Arts Today Ezine 4 11

Vol 4.11

FEBRUARY 22, 2018

|

Garry

WALKER Featured Illustrator pg #106

Myke ANDREWS Q & A | Bud, Not Buddy pg #148

View this and past issues from our website.

NEWARK WRITES...

CRYPTOCURRENCY...

WHY

pg. #8

pg. #29

pg.#158

VILLAGE CELEBRATION

JOHNSON LANCASTER

PIERRE BLAINE

pg.

2

Experience the amazing true stories of three women from Afghanistan, Bosnia and the Republic of Congo. Hear how they came to St. Louis with hope to create a new world by healing their old-world wounds.

Gitana Productions presents

NEW WORLD

By Lee Patton Chiles Based on True Stories about Women Refugees in St. Louis

“Riveting!”

“The portrayals were electrifying, informative and penetrating!”

Free Admission

Tuesday, March 6 at 1:00 PM

(Play is 40 minutes followed by Q/A) Mildred Bastian Theater St. Louis Community College at Forest Park

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Volume 4.11 February 22, 2018

IN THIS

ISSUE:

6

8

IN THE NEWS We Grow...

NEWARK WRITES...

VILLAGE NETWORK

34

28 CRYPTOCURRENCY......

JOHNSON LANCASTER

TERMS OF ENGAGEMENT DR. JERRY WARD

66

58

FEATURED PHOTOGRAPHER KEENON HARRIS

FEATURED POET CHARLIE BRAXTON

pg.

4

No major discipline problems

our mentorship program with Infinite Scholars, the Moline Acres Police Department wishes to the hopes and dreams of families in our community wishing to send their children to college. te Scholars program uses it extensive nationwide network of 500+ colleges and universities to ege scholarship for students who achieve the criteria above. The Moline Acres Police ent is committed to helping our students accomplish these criteria. The motto for this program dges Create Scholars.�

cres is located in North St. Louis County, Missouri. To learn more, contact the Moline Acres partment at 314-868-2433 or Infinite Scholars at 314-499-6997.

LIVE / WORK / PLAY NATE JOHNSON

16

22

OP/ED SECTION INFINITE SCHOLARS

42

Pictured are Moline Acres Chief of Police Colonel Ware, Police Officer Donaldson, and students Charmaine and Charles.

48

AFRICAN AMERICAN...

BERNIE HAYES

LERONE BENNETT C. LIEGH MCINNIS ...Listen people...

Life is a giant, invisible scale with two sides; Good and bad You and your beliefs Are the weights The things you do each day Determine the balance Your conscience is a flawless Judge and jury; It only questions you when you're wrong...

The Temptations,

"You Make Your Own Heaven and Hell Right Here on Earth" (Regarding the last line of this quote from "You Make Your Own Heaven and Hell Right Here on Earth": "It only questions you when you're wrong" Sang by The Temptations on the recording.

"The only question is what you want" Written by: BARRETT STRONG, NORMAN WHITFIELD, NORMAN J. WHITFIELD)

Established 2014 Volume 4.11 St. Louis, MO www.the-arts-today.com/ Layout/Design www.bdesignme.com

NOTE:

As the publishers of The Arts Today Ezine we take care in the production of each issue. We are however, not liable for any editorial error, omission, mistake or typographical error. The views expressed are those of the contributors and not necessarily those of their respective companies or the publisher.

Copyright Š 2017 - All rights reserved.

COPYRIGHT:

This Ezine and the content published within are subject to copyright held by the publisher, with individual articles remaining property of the named contributor. Express written permission of the publisher and contributors must be acquired for reproduction.

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Volume 4.11 February 22, 2018

IN THE NEWS

Export Opportunities in the Americas: Brazil, Canada & Mexico

TIME | DATE | PLACE 8:00 am registration 8:30-10:00 am program Thursday, December 7, 2017 Please note NEW ADDRESS: World Trade Center St. Louis 120 South Central Ave. Suite 1200 St. Louis, MO 63105 REGISTRATION $20 REGISTRATION

One-on-one appointments available following the program.

Learn about export opportunities in three major markets in the Americas region. Brazil is recovering from recent political and economic upheaval and reforms have seen growth in the energy and agricultural sectors in particular.

Canada's economy has enjoyed greater than expected growth, outpacing all other members of the G7.

Mexico continues to offer a wide range of opportunities for US exporters from industrial equipment and inputs to agricultural products.

Speakers: Mr. Fabio Yukio Yamada Director, Missouri International Trade & Investment Office - Brazil Mr. Ludovic Ortuno Director, Missouri International Trade & Investment Office - Canada Ms. Gloria Garcia Director, Missouri International Trade & Investment Office - Mexico Click here to view speaker bios and learn more.

Contact John Hensley to schedule.

pg.

6

Your Source for Art Appreciation

Volume 2.1 March 4, 2015

St. Louis

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE FEATURED ARTIST | EILEEN CHEONG ......................................... pg. 80 FEATURED MODEL | CHAKERA LAINA ............................................ pg. 118

Please support our sponsors, many of-

fer events or programs with an emphasis on the arts and creativity.

ART OF FOOD | LENA O.A. JACKSON .......................................... pg. 138 REVIEW - BUD... | MARIAH RICHARDSON. ................................ pg. 160 OPPORTUNITIES | A.T.E.Z. ................................................................ pg. 164 CAREERS | A.T.EZ .................................................................................. pg. 166

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Newark Writes New Narrative With Mayor

Ras BARAKA

Mayor Ras Baraka became the 40th Mayor of the City of Newark in July of 2014. From the launch of a social impact venture fund to accelerate the development of technology and the opening of the nation’s largest vertical indoor farm to the creation of the city’s first-ever police Civilian Complaint Review Board to mobilizing residents to combat violence in high-crime areas, Mayor Baraka’s leadership marries a profound vision with an unshakeable passion for the City where he has lived and worked for more than four decades.

His work landed him on The Nation’s 2015 “Most Valuable Progressives” list as “Most Valuable Mayor”, Ebony Magazine’s “Power 100” and on the front page of the New York Times for “defying expectations” during his first yearand-half in office.

President Barack Obama announced his sweeping plan for criminal justice reform while visiting a Newark reentry center with Mayor Baraka and because of Mayor Baraka’s diplomatic skill and strong advocacy, the New Jersey Department of Education returned the Newark Public Schools back to the control of the city for the first time in more than two decades.

Throughout the city’s five wards, he is beloved as an educator, former principal, basketball coach, neighbor, mentor and friend.

accelerate the development of technology and the opening of the nation’s largest vertical indoor farm, to the creation of the city’s first-ever police Civilian Complaint Review Board to mobilizing residents to combat violence in high-crime areas, Mayor Baraka’s leadership has marred a profound vision with an unshakeable passion for the City where he has lived and worked for more than four decades.

In 2017, a groundbreaking partnership designed to strengthen the city’s economy called, Hire. Buy. Live. Newark, debuted. Last year also marked Mayor Baraka’s defense of Newark as a sanctuary city and despite the threatening posture of an unreceptive presidential administration, the Mayor signed a 10page executive order spelling out in great legal detail the protocols and protections that the city provides to undocumented immigrants.

His father, the late Amiri Baraka, was a legendary poet and playwright. His mother, Amina Baraka, is a renowned poet. And, the father of three daughters is also a published author. His latest work, Black Girls Learn Love Hard, is dedicated to his late sister, Shani Baraka.

TheVillageCelebration interviewed Mayor Baraka

From the launch of a social impact venture fund to pg.

8

about his initiatives for Newark in the years to come.

TVC: What are some of the main things you want to do to make Newark vibrant for years to come?

MAYOR RAS BARAKA: The goal of my administration is the same as it has been since I took office in 2014: to make Newark the leading city in America to live, work, and play.

We seek to provide all of our residents with safe neighborhoods; transparent, honest, efficient, and cost-effective government; empowering economic opportunities in every neighborhood; and the finest education system in the nation. In all those areas, in the past three years, we have made immense progress in these areas.

We have reorganized our public safety agencies to make them more efficient, responsive, and accountable to the public, creating a pioneering Civilian Complaint Review Board to oversee our officers’ behavior, and added more Police Officers and Firefighters to the force.

At the same time, we recognize that responding to crime is the least effective way to eliminate it – doing so does not prevent it. We have created programs to engage youth and re-entering offenders like ‘My Brother’s Keeper’ to enable these persons to live productive lives and avoid the trap of gangs, drugs, and violence. We work to save lives now to avoid burying bodies later. Under this administration, we have eliminated the municipal structural budget deficits, emerged from state monitoring, and reorganized agencies to enhance efficiency.

We have also made economic development in every neighborhood a major priority, with our Model Neighborhoods Initiative, which is taking place in three neighborhoods in our city. As that program has embedded itself, we are moving to expand it to other communities.

This program brings a wide array of development and government service efforts to the targeted areas, ranging from small business development to cleaning Copyright © 2017 - All rights reserved.

empty lots and addressing abandoned properties.

This program is one of several – like ‘Moms Who Hustle’ to help single mothers become entrepreneurs, and ‘Hire.Buy.Live.’ to unite the Newark economy, and ‘Newark 2020’ to create jobs for city residents – that is aimed at empowering residents, regardless of where they live.

However, we have not neglected our historic signature downtown. We recently renovated the historic Hahne’s Building to create a Whole Food Market, housing, and space for artists. We saw Prudential demolish two abandoned Broad Street eyesores and replace them with a new office building.

We completed the renovation of Military Park and the construction of Teachers Village, a downtown community that provides affordable housing for teachers and space for schools.

The next phase of our efforts will build on the successes I have outlined. We recently broke ground for Mulberry Commons, a housing and commercial district that will be a foot access from Newark Penn Station to the Prudential Center, enhancing the attractiveness of the nation’s seventh-busiest indoor arena.

We will soon complete One Theater Square near the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, and recently broke ground on Phase 4 of Riverfront Park on the Passaic River. This important portion of the park project will re-connect residents and visitors alike with a parkland on the very site where Captain Robert Treat and his Connecticut Puritans landed to found the City of Newark in 1666. The new park section will include an amphitheater, a dog run, and public art.

It is truly appropriate that we should renew our focus on the point where Newark was founded, because the idealism and commitment of Newark’s founders has been matched and exceeded through its 351 years of history by the generations of residents of all ethnicities and walks of life who have made Newark their home, bringing their strength and diversity to create the strongest city in the state, nation, and world.

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Volume 4.11 February 22, 2018

NEWARK WRITES... cont.

TVC: How important is it for Newark’s citizens to feel they can accomplish anything to make Newark one of the best cities in America?

MAYOR RAS BARAKA: We believe that it is critical for Newark residents to own every aspect of their city.

Possibly our greatest and most far-reaching steps have taken place in two of our Newark’s most critical areas: public safety and education.

We created a groundbreaking Civilian Complaint Review Board that puts community members and organizations in a position of oversight of police conduct, to ensure that our men and women who swear to protect and serve by upholding the law do so by obeying the law.

And, as we have regained control of our public schools from the state, we are directly involving our residents in the dialogue to determine how we shall compose our new school board, how it shall operate, and how it will administer the greatest public school system in the nation, if not the world.

But these two initiatives are not our only effort to create dialogue and empower residents. Perhaps the most interesting and important effort we are making to empower residents is our regular ‘Occupy the Block’ initiative, in which our leadership goes to a specific block in the city, twice a week, in the early evening hours, to directly interact with local residents.

We bring information about programs and opportunities for residents on everything from health care to voter registration to municipal ID cards. At these events, we bring municipal government directly to the residents and give them an opportunity to find out what we offer to help them and give their input as to the direction we should take to serve them better. We can see and hear their needs, on the spot, answer questions, and address issues. This is transparency and empowerment at its very finest.

This is how Newark leads the nation.

TVC: What are you doing to gentrify poor communities, from a positive standpoint, to have better housing, parks, etc. in Newark? pg.

I have repeatedly said that Newark will not become the next Brooklyn. That is to mean that Newark will not simply ‘gentrify’ its neighborhoods by driving residents living there out of them in the name of greater real estate values. We do not work to deny residents their homes in the name of ‘progress.’

Affordable housing is more than a slogan. It is a right.

Here in Newark, we have made it a core value and moral principle with our groundbreaking ‘Affordable Housing Ordinance,’ which requires developers who are building a new project with more than 30 units or redeveloping an existing one with 30 units to dedicate 20 percent of the units as affordable housing. Nor must these units be “separate” from the other units, they must be mixed in, and therefore identical to, the other units.

This ordinance alone, passed and signed this year, marks a definitive change on how Newark approaches all residential development. Providing affordable housing will no longer be solely a matter of conscience and commitment – it will be the law.

We will expect and demand that the development community that seeks to invest and profit from our community be an active partner in strengthening our community.

This measure is our firmest commitment to affordable housing. We have had others in the years of our administration – the development of Teachers Village to provide apartments for educators, housing for artists, and our sales of city-owned vacant lots on St. Valentine’s Day in 2015. In that initiative, couples could buy these plots in our two Model Neighborhood Initiative areas for $1,000 each, first-come, firstserved, as long as they began construction within 18 months of closing and lived on the property for five years.

Couples did take advantage of this offer – lining up around the block in front of City Hall to purchase land, despite wintry cold. At the sale, we provided these new homeowners with useful information about financing and construction issues.

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We recognize that many Newark residents have long roots in our city – families that came here in the early and later decades of the 20th century – must not be pushed out of the neighborhoods they fought to build and preserve in the 21st century. These families are as much Newark’s strength as Newark’s new families.

It is the diversity of Newark that is our greatest strength, and we will have a Newark where all can live in decent, safe, clean, and affordable homes.

TVC: Do you think it is vital to develop urban gardens in Newark where people can grow their own food in their communities? What are you doing to eliminate “food deserts” that exist in poor communities?

MAYOR RAS BARAKA: Good nutrition is one of the most overlooked yet most important issues facing America today. Thanks to the ubiquity of fast food, over stressed families that lack time to cook nutritious meals, and over-reliance on microwave ovens, many Newark residents of all ages are suffering from medical conditions that result from poor diets. These can include obesity, diabetes, early heart attacks, and strokes.

We have moved to attack the menace of obesity and food deserts in several ways. The most important has been the encouragement of the opening of additional supermarkets in our neighborhoods, so that Newark residents have greater choices for grocery shopping. These include the new ShopRite in our West Ward and the Whole Foods Market in our historic downtown, which is not only providing Newark residents with quality natural food, but Newark residents with jobs and career opportunities.

We are also proud that our historic Military Park is now the site of a regular Farmers’ Market, where residents can purchase fresh fruits and vegetables.

We are also encouraging, wherever possible, the creation of community gardens, which can grow fruits and vegetables. Local residents, particularly youth, can learn about nutrition, practical gardening, and community service. The gardens then sell food to community residents, providing them with alternatives to fast food restaurants.

Copyright © 2017 - All rights reserved.

Most importantly, we realize that we have to break the idea that a meal must be expensive or bought in a restaurant to be both tasty and nutritious. Taste and nutrition are not part of a restaurant’s mark-up.

The finest restaurants in Newark should be the family kitchen, the best meals prepared on the family stove, eaten at the family table. In doing so, we are creating a revolution in kitchens and homes across the city – a green revolution that will truly make Newark a stronger and healthier city.

TVC: Mayor Baraka, is it possible to create economic programs (such as trade schools, entrepreneurial training, so citizens can start their home businesses, etc.); make communities economically independent; and influence communities and police to work together, and not be enemies (which would be hard to do…but it is possible to join both – community and police); or influence neighborhoods to create their own “watch programs” with churches, organizations, etc.?

MAYOR RAS BARAKA: First, with regard to the economic issues, I may have mentioned many of the measures previously. We have developed critical programs like Newark 2020, ‘Moms Who Hustle, and ‘Hire.Buy.Live.’ These programs are specifically designed to equip Newark residents, particularly those at-risk or in-need, with the tools they need to flourish and be productive and economically independent.

We recognize in Newark that while large corporations are often by volume the largest employers, they are not the primary drivers of our economy – the strength of Newark comes from its neighborhoods and small, often family-owned businesses, whose unique services and offerings often speak to our diversity, which is our greatest strength.

We also recognize the importance of building a stronger relationship between police and community, by increasing transparency of police operations. To that end, we moved the Internal Affairs Office to City Hall and expanded their hours and created the groundbreaking www.the-arts-today.com

Volume 4.11 February 22, 2018

NEWARK WRITES... cont.

Civilian Complaint Review Board, which puts civilians and representatives of non-profit and community organizations in positions of oversight and investigation over complaints of police behavior.

We reorganized the Police and Fire departments into a single Department of Public Safety with Police and Fire Divisions, to unify our two critical emergency response agencies with the Office of Emergency Management.

We are also taking technological measures – providing our police officers with body cameras, so that all their interactions with the public are recorded and can be used in any ensuing investigation.

However, the struggle to break down barriers between community and cops is not won by technology, boards, or arrest statistics. It is won in hearts and minds, and making efforts to prevent crime and connect our residents with the men and women who are sworn to protect and serve them.

We have held Town Halls, community meetings, neighborhood walks, and in summertime, neighborhood roll calls, where police officers going out on patrol are briefed in public, adding to transparency, and enabling senior police leadership to interact directly with residents.

We also realize that crime cannot be eradicated in Newark simply by arresting suspects after the fact, after the killings, after the wounding, after the destruction. That is merely putting bandages on injuries. Crime must be prevented by offering better life choices to potential criminals, eliminating cycles of violence and abuse, providing empowerment and hope to re-entering offenders, and reaching out to disconnected and at-risk youth.

So these measures are complemented by outreach programs like ‘My Brother’s Keeper,’ which are designed to connect at-risk young men of color with mentors, education programs for young adults who had difficulty gaining high school diplomas, re-entry programs to connect ex-offenders with jobs, counseling, and medical treatment, to avoid recidivism. In all of these areas, Newark needs its pg.

residents – as President Barack Obama once said, ‘democracy requires hard work.’

We have and continue to call upon our residents to step up and join us in these efforts, whether on their own as individual mentors or employers or in community groups. We are all Newarkers, and when any Newark resident, family, or group works to improve and strengthen their portion of Newark – be it reading to their daughter at night or helping to clean an empty lot – they are improving and strengthening all of Newark.

TVC: The New Jersey Department of Education gave the city control of their school system, after the state was in control for 22 years. Now since the city is back in control, what will the city do to make schools viable, as improving school education, creating charter schools, private schools…in other words, using whatever works to improve education in Newark?

MAYOR RAS BARAKA: Regaining control of the Newark Public Schools after 22 years has been one of the great goals of this entire city and the major goals and achievements of my administration. I am proud and privileged that a dedicated team of Newark residents and educators worked with the state to restore what rightfully belongs to the people of Newark – control of their public schools, and therefore, control of the city’s future and destiny.

Now, as the great victory is won, we regard that as an opportunity to excel.

As we regain control of our schools, our first move is to make the process of doing so transparent and open. We will hold a dialogue with our residents to find out what they want and how we can best provide them with the best public schools system in the country.

Some things we all agree upon – we must support our public schools and the teachers and administrators who inspire and mentor the students studying in them. We must involve parents and families as full partners in teaching and

12

raising our children. We must involve community groups, our business community and its opportunities for mentoring, internships, and funding, and our nonprofits, with their commitment to community and caring.

Finally, we must also involve our institutions of higher education, both for their expertise and their deeper commitment to long-term education.

Most of all, the entire city of Newark agrees that our city must and will have the finest education system in the nation. We will live up to our mission statement: ‘All children will learn.’ We will provide every single Newark child with the tools they need to gain the education they need to achieve the success they want in order to make their dreams a reality. This is not a political promise or a slogan. It is a covenant with and vow to future generations of Newark’s leaders, entrepreneurs, scientists, artists, and thinkers. We will work in our present to build your tomorrow.

Experience You Can Trust.

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Volume 4.11 February 22, 2018

Would you like a printed copy(s) of an issue mailed to your home?

Send your request to us by email **Remember to include the volume/issue** Cost may vary per issue.

pg.

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a h s r a

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” e c la

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H h t i w Copyright © 2017 - All rights reserved.

t t ie

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Volume 4.11 February 22, 2018

OP / ED SECTION

Moline Acres Police Department College Scholarship Program in partnership with Infinite Scholars Program

The Moline Acres Police Department College Scholarship Program wishes to acknowledge some of the students in our city that have accepted the promise of a college scholarship for accomplishing the following criteria: 1.

2.

3.

4.

95 percent school attendance 3.3 or better cumulative grade average 22 or better composite ACT score No major discipline problems

Through our mentorship program with Infinite Scholars, the Moline Acres Police Department wishes to help fulfill the hopes and dreams of families in our community wishing to send their children to college.

The Infinite Scholars program uses it extensive nationwide network of 500+ colleges and universities to find a college scholarship for students who achieve the criteria above. The Moline Acres Police Department is committed to helping our students accomplish these criteria. The motto for this program is “Our Badges Create Scholars.�

Moline Acres is located in North St. Louis County, Missouri. To learn more, contact the Moline Acres Police Department at 314-868-2433 or Infinite Scholars at 314-499-6997.

Pictured are Moline Acres Chief of Police Colonel Ware, Police Officer Donaldson, and students Charmaine and Charles.

pg.

16

Editorial Rebeccah Bennett TRUTH: This is not the first time that this country has been run by a bigot.

It is not the first time that we have experienced political isolation and social rejection.

Founder and principal of Emerging Wisdom LLC.

A

nd it is not the first time that we have had to figure out how to metabolize our grief and fear in ways that did not immobilize us, but caused us to actualize our power to change the world.

PERSPECTIVE:

Right

and forefathers lived through horrors that were generational in scope and scale. They persisted through times when there was little chance of a better tomorrow, much less a better life – not even for their kids. Yet they responded to their lot in life by creating resistance movements, aid societies, educational and religious institutions, banks and co-ops, art forms, innovations and spiritual practices that continue to make our lives

now it might do us some good to call upon our ancestors for wisdom, strength and guidance. Our foremothers Copyright Š 2017 - All rights reserved.

better today. Remember that their blood is our blood. Their strength is our strength. They are the ROOTS and we are their FRUITS.

PRAYER:

We call upon our ancestors, those upon whom the sky fell.

We call upon our ancestors who experienced all manner of degradation, humiliation, violation and death. We call upon our ancestors, people who swung from trees and were forced to live on their knees. We call upon our ancestors, many of whom persisted, survived and endured without destroying themselves or others. May whatever it is that nourished and sustained them come more fully alive in us. Ashe.

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Volume 4.11 February 22, 2018

pg.

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Volume 4.11 February 22, 2018

MARCH 8 • 7pm Lee Auditorium • FREE Thursday

Registration required: mohistory.org/elizabeth-hinton

2018 PROGRAMS

PRESENTATION BOOK SIGNING

&

PRESENTED IN COLLABORATION WITH

Washington University Center for the Humanities Elizabeth Hinton, assistant professor in the department of history and the department of African and African American Studies at Harvard University, will deliver this presentation on her award-winning book. Named one of the New York Times’s 100 notable books of 2016, From the War on Poverty to the War on Crime examines the implementation of federal law enforcement programs in the mid-1960s that laid the groundwork for the mass incarceration of American citizens. The book will be available for purchase in the Missouri History Museum Shop.

Closes April 15 | Free admission

PRESENTED BY

SPONSORED BY

JSM Charitable Trust

#1 in Civil Rights: The African American Freedom Struggle in St. Louis examines the local civil rights movement and the city’s leading role in advancing the cause of racial justice. From ground-level activism to groundbreaking court rulings, St. Louis has been front and center in contesting racial inequities. #1 in Civil Rights uncovers a history that’s compelling and complex, but that all too often has been overlooked in the telling and retelling of the larger national narrative.

COMMUNITY EDUCATION AND PROGRAM SPONSOR William T. Kemper Foundation—Commerce Bank, Trustee

ADDITIONAL SUPPORT PROVIDED BY

Forest Park • St. Louis • 314.746.4599 • mohistory.org

pg.

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Maxine Clark and Bob Fox

TAX PREPARATION CLINICS Thanks to a new partnership with the Davis Tax Foundation, we’re offering three FREE tax preparation clinics for artists this year.

Space is limited. To avoid disappointment, make your appointment soon.

Tuesday, February 20, and Wednesday, February 21 3:00 to 6:00 p.m. by appointment only at the St. Louis Artists' Guild, 12 Jackson Avenue in collaboration with the Davis Tax Foundation Space is limited. Please book no later than February 13. To make an appointment, send an email with your name, cell phone number and date preference.

Note: Sorry, the Davis Tax Foundation team cannot assist you if you had depreciation, cost of goods sold, paid employees, income over $65,000 or foreign income. You’ll need to bring all W-2s and 1099s, your 2016 tax return and other documents (a full list will be sent with your appointment confirmation).

Thursday, March 15 4:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. by appointment only Metropolitan Artist Lofts, 500 N. Grand in collaboration with Gateway EITC Community Coalition This clinic is just for artists who live in the Arcade Apartments, Metropolitan Artist Lofts and Leather Trades Artist Lofts. Space is limited. Please book no later than March 8. To make an appointment, send an email with your name, loft building and cell phone number.

Note: The income guideline limit for this clinic is $54,000. The volunteers can prepare Form 1040/1040EZ with Schedule A, Schedule B and C (up to $25,000 of self-employment income), and the forms for earned income tax credit and the child tax credit. Sorry, the team cannot assist you if you had depreciation, cost of goods sold, paid employees, a home office or rental income. You’ll need to bring all W-2s and 1099s, your 2016 tax return and other documents (a full list will be sent with your appointment confirmation).

Need arts-related legal or accounting assistance? Apply here

DIY

Do you feel comfortable doing your own taxes? Hate having to buy new tax software every year? If your income was less than $62,000, click here.

WWW.VLAA.ORG 314-863-6930 vlaa@stlrac.org 6128 Delmar, St. Louis, MO 63112

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Volume 4.11 February 22, 2018

IVE WORK PLAY

Volume 4.11 February 22, 2018 St. Louis

hat a beautiful day in St. Louis! I know that W it will be cold again soon, but that's ok, because we need the cold days to appreciate

the warm ones. Fortunately, the real estate market continues to be hot, which is why I am so late getting this letter to you. In fact, I was so close to just skipping the letter for this month, but I ran into a couple of friends that said that they count on this every month.

So, I couldn't let them, or you down by getting through the month without letting you know about just a few things that might be worth checking out in our beloved St. Louis! I hope that you'll join me at some of them!

FEBRUARY

15 thru

FEBRUARY

18

Tonight, head over to the Contemporary Art Museum to check out Trenton Doyle Hancock: The Re-evolving Door to the Moundverse, which invites viewers to encounter visual narratives through painting, sculpture, and video. While you are there, enjoy the two-for-one drink specials and let art and lovingly concocted beverages be the food for love at the Valentine's Day edition of Drink in Art! On Saturday, the Orchid Show is in full swing at the Missouri Botanical Garden. You can view hundreds of blooming orchids from the Garden's historic collection in a lush, tropical setting.

Head down to the Arch on Saturday morning for The Great Backyard Bird Count! The National Park Service invites visitors of all ages on a winter adventure to explore the Gateway Arch's renovated "backyard" and connect with nature.

This program will feature special programs focusing on birds and their life cycle, the importance of citizen science and bird watching, and one of our greatest natural resources: the Mississippi River.

On Saturday night, you can enjoy a different type of nature as the St. Louis Winter Tequila Festival is upon us at Molly's in Soulard. Get ready for a fun filled event for tequila fanatics and for those not yet a fan, get ready to be converted!

Also on Saturday, in honor of Black History Month and mental health awareness, Slaying

pg.

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Local Events FEBRUARY

Dragons presents Look Away, a performance about a friendship that develops between two women joined by mutual suffering.

On Sunday, COCA presents The Story Pirates as they celebrate the words and ideas of young people, turning their original stories into wild sketch comedy musicals. Some of the best improvisers and musicians in the country, recruited from the Upright Citizens Brigade, Second City, the Groundlings, and more, bring to life the unfiltered world of kids' imaginations at Washington University - 560 Music Center.

Grandel Theatre.

Rebelution, the California reggae band onedrops into The Pageant, on Sunday, more energized than ever as they have been touring relentlessly since their release Count Me In debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Reggae chart.

Sunday, you might want to check out the The Newbery Medal and Coretta Scott King Award-winning story Bud, Not Buddy. This "concert play" tells the tale of a ten-year-old orphan who wants to find his father. Bud sets off on an epic journey of discovery during the Great Depression. The musical score is written by Terence Blanchard and is produced by Metro Theater Company in partnership with Jazz St. Louis and is set to the sound of a live 13-piece jazz band at the

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On Wednesday, check out the smokin' jazz styling of the Benny Green Trio as they perform at Jazz St. Louis in Grand Center.

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Volume 4.11 February 22, 2018

IVE WORK PLAY

On Wednesday, check out the smokin' jazz styling of the Benny Green Trio as they perform at Jazz St. Louis in Grand Center.

It's hard to say what it is I see in Sister Hazel, but they will be at Delmar Hall, all for you, on Thursday. It should be a great performance along with Carbon Leaf.

On Friday, just in time for Black History Month, you can check out the premiere of creative producer Lamar Harris' ground-breaking original theatrical production, "Superheroes of Blackness" at .Zack in Midtown.

Also on Friday, Lift Every Voice, this year's annual concert celebrating AfricanAmerican culture and community takes place at Powell Hall with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Grammy-nominated guest Oleta Adams and the IN UNISON Chorus!

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19 thru

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For a different flavor on Friday, you can check out Celebration Day , a tribute to Led Zeppelin, which will be rockin' the stage at The Pageant. This should be cool as it features members of local bands including El Monstero, Joe Dirt, Dr Zhivegas, The Incurables, The Urge, and the Feed.

There'll be no place like The Fox Theatre on Saturday as they bring the Wizard of Oz to stage all weekend!

On Saturday night, you might find me and my beautiful bride on the dance floor at AfroSexyCool down at 2720 Cherokee Street. Afterwards, since we are on Cherokee Street, it's possible (likely) that we will be enjoying tacos and ice cream at La Vallesana.

You can also visit The St. Louis Artists' Guild on Saturday to hear Brian Curran carry on the traditions of the past. His original songs are a wonderful mix of heartfelt lyrics and stellar guitar playing and his arrangement of covers show a respect for the masters of the past with a keen ear for the tastes of today's music listeners.

Artscope presents Wall Ball 2018 on Saturday, which is a live art extravaganza highlighting top St. Louis artists, at Third Degree Glass Factory!

On Sunday, North by Northwest, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, will come to life on the big screen at Powell Hall as the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra performs Bernard Herrmann's exhilarating, gentle, pulsating and moving score live!

Also on Sunday, Sci Fest is your chance to take the whole family to meet local scientists, engineers and other experts for a behind-the-scenes look at real science at The St. Louis Science Center.

Yes, another great month to enjoy in St. Louis! I'm looking forward to seeing you soon.

All the best. -Nate P.S. Here is the latest Housing Report for your review. Median sales prices are up 4.3% from January of last year. Inventory continues to be low, which is good for our clients who are selling homes, but a bit more of a task for our clients who are buying homes. However, we are up for the challenge! Let me know if you have any questions.

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Nate K. Johnson ABR,CIPS,CRS,GRI,SRES Broker/Owner Real Estate Solutions 314-575-7352 Direct 314-514-9600 Office nate@livingstl.com www.livingstl.com

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Volume 4.11 February 22, 2018

2505 St. Louis Avenue St. Louis, MO 63106-2324 314-241-7057 E-mail: thegriotmuseum@aol.com

A Call for Visual Art Submissions The Griot Museum of Black History invites African-American women to participate in an exhibit of visual art entitled, “Black Women Speak.”

Works should interpret issues faced by African-American women including historical experience, challenges and contributions, and influence in areas such as social justice and human rights, self-identity, and cultural relevance.

The exhibit will complement the one-woman show “A Black Woman Speaks” that will be adapted by A Call to Conscience Theater Company (C2C), and presented at The Griot March 9-11, 2018. The exhibit will be on display March 1 – May 31, 2018.

Artist may submit up to five images for consideration. Each work must include your name and contact information, title and description (i.e. size, medium), cost (if for sale), etc.

Please send digital images for consideration to: thegriotmuseum@aol.com

by December 23, 2017. Selections will be made and notification sent to you by December 31, 2017.

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Volume 4.11 February 22, 2018

Cryptocurrency Blockchain

&

Technology Briefing pg.

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What is blockchain technology and cryptocurrency? The terms refer to a 24-hour open source, peer to peer, digitally encrypted method for transferring assets, determining identity, executing contracts, and assigning value using a distributed computer driven file-sharing network similar to what was pioneered by Napster or LimeWire for music and TOR for multimedia content like movies, television shows, video etc.

Fueling this alternative economic infrastructure are digitized stores of value called tokens or coins, mobile applications called wallets and software platforms that facilitate trading or utility of more than 1,506 of these tokens or coins. This data is stored in a publicly accessible cyberspace environment in chronologically ordered stacks of encrypted number strings called the blockchain. The most popular of these stores of value is Bitcoin which traded at $9,908.16 on Feb.22.

What was started in 2008 as a hedge against the anticipated collapse of the multi-trillion-dollar global conventional financial markets framework in the wake of the 2007 financial meltdown, has become in 10 years an ecosystem worth about $550billion. This does not include the valuations of the companies that support the cryptocurrency infrastructure.

We could very easily be looking at a trillion-dollar industry if you count software developers, exchange operators, crypto debit card issuers, wallet app and hardware wallet providers, cyber security firms, GPU/CPU mining equipment makers, crypto/blockchain conference promoters, dedicated data centers, (mining farms) cryptocurrency foundations, cloud mining groups, crypto currency casinos, payment system providers, certification groups, trade associations and companies that accept cryptocurrency for goods and services.

New Hampshire and New York have passed laws creating a framework for integrating cryptocurrencies into their economies. The U.S. Congress is contemplating legislation to regulate the industry through existing government oversight.

The Internal Revenue Service(IRS), the U.S. Marshal’s Service, The Dept. of Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement branch (FINCEN), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodities Futures Trade Commission(CFTC) have provided guidance to banks and investment managers regarding anti-money laundering and know your customer (AML/KYC) policies.

The Digital Chamber of Commerce, a lobby group representing the major players has been formed with the backing of Silicon Valley and has quickly positioned itself in the political center of power Washington, D.C., and the financial center of power New York City.

Where are Black Afrikans in all of this? Below are highlighted the work of four Afrikans who are knee deep into blockchain tech and cryptocurrency: Sinclair Skinner—cofounder of BitMari mobile remittance and bitcoin wallet app provider. (Mention the I Love Black People techie bus tour) Mike DeShazer—IT professional, software developer who has established the Proof Suite platform that allows anybody to quickly launch independent, decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), decentralized applications (DAPPs), smart contracts, assetbased ERC 20 tokens and blockchain-based digital currencies.

Reggie Middleton---Former securities analyst with Prudential Financial who launched the Veritaseum platform that allows holders of the Veritas token and coin access to his newsletter, curated investment research into cutting edge tech companies, innovative blockchain enterprises, access to ICOs and other investment opportunities.

Brandon Kelly---Developed a very effective cryptocurrency trading strategy.

We must harness this burgeoning ecosystem to establish a self-sufficient avenue of creditworthiness and wealth creation that promotes economic growth and development in the Afrikan diaspora. ~Johnson Lancaster

The state legislatures of California, Delaware, Nevada, Copyright © 2017 - All rights reserved.

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Volume 4.11 February 22, 2018

You are cordially invited to attend a talk by Caren Irr, professor and recent chair of English at Brandeis University.

“Patti Smith’s Visions of Ethiopia, or the Neo-Beatnik Cosmos” When: Friday, March 2nd, at 4:00 p.m.

Where: Hurst Lounge, Duncker Hall 201 Sponsored by the African and African American Studies department Caren Irr, Professor of English at Brandeis University, is a leading scholar of modern and contemporary American literature, film and media culture, globalism, ecocriticism, and critical theory. Her many publications include the books Toward the Geopolitical Novel: U.S. Fiction in the 21st Century (Columbia UP, 2014); Pink Pirates: Contemporary American Women Writers and Copyright (U of Iowa P, 2011); The Suburb of Dissent: Cultural Politics in the United States and Canada during the 1930s (Duke UP, 1998); and the edited collections On Jameson (SUNY P, 2006) and Rethinking the Frankfurt School (SUNY P, 2002). She is now at work on two other books: one on American orphan stories and the representation of capitalism and one on the contradictions of recent environmental writing.

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UrbArts is excited to see what these youth poets have in store for the community as they perform in one of the last two competitions in season 7 of VerbQuake. They rejuvenate the Greater St. Louis Area with their words and ideas and we are better for their efforts.

We appreciate all of the teachers who coached this year. In this time of incredible challenges, making space for young voices to speak their truths -- like all of our coaches do -- is in empowering. We offer a heartfelt thank you.

This event is free and open to the public but we welcome donations to support this program.

Please spread the word.

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Volume 4.11 February 22, 2018

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Volume 4.11 February 22, 2018

TERMS OF

ENGAGEMENT

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T

erms of endearment and engagement matter as greatly as the sanctity of Black Lives, indeed as much as the sanctity of human life. The single words, phrases, or complete sentences we speak and write have weight in our presentations of self and our constructions of what we designate “reality” to be. The language we take for granted is central in struggles for social justice as well as in scientific propositions regarding the nature of Nature. Our endangered Constitutional rights to enjoy liberty, to speak with unconditional honesty, and to maximize our innate value must be rescued from people who, in the words of Eddie S. Glaude, Jr., idolize a value gap that deforms humanity and American democracy. Diagnosis of illness and health, critiques of vampire capitalism, scrutiny of business contracts and the rule of law ---all of these have overt consequences. The terms we embrace give voice to our ideological concepts. If we truly believe our integrity is more important than having commerce with correctness, we give priority to the meaning and significance of our language(s). Terms guide our physical and mental actions; they enable us to have relative control of our destinies; they signal the presence or absence of being well and necessitate uncertainty about what’s normal, what’s abnormal.

The association of endearment with engagement is not random, but it has become increasingly surreal in American discourses. The human condition in the twenty-first century is such , particularly in our nation, that prudence in personal behavior demands a high level of consciousness regarding what assaults our minds endlessly: a surplus of information, misinformation, artfully designed disinformation. Ah, the brave new world of intense frustration. We have to sort through the surplus to behave well, to protect ourselves from misapplications of powerful technologies, to deal with those bodies of knowledge (or knowing) we call disciplines. People who have a more than casual investment in education and the life of the mind may be slightly more aware of the rubbing of feeling against reason, but even those who are silent notice the friction. Skepticism, disgruntlement, cynical attitudes, and mean-spiritedness seem to undermine the better habits of the heart ---compassion, altruism, selflessness --- in contemporary life. Is it not unfortunate that evidence of genuine humanity is most obvious in moments of crisis and catastrophe?

What is happening to us is not unique and original; what is happening is ancient and quite commonplace; it is indivisible from the terms we use to engage what we think reality is. The sooner we make efforts to manage terms and our destinies, the better. For example, during a recent orientation session on the Prison Rape Elimination Act held by the Orleans Parish Sheriff ’s Office Training Academy for those of us who have volunteered to work with inmates, we were asked to identify LGBTI and Q . I got lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender right, but I was

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baffled by I and Q. I did not know “ I “ stood for “intersex” (hermaphrodite) and “Q” for questioning, a term that applies to adolescents. Language comes and goes quickly. What a reminder of the importance of adaptation, adoption, appropriation, and adeptness; of my need to get smart real quick. The real life terms of engagement in the orientation session bounce against the terms I used in “Imperatives, “ a poem I wrote before my enlightenment about shifting terminology in the criminal justice system and in the rule of law.

IMPERATIVES The discipline whispers nary a syllable regarding the marriage of bird feathers and moss, is damned, Lord knows, to descant and once again descant on phallic cigars and virgin roses.

That’s anthropology for you, ever casting buckets of mercy into water thrice threatened, pulling up ice cubes that sizzle under the heat of the unknown, knowing the answer before the advent of the question.

A term of endearment is a word or phrase used to address or describe a person, animal, or inanimate object for which one has love or affection. Such a term must be used with caution nowadays. Calling a person “sweetheart” can get you entangled in nasty litigation A term of engagement is a rule that people follow in dealing with each other or situations as in negotiations between the United Nations and the World Bank or between Great Britain and the European Union, in civic debates or in exercises of First Amendment rights which can quickly become barbaric and deadly. It is necessary, almost in a Machiavellian sense, to analyze our terms of engagement; in many instances we must revise traditional terms of engagement, so as not to be beaten down and constantly enslaved by the language of the Others. Vigilance is a matter of using common sense in our choice of action. We can’t depend on deceptive “liberal” or “conservative” social theory to guarantee our relative freedoms. I am pragmatic and have anxiety regarding our terms of engagement.

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TERMS OF... cont.

As Cleophus Thomas, Jr., a brilliant and highly regarded attorney in Anniston, Alabama noted in an email he sent to me on October 2: “No one has to convince a listener that James Brown is Johannes Brahms in order to conclude Brown is great. But this need for deemed equivalence in visual arts turns criticism into a cultural currency converter. Fungibility. What can I trade this for? Perhaps that is what all criticism is.” Understanding of greatness and significance is in the ear of the listener, in the eye of the beholder, in the mind of the critical thinker. Have we too soon abandoned the crucial lessons of the not so distant Black Arts/Black Aesthetic enterprise? For good measure, Thomas reminded me “For James Brown no special pleading is needed, the art not only speaks for itself but was claimed rapturously by the community.” I think he wanted me to remember that in 2017 Papa, Mama, and their children have or should have brand new bags. Such abstractions as identity, gender, race, and ethnicity slam new bags on old tables.

In his book Syncopations: The Stress of Innovation in Contemporary American Poetry ( Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2004), Jed Rusula has a passage that hits the target dead center. He wrote with reference to the treatise Philosophy of Liberation ( Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1985) that Liberation theologist Enrique Dussel elucidates the cost of canonical ambitions: “ modern European philosophy, even before the ego cogito but certainly from then on, situated all men and all cultures --and with them their women and children ---within its own boundaries as manipulable tools, instruments. Ontology understood them as interpretable beings, as known ideas, as mediations of internal possibilities within the horizon of the comprehension of Being” (3). In Dussel’s account, Eurocentric history is itself a canonical mode of production that hierarchically disposes humans from top to bottom and center to periphery, distinguishing those empowered to speak from those bereft of speech. Ironically, canonical figures are certifiably mute by virtue of having “spoken for us all. They can no longer speak for (or defend) themselves, as the force of their signification is redirected toward a central chronicle, a supreme fiction. (168-169) For the sake of clarity, I would “translate” this word-thick passage into plainer language. The so-called dominant version of what is real in the world, the version operative in the United States of America, is a historical narrative that is an unreliable fiction. It is not supreme.

Consider how judicious is a tentative conclusion Jeremy Campbell reached about electronic/digital environments in his thoughtful book Grammatical Man: Information, Entropy, Language and Life (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1982):

pg.

No final, wrapped-up, all-inclusive theory of reality will ever be perfected. The nature of language, the forms of logic, the duality of matter beneath the surface we observe, the power of rules to generate new structures, the limits of knowledge, the special character of complex as opposed to simple systems, all point to this conclusion. In this respect, science and art, philosophy and politics, history and psychology, meet on common ground, so that the barriers between the cultures break down under the recognition that all are incomplete and always will be; that no single discipline or school of thought has a monopoly on the truth.

The truth itself has become more difficult to define as a result of the last half-century of discoveries in what used to be known as the exact sciences, making them richer, but not necessarily more exact, and disturbing them to their foundations. (111) Study of Thomas S. Kuhn’s The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962) and Werner Heisenberg’s Physics and Philosophy: The Revolution in Modern Science (1962) might convince us that Campbell has put his finger on a truth. Our terms of engagement must disturb and negate traditional foundations and prepare us to make concrete differences in the global arena.

Our best terms of engagement resist the enthrallment of fiction.

They replace it with non-fiction derived from experience. They sponsor empirical counter-narratives. Such efforts have long been the work of African American thinkers who refuse to be taken in by academic double-talk. Nevertheless, we ought not be surprised if our commitment to non-fiction issues from works of imagination. Wisdom is brewed in poems and other literary works that amoral capitalists tell us are anti-aesthetic , incendiary and dangerous. A sterling example would be Amiri Baraka’s “Somebody Blew Up America” (2001).

What might our terms of engagement become by juxtaposing Baraka’s poem with Matthew Arnold’s “Dover Beach”? Would we begin to liberate our Selves and our minds for a viable future?

Yes, our futures would acquire more genuine transparency and diversity.

Often it is a poem that calls attention to the “eternal note of sadness” that disturbs human affairs and our everyday practices of life. An especially relevant example for 2017 is Matthew Arnold’s fine lyric “Dover Beach” (1867), which is significant for its handling of tensions between science and religion or science and humanism. This poem is memorable as a speech act about critical feeling regarding the consequences of late nineteenth-century world affairs ----duplicity, violence, colonization, capitalist enterprises that minimized ethics, the forms of modernism that produced the chaos of World War I. While Arnold’s poem does

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not address the ur-fascism that culminated in World War II, it does not allow us to be complacent about ideological combat and the contemporary climate of terrorism international and domestic. It jolts the least political among us with existential alarm about the United States of America as a fragmented nation.

Arnold’s poem is at once personal and political, because like our most astute poets he recognized that reason and emotion are not divorced from affairs of state and the body politic. “Dover Beach” raises historical consciousness by way of meditation on the human condition. I have a wake-up call each time I read the final stanza of “Dover Beach.”

Ah, love, let us be true To one another! for the world, which seems To lie before us like a land of dreams, So various, so beautiful, so new, Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light, Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain; And we are here as on a darkling plain Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight, Where ignorant armies clash by night.

down upon the face of worded Earth, could vision make wiser speech of physics or parse better, for you, for us a bolder meaning of tragic magic beauty?

Supported by his tribe of deformed, anti-democratic folk, Donald Trump ( our irrational Tweetperson- in- Chief ) was assiduously creating a climate for false news (all news is false news according to his spokespersons) in 2016, and it was in sub-zero temperature that I pushed back against uncertainty by addressing the Great Wall of China just as I question the “white” fairytale of a Great Wall between Mexico and the USA. The sea of my faith is not empty. African Americans shall create moments of the good, the beautiful, and the true in defiance of cosmic evil, the ugliness of resurgent race-marked hatreds, and the endangered concept of truth. They shall create new terms of engagement.

~Jerry W. Ward, Jr.

Arnold’s yoking a term of endearment with terms of engagement is on time.

Jeffrey T. Schnapp’s article “On Disciplinary Finitude” ( See PMLA 132.3 (2017): 505-512 ) points eloquently to terms of engagement, action, and education ---Irrespective of which side of the fence I’m standing on, for me the answer remains the same: disciplinary homelessness is like a meal without textures, smells, or flavors,.

Innovators need to come from somewhere to go somewhere beyond. But to thrive, disciplinarity requires a counterforce, and such counterforces are fed, in turn, by discipline-based modes of inquiry. The paradox is irresolvable because it’s productive: whether in the classroom, the laboratory, or the workplace, depth plus reach equals greater mental agility than either pursued in isolation can hope to provide. Disciplines may come and go, they may rejuvenate from within or without, but the great mosaics of twenty-first-century knowledge will be built from the tesserae of domain expertise, not from a scattering of skills (511).

A similar idea was operative in my writing of CHINA KWANSABA Should alien light with furious love smash against the ancient Great Wall and time become pixels to float in frantic design

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Available -

FEBRUARY 2018

on lulu.com and Amazon.com Copyright © 2017 - All rights reserved.

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Volume 4.11 February 22, 2018

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Walking the Blue Line: A Police Officer Turned Community Activist Provides Solutions for the Racial Divide

By Terrell Carter Bettie Youngs Book Publishers

$15.00 paperback

“As I recall my experiences, I find it incredulous that people in law enforcement honestly believe and say that a racial divide and racial profiling don’t exist. An officer’s mind is divided: first, between the police and the general public and second, between the police and minorities.”~ Terrell Carter Walking the Blue Line follows the author’s experiences growing up as a black child in St. Louis, MO, a racially charged city still trying to overcome its divided past, and his five year journey as a law enforcement officer which led him to reevaluate his views on citizens and police alike. Readers are taken on a compelling journey as he details personal stories of the challenges of navigating this new world, including how he had to testify against a former partner for falsifying a major drug arrest.

Terrell details the thoughts and tactics of police officers based on their training in the police academy and lessons they learn on the streets and how this information can help citizens better understand why officers do what they do while still holding them accountable for protecting and serving their communities.

Walking the Blue Line can be ordered from www.terrellcarter.net, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and traditional booksellers.

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Volume 4.11 February 22, 2018

African American History via publication

“Negroes sometimes choose their own leaders, but unfortunately, they are often the wrong kind. Negroes do not readily follow persons with constructive programs. Almost any sort of exciting appeal or trivial matter presented to them may receive immediate attention and temporarily at least liberal support. When the bubble collapses, of course, these same followers will begin to decry Negro leadership and call the misrepresentatives of the group rascals and scoundrels. Inasmuch as they have failed to exercise foresight, however, those who have deceived them should not be blamed so much as those who have liberally supported these impostors. Yet the fault here is not inherently in the Negro, but in what he has been taught.”

“The large majority of Negro preachers of today, then, are doing nothing more than to keep up the mediaeval hellfire scare which the whites have long since abandoned to emphasize the humanitarian trend in religion through systematized education. The young people of the Negro race could be held in the church by some such program, but the Negro’s Christianity does not conceive of social uplift as a duty of the church; and consequently Negro children have not been adequately trained in religious matters to be equal to the social demands upon them. It is very clear, then, that if Negroes got their conception of religion from slave holders, libertines, and murderers, there must be something wrong about it, and it would not hurt to investigate it.”

Dr. Carter G. Woodson-The Mis-educaction of the Negro-1933Associated Publishers.

Press-Soldiers without Swords.” It aired in February 1999, on PBS but is relevant today. The film archives the history of the African American in this country. It tells the stories of Black journalists who sometimes risked their lives to tell our stories. It is an intrinsic, true story of our community, which the white press either ignored or fabricated. The films show how crusading journalists such as Ida B. Wells of Memphis and Robert S. Abbott, the founder of The Chicago Defender spirited the great northern migration of Blacks from the South, to Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland and St. Louis.

It also tells the authentic story of the African American’s role in World War II. Only during African American History Month will television and cable channels attempt to give credit and respect to the achievements of our people. To affirm the Black people that sacrificed their lives so America, all Americans could experience the land of hope, The Promised Land, yet we still live in separate worlds.

It describes how J. Edgar Hoover, former head of the FBI, threatened to attempt to shut down the Black Press for telling the truth about conditions of African American men and women serving in the Armed Forces. Yet today, the Black Press, this magazine and Black radio and television, are the only vehicles for authentic African American History. Despite all of the wonderful things the Black Press represents, it is not yet supported by the African American community to the extent in which it deserves. If you desire truthful information about your community, you must support African American publications. It is in your best interest.

African American newspapers are dedicated to bringing you not only social and civic news, but activities of the church, civil and human rights and investigative reports about your community.

African American publications are dedicated to celebrating the achievements of our race in every publication, not just in February.

The Black Press, including this magazine, is invaluable and it is up to you to preserve this institution.

Bernie Hayes

American History!--White on Black Crime!

I hope that some of you have watched the documentary “The Black

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Volume 4.11 February 22, 2018

Interview with Lewis DIUGUID: Award-Winning Journalist Uses Example of Father to Encourage Today’s Men

There is much discussion today about ways to stem the downward spiral of young African American men. Veteran journalist, Lewis DIUGUID, mines the past to offer hope for the future. TheVillageCelebration’s Vickie Newton talks with Diuguid about his book, Our Fathers: Making Black Men.

Listen to the Interview

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www.newmusiccircle.org

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Volume 4.11 February 22, 2018

Hello, I would love it if you took a moment to check out my GoFundMe campaign: CLICK GOFUNDME LINK BELOW TO DONATE https://www.gofundme.com/black-archaeologist-season-4

Your support would mean a lot to me.

Thank you so much!

- Michael Lambert

Black Archaeologist. pg.

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Volume 4.11 February 22, 2018

Celebrating the Life of

Lerone BENNETT

Hey Y’all I just want to take a minute to celebrate the life and work of Clarksdale, Mississippi’s Lerone Bennett. A wonderful writer and editor, he was ahead of his time, and folks are still trying to match what he was doing so many years ago. Probably the last of the funky literary soul brothers, as a journalist and editor for Ebony and Jet for fifty years, Bennett understood that literature is not just a way to ascend into the middle class but a tool for African people to reclaim their humanity from the jaws of white supremacy. When I was a child, especially my teenage years, he was one of the people that I wanted to be. Prince inspired me to be an artist, but folks like Bennett, Richard Wright, James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, and others made me want to be a writer. I mean no disrespect by this, but today’s Ebony is not his Ebony. But, then, again, today’s Negroes are not the liberated black person that Bennett was. Known mostly for his work helping to make Ebony and Jet the CNN—years before CNN existed—of AfricanAmerican culture and for his book, Before the Mayflower: A History of Black America, 1619–1962 (1962), which is still taught in many universities across the planet, what is most unknown about Bennett is that he was one of the first journalist/historians to proclaim, with research, that former U. S. President Thomas Jefferson fathered children with his slave Sally Hemings. (I refuse to use the term “mistress” when describing Ms. Hemings because the term implies that she had a choice. No slave has a choice to accept or refuse a master’s advances or desires.) His article, “Thomas Jefferson’s Negro Grandchildren” (1954) is an examination of the 20th-century lives of folks claiming descent from Jefferson and Hemings. Along with forcing America to face its evil past, the article is also credited with illuminating the importance of oral history as an essential aspect of empirical scholarship. So, this is just a moment to thank Bennett and others like him for using literature to teach and inspire.

their flaws. Next, the film does a great job of presenting well-developed and nuanced characters to the point that it is having a discourse regarding the definition of protagonist and antagonist. Further, it shows that a story is as only complicated as its characters. As such, one leaves Black Panther not discussing good versus evil or the right and wrong way to respond to white supremacy but leaves making sure to engage in discourse that includes the complexity of what it means to be African and African American in a world smothered by white supremacy and how that unique and complex understanding colors or impacts one’s choice of how best to respond to inhumanity and injustice. Next, the special effects are excellent. And, finally, through the female characters, the film shows that beauty, intelligence, and power come in all forms and only those who realize and respect this fact are able to help humanity evolve to its highest form. I saw Black Panther last night with my wife, and I’ll be seeing it Sunday with my step-son and grandson.

The film is a cultural and intellectual family affair in many ways. I now return to being an ostrich.

~C. Liegh McInnis

And, while I’m at it, here are four reasons that Black Panther is great. One, Chadwick Boseman is the Denzell Washington, Wesley Snipes, Sidney Poitier of his time. At this moment, he is that dude with the skills to play larger than life characters in a manner that they inspire viewers to greatness while recognizing that history and art are always stories about flawed people trying their best to be better than

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Volume 4.11 February 22, 2018

Circle of Light Associates

1515 VARNUM, St Louis, MO 63136 • $72,500 Residential | .265 acres • 3 bedrooms • 1 bathrooms • MLS# 17059099

This Beautiful Home is Ready for Family to move right in and Kick up their feet!! Your home has been completely rehabbed ready to pass all inspection!!

Rochelle DIXON Contact

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Winner of six Academy Awards – including Best Picture – and one of the American Film Institute’s Top 10 Greatest Movie Musicals of All Time, An American in Paris, stars Leslie Caron and Gene Kelly and features the timeless original music and lyrics by George and Ira Gershwin. Enjoy the musical film on the big screen while the SLSO performs the score live.

Buy Tickets Please note this is replacing the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra's May 12‐13 performances of Meredith Willson's "The Music Man."

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718 North Grand Boulevard St. Louis, MO 63103

Volume 4.11 February 22, 2018

CONTACT: Nancy Milton, Insight PR St. Louis 314-962-6400 nancy@InsightRocks.com Tom O'Keefe, Family Arena (636) 896-4289 tokeefe@familyarena.com

The Family Arena Announces The Missouri River Music Fest with The Guess Who, Ambrosia and More Saturday, April 14, 2018 Tickets on sale Friday, January 5 WHAT: Superstars from classic rock's glory days will come together for one night only at the 2018 Missouri River Music Fest at The Family Arena.

The Guess Who, Ambrosia, Bill Champlin, Stephen Bishop and John Ford Coley headline the event scheduled for Saturday, April 14, 2018. Tickets go on sale, Friday, January 5, 2018 at https://www.metrotix.com/events/detail/mrmf.

WHO: The Guess Who is a group that's connected with the masses throughout a exultant hit parade spanning fourteen Top 40 hits, including "These Eyes," "Clap For the Wolfman," "Hand Me Down World," "No Time," "Star Baby" and "Share the Land." Add in fellow classics and double sided singles like their #1 rock anthem, "American Woman" and "No Sugar Tonight," plus "Laughing" and "Undun," and the Canadian-bred stateside conquerors are amongst music's most indelible treasures who are eternally etched within the very fabric of pop culture history.

In its brief recording history, Ambrosia garnered five Grammy Nominations, five Hit Singles (including "You Are The Only Woman," "How Much I Feel," and "Biggest Part Of Me"), Heavy FM Airplay and the admiration and respect of the musical community. All this was in addition to Sold Out concerts around the world. Today, the band is more alive and compelling than ever.

With three of the original members intact plus the addition of guitar ace Doug Jackson on electric guitar and backing vocals, Mary Harris contributing amazing keyboards and vocals, and the powerful and contemporary lead vocals and acoustic guitar of Ken Stacey, Ambrosia is exploring new musical territory and continuing to wow life-long fans and new converts alike.

Bill Champlin is best known for being a member of Chicago, which he joined in 1981 and remained a member of for 28 years. However, his career encompasses much more. The Sons of Champlin formed in 1965 as a fivepiece band, and later expanded to seven members. The Sons recorded seven commercially released albums between 1968 and 1977 and gained a devoted fan base. Bill received two Grammy awards for his song writing and has released seven solo albums. He has recording credits on numerous albums by various artists that cover a 30-year period.

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Stephen Bishop released his first album, "Careless," in 1976. The album featured the hits "Save It For a Rainy Day," and "On and On." He sang the hit theme, "It Might Be You," from the movie, "Tootsie," as well as writing and/or singing for 13 other films including, "Animal House," and "Separate Lives" from "White Nights." His songs have been performed by artists such as: Phil Collins, Eric Clapton, Barbra Streisand, Art Garfunkel, Steve Perry, Stephanie Mills, Kenny Loggins, Johnny Mathis, Phoebe Snow, David Crosby, The Four Tops, Aswad and Pavarotti.

There are songs you hear in your life that transport you to a certain time period or give you a special feeling. Songs like "I'd Really Love To See You Tonight," "Nights Are Forever Without You" and "Love Is The Answer" have that kind of effect on people. Those songs and numerous others have made John Ford Coley a singing legend. He has spent decades touring, writing, recording, and producing.

WHEN: Saturday, April 14, 2018 at 6:30 p.m.

WHERE: The Family Arena - 2002 Arena Parkway, St. Charles, MO 63303 TICKETS: Tickets go on sale Friday, January 5 at 10 a.m. and can be purchased at the Family Arena Ticket Office or online at https://www.metrotix.com/events/detail/mrmf .

Prices: $85 (Gold Circle), $70 (Floor), $60 (100 Level Sidelines), $50 (100 Level Endzone), $40 (Upper Level) To charge by phone call MetroTix at 314-534-1111. For help purchasing accessible seating, call The Family Arena ADA Hotline at 636-896-4234.

BUY TICKETS: https://www.metrotix.com/events/detail/mrmf MORE: Call The Family Arena event hotline at 636-896-4242 for more information, or visit www.familyarena.com.

Suites are available for this event. Treat the family and friends, reward clients or employees or celebrate a special occasion with a private suite. For details and pricing, contact Blake Rapert at 636-896-4211. ### MEDIA INFORMATION: For advance interviews, images and additional information, contact Nancy Milton, Insight PR St. Louis, 314-962-6400 or nancy@InsightRocks.com.

Insight PR St. Louis, 59 Wilshire Terr., , St. Louis, MO 63119 SafeUnsubscribe™ ibj1960@aol.com

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Volume 4.11 February 22, 2018

Featured

Poetry

Submission

BIO

Charlie Braxton is also the author of two volumes of verse, Ascension from the Ashes (Blackwood Press 1991), Cinder’s Rekindled (Jawara Press 2013) and Embers Among the Ashes: Poems in a Haiku Manner (Jawara 2018). His poetry has been published in various anthologies and literary publications such as African American Review, The Minnesota Review, The Black Nation, Massiffe, Candle, Transnational Literary Magazine, Eyeball, Sepia Poetry Review, Specter Magazine and The San Fernando Poetry Journal.

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Charlie

Braxton Word Song

(for Kupenda Auset)

your poems sing from the page to our hearts whispering semi-sweet dreams laced with endless melodies wrapped in metaphors that seem to last forever and ever echoing visions of our future victories arms in arm shoulder to shoulder back to back we will win this holy war with the wonder of words spoken out loud evoking the magic of our ancestral tongue

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Volume 4.11 February 22, 2018

Sharecropper’s Blues It serves ’em right to suffer.

It feels good to know they’ll burn in hell.

O’ I say it does ‘em good to suffer. & it feels good seeing they face at the bottom of the well This time around boss man can’t tell me to stay put O’ I say this time around baby boss man can’t tell me to stay put ‘cause it’s gonna be a lotta ass-kickin’ & cryin’ ‘round here now that the shoe is on the other foot

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A Note to Conservative White Evangelicals (To be read after Trump’s State of the Union Address) Now that you have the full armor of your god, know I am not your foe.

The enemy you seek is buried deep within the depths of your soul.

You, who pulled the switch for a demagogue who swears to god, he is one.

In this world, where the staunch stench of false prophets abound, there is no hope.

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Volume 4.11 February 22, 2018

Behold the Truth when evil rides a pale white horse right up to the polls of rape and pedophilia singing hymns with alternative themes of patriarchy and patriotism what more could you ask for? i mean what other signs do you need to know that a foul form of devilment is afoot? open eyes can easily see that the auburn jester plays first chair fiddle in a symphony full of unfunky tunes only the willfully extreme ignorant would dare dance to songs celebrating a nightmarish carnival of carnivores devouring the flesh of the poor like parasites on Percocet and when the real Jesus finally comes back down to what’s left of this bitter and bile earth, gun in one hand, whip in the other it will be damnation for this damned nation of evangelical whores who sells their poison wares to a flock of black sheep fleeced in the name of a false white god

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Volume 4.11 February 22, 2018

BLACK WOMEN SPEAK A CALL TO CONSCIENCE AND THE GRIOT MUSEUM OF BLACK HISTORY Presents "Black Women Speak" A series of activities celebrating Women's History Month including an Artists’ Reception featuring Youth Poet Laureate, Bisa Adero, Black Women Speak Poetry with Shirley LeFlore, and solo performances of Beah Richards’ poem, “A Black Woman Speaks” starring St. Louis actress Ms. Thomasina Clarke.

A Black Woman Speaks is a one-woman show that celebrates the life of legendary African-American actress and political activist Beah Richards who used her artistry to break down racial barriers. The play is a powerful commentary on the history of oppression and resistance of African American women from slavery to the present time. It calls for women of all ethnicities to work together for justice, peace and the betterment of humanity.

Dr. Mary Helen Washington, Distinguish Professor of English at the University of Maryland & author of The Other Blacklist: The African American Literary and Cultural Left of the 1950s, will engage the audience in a post-show discussion on the current role of the African American feminist in today's social climate.

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Schedule of Events Sunday, March 4 Black Women Speak Artists’ Reception 3-5 p.m.

Artists: Alfredia Bailey, Gundia Locke Clay, Dail Chambers, Stajah Curry, Jasmyn Diggs, Bonnie L. Edwards, Brittany Fernandez, Nanette Hageman, Sheri Hall, Erica Jones, Edna Patterson-Petty, Marilyn Robinson, Elaine Young and featuring St. Louis Youth Poet Laureate, Bisa Adero ******************

Wednesday, March 7 Black Women Speak Poetry!

7-9 p.m.

14th Street Gallery 2701 N. 14th St. Featuring Shirley LeFlore, Linda Smith, Pacia Elaine, Cheeraz Gormon, Cheryl D.S. Walker, Mari “Emcee” Carter, Sahara "Sista Sols" Scott, &Tasha "Unspoken" Archie

***************** A Black Woman Speaks Performances March 16, 17 @ 7 p.m.

March 18 @ 3 p.m.

Matinee Pre-Matinee Brunch 11:30 a.m. – 2 p.m.

***************** Contact: A Call to Conscience 314-607-8919 The Griot Museum 314-241-7057

BLACK COMIX RETURNS - African American Comic Art & Culture

A hardcover collection of art and essays showcasing the best African American artists in today's vibrant comic book culture.

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Volume 4.11 February 22, 2018

Follow 132K

Read Article Elaine Young ­ Artist

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Volume 4.11 February 22, 2018

Featured

Photography Submission

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Keenon

Harris

Model: Sequoia Shayvonne IG: @Sequoiashayvonne Email: Sequoiashayvonne@gmail.Com Photographer: Keenon Harris of Torian Photography IG: @Torianpp Email: Torianpp@gmail.com Copyright © 2017 - All rights reserved.

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Tim Cunningham

Live at the Sheldon!

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Volume 4.11 February 22, 2018

BLACK HISTORY BOY Episode #4

BLACK HISTORY BOY, (Ep. # 4) DESCRIBES HIS NEW SERIES TO THE PRESS. King Tut, Queen Nefertiti,King Mansa Musa, Black Samurai Sakanouye No Tamuramo, The Black Olmecs Of Mexico, Nubian Queen Amenirenas Donate $5.00 to help us spread the truth of our history.

GOFUNDME https://www.gofundme.com/black-archaeologist-season-4 DVD's http://BlackArchaeologist.com http://kunaki.com/msales.asp?Publisherld=109447&pp=1

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The Tammi Holland Show

WATCH NOW!

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Volume 4.11 February 22, 2018

Featured

Artist

Submission

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Eileen

Cheong

BIO: [ Eileen​ ​Cheong:​ ​Artist​ ​Bio A​ ​North​ ​City​ ​St.​ ​Louis​ ​transplant​ ​originally​ ​from​ ​Brooklyn,​ ​New​ ​York-​ ​I​ ​discovered​ ​printmaking​ ​in high​ ​school​ ​and​ ​consequently​ ​my​ ​love​ ​for​ ​it's​ ​mechanical​ ​process​ ​with​ ​unpredictably​ ​exciting results.​ ​The​ ​intricacies​ ​between​ ​the​ ​freedom​ ​of​ ​creating​ ​multiples​ ​from​ ​a​ ​single​ ​plate,​ ​yet​ ​where no​ ​print​ ​is​ ​exactly​ ​the​ ​same​ ​as​ ​another​ ​is​ ​infinitely​ ​fascinating​ ​to​ ​me.​ ​Printmaking​ ​gave​ ​me​ ​a new​ ​found​ ​appreciation​ ​for​ ​all​ ​the​ ​steps​ ​in​ ​art​ ​making​ ​as​ ​an​ ​experiential​ ​work​ ​of​ ​art​ ​in​ ​and​ ​of itself,​ ​thus​ ​I​ ​believe​ ​planting​ ​the​ ​seed​ ​for​ ​my​ ​interest​ ​in​ ​the​ ​therapeutic​ ​journey​ ​of​ ​artistic expression​ ​before​ ​I​ ​would​ ​learn​ ​the​ ​concept​ ​of​ ​art​ ​therapy​ ​10​ ​years​ ​later.

Sharing​ ​art​ ​with​ ​others​ ​has​ ​lead​ ​me​ ​to​ ​teach​ ​traditional​ ​photography​ ​at​ ​the​ ​Elm​ ​St.​ ​community darkroom,​ ​'Occupational​ ​Arts'​ ​with​ ​high-schoolers​ ​at​ ​Harriet​ ​Tubman​ ​Free​ ​School,​ ​make​ ​Ants​ ​on Logs​ ​with​ ​children​ ​in​ ​the​ ​YMCA​ ​Virtual-Y​ ​program​ ​and​ ​to​ ​use​ ​digital​ ​arts​ ​with​ ​New​ ​York​ ​Asian Women​ ​Center's​ ​Drawing​ ​and​ ​Truth​ ​program.​ ​I​ ​became​ ​a​ ​graduate​ ​of​ ​the​ ​Masters​ ​in​ ​Art​ ​Therapy Counseling​ ​program​ ​at​ ​Southern​ ​Illinois​ ​University​ ​at​ ​Edwardsville​ ​in​ ​2013​ ​and​ ​continue​ ​to​ ​use art​ ​for​ ​healing,​ ​to​ ​encourage​ ​spiritual​ ​growth​ ​and​ ​vision​ ​for​ ​positive​ ​change​ ​in​ ​our​ ​communities.

I​ ​have​ ​facilitated​ ​art​ ​therapy​ ​and​ ​community​ ​arts​ ​at​ ​a​ ​number​ ​of​ ​diverse​ ​settings​ ​including​ ​Our Lady​ ​of​ ​the​ ​Snows​ ​Assisted​ ​Living​ ​and​ ​Alton​ ​School​ ​District​ ​in​ ​Illinois,​ ​Barnes​ ​Jewish​ ​Hospital's Arts​ ​&​ ​Healthcare​ ​program,​ ​Parc​ ​Provence​ ​dementia​ ​residence,​ ​Hyde​ ​Park​ ​Art​ ​House​ ​and Macklind​ ​International​ ​Senior​ ​Center.​ ​Shortly​ ​after​ ​the​ ​New​ ​Year​ ​of​ ​2016,​ ​I​ ​joined​ ​the​ ​Open Studio​ ​at​ ​Central​ ​Print​ ​to​ ​reawaken​ ​my​ ​practice​ ​in​ ​printmaking​ ​and​ ​to​ ​see​ ​what​ ​will​ ​emerge​ ​from the​ ​ink​ ​of​ ​my​ ​indentations​ ​with​ ​press​ ​onto​ ​paper.

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Zuka Arts Guild

ZUKA FRIDAY'S

Zuka Arts Guild Art Exhibition at 14th Street Artist Community The Zuka Artist Guild at the 14th Street Artist Community features a different visual artist every First Friday of the month starting 7 p.m.

Zuka is a group of talented local artists with a history of producing collaborative artwork that dates back to 1974. ●

Every Friday @ 1 p.m. Live rhythm and blues with the band Renaissance

●

Bring your lunch and have fun!-FREE

●

First-Friday of each month, 7 p.m. till 10 p.m. Music, live art demos, raffling local artwork and artist marketplace. Free and open to the public. Street and lot parking available @ 2701 N. 14th Street (Old North St. Louis Community) 63106

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Volume 4.11 February 22, 2018

sfmlkday.org/bcafcon go to:

SAN FRANCISCO / JANUARY 13-15

CELEBRATING

OUR

RICH CREATIVE HISTORY THROUGH COMICS AND SPECULATIVE SPECUL ARTS!

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CALL FOR ART “All Colors” OVERVIEW: “All Colors” is an invitational and juried arts exhibit featuring the art of approximately 100 artists and 200 pieces of art. The show takes place January 13 through February 28, 2018 at the St. Louis Artist Guild, 12 Jackson Avenue, Clayton, Missouri 63105. We expect strong attendance, as the “All Colors” exhibit is a fund raiser with art and related funds to benefit artist of all disciplines, small not for profit 501C3 organizations and community/neighborhood organizations. Clayton, and the surrounding region have long been supporters of the arts and Portfolio Gallery and the “All Colors” sponsors are committed to make this exhibit a successful fund raiser and to introduce the St. Louis Metropolitan region to artist that mainstream publications have overlooked.

HOW TO APPLY: Online applications may be completed though Portfolio’s website at www.portfoliogallerystl.org Click the Call for Art link that will take you to the sign-up, upload and payment. Each application must include the requested uploaded images and an artist’s statement of 100 words or less explaining the artist’s creative process including specific information about technique and materials.

Submit your art now!

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Volume 4.11 February 22, 2018

Featured

Illustrator

Submission

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Garry

Walker

Garry Walker (who also goes by Supreme Viktory Black) is a very experienced aritst. Mostly focusing on digital art. This unique artist started drawing when they were 3 years of age and continued to study and take art classes of all forms until the age of 12. Garry or Supreme loves to study the older classics in art such as Picasso, Van Gogh, Archibald Montley as well as newer artists like Jim Lee, Frank Miller and Joe Mad. Supremes basic goal is to capture a feeling of beauty or evoke a very strong emotion or feeling inside of the person viewing. Garry is always open for collaboration and has very low prices when it comes to the quality of work presented.

"Because of my years of knowledge and practice, I have very few limits"

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Volume 4.11 February 22, 2018

BLACK WOMEN SPEAK POETRY! AT THE 14TH STREET GALLERY

In celebration of Women’s History Month

A Call to Conscience presents an evening of poetry with some of St. Louis’ finest word artists.

Tasha “Unspoken” Archie, Mari “Emcee” Carter, Pacia Elaine, Cheeraz Gormon, Shirley LeFlore, Sahara “Sista Sols” Scott, Linda Smith, and Cheryl D.S. Walker Wednesday, March 7, 2018 7:00 – 9:00 p.m.

14th Street Gallery | 2701 N. 14th St. | St. Louis, Mo 63106 Free Admission Light Refreshments Served

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TEN

The Empowerment Network for Men facing Prostate Cancer From: iHEART COMMUNITIES w/ JADE HARRELL

Prostate cancer is not only an invader of the human body it is an infiltrator of the human spirit. Survivor, Mellve Shahid made a promise to God to support and serve other men battling prostate cancer when he was diagnosed ten years ago. He founded The Empowerment Network and has been changing lives and creating hope for hundreds of men ever since. Click here for the podcast.

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Volume 4.11 February 22, 2018

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DISPLACED

&ERASED

The history of Clayton, Missouri's uprooted black community. emmakriley.com

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Volume 4.11 February 22, 2018

Featured

Model

Submission

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Chakera

Laina

Artist Statement Hello, my name is Chakera and I am a model and cosmetologist. I was a dancer and worked at different clothing stores and salons while in highschool, despite being bullied well into my 20's.

From 2010 to 2012 I worked at a salon. In 2012 I attended Empire Beauty School and started modeling for a boutique. I became a model for myself.

Noone wanted me to be a part of their style team, so I became my own Stylist, Makeup Artist, Hair stylist and Wardrobe person. I went solo, doing independent modeling at theme shows and recieved 6 awards.

Then in 2013, I attend DCCC IU College. I became a portrait model for an artist. It felt good to be a role model for everyone. I then became pregnant and was shocked to meet an author who needed a pregnant model for his message therapy book. In 2015 I entered Delaware fashion week where they honored me with an Outstanding Model award. I model more now as well be a stylist for Fashion Events, Shows, Hairshows, Photoshoots, Magazines, Etc.

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Volume 4.11 February 22, 2018

#BlackDollsMatter

Buy Now!!!

Bring a sense of pride and strength to the extraordinary girl in your life.

Madeline Delilah Doll and chapter book www.stagemotherproductions.com pg.

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John Jennings Associate Professor Visual Studies SUNY Buffalo tumblr: http://jijennin70. tumblr.com/

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Volume 4.11 February 22, 2018

"Quiet Time" by: Lonnie Powell

"Cuban Dancer" by: Ed Johnetta Miller pg.

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June 26, 2017 PRESS RELEASE For Immediate Release Contact: Robert A. Powell 314-265-0432 Portfoliogallery@att.net,

Portfolio Gallery today issues its call for art, and invites visual artist of all disciplines to enter at:www.portfoliogallerystl.org The “All Colors” Fine Art Show will feature 100 artist and 200 pieces of art, both local and nationally known artists, collectors and educators to the St. Louis Region.

The “All Colors” exhibition will feature the art of invited artist Dean Mitchell, Charles Bibbs, Manuelita Brown, Ed Johnetta Miller, Lonnie Powell, Robert Hale, Sandra Smith, Cbabi Bayoc, Thomas Sleet, Dr. Carolyn Mazloomi, Ronald Johnson and others.

Our goal is to create an exciting art event that attracts a national audience. Sells income will support general operations of Portfolio, Inc. a not-for-profit 501C3 arts organization and further be used to provide grants to St. Louis artists, small notfor-profits and community based organizations.

Please join the award winning Portfolio Gallery as it presents its 1st Annual “All Colors” Visual Arts Invitational & Juried Exhibition to be held January 13th through February 28, 2018, at the St. Louis Artist Guild, 12 Jackson Avenue, Clayton, Missouri 63105.

Portfolio Gallery is a member of The Alliance of Black Galleries

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Volume 4.11 February 22, 2018

An artist's duty, as far as I am concerned, is to reflect the times.

(Nina Simone)

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I choose to reflect the times and the situations in which I find myself. How can you be an artist and not reflect the times?

(Nina Simone)

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Volume 4.11 February 22, 2018

Business Edge

workshops for individual artists

Essential Tax Knowledge for Artists and Freelancers Monday, February 5 (6:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.)

Rus Garofalo, owner of Brass Taxes, will guide you through the tax maze and offer suggestions that could save you money and a lot of aggravation. Plus we'll discuss the tax reform changes that may apply to you.

MO Sales Tax 101 Monday, February 12 (6:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.)

Does sales tax make you cringe? Accountant Jessica Seiffert, Rubin Brown, make it less daunting by covering all the basics, including what’s required if you participate in art shows or craft fairs. Co‐sponsored by the Saint Louis Arts Fair.

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Anatomy of a Contract Monday, March 5 (6:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.)

Although many of us still prefer to conduct our business on a handshake, vague verbal agreements can result in ugly misunderstandings. In addition to covering contract basics, this interactive session will help you sharpen your negotiation skills. Instructor: Attorney Mark Mueller

Purple Pain: Legal Lessons We Can Learn from Prince Monday, March 12 (6:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.)

Prince, the prolific and iconic superstar who passed away unexpectedly in 2016, can teach us sound legal lessons about creative entrepreneurship, intellectual property and estate planning. Our team of presenters will highlight the key takeaways.

Copyright Clinic Monday, April 2 (6:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.)

Do you have pressing questions about copyright? Here’s your chance to learn the fundamentals from Attorney David E. Crawford. Then you’ll have an opportunity to spend 15 minutes talking to a volunteer lawyer. Consultations will be scheduled in person that evening and may not be available if you do not register in advance.

Licensing Copyrighted Works Monday, April 23 (6:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.)

We’ll cover common terms and conditions found in copyright licenses, the difference between a license and an assignment and exclusive v. non‐exclusive licenses, splitting of rights, recording and maintaining your rights with the Copyright Office, works made for hire, termination rights and different types of payment terms. This discussion will also address open source and creative commons licenses. Presented in collaboration with the Copyright Alliance and World IP Week.

Workshops are held at the Regional Arts Commission, 6128 Delmar. Free parking is available behind the Pageant or in the MetroLink lot. Tuition is $10 in advance and $15 at the door. Can’t afford to pay? Please contact us to request a scholarship.

Register Now

Defending Free Speech We've joined an amicus brief defending the freedom of artistic expression rights of David Pulphus (left), the St. Louis artist whose painting was removed from an exhibition at the U.S. Capitol. Washington, D.C.‐based Covington & Burling drafted the brief with substantial input from VLAA Volunteer Attorney Mark Sableman (right) of Thompson Coburn LLP. In all,17 arts substantial here input from VLAA service and advocacy organizations signed on. More Volunteer Attorney Mark Sableman (right) of Thompson Coburn LLP. In all,17 arts service and advocacy organizations signed on. More here

Artists, need arts­related legal or accounting assistance? Apply here.

Artists, need arts­related legal or accounting assistance? Apply here.

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www.vlaa.org

www.the-arts-today.com 314/863-6930 vlaa@stlrac.org

Volume 4.11 February 22, 2018

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ART OF FOOD

Taste BudWorthy: vol. 1

Blk Mkt Eats 9 S Vandeventer Ave St. Louis, MO 63108

S

o the beautiful thing about social media, in my opinion, is that you get to control what content you get to see on a consistent basis. Of course my Instagram and Facebook news feeds are filled with my favorite chefs, creative recipes, tutorial videos, new cocktails to try on your friends, etc. My absolute favorite posts are the ones that highlight local restaurants and ones around the world. One day while scrolling through my timeline, I stopped at this video that instantly had me salivating. Now I love sushi, but this video was highlighting a restaurant that makes sushi burritos! *gasp* YES! Sushi BURRITOS! My eyes were instantly glued to my phone screen. Then I found out this marvelous establishment is located in St. Louis!

Ecstatic wasn’t even the appropriate word for my mood at that moment. There was no way I could let this place be unexplored by my taste buds much longer.

That same weekend I made my way to Blk Mkt Eats to get my hands on a sushi burrito. The location is prime real estate… across the street from IKEA, 1 block away from SLU’s campus. I purposely took my mother with me, because I knew we weren’t going to order the same thing and I wanted to try whatever she was getting. The invite was for a purely selfish reason this time around, and

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I’m completely okay with that. Upon walking in, we were greeted by some of the friendliest staff I’ve ever encountered. After looking over their menu the foodie chef in me just wanted to go hug the owner & give the sincere thank you.

The menu is fairly simple, so here’ how it works: You can turn any of the 7 sushi burritos into poké bowls! If you’re not into eating raw fish, there are shrimp, grilled and fried chicken options.

If you can’t decide between those…they have SUSHI NACHOS! I decided on the Tasty As Cluck burrito… every single ingredient was delicious. It was all perfectly paired. Buttermilk fried chicken, kimchi slaw, arugula, crispy shallots, BLK MKT pickles, tempura crunch and (*drumroll please*) OG Fire Sauce. AH-MAY-ZING! I’m not a huge fan of spicy food, so I was slightly skeptical about the OG Fire Sauce. However, I ended up loving it and I even wanting more on the burrito. (So I ordered extra sauce on my second visit lol). My mom ended up trying out something completely different, the Shaka Poké Nachos. Crispy wonton chips were topped with Hawaiian inspired tuna poké, arugula, avocado, sesame seeds, crispy shallots, tempura crunch, alaea sea salt, scallions & the beloved OG Fire Sauce (that got substituted for unagi sauce). Beyond delicious!!!

I’ve been to Blk Mkt Eats twice, two weeks in a row. I’m debating at this very moment if I should go grab a burrito right now. It’s that good! I would highly recommend to anyone who loves sushi and wants to try something different. www.the-arts-today.com

Volume 4.11 February 22, 2018

ART OF FOOD... cont.

Gelato Di Roso 5204 Wilson Ave St. Louis, MO 63110

My god daughter’s 3rd birthday party was held at Gelato Di Roso’s on The Hill. I’m pretty sure I’ve expressed this to you all before, but I am an ice cream lover!!! I will make and try any variety of frozen desserts and ice cream. Sherbet, gelato, sorbet, ice cream, frozen yogurt, frozen custard, soft serve, etc. they all can be taste tested. When I found out the party was being held at a gelato shop, I got excited because I had been fighting my sweet tooth cravings for too long. I’m a little

residential neighborhood, not to mention all the restaurants in the vicinity. Granted the day we went, was one of those Saturday afternoons it decided to warm up in November, so parking was a headache. I promise it’s worth the trip though.

Bon Appétit

traditional when it comes to flavors I am willing to try, I’ve been that way since I was a child. So I ordered two scoops, one Vanilla and the other Toasted Almond.

They both had the smoothest texture, but that Toasted Almond was perfection! I felt like I should have been chewing with every bite because it authentically tasted like pure almonds.

Now parking may be a little tricky because it is in a

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loves.

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Volume 4.11 February 22, 2018

“Acting White”

Share your Story Dear friends: I have been asked to write a chapter in a book that will address colorism in education. My chapter will focus on “acting white.”

Specifically, when I was growing up, I was a “smart” student. My top performance in school, doing homework, raising my hand to answer questions, etc. often drew the accusation from my African American classmates and friends that I was “acting white.”

Now, I know there are psychologists out there who say this is not true and does not exist. But alas, it was absolutely true for me. I have written about this in past works. I will do so again for this new book. I do know that many young folks today who continue to have such allegations hurled at them so feel free to share this email with whoever and have folks email me directly.

I did a survey on this very question about 7 years ago and the results were consistent with my experiences decades ago. I’d like to update my earlier survey. I would love to hear from anyone out there who has a similar/related story either involving yourself or someone you know. I would like to include your story in the chapter. I will conceal your identity if you request.

Do you have a story to share? If so, please email to me at: norwood@wulaw.wustl.edu.

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

Margaret Mead Kimberly Norwood , Professor of Law | Washington University School of Law pg.

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Volume 4.11 February 22, 2018

ART OF HEALING

Your Ad or Article could be here!

Contact us if you have a contribution to the ART OF HEALING.

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RICKKITA EDWARDS

CARDIO-CORE & MORE AT NORTH COUNTY REC. CENTER

TIMES: MON WEDS FRI 5:30 PM - 6:30 PM

She teaches a class 2 Mondays a month at Faith Miracle Temple 7:15 pm - 8:00 pm.

(ALL CLASSES ARE FREE)

COMING SOON! WAIST-NOT FITNESS PERSONAL TRAINING #GETWAISTEDBYRICKKITA

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Volume 4.11 February 22, 2018

LABOR DAY SPECIAL!! ACCEPTING NEW CLIENTS FOR

WEEKLY MEAL PREP, CONTACT INFO BELOW!

Meal prep plans, personal chef, and health coaching services available. Plans starting as low as $75.00- For limited time only!! For more information contact fabulouslyveganme@gmail.com and visit fabulouslyvegan.com!

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SEDANS & SUV’S AVAILABLE CALL 314.565.8907 FOR YOUR FREE QUOTE.

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Volume 4.11 February 22, 2018

QA Myke ANDREWS &

with

Actor Myke Andrew stars in “Bud, Not Buddy”—a play written by awardwinning playwright Kirsten Greenidge and based on the Newbery Medal and Coretta Scott King Award winning book by notable author Christopher Paul Curtis,

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with a exhilarating score by five-time Grammy-winning jazz legend Terence Blanchard. “Bud, Not Buddy” follows a boy as he sets off on a journey to find his father who he believes is leading a traveling jazz band.

ARTS TODAY: Your character is Bud, who is a 10-yearold orphan. Talk about the preparation and process it takes to play a child, especially when you yourself are more than twice the character’s age.

MYKE ANDREWS: I really have to just throw myself into the work. I have to remind myself of what it was like to move throughout the world as a 10-year-old. I also refer back to some of my favorite childhood shows for inspiration.

Grabbing onto the curiosity of a child has definitely helped me shape this character.

ARTS TODAY: Describe Bud. What’s he like?

MYKE ANDREWS: I think the true meaning of family resonated with me the most. Sometimes in life you meet people who will love and care for you like you are one of their own.

ARTS TODAY: We can’t talk about the play without talking about jazz. Is it fair to say this is a jazz play?

MYKE ANDREWS: This is absolutely a Jazz play. Some of the language even has a rhythm to it and they show is completely different when done without music.

ARTS TODAY: You’re a New Orleans native, and New Orleans is considered the birthplace of jazz. And then there’s five-time Grammy winner and jazz legend Terence Blanchard, also a New Orleans native, who composed an original score for “Bud, Not Buddy.” It’s quite the trifecta! As a NOLA native, how is jazz a part of your life? And how does it feel to be a part of one of Blanchard’s collaborations?

MYKE ANDREWS: I was born and raised in New Orleans so it is safe to say jazz lives inside of me. It feels amazing to watch another New Orleans native thrive. I’ve seen him play multiple times back home and I’m proud to associated with greatness while working on this project.

ARTS TODAY: While we’re on the topic of growing up, did you always know you wanted to be an actor?

MYKE ANDREWS: I did not know growing up knowing that I wanted to specifically be an actor. I just knew I was great at entertaining people.

ARTS TODAY: Who are your major influences?

MYKE ANDREWS: Denzel Washington, Jamie Foxx, and Will Smith.

ARTS TODAY: What, if any, does an actor’s life have to do with his roles and performances? Is there a correlation?

For example, is there anything in “Bud, Not Buddy” that you connect with personally?

MYKE ANDREWS: In my opinion, Bud is the coolest. He has an old soul and that may be in result of some of the things that he has experienced at such a young age. He is pretty witty and sometimes smart at the mouth but he doesn’t mean any harm. He still however holds the vulnerability of a child and I think that’s why people can and want to relate to him.

ARTS TODAY: As a coming-of-age story, there are so many important, strong themes in this play — courage, resilience, self-discovery, identity through family, and the true meaning of family. What resonates the most with you about “Bud, Not Buddy”?

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MYKE ANDREWS: It really depends on the actor and the character. However, most of the time you’ll playing a human and we can always find something to relate to no matter how different we may be. I connect with Bud because I too am on a journey to find something, ARTS TODAY: What will audiences walk away with after seeing “Bud, Not Buddy”?

MYKE ANDREWS: I hope they walk away with more appreciated for the people they call family.

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Volume 4.11 February 22, 2018

Q&A WITH MYKE... cont.

Metro Theater Company and Jazz St. Louis present “Bud, Not Buddy” at the Grandel Theatre on February 4-25.

The play combines eight actors with a 13-piece jazz band, performing an original score, to tell the story of a boy who finds a home and a passion for music. Metro Theater Company is the first company in the country to do “Bud, Not Buddy” after its commissioned debut at the Kennedy Center. Metro Theater Company’s Julia Flood directs “Bud, not Buddy,” and Jazz St. Louis Director of Education Phil Dunlap serves as music director.

Tickets are $14-20 and available at http://metroplays.org or https://www.metrotix.com.

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Volume 4.11 February 22, 2018

Midddle School Guide THE EDUCATION OF KEVIN POWELL: A BOY’S JOURNEY INTO MANHOOD READER’S GUIDE: MIDDLE SCHOOL (Grades 6-8)

EDUCATION

High School Guide THE EDUCATION OF KEVIN POWELL: A BOY’S JOURNEY INTO MANHOOD READER’S GUIDE: HIGH SCHOOL

College-Age/Adult Guide THE EDUCATION OF KEVIN POWELL: A BOY’S JOURNEY INTO MANHOOD READER’S GUIDE: COLLEGE-AGE/ADULT

If you would like to order bulk copies (20 copies of more) of The Education of Kevin Powell: A Boy's Journey into Manhood, at a discount, please contact one of our authorized independent booksellers: Michael Green c/o M Revak & Co lexlibris@earthlink.net 520-906-8661 Kori Wilson c/o Sister's Uptown Bookstore sistersuptownbookstore@yahoo.com 212-862-3680 James Fugate c/o Eso Won Books jmfugate@msn.com 323-290-1048

PLEASE NOTE The Education of Kevin Powell is also an AUDIOBOOK (as read by Kevin) available for purchase at Audible.com: http://tinyurl.com/hmvdypa

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“Our only hope today lies in our ability to recapture the revolutionary spirit and go into a sometimes hostile world declaring eternal hostility to poverty, racism, and militarism.”

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Nina Simone I wish I knew how it would feel to be free

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(Live in Montreux) 1976

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Volume 4.11 February 22, 2018

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What do I do?

I help the college bound teens of busy parents write extraordinary college entrance essays. And, I provide perceptive leaders with trustworthy diversity & inclusion facilitation.

My book, Chop: A Collection of Kwansabas for Fannie Lou Hamer, is available at www.femininepronoun.com

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Volume 4.11 February 22, 2018

DIVERSITY TRAINING OPPORTUNITY Topic:

Privilege

Moderator:

Sheila Mapes, M.S.

Facilitators:

Members of the Judges Diversity and Inclusion Committee

Date:

Thursday, March 22, 2018

Time:

2:00 pm – 4:00 pm

Place:

Jury Assembly Room

The Judges Diversity and Inclusion Committee presents guest speaker Sheila Mapes, Sociologist and Race Relations Specialist. We are all privileged in some ways but not in others. For instance, some racial groups are less privileged due to policies imbedded in our system of education, housing, etc. At the end of this session, participants will be able to define privilege; articulate one’s own areas of privilege vs. non-privilege; increase listening skills and hear others’ stories of relative privilege while discerning between conversation and debate; and, identify how your perception of stereotypes has changed as a result of the information presented.

All Staff are encouraged to attend.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Training Confirmation: “Privilege” Name:___________________________________ Date:

Thursday, March 22, 2018

Time:

2:00 pm – 4:00 pm

Manager Approval:_________________________

Telephone:_________________

Date:______________________

Please return your completed form to Matt Livasy in Human Resources by March 21, 2018.

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Volume 4.11 February 22, 2018

Why? I too sing America.

I am the darker brother.

They send me to eat in the kitchen when company comes But I laugh and eat well and grow strong.

Tomorrow, I will sit at the table when company comes Nobody will dare say to me eat in the kitchen then.

Besides, they will see how beautiful I am and be ashamed, I too am America. Langston Hughes I am mad as hell and I am not going to take it anymore. Why we all need to be mad as hell and why we cannot afford to take it anymore. We are hopelessly talking past each other because we collectively lack a historical context which is retarding our ability to understand our present context. There are some who do not know why we fought the Civil War and so one of my basic premises is that we are still fighting the Civil War. And the real question is why?

When you do not understand the historical context you will fall for misinformation about where we are today. According to Pew Research, over 57% of educated whites think that the Civil War was fought about states’ rights.

What is states’ rights - is the conservative belief that the Civil War was about their ability to continue their way of life and rule themselves as they believed without interference by the federal government. It was not about the continuation of slavery. Ladies and gentleman - that has grave ramifications for our democracy in America. Why, because we are Americans. What does that mean?

We believe in the Declaration of Independence – “We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal.”

We cannot allow the racial politics of racial resentment to propel the nation into a pre-civil war neurosis. Democracy is hard and it is really hard when we do not participate, do not vote, do not educate ourselves about what is real and what is false. Ultimately, it is we the people who must provide oversight over our government and pg.

compel it to govern in the best interest of us all.

Even before Ferguson erupted, activists were advocating for an oversight board in the city of St. Louis, Mo. Advocating for an oversight board to review police abuses in our community. There was an undercurrent of police abuse over many years brewing under the surface which erupted in the singularity event of Michael Brown being killed and laying in the street of a blackhole for four hours. Presidents matter, and President Obama sent his Attorney General to investigate which culminated into a Report which outlined the underlining causes of continuous police abuse of the community. They entered into an agreement the protestors and the City of Ferguson and police department on steps to improve the community.

Enter a new President and a new Attorney General who now says forget about that agreement it is not something that we are going to enforce. Yes, Presidents do matter and so do aldermen, mayors, governors, senators and representatives. We have got to vote in all elections and what is going on now is that somebody is trying to make you think your vote does not count.

Black History is important and it is important because of what I call in my book the necessity of us understanding the ‘historical context’, because if we do not understand it – history is going to repeat itself. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. explained this to us at the end of the Selma to Montgomery march in March of 1965 what he said - it is the money interests that want the blacks and whites to be divided so that they fight over the difference between low wages and lower wages. So, after the Civil War the money interests put in place Jim Crow laws to separate blacks and whites so they could not would not come together and vote as a block against them. Dr. King said, I cannot adhere to the Old Testament philosophy of an eye for an eye because ultimately the only thing that is going to do is to leave everybody blind.

We cannot afford for you or anybody else to be blind, we need you to see the light and when you see the light then you can see the truth and truth crushed to the earth shall rise again. So, King educated that the money interests killed the Populist Movement in the 19th century.

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So, we celebrate Black History because we love ourselves and by loving ourselves we gain the capacity to love others. We cannot continue to talk past each other because we lack the ‘historical context.’ Black History is American history …When President Lincoln freed the slaves in the Confederate territory it set in motion the precept founded in the Declaration of Independence.

We are dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal and during the Civil War Lincoln declared that we highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain that this nation under God, shall have a new birth of freedom and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth. And 100 years later a young charismatic leader proclaimed: Five score years ago, a great American in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation… I have a dream that this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal. Yes, black men as well as white men…Are we saying as Americans that is not a true precept? Historically, after the Civil War the backlash was Jim Crow laws, southern states enacted the poll tax to prevent blacks from voting, the Congress passed the 24th Amendment to the Constitution which abolished the poll tax. In the first part of the 21st century Americans transcended race and elected the first black president of the United States of America.

but it is not going to take us another generation to fix this. We can fix this now if we come together and not turn on each other.

We need to stand up by voting, we need to stand up by educating ourselves, we need to stand up by coming together because when we come together - change comes.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate only love can do that.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said: “Education is to help you discern the evidence, to discern the true from the false, the real from the unreal and the fact from the fiction.”

Pierre Blaine is the author of Movement: Race, Power and Culture in America available on Amazon.com and at the History Museum in Forest Park.

Now, we fast forward to 2016 of the 21st century and the money interests have raised their ugly head again. We have a billionaire who ran as a Populist and as king of the “Realty Show”. I am here to remind you that a Reality show is not real. And if we do not have an understanding of the historical context – then those re-fighting the Civil War will fly the Confederate flag instead of the American flag.

Let me remind you what populism is - a political philosophy empowering the rights of the people to fight against the privileged elite.

Sometimes you have to stand up by kneeling down, sometimes you have to stand up by sitting down, sometimes you have to stand up by laying down, and so be encouraged – we have been here before Copyright © 2017 - All rights reserved.

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Volume 4.11 February 22, 2018

Mission #2

We're not asking for a donation on #GivingTuesday.

View this email in your browser

As an organization committed to sustainably growing food, farmers, and community, we know that the kind of world we want to eat in relies on people like you showing up for good food. That's why we're asking you to support our mission in other ways this year, in lieu of asking you to support EarthDance with an end-of-year donation. Over the next few weeks leading up to the new year, we'll be sharing 5 EASY WAYS to grow the local, organic food

and farming movement, and asking you to commit your grocery shopping, your time, and even your social media shares to the cause this holiday season. Join us in this end-of-year campaign to put the #MissionBeforeMoney and see the impact of deepening your own engagement with our food system firsthand.

We Loved Hearing from Many of You! Last week, we asked you to put the #MissionBeforeMoney and support the good food movement by shopping at farmers markets all winter long! We asked you to tell us how you plan to incorporate more local and organic produce into your meals, and you gave us great examples of ways you incorporated seasonal produce into your family's holiday feast!

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Volume 4.11 February 22, 2018

{ pg.

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A

very large crowd braved the cold on Super Bowl Sunday and came into the Grandel Theatre to find warmth in an afternoon filled with Jazz. The audience, comprised of many school children who are used to the sounds of Bruno Mars and Taylor Swift, set spellbound by the sight and sounds of a live 13-piece band.

The band took up most of the back of the stage with only one set piece; a backdrop that replicated a boxcar of a 1930s freight train. The tone for this show had been set earlier in the upper room of the theater with a trio of a stand-up bass, alto saxophone, and an electric guitar. Playing during a reception as many gathered to meet composer of the show and Jazz icon, Terrance Blanchard.

“When one door closes, another one opens. Whoosh.� Says Bud. This is the theme that runs through the hour-long piece designed for young audiences.

Bud, Not Buddy, the main stage play anchoring the 45th season of Metro Theater Company, is based on the book of the same title, by Christopher Paul Curtis. This Newberry Award winning book tells the story of orphaned 10-yearold Bud as he makes his way to the man he believes to be his father. He has suffered many heartaches and disappointments, in his short life. The time is 1936 in the depths of the Great Depression in Flint, Michigan. This is a piece of persistence, resilience, and courage.

REVIEW

by Mariah L. Richardson

Bud, Not Buddy is a collaboration between Curtis, Blanchard, and Kirsten Greenidge who came together at the Kennedy Center to create a vehicle to bring Jazz to a younger audience. Metro partnered with Jazz St. louis and the project were funded in part by art philanthropists Ken and Nancy Kranzberg. Julia Flood brings fresh direction to Greenidge’s script. The cast is remarkable and works seamlessly with the band, which is led by Phil Dunlap.

Blanchard’s music captures the sounds of the period, whether it is the sound of a freight train or a jazz club of the 1930s, the music is what propels the story forward.

Aside from being a jazz composer, Blanchard also created the opera, Champion, based on the life of Emile Griffith, a boxer in the 1960s. Currently, Blanchard is working on the soundtrack for Spike Lee’s latest film, Black Klansman.

Bud, Not Buddy runs February 4-25 at the Grandel Theatre located at 3610 Grandel Square. School matinees are Tuesday through Friday, February 6th through 23rd at 10 am and tickets are $8. Public performances are February 4th through 25th, Friday and Saturday at 7pm, and Sunday at 2pm. Tickets for public performances are $20 and $14 for groups of 10 or more. For more information contact the Community Engagement Manager at Community@ metroplays.org or call 314-932-7414 ex. 106.

This is a show not to be missed.

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Volume 4.11 February 22, 2018

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Sycorax's Daughters

~ Edited by Kinitra Brooks, PhD, Linda D. Addison, Susana Morris, PhD. Forward by: Walidah Imarisha

A powerful, revealing anthology of dark fiction and poetry by Black women writers. The tales of what scares, threatens and shocks them will enlighten and entertain you.

Sycorax’s Daughters’ stories and poems delve into demons and shape shifters from Carole McDonnell’s “How to Speak to the Bogeyman” and Sheree Renée Thomas’ “Tree of the Forest Seven Bells Turns the World Round Midnight” to far future offerings from Kiini Ibura Salaam’s “The Malady of Need”, Valjeanne Jeffers’ steampunk female detective in “Mona Livelong: Paranormal Detective II” and others.

These thought-provoking twenty-eight stories and fourteen poems cover creatures imagined— vampires, ghosts, and mermaids, as well as the unexpected price paid by women struggling for freedom and validation in the past—slavery to science-fiction futures with transhumans and alternate realities. Leave the lights on and join these amazing authors as they share their unique vision of fear.

Tiffany Austin - Tracey Baptiste - Regina N. Bradley - Patricia E. Canterbury - Crystal Connor - Joy M. Copeland - Amber Doe - Tish Jackson - Valjeanne Jeffers - Tenea D. Johnson - R. J. Joseph - A. D. Koboah Nicole Givens Kurtz - Kai Leakes - A. J. Locke - Carole McDonnell - Dana T. McKnight - LH Moore - L. Penelope - Zin E. Rocklyn - Eden Royce - Kiini Ibura Salaam - Andrea Vocab Sanderson - Nicole D. Sconiers - Cherene Sherrard - RaShell R. Smith-Spears - Sheree Renée Thomas - Lori Titus - Tanesha Nicole Tyler - Deborah Elizabeth Whaley - L. Marie Wood - K. Ceres Wright - Deana Zhollis

Review:

“

Sycorax's Daughters introduces us to a whole new legion of gothic writers. Their stories drip with history and blood leaving us with searing images and a chill emanating from shadows gathered in the corner. This anthology is historic in its recognition of women of color writers in a genre that usually doesn't know what to do with us.

”

- Jewelle Gomez, author The Gilda Stories

About the Editors: Kinitra D. Brooks, Ph.D. is an associate professor of English at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Her research interests include contemporary African American and Afro-Caribbean, black feminism, and horror studies.

Linda D. Addison grew up in Philadelphia and received a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from Carnegie-Mellon University.

She is the award-winning author of four collections including How To Recognize A Demon Has Become Your Friend. She is the first African-American recipient of the HWA Bram Stoker Award® and has published over 300 poems, stories and articles.

SUSANA M. MORRIS, PhD. is an associate professor of African American literature at Auburn University and co-founder of the popular feminist blog, The Crunk Feminist Collective.

Sycorax's Daughters is available for Preorder on Amazon until March 10. Follow this link. http://amzn.to/2lsxgz3 ~~ Rochon Perry Publisher, Cedar Grove Publishing website: www.cedargrovebooks.com twitter.com/cedargrovebooks facebook.com/cedargrovepublishing

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Volume 4.11 February 22, 2018

OPPORTUNITIES

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CAREERS

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Volume 4.11 February 22, 2018

Over 30 Issues Published

Thank You!!

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