Title: EVERLUTIONARY

Gender: Male

Age: Ageless

Location: PANGEA

Born financially privileged, mentally curious, emotionally sensitive, and attitudinally stubborn, I refuse to forget any single day.  Much of my life has been shaped by the fortune of traveling around the world numerous times—in the past 7 years over 23 countries.  I believe that no matter where one travels, they always remain in the same place, unless they are willing to change.

The physical body my soul inhabits entered the planet earth in Princeton, New Jersey.  The name chosen for me by my biological parents was Rajeev Radhakrishna Kasat. 

At that time, Rajeev spent a considerable amount of his childhood living in India. Early exposure to the unindustrialized world instilled within him a commitment towards empowering the less fortunate.  Along the journey, many years ago, the mountain and wind reclaimed me as one of their own, and my name changed and remains HawaH. 

The current work I am commited to is organizing and educating through the arts, driven by a desire to develop leadership in youth. But how did it begin?

In 1998, my second year of college, I knew my life needed change (caught up in a cycle of drugs, alcohol and pseudo friends) I decided to take time away from college to join Americorps. For one year I was stretched as a community organizer and mentor to elementary school students in one of the most poverty stricken neighborhoods of Washington, DC. When I returned to college, little of what I use to value seemed important, I also realized no existing major would satisfy my passion, and so I developed an interdisciplinary major called Peace and Educational Philosophy.

By the summer of 2000, I graduated from American University, and over the next months was volunteering at Oak Hill Juvenile Detention Facility—work inspired by hope to transform and rehabilitate the incarcerated. By that year’s end, with the strength and fellowship of trusted friends, we began a non-profit organization called One Common Unity, Inc. (www.OneCommonUnity.org).

Through a variety of artistic, educational, and community outreach initiatives, One Common Unity empowers youth and families by providing alternatives to violence, fostering responsible character development, facilitating positive self-expression, and forging relationships that support sustainable communities.  Still to this day we are pushing at the front lines of the innovative peace education  and sustainable living movement. 

In 2001, through a Fellowship with the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial, I traveled to Geneva, Switzerland and Durban, South Africa, where I worked closely with the United Nations and the World Conference Against Racism and Discrimination.  There I was dismayed by consistent and failed attempts of governments to represent people.  At that point, I knew a few things: (1) I was extremely extremely privileged, and (2) that with that access came a huge responsibility to the people of the world who were not clothed, feed, or healthy.

In the years to follow, I served as Director of Woodrow Wilson High School’s Peaceable Schools Program. In addition to teaching Alternatives to Violence and Positive Stretch, I  frequently trained youth in a unique Diversity Leadership Program—helping students celebrate their differences, become aware of their similarities, and grow through their empathy.

Today regular meditation, yoga and kung fu practice help sustain me.  I have been flirting with degrees in many fields with a funny story about never getting it, which i only found out, about 9 years later that i was one class.  that whole time i thought i had a college degree. 

I find that I love to write when I am unclear about my thoughts… and paint when I am frustrated and happy…  the first and only art class I took was in 7^th grade; my teacher gave me a C on my final project.  I think I am only now transcending the doubts that arose from that situation.  Presently, I experiment with different mediums, refusing to be boxed by categories or limited by laziness.  One of my favorite techniques is pasting portions of my photographs to canvas and then painting with, through, and around them.  I have been described, by some of my loved ones, as being infatuated with glue.

The words ”Everlution” and  “Everlutionary” first began to enter in and out of my consciousness in the years of 1999-2000.  Around that same time I had left for Africa, where I spent 4 months hitchhiking nearly 2,500 miles, while living with and talking to strangers.  I self-published my first book, which is about that journey, in August 2001; the book is called, Trails: Trust Before Suspicion and is a collection of true stories, poetry, photographs, and drawings. In October 2003, the second book entitled Escape Extinction was released. This book is a collection of essays regarding peace and war, love and hate, creation and destruction. In December 2005 I was further driven by the arrival of my third book zerONEss, a reflection of poetry and prose examining origins, unity and limits.  The name of his 2 underground CDs and books have been chosen to not yet be released.

I truly believe we are here with a purpose… that nothing is worthless… that there is no coincidence… yet, at the same time, I do not believe there is a “Being” that has already decided what is to happen… I believe every action and reaction and thought we have is what determines the future.  I refuse to accept citizenship of any nation except the world and know that we are destined to transform, take shape, recreate… believe… and breathe… deeply into the center of our hearts… the heartbeat of the universe… time is the heartbeat of the universe.

I hope to kinnect with you one day soon… Where light meets darkness… where good meets evil… where duality no longer exists… I believe we are more than just ONE…
we are zerONEss.

HAWAH

Member Since: Sunday, September 17 2006

Last Visit: 196 days ago.

Profile Viewed: 1816 times (last viewed less than a minute ago)