Teddy Bear Tribe

TeddyBearTribe is a group of creatives- in love with photography, fashion, music, poetry, storywriting and the dramatic arts.

Honestly anything in the arts. The belief is that through art we can heal people and break barriers. Being a Bear means being about your art and even helping yourself along the way. 

While striving to create and be part of a generation of passionate art-advocates, they consists of a couple of young unknown artists- that are ready to shake the world one masterpiece at a time; Amogelang Mpete (instrumentalist, producer), Omphile Tlalang (drummer), Tlhalefo Makunye (basketball player), Obakeng Mosadi  (writer, pianist), Oboitshepo Tladi (writer), Tlotliso (writer), Lesedi (artist-draws), Jacob Seatlholo (rapper), Galaletsang Monare (fashion) & Dimpho Mokgotho (fashion)

We have had the privilege to communicate with one of the insightful and poetic members of the Tribe and it went a little like this...

 

 













You go by the name Panda?

My real name is Obakeng, it means “Praise Him”

How old are you?

16

Where are you from?

I’m from a beautiful little town called Mahikeng.

When did you start writing poetry?

I started writing in grade 7, I was 12 and my first poem was called ‘Africa’

How would you describe your work?

Heavy. Fantasy. Vibey. Too many emotions

As young as you are do you think you have something to offer the youth of the world?

Not yet, I'm still trying to figure myself out but I'd like to teach others who are younger than me.

How?

By just helping them grow their skills because I feel art itself is a ‘lost art’ amongst our youth. We're too focused on impression rather than expression.

This is an odd question but why do you think the way you do?

I'm not sure how I can answer that but I think it’s because of the music I listen to. I listen to J Cole, Drake, Kutthrowt, and Tajan. Tajan & Kutthrowt are producers - they just make soothing beats, which calm me- I also listen to jazz , 90s hip-hop and spoken word clips.

Advice to other young poets...

Don't be afraid to speak.

Name one of your favourite poems that you have written and quote your best line from it:

Dear Lover

“Our hearts are interlocked in deep conversation. Thoughts and feelings in graceful motion, love never known.”

Your favourite poet is?

Jeff Bethke

What do you do in your spare time other than writing poetry?

I play piano. I read poetry. I jam with my band. I live

Describe the process your mind goes through before you write?

Its free-flow. My mind forms sentences, I just piece them together. Before I write something, I have to be listening to a song from the artists I mentioned before, from there I look around, I absorb my surroundings and then my mind does everything.

One more thing- do you like what you write?

Yes- sometimes

Do you always believe what you write?

Always

If you could draw a picture of your words how would it look like?

It would look like my family, by family I don't only mean the people I live with but also people I have close bonds with.

In case you want to keep up with the latest and past TeddyBearTribe adventures:

teddybearpoet.wordpress.com  

 

Yes, Ken Robinson, school does kill creativity.

Watching the TEDx talk was nothing short of an AMEN moment at every point Ken Robinson brought up. We are all born artists (as Picasso once said) but as we grow older, our artistic abilities are slowly deteriorated by school. Mainly because we only focus on one side of the brain - according to research - the left side, which is more 'academic', therefore the other side - the right side - is the creative side, is, in actual fact, numbed. 
SIDE SIDE SIDE SIDE...
And I'm sure, if you care to watch the talk, you'll definitely find yourself passionately agreeing with this guy. And I'm quite sure we've all been through that moment in high school - or even primary school - when you have felt so stupid for not excelling in the hierarchy subjects; for choosing to do Mathematical Literacy rather than Maths; or your subject choices mainly consisted of 'artsy' subjects.


To sum it all up in one sentence: I rate what he's trying to emphasize is that education is not the problem here; the education system is. He goes on to bring up a profound point that should get us all thinking. It basically went along the lines of "We're teaching and 'preparing' our youth for a future we don't even know of." 

Hmm.

We have the responsibility now. Our parents, teachers, lecturers can't live forever - they'll die eventually. They're preparing us for a future they won't even be around for. These hierarchy subjects are only enforced because of society's naive attitude. What I'm trying to get at is: This whole system affects everything. The whole point of going to high school is to get a matric certificate then go to university. The whole point of going to university is to get a degree then get a 'good job'. The whole point of getting a job is to get paid well. Fine. We've established that....but imagine this...

What if we changed society's opinion of hierarchy jobs. By showing them that being an artist is of the equivalent success of a professor - if not - more. Jobs would probably not have such a steep difference between them, therefore, opening more doors & opportunities for good paying jobs. THEN this will affect university/college/high school and primary school. THEN it will affect the education system!!

YAAY.

Because everyone will have come to the realization that Maths is not that important for them to get a great job in the future. People will end up loving their jobs, because they are doing what they love. Resulting in a good economy, because at the end of the day, everybody loves working (because it is their passion).

If you can't bless yourself with the opportunity of watching the talk - here are a few quotes that struck a chord:

• "If you’re not prepared to be wrong, you’ll never come up with anything original."
• "We are educating people out of their creative capacities."
• "Creativity now is as important in education as literacy, and we should treat it with the same status."
• "Human resources are like natural resources; they’re often buried deep. You have to go looking for them, they’re not just laying around on the surface."
• "Many highly talented, brilliant, creative people think they’re not — because the thing they were good at at school wasn’t valued, or was actually stigmatized."
• "All kids have tremendous talents — and we squander them pretty ruthlessly."
• "Every education system on Earth has the same hierarchy of subjects: at the top are mathematics and languages, then the humanities, and the bottom are the arts."
• "I believe this passionately: that we don’t grow into creativity, we grow out of it. Or rather, we get educated out if it."
• "There isn’t an education system on the planet that teaches dance everyday to children the way we teach them mathematics. Why?"
• "You were probably steered benignly away from things at school when you were a kid — things you liked — on the grounds that you would never get a job doing that: ‘Don’t do music, you’re not going to be a musician. Don’t do art, you won’t be an artist.’ Benign advice — now, profoundly mistaken."
• "The dropout crisis is just the tip of an iceberg. What it doesn't count are all the kids who are in school but being disengaged from it, who don't enjoy it, who don't get any real benefit from it."
• "The real role of leadership in education … is not and should not be command and control. The real role of leadership is climate control, creating a climate of possibility."

#c