MY NAME IS LARISSA LOUISE.

On the evening of May 13, 2013 at Cesar Chavez School 2825 International Blvd, the City of Oakland held a Town Hall meeting about Mayor Jean Quan’s proposed "Fair Share" budget for 2013-15. Meeting attendees included City employees, officials from the mayor’s office, district 5 councilperson Noel Gallo and councilperson at large, Rebecca Kaplan. A handful of Oakland residents were present. I was among them.

When I was a child my family moved a lot; not because either of my parents were in the military. We moved a lot because after graduating from college my Dad worked for tech companies. Business is it's own kind of war, I guess, and that means the troops move around. Until I was in seventh grade we had only moved within my home state of Pennsylvania. In seventh grade we moved to Michigan.

On the evening of May 2, 2013 I attended Chicano Political Poster Art: a retrospective at the Spanish Speaking Citizens Foundation at 1470 Fruitvale Avenue, Oakland, CA 94601. The show features original poster Art from Chicano political movements since the 1960’s. Many of the works displayed are by Malaquias Montoya, Professor Emeritus of Chicana & Chicano Studies ...

Dear People,

On Friday, April 19th F3 at The Cotton Mill Studios presented another amazing Art event. Nearly 450 people attended to experience Bay Area Art and have a fantastic time. I hope you were among those 450! A Particular shout out to Kevin Sharp, Mike Samuel, Myrrhia, Lateef McLeod, Tommy Lafferty, and Patrick for thier contributions at The Clock Tower Studio/Gallery for the opening reception for TOMORROW IS PROMISED TO NOONE: no room for regrets. The show runs ...

I just finished writing a letter to President Obama about the International Artms Treaty being debated by the United Nations. You can write too. The address is The White House, Attn: President Barak Obama, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20500.

This is what I said:

Happy Ash Wednesday!

It's that time of year again. Today I begin the annual journey of 40 Days In The Garden Of My Art. For the past several years I have specifically dedicated the season of Lent to personal reflection and introspection through my Art practice. I have some exciting plans for this journey, but I'm going to save these plans until the work is ready to share. I invite you too to tend your garden at this special ...