The Important Project

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King of Wolves - A While (Tiny Desk 2019) The mysterious Wolf King makes his music video debut performing "A While" just outside of Powell's Books in downtown Portland, Oregon. Video and mixing by Ev...

"What's really important to you right now?"

"Music. Music is the key to all diversity. Period. It can bring all people from any walk of life on this earth to one table. That's how you get us together man. Music does it. It comes from the heart man, and like, aint nuthin more pure. And good energy comes from good music. You Filipino, and I'm black. But it ain't like that. I'm a man of melanin, and you happen to be too, and we've come together. But say that wasn't the case, we different people, but we happen to connect with music. After we see that we enjoy the same music it creates conversation. And from conversation we create friendship. And from friendship we create trust. And from trust we can create a better life. And there it is, all from music."

"Are you trying to use music to make your community better?"

"Man, I'm trying to use music to make the WORLD better. Look at the people that's controllin it. They poisoning the world, and poisoning our energy. Imagine that my music just floatin in the air. And whoever breathin it in, they living it and experiencing me, through the music. I want them to understand, what it is I'm talkin about. Like they in my mind, and they know why I'm lettin it out. I want everyone to feel my pain and where I come from. I don't care where you're from, everybody goes through bad times. Bad times, that's reality. Everyone is listenin to music, especially the youth. If I can teach the youth through my music, that's the most powerful thing. If i go to the store dressed in my work clothes, aint nobody gonna talk to me. But if I go lookin like the hood, that's when the females gonna give me attention. Why? Because that's how we trained through society, music teaches us how to behave. That's what we're trained to do. I want to educate with my music how to live a positive life. How to get through hard times, how to talk to the police, how to live."

"What's your advice to people in the world having hard times?"

"Turn the TV off. Be yourself. See how that works. Stop worryin about problems that you're told to worry about and worry about yourself. Never change who you are. Wherever you go, be that same way. You create your own energy, your energy bubble, don't let bad energy pe*****te that. That's the way you win."

Reggie Dobson
Florissant, Missouri

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What's important to me right now is my dog Bear, my peace within myself, and my family. My dog I've had for almost 8 years, and he's my main man. He's the love of my life, he's my boy. The peace within myself has been an ongoing battle since I was 14 living on the streets. And my family I raised myself until I was 14. I'm talkin bout my little brother and sister. My little brother's about to be 12 and my little sister's about to be 11. They know how to cook, they know how to clean, and they know how to get themselves to school. They know what to do with life. My mom decided that she wanted to be a biker all of a sudden. Her and her husband each bought a motorcycle, and took off for weeks at a time. I was ten years old and I had to quit school. I started working two under-the-table jobs. One was a day care for dogs, and I organized the filing cabinets at a news station. At the time I was paying rent on my mom's house, and that's how I raised my brother and sister. Then Child Protective Services got involved. I covered for my mom. I covered, and I covered, and I covered. And then my daughter died. 15 minutes and 47 seconds after birth. Then I said to myself, "I need to go. I'm not stable enough to take care of these children any more."

Now I have a college degree in early childhood development, and I've studied animal behavior and photography. I have a sense of inner peace, but it's an ongoing battle. I think I have my life figured out and I know what I'm gonna do, but then I walk to the store to buy a Mountain Dew or whatever and somebody says something negative to me and then it's another ongoing battle in my head. But my inner peace is the most important thing to me, ONE of the most important things to me. Because if you don't have peace with yourself, and you don't know who you are as a person, you can't relate to anyone else, truly. How can you love someone else if you don't love yourself?

Living on the street I see people spend thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars, just in this 12 block radius. Golden Gate Park up to Buena Vista. People have no problem spending thousands of dollars, but they can't spare 30 cents for someone in much dire need than them self. Or stop to even smile. Or say "Good Morning!" What's a simple good morning to somebody? Don't cost you no money, it's not wasting your time. If you're walking down the street and you say to someone, "Good morning. Have a good day." You know that can stop somebody that wants to go jump off a building? Do you know how many times a day I try and tell people that I love them? As many times as I possibly can. Because, just that simple little notion says that you care, that somebody cares. I see so many people every day on the verge of death, and I'm one of those people. The only reason I'm still here is for THAT DOG, mainly. And to tell people that I love them. Because if I can save a life then my life's worth living.

Lexxi
Minneapolis, Minnesota

What's important to me is music. Yeah. Playing music, my band, consistently doing that. And writing music with my friend from like, 9th grade and still doing it all these years later. Still trying to do our s**t, as hard as the times get. I play guitar, our band is called Otherworld. There's an OTHER Otherworld from florida, and F**K THEM.

We play sorta modern metal, we got breakdowns, some sorta electronic stuff, and we have some like, classic metal stuff but we still like to be modern and kina like a band that would be at warped tour. I just got back from warped tour actually! I was just slinging CDs like, 'Hey kid, you like this CD? You wanna listen to it, you like it? Gimme five dollars!' It was great, we sold like a thousand CDs.

Before I found music I would just sit at home and play video games all day and sort of feel s**tty for not having a purpose, but then I got into metal, picked up a bass cuz I thought it would be easy, started playing in a band, and next thing you know that's sorta all I do. It just sorta became a bigger and bigger and bigger part of my life. I feel really really grateful that I've been able to do the things that I do even though I'm just 21. I know a lot of people that are much older trying to do the same things and I'm just very grateful for all the response and positive energy I've been receiving for doing what I do. It's all about perspective.

Maezi Lolipop Kacey
Chicago Illinois

Season 2 is here! We are celebrating 4/20 with our W**d Week interview series.

For our first episode of the series, guest Ashley Clayton discusses her experiences as a budtender and talks about her mother's journey battling cancer with the help of cannabis.

Season 2 Episode 1: W**d Week with Ashley Clayton In the first episode of Season 2 budtender Ashley Clayton talks about the Cannabis Industry and her mother's experience using cannabis to battle cancer.

We're doing it everyone. Little by little, person by person, community by community, country by country, we are starting to unite and manifest things as they should be.

Proud of us. This is an amazing accomplishment.

❤

The #DeleteUber campaign just forced Uber's CEO to cut ties with Trump Uber CEO Travis Kalanick has withdrawn from Donald Trump’s economic advisory council, according to reports by the New York Times and Recode. The announcement came in an internal company email after...

What is The Important Project?

The Important Project is a robust international community that proudly advocates for diversity and vigorously fights against discrimination of all kinds.

The Important Project is a stark reminder that EVERYONE is important and that EVERYONE'S voice matters.

The Important Project is my attempt to grab ahold of every bit of positivity and amplify it out into the world.

The Important Project is my life's work combined with the work of over a thousand different collaborators.

The Important Project is the resistance.

The Important Project is pure love.

The Important Project is hope.

The Important Project • People

The Important Project added a button to help you learn more about them.

The Important Project is proudly submitting a documentary piece to XRAY.FM's Radio Is Yours contest! Be sure to support this awesome station that enables our community to get on the air.

The 2016 Radio Is Yours Contest from XRAY.FM WHAT IS IT? A contest for short audio pieces based on this year’s theme (see below) WHO CAN ENTER? Everyone! Journalists, comedians, seasoned producers, students, podcasters, neighbors, and anyone with a story. Open to teams or individuals of all skill levels. WHERE IS IT HAPPENING? Everywhere! The…

Living in St. Louis is like, it's kind of wonderful, in a way. It has its really great sides and some really not that great sides. Within my first two weeks at college there were two shootings at parties I went to but, when I go out on the weekends and I see Cherokee St. or the Grove area it's like, crap this place is really cool. There are two different sides to every part of it.

There's a super conservative mindset here, especially for me going to a historically black college. There's a lot of religious undertone you can feel regarding things like gay rights, and even s*xism. You can feel it on campus, there's a huge bias towards the gay community, which is wasn't what I was expecting. I feel like it's because of the Christian religion dominating my culture so much.

The most important thing to me right now is keeping my heart soft. You should try to keep your heart soft at all costs, even after going through s**t that should make it hard. Letting your heart get so heavy when you go through s**t I feel like that takes away from humanity growing. Cuz if I let all the s**t that's gone down effect me, effect my soul, I think I wouldn't have such a desire to love people, to help people, and things like that.

Heather Harper
Pomona, California

I regained some hope for the world today. A world with this man simply can not be a bad one.

Instagram photo by アリストン・バレホス • Dec 2, 2016 at 7:51am UTC See this Instagram photo by • 5 likes

It's not a happy thanksgiving today.

I would even go so far as to say that there really isn't any such thing as a happy thanksgiving EVER. Since the very first "thanksgiving" was celebrated after colonists slaughtered over 700 men, women, and children of the Pequot tribe by setting fire to their village during a sacred harvest celebration, I think this "holiday" is nothing more than a reminder of the power of white propaganda and the erasure of Native American history. (Google the "Mystic Slaughter" to learn more about how the majority of this village was burned alive while those that tried to escape through the two exits were swiftly killed by waiting riflemen.)

Back to the present. Today is a horrible day for many people around the world. Some people are waking up in Aleppo, Syria wondering if they will have more bombs dropped on them. Our brothers and sisters woke up today in their camps at Standing Rock, North Dakota cold and weary, preparing to be shot, gassed, and sprayed by water in order to protect our valuable natural resources against an army of police funded by our very tax dollars. And in Baghdad, Iraq today, at least 97 people have been killed and dozens more injured by an Isil su***de bombing.

While we prioritize engorging ourselves in excessiveness on a day where pain is felt by so many, it is clear and obvious to me that we as Americans have collectively lost touch with the true origins of this "holiday," so I have some challenges for us to consider today.

First, I challenge you all to denounce this day as a day of celebration, and instead consider it a day of remembrance for the countless lives that were taken in order for you to "give thanks" every year on this date.

Next, I challenge you to ask someone in the Native community what exactly this day means to them.

Last, and most importantly, I urge us all to challenge ourselves to limit our excessiveness in everything that we do, every day, so that we can share our privileges more than we do now with those that perhaps need it more than us. Why do we only make space to give thanks on this one day a year when we should be thankful for our privileges EVERY SINGLE DAY. I challenge you to take this discussion to your families tonight at the dinner table. I challenge you to have the difficult conversations that are necessary for us to have in order to create a better world. I challenge us all to do better, listen more, and love harder, ALWAYS.

Please share this message if you would like to challenge those within your social influence to do the same.

With the terrifying political climate that our country is facing, Sarah Byrden's work teaching our youth heathy s*x practices is more important than ever.

Our society does us a huge disservice by not making enriching and thorough s*x education accessible to young people. This is perhaps why the United States leads the world in both annual r**e reporting as well as s*xual assaults on college campuses. This is absolutely unacceptable for the most resourced country on the planet.

Please take the time to watch this video and consider contributing to Sarah's crowdfunding campaign. It's time we all take accountability for cultivating healthy s*x culture for ourselves and future generations.

The Body of S*x: Redefining S*x on Campus Unprecedented and holistic s*x education that can change the culture among students on campus | Crowdfunding is a democratic way to support the fundraising needs of your community. Make a contribution today!

Right now what's important to me is just my son, that's what comes to mind first. Family is also, but my son is most important, that's what drives me to be successful. Cuz I come from a rough childhood and background so I've learnt a lot from the streets. If anybody can teach my son, I know it's me. From book smarts to street smarts, I can tell him what to do, what he needs to learn. That's really what drives me to live right now is my son.

Everything I do in my life is to benefit him.
He's a little guy, two years old, turns three November twelfth. I aint seen him in a while, you know, relationship problems. So I gotta do what I gotta do to get me a lawyer. I tried to wait it out, see if she'd come along but, I messed up. I messed up when I was younger doin stuff, but I've grown up a lot now and I feel like we'll reunite when it's right. God know's when it's right. I'm goin through my trials and tribulations right now, but I know my son and I will be reunited sooner than later.

Growin up on the streets of St. Louis was a rough time man. It's real rough. I was exposed to people sellin drugs, a lot of gang violence, that's what St. Louis is known for. So I was brainwashed for the longest time. I thought that was life, that's how you supposed to live. Sellin drugs, sleepin with as much women as you can, I was blind a lot by what's right and what's wrong. I used to hate people, think everyone was out to get me and all that. But now that I'm older, I've learnt those lessons, now I know life is what you make it. Now I'm a people's person. I like to talk to people, I like to travel to different states just to see how different people live, to see different cultures. A lot of people I know have been just stuck here, so they think this is all life holds. You need to get out and travel, explore and talk to people. Look for the good in the world.

Michael Merrit
St. Louis, Missouri

White supremacists and key leaders of violence against minorities are rejoicing over President Elect Donald Trump's pick for senior counselor and chief strategist.

"The white nationalist Richard Spencer said on Twitter that Mr. Bannon was in “the best possible position” to influence policy, since he would “not get lost in the weeds” of establishment Washington. The chairman of the American N**i Party said the pick showed that Mr. Trump might be “for ‘real.’” David Duke, former imperial wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, called the choice “excellent” and said Mr. Bannon was “basically creating the ideological aspects of where we’re going.”"

This article by the times explains why you should be seriously concerned with a Trump presidency.

‘Turn On the Hate’: Steve Bannon at the White House Donald Trump’s pick of the alt-right propagandist for chief Oval Office strategist may be unsurprising, but it’s still unacceptable.

Art heals the heart.

Check out this great tune by Metronomy and seek refuge in the fact that there is plenty of beauty and good still in the world.

Metronomy "Hypnose" Official Video - Late Night Tales Available to buy now on iTunes: http://www.itunes.com/nighttimestories Late Night Tales Webshop: http://goo.gl/HyYIZ Listen on Spotify: http://goo.gl/Q98T7d ...

This is my favorite moment that I captured at the peaceful anti-Trump protest march in Portland, Oregon tonight.

The woman on the left, despite being stuck in her vehicle due to the massive crowd of protesters, decided to make the best of what some would think is an unfortunate situation by giving high-fives to protesters and joining in the chanting. The smile on the woman to the right's face tells it all.

Share this image far and wide. This is what TRUE SOLIDARITY looks like, everyone. Let's show the world that even though the media is spreading a narrative of divisiveness, there is plenty of love and unification to be found in our country.

I think just people in general are important to me. I wanna say my friends, first and foremost, then my family. I just like to be around a lot of people, and introduce people to other people. I try to include everyone in everything. That's what's important to me. I never want someone to feel like they're not included in something. I love wearing costumes too, but everyone loves to do that.

I think people right now are really self centered. People tend to only think about themselves, and I think you should look outside yourself and think about what you can do for other people. You have to be selective about who you help though, because some people are really looking to take advantage of others. I've definitely learned to watch out for those signs.

Helping people should become more of a priority in our lives. Our systems that we have in place aren't effective at helping those that need it. People with mental health issues, veterans with PTSD, these people and others are ending up on the streets and around here it's reaching epidemic proportions. Sure there are people that just choose to not be a part of society, but I see a lot of people that are ex-military and end up on the streets and there's absolutely no reason that should be happening. We are a developed country. There should be a circumstance where you end up homeless and on the streets because there's no support for an issue you have that's beyond your control.

Zombie Belle
Belleville, Illinois

So I just finished raising my children, they're all done and launched, it's a curious time. I'm finally able to ask myself the question, "What would YOU like to do?" Before it's been what does my family want me to do, what do my kids need, so it's an exciting time. So I guess what's important to me right now is the ability to do something selfish for a bit.

I think what's gonna happen, I know it's a bit cliche, but I'm gonna get myself a chopper, throw an oversized sissy bar on it and sorta do the whole 1970's thing. That's my age group, that's my kinda style, and I've found a bike that I'm excited about and will be picking up soon. I've spent a lot of time working hard for others, we've organized and paid for summer camps for kids, fought for towns, done all sorts of crusades. It's crazy and exciting thinking about doing stuff for myself now.

My advice to the world right now is to take a hard look at debt and dependence. Consider keeping your life light and maybe a bit simpler. And the other thing I feel strongly about is consider doing a walkabout. That's something the Europeans do quite a bit, they feel you should take a pause periodically. We do it with teachers, they'll take a sabbatical, but Americans don't really think about taking like 60 or 90 days to just peel down. It's very enlightening, you'll find yourself in there. Find something where you're doing somethin, but it's not too complicated. Like the Pacific Crest Trail, just walk like 20 miles a day. I was up there for a while towards the end talking to people that had been on there for a while, and it was a trip. People that had lost a dad or a spouse or something like that, and not trying to defeat that, but just live with it for a while. That's one of the best things you can do, spend some good long time with yourself, feel all the things, and unpeel that onion of life.

Michel Olsen
Berlin, Germany

Food! Growing food, knowing where food comes from, that's important. And community is really important to me too. Like knowing your neighbors, being friendly, even if it's just like saying hi, just acknowledging the presence of somebody you know? I think right now everybody's just so disconnected and we maybe don't really have a lot of strong community relationships. If you know your community, you'll be able to connect better, feel like you have a home, and be able to take better care of your home, which is essentially the earth.

Fun needs to be more important to people. I think people are so geared towards making money, going to work, doing this or that, and they never realize they should just take a step back, have fun, and enjoy where you are right now. And enjoy just the little things! Whether it's just goin to the park or hangin out with somebody, just have more fun!

My advice to the world is that things happen, and you should just move on from it. Of course it's easier said than done. But life's short, the one thing that you're worrying about right now really won't matter in the end.

Victoria Chavez
Santa Clara, California

What's important to me I would say is family and music. In Hawaii we believe in 'ohana you know, the concept of family. Stitch broke it down pretty well, nobody gets left behind or forgotten right? We are all one community of 'ohana, we're all interconnected in some sort of symbiotic manner. So I've found that you know, you can bring people together with music, it's a universal language. Family to me doesn't necessary encompass people of just blood relation. I know I just met you at hempfest but I would consider you as family. It's always been my practice to uphold these traditional Hawaiian values by treating everyone with empathy and compassion

Music has always been that common denominator for me. It's always been there for me in my times of sorrow and my times of triumph. It's always provided me with solace. Jimmy Page, one of my prime inspirations said people have let me down and disappointed me, music has never disappointed me. I think that's held true for me as well. I've lived a very tumultuous life, and it's always been a way for me to fluidly express myself. Sometimes I can't articulate well talking but I find that you know, sometimes silence, like musical silence, can say more than spoken words.

Recently my good friend was shot and killed by a jealous ex boyfriend. This really struck a chord in my heart and in my spirit, my soul. Her name was Leah, she was a beautiful person, and I was honored to play a song at her service. You know with all the shootings that have transpired, all the tragedies, I think the most important thing in the world is empathy. Or maybe something as simple as being kind. See a situation truly rooted in the another person's shoes. There's a stark void that needs to be filled, so often people are living life in the fast lane and they're not taking the moment to stop and really appreciate the person across from them. That's why 'ohana is so important to me you know? APPRECIATE this moment. APPRECIATE the people around you because they might be fighting a battle that you know nothing about, but maybe one kind favor, one kind deed can really save them.

Demetrius Badua
Honolulu Hawaii