Reza

Did you know that I’ve officially moved? That’s right! The new home for me, ‘Reza Rites,’ and RezaRitesRI is on IsisStorm.com.

The mission of ISIS STORM is to bring forth those voices that are being neglected; to be a vehicle to the generations of women who are fed up with seeing and accepting someone else’s definitions of who [we/they] are; and to give attention to the generations of women who are awakening to the realization that [we/they] are more than what [our/their] generation sees. It is our goal to bring the voices to the table that have long since been ignored, both ethnically and in gender. The way that we encourage these voices to be heard is through the power of art and writing.

Through various events, feature performances and workshops, folks are getting to know the refrain, “When I say Isis, you say…” But to be clear, Isis Storm is a collective of female poets, musicians, artists, writers, media producers and educators. It is also an emerging music label, publishing house, and media group where members of the collective can work to illuminate our causes and ideals.

As co-founder of Isis Storm (alongside hip hop artist Kalyana Champlain, aka 5th Elament), my motivations for moving RezaRitesRI are three-fold: a) to lead by example, b) to demonstrate my faith in the project, and c) to further the original RezaRitesRi.com aim of exposing my readers, friends, and family to “the voices of our ethnically, socially, and artistically diverse.”

I hope you’ll follow me and all the sisters of Isis Storm at IsisStorm.com, as well as my adventures in music at VenusSings.com and my work as health editor at UrbanHealthWatch.net and SheShines.org. You can also see current and archived work of mine at places like:

-> the John Hope Settlement Blog,

-> RIFuture.org, Rhode Island’s Progressive News, Opinion and Analysis blog,

-> WRIU and BSR, two student- and community-run radio stations in RI,

-> The new and old Rhode 2 Africa blogs, where I detail projects I’ve led or worked on dealing with the migration of Africans and African-Americans to RI,

-> Black Perspectives Now, an online project run by the producers of Basic Black on WGBH,

-> On the podcasts and photo pages of RezaRitesRi.com

Thanks for your support and hope we stay in touch!

- Reza Rites