Mushpa + Mensa’s Journey

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belle and bear, Cara Reynolds, corona virus, covid 19, Craft Beer, el jefe, gay, hurricaine florence, lesbian, lesbians, Maria Emilia Borja, Maya the Magical Mobile Art Machine, Mensa, Mushpa, Mushpa + Mensa, NC Beer, NC State, organic cotton tees, organic t-shirts, robot girl, tuxedo cat, wilmington

Happy Thanksgiving Mushpa + Mensa Super Fans! We hope this newsletter finds you well in these 2020 times.

You may know us from when we used to travel up and down the eastern seaboard in our art truck Maya, the Magical Mobile Art Machine (our small mobile, solar powered tiny boutique) advocating for local, conscious, women-owned small businesses all over the world, all the while spreading our art, messages, laughter and love!

Things have changed a bit from then, for better or for worse in September of 2018, our art truck Maya was flooded during the destructive Hurricane Florence via North Carolina. Our little Maya was under 5 feet of filthy water and debris. She no longer started and was covered in black mold. It was her end and yet another new beginning for Mushpa + Mensa.

Yes, it did break our hearts, but we are firm believers that everything happens for a reason.  

Honestly, we are so happy to have discover Maya hidden in a corner lot in Staten Island, to have been able to transform her inside and out with our very own hands into the beauty she became. We are grateful that she took us on such great adventures, thousands of miles worth since we began in 2014. She was there for many a grand moment in our lives, always helping us spread our message of love to the masses. For that we are blessed.

Mushpa + Mensa did not give up their travels. We went back to tents, just like the good old NYC days. We kept touring and even made it to the Central Time Zone!

We did that for a year and then in March of 2020 came “The Pandemic” aka Covid-19 and all shows were cancelled until further notice. It is now nine months later and Thanksgiving weekend and we are thankful that our loved business endeavor has survived through it all! Nine months later and Mushpa + Mensa’s rebirth is a transformation from the streets to an amazing online presence thanks to all the support from our loyal customers and all the new ones we have found on this journey in the New World.new ones we have found on this journey in the New World.

We truly hope you see we love what we are doing, making a living selling our art, and get inspired to create change in the world through your own blessings and devotion to what you love.   We, Cara and Maria-Emilia, send love to all and a wish that we all stay safe this holiday season. Chins up, the vaccine is just around the corner.  

-Mushpa + Mensa (Cara and Emilia)

Last Minute Women’s March Sign Ideas

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activism, art, Audre Lorde, Awesome Event, be brave, Cara Reynolds, Carrie Fisher, Ecuadorian, environment, Feminism, gay, God, Government, green, Happiness, Health Care, inspiration, Latina, lesbian, love, Love is Love, March, march signs, Maria Emilia Borja, NC, North Carolina, political, politics, Princess Leigh, Protest, protest march signs, protest signs, queer, recycled, resistance, revoltion signs, revolution, Sign Ideas, Star Wars, The South, Voltaire, wilmington, Woman Owned Business, Women's March, Women's March Sign Ideas, WomenAlice Walker

If you are anything like us, we can get real close to the time of whatever-it-may-be and then get what needs to be done, last minute style, done. Don’t get us wrong, we do it well under pressure. The Women’s March tomorrow is no different. We are going to wake up around 7AM to get our signs done to get out to our local Wilmington, NC Women’s March. I did some image research and quote digging and came up with 10 good sign suggestions off the World Wide Web.

1. We go high.
2. Your silence will not protect you.
3. Nasty Woman
4. “Those Who Can Make You Believe Absurdities, Can Make You Commit Atrocities” Voltaire
5. Hate Kills
6. “I am deliberate and afraid of nothing.” Audre Lorde
7. Woman’s place is in the resistance. (in reference to Carrie Fisher…Princess Leigh….Star Wars. You get it.)
8. I am stronger than fear.
9. Truth matters.
10. “The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.”  Alice Walker

Get your recycled pieces of boxes, cardboard, old sheets and get to creating. We will collectively be with every human at every women’s march tomorrow. We love you.

Love trumps hate. Be brave.

Cara and Maria Emilia

Mushpa + Mensa in the 21st Annual Cucalorus Film Festival 10×10

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10x10, 21st annual Cucalorus Film Festival, Andy Nielsen, artist, Brianna Okamoto, Cara Reynolds, CastleBranch Inc, Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, Cucalorus, Cucalorus 10x10, handmade, Hillary Scott, ILM, Josh Stowe, kickstarter, Maria Emilia Borja, Mushpa + Mensa, Mushpa + Mensa in the 21st annual Cucalorus Film Festival 10x10 2015, Mushpa Y Mensa, North Carolina, Norwood Cheek, Stray Local, tekMountain, Willow Garden, wilmington

 

Last week we went to Cucalorus’s opening night party.

The next day I got the flu.

The next day we made a movie.

The next day I was in the ER.

The next day I hurled all day.

The next day we were at the Cucalorus 10×10 Screening and CONNECT Presenters Party.

This was my last week and this is the film we made with our great team (Brianna Okamoto, Josh Stowe, Andy Nielsen, Hillary Scott). I wasn’t sure I was going to make it, the movie that is, but when you have a dream and are given an amazing opportunity you push through it all to get there.

-Mushpa

Art Filled Weekend in North Carolina

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art for the masses, carolina pine music festival, ILM, life money, Mushpa Y Mensa, North Carolina, Stray Local, uncw, wilmington

Hi All!

Feeling the autumn yet? Well in North Carolina we are JUST about starting to feel the chill. And moving from the big apple, I cannot complain. It’s a chill that cools my toes, and makes the heart warm.

Our journey in North Carolina has been wonderful so far. Having the art truck open has made me think about life quite differently. Richness comes through other means, other than the monetary. And of course that is the cliche. But one thing is saying it, and another is living it. At first every time a bill would come through our mail, my stomach would turn, and I would start worrying about how is it that we were gonna cover this one. But God always had my back, the Universe made it happen, and we always had money to pay it in the end.

Today another financial conundrum came our way. And that same stomach churning was starting to drag me down. But after shaking myself, I thought, don’t we ALWAYS make it happen some way? I said, yes. We do. And that’s when I things seemed a little more clear. All this life we are living, selling our art. This is why I am here. These moments of financial strains are the small price to pay for living the life I want. And once I learn how to deal with them, instead of letting them smack me in the face, I will deflect them away from me  and my environment and put them in a box of with some other papers that hold little value in life that will eventually be taken care of. Keeping the focus on life money, not real money,  is the best way to deal. Because always God will have my back. And that box of bills is only a box. And the only box that matters is the box truck where we sell our art. Where we are making our dream happen. And the beauty, the creativity, the human connections that spills out of that box is worth so much more than any pink envelope with a notice.

So in the spirit of the chilly winds, and the beauty that surrounds us in these Carolinas, I invite you to join us to TWO AMAZING events we are going to be at this weekend Nov 21-22.

1. Art for the Masses. Because art that the masses cannot enjoy, is never the intent of the artists. All artists want art for all. So we make it accessible for you.

2. Carolina Pine Music Festival. Because Music + Art + Food is the best combination that humans have been able to create over the centuries, and there is never too much of that.

And with that I will leave you with a little sound to the ears from one of the coolest music makers in Wilmington. Stray Local. Make sure to check them out on Sunday at the Carolina Pine Music Festival’s Art Factory where among other artists, and ourselves, we will all be.

Hope to see you there!

Mensa

Just Another Wednesday Night For Mushpa y Mensa

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balancing act, Cara Reynolds, Front Street Brewery, Glass Magic, Happiness, ILM, magic, Maria Emilia Borja, Mensa, Mushpa, Mushpa Y Mensa, NC, The South, wilmington

Moving to Wilmington, North Carolina after living in NYC for over 16 years seems like a big deal, but it wasn’t. Change is a good thing. Life is good. You find all sorts of amazing people and things here you can’t find up North. For one, people are nice and swimming in the ocean I don’t bump into dirty diapers or needles. I said it. :]

Anyway, I decided I am going to start to highlight my new life in the South and the people I run into. Tonight’s southern star is a bartender at Front Street Brewery who wowed us with his glass magic.

Enjoy.

-Mushpa