But bag inspections at X-ray stations always give me a special kind of nerves. What did I pack and forget about that will embarrass us all when they paw through it? What item innocuous to me will arouse an interrogation?

Take tonight in Lagos. I thought I was home free since my friend and I were being personally whisked through almost all of the airport’s chaotic check-in and boarding procedure. (He’s one of the top 15 fliers in the world on this airline, and one of only 6 on an elite advisory board whom they treat like royalty.) But no. One of my carry-ons was a relatively ratty shopping bag from two countries ago, in which I had wrapped a piece of “art” in a hooded sweatshirt. It raised flags in the X-ray scanner.

“Open this up please.” I unwrap the piece. “What is this?” Art, I reply. Suddenly I know I am in trouble. The Nigerian security mama seems by no stretch to be an art lover, let alone an admirer of the outsider/street/folk art I have purchased in the Nairobi slums. “Art? What kind of art? What is this made of?” Oh shit. It’s a framed collage made of broken glass. Wire. Shards of slum crap. Among other things. All secured in place, but still. Between my passport photo, and the fact that an al Qaeda alert relating to American interests was issued earlier in the week (this is true), I’m getting nervous.

I make the plea that I’d already made it once through Kenyan airport security, that I am an artist (a stretch, but aren’t we all) and trying to help out destitute folks in the slums of Kenya by sharing their art with the world. I have no idea where our Lufthansa shepherd is, or my friend! A few major suspicious eyebrows and harumphs (and an obvious thumbs-down to my purchase), the agent says “wrap this up” and I get the hell out of there.

I’m not going to show the work here just now, but I will say, after I purchased it in a Kibera studio (shack), I asked the guys to tell me about the artist. I learned it was produced by “Ali Gator” (they all have handles), an erstwhile plumber who currently is in prison for a domestic battery disturbance involving his father and a rent collection. (Hmmm – prison art – bet I can sell this to Intuit.) Now, here is your geopolitical education for the day: Kenya currently is suffering a major prison crisis – overcrowding, understaffing, rioting, dreadful conditions, etc. The plumber part was evidenced by the creative use of a drain-stopper in the mixed-media collage – slightly puzzling since a drain-stopper of any sort would seem an audacious dream in the plumbing-deprived Kibera. But that’s the great thing about art – it makes you think.

* * *

You will be able to view this suspicious piece of art, along with a number of other mixed media works and paintings (I swear they are not all this odd) from the M2 collection of street artists in Kibera, at an upcoming show. I’m happy to announce here the opening of my new studio/gallery, within(Reason): a space for contemporary art and photo, in the Pilsen area of Chicago (south of downtown). The inaugural show will be called “Hope In a Hard Place” and will also feature:

a supersized slide show of my photographs of the kids of Kibera

prints of the beautiful graffiti of the M2 collective calling for justice, peace, and an end to the tribal tensions that flared, fatally, after December’s elections

some funky abstract oil paintings of Kenya’s Masai tribespeople

Fun huh? And my show’s not the only reason to venture out. The opening is held during Pilsen’s monthly “Second Friday” Gallery walk, on Friday June 13, from 6-9 pm, so you can check out the rest of this growing arts district as well. If you can’t make it this night, just call or email to make an appointment to see the show in the week preceding, or for a few weeks after, and/or visit my new website, ArtWithinReason, to preview the art and find information including address and map.

Please note: all profits of any art sold at this event or via the website will be returned to the kids of Kibera for arts programs and/or an after-school club, when I return there later this year (and once I figure out how to reliably funnel proceeds to such a thing). Holler if you wanna help!

Sort of wound up in “work” mode and perhaps after one too many glasses of champagne, I offered this fabulous talk-show diva advice (initially unsolicited, then embraced, with gusto) on marketing, branding, and “taking it to the next level.” (I had spent the day helping the team here invent, name, brand a new newspaper.) If I’ve learned nothing else after two months in Africa, “moving up” is what everyone seems to be trying to do these days, on one level or another. Maybe it’s all anyone has ever aspired to, now that I think about it.

Her show, “Moments with Mo,” has been on national cable for three years, and has just gone regional. The first two years, she says, were stage-fright city. I said fear not, I grew up watching “A.M. Chicago” and Oprah wasn’t always the smooth operator she appears today. She too had to start somewhere on the road to becoming a global megabrand!

Mo – stylish, articulate and energetic – was eager to hear my thoughts on where to go next. Continental expansion of her show! Clothing lines! I told her to go for the gold. My Chicago connection was not lost on her in any way, so she assumed I was the pipeline to Oprahtivity. Here’s some of my advice I shared with la Mo:

• OK, so you too are all about inspiration and empowerment. Forget “Moments with Mo,” I said. Sunset that title, reinvent yourself and the show, and go with “Mo!mentum” (or “Momentum!”) for your new platform.
• Spice up the brand, get a new logo, start that blog! (True, difficult in Nigeria, with the internet working about 5% of the time, but people, we are dreaming the big dreams here.)
• Africa still loves newspapers, so start an advice column. Be the Nigerian of Nigerians and get up in everyone’s face! (In a nice way, of course.)
• So you want to get Oprah’s attention. Don’t think small, woman! Open a girl’s school. In Lincoln Park. In Chicago.
• Further, take your lead from Oprah, and title your production studio your name spelled backward. Forget Harpo Studios – what could be more inspirational, more balanced and centered, than Om Inc.©
• But don’t stop there – demand must exist for “mO – The Magazine©.”
• If you really want to go for it, change your name. Hello, Moprah!

I can’t wait to see what comes next for Nigeria’s Oprah, and look forward to connecting with her on my return travels there later this year. (Warning to my friends Todd and Kristyn at CBS Channel 2 in Chicago – and my Poynter broadcast friends Jill and Al – and probably Kelly, too – you will be asked to review Mo’s programs if I can get them on DVD at some point. Stay tuned!)

Fun links: check out her website here!