Let's Stick Together to Honor The Dead

Let's Stick Together wall at Artober Fest, 10/26/13

MORENO VALLEY - Women Wonder Writers (“WWW”) had a successful presence at Moreno Valley Arts Commission’s 6th annual Artober Fest on Saturday, Oct. 26. Through October, WWW collaborated with Hip Hop Congress and Riverside County’s Department of Probation to teach at-risk Moreno Valley youth self-expression through arts and writing during three after-school workshops held at the Moreno Valley Police Department in preparation for Artober Fest.

When the doors opened Saturday at 10:00 a.m. to Artober Fest, the Moreno Valley Conference and Recreation Center became a festive show featuring the work of local artists who displayed photography, painting, sculpture, musical performances, and poetry.

WWW erected its 10-by-10-foot panel filled with its youth artwork featuring “Calavera” skull paintings and a 5-by-10 “sticky note” art wall to further its Let’s Stick 2gether Campaign. Sticky notes were arranged on an indoor wall to make out a skull and spell the words DIA DE LOS MUERTOS.

“We wanted to bring awareness to ‘Day of the Dead,’ a Hispanic cultural holiday celebrated on November 1 and 2, honoring those who have passed away. WWW uses cultural traditions to teach tolerance to our scholars,” said WWW Co-Founding President Debra Postil and author of the newly released legal thriller, The Suburban Seducción.

WWW volunteers asked Artober guests to help fill up the wall with a sea of sticky notes. “Write a message or words honoring someone who has passed away,” directed WWW Head Instructor, Events Committee Member and Research Coordinator Alison Peacock to the Artober attendees. Messages ranging from lessons learned from deceased parents to recalling good times together to regrets of missed times, filled the wall.

At 10:45 a.m., WWW students and Moreno Valley teen artists Jamal Williams and Marissa Sharp took over the main ballroom stage to read their poems. By 2 p.m., UC Riverside Hip Hop Congress (HHC) President Paris Finnie and HHC members Nick Wright, Jessica Salas, Aldin Enriquez, Nicole Marquez and Yun Jae Shin performed hip hop and poetry cyphers with WWW youth on the patio.

Hip Hop Congress is an organization at UC Riverside and around the country dedicated to Hip Hop as a catalyst for social, economic and political change. To learn more about them, contact hiphopcongressucr@gmail.com.