2 Ix
White Lunar Wizard
One must take every Risk
To birth one’s Brilliance –
Awaken the Dream
In the Psyche –
For it is there
That Angels gather
The Seeds of Genius –
Planted before Origin
Are watered and fed
By Cries of the Heart –
A prodigious Life
Requires the Rupture
Of mundane Existence –
When Kairos intersects Cronos –
Where Vertical traverses Horizontal –
Step into Destiny
Embrace Life’s Mystery
Drama and Agony -
Requiring an essential second Birth
Into Daimon’s Pattern and Veracity.
©Kleomichele Leeds
Eva Lewis
Eva Maria Lewis is a student activist, advocate, poet, and artist. From South Side, Chicago. She is a contributor to Teen Vogue, founder of The I Project, Youth for Black Lives, and an organizer of the July 11, 2016 youth march on Millennium Park to protest police brutality.
Education
Lewis is a graduate of Walter Payton College Prep School and a student at the University of Pennsylvania.
Community activism
After the shooting of Trayvon Martin, Lewis protested for the first time, marching with her mother on Michigan Avenue (Chicago). Lewis became further engaged while attending high school at Walter Payton College Prep, after attending primary school in the less-affluent, majority African American South Side. In 2015, when she was a junior in high school, Lewis founded the non-profit The I Project. The I Project supports intersectional activism through art, with fundraising and community outreach. Events have included a photo shoot for people of all sizes and shapes, with a discussion of culture and body image, and a screening of Beyoncé's Lemonade with an inter-generational panel discussion.
In 2016, Lewis joined three other black teen women activists to organize a youth sit-in in Chicago, to protest police shootings of people of color, particularly Alton Sterling and Philando Castile. The organizers rallied young community members on social media, with a Facebook event and the hashtag #BLMCHIYouth. The four organizers led a crowd of over 1,000 (some sources say 2,000) people in a peaceful sit-in in Millennium Park, and a march down Michigan Avenue and State Street (Chicago). There were no arrests, a symbolic victory because of the reputation of violence in Chicago, especially among youths of color, and a strained relationship between anti-racism activists and Chicago police. Following the march, Lewis and the organizers started Youth for Black Lives (Y4BL) to activate youth voices against systemic oppression. With Y4BL, Lewis organized a second march beginning in Millennium Park on August 7, 2016, to protest police brutality following the death of Paul O'Neal. In November 2016, in response to a deadly police shooting in Mount Greenwood, Chicago and racist text messages sent among students of Marist High School (Chicago, Illinois), Y4BL organized another march. However, Lewis and the organizers received threats on social media, and CPS leadership contacted the organizers' parents, and the march was canceled due to safety concerns. Instead, Y4BL organized meetings with Chicago Police Department Superintendent Eddie T. Johnson. The first, held on November 11, 2016, included Johnson, the Chief of Patrol, the Alderman of Mt. Greenwood, and the principle of Marist High School. During the first and subsequent meetings, Lewis and the other Y4BL members questioned Johnson and discussed racism and policing in Mt. Greenwood and Chicago at large.
United Nations
Through her decade of involvement with the Girl Scouts of the USA, Lewis participated in the United Nations’ 60th Annual Commission on the Status of Women in New York in March 2016. Lewis spoke at the U.N. again in October 2016 for the United Nations' International Day of the Girl Child, performing spoken word during the opening of the event; she also gave a speech during the proceedings.
Teen Vogue
Lewis contributed to Teen Vogue in 2016 and 2017, focusing on black women, intersectional feminism, and perceptions and approaches to handling violence in Chicago. She addresses social justice, especially for people of color.
Awards
Pioneer Award, Chicago Foundation for Women, March 2017
Princeton Prize in Race Relations, April 2017
Rising Star award, DuSable Museum of African American History, June 2017
Publications and speeches
Eva Lewis articles on Teen Vogue website
ABC 7 Chicago interview with Lewis on The I Project
Eva Lewis Opening Performance, U.N. International Day of the Girl Child, 2016
Eva Lewis Speech, U.N. International Day of the Girl Child, 2016
Chicago: A Land of Wilderness and Oasis | Eva Lewis | TEDxTeen*
IX
Kin 54: White Lunar Wizard
I polarize in order to enchant
Stabilizing receptivity
I seal the output of timelessness
/with the lunar tone of challenge
I am guided by the power of death.
Every culture has its particular set of images and symbols that defines the nature of mind and consciousness.*
*Star Traveler's 13 Moon Almanac of Synchronicity, Galactic Research Institute, Law of Time Press, Ashland, Oregon, 2018-2019.
The Sacred Tzolk'in
Manipura Chakra (Limi Plasma)
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