BIKO Did It!

I ♥ BIKO

The day I arrived in Goleta, I didn't know what to expect.  All I knew is that I'd be staying in a student co-housing.  Relying on my pre-conceived ideas based on what is more common around the ASU area, I was expecting a more main-stream setting.  My first impression of BIKO is that it is as if I walked into a house full of Katies.  Katie is a girl I know in her early 20s (just as the BIKO people are) with a quirky, fun-loving personality who creates art everywhere and seeks to keep life as adventurous as possible.

Biko was created in 2001 as a co-housing for people of color.  There doesn't seem to be much to do about race either way here and it seems more akin as a safe haven for the Spirit Family youth of today.  The name of the house is inspired by activist, Steve Biko, who fought against segregation in South Africa and died in police custody. 

Every day at BIKO is like a new adventure.  They constantly receive couch surfers who stay primarily in this room (the couch room) or in the garage outside.  Some stay a few days, others a few weeks.  To stay here you need to be "sponsored" by a resident ~ which is an easy enough task to accomplish and usually takes all of 10 minutes.  

My beautiful hostess, Miss Lauren!

When Lauren imagined herself coming to BIKO she imagined what experiences she wanted to share with everyone in the community.  This poem and the intention of "laughter" was ever present in her mind.  So this is the poem that she shared on the upstairs bathroom wall.

The communal dinning area, complete with smiling pumpkin!

Over the past week that there has been this realization ~ a sweet irony.  Back in Tempe there were things I wanted to experience that were always out of reach... see the ocean, experience kirtan regularly, ride a Specialized (brand bike), learn how to play with poi, etc. Now I'm getting to do all the things I've wanted to do and put off for so long.

When something new comes along there is no delay cause I'm already there and so is the activity.  A couple of years ago I myself traveling up the coast, with the understanding that the journey would have a profound impact on my life and the direction Spirit is guding me.  Now I am here and so is the experience, which I am living ~ hence the name of this journal:  A Living Experience.