About Naxal
Dear Readers,
Naxal is an allias, for me, a public speaker, performer, educator and non-licensed lawyer transitioning to NYC from the Bay Area.
A South Asian lawyer and poet, Naxal is the kind of writer who “has an eye out for shit that cries out, passionately.” (Andre Benjamin, Outkast) Flipping the news into poetry that we can feel is just one of the ways Naxal reinvigorates the word. Other tools utilized by Naxal include social justice advocacy for all and particularly for survivors of sexual violence, broadcast journalism, workshop facilitation, and hip hop performance art. Naxal is a non-traditional lawyer and believes that, “To be my best advocate for others, I have to advocate for myself.” Thus, Naxal’s writing is a fluid and at times deeply personal account of the news and its import for society, for women, for immigrants, the South Asian Diaspora, for people of color, survivors, queer people, prisoners, the occupied, and the occupying.
A bit about Naxal’s process. the New York Times gets delivered to Naxal’s home, Naxal combs through it with a fine toothed pen, and quickly analyzes each front page article based on years of political organizing, layer-revealing personal growth, and a “top 10″ law school education. Naxal then proceeds to the quilting phase, piecing together a kaleidescope of poetic, hip hop based, political prose from an otherwise shades of grey news palette. All of the content is created by Naxal, and all rights are reserved.
Again, thank you for tuning in to Naxal’s political poetry, if you’d like to get in touch, leave a comment with your contact info.
Peace,
Naxal
I think I’ve stumbled upon the correct website, we met at Dominique’s party this past Friday. Anyway I wanted to invite you to rivers of honey which is this Friday, there’s an Open Mic…
email me and I’ll tell you more.
hope you are well,
Cristina
roopa-
hi,
it’s terri from sf war counseling… hi… i would love to be part of your mailer… right now i am in transition in chicago i love that in transition… i sent you an email at your political poet address. love your work and am gonna pass it along to my friends here.
I wanted to thank u for the eloquent tupac quote u left on J Smooth’s site under my video post.
way to sum it up…. way better than I could have. it was … well it felt validating.
thank you.
(sometimes I question this abusive relationship between Hip Hop and I…
E
whats good. holler at me
oooooooh. tight new layout! your last post was stunning, i thought i knew a lot about the legal history of crack, but naw, you put it on the people so clear and so clean! it’s like, should i read the newspaper, or should i read your blog…your writing gives not only info but makes a nukka say unh, na na na na na. it’s hard to interpret these legal shifts- while the impact is potentially enormous, is it a structural or superficial shift. should we celebrate or simply smile ironically? yes, yes y’all, she’s on fire y’all.
Yup I got your refundz down to the penny. Thank you for shopping at Pete’s.
Great writing skills :).
Hey Naxal,
It was good bumping into you in the AAAS elevator. Did the rest of it go well for you?
Ray
heard/saw/felt you at roses n bread last night. powerful words, powerful images, healing energy. thank you much. i’ma keep an eye out for more. thanks for the info on the blog, which is now added to my daily reading. keep on keepin’ on… lin
Another semester in the archives…
Strangers on a Train. Only we’re not planning any murders. I enjoyed our conversation and am grateful to have met you. As it happens, I will go to T’dad earlier than expected. Death stains. It is my turn to clean the street. Our time [family] to gather is sooner rather than later. I hope to meet up with you again when I return. If I do not speak with you before I leave, peace and love always, Nik.
Roopa,
It was nice to meet you on Friday. I hope you found a good place to eat. I was actually at the Xcel Center for the Obama’s speech and I think you captured the impact of the event quite nicely. If you need anything else in Minneapolis, hit me up and I’ll do what I can.
Lewis
Hi Naxal,
I’m a member of Fort Greene Peace. Nora told us about your interest in possibly performing a spoken word piece at our June 12th Forum on Racial Profiling & Police Brutality with a focus on the Sean Bell case. I’d like to read/hear some of your spoken word work, can you direct me to the site?
Thanks,
hi, i saw you last night at the ft. greene peace forum…loved your stuff, think you should post it here!! especially the morning on 4th avenue one.
peace.
my friends and i saw you at an ALP event a few weeks back. fortunately, we thought to send you myspace messages saying thank you which led us here. your words are gifts, thank you for sharing. please keep us posted on anything happenin in new york, we’d love to come out. peace and piece of mind