largest group to pursue an education in the arts. So we're getting degrees in art education, art history, fine arts, painting, whatever. We're the second largest group but they're not even hiring us. They're not even showing our art at the same rate. So it's in balance. So I guess a lot of us are freelancers. We're starting our own organizations or we're changing careers. It's unfortunate, but I will say that over the last year and a half because of the Black Lives Matter and this whole like movement, I have been seeing more, our organizations and galleries become more, include more black art and they're making an effort to hire more black. Like there's some organizations that have been around for 50 years and they're like, okay, we just hire our first black curator. So I think that we're making some progress and we're moving in the right direction but it's still, it's still crazy. Yeah, like, you know, 70 years, just recently they're just now recognizing black people. But we've been there knocking on the door asking to let us in. We wanted to be involved forever in over 70-ish years, over 50 years. We've been asking, begging, imploring, knocking on the door to let us in and they just recently allowed us in. But what you're doing right now is knocking the hinges off the door 24-7, welcoming all the people. You're not obstructing anyone. You know, how are people responding to, you know, when they come to your exhibits or your space, do they feel like it's home, like a homecoming or do they feel lost? Like, I don't know what to do or do, you know, do they feel overexcited? You know, how do people feel when they come to your space? I feel like a lot of people feel enlightened. They're in awe. They're like, wow. I didn't know that there was such a thing, you know. And even with the book, which I have right here, it's the book. Even with the book, people are emailing and they're sending messages on social media and they're like, wow. I feel like, you know, I've been reeducated and I agree that there needs to be more access. There needs to be more inclusivity in the arts. And the other part of it is there's disabled artists who are reaching out and they're like, wow. I can do whatever, you know. I feel encouraged because they're resonating with the stories that are in the book and they're feeling encouraged. So that's just, yeah. Yeah, I see that your shirt, I says, care, dear, care, what does your shirt say? This is actually a shirt for my t-shirt line called Dear Black Artists. It's about empowering black artists. It says, dear black artists, your dreams matter, your stories matter, your ideas matter, your works matter and you matter. So, yeah, we have a website called DearBlackArtists.com. That's beautiful. Cute. That t-shirt is beautiful. I want one. I want one. Yes. I would like for you to explain how can people get involved with IKA, your organization? You know, what does the process look like with the IKOU? Okay. Well, we have several different ways that people can get involved. They can volunteer with providing access. We always need people. We always need people to get involved. And so they can go online, IKAWI.com, it's a lot of form. And they can just tell what they're interested in. And also we do a lot of collaborative projects with other organizations. We're doing a project right now with the Dyer Gallery in New York. And previously we've worked at different museums and whatnot. And so we are always seeking ways to collaborate with other organizations regardless of location. And also artists sometimes reach out to collaborate with some of our artists. So that's another option as well. So there's just so many different ways to get involved. I love it. I love it. I wanna show a video, but we're gonna need your support to explain what the video, what we're seeing in the video. If you can explain what the title of the video, I think it's a short video. So it looks like an art party. Can you give us a little explanation before we play it? Oh, the yellow, the yellow exhibition. That was a fun, fun event. It was so bright in there. It was an exhibition where we had artists bringing in artwork that was made and inspired by the color yellow. And we had people who were visiting. We told them that if they came in with a yellow outfit, we would give them a free print. And so they just have these beautiful yellow outfits. Oh my goodness, it was just so much fun. And we took a lot of pictures. And so yeah, that was one of my favorite events that we've done. And we're actually doing it again, but with a different color, blue. So that should be interesting as well. Oh, blue, okay. I missed the memo. I got the yellow memo. Okay, let's watch a little bit of that event. I saw the yellow paint. I did see people in yellow outfits. I saw yellow food, yeah? Oh yeah, we had a girl come in. She does raw vegan food. And so everything that she brought in was yellow. There's another video I would like to show. So my understanding is that one person is a dancer. I saw somebody painting. Can you explain a little bit about that video? Oh, I must have forgotten about that video. That was actually an example of how we have two very different artists collaborate with a project. So one artist, she's from India. And her work is primarily working with two work. And then we had another artist who is a dev dancer. I'm actually choking a little bit because, I'm choking up a little bit because the artist, that's a dancer, passed away a few days ago that was in this video. And he was such a beautiful person and dancer and actor and he was such a prominent figure here in Atlanta, in the deaf community, disability community. He passed away a couple of days ago. And that was one of the performances that he did and I could. I'm going to show you this video. You can see it in your own screen, please. Is that what it says here? There you go. You just can't find a part of your relationship. You just can't find that part that you want to do in the future. So, you just need to bring down the truth. They're totally doing it in the outside community. You don't need to think that you are something chemical so you don't know how to do it. You have to judge it. You have to know how to do it. You just have to do it. You don't need to know how to do it. As you can see, this is an extension of the existing system. This is an extension of the existing system. And the volume of the work console is designed to proceed under that stuff. If it's open, you will not find the destination you're searching. This is an extension of the existing system and that stuff is designed to proceed under that system. So, this is an extension of the existing system. So, this is an extension of the existing system. So, this is an extension of the existing system. So, this is an extension of the existing system. This is an extension of the existing system. This is an extension of the existing system. The volume of the work console is designed to proceed under that stuff. If it's open, you will not find the destination you're searching. This is an extension of the existing system and that stuff is designed to proceed under that system. Wow. Beautiful. Just beautiful. Yeah, I can see. What a beautiful dancer. Spirit was connected to that movement. Community surrounded him. I could definitely see that yellow. That was powerful. So, what's coming up with the blue? And why the title blue? Well, we're still accepting submissions from artists right now for the blue exhibition. And it will open sometime in late September. So, yeah, I'm looking forward to it. I'm impressed with some of the submissions that we've gotten so far. People are really being very innovative and just finding new ways to use the color below. Thank you for sharing that with us. It's driving our excitement for the next one. Wait, when is it? I think September the 25th is when we will open the exhibition for a blueish. That's what it's called. Blueish. Okay. Sounds nice. And I'm still blackish. I'm looking forward to blueish. I might have to come out there and see it. Who's your role model? What do you look up to? I don't think that there is a particular one person. I think that it's a collective of different people that have inspired me and whatnot. But I will say personally has an artist. I've always been a big fan of Ernie Barnes and Elizabeth Catlett. You can see some of the inspiration in my personal work from those two. Who are they? I'm a professional visual artist. Elizabeth Catlett was a sculptor. Ernie Barnes was a professional football player turned painter. His work is actually, it's just beautiful. It's basically a homage to black culture and everything. There's so much movement. But I resonated with, you know, because I love movement in my art. Beautiful. Wow. My next question may be a little complicated. How do you identify? Some say an art generalist, a deaf artist, a dancer. How do you identify? I mean, being deaf is a part of me. Being an artist is a part of me. Being black is a part of me. It's all together. It's interesting because I've had some individuals in the deaf community come up to me and just be like, you're not deaf. And I actually reached out to my audiologist and I was like, am I deaf or am I hard of hearing or what? It's just like, according to your hearing test, you are deaf. You're a profoundly deaf. So I've had to deal with that, judge me. I think it's because something to do with, you know, that I prefer to use my voice and I feel more empowered and comfortable with using my voice, whether they sign it. And I also get some kind of judgment from the hearing world because they'll say, I don't hear a deaf absence. So why are you identifying his deaf? And it's interesting because my mother was a, she's a speech and reading specialist. So that's why I probably speak really well. I don't know. I think I had a fluence that that made me more confident to use my voice and I feel empowered to use my voice because of her working with me since I was, you know, two. So I think that it's ridiculous when people judge because, you know, you're using your voice. Everybody should be comfortable with whatever form of language communication they want to use. And I think we all are in this together because we deal with some of their challenges. We all have access issues. And so we shouldn't be that way towards each other. I got a little heavy for a minute, but I felt like I had to say it because I had a recent someone reached out to me. They're like, why do you identify his deaf? So that's my explanation. You can go ahead and say it. I'm deaf and I'm proud to be deaf. I'm black. I'm deaf and I'm proud to be it. You are always welcome here. You're going through your own deaf journey experience. You are welcome here. I don't judge you. And I want to clarify with all people that deaf, I want to clarify to all deaf and hearing people, all because I can speak. It doesn't mean I have to. If I can't hear, so reflect my ability to speak. Some deaf people can speak and articulate clearly. Some can't. Some deaf people can speak English and some people can speak Spanish clearly, but their English might be a little broken. It doesn't matter. It can be a challenge. How things sound like. So people in the audience, if you're watching, some deaf people can hear birds. Some can hear motorcycles. Some can't hear birds. There's no one monolithic deaf person. So like Alitha, you can be like her. You are perfect who you are, how you are. I thank you for sharing your voice, whether you're signing, whether you're voicing or whether you're moving. Thank you for sharing that space. Your book is amazing. That book can provide a young person. Give them a door to walk through. Those people may not be too deaf to them. They get the opportunity of somebody being listened to. It's not about the ears, it's about the heart. Let them hear you. Yeah, you agree? Right. I agree. Thank you for saying that. And you're picking up ASL, yeah? I am. Yes. How do you feel learning ASL? Is it something that you're picking up or do you feel like it's tough? I actually have a cousin who's the same age as me and is deaf. And he was teaching me some signs along the way. And so I picked up that way. And then in college, I took an ASL class. And so I could hold a little bit of a conversation. But I wasn't comfortable doing a whole interview in sign language. We can do the ABCs if you need. Yeah, I can do the ABCs. I can have a conversation. All right, come on. Let's do it. Here we go. Come on. A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, O, hold on. Wait a minute. K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, B, W, X, Y, Z. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's what I'm talking about. Yeah. And we're getting close to the end of the show. So I got a game for you. You ready? Yeah, here we go. So this next segment of our show is called Name These People. Now there's two different ways in which you can name them. You can actually name their names or you can kind of describe what they do. For example, maybe the president, a fireman. All right, you ready? Okay. See, now you're talking my language. This is a visual description of a picture of an African-American female appears in her long black bob hairstyle, wears a pair of white pearl stud earrings, matching to her white double pearl necklace. Who is she? Michelle Obama, First Lady. Yes, yes. If y'all don't know her, I would have been a little scared. Yeah, Michelle Obama from South Side of Chicago. She is the wife of the 44th president. She was on a show called Waffles and Mochi. It's on Netflix. She is a beautiful woman, a visual picture of an African-American female, wears a tan head wrap on her head with a dark blue lock bangs. She has her four lock jewelry on her long lock bag and blue eyebrows with the long eyelashes. Who is she? I've seen her before. What do you think she does? If you can't remember her name, is she an actress, a musician? I think she might be an interpreter, but I'm not sure. Am I close? Yeah, she's an ASL performer. Not like an interpreter, but a performer. Her name is Raven Sutton. She's from Alabama. She's a dancer, ASL performer, Deaf Awareness Advocate. She was on our show, I think, two weeks ago. She's amazing. She's just less loose. Awesome. Visual description, a picture of an African-American male, appears in his black white text New York baseball cap, wearing an aqua blue eyes-framed eyeglasses. Who is he? He's a filmmaker. I might take his name right now, but I know he's a filmmaker. He's done a lot of films. Name one of his movies. I'm drawing a blank. I know his movies. Spike Lee. Spike Lee. You know he's from Atlanta, Georgia, and he moved to New York. He's an American film director, producer, screenwriter, actor, and professor. I think he's made over 35 films. Spike, his nickname is Spike. This next one is a cool, cool, cool person. He's deaf. As a picture of an African-American male, sits crossing his arms with long, block locks flowing over his shoulders, wears a light, teal blue, opening button blouse, and grins at the camera. Who is he? His name is Mervyn O'Brien. Deaf, native of New Orleans, Louisiana, dancer, actor, choreographer. He's a beautiful human. Right now he's in New York. He's involved in all kinds of activities in New York. I hope you get the opportunity to meet this amazing person. Now, he's also my good friend. A visual picture of an African-American female appears in the background of several trees standing with her right hand on her right hip while smiles at the camera. Who is she? I have no idea. Her name's Catherine. Her name is Stefan. She's an educator, a yoga teacher, and several others. She also wrote a book. Oh, wow, okay. I hope y'all connect. She was on an earlier episode of Deaf Woke. A picture of an African-American man has a tiny gray hair, almost hairless, a thin, trimmed gray goatee, wears a pair of silver-framed eyeglasses to match to his fine black suit jacket with a blue collar and a light blue navy spotted tie, looking so sharp as he glances away from the camera. Who is he? Looks like the president of the Deaf Black Association or something. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Yeah, you got it. Dr. Glenn Anderson. He's the one of the founders of the National Black Deaf Advocates. He's the first deaf male to receive a PhD from the Gallaudet University in Washington, DC. A visual description. A picture of an African-American female sits in the back of a wheelchair facing to the camera, wearing a bright, arm-pink dress. She wears in a blue, long, black, curly, twisted hairstyle, posing in a dance with her hands that touch on the hands that it's back. One right leg stretching out with a foot touched on her gray floor. She smiles at the camera. Who is she? I'm sorry. Hold on. The captures went off. I can get them back on. I know her. She is an Aikui artist, actually. India Harville, I think it is. India Harville. She's one of our members. Mm-hmm. Yes. India Harville. The captures are still not working. She's from the Bay Area in California. Mm-hmm. A disabled queer fem teacher, somatic body worker, performer, artist, dancer, instructor, social justice advocate, and educator. She's one of only 25 people who are advanced certification and dance ability to become a master instructor. Oh, no, I am. This is a visual picture of an African-American male appears in his black jacket, white collar, and a light brown tee, wears in a black flat haircut neatly and black full trimmed beard, looking at the camera, looking so serious. Who is he? I cannot recall. His cool guy named J.C. Smith is a football star and a black student union leader at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C. He's a cool, cool, cool guy. Oh. A visual description, a picture of an African-American female appears in her background of a green and pink flowery plant pants from outside. She has a black curly hair in one side and we're left wearing a pair of black cat-framed eyeglasses. Who is she? I believe she's probably a speaker, a disability advocate of some sort. Just not sure what her name is. Well, you are on the nose, Andrea Levant. A native of Tempe, Arizona is the president chief inclusion officer, office of Levant Counseling Incorporated through Levant Counseling. Andrea teaches brands ways to create disability inclusive marketing campaigns. She is impact producer and Oscar-nominated 2020 documentary called Crip Camp. Hey, okay. A visual picture of an African-American female appears in her red lace dress with no sleeves wearing a white pearl stud earring. She has a long black hair over her shoulders. She glances to the left at the camera smiling a little bit. Who is she? She is the first deaf-blind lawyer. I believe. What is her name? Her name is not covered to me, but I know she is the first deaf-blind lawyer. She went to Yale, I believe. She has a book that's amazing. That's close. The college is close. Her name. Ah. Hadian Gurma. You got it. You were right there. She's deaf-blind. She's an author. Graduated from Harvard Law School. She was recognized to be an award by the President Barack Obama, who's named her the White House Champion of Change. What? She has a book called Habian the Deaf-Blind Woman Who Conquered Harvard Law. This one might be a little challenging, but the visual description, a picture of an African-American female appears in her honey short curly hairstyle wears a dark gray blouse with a short necklace of diamonds matching to a pair of diamonds that earrings smiles at the camera. What do you think she does? News hosting. That's my best guess. This is Claudia L. Gordon. She's a native of Jamaica. She's the first deaf black female attorney in the United States. She's been active in both black deaf community and the disability community. Claudia has become the first deaf person to work at the White House for a few years. During the Barack Obama's presidency, she is an incredible person. I hope you get the opportunity to meet her. Alright, last one. A picture of an African-American male sits putting his hand on his left cheek and dimples smiling at the camera. He has a deeply gray sunny hat with strings, wears a blue shirt with a pair of gray shorts and a black brown beaded bracelet on his right hand and wrist. Who is he? He's a dancer. Yeah. And he actually doesn't live too far from me. Yeah. Can't remember his name, but if I saw him right now, I would be like, okay, I don't know. Yeah, he's a dancer. He's done a lot of videos where he, you know, does songs in ASL and he was really big on ASL for hip-hop music. He's done a lot of music videos. Can't remember his name. Mm-hmm. That's right. Matt Maxi, native of Atlanta, Georgia. You're both from Georgia. Is known as definitely dope. That name definitely dope is a brand to help merge the gap between the hearing and deaf worlds and later evolved to a platform. So, good job. Good job. Yeah. I know time is running out. I don't want to be greedy. Someone allow the audience to pose some questions. So, this segment of the show is Ask Alitha Anything. So, I'll go ahead and read some of these questions. Can you remind us what your three degrees are in? Fine arts, creative art therapy and creative business design and leadership. Hi, Alitha. I'm so new to IKWI. Hope I spell it right. Are you offering deaf BIPOC college students to take an internship to work at IKWI? Absolutely, absolutely. They could just go on our websites and fill out a form and we'll get in contact with interview. Will you ever go back to dance? I kind of miss it. It's been 10 years since I had my last professional dance performance. It's a funny story actually because my friend came over to my place in New York. I was living in New York at the time. And she saw in the newspaper that they were doing auditions for Aida. And she dared me to go and audition. And it was the very next day that she went with me. And so, I went to the audition. I had so much fun. I love the people and I love the choreography and I didn't think anything of it. So, I just went on about my business and a few days later it contacted me and said, you've been casted. So, that was exciting. That was a cool, very cool experience to be on Broadway. I was working two full-time jobs at the time. A day job, an overnight job from 9 p.m. to 8 a.m. So, I don't even know how I managed to go to my rehearsals and do the performances. But it was really fun. Yes. Do you have any new projects in the near future that will challenge you? The project has its own set of challenges and always take away something from each project. I think the next, like, biggest challenging thing, if I were to say something was challenging would be at Ike who we were trying to do an artist residency program and, you know, Adamic to make sure that it's fully accessible and that artists from all over the world can come and stay somewhere for a short period of time to make sure that that's accessible and to make sure that we have enough funding and all of that. So, I think that's the next, like, big, like, we want to say challenging project. Will you be writing your own book at any time, like an autobiography? I'm actually already writing a book. It's actually about my experience as a deaf artist in Morocco. And let me tell you, it was so many crazy adventures that happened there during my time there. And the very first day that I arrived in Morocco, I ran into another deaf woman and she started signing in Moroccan sign language. And I responded in American sign language and we understood each other. We ended up talking and chatting for about an hour in the middle of the street. So, I it's just different things that happened during my time there that I want to share. And so, yeah, that book I'm working on that. Yes, yes, yes. I love everything that you're doing. Do you have something important your last word, your last thought that you want to share with the audience? Hmm. Just be yourself and pursue the things that make you happy. That's the I guess that's my life mantra. All right, people. You can follow Alitha Lindsey on her website in social media at https colon slash i k o u i i dot com or at i g at i k o u i i. Please follow, follow, follow. Don't be afraid to connect with Alitha. Yes, absolutely. She's an amazing individual. Thank you so much for coming. It's been amazing. Thank you. Thank you for having me. I really love this platform that you have. It's the basic and so I'm glad to have had the opportunity to be here and just share the deaf room. Thank you. I'll see you at Lindsay. I'm an incredible human. Did y'all enjoy yourselves? I know I did. I want to say thank you to everyone who's in attendance today. My final thought, going to college, maybe you set up a plan and you were like, you know what, I want this degree. But the idea and the path changes. You transition to a different degree and then you're on that track and you change and you develop something new and you get involved in something else. All of that is something worthy to give back to the community. It develops strength. Advocacy. Oh, you know, the story of being deaf that you can't do something, you know, just watch me. I encourage you to tell me I can't do something. I'm going to show you. So the truth is, you are beautiful. You are smart. You are strong. You are incredible. I want to say thank you to all of the people. All everyone who is in attendance today. Thank you to Alitha Lindsay. Thank you to the interpreters. Thank you all. We can't forget about our captionist this evening, Miss Diana. Thank you so much. Such she's loyal. She and her hands were on fire. So thank you for it to our audience. Thank you to how round drop labs and you you who are watching where my likes at. Come on, where my likes at. Let me see them click. Click. Click. Click. Click. Click. Come on. Come on. Let me get those hearts. Come on. Give me the hearts. Give me the hearts. What about this shirt? Thank you to Popfish for this shirt. We want this platform to keep going. We want Deaf Woke to last. So if you are capable of donating at Real Urban Jazz Dance Company please contact us. The show operating costs are not free. And so we want to support our community provide access to all people. It's not easy. It's not free. So we need your help. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Right here. Yes. Keep striving. Yes. Okay. So I hope y'all get the opportunity to connect. I am Antoine Hunter also known as Purple Fire Crow. Thank you for watching. Deaf Woke. Peace. Love. I'm out. Hold on. Let me get that music so we get a little grooving going on. Where's my music at? Come on. Where is it at?