Becoming a hollywood producer...

Becoming a Hollywood Producer...

      Day 16,044 of the Journey....
     
       December 25th, 2011

I am my parents Pt 2

     
Ali Kiel (my son)

In what is now the new family home (see red brick home from the 12/24/11 blog) at the Kiel Settlement, my sister (Auntie Claus) and I (Mama Claus) placed the gifts under the family tree shortly after midnight only for our sons to drag all of their gifts up the stairs to our sleeping quarters in the morning hours of Christmas Day...

    
Ahmed Halen Kiel-Kamil (my nephew)

Ahmed seen here is playing with toys that he had stumbled upon in the luggage.  He "accidentally" found them Christmas Eve while searching for the Wii remotes he had packed to use with the console Ali and I brought with us (we forgot our remotes).

"Anywho"  my sister and I would get up before daybreak to see what Mama and Daddy Santa Claus had left for us.  There was nothing like the quiet of the whole house and the walk down the long hallway to see what the reflections of the orange, yellow, green and blue Christmas lights would reveal under the tree.

We would bring the stuff into the back bedroom where we'd been asleep to check it out up close. We are truly are our parents now...




Mama and Auntie Claus at the Waffle House on Christmas Eve


write, produce and direct



Danna


PS:  On this day I missed my Mother and Grandmother to pieces...holidays are always a fractured and wild ride for me without my own mother...being a mother does not keep you from missing your own.
My grandmother bka "Big Ma" used to make Egg Pie (12/26) for me on my birthday.  She taught me to make it and her Pecan Pie, as well.  The Egg Pie (similar to Vanilla or Egg Custard, but with a crust and a little more lemon flavoring) was my favorite.

Since Big Ma's passing in 2000, I had not enjoyed Egg Pie.  One of her close confidantes and students of her ministry, "Little Alice" could make Egg Pie about good as Big Ma and in 2000 prepared one for me to take back to California as I departed the funeral.

Funny thing...I may have eaten 2 pieces, but I couldn't eat any more.  It molded and I put my love of Egg Pie on "the shelf"...the back shelf at the very top.

Even funnier thing...December 25th, 2011 "Little Alice" showed up with an Egg Pie to drop off for the Family Dinner...and I enjoyed a piece.  One was enough and it was good.



It took me 12 years...but time can mend some things...and the heart is usually one of those things...

Becoming a hollywood producer...

Day of 16,043 of the journey...

Saturday December 24th 2011

It's Christmas Eve...I am now my parents...

                    
Helen D. Kiel (1940-1979)                        Damon Kiel Jr. (1934-


From Birmingham, AL and on through Bessemer, AL we hit the road and headed down Route Highway 69 to the Kiel Settlement located in Coffeville, AL.  Our family has gathered there for over 100 years to celebrate the Christmas Holiday. I can only believe this ritual began because once we had the Freedom to celebrate and gather as a family...we did.

I was once a child looking at my cousins who were my same age and some younger for as long as I can remember.  I went from childhood to pre-pubesence watching my parents, grandparents, great grandfather and a host of great aunts and uncles and their cousins e.g. cud'n Earlene (whom I miss) scurry around to handle food, its preparation and the business that brought the Kiel Family Christmas Celebration to LIFE.

Funny thing is as I have grown older ...so has EVERYONE else.  Grand parents, great aunts and great uncles have passed on and have been replaced by my parents and their peer group within the family. I watch us prepare for tomorrow's Christmas Day dinner and I realize I am now my parent's age with my own son who is 9 and the cycle of love, life and Kiel Settlement Christmas Holiday Dinners continue...for at least another 100 years we hope !





(Site of the Kiel Settlement ...with new construction...My uncle Travis' home built for retirement and migration from Los Angeles back to Coffeville, AL; his birthplace)

We remember...Henry Kiel Sr. (son of Mark Kiel, a slave, and the first one to carry the Kiel name), Big Ma, (Carrie W. Kiel, my grandmother); Big Daddy, (Damon Kiel Sr., my grand daddy); Cud'n Earlene, Aunt Pearl, Aunt Sissy, Cud'n Rollie, Cud's Anita and Cud'n Blondina (sisters...I believe); Cud'n Ernest and Cud'n Charlie (two brothers), Uncle Arthur, Aunt Luvern and the list goes on...

      

Kiel Family Cemetery...




write, produce and direct


Danna

Becoming a hollywood producer...

Day 16,036 of the journey...

Today’s lesson…I can make it…but only if I keep going…

After finishing “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” ...



I started reading “Head of State”.  I love Chris Rock and I saw bits/pieces/parts of this film, but never the whole thing.  Sitting down to read the script brought the political satire completely to life.  It in fact advanced my understanding of “Satire”.

I am High School Graduate, I am a college Graduate and I am currently pursuing an MFA so I am more than familiar with the literary device.  I am however ALWAYS closing the gap between intellectual comprehension of a concept and the craft (craftsmanship) to create and execute these concepts into living breathing things…screenplays, plays, poems and short stories.

“Head of State” moved me closer…I felt it… ("did y'all feel that ...over there?")



write, produce and direct


Danna

(I am excited to report I met Chris Rock earlier this year at a party.  I so wish I had read this before that day...we might have conversed about something other than the gray hair he's hiding and the gray that I hide by cutting my hair as SHORT and CLOSE as possible)...look at that short hair on the girl in the center...me

Becoming a hollywood producer...

Day 16,026 of the journey...

This is how I feel today.  It gets me nowhere, but its how I feel.

Today's lesson...be really open to what it takes even the stuff I don't know and I can't see or for-see.

All I can say is that they don't feel like mistakes when you are making them. However it sounds like and feels like everything's been a mistake everyday for like 3 months now. While that's not accurate, its how it feels.

Today doesn't feel like there is anything to be optimistic about.  It's only 10:44a PST and everything feels wrong from the personal, the political to the professional.

I am choosing right now as I write to think positive, be productive and be thankful for life.


write, produce and direct
danna

Masika Katsuva...Strong Woman

This is Masika Katsuva. In the Congo (DRC) she survived being brutally raped watching her daughters 15 and 13 be brutally raped and witnessed her husband murdered, chopped up and then being force-fed his private parts…

She lived to tell…she opened a farm to give sanctuary to rape victims …170 currently.  They farm, harvest and heal …

I am Masika Katsuva…
Danna

Becoming a hollywood producer...

Day 16,023 of the journey…

I just love her picture.  There is no real reason for it.  I just love her face and her gaze of resolve as she stands around this pole. Yesterday I missed a walk against Global Girl Abuse hosted by my friend Sha Givens founder of I Can Fly International.  This girl’s picture reminds me of the resource I am responsible for protecting.

Today’s lesson…”just do you” or in my case….”just do me” …whichever it is you know what I am saying :) ..

It’s Sunday and I saw a great play last night called Sunday Mourning.  It was a testament to the work of artists trying to rise above some of the art of the current marketplace.  Afterwards I was inspired and looking for my “playwriting muse”.

We all enjoy works of art whether at a playhouse or in a movie theater that have given life to our passing thoughts and ideas.  We wonder “why didn’t I write that?”

The truth is we all share in competencies and capabilities, but we are distinguished by our aspirations and choices. We can write the play too…

Repeat after me…”Just Do Me!”


write, produce and direct
Danna

Who Devastated the Congo ?

Who Devastated The Congo?

By Danna Kiel

On Monday, August 8th an op-ed in the New York Times by David Aronson suggested that the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act had devastated the Congo. Devastated?…Really ?…yeah…uh no!”  A close look at the country’s timeline from King Leopold to Kabila tells us the Congo has been “devastated”, plundered and "picked over" for much of its history. 

Along the new timeline that emerges to write the Congo’s story there is one mission: Independent Governance by the Congolese for the Congolese in the Congo and the safety and security for it to be so. 

President Barack Obama has said  two key things about Africa first , “"Across Africa, we have seen countless examples of people taking control of their destiny, and making change from the bottom up. ...Make no mistake: history is on the side of these brave Africans, and not with those who use coups or change Constitutions to stay in power. Africa doesn't need strongmen, it needs strong institutions. ...”

and second “As we provide this support, I have directed my administration to give greater attention to corruption in our Human Rights report. People everywhere should have the right to start a business or get an education without paying a bribe. We have a responsibility to support those who act responsibly and to isolate those who don't, and that is exactly what America will do. ...”

The current fever pitch of death and destruction across the Congo has only in the last half a decade sustained anybody’s attention long enough for something to be done. In 2006 then Senator Barack Obama co-sponsored PL 109-456 (the first “Obama Law” as it is referred to by the Congolese).  Public Law 109-456 is The Democratic Republic of Congo Relief, Security, and Democracy Promotion Act, which sets 15 policy goals for Kabila and the Congo, as well as, consequences for not meeting those goals.  

The second “Obama Law” for which Aronson (and many others) take aim is the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act.  “How Congress Devastated the Congo” is the title of last Monday’s fire-starter.  Aronson points out that after talking to scores of artisanal miners who were making paltry incomes from digging raw ore from the mountainside the de facto embargo on Conflict Mineral mining that has emerged from the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform has in fact “devastated the Congo”.

This op-ed and articles across the web (www.ricochet.org, www.atlasshrugs.com and the www.csmonitor.com) from April up to now suggest that the much needed laws to regulate mining practices out of the Congo’s Eastern region are not punishing the intended Warlords, but hurting the smaller mining cooperatives who depend on the uneven trade of their ore for survival.  Aronson’s op-ed sites Nyabibwe and Nzibira as regions where miners blame the second “Obama Law” (the Dodd Frank Wall Street Reform Act) for their economic woes.  Hans Bader of www.atlasshrugs.com even entitled his piece “The “Obama Law” Devastates Impoverished People in the World’s Second Poorest Country The Congo”.  I believe "second poorest" speaks to the existing devastation.  Take a second...think about it!

Did anybody have this much to say when NOTHING was being done about the trade which fueled two invasions by Rwanda? Did anybody have this much to say as the blood of 8 million was shed across the country and concentrated in the Eastern region?  None of the articles or responses I’ve read thus far even count the dead, raped or kidnapped or the role that the mineral trade had in these killings, rapes or kidnappings. There is no doubt that discourse can fuel action, but a discourse without the full scope of events and causalities can misguide and mislead readers and potential advocates. 
 
Aronson posits that, “The Dodd-Frank law has had unintended and devastating consequences, as I saw first hand on a trip to eastern Congo this summer. The law has brought about a de facto embargo on the minerals mined in the region” which is because he says, “No one wants to be tarred with financing African warlords”

Well I hope no one does want to be “tarred” that is with the African Warlords who are the ones who have DEVASTATED the Congo…8 million dead and still counting, 300,000 plus women raped and thousands of children enslaved in the mob-run mines of the region are the realities of Conoglese life that we hope no one including President Obama and the U.S. Congress want to be “tarred” with.

He and other sites go on to suggest there is “confusion” around the intended regions, he even indicts the Enough Project.org ‘s campaign for this unintended “devastation” by inciting a movement against Conflict minerals.  See their response http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sasha-lezhnev/what-conflict-minerals-le_b_922566.html

The op-ed continues that after “32 years of misrule under the kleptocracy of Mobutu Sese Seko (when the country was known as Zaire) that it is now just beginning to emerge from over a decade of brutal war and internal strife.”  In this “jump to” in Congolese history timeline there is no mention of the fact that the 32 years of “misrule under the kleptocracy” of Mobutu Sese Seko ended in 1997.  The killing and raping fields of Goma and the Eastern Region, as well as, the invasion all the way into Kinshasa all began in 1998.  Rwanda invaded Congo for her Minerals and other natural resources.  Rwanda’s only natural exports are coffee, tea and bananas. The economy of Rwanda at times stands solidly on the re-distribution of Coltan stolen from the Congo.
 

While no one in the Geopolitical discussion of Congo disputes challenges brought to the Congo under Mobutu’s Rule (a rule supported and endorsed by the United States until the end of the Cold War); the people of the Congo agree what is taking place now would not have happened under Mobutu’s watch. I am also sure if you ask the 8 million murdered, the 300, 000 plus women brutally raped and thousands of boys kidnapped they might say the same.

As an advocate for the cause of independent governance by the Congolese people, I am only interested in a clear point of access for anyone willing to help.  I talk to anyone who will listen about Congo.  I must always be clear in what I tell them. As I have learned of the Congo’s past and present, I am inspired by the great possibilities of her future. These possibilities cannot be realized without the support and diligence of everyone already involved and those who could become involved.

Last week was a week of energetic debate set off by David Aronson’s clear and passionate op-ed.  Despite concerns about the narrow scope of the piece and the finger pointing, the roof may have finally been raised and the party may finally be in full swing.

What should you do ?

Start with www.friendsofthecongo.org …then go to www.congoinitiative.org then go to http://www.enoughproject.org then go to www.raisehopeforcongo.org just to name a few then “Google” the tags you see on these sites and take in as much information as your heart and head can hold.  Give time, resources and anything you can give to support the youth and the emerging leadership in the Congo.  I repeat...Our only mission is for Independent Governance by the Congolese for the Congolese in the Congo and the safety and security for it to be so.

Change is Now - One Filmmakers POV w/Maurice Carney of FOTC 06/25 by Auteur 26 | Blog Talk Radio

Change is Now - One Filmmakers POV w/Maurice Carney of FOTC 06/25 by Auteur 26 | Blog Talk Radio

Congo...the heartbeat of the world...

When opportunities to talk about the Democratic Republic of Congo referred to by most as simply “Congo” arise I am ready to talk. On this page you will see lots of evolving videos that represent the widening arc and spectrum of my voice and my activism bka “Love and Support” of this country and her people as I’ve understood it. The Congo is my home…the one I’ve never visited.

As my understanding has grown to face head on the complexities that texturize her past, present and most importantly her future so my videos grow in message and instruction.

However using words on paper (or on web) feels overwhelming and limiting when I look, read or watch the available literature, news reports and videos available on the Congo. To watch, listen or read these materials is not only daunting when life is already overwhelming as a single mother in the USA with a young son in a tough economy against life’s landscape of trying to be my best self. However the deep hopelessness and irrepressible hopefulness you see resonate with me in a way that words cannot begin to describe.

My heart also stops when reflecting on the atrocities awaiting and daily faced by citizens of the Congo’s Eastern Region. However when looking to who is responsible for what will see in the Film, “Crisis in Congo” and other docs about the subject is to realize that the DAMAGE DONE while irreversible can be shifted to create prospering nation by economic, political, social, cultural and humanitarian will if we who call ourselves human decide it WILL be so.

Join me this Saturday in meeting Maurice Carney Exec Dir and Co-Founder of Friends of the Congo and friends on my show Change is Now-One Filmmaker’s POV at 9am PST on www.blogtalkradio.com/djdannak and learn how by solving the challenges of the Congo we can solve the problems of our great big world.

In French...

Congo ... le battement du cœur du monde ...

Lorsque des occasions de parler de la RDC visés par la plupart comme simplement «Congo» se pose, je suis prêt à parler. Sur cette page, vous verrez beaucoup de l'évolution de vidéos qui représentent l'arc creuse et le spectre de ma voix et mon militantisme BKA "amour et le soutien» de ce pays et son peuple comme je l'ai compris. Le Congo est ma maison ... celui que je n'ai jamais visité.

Comme ma compréhension s'est développée pour faire face à la tête sur les complexités qui texturer son passé, le présent et surtout son avenir afin mes vidéos grandir dans un message et l'instruction.

Cependant en utilisant des mots sur le papier (ou sur le Web) se sent écrasante et en limitant quand je regarde, lire ou regarder la littérature disponible, les bulletins de nouvelles et de vidéos disponibles sur le Congo. Pour regarder, écouter ou lire ces documents n'est pas seulement intimidant quand la vie est déjà écrasante comme une mère célibataire aux USA avec un jeune fils, dans une économie difficile contre paysage de la vie d'essayer d'être mon meilleur de soi. Toutefois, le désespoir et l'espoir profond irrépressible que vous voyez en résonance avec moi d'une manière que les mots ne peuvent pas commencer à décrire.

Mon cœur s'arrête également quand une réflexion sur les atrocités et l'attente quotidienne rencontrées par les citoyens de la région de l'Est par le Congo. Cependant quand on regarde qui est responsable de ce qui va voir dans le film, "Crise au Congo» et d'autres docs sur le sujet est de réaliser que les dommages causés tandis irréversible peut être déplacé à créer nation prospère par l'économique, politique, social, culturel et humanitaire sera, si nous qui nous appelons humaine décider qu'il en sera ainsi.

Rejoignez-moi ce samedi à Maurice Carney réunion Exec Dir et co-fondateur des Amis du Congo et les amis sur mon changement spectacle est maintenant POV-un cinéaste à 9 heures PST sur www.blogtalkradio.com / djdannak et apprendre en résolvant les défis de la du Congo, nous pouvons résoudre les problèmes de notre monde est grand grand.

Why We Love The President !!!!

 

This image defies words. It is a reminder of why I committed to President Barack H. Obama's campaign  before he ran for President, before there was indeed a CAMPAIGN and why I was indeed of Soldier of Love NOT politics to have become involved in the first place.  We are almost halfway through what I hope is a first term and my love and commitment for our fearless and courageous leader has not waned ! Baby, I got my President's Back!...

When I look at a photograph like this it is truly the HOPE of our next generation I see...honestly, I believe God is pleased about this one...will you look at that baby's eyes !!!

You Gotta Be - Des'ree (lyrics)

I heard this song today. KTWV "the Wave plays" it every so often and there is just something EXTRAORDINARY about the song. It's lyrics are not only flawless, but the music is indeed music.  There is guitar, drums and llush and ayered vocals.  The video ia amazing, a pure delight...the video is a triumph of expression.  The song brings an energy of refresh and renewal and then the delivery system is a stunning and beautiful creation of chocolate womanhood with amazing dimples and a magnetic smile.  As Jimmy Fallon might write in his Thank You" notes, "thank you music video director of Desiree's "You Gotta Be" for not being afraid of the extreme close up". 

"All I know is Love will save the day !" She sings this lyric to remind us to let LOVE be our guide.  If you believe the same as I then all I know is God (Mother/Father) is our Guide and God will surely save the day.

Friday night (along with 3 other cities (Chicago, Philadelphia and Miami)) I screened a documentary film by Janks Morton entitled "We Need to Talk, A Message to Our Daughters" and of so many issues and baggage tackled about what shapes the lives of women for much better, as well as, for the very worst the claim that we can stake for becoming healed and whole is to do the hard work of finding completion in Christ (For other believers I am asserting the spirit of the creator that rests in us is where we look to be made whole).

The movie's target audience was Women, but the message of finding completion in Christ (or your creator by the name with which you worship) is for our men because they too are searching.  The difference is in how our creator shaped our physical and psychological beings that drive us toward each other for completion. Because completion is in Christ Jesus and not one another, the trails we blaze toward one another are always destined for collision and calamity...

It is time to pick up the pieces by looking up to the fill gaps and spaces on the inside...it will take fortitude, courage and wisdom...because we gotta be bold, we gotta be wiser we gotta be hard, we gotta be tough, we gotta be stronger we gotta be cool, we gotta be calm, we gotta stay together...All I know, all I know love will save the day ....so now you sing...



Desiree
Gotta Be

Listen as your day unfolds
Challenge what the future holds
Try and keep your head up to the sky
Lovers they may cause your tears
Go ahead release your fears
Stand up and be counted don't be 'shamed to cry

You gotta be, you gotta be bad
You gotta be bold, you gotta be wiser
You gotta be hard, you gotta be tough, you gotta be stronger
You gotta be cool, you gotta be calm, you gotta stay together
All I know, all I know love will save the day

Herald what your mother said
Read the books your father read
Try to solve the puzzles in your own sweet time
Some may have more cash than you
Others take a different view
My, oh, my
he-eh-y

You gotta be bad
You gotta be bold, you gotta be wiser
You gotta be hard, you gotta be tough, you gotta be stronger
You gotta be cool, you gotta be calm, you gotta stay together
All I know, all I know love will save the day

Time asks no questions it goes on without you
Leaving you behind if you can't stand the pace
The world keeps on spinning can't stop it if you tried to
The best part is danger staring you in the face


Remember, listen as your day unfolds
Challenge what the future holds
Try to keep your head up to the sky
Lovers they may cause your tears
Go ahead release your fears
My, oh, my
He-ey-y

You gotta be bad
You gotta be bold, you gotta be wiser
You gotta be hard, you gotta be tough, you gotta be stronger
You gotta be cool, you gotta be calm, you gotta stay together
All I know, all I know love will save the day

You gotta be bad
You gotta be bold, you gotta be wiser
You gotta be hard, you gotta be tough, you gotta be stronger
You gotta be cool, you gotta be calm, you gotta stay together
All I know, all I know love will save the day

Got to be bold, Got to be bad
Got to be wise, no never sad
Got to be hard, not too too hard
All I know is love will save the day

You gotta be bad
You gotta be bold, you gotta be wiser
You gotta be hard, you gotta be tough, you gotta be stronger
You gotta be cool, you gotta be calm, you gotta stay together
Oooh, yeah yeah yeah

(Continue until fade)