Wanda Ali Batin Sabir
P.O. Box 30756
Oakland, CA 94604
http://wandaspicks.com
Education:
Pacifica Graduate Institute
Carpenteria, CA
Depth Psychology, 2013-2015
Holy Names College
Oakland, CA
BA, Humanistic Studies, 1991
University of San Francisco
MA, Writing, 1997
Ms. Wanda Sabir is a journalist, visual artist and poet who believes in the power of art to change and shape social movements. Co-founder of Maafa San Francisco Bay Area, http://maafasfbayarea.com she has experienced over the past 26 years the importance of art and culture in reclamation and memory work.
Writing, Publications, Podcast:
Co-Editor, Colossus: Freedom (2022)
The third iteration of this nonprofit press is looking thematically at the carceral system’s impact on people and their families. All the funds raised will be used to support women and children impacted by mass incarceration.
Recent Anthologies & Publications:
“Our Spirits Carry Our Voices: West Oakland to West Africa Poetry Exchange,” edited by Karla Brundage (2019); “Colossus: HOME,” edited by Sara Biel & Karla Brundage (2020); “Words Upon the Waters: A Poetic Response to Hurricane Katrina” edited by Karla Brundage (2005); “The Fire This Time,” edited by Dr. Kim McMillon (2022); “2021 Write Now! SF Bay anthology: ESSENTIAL TRUTHS: THE BAY AREA IN COLOR,” editor Shizue Seigel; “Tarot in Pandemic & Revolution,” collaboration by Adrian Arias & Reneé Baldocchi (2021); “The Black Arts Movement Special Edition of The Journal of Pan African Studies” (2018), Itibari M. Zulu, M.L.S., Th.D., Senior Editor, “Africology: The Journal of Pan African Studies” (www.jpanafrican.org);
Arts Editor, Senior Writer
San Francisco Bay View, June 1998- present
Radio Host
Wanda’s Picks Radio, August 2008-present. The show is a program of the African Sistas Media Network
Recognition Awards in Art and Activism:
Unsung Hero Award 2020-2021, Love Not Blood Campaign; The Distinguished 400 Award: 400 Years of African American History Commission, Aug. 25, 2019; Community Hero, First Voice Media, KPFA 94.1 FM, Nov. 2015; Media Angel: Black Choreographers: Here & Now 2014; Bay Area Independent Black Media Award 2013; OneLife Institute 2012; Ida B. Wells Barnett Leadership Award, 2002, Contra Costa College; 1998 Best of the Bay “Best Newspaper” SF Bay Guardian for the SF Bay View Newspaper; Unsung Heroes, District 3, City of Oakland, 1995-96, Queen of Hearts, Center for Visual Design, 1994, Oakland Pride, Evergreen Baptist Church,1993, Alex Haley Community Service Award, 1992, In the Company of Poets Magazine.
Projects
Fulbright Hayes Group Project Abroad: Transforming Inequality: Examining Racial, Economic, Social Justice, Movements, Public Health & Culture “Post-Apartheid” South Africa—A Curriculum Dev. Project for Community College and High School Educators, Summer 2020 (postponed to 2022), Johannesburg, South Africa
Transformative Justice Query
I participated a yearlong query (Jan. 2019-Dec. 2019) looking at skills building using Transformative Justice tools for peacemaking and safety, accountability and atonement. Hosted by California Shakespeare Theatre.
Workshops:
Wombfulness Gatherings for Black Women March 2021-present.
See https://wombfulnessgathering.blogspot.com/
One Year Anniversary of Wombfulness @ African American Center, San Francisco Main Library (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiYHjUGG1hc)
Week of Wombfulness: March 16-21 which included daily activities leading up to the big event like music, writing prompts and meditations.
https://www.instagram.com/wandaspicks/
Host and Curator
MAAFA Virtual Townhalls—April 2020-Dec. 2020
Center Mind Body Medicine Training
Advanced Training: Mind Body Medicine – Nov. 2020; Sept.-Oct. 2020 (preliminary).
Heal Her Storytelling Circles for Black Women Who Have Experienced Gender-based Violence@ Joyce Gordon Gallery in Oakland, CA
This 4 month series – May-August 2019, used Expressive Arts Therapy to facilitate Black women’s safety so that they could share survival stories and strengths as they envisioned and created through art a world they wanted to live.
Covid-19 Safe– Car Caravan Protest for Black Lives
From May 2020-Nov. 6, every 1st and 3rd Friday, 12-1 p.m. elders (50+) met in vehicles across from Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Oakland, CA at Lake Merritt remind people that Black Lives Matter, to complete the 2020 Census, to register to vote, and that we would not tolerate Police Violence, to prosecute killer cops. Our last drive was Nov. 6, the day before Biden and Harris’s victory was announced.
MAAFA@25 Events 2020
MAAFA@25 Art Exhibit ongoing
https://www.artsteps.com/embed/5f7811bc267a720cbe7628fc/560/315
MAAFA Virtual Ancestor Altar ongoing: https://padlet.com/maafasfbayarea/Bookmarks
MAAFA Lecture Series with SF Main Library African American Center:
QM Dòwòti Désir, Redlining a Holocaust, Memorials and the People of the AfroAtlantic: Wòch kase wòch, Nov. 7, 2020 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvvMswG3AHE)
What the Black Woman Body Knows, Addressing Trauma through Art Praxis, Dec. 5 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yX-8_YG9Jrw)
In this panel discussion, Sistar Lorraine Bonner, MD, a sculptor and poet whose work centers on externalizing what is unseen such as the consequences of historic and persistent trauma; Sistar Fania Davis, Ph.D. author, Race and Restorative Justice: Black Lives, Healing, and US Social Transformation (2019), founder of RJOY (Restorative Justice for Oakland Youth) offers tools for those difficult yet necessary conversations centered in the self; and Sistar Amara Tabor-Smith, scholar conjurer’s Deep Water Dance Theater’s House/Full of Black Women is a reclamation of public space with intentional occupation. House/Full is an uncompromising look at wellness for Black women and girls with rest and safety at the top of the list. Sistar Wanda Sabir, Depth Psychologist, CEO of MAAFA SF Bay Area, moderates.
MAAFA Commemoration 25th Anniversary Virtual Gathering
https://wandaspicks.com/reflections-on-the-maafa-or-terrible-calamity-to-be-continued-by-wanda-sabir/
MAAFA Poetry Reading at MoAD SF: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z85H7SYRNPY
MAAFA Commemoration SF Bay Area 2021 hosts Libations and Prayers for African Ancestors in collaboration with ICCAAMP June 13, 2021 (virtual)
MAAFA Commemoration @The Mothers of Gynecology in San Francisco (Easter Sunday, May 2021)
On Easter Sunday 2021, Michelle Browder, “Mothers of Gynecology,” invited MAAFA SF Bay Area, specifically, Wombfulness Gatherings, to participate in a ceremony to bless “The Mothers” on their journey from San Francisco to Montgomery where the monuments are now installed. It was a wonderfully moving program: https://sfbayview.com/2021/04/wandas-picks-april-2021/ and Wanda’s Picks Radio Show: (http://tobtr.com/s/11922408)
Recent Exhibitions/Performances:
32nd Annual Celebration of African American Poets and Their Poetry, host, Sat., Feb. 19, 2022
31st Annual Virtual Celebration of African American Poets and Their Poetry, host, Sat., Feb. 6, 2021.
For buy sildenafil cheap instance, men with erectile dysfunction need oral medicine that can effect on the soft muscles of penis area elastic. In most of the cases if we are following good health measures than we did not easily affected by any health conditions; otherwise it should be taken of the strength of 25 mg or 50 mg. unica-web.com viagra pills uk Loss of libido (lack of cheap viagra interest in sexual activity, disharmony in a marital relationship, and depression. The distinction in the middle of kamagra and its brand comparable are pervasive in angles identified with naming, flavor, bundling, shade and shape.* This pill has passed the samples viagra strict guiding principle. The 25th Annual The Art of the African Diaspora 2021 @ the Richmond Art Center, Richmond, CA, January-March
Roots Arts: Recovery Act, August 2020
http://www.rootsartistregistry.com/recoveryact.html
This was a collaboration between poets and artists. I teamed up with William Rhodes. We then had a poetry reading where the art and poetry and their makers mingled. This reading was combined with “Healing After Wildfire” Series, a notecard series of photos curated by David T. Pang, which monies raised went to support lives affected by the Camp and other fires in Northern CA.
Bay Area Generations #66, Feb. 25, 2019, at Joyce Gordon Gallery, Oakland
In this reading we are paired with a person of another generation. My partner was Judy Juanita. Her selection: The Elephants: an oppression story; mine, A Particular Memory (unabridged). A chapbook was also distributed that evening with all of our work.
Choreographing Diaspora, Vol. 1 “Daddy Girl”
A multi-media performance piece with photography, video installation, poetry and live music at Joyce Gordon Gallery in Oakland, March 17, 2018
Mygration, Nov. 3-25, 2017 @ Joyce Gordon Gallery, Oakland, CA
My Art is My Life June 2017-July 2017 San Francisco Public Library, African American Center
I Am San Francisco: Growing up Black in San Francisco at the San Francisco Public Library, African American Center, City College of San Francisco, San Francisco State University (2015-2018)
Iconic Black Panther at American Steel Company, West Oakland, October 2016
Older Americans: Connect, Create, Contribute, 150 Frank Ogawa Plaza, May 2019
Older Americans: Voice Out Loud, 150 Frank Ogawa Plaza, May 2017
Older Americans: Blazing a New Trail, City of Oakland, 150 Frank Ogawa Plaza, May 2016
“Women’s Wall of Visuals” Fine Art Exhibit, March-April 2014 at the City of Oakland Parks & Recreation Malonga Casquelourd Center For The Arts
OneLife Institute’s Transformative Visions at ProArts Gallery, Jan.-Mar. 2013
To Share the Light of Yellow: Fine Art Exhibition, November 2012-February 2013 at Prescott Joseph Gallery in Oakland, CA.
Oral History is a part of, “What I Hear, I Keep: Stories of Oakland’s Griots” (Storyhorse) Exhibit hosted by Peralta Hacienda Museum.
Host, Artist Talks
Joyce Gordon Gallery: The Capture of Life Artist Talk, July 2014 & Exit from Anonymous, Mar. 2014
2005-2018 Activities/Features
“A Particular Memory,” part of Local True Stories Told on Film March 3, 2018
This digital story was created in a workshop July 2017 at West Oakland Library. The workshop was a part of the California Listens in collaboration with the StoryCenter. My story looks at migration and follows my father’s migration to San Francisco in the early 60s and our following him here shortly thereafter.
Featured Poet in Alameda Island Poets Black History Month Celebration Feb. 7, 2018 & February 5, 2020 @ Frank Bett Center in Alameda
Participant: From West Oakland to West African (WOWA) Poetry Project
Writing Exchange with poets from West Africa and poets from West Oakland, begun in January 2017. American poets traveled to Ghana West Africa in May-June 2018 for a Poetry Slam. Our Spirits Carry Our Voices: West Oakland to West Africa, Poetry Exchange, USA book release tour starts March 2020 culminating with a USA/West Africa Tour in Ghana with Sir Black and Ehalakasa June 2020.
Oakland Public Library Event 1990-present
Founder, Host, Participant in the Annual Celebration of African Poets and Their Poetry at the West Oakland Branch Library, 1st Saturday in February from 1990-now. It is the longest running event in the Oakland Public system.
Co-founder: Maafa Commemoration (Black Holocaust Ritual)
Hosted and continues to organize Annual Maafa Awareness Month Activities October 1995-present: maafasfbayarea.com
Co-founder: International Coalition for the Commemoration of African Ancestors of the Middle Passage (ICCAAMP) 2015-present; remembertheancestors.com
Facilitator: Shakespeare at San Quentin – July 2016-November 2016
A graduate of the Shakespeare for Social Justice Workshop in January 2016 at Marin Shakespeare Company, hosted by Lesley, Artistic Director, and Suraya, drama therapist. I volunteered as a facilitator and actor in the program this fall where men wrote original work inspired by themes from the Shakespeare play performed earlier this year, As You Like It. I had roles in three plays. In one play I had to write the part.
English Teacher
College of Alameda, Peralta Community College District, September 1997-present
Community Service
The Auset Movement: Loving Humanity into Wholeness, November 2015-present
The Auset Movement, named after the Kemetic goddess, Auset (Isis), serves the disenfranchised and helps empower and equip with political tools to advocate for themselves.
We have adopted three encampments in West Oakland: two on Wood Street, and the largest on 35th and Peralta. We serve a homemade hot breakfast monthly while advocating with City officials to develop housing for those under housed who live on the streets of Oakland. We have also been writing for the Street Spirit and the magazine, Race, Poverty and the Environment over the past year as well increasing the visibly of these neighbors.
October, 2016-March 2017 the City of Oakland has allocated 35th and Peralta a legal encampment and provided portable toilets. Public works continues to provide brooms and trash bags for at least eight months, and Waste Management has been picking up trash regularly which deters illegal dumping: http://theausetmovement.blogspot.com/
Travel & Community Service Abroad
Haiti after the Earthquake (2 visits with humanitarian aid and money); School supplies taken to Timbuktu and Bamako, Mali, West Africa; Dakar, Rufisque, St. Louis, Senegal, West Africa; Antananarivo, Madagascar; Bahia, Brazil; Johannesburg, South Africa; Accra, Tamale, Cape Coast, Elmina, Takoradi, Kofordiua, Kumasi, Ghana, West Africa, Kingston, Jamaica, West Indies, Gambia, West Africa; Nigeria, West Africa; Zanzibar, Tanzania, East Africa. Took toys to children in an orphanage there, a part of the UAACC, a Center Pete and Charlotte O’Neal have established just outside Arusha, Tanzania. I also visited Ethiopia where I stayed in a hotel which supported a residence for street children. I later visited Zimbabwe in time for the presidential election.
Poetic Protest Fund Raisers 1992 to 2010
Lead organizer: South Central LA after the Rodney King Verdict. Raised funds for the Brotherhood Crusade at three events: La Peña Cultural Center (1992), Beth Eden Baptist Church (1992) and KPFA radio: Freedom is a Constant Struggle; To Stop the Execution of Mumia Abu Jamal hosted three simultaneous poetry readings: La Peña Cultural Center in Berkeley, Walden Pond Books in Oakland and Marcus Books in San Francisco. This collaboration was with PEN Oakland;
Lead organizer: “Maafa Hurricane Katrina: Poetry Reading and Silent Art Auction,” Sept. 2005. This fundraiser was a collaboration with Center for Independent Living in Berkeley. The funds went to elders and people with disabilities. Afterward for the next 5-6 years we hosted report back fundraisers for Common Ground Health Clinic, a health clinic in New Orleans, and Living Independence for Everyone – LIFE of Mississippi (the Biloxi site). Again the funds were for people with disabilities and elders. We also published a book, Words upon the Waters: A Poetic Response to Hurricane Katrina (2006) which we used (and have continued to use to date) to raise funds for these two organizations. From 2008-2016 Radio Show Special on New Orleans-MS every August-September.
Haiti Awareness Day, May 18, 2010 at the College of Alameda
Hosted Fundraiser for Haitian Earthquake victims
Professional Affiliations:
National Association of Black Psychologists (ABPsi) & Bay Area Chapter, Oakland, CA – present
ASALH – Association for the Study of African American Life and History Member—2016-present
Alternatives to Violence (AVP) California, Bay Bridge Council, 2014-present
Member, California Coalition for Women Prisoners, 200
Board Member, Legal Services for Prisoners with Children, 2019-present
Trustee, Center for Northern CA Study of the History of Black Family Life, 1998-present
Modern Language Association – 2020-present