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To purchase Summer Hill Seven's latest book click here ----> HANG TIME!

Auction Block 2: Hip-Hop

  

INSPIRATION FOR A NEU GENERATION 

INSPIRATION FOR A NEU GENERATION

Kun fieya kun;
Be and it is.

I’ll be there to elevate your soul
And through your mind reach ‘ya.

I’ll be there to elevate your soul-
Cuz, I’m a poor righteous teacha’

I want you to have life more abundantly
Especially when you’re alone - not listening to me.

Kun fieya kun:
The word is the power:
Be and it is.

When you listening to that tiny voice that says:
U ain’t good enough -

I want you to look in the mirror and assume a
Posture that’s real rough,



Say: I’m whole and complete.
Daily snatching victory from the jaws of defeat!
What life means I’ll decide right here – right now!
I’m getting my share of this world – I’ll decide when and how!
All opposition must bow – right now,
Flee and retreat!

Profile/Background

SummerHillSeven
Author, Attorney, Artist & Actor

Expertise: Performance Poetry, Hip-Hop Theater, African-American Political Philosophy, and Literature.


Summer Hill Seven (born Raymond Bernard Larkins; in 1982 changed to Raymond Abdul-Alim Akbar; as an actor he is known as Sevîn Ákbar) is an author, actor, artist and attorney. “My work screams: if you have a name that doesn’t work – get a new one! A job that doesn’t work – get a new one! A life that doesn’t work – get a new one!”
Summer Hill Seven is the author of the pioneering work of literature that defines an emerging literary trend resulting from post-hip hop performance which he calls essalogues and poemedies. His first book is entitled Notes of a Neurotic! – Poet Tree: Essalogues, Plays & Poemedies. Included in this volume are five of his plays, which have received world-premiere productions in the crucible of creativity for the American theatrical community, off-off-Broadway in New York City.

Although raised in Albany, NY and Trenton, NJ, he has resided throughout the United States in various cities including Los Angeles, New York City, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, and Newark (Delaware and N.J.). He graduated, second in his class, from the historically significant Sister Clara Muhammad School in Philadelphia, PA, the oldest school in the United States for the training of Muslim students.

He began lecturing in jails and correctional facilities while still in high school. Seven graduated with honors from Richard Stockton College of New Jersey with a B.A. in Political Science and New York University School of Law, where he was the National Director of Community Service for the National Black Law Students Association. He has been an adjunct professor in African American Studies at the City University of New York. Currently he is teaching a course in hip-hop performance at the University of Delaware, entitled Acting Black! The Roots of Hip-Hop Theater.

Seven states: “my philosophy of hanging time uses theater to prove that we each have the power to become more than we are in every moment of our lives. If we suspend our disbelief or rather fortify our beliefs with faith we can transcend in every moment. Don’t merely suspend your disbelief. Choose to be a believer.”

Seven began a career as a professional actor while in law school when he realized that theater was a powerful tool for social change. He has created roles for both stage and screen. While a law student he traveled with a national tour of the Pulitzer Prize winning play, A Soldier’s Story. He created the role of Husband in the mid-west regional premier of John Henry Redwood’s, The Old Settler at the Phoenix Theater (Eugene O’Neil Award). He has acted with a diverse group of theater companies including the Phoenix Theater (Indianapolis) the National Black Theater (Harlem), and the Utah Shakespearean Festival. He was the original director for Platanos & Collard Greens, the longest running hip-hop play in the country. He currently resides in Newark, Delaware and is affiliated with the University of Delaware’s Professional Theatre Training Program.

Seven just directed his first film entitled A Poet’s Pilgrimage, a short film about a law student who decides to leave law school after the destruction of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 to pursue his dream of becoming a poet. Seven is currently touring the United States with A Poet’s Pilgrimage and reading from his first book, Notes of a Neurotic!
7 is also the talented director of From Auction Block to Hip-Hop, returning to NYC in 2007 in its newly revised form by the groundbreaking hip-hop novelist and playwright, David Lamb. Lamb’s Platanos & Collard Greens opened in the summer of 2003 and continues to play to sold-out audiences in New York City while simultaneously touring college campuses throughout the United States.

Notwithstanding his commitment to theater as a positive source of personal and social growth, Summer Hill Seven has practiced both commercial and public interest law. In particular: public finance, bankruptcy, consumer advocacy and housing discrimination.
Programs

- The Philosophy of Hanging Time!

- Free Speech Ain’t Free

- Nobody Knows My Name

- Philosophy of The Ater

- Shakespeare N. Haarlem

Hang Time - Inside cover photo

Hang Time Before Time Hangs Us



Hang time from a money tree;

Kill the past - set the slaves free.

Hang time from a poet tree;

Set all the prisoners free.



Let’s lynch every second too

Each minute, hour and toc,



Live as now unfolds to you.

Choke rotations of this rock.



Dates, zones, happenings in space

They’re enemies to God’s race.

Murdering time kills the past.



Suspend history in space

‘Til you mutilate it’s face

Snap it’s neck - be free at last!



No more anticipation

Fear, hate or repetition

Of holocausts – genocides.

Time’s death – the last homicide.



Hang time for you & for me.

Hang time so we can be free.



Let time die for our sins

Then eternal life begins.


This photo is from a crucial period in my life and therefore selected it for the inside cover photo of my memoir. The photo reminds me of a fun story. The photographer/journalist arranged this picture to paint the story he wanted to paint. He didn't think I was crafty enough to have lead him to the story I wanted to tell. It was fun. I had just been elected to the Presidency of the student body and immediately threatened to take on the school's administration. I needed some bargaining chips and when you are from the ghetto and you grow up alone you learn very quickly that fear is far more influential than respect. I was right. The administration wanted to remove me. However they were so consumed by their battles with the faculty that they could not afford to alienate me. They needed an ally. It was a rare confluence of racial/gender politics coming together...the President of the University was a black female (the first) I was the first black and youngest student government president. So the president's killer political instincts were tempered by the fact that I could have been her son. In fact, we did develop a very nurturing mentor-protege relationship. She wrote me once and said " I admire your leadership skills." It was not lip service - she is to this day one of the greatest supporters I've ever had. 

Politics and Theater

Great minds of color gather on the steps of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. Hill Harper was in this program the year after me with my ex-girlfriend from college. I had no desire to be anything then other than an elected official. I was in the right place. What changed? The world changed. My first semester in public policy school the stock market crashed and America changed for me. I no longer saw the world in terms of opportunities...they deceived me into believing that the resources of the world are scarce ..but what I felt was that the resources were plentiful and a few people were hoarding them. The woman all the way to the left became the National Chairperson of the National Black Law Student's Association. We went to the same law school and I was elected the National Director of Community Services of the National Black Law Student's Association. Many believed I could have succeeded her as the National Chair. I had discovered theatre by the time the election came around and was seriously contemplating dropping out of law school altogether. It occurred to me very early on in law school that law and politics was the least effective way to make a positive difference in the lives of other people. I found theatre to be a far more influential forum. We come to the theater with the express purpose of having our lives altered. In politics it is quite the opposite...people typically come to impose their will on others.  

Politics and Politricks

Me and the then governor of Ohio at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public Affairs before I dropped out to pursue an acting career. Ironically, and quite coincidentally, it was the social service system of Ohio that broke up my family. One day, god willing, I will research the details, but as I understand it - after much abuse my Mother left my father while she was carrying her tenth child (me) and the state parceled out my 4 brothers and 4 sisters to different foster homes instead of keeping them together or providing sufficient resources to my mother to keep them together. My mother was capable and desirous of caring for her children but without the financial resources to do so she had to leave. So just as the policy during slavery had been to break up black families...the policy continued...undoubtedly under the governor pictured here even to the present day. Do you see how I am looking at him. To me the picture says "give me your job (chump), you don't impress me." I probably was not thinking that...I was much too mainstream then to even have that thought but I have never been afraid to speak my mind especially to "Stupid White Men" as Michael Moore refers to them. Unlike Michael Moore however, white people don't scare me ... at most they annoy me. Now this picture is taken in my adopted state - NJ, where Former US Senator Bill Bradley said I was an "exemplary citizen". That was far more true than he would ever know. So when I took on Gov. McGreevey in my play...and again in my book...long before he emerged from the closet of bisexuality...I did it without a jot of fear. I did it on behalf of the citizens of NJ. When the King has no clothes on...I'll be there to let his white ass know that he needs to go put some draws on. 

From left to right - Eartha - College Classmate and fellow student senator - Michele - exgirlfriend and my vice-president of the student senate, me, Dr. Naim Akbar, the president of William Paterson College, and David Lamb. David and I have been friends a long time. We were together when we took over Dean Sexton's office at NYU Law School in 1990. I directed his first two plays over ten years later. Notice how close to Dr. Naim Akbar I am. This was the third time we had met. We shared a platform when I was the president of the student body in college. He is undoubtedly one of my major influences as a public speaker and independent thinker. HIs books should be required reading in high school. But those people who believe the western cannon has some magical powers resist the independent African-American thinkers...resistance is futile...in some ways thought is not advanced in this country without the independent African-American thinker. David and I were - at the time of this photo - the vanguard of the independent African-American thinker. I cannot nor do I need to speak for David - his work does that - but I often feel too damn independent. I have created the possibility for myself of being an interdependent thinker. Thank you Dr. Akbar for your influence. 

If it wasn't for these seven people and the professor who led the Juvenile Rights Clinic at NYU Law I probably would have told NYU to kiss my ass - like my character in the film - A Poet's Pilgrimage. If you could see my shirt - you would see it is a pro-women of color shirt. I have always been down for the sisters - even when they were not down for me. The people in this picture are unquestionably some of the greatest legal minds in this country today. While I have not bee in touch with them to any significant degree since this photo was taken our relationship deeply affected my worldview. 

Free Speech Tour

Author/Attorney

Free Speech Ain’t Free!

In Notes of a Neurotic, Summer Hill Seven provides poetry, essays and plays that are as bombastic as the writings of Amiri Baraka as piercing as Miguel Pinero and as poetic as Paul Laurence Dunbar often all in the same sentence. In addition to the entertainment and intellectual value, these Notes of a Neurotic are specifically designed to heal the emotions of the reader, the speaker and the writer of these words.

The Free Speech Ain’t Free! program is currently touring the United States with A Poet’s Pilgrimage and includes reading from Seven’s first book, Notes of a Neurotic!

The poetic essays of Summer Hill Seven are an indication of true sensitivity, pain, and the lust for life. They are the best example of mature Hip-Hop era literature that has sprouted from the United States since the blues music of Public Enemy and the insight of conscious musicians such as the Roots.

Emund Kraus
Ex-Berliner Magazine
Berlin, Germany

It was a journey, and Summer Hill Seven took an audience with him. The black Muslim did not chauffeur people by bus through the projects or past the park bench where he slept in Central Park, but he used his words accompanied by music to transport people to the time and place in his life that inspired him to write prose. 7 is a writer and spoken-word artist who is on a 50-state tour to college campuses advocating for the freedom of speech while promoting his book.

Jennifer Weaver
Cedar City Daily News
Cedar City, Utah

A Poet’s Pilgrimag is a short film about a law student who decides to leave law school after the destruction of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 to pursue his dream of becoming a poet.


The picture at the top is a picture right after we were married the first time in the famous Kizzy's restaurant in Los Angeles - named, I believe, for a character in Roots. The bottom picture is from top left (my sister Lottie, my brother John, Me, my ex-wife, my brother Tony and John's youngest daughter - Bianca). Everyone in that picture has been divorced except my niece who is still in high school. Let's hope for the best!

 

Hang Time: A Poetic Memoir!

Author/Philosopher

Philosophy of Hanging Time!

My philosophy of hanging time uses theater to prove that we each have the power to become more than we are in every moment of our lives. If we suspend our disbelief or rather fortify our beliefs with faith then we can transcend in every moment. Don’t merely suspend your disbelief. Choose to be a believer.

With the 7 Poemedies in Hang Time! Seven reminds us that i) Life Is a Game – Play To Win; ii) Dreams Are The Goals – So Hold Fast; iii) Sacrifices Are Sacred; iv) The Right Playmate Iz Priceless; v) Learn To Earn & Learn to Learn; vi) Love To Live & Live To Love; and vii) Today Is The First & Last.


Akbar’s Summer Hill Seven is powerfully funny and provocative. Summer Hill Seven created poemedy - a lyrically poetic storytelling form where the past meets the present to create poignant, passionate theater for today and tomorrow. His philosophy eloquently expressed in Hang Time! is for tomorrow.
David Lamb,
Writer/Producer
Platanos & Collard Greens


Hang Time! is a profound work of art by a very talented and gifted poet. I highly recommend it to all who appreciate the spoken and written word.

Sekou Molefi Baako,Executive Director,
Langston Hughes Community Library and Cultural Center-Queens Public Library
President, Black Caucus of the American Library Association

Hang Time! is available for purchase immediately at: http://www.authorhouse.com/BookStore/ItemDetail~bookid~36563.aspx

 

Poet/Philosopher

Poet/Philosopher

Philosophy of The Ater!

“I believe poetry is medicinal and is the only prescription needed to prevent the vast majority of mental and emotional illnesses. I believe theater is the place where we go to receive a collective healing with powerful and poetic words. Everyone in the theater – whether on the stage or off – is an essential element to the solution of societal ailments. Together the speakers and the listeners create power.

I believe theater removes the veil of our differences in identity, power or desire and uncovers our common humanity.

Theater proves to even the most cynical of witnesses that we each have the power to become more than we are – in every moment that we are. If we suspend our beliefs (or perhaps instead fortify them with faith) we can transcend in every moment of our lives. Summer Hill Seven will show you how theater gives us an access to the power of transcendence and transformation.”

“The Ater is bigger than the theater and includes: television; film; poetry-slam venues; piss-stained halls in the projects; refer-filled studios; speeding vehicles parading down the strip with a musical escort; ghetto-fabulous clubs on Saturday nights; Pentecostal churches on Sunday mornings; Synagogues; Mosques; jail cells; mental hospitals; college dorm rooms with virgin co-eds; your mama’s basement; and perhaps most obviously any corner in the hood where the real players gather.”


Any serious student of the theatre should read his highly thoughtful and thought-provoking book.
Professor Randy Hertz, NYU School of Law

Summer Hill Seven is an exceptionally gifted writer and performer whose work is both entertaining and thought provoking.
Sanford Robbins
Director, Professional Theatre Training Program
University of Delaware

 

Mommy is my co-author.

The greatest influence on my decision to publish my writings was my mother. She always talking about writing a book ever since I was a kid. I wrote the first draft of Notes of a Neurotic! intending merely to give it to her as a Christmas present. These photos are all taken in the Cinncinnati Greyhound Station. I'd never been in an airport until my senior year of college. My first thought when I walked into an airport and saw all the people was "who the hell are all these people who can afford to fly." We could barely afford to take a bus trip. My mama gave me something that all the money in the world could never have given me - the awareness that I can achieve anything.

Although she never held my book in her hands I I have no doubt that she knows about it and she is very present in all my current writings. She always treated both success and failure as the two imposters that they are - I guess after you have had ten kids what challenge or obstacle would impress you? Jimmie - yes that is her name - is Gangsta...I know she is driving them crazy in heaven. I'll let you know when I get up there... 

Filmmaker/Theatermaker - SEviiEN

Filmmaker/Theatermaker
SEviiEN: Nobody Knows My Name?
Where does the actor end and the character begin? In this theatrical presentation we are treated to rare look inside the mind and work of a poetic film and theater maker.
After the September 11th, 2001 World Trade Center Disaster, Summer Hill Seven dropped out of Law School and pursued his dream of becoming a poet. But he was already a lawyer so he ran for the Presidency of the United States. When he lost to George W. Bush he decided to use his keen legal mind to argue political issues in a poetic fashion. Fact or fiction – does it matter if nobody knows your name? Written by a graduate of the New York University School of Law and former practicing attorney in California and New Jersey. SEviiEN challenges popular public policy views like freedom of speech, freedom of religion, poverty, race relations and includes independent and avante garde films all presented with a dynamic balance of comedy, poetry and reality.

Written & Directed: Summer Hill Seven.

Featuring: Sevîn Ákbar.

The films included:
A Poet’s Pilgrimage, a short film about a law student who decides to leave law school after the destruction of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 to pursue his dream of becoming a poet.
Jack 4 President, a satirical film about a fictionalized presidential campaign running against George W. Bush in his re-election bid in which the Iraqi War and the WMD’s are the fundamental campaign issue. If you believe the current administration you should not have any difficulty believing the platform of Jack and the Beanstalk Party.
The Summer Hill Seven Story, a feature length poetic mockumentary about the poet’s work that is in close competition with his real life drama.

SEviiEN is brilliant. Exciting!
Laurence Holder, author Renaissance Solos.

SEviiEN is powerfully funny & provocative.
David Lamb, Platanos & Collard Greens



Writer/Performer

Shakespeare N. Haarlem



A Latino Muslim contemporary spoken word artist, Shakespeare N. Haarlem, is sentenced to death for lyrical terrorism (a new crime) and four poetic and prophetic figures come to his aid: Langston Hughes, Jessy B. Simple, Reverend Lution and Summer Hill Seven. A poemedy (poetic comedy) in which the author pushes the envelope on the hip-hop theater and spoken word genre by asking us to consider whether there are limits to poetic speech. As with much of contemporary poetry the form of delivery is as significant as the content itself.
Written/Performed by: Summer Hill Seven.
Directed by: John Lisbon Wood
Featured at Off-Broadway venues (including): Producer's Club, Nuyorican Poet's Café, Bowery Poetry Club, Afrikan Poetry Theater, Langston Hughes Library and Cultural Center.
This Program is available both as a live stage performance and a quality film version.
I highly recommend it to all who appreciate the spoken and written word.

Sekou Molefi Baako,Executive Director,
Langston Hughes Community Library and Cultural Center-Queens Public Library
President, Black Caucus of the American Library Association

Summer Hill Seven is an exceptionally gifted writer and performer whose work is both entertaining and thought provoking.

Sanford Robbins
Director, Professional Theatre Training Program
University of Delaware

Summer Hill Seven’s ebullient “neo-beat-hip-hop” verse explodes from the page to the stage with a powerful multicultural message! Delightful!

Phil Hubbard,
Chair of Performance Studies Department
University of Nevada Las Vegas

This five character play was the first major play that I ever wrote. Before this play I wrote most of my book - notes of a neurotic - and two other significant plays that this play ultimately evolved into. My writing is a result of two major factors - my association with literally many of the greatest minds that my generation has ever produced and my rebelliousness - which began to manifest itself at birth. Both factors come together most acutely in my past romantic relationships with women which began at age five and have fortunately not yet defeated my rebelliousness.

 

Contact Summer Hill Seven

To reach me directly you may visit my site: www.summerhill7.com or email me at summerhseven@yahoo.com. Thank you for your interest.