arts & entertainment
Travel Website Builds on Blogger’s
Love for the Great Outdoors
By lisa loving
of The Skanner News
R
ue Mapp travels around
the country as a blogger
for
her
website,
www.OutdoorAfro.com. But
just this year her efforts at
encouraging more people to
get active and shape a relation-
ship with nature has taken off,
with invitations to the White
House and an advisory role on
Fist Lady Michelle Obama’s
‘Let’s Move’ initiative. Last week The
Skanner News spoke with Mapp, an
Oakland, Calif., resident, during her road
the time and money in the
world what would you do?
And it just rolled off my
tongue: “Oh I would probably
put together a website to con-
nect African Americans to the
outdoors.” And she looked at
me like – what?
It was this moment of realiz-
ing that I hadn’t given some-
thing that was a part of me and
something that I’d really taken
for granted a voice outside of
my own head. Within a week I
went and put together one of those blogger
blogs. There was a sense of urgency that
came over me that, yes, this is who I am and
this is what I have to do. It
began as simply me sharing
about my own personal expe-
riences and some of my
thinking
about African
Americans and the outdoors
and almost immediately their
response was, “me too!”
There were voices from all
over the country who said, “hey I thought I
was the only one who enjoyed the out-
doors.” And then I realized very quickly
that if you put all the only ones together we
are actually quite numerous. And so over
time OutdoorAfro has shifted to be an illu-
minator of the bright spots of African
American participation in the outdoors and
a way to inspire people and affirm peoples’
experiences in nature in a variety of ways.
tSn: The thing that strikes me about this
issue of exercise is—it’s very serious. The
government is writing press releases about
the need for people to get out and get more
active. It’s a very serious thing—and yet
when I look through your website what I see
is people having fun.
rM: Yeah. And I think that is what we
cannot lose in these conversations is the
sense of wonder and fun and inspiration.
There were voices from all over
the country who said, ‘hey I
thought I was the only one
who enjoyed the outdoors’
trip to Big Sur.
the Skanner news: What is it that made
you come up with the concept of
OutdoorAfro.com?
rue Mapp: A whole lifetime of experi-
ences that were informed by a few concepts.
One was a love of nature, the second was
the love and application of technology. And
the third is a desire to always connect peo-
ple – I am a networker by birth. And so it
was really a coming together of things I
really care about, the natural expression of
who I was. And enhanced by my education,
studying art education at UC Berkeley,
where I was really helped to understand the
role of visual representation to shape peo-
ples’ feelings and also to reflect back popu-
lar culture.
And so in 1009 I was having a conversa-
tion with a friend who said, if you had all
Fiesta Cubana
Trinity Cathedral Arts presents
“Una Fiesta de Esperanza/ A
Party of Hope”. This exhibit of
fine art and craft from
Cuba
offers
creative
expressions of Cuban culture
- community life, sports,
music, dance - in a variety of
media. There will be paintings
and tapestries by artists such
as
Carlos
Caceres,
Alejandrina Cue and Marisol,
sculptures,
jewelry
and
clothing
by
Havana
designers, dolls, home decor
and percussion instruments.
The exhibit is produced in
collaboration with the Cuban
Art Space in New York City
and
benefits
their
art
programs for children with
down’s Syndrome.
Because the person who loves to connect
with nature and loves the outdoors is going
to have just as much if not more benefit as
the person who’s doing it to lose weight.
And it doesn’t make people feel good to be
put in a sensitive position. To be put in a
deficit position – “well why don’t you?”
And, “you need to!” And so I’m really inter-
ested in helping people recognize the out-
door engagement that they already have
because everyone is connected to the out-
doors in some way, identify what that is and
build on that relationships in a way that’s
relevant to that person and that fits within
their lives and brings them joy.
tSn: What are a couple of beginning out-
door experiences that anyone could do that
you recommend?
rM: I think that’s a really good question,
as far as what beginning looks like it’s
going to be different for different people,
and it’s back to what I said before – it’s
what it is you like. I do tabling events at
See outdoorafro on page 11
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November 16, 2011 The Portland and Seattle Skanner Page 7