Arts vol 1 7 by Arts Today Ezine

Vol. Vol. 1.7 1.2 AUG Spring 28, 2014 2014

Your Source for Art Appreciation.

! p u D O O t s ld

wor e h t e k sha

Dr. McCarthy The Art & Science... pg. # 8

u #stand

Phaedra Parks Book Signing pg. #26

row b e k i m #

LaVelle WC Langston Hughes pg.#32

September 13, 2014 “Scleroderma Stepping Out For A Cure Walk/Run” Come!and!enjoy!family!fun!!light!breakfast!!!Kids! Activities!!!Basket!Raffle!!!Goodie!Bag!!!!Event!T? shirt!!!Massage.!!Only!a!$25.00!registration!fee.!

To#Register#donate#or#find#out#more,#visit:## www.scleroderma.org/steppingoutstlouis# Or#call#Debbie#at:##314@567@1260#

What is Scleroderma? It is not: • Contagious • Infectious • Cancerous • Hereditary

It is: • • • • • • •

Chronic Painful Autoimmune Debilitating Progressive Rare In some cases life-threatening

Creve!Coeur!Park! Tremayne!Pavillion! Registration!9:00!A.M.! Walk/Run!at!11:00!A.M.!

Established 2014 Volume 1.7 St. Louis, MO www.the-arts-today.com/ Layout/Design www.bdesignme.com

IN THIS ISSUE: Featured:

Poet

Eugene R. - “Kwansaba”

pg. 50

Photographer

Creative Thinking Photog.

pg. 56

Artist

John Jennings

pg. 52

In The News - Alliance of Black Artists..............pg. 4 Featured Article - The Back of the Bus.............pg. 20 Live,Work, Play ................................................pg. 36 Jeffrey Skoblow - Various Poems ....................pg. 73

www.the-arts-today.com

Volume 1.7 August 28, 2014

In The News

CALL F

Han

Alliance of Black Art Galle

Please Read Carefully ∙ Return this

ABOUT THE CAL

This Alliance of Black Art Galleries (the “A Initiative is in connection with the August 9, year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, MO. T Don’t Shoot: Artists Respond” Initiative will of 250 artists responsive to the killing and the enforcement, media and public reaction.

The killing of Michael Brown has spawned g and civil disobedience. It has brought to the f interpretation the inhumanity of the Brown ki actions by law enforcement and the public. T occurred during the 250th anniversary of the

Issues for the Response: civil rights, voting, issues, prosecutorial conduct, free speech, rac brutality, community empowerment, the right other issues (“the Issues”).

See: http://blackartinamerica.com/profiles/blo

shoot-alliance-of-black-art-galleries-announc

See: http://artdaily.com/news/72305/Hands-Up--D Saint-Louis-respond-to-the-Michael-Brown-killing

About the Alliance of Black Ar

The Alliance of Black Art Galleries, which include nonprofit art galleries, was founded August 20, 201 It received a 2014 St. Louis Magazine A-List Awar collaboration in the arts community. The Alliance 10th Street Gallery (Patricia Smith Thurman and S 14th Street Artist Community Gallery (William A. Ketchens); Bentil’s Jah’z Art Private Gallery Annetta Vickers-Bentil); Exodus Gallery (Carlton Community Art Gallery (Dail Chambers); L. D. Studio (Lois D. Ingrum); Portfolio Gallery and E (Robert A. Powell); and Salon 53, a private reside (Freida L. Wheaton).

CONTACT: Freida L. Wheaton/Alliance allianceofblackartgalleriesstl@gmail.com ∙ 31

Artist Call! Alliance of Black Art Galleries STL

About the Artist Name: Mailing Address: City/State: Telephone: Email: Primary visual art form(s) (list 3 max) Planned entry art form: Attach a one page bio/artist statement Attach image of the artist Calendar/Due Dates

08.21 – Announce Exhibition Initiative 08.26 – Call for Artists Issued 09.06 – Interest Form due with image of artist and 09.22 – High resolution image of in-progress or fi 09.25 – Alliance notice to Artist of acceptance or r 09.30 – Alliance news release announcing Exhibiti 10.04 – Art completion: Submit high resolution im of Art 10.09 – Art delivery 10.13/14/15 – Installation 10.16 & 17 – Patron/Sponsor/Media Previews 10.17 & 18 – Exhibition Venue Openings

Artists: Please complete this Form and retu to allianceofblackartgalleriesstl@gmail.com. R

pg.

Your Source for Art Appreciation

FOR ARTISTS ∙ 08.26.2014 ∙ Expression of Interest

nds Up, Don’t Shoot: Artists Respond

eries (St. Louis, MO) Visual Art Initiative on the Michael Brown Killing

completed Expression of Interest by 09.06.2014 allianceofblackartgalleriesstl@gmail.com

Alliance”) Visual Art 2014 killing of 18The “Hands Up, l exhibit the visual art e aftermath of law

grief, outrage, protest forefront for artist illing and subsequent The triggering event founding of St. Louis.

, oppression, justice cial disparities, police t to assemble, and

ogs/hands-up-don-tces

Don-t-Shoot--Artists-fomg#.U_iwXfldVgg

rt Galleries

es public, private and 13 in St. Louis, Missouri. rd in recognition of its galleries are as follows: Solomon Thurman); Burton, Jr. and Robert y (Sami Bentil and n Mitchell); Gya Ingrum Gallery & Educational Center ential art gallery

14.494.4660

ELIGIBILITY ∙ REQUIREMENTS OPEN TO VISUAL ARTISTS No entry fee Any gender, race, ethnicity Age 18 and up Any US Location * Submit brief Artist information where requested below * Submit maximum 100-word Issues Statement addressing the artist’s interest in exhibiting, the Issues to be addressed and the connection with the art. Type in space provided below. Due 09.06.2014 THE ART Must be in response to the Issues. One entry per artist. Drawing, painting, photography, mixed media, sculpture acceptable; any media Drawing, painting, photography: dimensions max – 48” x 60” If 3-dimensional, 4” max protrusion Framed/Ready to hang, if applicable No installation art, except New Media Sculpture max weight 40 lbs.; 48” height If New Media, must supply modes of delivery. Contact the Alliance. THE ARTIST

Please support our sponsors, many

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

Retains ownership of and copyright in the Art Must adhere strictly to time/date due requirements Is responsible for all shipping expenses, and risk of loss prior to delivery Shall deliver Art to venue as instructed Has no rights to any residual proceeds of any publication, at least 60% of which proceeds will benefit local St. Louis area artists and art education related to the Issues through Alliance galleries

THE ALLIANCE Has sole right to accept or reject Art Shall provide detailed instructions for delivery of completed Art on or before 10.05.2014. Gallery assignments will be provided at this time Has right to retain possession of accepted Art through 03.31.2015 Has option to retain Art beyond 03.31.2015 if needed for Exhibition, if Artist agrees Has option to extend possession for Travelling Exhibition purposes, if Artist agrees Shall insure Art against risks of damage and loss while in possession of Alliance Has right to photograph and publish Art in book/catalog of the exhibition and in media

#ArtsTodayEZ

* Please Type 100-Word Max Issue Statement Here In 10pt. Font

1-page bio. inal Art entry rejection for Exhibition ion artists mage of Art; and value

urn via email by 09.06 Retain a copy.

Exhibition Space: The Alliance will utilize 18 St. Louis area venues for the Hands Up, Don’t Shoot: Artists Respond Visual Art Exhibition. Each venue represents one year of life of Michael Brown.

www.the-arts-today.com

Volume 1.7 August 28, 2014

pg.

www.the-arts-today.com

Volume 1.7 August 28, 2014

The Art and Science of Positive Policing: Parsing the Psychological and Legal Implications for the Ferguson Crisis

by Dr. Tracey McCarthy, Psy.D., DCFC, J.D., M.A., Psychologist; Attorney Associate Professor Webster University - Legal Studies Department www.drtraceymccarthy.com

“Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows, or both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.” - Frederick Douglass

here are, alarmingly, critical problems with the belief systems, attitudes, behaviors, and leadership of many of our nation’s police and the fatal shooting of St. Louis, Missouri teen Michael Brown, by Ferguson law enforcement officer Darren Wilson, brings to the international forefront the depth and breadth of this dire societal crisis. The “Ferguson Crisis” sets a stage for long overdue dialogue and concrete changes in policing and potentially harmful social prerogatives.

While policing problems have the potential to adversely impact an entire population, members of certain demographic groups bear the brunt of policing challenges. Though one can argue in opposition, historically, African Americans - and African American males, in particular - disparately suffer the consequences of the problems in American policing. Policecommunity challenges are compounded in municipal areas where the citizen populations employing the police are disproportionately African American and female-headed and the police are disproportionately European American and male. Major reforms in American policing are, undoubtedly, due. However, such changes must be informed by an understanding of the manifest and latent forces serving to create and sustain the obvious and obscure dimensions of the challenges, particularly as such relate to policing of communities with African American constituents. In the wake of the fatal shooting of Michael Brown, an African American male teen,

by Darren Wilson, a European American male police officer, the salient issue of basic human rights has served as the galvanizing construct informing the public discourse on policing problems in America. The “Ferguson Fishbowl” has evolved to reveal that the policing problem is a human rights problem which requires society-wide attention and amelioration. In almost two decades of educating police officers, and creating undergraduate curricula in psychology, law, and forensics, specifically aimed at meeting the personal and professional development needs of police officers, I have grown to understand the complexity of the policing problem and the requirements of multifactorial prevention and intervention on the road to both policing and community improvement. There is no single cause for policing problems and no single, uni-dimensional, intervention can function as curative. There is, therefore, no solitary cause for the tragedy that ended the young life of Michael Brown and no solitary solution for future prevention. The Multifaceted Nature of Policing Challenges A major problem in policing involves the unusual multidimensional demands of the policing role. The profession of policing requires a multiplicity of knowledge, skills, dispositions, and behaviors not demanded of any other profession. For many reasons, only the rare individual is, actually, fully equipped to effectively carry out the often mutually exclusive requirements of the role, which involves social service, emergency medical intervention, crime prevention and pg.

intervention, citizens’ rights adjudication, crisis management, and peace keeping. Because policing directly involves every member of the community, police problems are community problems and community problems are human ones. It is, therefore, impossible to address the issue of police challenges without looking at the contextual dynamics which undergird policing concerns. Additionally, since police are human, and not immortal superheroes, the social, emotional, and behavioral makeup of each officer requires attention in any plans for policing evolution and problem solving. Police challenges can be divided into cognitive, knowledge, social, emotional, behavioral, ethical, moral, management, and leadership challenges. Each of these challenges is tied to issues with community relations and overall police efficacy. When there is a deficit or a conflict in any of the named areas, a police officer’s overall capacity to function is significantly diminished. The Predicament of Problematic Police Leadership While patrol officers tend to serve as the public icons of policing, deficits and conflicts in policing often have roots in police leadership. Police officers are like fruit on the vine and that fruit does not fall far from the leadership tree from which it grows. Police leadership determines the mission, vision, philosophy, norms, and values of the police force. Police leadership is, also, responsible for police recruitment,

selection, training, development, supervision, promotion, and discipline. Police leadership, therefore, sets the standard and bar for determinations of behavioral acceptability, reasonability, and accountability. What one sees below, on the streets, is determined, largely, by what stands above. Communities must, hence, act with prudence when selecting police leadership at the executive level by creating mechanisms for selection which are not outgrowths of politicking and glad handing. Leadership selection should involve direct public facilitation and must include a process whereby sound cognitive, physical, social, emotional, and ethical functioning in police leadership is assured. This assurance is crucial, as the strengths and challenges of police leadership will show up in those below, and the community will benefit or suffer correspondingly. The Ferguson Crisis and the Local Police Leadership Fiasco It is conceivable that current suffering in Ferguson and the St. Louis region is a direct outgrowth of community failure to put into place executive branch leadership with a strong sense of loyalty and dedication to the community served. One issue that has presented as problematic in the Ferguson Crisis has been that of apparent divided fidelity in the office of the Ferguson police chief. While it is commendable that one atop a supervisory chain of command would seek to protect a junior member, it is not acceptable for police leadership to exhibit divided loyalties which result in allegiance to individual law enforcement officers at the expense of the public. Concerns related to police leadership integrity and allegiance have been rampant in the Ferguson Crisis and the reliability of the very office of police chief has been questioned. This questioning of leadership trustworthiness results from an apparent lack of investigatory candor and transparency. Such is, also, tied to leadership release of police reports of doubtful veracity and a leadership willingness to allow an entire region to fall into utter chaos in service of protecting the image of Officer Wilson, while undermining the rights of the victim’s family and the public. The challenges in law enforcement leadership in the Ferguson Crisis have extended to the office of the prosecutor, who serves as the ultimate law enforcement leadership arm. From Washington D.C. to the Mound City, there have been assertions of prosecutorial conflict and concerns have been advanced regarding the extent to which the prosecutor is capable of zealously representing the legal interests of the State of Missouri during the secret grand jury process. The lack of public faith revolves around prosecutorial bias and the possible inability of the prosecutor to subordinate his own interests to the state’s interest. Police leadership has a very specific role in the case of Darren Wilson, and that role is no different than it would be in any other criminal matter of potential felonious proportions. It is the job of law enforcement leadership to make certain that the many questions surrounding the fatal shooting of Michael Brown are brought to the forefront. It is the responsibility of police leadership to determine whether it is possible that inappropriate lethal force may have been used and whether such may have served as an indication of a basic disregard for the human rights of Michael Brown. It is not, however, the role of law enforcement leadership to act as quasi-defense counsel for potential state and federal defendants, such as Officer Wilson. The Challenges of Police Preparation, Selection, and Development Many of the challenges in policing come down to leadership challenges related to recruitment, selection, training, development, and promotion. A primary focus of police leadership should be valid and reliable selection processes which best fit the needs of communities served. While protesters have clashed with the police since the beginning of the Ferguson Crisis, in a rational society, we understand the need for police in fostering community wellbeing and no one, with a sound mind, would advocate for the eradication of law enforcement or the disempowerment of police. Communities, however, need to require that all law enforcement personnel are as mentally, emotionally, and physically healthy and mature as possible, as instability, recklessness, unsupervised power, and weapons do not exist well together. Principally, whether the municipality be Los Angeles, Miami, Chicago, Atlanta, or Ferguson in St. Louis County, the selection process for officers should include objective assessment of officer self- awareness and evaluation of overall psychological (cognitive, social, and emotional) functioning. It should, also, be expected that beginning officers have working knowledge in criminal and civil law and procedure, juvenile law and delinquency, interpersonal communication, problem solving, decision making, mediating, family law, elder law, forensics, ethical decision making, stress management, positive conflict resolution, human development, human relations, management, leadership, psychopathology, social work, history, politics, family systems, human rights, social justice, child welfare and justice, cultural competence, and community relations. The role of law enforcement in today’s world demands enhanced knowledge and skill in these specific areas and it should be the responsibility of local police academies to make certain that these knowledge competences are instilled in recruits as an integral part of pre-service development. Officers confidently imbued with such competence will be less likely to see a side arm as a primary problem solving tool or as a bolstering extension of a fragile ego. Such officers are, also, likely to be best able to facilitate positive community development and pro-social development in a community’s youth, regardless of the racial makeup of the community served or the demographics of the officer serving. Copyright © 2014 - All rights reserved.

www.the-arts-today.com

Volume 1.7 August 28, 2014

The Art & Science cont. In developing and teaching undergraduate courses specifically for law enforcement, it has become clear that police officers struggle with the contradictions in their roles as community servants, crime fighters, and peacekeepers. It is, also, obvious that not all individuals who pursue police work are mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually appropriate for such a demanding, isolating, stressful, and potentially thankless and danger-ridden calling. While police academies provide the basic foundation for law enforcement work, the most effective community officers are, likely, those who are uniquely gifted, mature, sensitive, psychologically stable, and culturally competent, even without pre-service education and training. Potential Problems of Psychology and Personal Politics in Community Policing While there are many incredible police officers serving the public, as with all professions, research shows that there are, also, individual officers with deepseated pathologies and inappropriate vocational motivations. All of the cognitive competence and academic knowledge in the world will not be able to mitigate the damage that might be done by community policing officers who evince â&#x20AC;&#x153;Dark Triadâ&#x20AC;? characteristics of pathological narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy, along with an extreme Social Dominance Orientation. These traits, individually or collectively, render any person fundamentally unfit for community policing, in African American communities and all others, because individuals with such personality constellations are prone to create community spaces of dysfunction, suffering, and human rights abuses. When considering policing problems in African American communities, Social Dominance Orientation, pathological narcissism, and psychopathy have the potential to do the greatest degree of harm. What the Ferguson Crisis has focused on is a long-standing pattern of what appears to be both European American police and civilian targeting of African American males for harassment, abuse, and homicide. The Crisis is, therefore, grounded in reasonable alarm over potential manifestations of Social Dominance Orientation within all police forces and among the general public. Given the hierarchical nature of the police force, and the predominance of European Americans in the police ranks, this concern is one that requires significant future attention in terms of police selection, assignment, and promotion. Social Dominance Orientation involves a pattern of destructive political philosophies which are founded upon in group/out group discrimination, preferences for social system hierarchies, anti- egalitarianism, and dominance over groups perceived as having lower human status. This latently misanthropic orientation, coupled with pathological narcissism, or psychopathy will behaviorally and attitudinally manifest in individual and group level false self-creation, obsession with power, failure to recognize the rights of others, exploitation, disdain for those perceived as inferior, callousness, pathological lying, unearned entitlement, contempt, secret feelings of shame, and organizational chaos creation. More than any problem or crisis which might be created by a lack of police knowledge or skill, police officers in possession of dark triad dynamics or Social Dominance Orientations present some of the greatest psychological challenges and problems in policing. Due to the difficulty of teasing out these character traits, thorough psychological evaluation, on every recruit, prior to acceptance into any police academy, is crucial for overall public safety and welfare. African American communities are, particularly, vulnerable to police officers who may be high in Social Dominance Orientations and such communities may be seen as extremely desirable assignments for acting out pathological social dominance, without consequence, for officers who are so inclined. When serving predominantly African American communities, which might be steeped in various social challenges, both the individual officers and the police pg.

departments need to be clear about individual officer motivations for seeking to serve in a particular community, regardless of the officer’s race or sex. This clarity is needed because police officers are human and they, accordingly, bring that humanity into the workplace, with all of the sociopolitical frameworks that make up each police officer’s background. Some of that sociopolitical construction may include issues that render an officer less than optimally fit for the complex duty of police officer, particularly if, in that role, the individual is called to serve and protect individuals for whom the officer has strong adverse thoughts, attitudes, or feelings. Such adverse attitudes and feelings include heightened fears of African American males or general antipathy towards this ethnic demographic. In the United States, there are many negative cultural ascriptions categorically assigned to African Americans. Some police officers, although sworn to serve and protect African American communities, may personally hold such views and may be prone to both underreacting and overreacting in ways that are consistent with their socially hostile vantage points. Since we cannot, realistically, expect a police officer to check all of his or her sociocultural or emotional baggage at the front door of the police station, what we are called to do as citizens is to make certain that those who are selected as first responders are prudently screened and assigned. African American male youth have myriad social challenges, including very high infant mortality, poverty, diminished academic and vocational opportunities, heightened fear and a sense of endangerment, undiagnosed and unattended depression, low self-worth, thwarted self-efficacy, and an elevated sense of disposability. Given these psychosocial facts, it is clear that the last thing African American male children and youth need is to be embedded in a community context with a police contingent that has neither the ability nor the desire to serve or protect such youth. Such children, definitely, do not need to be subjected to any police personnel who might seek to arbitrarily and capriciously act out on any personally embraced socially oppressive ascriptions, regardless of an officer’s race or sex. The Necessity of Finding Rhyme and Reason Given the sociocultural challenges and history of race relations in America, questions will continue to emerge regarding the actions of officer Wilson in the fatal shooting of Michael Brown. Many of those questions will touch on the preshooting mindset of Officer Wilson. Whether the officer was fearful, reactionary, or premeditative, the intentional shooting of an unarmed teen, resulting in death, regardless of race, cannot be easily justified and speaks to a need for not only dialogue and transparency but substantial concrete amelioration. Whether the fatal shooting of Michael Brown will be found to be officially justified or criminal, it is, profoundly, disturbing to the general public psyche that the fatal shooting rationalization sounds eerily and substantially similar to the defense advanced by George Zimmerman in the shooting death of unarmed Trayvon Martin. Even with the cognitive and emotional immaturity of most adolescents, the idea that any unarmed youth would, out of nowhere, think it advantageous to wrestle with an armed police officer for his or her secured firearm is challenging to the imagination. Therefore, anytime a fatal shooting occurs that involves an unarmed individual, the defense of grappling over a single gun, in the sole and unbroken possession of the shooter, should be viewed with extreme circumspection. Community Responsive & Relevant Policing It is the responsibility of the citizens in any community to shape its law enforcement in a manner most conducive to the needs of the community. If the current police landscape is one which displays a higher-than-average disregard for the lives of African American males, it is the province and the duty of the general citizenry to alter that landscape to one which reflects a general regard for the Copyright © 2014 - All rights reserved.

www.the-arts-today.com

Volume 1.7 August 28, 2014

The Art & Science cont. sanctity of all human life. During the pursuit of justice for Michael Brown, it has been asserted by many that the recruitment of more African American police officers is needed to prevent future human rights abuses. While a random increase in police diversity will, likely, elevate the general level of comfort in African American communities, what is, ultimately, required beyond race or sex is a police force of substantial prosocial values, morality, ethics, and basic human compassion. What is past due in community policing is simple fairness in recruiting, hiring, development, and promotion for the many African Americans who are wellqualified to serve in policing roles and who have a heart for community and government service. To this civil rights end, what has long been called for, among police and community leaders, in the interest of fairness, is a cessation of police hiring and selection processes which are laced in veiled racial and sexual nepotism. What is not needed, currently or in the future, is a police force that embraces an â&#x20AC;&#x153;us and themâ&#x20AC;? mentality and spirit. The last thing any community, African American or otherwise, needs during a time of mourning and civil unrest, is a community police force equipped with 5.56-mm rifles, with high-powered scopes and extra magazines, aimed at civilians. The citizens of St. Louis have no need of police clad in military camouflage and heavy body armor who are parading around in mine- resistance armored vehicles used by U.S. servicemen against enemy military combatants on foreign battlefield soil. No one expects a police officer, or anyone else, to imprudently fail to protect himself or herself from lethal harm. What is expected, however, is that police officers exercise wise and mature judgment in engagements that might result in severe bodily harm and use of lethal force. What is demanded is that police leadership assume heightened responsibility for making certain police are, day-by-day, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually fit for the complex duty of community policing, which carries with it multifaceted demands and privileges unlike any other occupational calling.

pg.

Ajuma Muhammad Author of 101 Proven and Effective Strategies for Empowering Black Boys

1 0 Strategies

f o r E m p o w e r i n g B l a c k B oy s 1. Black boys should maintain a healthy relationship with God. 2. Black boys should honor and always respect their parents. 3. Black boys should embody greatness in everything they do. 4. Black boys should take pride in their history and culture. 5. Black boys should empower their community through leadership and service. 6. Black boys should be role models in their communities. 7. Black boys should honor, respect and protect the black woman. 8. Black boys should work to establish an economic foundation in their communities. 9. Black boys should travel internationally to better understand their place in the world. 10. Black boys should love themselves!

www.ajuma.org

Volume 1.7 August 28, 2014 www.the-arts-today.com Copyright ÂŠ 2014 by Ajuma Muhammad

IN THE NEWS CONT

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Opera Theatre of Saint Louis Welcomes the Addition of Three New Staff Members in Public Relations, Production, and Development

St. Louis, MO, August 20, 2014 – Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, which recently concluded its 39th season announce the hire of three staff members this summer, as the company begins to prepare for its 40th anniversary season. Erin Williams joins the Opera Theatre marketing and public relations team as the company’s next Public Relations and Publications Manager. Hans Fredrickson assumes the position of Technical Director in the Opera Theatre production department, overseeing the planning and construction of the company’s award-winning scenic designs. In the development department, Caron House joins the staff as the company’s next Manager of Institutional Grants.

Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, The Sheldon Arts Foundation, and Da Camera of Houston. Her experience working with Opera Theatre began in 2004, when she served as OTSL’s Development Intern after completing her Master’s degree in Arts Administration at Indiana University. Since that time, she has remained active as a member of OTSL’s Young Friends program and as a member of the annual Wine & Beer Tasting host committee. Returning to OTSL in this role, Ms. House replaces Anne Grady, who devoted nearly the last twenty years of her career as the company’s first Manager of Institutional Grants. About Opera Theatre of Saint Louis

Opera Theatre of Saint Louis is one of the leading American opera companies, known for a spring festival of inventive new Erin Williams joins the Opera Theatre staff after serving productions, sung in English, featuring the finest American singers as news producer for “Arts and More” on WMUK-FM, and accompanied by members of the St. Louis Symphony. As of southwest Michigan’s NPR affiliate in Kalamazoo, Michigan. 2014, Opera Theatre has presented 24 world premieres and 23 She brings a breadth of media background from her American premieres – which may be one of the highest percentages experience as a print and radio journalist, having previously of new work in the repertory of any U.S. company. Described by The been a staff writer at The Washington Post, a producer at St. Sunday Times of London as “one of the few American companies Louis Public Radio and DC’s WPFW-FM, and a freelance worth the transatlantic fare,” Opera Theatre of Saint Louis annually journalist for The Anniston Star, Memphis Daily News, and welcomes visitors from nearly every state and close to a dozen the Riverfront Times. Ms. Williams assumed the position foreign countries. Although the size of the theater typically limits of Public Relations and Publications Manager on August box office income to less than a quarter of the budget, the company 18, filling the position left by Silja Tobin, who joined the has consistently produced work of the highest quality while never publicity department at The Metropolitan Opera in 2013. accumulating a deficit. Prior to joining the Opera Theatre production department as Technical Director, Hans Fredrickson was a member of the staff at Image Technologies Corporation, where he provided oversight for the construction of corporate and theatrical scenic designs for clients ranging from AnheuserBusch, Stifel Nicholas, and Regent Cruise Lines, managing a team of as many as 15 at a time. A graduate of Webster University, Mr. Fredrickson first worked with OTSL as an Emerson Production Artist as the 2008 season Lighting and Projections Coordinator. He succeeds Dan Giedeman as Technical Director, who recently joined the faculty at the Fine and Performing Arts Department at Saint Louis University. As Opera Theatre’s next Manager of Institutional Grants, Caron House brings extensive fundraising experience in the St. Louis area to Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. Most recently as the Chief Development Officer at KDHX Community Media, Ms. House oversaw a $3.5 million capital campaign to build the Larry J. Weir Center for Independent Media in Grand Center (which opened in 2013) and created an institutional giving program. She has also previously served in development roles with the

Opera Theatre also has a long tradition of discovering and promoting the careers of the finest operatic artists of the current generation. Among the artists who had important early opportunities at Opera Theatre are Christine Brewer, Susan Graham, Nathan Gunn, Patricia Racette, Thomas Hampson, Jerry Hadley, Dawn Upshaw, Sylvia McNair, Erie Mills, Dwayne Croft, Kelly Kaduce, Lawrence Brownlee, Jamie Barton, Corinne Winters, Anthony Dean Griffey, and Christine Goerke. Opera Theatre has always been known for distinguished leadership: founding general director Richard Gaddes was succeeded in 1985 by general director Charles MacKay, with famed British stage director Colin Graham as artistic director and Stephen Lord (1992 – present) as music director. Timothy O’Leary was named general director in October 2008 with acclaimed stage director James Robinson succeeding Colin Graham. For more information, visit ExperienceOpera.org. Opera Theatre gratefully acknowledges 2014 season presenting sponsor Wells Fargo Advisors. Opera Theatre is a sustaining member of the Arts and Education Council of Greater Saint Louis, and receives major support from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Regional Arts Commission, and the Missouri Arts Council. pg.

WELCOME!

Erin

Hans

Caron

Contact: Joe Gfaller, Director of Marketing and Public Relations (314) 963-4293, jgfaller@opera-stl.org Erin Williams, Public Relations and Publications Manager (314) 963-4236, ewilliams@opera-stl.org OTSL website: www.ExperienceOpera.org OTSL Box Office: (314) 961-0644 Copyright ÂŠ 2014 - All rights reserved.

www.the-arts-today.com

Volume 1.7 August 28, 2014

Rock

By 1917, classic ragtime had faded as new musical influences of jazz and the blues emerged and traveled along the Mississippi. Converging with waning ragtime rhythms, the blues became a popular genre. Blues compositions were filled with emotion and engaged their audiences. Song lyrics resonated with the real-life experiences of the listeners. Perhaps the best-known piece of transition was composed by W. C. Handy. He wrote and published his lament the St. Louis Blues in Memphis in 1914. The inspiration for the piece came from his hard times in St. Louis more than two decades earlier and from the pain of a dejected love-lost woman he had seen in the river city.

on the R

In his autobiography, Father of the Blues, Handy recounts how he sequestered himself in a rented room on Memphis’ Beale Street to create his signature work. He developed the melody and wrote the lyrics of his blues masterpiece overnight – completing the musical score at a local cigar stand the following day. His band played the brand new St. Louis Blues that evening. With the lyrics based on his St. Louis experience, the melody reflected Handy’s musical past. Southern spiritual influences, ragtime syncopation and tango rhythms (recalled from a trip to Havana) merged in the emotions of the blues.

The History of the

“new musical influences of jazz and the blues emerged and traveled along the Mississippi”

Little could Handy realize that his tale of woe arising from his days as an itinerant would lead to such fame and fortune. The St. Louis Blues has been recorded by iconic songsters including Bessie Smith with Lois Armstrong, Bing Crosby and the Duke Ellington Orchestra, Billie Holiday, Count Basie and scores of others. The classic, forever connected to its St. Louis roots, can be considered the most auspicious work in the American blues songbook. With over 1,800 versions, Handy’s signature piece about the river city is regarded as the most recorded blues song in history.

Reprinted with permission from Famous Firsts of St. Louis: A Celebration of Facts, Figures, Food & Fun by Diane Rademacher. Copies available at more than 30 locations throughout St. Louis. To find a location near you, visit the Famous First Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/ famousfirstsofstlouis You can also order by emailing firststl@aol.com.

pg.

kin’

River

e Blues in St. Louis

www.the-arts-today.com

Volume 1.7 August 28, 2014

Your Sundays in September are going to feel like a retreat!

The Meditation Lounge for September has been extended (by 30 minutes), plus a new class has been added to the Sunday schedule. Click HERE for details and registration!

Love,

sj For bookings and Life Coaching visit www.selenaj.com

pg.

S.L .A .M. St. Louis Art Museum

ART COLLECTIONS

EXHIBITS

EVENTS

Admission to the Museum is free every day. Hours: Tuesday–Sunday, 10:00 am–5:00 pm | Friday, 10:00 am–9:00 pm | Closed Monday

www.the-arts-today.com

Volume 1.7 August 28, 2014

City’s Reallocation process leaves Black workers Adolphus M. Pruitt, II 1st Vice President, Missouri NAACP & President St. Louis NAACP

“Sitting at the Back of the Bus”

Everyone loves a promotion and a raise in pay, but what if you could get both working for the City of St. Louis without competing against your co-workers. What if you could get hired with a high school diploma or GED and work your way up to Deputy Director of your department without having to compete under the City’s Civil Service rules along the way? Well you can if you work in the City of St. Louis’s Personnel Department, and it’s probably going on in other departments of the City but the Personnel Director won’t tell, and no one else in City government seems to care. The Personnel Director of the City of St. Louis has the sole authority to approve promotions known as ‘Reallocation’ without using the competitive process under the Civil Service guidelines established in Article XVIII of the City Charter. In essence if you work for the City of St. Louis and a vacancy in a higher position occurs, the personnel director has the sole authority to approve promoting/reallocating you to the vacant position without considering any other persons whom maybe interested in applying for the position. The personnel director with the stroke of his pen can reallocate you to the position over everybody else; thus waiving the Personnel Administrative Regulation No.110 that requires a competitive examination process for promoting employees. In order for the reallocation (promotion) without a competitive examination process to occur the following conditions must be met: the reallocation to the position is based upon the accretion of new duties and responsibilities, and the incumbent was continuously employed in the position during such accretion of duties and responsibilities. In addition, the added duties and responsibilities were related to and supplemented the original functions of the positions, and there is evidence that such additional duties were assigned to the position solely to increase the efficiency of the City of St. Louis. In order to ascertain if these conditions have been met a Position Description Questionnaire (PDQ) is completed and the Department of Personnel conducts a Job Study. For fiscal years July 1, 2010 through June 30,

2013 the Personnel Director approved 1,926 reallocations involving the following departments: Department of Personnel, City Counselor’s Office, Airport, Streets Department, Building Division, Corrections Division, Police Department and the Human Services Department. The Personnel Director has so far refused to provide a breakdown by race and gender the reallocations he has approved during his tenure. It’s important to note that when you get reallocated you automatically get a bump in pay based on the new salary range or in the alternative at-least a 5% salary increase. Over 90% of the employees reallocated within the personnel department have been white, and the reallocation process has been the primary means for promotion throughout their tenure within that department. One example would be the former deputy director for the department; in 1974 she was reallocated from a typist to Account Clerk I, three-years later to Personnel Analysis I, a year later to Analysis II, two-years later to Personnel Manager, a year later to Personnel Service Manager, three-years later to Personnel Staff Manager, a year later to Employee Relations Manager, a year later to Personnel Manager II, three-years later to Human Resources Administrator, and finally to Deputy Director of Personnel. All were via reallocation, not bad for someone with a high school diploma. The Deputy Director retired in December 2013 and was rehired as a consultant by the Personnel Director at $140.00 an hour. The Civil Service Rules require that competitive examinations be held to determine which employees shall be promoted, and implicitly demand that the competitive examination process be the preferred method of promoting employees. The competitive examination process assures compliance with Title VII of the Civil Rights Enforcement Act of 1964 and the City’s Charter Abuse of the Reallocation process would be an unlawful employment practice for the City of St. Louis due to the fact that the process leaves Black workers “sitting in the back of the bus.”

pg.

www.the-arts-today.com

Volume 1.7 August 28, 2014

Ferguson Future Shock and the return of THE REAL Ferguson Future Shock and the return of The Real

By Reynaldo Anderson

Reynaldo Anderson All worldly figures Playing on niggers Oh, seeing them passing See how they’re dancing To the Superfly Curtis Mayfield The candid lyrics uttered by Curtis Mayfield in the song Future Shock in his 1973 album Back to The World nudged into my memory on my way to the site of the Ferguson rebellion last week. The song Future Shock was a sensitive artistic response to the emerging conditions of postindustrial and postmodern American society that Black Vietnam veterans were returning to and coldly described by the writer Alvin Toffler in a 1970 book about the future with the same name, and socio-politically illustrated in Saint Louis with the destruction of the Pruitt-Igoe housing complex in 1972. The song was appropriate in my mind as we drove down Lucas and Hunt avenue and noticed the paradox between the corporate types and wannabe one per centers playing golf behind the country club manicured hedges of greenery to our left and the massive police presence at the intersection controlling entry and exit into Ferguson like an American postmodern version of the Gaza strip. Passing by the corporate types I could not help but think the protestors were missing the target. The phrase No problem can be solved at the level of consciousness that created it, attributed to the scientist Albert Einstein, seems most appropriate in relation to the Ferguson rebellion. Problem: So why is Black life so cheap in America? I pondered this question as I walked and marched and hunkered down into the night on West Florissant. After spending some time either walking, marching, or in conversation with other protesters and driving around the municipality of Ferguson I tentatively came to the conclusion the rebellion was struggling against the legacy of the Power Elite and institutional racism, the fight for control of the Black imagination, and the symbolic attempt by an ineffective and marginalized African American leadership class to re-assert moral authority thru a politics of respectability. Historically, black life in America has always been cheap. However, there was a time a couple generations ago when there was a possibility the equity and disparity gap in America would be closed. There were roughly three choices facing America following the rebellions of the 1960s. First, maintain the status quo and it would eventually lead to re-segregation and a

pg.

“Historically, black life in America has always been cheap.”

heavily policed society to reinforce that political choice. Second, adopt a policy of racial geographic enrichment and abandon the goal of integration; or three, combine elements of the first two with policies that encouraged cross cultural engagement. The concern was the nation was moving towards two separate societies, however, America has always been separate and unequal and in the following decades the American Power Elite, increasingly more global in consumption and cultural outlook, largely embraced an approach of benign neglect that would maintain institutional racism at the expense of the most Americans. The empirical data is in, and the nation is moving in the direction of the first choice and creating a permanent black and brown underclass that will be watched and governed by a prison industrial complex organized on the basis of institutional white supremacy with a patina or finishing coat of colored people to defend its policies to the American popular imagination. Moreover, the rebellion will have to swiftly recognize the relationship between the interests of the Power Elite and how American foreign policy is intimately linked to its domestic policy. It is no accident the citizens of parts of Ferguson were controlled by a militarized presence, bombed and tear gassed in much the same fashion that Palestinians on the West Bank and Gaza strip who also are treated with collective punishment. According to local A.M.E. Zion Pastor Reverend Ken McKoy the situation for black youth can be characterized as “They are literally fighting for the right to breath”. Therefore, to the surprise of many Americans, the militarized repression of the rebellion impacted the popular imagination and brought to the surface the tension and struggle over autonomy and corporate control over the Black Radical Imagination. Two generations ago, a year after Curtis Mayfield’s call of Future Shock, the Black experimental Jazz musician Sun Ra responded with Space is the Place, a creative musical and media project that recognized people of African descent in an emerging technologically sophisticated society would have to solve the problem of global white supremacy on a different level than it was created. More specifically, to create intellectual space that provided the basis for reimagining alternative possibilities. Now that black youth have once again seized the cultural political microphone during the Ferguson rebellion, federal and local agents, provocateurs organizations, and corporations have flooded the (S)pace of West Florissant seeking to influence the direction of the rebellion. Strolling down the avenue it was interesting to see the juxtaposition of CNN across the street from MSNBC and the different crowds they would attract as some participants would dutifully wait during a commercial break before breaking into chants after a word from a sponsor. There is a clear distinction between the radicalized youth and their allies who want justice for Michael Brown and the larger goal of fighting white supremacy, and are prepared to agitate for as long as it takes, and those individuals, either through family, political nepotism, or the lure of fame, who seek the microphone to amplify their own marginal voices or archaic organizations at the expense of the interests of the black grassroots. Finally, the fact remains the angry black grassroots have wakened from their slumber and caught off guard an aging, decrepit, and marginalized local African American leadership class that has suddenly stirred and called for new leadership. However, this brings to mind an

www.the-arts-today.com

Volume 1.7 August 28, 2014

Feguson Future Shock... cont.

important essay Martin Luther King Jr. developed before his assassination where he warned against the manufacturing of black leadership. For the last two generations a revisionist history of the civil rights movement and the black power movement has been promoted locally and nationally in the interest of obtaining privilege and access for many lack bourgeoisie elites. Dr. Robert Smith in his book We Have no Leaders pointed out the dilemma twenty years ago with the observation of how African Americans with promising ability were incorporated into institutionally racist organizations that protected white privilege at the expense of the community or broader society. For example, the current president is symbolic of this phenomenon, although he is in office; he is not in power, as he must bend to the dictates of the elite 1% against the interest of most Americans. Yet for the first time in a long time the old social contract of accommodating local institutional white supremacy is openly being challenged and is spreading beyond Ferguson to other urban spaces like Dallas with the formation of the Huey P. Newton Gun Club, or protests surrounding the police killing of black youth in New York and Los Angeles and the youth and their allies are mobilizing. Therefore, despite the initial gummy bear soft rhetoric of the president, the youth have resisted craven requests for understanding and peace until justice has been satisfied. However, it bears watching how colored tokens of the establishment are being used to re-establish legitimacy for institutions. For example, the Mayor of Berkley, MO, Ted Hoskins, was correct in his recent analysis, along with another MSNBC contributor, that the lone black highway trooper, Ron Johnson, and a black brigadier general were trotted out in front of the media as symbolic tools used to defuse and betray elements of the rebellion, with other minority promotions to come, despite police abuse. This tactic was used in the sixties in states like Mississippi when activists would be fingered by officers and civil rights workers or perceived radicals would be arrested and or reported to the State Sovereignty Commission for registering blacks to vote or identified as trouble makers. Furthermore, the whining about outside agitators by some of the local and state African American leadership class sounds similar to former southern governors who complained of activists stirring up their niggraâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s. In conclusion, it remains to be seen what the radicalized black youth of this generation, born after the Cold War, and having never known defeat or the humiliation of their grandparents, will do in the face of what on the surface may seem stiff odds to establish and promote a more autonomous leadership, yet like another generation of African American youth before them, they may be preparing to seize the time and make their own mark in history forgoing the 30 pieces of silver of accommodating reactionary colored leadership or worshiping at the golden calf of white supremacy.

Reynaldo Anderson is a college Professor and you can follow him on Twitter @Hardcore888

pg.

www.the-arts-today.com

Volume 1.7 August 28, 2014

Photo: Serwa Tumpe

pg.

Photo: by Design Med

dia, etc.

Phaedra Parks Shares her secrets with St. Louis

Phaedra Parks Visited St. Louis to promote her new book, “Secrets of a Southern Belle: How to Be Nice, Work Hard, Look Pretty,Have Fun, and Never Have an Off Moment”. While there she held book signings at Sweetie Pie’s and Left Bank Books. During these signings she personalized messages, shared advice and exchanged tips with those who came out. She also made other appearances which led to an extension on her stay here in St. Louis. One of these appearances was to provide comfort and to personally give her condolences to Michael Brown’s mother and other family members on the passing of her son. Michael Brown was gunned down on August 9th by a Ferguson Police Officer. Phaedra Parks, breakout star of Bravo’s massively popular The Real Housewives of Atlanta, is known for her law career, happy home life, redonkulous caboose, and for being the ultimate Southern Belle.

www.the-arts-today.com

Volume 1.7 August 28, 2014

HEALTH ■ MIND ■ BODY ■ SPIRIT ■ CULTURE ■ BONDING

Girls Holla Back!

St. Louis’ Award Winning Intergenerational Approach to HIV/AIDS Prevention Program for African American Females In an effort to reduce new cases of HIV/AIDS and drug use among African American females in St. Louis, the Missouri Institute of Mental Health (MIMH) developed a FREE series of prevention workshops complemented with fun-filled communications activities for girls ages 12-17 and one of their adult female family members.

**Orientation & Health Fair:** **August 2nd from 10:30am - 3pm** Workshop Dates: August 6, 7, 13, 14, 20, 21, 27, 28

September 3, 4, 10, 11, 17, 18, 24, 25 Workshop Times: 5:30 - 8:30pm (all sessions)

Location:

New Northside Conference Center 5939 Goodfellow Blvd. St. Louis, MO 63147 *To determine the effectiveness of the program, participants will be asked to complete one survey before the program starts; one on the last day; and one 3-months after the program has ended. *Sponsored by the Missouri Institute of Mental Health through funds from the Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Center for Substance Abuse Prevention

Girls Holla Back! Registration Mailing Form August-September 2014 (Please Print Clearly)

Date:____________________

Name of Female Youth:_______________________________________________________ Age:_____________

Name of Female Parent (Guardian):_______________________________________________________________

Address: ___________________________________ City:________________ State:_______ Zip:______________

Phone:(_______)___________________________Email:______________________________________________ How do you prefer to receive program information? [ ] Mail or [ ] E-mail *How did you hear about Girls Holla Back? [ ] Radio (Station?______________) [ ] Bus/Billboard [ ] E-Blast [ ] Website [ ] Facebook [ ] Twitter [ ] Friend/Former Participant [ ] Other (_______________________) Mail To: Girls Holla Back!, c/o MIMH, 4633 World Parkway Circle, St. Louis, MO 63134 or fax to (314) 516-8405. For more information, contact us at (314) 516-8487 or girlshollaback@mimh.edu.

**You may also register online by visiting www.GirlsHollaBack.org**

August 2014 TO: All Media, All People FROM: EBR Writers/Southern Illinois University Edwardsville English Dept./Black River Writers Press (618 650-3991; eredmon@ siue.edu)

EBR Writers Club Resumes Meetings Sept. 2nd: 28th Year of Workshops, Literary & Cultural Programs Resuming its 28th year of twice-monthly meetings on Tuesday, Sept. 2nd, members of the Eugene B. Redmond Writers Club will gather from 6:00 to 8:00 pm. in Room 2083, Bldg. B, of the SIUE/East St. Louis (IL) Higher Education Center, 601 J. R. Thompson Dr. The Club continues to mourn the loss of two of its beloved trustees, Amiri Baraka (1934-2014) and Maya Angelou (1928-2014). Both poets were also Senior Consulting Editors of “Drumvoices Revue,” the literary-cultural journal co-published by the Club and SIUE. In 2012 a 700-page commemorative issue highlighted the Club’s 25th birthday, the 20th anniversary of “DR,” East St, Louis’ Sesquicentennial and the 85th birthday of native son Miles Davis. Sponsored by the Club and Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, meetings are held on the first and third Tuesday--September through May. All writers, including beginners, intermediate and professional, are welcome. Chartered by ESL authors Sherman L. Fowler, Redmond (the group’s namesake) and Darlene Roy (president), the Club was founded in 1986 with Margaret Walker Alexander (1915-1998) and Angelou as its first trustees. Current trustees include Avery Brooks, Haki R. Madhubuti, Walter Mosley, Quincy Troupe, Jerry Ward, Jr., and Lena Weathers. Gwendolyn Brooks (1917-2000), Raymond R. Patterson (1929-2001), and ESL native Barbara Ann Teer (1937-2008) also served as trustees. Henry L. Dumas (1934-1968) is the Club’s patron saint. Known for having invented a poetic form called the kwansaba* and hosting renown artists/writers from across the globe—including late poets Jayne Cortez (1934-2012) and Wanda Coleman (1946-2013)--the Club collaborates with various institutions/organizations in the promotion of literacy and literature. The group is also known for its diverse programming, including “Break Word with the World,” an annual event aimed at raising social and cultural “conch-us-nest.” Toward such ends members will discuss the intersection of artistic expression and in/justice at its first meeting Sept. 2--with a focus on recent events in Ferguson, MO.

For more information about Club or area cultural-literary activities, call SIUE English at 618 650-3991 or write EBR Writers @ P.O. Box 6165, East St. Louis, Illinois 62201. Email: eredmon@siue.edu. (To order the 700-page commemorative issue of &quot;Drumvoices Revue,&quot; send a $20.00 check or M.O. to the above address.)*Example attached. (Definition: 49 words containing seven lines of seven words each, withno word having more than seven letters. Exceptions to seven-letter rule: proper nouns, quotations, foreign terms, neologisms.) Copyright © 2014 - All rights reserved.

www.the-arts-today.com

Volume 1.7 August 28, 2014

Bernie Hayes - Will Justice Prevail August 2014

Will Justice Ferguson Missouri has been in turmoil recently, making international news because of the killing of Michael Brown, an unarmed 18 year African American male, gunned down and shot six times by a white Ferguson police officer. Some eye witnesses called it an execution. I suppose it was natural to expect a public outcry, but nothing like the eruption from community activists, residents and clergy. I assume most people and local law enforcement agencies thought it would be business as usual when a white cop kills a black man or child, but what a surprise. I too was surprised because I remember 1968 when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis. Hundreds of Black communities across the nation essentially went to war, but not St. Louis. White police abuses usually demands a response and the number of people who happened to witness this police abuse determined the level of reaction needed to set off an uprising. Â In the case of Michael Brown, the community decided the historical experience is not one of staying in the present and looking back. Rather it is one of going back into the past and returning to the present with a wider and more intense consciousness of the restrictions of our former outlook, and that meant taking action.

pg.

oppression. On April 4, 1968, when Dr. King was killed over 22,000 federal troops and 34,000 National Guard were sent to aid local police, the largest ever called to deal with domestic civil disturbance. In many cities the devastation was so great that it left permanent scars that are still evident decades later.

Prevail? The people who have been demonstrating in Ferguson, Downtown St. Louis and in Clayton said they don’t want to spill our blood unnecessarily, but as in the past, as the result of provocation blood has been spilled, and that provocation has not come from the people; all the blame rests at the door of the Ferguson Police Department. A department that shielded the killer of Michael Brown, and later attempted to slander the victim’s name.

In Boston, where there had been unrest on April 4, after Dr. King was assassinated, officials worried about the fallout of a James Brown concert scheduled for April 5 at a downtown arena. If you remember James comforted the masses, and now there is a documentary film titled The Night James Brown Saved Boston. Perhaps with President Obama speaking out, and Attorney General Eric Holder involving the Department of Justice, possibly the murder of Michael Brown will be the facilitator to save Ferguson, Dellwood and other parts of the St. Louis metropolitan area. We must remember that individual community identity must be fostered to promote a sense of place and improve the region’s urban and rural quality of life.

Please watch the Bernie Hayes TV program Saturday Night at 10pm and Friday Morning at 9 am and Sunday Evenings at 5:30 pm on KNLC-TV Ch. 24, and follow me on Twitter: @berhay and view my Blog @ http:// berniehayesunderstands.blogspot.com/ I can be reached by fax at (314) 837-3369 or e-mail at: berhay@swbell.net. Be Ever Wonderful!

Hotep!

They say it is not a race issue, but we must remain vigilant and we must be inclusive by affirming of cultural differences, especially with respect to color, class, sexual orientation, faith, age and ethnicity and recognize when a crime is in fact a hate crime. I contend the murder of Michael Brown was hate crime….a murder. Community organization and mobilization helps neighbors rid their communities of problems with gangs, guns, drugs, and violence with the help of law enforcement and other agencies, but when the law enforcement agency is your worst enemy and oppressor, what do you do? We need a review of innovative approaches in community policing that have opened lines of communication between law enforcement and communities and develop strategies that will alert us of allegations of excessive force and illegal search and seizure, and police abuse and

The Bernie Hayes Show Talk and interviews about affairs of the day with a St. Louis slant. The Bernie Hayes Show can be seen: Friday’s at 9 A.M. Saturday’s at 10:00 P.M. Sunday’s at 5:30 P.M.

www.the-arts-today.com

Volume 1.7 August 28, 2014

Featured

Author

Submission

LaVelle

Wilkins-Chinn

pg.

KWANSABAS for Langston Hughes #1 Joplin Were you lying in a field—open, when it all began? I see your dusty bottom, bony knees poking out denim, slender blades crushed—rubbed in rough play, your curly head relaxed on skinny arms, riffled daisies crimp in brown tender fingers, the wayward mirror in your horizon eyes. #2 Lincoln, Illinois and Cleveland, Ohio Then the sky fell into your mind, down the quilt smell of your Granny, a jonquil blossom scent of sweet home, comfort by night, you cringe in day, the cold presses you into cobweb-corners— where lonely, awkward prisms hack parts away— aching, screams capture blood-drip ink-notes.

#3 Mexico Tropics, a crackle sun means to intrude, warm peach fuzz twining from the navel up over the sinewy curve of mouth— parched so, your tongue tip lap licks to soothe, dapple at fawn/buck mist raging to laugh at the father-tower, who wants to fog high light beams.

#4 New York, Africa, Paris Singed by macho hearts, the sea beckons— after a learned track measure timid paces, you bow your limbs into the hull, then, finding water is black and true when you need it to be yours, jazzy waves thunder up a fresco sketch, a rolling current below an élan vessel.

LaVelle Wilkins-Chinn is a native of St. Louis with thirty-plus years of performing arts experience. She has worked with several St. Louis theatre companies, but is most often associated with the St. Louis Black Repertory Company and Pamoja Theatre Workshop. Presently she is the script coordinator for the readers theatre ensemble C2C (A Call to Conscience) founded by Linda Jo Smith. She has been a participant of the Hurston-Wright writing workshop, Eugene B. Redmond Writers Club, Indigo Ink, Loosley Identified and has served as a board member for the St. Louis Poetry Center. She is scribbling out a novel in process of which an excerpt was published in The Hoot and Holler of the Owls, a Hurston-Wright anthology, 2003. A short story, Fools’ Luck is forthcoming in the anthology, St. Louis Noir edited by St. Louis writer, Scott Phillips and published by Akashic Books.

c2c

A Call to Conscience P.O. Box 78156 Saint Louis, MO 63102-2609 http://www.acalltoconscience.org/

www.the-arts-today.com

Volume 1.7 August 28, 2014

KWANSABAS for Langston Hughes

cont.

#5 Washington, D.C. to Lincoln University Noetic passage, black—white, white—black, blue, a queer trip with stone-packed luggage, maximum wailing hardly stagger the drudge weight— muscled in the bulging veins of poverty, adroit, deviate-damned to creaky soul’s pocket— you tread by oak halls’ infamy stage— blue-black, black-blue, blue blacked you.

#6 Harlem’s Gambit, Sweet/Sour Even if Duke wasn’t harmony/friend/lover, Heaven couldn’t match a more perfect union! You in gimmick city’s village wiles— Oooooh! What a coup! Rhythm’s doctors’ remedy, rally—redress Zora’s pranks and rude retorts— Mood Indigo travels thru Slap Happy phase, prizes coming forth, no end in sight.

#7 Home Again Plowing fields of wonder, the earth shakes you—spears your panther/man’s lovely montage one-way defer, rivers’ bed, keeness streams— and you become the keeper, the one every other one wants to be around, politic with, or just be brown with— so grateful to chime in your winds.

LaVelle Wilkins-Chinn

pg.

www.the-arts-today.com

Volume 1.7 August 28, 2014

LIVE WORK PLAY

Volume 1.7 August 28, 2014

CLICK HERE to Watch

HERE IS ST LOUIS II

Nate K. Johnson ABR,CRS,GRI Broker/Owner Real Estate Solutions nate@livingstl.com www.livingstl.com

I hope that you are doing well. You may have noticed that the Summer weather has arrived just in time for Fall in St. Louis. Yes, we will miss August, but the promise of Sweaters in September may not be far off. Hopefully, you can join me in getting out toÂ enjoy some great events in St. Louis over the next couple of weeks.

continued pg 36.

pg.

www.the-arts-today.com www.the-today.com

Volume 1.7 August 28, 2014

LIVE WORK PLAY

If you are looking for something to do this weekend, you can head over to The St. Louis Zoo for Jungle Boogie, this will be the last of the Zoo’s free concert series for the year. Or, you can join me down on Laclede’s Landing at the Big Muddy Blues Festival. Entry is free for Friday’s show, and the party goes on all weekend! On Saturday afternoon, you might want to enjoy a peaceful afternoon at the Japanese Festival at the Missouri Botanical Gardens. The Art Fair in Queeny Park is also taking place all Labor Day weekend. I haven’t had a chance to see the Facets of Three Jewels: Tibetan Buddhist Art at The St. Louis Art Museum. Perhaps this will be a great weekend to check it out. Let me know if you want to join me. On the 2nd of September, Twilight Tuesdays at the Missouri History Museum is back! Join me all month long for the free concerts every Tuesday in September. On the 4th, you may consider the Great American Trailer Park Musical, which promises to provide plenty of laughs. Also on the 4th, you can kick off three nights of original dance works at Washington University’s Dance Close Up. Alternatively, you might consider Art Outside , a three day juried alternative art fair featuring over 50 artists and live music at Schlafly Bottleworks in Maplewood. On the 5th, you can check out at least three different art gallery exhibit openings! The

Contemporary Art Museum launches the opening of it’s fall exhibitions, including Mel Chin: Rematch , and Mark Flood :Another Painting . The SOHA Studio+Gallery has it’s opening night reception for Peter Manion’s All the Art on the Floor. The 10th Street Gallery is hosting an opening reception for Kevin Cole: Living Off the Wall, a collection of mixed media, three dimensional structures. Also on Friday, you can check out a free concert at Boogie on The Boulevard, across the street from The Galleria. Of course we can’t forget to check out the St. Louis Art Fair, in Clayton all weekend long. If you are looking for more live music, Loufest will have plenty all day on Saturday, starting at noon with one of my favorite’s Big Brother Thunder and the Masterblasters, and wrapping up with the Arctic Monkeys at 8pm. On Sunday , Ume kicks off the music and noon and Outkast hits the main stage at 8pm! Also on Saturday, you can join me for some great food, music and art the Brasil Day St. Louis street festival in Benton Park. On Tuesday, the 9th, join me for a free concert by the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, in Forest Park. Enjoy the offerings of the food trucks, or bring your own picnic! Speaking of food trucks, Food Truck Friday will be upon us on the 12th, in Tower Grove Park. On Saturday, the 13th, and Sunday, you can join me in Forest Park to celebrate dance, food, and music from all over the world at the first annual St. pg.

Louis World’s Fare. You’ll find me at this party all weekend long! For a family fun event Wonders Of Wildlife (WOW) St. Louis offers the chance to camp out in Forest Park and discover many outdoor skills Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 13-14. Later in the month, be on the lookout for The Great Forest Park Balloon Race on the 19th, the Greater St. Louis Hispanic Festival on the 26th28th and St. Louis Fashion Week, September 26 – October 18! -Nate

www.the-arts-today.com

Volume 1.7 August 28, 2014

Ripping the Silks Short story by LaVelle Wilkins-Chinn

ur well nurtured naiveté began to disintegrate like a mothfeasted upon old cloak, worn during an infinite atmosphere of dangerous seasons. Sienna, Roland and I—pinned down were unraveling. We were coming back from further south, back from visiting family that viciously hot summer of 1964 with no air conditioning in the car, all the windows down, the brisk, harsh wind blowing our faces into Silly Putty and draining our spirit of vacation fun into vexation. Our parents seemed oblivious and were drunk with gratification, steeped satisfyingly so in bloodkindred, weekend bonding in between sips of corn liquor. Our crowded 1959 Ford Fairlane Country Sedan station wagon rolled fifty miles per hour down old Highway #3, burdened so low to the ground, as we rollover road bumps, the car’s shocks whine and squeak in agony. My brother Roland and I sat on the flipup seat at the very back with our cousin Sienna, torturing each other with pinches, punches, toe stomping each other’s feet— anything to break-up our stupor. Roland recently had reached five years-old, Sienna is six and half and I’m the oldest at seven. Exasperated from watching the perpetual yellow-dash dividing line of the two-lane highway out the back window, occasionally passing a solitary cow, horse or pig among the continual blur of small farms, we’re fiercely impatient from sitting for stretches of three to four-hours. Daddy was driving and Uncle Brother sat up front with him passing a fifth of Wild Turkey between them, then carefully over the back seat to Uncle Nate. The homebrew corn liquor was secure in a special box in the storage area along with luggage, a huge watermelon, fresh string-beans, snap peas and medium sized green tomatoes picked from Aunt Lula’s garden. Compact in the big aluminum Coleman ice chest cold bottles of beer and soda were sitting on top of ice and string-bundled perch fishes caught in Uncle Jerry’s scummy frog pond. Uncle Brother’s wife Irma, and Lovie, Uncle Nate’s girlfriend, sat close to him in the middle seat with Mama sitting directly behind Daddy gossiping and laughing about the goings-on the past two days, interrupted every fifteen minutes or so by Mama or Aunt Irma turning around to bop Roland, Sienna or me on the head and telling us to behave. Frequent trips down old Highway #3, passing small towns, shabby gas stations, dinky trucker diners, stopping at only a couple of places on the 350 mile trip, was as morose to my brother, cousin and me as listening to country music on the radio. The only highlight for us was stopping at the What-a-Burger in Cairo,

Illinois. Everybody liked the big, greasy hamburgers served at the window. An hour after gorging on huge burgers, fries and milkshakes, and getting irritably sleepy, we kids swerve around curves and yawn, passing acres and acres of a bounteous corn field, when out of the blue Mama says with a peculiar exuberance to no one in particular that she wants to pick ears of corn, an epiphenomenon to me—she’s tipsy. She rarely participates in gregarious libations with cousins, uncles and aunts at home, the exception is on these little weekend visitations out of town. After just a couple of swallows of any mild intoxicant she becomes ridiculously swishy. When Mama intones her frivolous desire Sienna, Roland and I tense and turn facing the middle seat in a panic. Holding our breath, we exude streams of sweat. We desperately want to get home and out of that hot, stifling car and I really hoped my Daddy would say he wasn’t going to stop but he was in a good 115%-proof mood and pulls the car over to the gravelly side of the road, the front end of the car pointed down towards a ditch. “Just a lil’ maaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiiizzzzzzzzzzzzze! Yeeeeeessssssss sirrrrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeeeeee!” Mama trills and climbs over the laps of Aunt Irma, Uncle Nate and Lovie. She butts the creaky-rusted passenger door until it groans, budges open and rolls out of the car. “Corn, corn, corn! Beeeee-uuu-tiiii-fuuulll ears of corn!” We all stare out the window as she leaps over the ditch in jubilant, arced exaltation. Her floppy ponytail pulled up thickly into a barrette at the very top of her head, bobs and flings as she dances like a fairy in her light blue, seersucker sundress billowing out as she twirls around bushes, giddy and sprints towards the field, disappearing into the maize. We three kids, now completely astonished, turn back pleading (Roland and Sienna), judgmental (me) damning (me), focus toward the five remaining adults. To our profound disappointment, they also exit the car, casually strolling down the ditch to a clump of bushes, trees and eventually over to the field. Daddy walks to the back of the car and pulls down the hatch-door. “You might as well get out, stretch your legs and get some air. This may take a lil’ while,” he says. It is the first time I recall I ever considered striking an adult. Any adult. I hop out of the car pg.

and stomp down the ditch, determined to find and bring back to her sober, logical senses this slippery, soused woman who is my Mama, for God’s sake! The stalks stood ten feet tall, a golden-green prism above my head. Intricately patterned Monarch butterflies flutter over stalk stems in harmony with ladybugs, bees and hummingbirds that thrive in the tips of florets threading the bushes and trees surrounding the cornfield. Squatting, then down on all fours, I squint and crawl in the dirt rows and around the densely populated plants lined so exacting, searching for Mama’s bobbing, reddish-brown ponytail. It was what I imagined going on safari in a tropical jungle is like solely based on Saturday morning Tarzan movies. “MA-MA! MA-MA!” I yell over and over. After duck-walking like Chuck Berry until my legs ache, swatting at mosquitoes and swarms of gnats, I spot khaki shorts covering Roland’s narrow butt scooting down a row next to me. “Roland! Roe-roe! Sssssssssssss ppppppffffffffsssssssssssssttttt tt! Help me find Mama!” I command seizing a piece of khaki cloth. “No! Get away from me!” He escapes my grasp. Pressing down a tunnel mold of stalks as he scurries and rolls away, I flush in that direction on my hands and knees. Sienna’s blue U.S. Keds step out on my hand. “Hey, stupid! Watch where you’re going!” I slap her spindly legs and stand up. She runs down another row and I chase after her, switching to another row where ever I glimpse her yellow T-shirt. “Sienna and Martine! Sienna? Martine? Get Roland and go wait out by the car! You hear me, Martine?” Aunt Alma’s wind-chime voice drifts out. I couldn’t see her and turn around in circles. “Yes, Ma’am!” I answer and wait for the tinkly, high musical notes of hers but she doesn’t respond. “Aunt Ir-maaa? Is Mama over there?” I ask in childish sing-song. She doesn’t reply. I kneel down, peeking through the stalks. I can see blue U.S. Keds scuttle down another row. “You can’t catch me!” Sienna dares. After strenuous hunting and dive-dashing, flushing right, left, trying to cut Sienna’s path, I’m thoroughly covered in itchy, siltdust, various squashed insects are smeared into my favorite pink T-shirt and, I don’t hear anyone, the grown-ups nor Sienna and Roland. The intermittent spurts of Uncle Nate’s bubbly belly laughs, deep rumble of Uncle Brother’s growls, Aunt Irma’s wind chimes and Lovie’s chirp-like giggles have been replaced with the constant buzz-hum of cicadas. “Siiiii-eeeeeeeeeeennnnnnn-naaaaaaaa! Siiiiiiii-eeeennnnnnaaaa? ROOO-LAND! I know you hear me, Roland! Sienna? Roe-roe?” I call over what I estimate is a long period and no one answers. Now anguished and queasy, I wander around avoiding the inevitability that I’m lost. I reach up and grab an ear of corn from the closest stalk, sitting down in the cool soil. It was the biggest ear of corn I’d ever seen, more than twelve inches. I grasp the top of the husk, stripping the leafy green down. Pulling at the multitude of silks woven in between the tight, compressed kernels, I breathe in deeply and blow out long breaths of hot air. Blooming despair resolve into silent tears, then weeping—then sobbing. My sinus’ clog and snotty slobber and tears mix together and streak down my grimy face. The tearing, ripping of the silks release taunt Copyright © 2014 - All rights reserved.

knots in my chest and my throat erupts in pitiful bleating. I scrape my dirty fingernails over the tender, pale yellow kernels and pop them into my mouth. They were surprisingly sweet mixed with my big, salty teardrops. *

I open my eyes in the dark, disoriented, lying on my stomach. Rolling over on my back, moonlight beams beyond the stalks. The stars glitter in a navy-blue, velvet sky. I yawn, stretch and wipe the crust from my eyes. A few seconds of gazing at the fantastical view is slowly eclipsed by a gargantuan, hairy head. This is just a bad dream, I think. I’m use to nightmares. I know if I don’t make a sound the monster will think I am dead and go away and I’ll wakeup. I press shut my eyes pretending I’m dead until the monster says, “Git-up, gal. Yah’ people been lookin’ fer yah’ fer ovah a ‘our.” I sat up, sharply concentrating and widening my eyes as the monster lumbers farther out in moonlight creating a surreal silhouette. It was a white man. A grizzly, beer-bellied white man with long, stringy white hair, wearing grungy, knee-shredded overalls. I blink, certain color drained from my face. “Heah! She’s ovah heah,” the man hollers as he shuffles down the row. Timid, I stand as he turns towards me. “Come on,” he says. “I’ll take yah’ to yer cah.” I didn’t move. Stark images from our black and white television of black people, little kids, skinny teenagers, men and women catapulted and sprawled down streets by canon-forced water hoses, or mean-looking white boys and girls spitting and cursing, burly policemen with bullhorns and fierce German shepherd dogs sicced on and biting, flush and pierce imprints in my mind. He was kind of short and with his big belly weighing him down, I believed I could out run him. “Come on, now! What yah’ standin’ thar’ fer?” He reaches out to yank my arm, pulling me as I yell, “NOOOOOOOOO! MAMA! MAMA! DADDY! DAD-DYYY!” Screeching to the top of my lungs, I kick him hard in the shins and run the opposite direction down the row. Waves of thrashing from the stalks ahead startle me to an abrupt pause and they part like curtains. Another white man, over six feet in height, a spit-and-polished police officer with a barrel chest, and a giant, elongated gait blocks the row. I squeal and back-pedal, my lungs squeezed to nearly burst. “Stop that screaming,” the police officer demands pulling me by my t-shirt towards him. I bite his hand, kick and scratch at any exposed skin. “Little girl, I’m not gonna’ hurt you. Now you stop that fightin’ right now, this very minute! DO YOU UNDERSTAND?” Vigorously shaking me, the giant grabs me around the waist, picks me up and throws me over his shoulder like a sack of cotton. I lay limp crying and jostling on his shoulder as he bounces down the row. The hairy monster, now gimpy trails behind us. When the police officer sits me down by the ditch where Roland and Sienna are facing the side of the car I’m so relieved, a few seconds pass before I notice that Daddy, Uncle Brother and Uncle Nate are standing in front of the car in handcuffs. Aunt Irma and Lovie stand nearby. A police cruiser faces our car with the headlights on and the big top siren light flashes red and blue across our faces. Another police officer, apparently more brass because he had on a white shirt with a gold badge, was talking to Daddy. Mama was standing next to Daddy trying to explain something, but the officer completely ignored her. The hairy monster moves up beside the man in charge along with cont. pg. 41 Volume 1.7 August 28, 2014 www.the-arts-today.com

Essayist and Pop-Culture guru

Roxane Gay debuts new collection of essays

Left Bank Books presents author Roxane Gay, who will sign and discuss her essay collection, Bad Feminist (Harper Perennial, August 2014), on Friday, August 29, 7pm, at Left Bank Books (399 N. Euclid). In these funny and insightful essays, Roxane Gay takes us through the journey of her evolution as a woman (Sweet Valley High) of color (The Help) while also taking readers on a ride through culture of the last few years (Girls) and commenting on the state of feminism today (abortion, Chris Brown). The portrait that emerges is not only one of an incredibly insightful woman continually growing to understand herself and our society, but also one of our culture. Bad Feminist is a sharp, funny, and spot-on look at the ways in which the culture we consume becomes who we are, and an inspiring call-to-arms of all the ways we still need to do better. A starred review from Publishers Weekly calls Bad Feminist a “trenchant collection...Whatever her topic, Gay’s provocative essays stand out for their bravery, wit, and emotional honesty.” Book Riot says, “Pre-order it, put it on the library hold list, whatever. Just get ready to read it and quote it and share it and be challenged by it,” while Library Journal claims, “Smart readers cannot afford to miss these essays.” Roxane Gay’s writing has appeared or is forthcoming in Best American Mystery Stories 2014, Best American Short Stories 2012, Best Sex Writing 2012, A Public Space, McSweeney’s, Tin House, Oxford American, The New York Times Book Review, Time, The Nation, The Rumpus, Salon, and many others. She is the co-editor of PANK. She is also the author of the books Ayiti, An Untamed State, and Hunger, forthcoming from Harper in 2016. Roxane Gay will read from Bad Feminist, answer questions, and sign books. This event is free and open to the public. Books for signing are available from Left Bank Books in advance or at the event. For more information, call 314.367.6731 or visit left-bank. com.

Left Bank Books 399 North Euclid St Louis, MO 63108

pg.

Ripping The Silks cont.

the tall officer. Minutes later all the white men turn and walk further away toward an old truck parked down the road. “What are they doing? Why’s Daddy and Uncle Brother and Uncle Nate in handcuffs?” I whisper in a rush to Sienna. She shrugs, “I don’t know. I think that farmer called the po-lice on them,” she mumbles. “WHAT? Are they taking us to JAIL? We can’t go to jail……. noooo! Man! I wannaaa goooooo hoommme,” Roland whines. I stand and go over to the side of the car where Aunt Irma and Lovie are waiting. Lovie’s so jittery she trembles and the cigarettes she’s smoking repeatedly drops to the ground. “Aunt Ir-ma, are we going to jail?” I ask incredulously. “No, no,” she says quickly. “You, Sienna and Roland get in the car. Sienna? Roland come get in the car! Right now!” I could tell she’s really nervous, too. Her voice stretched as tight as violin strings. We climb in the car sitting in the middle seat when Mama comes back to the car leaning into the window. “Be still and don’t get out of this car or make any noise,” she hisses. I look at her face. She’s a pretty wreck. Her ponytail is askew, her irises are as wide as egg yolks, but she doesn’t seem tipsy anymore. I look out the front window at Daddy’s back, his shirt sweated thoroughly down his spine, his head is down as the brass officer aggressively walks back to the car barking at him. My stomach quivers and I feel my chest knotting up. Television images of black people beat down with clubs, blood gushing like geysers from their heads and bodies assault me and I want to throw up. I turn to Mama, “Is Daddy going to jail?” She stares at me with uncertainty for few seconds before shaking her head “no”, going back to the front of the car.

“Yeah.” “Yeah what?” “Yes, ma’am.” “Yes, ma’am WHAT?” “Nothing.” It was a magical slap so finely executed I never saw her hand move. My cheek stinging, I look up into Mama’s smoldering eyes. Pointedly I say, “You. almost. got. us. KILLED!” Shock rips the yellow like silk. Seconds pass then she slaps me again, really hard, spinning me out of the swing set. I refused to cry. “Go to your room, NOW!” she hollers. I stumble, then gain footing, walk away, briefly looking back over my shoulder. ***** © June 2014

The tall police officer walks up to Daddy with a bunch of papers, asking lots of questions. I can’t hear what they’re saying, but Daddy nods again and again. The hairy monster stands by listening, his ruddy face in a smirk. The tall police officer hands him the papers and the monster signs. The tall police officer removes the handcuffs from Daddy, Uncle Brother and Uncle Nate. Mama says something to the big brass, but he just glares in her direction after he signs the papers and walks away. On the way home nobody talks. Days go by and my replies to Mama’s instructions are monosyllabic. For a week, she tolerates my muteness. Then on a day I’m sitting in the backyard swing set, she asks, “What’s wrong with you? Why are you acting like a dunce?” I stare at my bare toes. I hadn’t looked her in the eye since the incident. “”LOOK AT ME!” She demands. “What is your problem, Martine?” I don’t say anything, looking towards a spot just beyond her shoulder. “I’m warning you! You better snap out of it? You hear me?” Copyright © 2014 - All rights reserved.

www.the-arts-today.com

Volume 1.7 August 28, 2014

Do you know a teacher who promotes the love of learning? Someone who is exciting, engaging and effective in the classroom? Maybe you are a student or parent or even a peer who knows a teacher who always go the extra mile to make learning meaningful, interesting and enjoyable. If so, nominate that teacher for a chance to win $1,000 through MindSpark Partner’s Exceptional Educator contest. MindSpark is an online parent/teacher exchange of educational resources that assist in preparing students for the workplace. When a teacher is nominated they will receive an invitation to submit their exceptional and original teaching resources to MindSpark Partner. The winning teacher will win $1,000. And, the person who nominated them will win $100! Help us recognize Exceptional Educators. It is simple to nominate!

Just visit our site at http://contest.mindsparkpartners.com/contest

ENGAGE EMPOWER EDUCATE FACT: College is possible through the UMSL Bridge Program The award winning UMSL Bridge Program continues to provide unique and comprehensive college preparation services to students and families in the St. Louis community. Come and be a part of the 100% college attending track record of participating high school students transitioning to college successfully through the UMSL Bridge Program! Saturday Academy Participation Requirements Must be in grades 9th - 12th Cumulative GPA of 2.5 or higher Enrolled in or have completed Algebra Enrolled in a St. Louis metropolitan area high school

SATURDAY ACADEMY Class Dates: 1st and 2nd Saturday of the month from October through March Class Time: 8:00 am - 12:00 pm APPLICATION DEADLINE August 29, 2014

To apply visit our website: http://www.umsl.edu/precollegiate For additional information please contact us: Main Office Phone: (314) 516-5196 Email: precollegiate@umsl.edu

pg.

R A T S L L A MOTORS , INC. Abs - 4-Wheel, Adjustable

2007 Chevy Silverado

Air, AM/FM Radio w/CD Player, Cruise

Read Headrests, Alternator -

2-Stage Unlocking

Control, Power Door Locks, Power

120 Amps, Antenna Type -

Remote, 4wd Type -

Steering, Tilt Steering Wheel

Mast, Front Airbags - Dual,

On Demand, Abs - 4

for more info visit us online

Front Brake Diameter - 11.5

Wheel, Adjustable

for more info visit us online

2008 Jeep Patriot

2011 Hyundai Elantra GLS

100 VEHICLES FOR SALE

OVER KEVIN TAYLOR (314) 427-6550 office (314) 698-8291 cell (314) 423-9133 fax sales@allstarmotorsinc.com kevin.taylor.sales@gmail.com

WE SELL VEHICLES FOR CASH. PRICES ARE NEGOTIABLE. 9201 ST. CHARLES ROCK RD. \ ST. LOUIS, MO. 63114

MAKE ME AN OFFER. www.Allstarmotorsinc.com

www.the-arts-today.com

Volume 1.7 August 28, 2014

Art of Healing

100 Black Men 12th Annual

Prostate Cancer RUN/WALK

As a child, I was always taught that every human being is endowed with a special gift from the creator that can be used to touch the lives of those who are suffering and in pain. It’s up to each individual to discover their own gift by reaching deep inside of their human make-up and finding the favored gift they have been given by the creator. Many of our missions in life have been discovered from the pains of this life. At times, it’s through our pains that we discover our mission, purpose, passion and the gifts needed for us to move forward with our lives in a positive and productive manner.I recognized through my promise and covenant that I made to God, and through my pains of fighting prostate cancer, that I was given a gift that became my true mission and passion in life. It helped me to move forward by helping and serving mankind.It has become my healing, and now my gift is to reach out and touch the lives of those victimized by prostate cancer with a message of hope and love. This brings tomind a song by one of my favorite singers, Diana Ross, “The Best Years of My Life.” The song is a profound statement about the power of love.Love is a special gift that cannot be purchased, but it can help heal the human spirit. When someone receives a cancer diagnosis or is confronted with life’s problems, an ounce of help and love is better than a pound of preaching. Giving back and sharing is the greatest feeling in the world as a servant and helper to the human family.Yes, I understand the power of healing through love. Yes, love can hurt at times, but love can also heal the body, mind and spirit. As we look over our lives, only love cancalm the storms of life, and with love we will ride those storms to the end. Only strong love can bring this type of healing in the lives of those fighting a cancer illness or life’s problems.My seven years of serving my fellow man as a prostate cancer advocate has helped me to understand that I am living the best years of my life. It has given me life abundantly. I am sharing my gift from God with those who live in doubt, hopelessness and despair. It will help those victimized by this disease and their families to understand that they can be winners over cancer. pg.

Health Awareness Day

Photos by Serwa Tumpe

TEN Prostate Cancer Survivor for August Leonard Holloway, center, was honored August 9 as The Empowerment Network’s (TEN) Survivor of the Month for August during the 100 Black Men 12th annual Prostate Cancer Run/Walk Awareness Day at Harris Stowe State University. Holloway is flanked by, from left: TEN’s Isadore Wayne and Mellve Shahid Sr. (Photo by John Tyler)

www.the-arts-today.com

Volume 1.7 August 28, 2014

pg.

www.the-arts-today.com

Volume 1.7 August 28, 2014

Featured

Poetry

Submission

A Kwansaba of Remembrance for Jon Eckels (1929-2014) by Eugene B. Redmond For your pyramid of poems, “the free and will be” th/ankh you, o savant of cloth & sword. Wholly divine & holy worldly, you “street”-themed academe ntu conch-us-nest. On your soulo flight “home ... where the soul is,” rite bardic sermons for Amiri, Maya & the village. ******************************************

Winner of an American Book Award and one of the most original poets/thinkers of the Black Arts Movement & beyond, Eckels was born/raised/”schooled” in Indianapolis, Ind. Moving to Northern California in the early 60’s, he completed graduate degrees in Divinity (Pacific School of Religion) and English Literature (Stanford); was a teacher-activist at Mills and Merritt colleges in Oakland (where he contributed to the development of the “new” curriculum); pastored United Methodist Churches in California and New York; and published more than a dozen books including “Fire Sign” and “Our Business in the Streets.” The phrase “Western Syphilization” appeared in “Home Is Where the Soul Is” (Broadside Press, 69).

The Kwansaba:

Invented in a writers workshop (in East Saint Louis, Illinois in 1995), the kwansaba is a poetic form containing multiples of 7: 7 lines of 7 words each with no word possessing more than 7 letters. Exceptions to the 7-letter rule: proper nouns, quotations, foreign words, neologisms. Hundreds of examples of the kwansaba by poets like Shirley LeFlore, K. Curtis Lyle, Jerry Ward, Marie Celestin-Young, Lenard D. Moore, Michael Castro, Mary Weems, Sherman L. Fowler, Darlene Roy, Tony Medina, Jeffrey Skoblow, Mali Newman, L. Teresa Church and Van G. Garrett appear in past issues of Drumvoices Rev

pg.

For tickets and for more information visit www.theblackrep.org

Renowned Poet, Essayist, Activist, and Teacher

Jon Echols (1929-2014)

Mr. Eckels has written 14 volumes of poetry. His most recent, Sing When the Spirit Says Sing: Selected & New Poems 1960-1990 (1999), won an American Book Award in 2000 from the Before Columbus Foundation, and his Home Is Where the Soul Is (1969), published by the influential Broadside Press, is considered one of the seminal works of the Black Arts Movement. After completing his MDiv, in 1966, at the Pacific School of Religion, Eckels earned a master’s degree in literature from Stanford University. He served as an instructor of English, American literature, poetry, and creative writing at Mills College and Merritt College in Oakland, CA. (where he contributed to the development of the “new” curriculum); pastored United Methodist Churches in California and New York; and published more than a dozen books including Fire Sign and Our Business in the Streets. The phrase “Western Syphilization” appeared in “Home Is Where the Soul Is” (Broadside Press, 69). An ordained minister in the United Methodist Church (UMC), Eckels pastored UMC churches in California and New York. Eckels has been a human rights activist since the 1960s and has spoken and read around the nation and the world.

www.the-arts-today.com

Volume 1.7 August 28, 2014

Featured

Artist

pg.

Submission

John Jennings One of the biggest stories in comics and pop culture over the summer was from Marvel Comics showing their efforts in creating diverse characters. Much to a lot of fans dismay, they made Thor a woman and Captain America a black man. Sam Wilson aka The Falcon is now officially Captain America. While working today through my anger at the Ferguson, MO story which is still unfoldingâ&#x20AC;ŚI wondered what Sam would do if he were a real person. So, I did this image to deal with the madness. No one is safe.

By John Jennings Associate Professor Visual Studies SUNY Buffalo tumblr: http://jijennin70.tumblr.com/ Volume 1.7 August 28, 2014 www.the-arts-today.com

pg.

RELIA focus

John Jennings centers his life on provocative questions: How can we show the work of underrepresented artists, especially those who do comics? How can we go beyond the racial stereotypes of traditional comic art to show the rich expression of black artists, past and present? And how can we help UB students see that creating art is a possibility for them, to recognize that “art is everywhere” and acquire what Jennings calls “visual literacy?” - Read More

And more:

www.the-arts-today.com

Volume 1.7 August 28, 2014

Featured

Photographer

Submission

Creative Thinking Photography

Thrive FASHION SHOW

Creative Thinking Photography “Creatively Capturing,Thinkable Moments” Creativethinkingphotography.com Phone: 314-499-0941 Email: Creative.Thinking.Pm@gmail.com IG: Creative_Thinking_Photography FB: Creative Thinking Photography pg.

www.the-arts-today.com

Volume 1.7 August 28, 2014

pg.

www.the-arts-today.com

Volume 1.7 August 28, 2014

OPPORTUNITIES

pg.

www.the-arts-today.com

Volume 1.7 August 28, 2014

The gift of and service

love

As a child, I was always taught that every human being is endowed with a special gift from the creator that can be used to touch the lives of those who are suffering and in pain. It’s up to each individual to discover their own gift by reaching deep inside of their human make-up and finding the favored gift they have been given by the creator. Many of our missions in life have been discovered from the pains of this life. At times, it’s through our pains that we discover our mission, purpose, passion and the gifts needed for us to move forward with our lives in a positive and productive manner. I recognized through my promise and covenant that I made to God, and through my pains of fighting prostate cancer, that I was given a gift that became my true mission and passion in life. It helped me to move forward by helping and serving mankind. It has become my healing, and now my gift is to reach out and touch the lives of those victimized by prostate cancer with a message of hope and love. This brings to mind a song by one of my favorite singers, Diana Ross, “The Best Years of My Life.” The song is a profound statement about the power of love. Love is a special gift that cannot be purchased, but it can help heal the human spirit. When someone receives a cancer diagnosis or is confronted with life’s problems, an ounce of help and love is better than a pound of preaching. Giving back and sharing is the greatest feeling in the world as a servant and helper to the human family. Yes, I understand the power of healing through love. Yes, love can hurt at times, but love can also heal the body, mind and spirit. As we look over our lives, only love can calm the storms of life, and with love we will ride those storms to the end. Only strong love can bring this type of healing in the lives of those fighting a cancer illness or life’s problems. My seven years of serving my fellow man as a prostate cancer advocate has helped me to understand that I am living the best years of my life. It has given me life abundantly. I am sharing my gift from God with those who live in doubt, hopelessness and despair. It will help those victimized by this disease and their families to understand that they can be winners over cancer.

pg.

By Mellve Shahid Sr. President/Founder The Empowerment Network

I read a quote once that said,

“When God has selected you, it doesn’t matter who else has rejected or neglected you.” Cancer survivors, your best years are ahead of you, so continue to fight back. When was the last time you showed appreciation and said, “Thank you, God” for the best years of your life and for the gift of life, even as you fight cancer? Our prostate cancer support group is helping to remove the shame, fear and stigma that comes with a cancer diagnosis. I often remind newly diagnosed cancer survivors that the best years of our lives are now ahead of us, with no looking back to the pains caused by cancer. Survivors, share your stories about the gifts that you have been given and help someone with a new cancer diagnosis understand that this is not the end of life, but a new beginning. Share your gift with men in the community and encourage them to get a PSA test. It could save their lives.

Mellve Shahid Sr. is founder & CEO of The Empowerment Network. He hosts “The Empowerment Network Health Radio Show” 5-6 p.m. Sundays on WGNU 920 AM and www.wgnu920am.com.

www.the-arts-today.com

Volume 1.7 August 28, 2014

HEALTH ■ MIND ■ BODY ■ SPIRIT ■ CULTURE ■ BONDING

Girls Holla Back!

**Orientation & Health Fair:** **August 2nd from 10:30am - 3pm** Workshop Dates: August 6, 7, 13, 14, 20, 21, 27, 28

September 3, 4, 10, 11, 17, 18, 24, 25 Workshop Times: 5:30 - 8:30pm (all sessions)

Location:

Girls Holla Back! Registration Mailing Form August-September 2014 (Please Print Clearly)

Date:____________________

Name of Female Youth:_______________________________________________________ Age:_____________

Name of Female Parent (Guardian):_______________________________________________________________

Address: ___________________________________ City:________________ State:_______ Zip:______________

**You may also register online by visiting www.GirlsHollaBack.org** pg.

NEAR SOUTHSIDE EMPLOYMENT COALITION Employment & Training Services NSEC

2649 Pestalozzi St. Louis, MO 63118 Phone: 314-865-4453 Fax: 314-865-5480 Email: oward@nsecworks.org

Urban Male Employment & Entrepreneur Program This program will train young urban males, ages 18-25, in basic carpentry and other construction related skills, as well as the skill sets necessary to start their own business. Professionals from the construction trades and employment industry will conduct the 10 weeks of training.

Applications for the program are being accepted:

August 13 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; September 30, 2014 *This program is funded by a grant from the United Way of Greater St. Louis

www.the-arts-today.com

Volume 1.7 August 28, 2014

WAT Gettin’ Mo

Storm Chaser ORCHESTRA feat.

The

pg.

Featured

Musician

Submission

TL Williams will be the entertainment at the

Infinite Scholars Program

Award Reception to be held Friday, September 5, 2014.

Location: Brookes Bible College 10257 St. Charles Rock Road St. Ann, MO 63074

TCH Money

Debu t Life I Album: n You r Mi Ava ilab d 20â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s le

Time:

7:00p.m. to 10:00p.m.

Attire:

After Five

Cost:

$25 dollars

Tickets can be purchase at Brookes Bible College, and Infinite Scholars Program Office 314.499.6997

NOW

For more information contact AnQor Media Group @ 312.884.1569 or info@anqormediagroup.com -T. L. Williams www.whoistlwilliams.com Debut Album: Life In Your Mid 20's available Now! Facebook.com/tlwilliamsmusic @T_L_Williams thetlwilliamschannel @tlwilliamsofficial

www.whoistlwilliams.com

Brookes Bible College

Outback Steak House

Radio - One

www.the-arts-today.com

Volume 1.7 August 28, 2014

pg.

www.the-arts-today.com

Volume 1.7 August 28, 2014

10 Street Gallery TH

announces the opening of

Kevin Cole: “Living Off the Wall” Friday,

September 5, 2014 6pm - 9pm Artist / Educator KEVIN COLE

Art Collec

“LIVING OFF THE WALL” Exhibition “Art of mixed media, three dimensional structures. “The necktie has chronicled the rise in status and stature of people all around Opening Reception Saint Lo the world, their struggles for basic human rights and their triumph against long odds.” Artist Cole stated, “My grandfather told me that African-Americans were lynched byGallery, their neckties on6pm their way to vote. That left a profound impression on 10th Street Saturda me.” Join us on Friday, September 5, 2014

10th Street Gallery presents international Artist/Educator, Kevin Cole, “Living Off the Wall”, a collection of

10th10th Street Street Gallery | Gallery 419 N. 10th Street | 314.436.1806 Louis, MO 63101 presents international| St. Artist/Educator,

Kevin Cole, “Living Off the Wall”, a collection of mixed pg. 70 media, three dimensional structures. “The necktie has

at the Sai lecting” wi artist Kevin

What does Basketball and Art have in common?

COLE

Art Collector / NBA Coach DARRELL WALKER

Join us for

“Art of Collecting: Passing the Passion”

NBA players from Bill Russell to Grant Hill to Darrell Walker have been in the forefront of collecting art by African American artists. Join us September 6 to see and hear more about NBA players’ passion for collecting art and specifically about the phenomenal collection of Darrell Walker. Selections of Mr. and Mrs. Walker’s collection are featured in the book African American Voices, the cover of which features the work of international artist and educator Kevin Cole.

Saturday, September 6, 2014 10:00 AM Saint Louis Art Museum, Education Space

FREE Exhibition

Art Collector / NBA Coach

Darrell Walker

“Art of Collecting” Lecture Saint Louis Art Museum, 10:30 am Saturday, September 6, 2014

w w w. s l a m . Join o r usg on

Saturday, September 6 at 10:30 am at the Saint Louis Art Museum for “Art of Colonal Artist/Educator, One Fine Arts Drive - Forest Park, St.lecting” Louis, MO 63110-1380 with Darrell Walker and featured guest a collection of mixed 314.721.0072 artist Kevin Cole. Selections from the collection of “The necktie has Mr. and Mrs. Darrell Walker are featured in the ature of people all African American Voices,www.the-arts-today.com the cover of which Copyright © 2014 - All book rights reserved. basic human rights features the work of international artist and edu-

Volume 1.7 August 28, 2014

AAA Insurance Sales The Road to Success Starts Here

WE’RE HIRING! If you or someone you know is interested in learning more about our AAA Insurance Sales Agent opportunities, apply online at AAA.com/careers or call Insurance Business Manager Chris Raymond at (314) 862-8021 ext. 103

AAA offers the following: ✓ Pension plan and employer-matched 401(k) ✓ Forgivable draw plus commission ✓ Rewarding career advancement opportunities ✓ Excellent benefits package ✓ Paid sick/vacation and holidays

pg.

The POETRY of Jeffrey Skoblow

The Rest We Never Know Go Outside Para Neruda / For Neruda Obra / The Work Nuestro día / Our Day fond totem simple story Eating an Apple, Reading a Book Bonsai Farmer

www.the-arts-today.com

Volume 1.7 August 28, 2014

The Rest We Never Know Inky brother Calamar fluke and tube and beak I follow you under the rock of night and take you in my hands holding you to the wind. I’d be sorry if I thought you didn’t understand. But when I slept I saw our greatest grandfathers weathering uncountable storms and stone lips speaking curling as waves wrapped in salt describing the wind And when I woke I felt my foot slip in the mud. I heard you then and came to you.

Go Outside Bad moons fallen and slung utility-wise and one screaming blast from a hole some poor itching body’s albatross in the night—that’s all I can see from here a fantastic arrangement but not mine Up above the moon of the earth is full tonight by invisible sunlight impossibly white bright measure of its freakish world—a sky lavender with flesh tones In every direction the shadows of the hour die confused on edge and plane—I would bury them praising them outside even memory

Para Neruda La gata pequeña camina por mi cara en la noche sin sonido, como un sueño de otra vida en la piel. Duermo en la cama, en el cuerpo con el movimiento extraño de mi propio corazón. For Neruda

The small cat walks across my face at night silently, like a dream of some other life in my skin. I’m asleep in bed, in my body with the strange movement of my own heart.

Obra Piensas que estrofas son como pedazos pequeños de cáscara que sobreviven la carne y dicen el cuento de la vida que vivió Pero quiero que sean mis estrofas como piedras que cultivan el pelo y uñas también—lentamente duras y vivas ellas mismas escondidas en alguna parte del campo de tu propia vida—esperando ojos, dedos y pulmones —tuyos The Work

You think that poems are like little pieces of shell that survive the flesh and tell the tale of the life that it lived

But I want my poems to be like rocks that grow hair and nails too—slowly hard and alive themselves

hidden somewhere in the field of your own life—waiting for eyes, fingers, lungs —yours pg.

simple story

Nuestro día El mundo donde vivimos estaba mojado. Fuimos para encontrarnos con algunos amigos para hablar la lengua que queremos aprender, afuera entre las cosas verdes— pero no vinieron. Entonces caminábamos solos nosotros dos y los pájaros nos hablaban. Our Day The world where we live was wet. We went to meet up with some friends to speak the language that we love learning, out there among the green things— but they didn’t show up. So we walked around alone us two and the birds spoke to us.

fond totem in the dream there is an elephant at the funky far end of a dock too short and narrow for any boat upon a pond or smallish lake in the distance nearly fringed with stands of trees and I’m there also in the dream on the dock prone in the middle in a posture of desperation without the appearance of desperation hanging on as the creature big and grey in normalcy jumps again somehow rising from the boards and in silence coming down again and again looking always over her left shoulder in warm recognition at me rising each time she falls on the undulating ribbon the wooden structure is jerked into becoming and this is a happy dream of enormous comfort though not ease Copyright © 2014 - All rights reserved.

Bonsai Farmer

earlier in the garden thrashing quietly on the topsoil one wasp subduing two moths one perhaps already dead motionless stuck to its abdomen the other flurries of flapping too rapid for precise sight in the wasp’s frontal grip all I suppose for its nesting babies

Take one with more than an eye

I didn’t see how it all came out

Not to cripple it but to the Contrary .

This has nothing to do with failure

they had more time than I did

It has to do with something else

Bend it and bind it and Eating an Apple, Reading a Book Mommy go. She went to do the mulch. Why. Well, because it was time. Why. The bucket was full. Why. Why was the bucket full. Because we’ve been eating lots of fruit and vegetables. Why. Because it’s springtime and summertime. Why. Why, because the earth spins on a tilt as it spins around the sun. Why. Why. I guess it all goes back to the Big Bang. Why. That’s how matter formed. Why. It has something to do with strange forces I think. Why. Why does it have something to do with strange forces. I’m not sure. Why. I just don’t know about that. Mommy go. She went out to do the mulch. Oh.

cut it and leave it alone

without boundaries nothing . Go ahead now wait now go ahead

Not simply small

Form potted sun earth watered root leaf trunk hands

Not simply small

There is not quite nothing to it

www.the-arts-today.com

Volume 1.7 August 28, 2014

pg.

A big Thank You to our CONTRIBUTERS