Women Making a Difference Through Art

Greg Tomascheski, Staff Reporter

Gregory_Tomascheski@csumb.edu

May 1, 2008

Hip-hop beats and poetic lyrics filled the

Black Box Cabaret (BBC) on April 25

as CSU Monterey Bay (CSUMB) student

Patricia Poston presented her capstone

project “LA 2 DA BAY: Women Makin

Their Way,” to students, faculty and the

local community.

The event sought to inspire young women

from diverse cultural backgrounds to feel

comfortable with expressing themselves

through art.

Poston, an Integrated Studies Special

Major, shared a short film documentary

that she created shedding light on the how

female MCs are misrepresented in the world

of hip-hop.

Poston has her own hip-hop group that

performed called DobaDoza. One of the

members calls herself “Bombstress” and is

from Watsonville.

“We’re here to unite together for peace,”

said Bombstress. “I also hope to make

people realize that females in hip-hop don’t

need to dress skanky to be successful.”

Poston has long been an activist

in her community. As a member of the

Watsonville chapter of the Brown Berets,

Poston participates in anti-gang and

anti-war demonstrations as a part of

community outreach.

As a youngster growing up in L.A.,

Poston had always been interested in

the arts. At CSUMB she has taken the

opportunity to share her passion with

colleagues and the community through

poetry and spoken-word.

Poston, nicknamed the Poetic Stimulator,

has been actively involved in events at

CSUMB. In Feb. 2005 Poston directed the

Vagina Monologues, and has been sharing

her poetry at both the BBC and Monterey

Live since she has been in the area.

Supporting female hip-hop groups from

Los Angeles to San Francisco came out to

perform at the event on Friday, including

“The (Sis)tem” and “Emseadez” from L.A.,

“So+So” from Seaside, and “Anita Fixx”

from San Jose.

“I think it’s positive that someone is finally

giving women in hip-hop the attention they

deserve,” said Kiigan Snaer, a Global Studies

Senior. “Women are definitely marginalized

and underrepresented in hip-hop.”

During the event, just outside the BBC

artists Lee and Eric from San Francisco

painted a live art display. As the night

went on, the canvas became crowded with

colorful portraits of women from diverse

cultural backgrounds.

“I’m inspired by everyone,” said Poston.

“My mom inspired me to sing, all the other

female MCs, these ladies are dope. There

are a lot of people out there that tell us ‘you

can’t do it’ but we can, and we do, all on

our own.”