liza garza

Have you ever met a person
who changes your life?
Whose presence makes you
question your very purpose making
you truly examine yourself and alter
aspects of your existence? Have you ever
met a person whose natural beauty exudes
from their petit frame and whose passion
emanates during moments of silence? I have.
She has been described as "a rare soul who
possesses the uncommon ability to keep
listeners captivated while provoking social
change and action in the community. Her words
simultaneously whisper power and strength; peace
and grace."
Three days before finding out that spoken-word songbird
Liza Garza was in town, I was absent-mindedly
re-arranging my top friends list on my Myspace page and
decided to add Liza's profile. Maybe that was a coincidence
or maybe it was Allah preparing me for the bonds of
sister-ship that were about to be built. I prefer the
latter. I decided to meet up with this multi-
talented Latna Muslima who has graced
TV screens on Russell Simmons Def
Poetry and remarkably performed
alongside Stevie Wonder and
Roberta Flack at the Rainbow/
PUSH Coalition's national march.
We met up in Baker Street.
She arrived with her hair
wrapped beautifully and a
shawl covering her modesty
over a traditional Mexican
dress… she looked fly! We
walked to Regents Park
mosque and she couldn't
resist the urge to smell
ave you ever met a person
who changes your life?
Whose presence makes you
question your very purpose making
you truly examine yourself and alter
aspects of your existence? Have you ever
met a person whose natural beauty exudes
from their petit frame and whose passion
emanates during moments of silence? I have.
She has been described as "a rare soul who
possesses the uncommon ability to keep
listeners captivated while provoking social
change and action in the community. Her words
simultaneously whisper power and strength; peace
and grace."
Three days before finding out that spoken-word songbird
Liza Garza was in town, I was absent-mindedly
re-arranging my top friends list on my Myspace page and
decided to add Liza's profile. Maybe that was a coincidence
or maybe it was Allah preparing me for the bonds of
sister-ship that were about to be built. I prefer the
latter. I decided to meet up with this multi-
talented Latna Muslima who has graced
TV screens on Russell Simmons Def
Poetry and remarkably performed
alongside Stevie Wonder and
Roberta Flack at the Rainbow/
PUSH Coalition's national march.
We met up in Baker Street.
She arrived with her hair
wrapped beautifully and a
shawl covering her modesty
over a traditional Mexican
dress… she looked fly! We
walked to Regents Park
mosque and she couldn't
resist the urge to smell
flowers along the way telling me, with the passion of a child
how she ended up in London...

FULL ARTICLE AT:

WWW.THEPLATFORMAG.COM - Platform Magazine

“A non-traditional student? What is that?” laughs Liza Garza. “My whole life is non-traditional.”

Liza is the single mother of two young boys who bring her boundless joy, yet has experienced more pain and loss in her 27 years than most do in a lifetime. She is a UM-Flint Maize & Blue award recipient. She is relentless. She is a mother. She is a leader. She is an artist. Liza Garza is UM-Flint.

After receiving an associates degree in graphic design from Baker College, Liza was preparing to move to Texas. Then something prompted her to visit UM-Flint – something the Flint native had never done. She spoke to an admissions counselor who, “wanted to hear my story, not give me a sales pitch. She, and the university, made a wonderful first impression.”

That year, UM-Flint offered the Mott Educational Opportunities Initiative scholarship. Liza applied and got it. “It was a full ride. It included daycare, a stipend for books, everything. I was so thrilled. Everything fell into place.”

Aimi Moss, Liza’s academic advisor, described to her the Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies requirements – whereby, Liza could create her own degree, her own major. “You have to submit the rationale for it, the courses you will take in order to earn the degree, have it endorsed by four faculty members, and come up with a title. My degree will be in performance activism – using performance art to spur and initiate new thought and new action, thus creating change. This is not art for art’s sake.

The departments she pulled from were: Communication, for the technical, tactical public speaking instruction and etiquette; Theatre, for how to use your body, the space around your body and your presence to be commanding; Africana Studies, because Liza believes all people should know more about themselves and their history; English, to work on the craft of writing and expose herself to the great poets and writers; Education, for classes on folklore and storytelling; and so many other courses – all with real, valid and applicable knowledge.

Someday, after her career as a performance activist Liza would like to become a college professor, teaching performance activism.
- University of Michigan-Flint

Last Friday night, the Black Lily Film and Musical Festival's Opening Concert stayed good from the second it started. The evening was hosted by Ryva, of Decibel Live, and just as Decibel Live lets no one stay on stage at Mill Creek's First Tuesday event if they're not performing well, or have gone over their time limit, she kept the pace moving and the crowd energized and entertained all night. The evening was filled with performances by artists who've been in the area and performing through Black Lily for years, and others who were in the country for the first time ever.

Highlights of the evening included, of course, the Jazzyfatnastees, as without them, there would be no Black Lily. I'd be lying if I said the crowd rallied to sing, dance, and generally get close to the stage more for any other artist than they did when the Jazzyfatnastees came on. Slanty Eyed Mama, a group who describes themselves as "David Byrne meets Timbaland meets Laurie Anderson meets Missy Elliot meets the Velvet Underground. Badassed political hip hop. Alternative flow. Crazy asianatrixes gone wild," performed a few songs earlier in the evening. Their material deals with their experiences as Asian women in America, dealing with the variety of stereotypes the public places upon them, and their own reactions to such twisted expectations.

My favorite performer discovery of the evening, Liza Garza, who recently released her self-produced first album, performed a set that felt shorter than it should have been, because her songs were just that good and that moving. At the beginning of her set, she played "My Everything," a song that starts out with the words "They said we would become victims to the streets/as if the concrete could creep up and catch us/in the midst of walking/catch up and grab up/cock back and slap up/and we believed them," and from that point on, I was hooked to every word and note that came through the sound system.

- Phillyist.com