Every Court Has A Story is a court renovation project put together by Five Star Basketball, The Langston Galloway Foundation, Project Backboard, and Local Hoops. The idea is that basketball courts are accessible places where we achieve goals, problem solve, imagine and dream. This is why it’s often said that every court has a story. It’s the same mindset of my LIFE SPAN story series; people telling stories about the courts that shaped their lives. Now through the end of May the project is accepting video submissions for proposals. If there’s a court in your neighborhood that you feel deserves fixing up, make a short video, and upload it to Every Court Has A Story. The winner will be announced in June!
To illustrate just how easy it is to potentially win a mural court renovation for your community park, I made a video submission on my phone built from photos and video taken over the years at the court. No professional equipment required.
The following is the extended transcript of my submission.
John Muir Children's Park in Sacramento is where I developed and built a creative practice that I'd eventually call Sacred. Before the book, I'd go to this court with my dog and shoot free throws alone. It became my meditation practice.
Some courts are places we go to engage and compete. They have congregations. Others are places of solitude. The seclusion of John Muir court is part abandonment and part destitution. I imagine that, for some, it’s just simply a place to avoid. It resides on the border of the northernmost side of Midtown. The fastest route to the eastern suburbs is through a tunnel directly next to the park. Directly on the other side of the tunnel are homeless encampments that follow along the train tracks. The warehouses next to John Muir court are mostly empty or occupied by artists. The Blue Diamond almond factory is eating up real estate in the area, steadily expanding its sovereignty. When I’d leave the park, I’d always look at the empty office building with the “Dream Center Church” sign that would often have tents outside the door.
The park was surrounded by people just trying to get by. The tree canopy that gives Midtown its glory still touched parts of the park. The water fountain worked. It was a block where the act of dreaming had to fight for space. At the last stop before the escape route, desperation and joy co-mingled, creativity and void co-existed, and something about places with all those conditions inspired me.
After a session I'd go home with a relaxed mind and I'd write. In 2019, I self-released my first book. Following its release, I'd continue to go to the park and think of ideas that I wanted to explore next. Ideas like a book reading event in the warehouse next to park with musicians and a choir to provide a spiritual backdrop. We even set a date for early June of 2020.
But the pandemic put all that on hold.
Creativity thrives in this small block in downtown Sacramento. 1810 Gallery, run by artists Shaun Burner and Franceska Gámez, is nearby. The Washington Neighborhood Center has been there since 1952 as a pillar of the Chicano art community. And the warehouse across the street from the court is the former Loft recording studio and the Tape-Op magazine headquarters. Kanye West recorded parts of My Beautiful, Dark Twisted Fantasy in that studio. Nearly all the early Thee Oh Sees—easily my favorite psych rock band—albums were recorded there. My friend Sean used to have an office in the studio for his video company Terroreyes.TV and I’d visit his space with a six-pack. We’d climb out the window to sit on the roof and plot while looking at the mediocre skyline that emerges from the treescape. Now one of those spaces is a DIY warehouse venue run by my friends called The Red Museum. From morning waffle parties with noise bands to movie nights, from variety comedy shows to full-on music festivals, it’s all possible at Red Museum. I’ve ridden in a sleigh pulled by a cart pony (the BDSM kink of people in leather pony costumes pulling carts) as part The Red Museum Christmas Bulls**t Spectacular party. But, it’s mostly where a person hears their favorite local band.
The Red Museum is a rehearsal space for many of those bands. Often while shooting in the park in the summer, I’d hear a rehearsal blasting from an open door because the lack of ventilation was too brutal.
The area is a psychic nexus of creative energy.
In the winter of 2020, The Red Museum was forced to host its Christmas Bulls**t Spectacular streaming only. I filmed weird videos on the court with my friends and my dog that acted as intermission sequences for the live performance.
Even though I love this court in its raw state surrounded by graffiti and lawless expression, I'd rather it not exist in defiance of civic neglect and indifference of the park, but rather that the court at John Muir Park should reflect the energy of inspiration that enriches the neighborhood. To quote the ecological thinker and conservationist John Muir: "The battle of conservation will go on endlessly. It is part of the universal battle between right and wrong." I feel this one applies too: "Everybody needs beauty, as well as bread."