Creative Zone Magazine
Summer Issue 2016 1
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Founders’ Note My father, Dwight D. Stevenson instilled in me the importance of a strong work ethic and going for my dreams. It was important that the first issue be dedicated to him because his spirit and drive is the very inspiration and force behind the magazine’s existence. He was the epitome of being a dream chaser. He believed that when you find your passion in life you have to work hard and put your all into it no matter what. My father’s passion was music. He lived and breathed music each and every day. He had the expected lifestyle: A job, a wife and children but music was his mistress. There isn’t a time that I don’t remember my dad singing around the house or sitting at a desk at home with headphones on with a pencil and pad writing songs. No matter where he was he was always creating.
The Creative Zone “To cultivate an atmosphere where creativity lives and flourishes through the artistic abilities of young people” In Loving Memory of Dwight D. Stevenson
Watching him chase his dreams despite all the obstacles he faced over the years gave me the confidence to believe in my own dreams and start chasing them as well. Now that I’m an adult I understand the lessons he taught me. I see obstacles as building blocks and failures as an opportunity to change my focus and be better. But most importantly I learned to keep dreaming and to never stop chasing.
Ayanna
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Founders’ Note
When I was in the second grade my class
Then the craziest thing happened. I picked
went to the school library. We were all al-
up a different dream and went after that one.
lowed to pick one book to read. It could be
Then I found something else that I liked and
any book of our choosing. I remember com-
I went after that too. I got to a place where I
ing across a book on the court system and
was like maybe I have to many dreams. How
was immediately interested in knowing more. is that possible? It wasn’t a big book. So my teacher was okay with me getting the book. I was so ex-
It's possible because every day is an oppor-
cited that I was allowed to check the book
tunity for a new dream and a new chase to
out. I took the book home and read it from
begin. Dreams are waiting for you and I to
cover to cover. It was an easy read but im-
chase them down and make them happen. I
pacted me enough to make me want to be-
may have started with one dream but now I
come a lawyer.
have many. I make sure to chase after them because I want to see them flourish in a
Growing up all I could ever think about, after grand way. You can't have to many dreams, this book, was becoming a lawyer. It was the you just have to be willing to chase them. ultimate dream for me. I would watch every
So...Dream big and chase hard.
court show I could catch. There used to actually be a television channel called Court TV. How awesome is that? My tv stayed on
Nique
that channel. I lived for law. I was so determined to be a lawyer. This was the only dream I knew. Then I grew up and went after my dream. While out there in the world, I found out that there are so many other things that I like.
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Contents
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CREATIVE SPOTLIGHT “More Than Just Cookies”
Shining the spotlight on people who are making a difference while working with young people INSPIRATIONAL FOCUS
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“Wake Up and Dream”
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ARTISTIC CORNER “Art & Kabobs”
Reaching the community through the arts ARTS ON THE GO “I Found My Muse”
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Fun and artistic event to participate in
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ARTISTIC CORNER “Dream Chaser” GET INVOLVED!!
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National youth program opportunities
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Creative Spotlight
More Than Just Cookies
Every year around February there is a craze happening. There’s a buzz in the air regarding the sale of a well-known treat. If you haven’t guessed by now we are talking about Girl Scout cookies. But there has to be more than just cookies happening for such a phenom as this. So we set out to find out more about the Girl Scouts. We recently sat down with a Girl Scout leader from Cornerstone Baptist Church in Brooklyn, NY, Mrs. Henetta F. Hamlett to ask a few questions and get a better understanding about Girl Scouts and her group in particular.
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H. Hamlett: Yes, we have grown. In our first year we had 9 girls we have grown to have 46 girls. CZ Magazine: Most people hear “Girl Scouts” and think cookies. There seems to be way more going on than cookies. What are some things that your group focuses on? H. Hamlett: The object of girl scouting on all of the levels is to have the girls take the lead, how much leadership they have depends on the level. The Daisies, require a little more guidance, a little more focus, a little more CZ Magazine: Were you once a girl scout? hands on. As they get older they take the lead in some things. Like with cookie sales: What a H. Hamlett: I was not a girl scout when I was younger. What I knew of it was from watching my Daisy would do if they were selling cookies, a parent or someone older would have to go with dad, Henry Fraley who was a scout master and them if they’re going door to door. But once my brother, Arnold Blackwell who was a boy that person knocks on the door, it’s up to the scout and then as parent with my own son, Vernell Hamlett who was a cub scout and then a boy Daisy to say “I’m selling cookies from Troop 2583. Would you like to buy some and how scout and presently, a Cub Scout Leader. many boxes would you like?” A parent would also help with cookies distribution and money CZ Magazine: What inspired you to become a collection. Now a girl scout who is much older would be expected to take more of a leaderGirl Scout leader? ship role in their cookie sales, distribution and H. Hamlett: The opportunity to join was finances. So even though cookie sales are imbrought to me by my friend who is more like portant. What the focus is responsibility, honmy sister and is our group’s coordinator, esty, confidence, and financial skills. Ms.Mamie McCoy and my niece Ms. Danika Fraley. I like what being a Girl Scout represented: teaching leadership skills, building confidence, independence and how to work in groups. It was something I wanted to be a part of. CZ Magazine: How many levels are there and which level do you work with? H. Hamlett: Well at Cornerstone right now we have Daisies, Brownies Grades 2-3, ages 7-9), Juniors which are Grades 4-5, ages 9-11, Cadettes which are Grades 6-8, ages 11-14. This is our fourth year and for the first time we have girls that are going to be Seniors, which are Grades 9 - 10, ages 14-16. My co-leader, Mrs. Precious Overton-Adkins and I work with the Daisies (Grades K – 1 ages 5-7). CZ Magazine: Have you seen membership growth?
CZ Magazine: You mentioned that you are co-leader of the Daisies does the Girl Scouts have a troop name overall? H. Hamlett: Yes, the Daisies are Troop 2583, the Brownies are Troop 2584 (led by Mrs. Aimee Edwards), the Juniors are Troop 2585 (led by Mrs. Joy Sweet and Ms. Danika Fraley), and the Cadettes/Seniors are Troop 2586 (led by Mrs. Latrice J. Ravenel and Mrs. Wanda Overton). 7
CZ Magazine: What kind of activities and services does your troop participate in? H. Hamlett: Last year we participated in the Breast Cancer walk in Prospect Park. Girl Scout leaders, Girl Scouts as well as some parents all participated. We encourage parents to participate in events and help out on trips, but not during troop meetings. We want the girls to be able to express themselves the way they need to and work on their own. CZ Magazine: Where does your inspiration come from for the different activities and lessons that you lead with your troop?
To prepare for his visit, Precious and I help the girls create a program. The girls designed and worded the invitation. They had to visit each of the other troops and personally hand out the invitation to the presentation. The night of the event, our Daisies acted as hostesses, giving out programs, welcoming our guests, and making sure the Animal Care Consultant was given what he needed. At the end of the presentation they gave out animal crackers. Again instilling the principle of having activities to be girl lead. CZ Magazine: Has Girl Scouts at Cornerstone made an impact in their community? How so? H. Hamlett: Yes, the Juniors asked for contributions of toiletries and other supplies for a women/children’s shelter. They also made cookies to be divided between the residents. The girls and their leaders visited and spent time at the shelter.
Last year all of the troops participated in serving Thanksgiving dinner at a Senior housing facility. We are community minded and are becoming more so each year participating in more activities and services for the community. Girls earn badges as a group and are also encouraged to earn badges that are of interest to them on their own, with minimal leader guidH. Hamlett: One thing that each troop does is ance. There are fun patches and badges for pick what’s called a “Journey”. A journey is pro- crafts, first aid, science and technology and so ject theme for that particular year. So there are many more, too numerous to mention. journey books for each group. The journey that the Daisy completed this year had to do with CZ Magazine: What would you say is your animals: how they take care of each other, how troop’s greatest accomplishment? they should take care of themselves, what they eat and how they eat. We then parallel that with H. Hamlett: I would have to say it was the how we take care of ourselves. So we ask them Breast Cancer walk. The girls really came out questions: “how do you take care of yourself?” in large numbers along with their parents and They groom themselves, animals groom them- siblings. selves. “Who takes care of you?” We talked about taking care of our bodies and what we CZ Magazine: If someone wants to participut inside our bodies. pate and maybe start their own chapter One of the things I did was contact the Animal who do they contact? Care Centers of NYC, we requested and they sent an expert out to speak to our troops about H. Hamlett: The forms are online. To be a volunteer you go to the Girl Scouts of America the animals in the shelters. Information was provided about what they eat, type of animals in website and all the information is there. the shelters, how many animals there are, etc.
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Girl Scouts Promise On my honor, I will try: to serve God and my country, to help people at all times, and to live by the Girl Scout law. Girl Scouts Law will do my best to be honest and fair, friendly and helpful, considerate and caring courageous and strong and responsible for what I say and do and to respect myself and others, respect authority, use resources wisely, make the world a better place, and be a sister to every girl scout.
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Wake Up & Dream By: Ramona Ward Senior Creative Contributor Usually when people talk about dreams, they speak of chasing or pursuing them. They speak of going after those dreams, going after what they want. Because our dreams tend to be the revelation of our passion and purpose in life. Our dreams are tied to the very thing that will define who we are and the legacy that we will leave. And yet, for so many of us, our dreams seem to be so elusive. And for others of us, our dreams appear unattainable that we don’t bother to even consider them beyond what we imagine,
let alone go after them. But I submit to you, we don’t pursue our dreams as we think. On the contrary, our dreams chase us. Opportunity comes around more often than we think. But we ignore it. Because of so many reasons. Some are actually legitimate, however most of the time, the reasons for not taking chances are nothing more than excuses. But how many times has the same opportunity knocked on your door? Maybe it came in a different way or was presented by a different person in a manner that you never imagined. But when you think about it, when you really consider it, you find that the same opportunity has come around again and again. 10
around again and again. And again. So what of it? Either lightning does strike the same place twice or your purpose is hot on your heels, trying to get you to see yourself at your destiny. Our dreams live in us. Like our parents’ characteristics that are born in us, but don’t necessarily show up until later on in our lives, our dreams are innate. When we are made, our purpose is created and planted deep within us, waiting to be watered and nurtured and cultivated, until it is ready to burst forth and bloom. Too often, though, we neglect the seed within and we pursue other interests at the expense of missing our callings. And we find ourselves stuck, stagnant and dead. And we complain about the hows and the whys of our deferred dreams. Except
we’re hardly honest enough to acknowledge - to ourselves, let alone out loud - that the reason our dreams have been put off is because we don’t walk through the wide open door of our destiny. We’d rather try other things all in the name of finding something that we absolutely love. We neglect to look within. And so, our dreams stop waiting for us and they begin to manifest themselves. We suddenly enjoy painting. Or music is a gift that comes naturally to us. We can write a business plan or organize a youth initiative. We are naturals at reaching communities and evoking necessary change among our people. We excel at academics or athletics with ease. 11
Or we are natural-born entertainers and making people laugh is effortless. Situations continue to come up and expose our amazing gifts and talents. But when it’s time to actually explore those things, we brush them off as if they’re nothing. “I’ve always been funny.” “I’ve been singing since I was three.” “People are drawn to me.” And you never once stopped to think that perhaps, just maybe, that dream you have to turn the youth in your community around and give them a voice is tied to your natural love of public speaking and planning events? Your dream is standing in your face, waiting for you to wake up and live it! A quote by George Santayana says,
yours for the taking. You just have to stop running and allow it to catch you. Certainly, dreams take a lot of work. You will kick and scream, and you will live in denial. You will lose. A LOT. You will fall and you will get up, only to get knocked down again. You will get kicked while you’re down and you will be pushed around while you’re up. You will hear a thousand and one no’s until you get to your yes. You will scream and fight the air, and you will cry your eyes out. You will quit. And you will begin again. And again. And when all is said and done, when it gets down to it, you will see that watching your dream come to fruition was worth every hurt and ache and tear. And you will think, “I’d do it all again.” But first, you have to stop running. Stop making your dreams chase you. It’s time to allow purpose to catch up.
“The dreamer can know no truth, not even about his dream, except by awaking out of it.” My interpretation of this is that we are so good are not seeing what’s right in front of our faces because we are too busy sleeping, and wishing for what we see behind our eyes when It’s time to wake up to your dreams. they’re closed. And until we open our eyes and take a really good look, we will always “chase our dreams” and wonder why we can’t catch up to them. We will always wonder why they seem to get away from us. We will always wonder why the things we go after never seem to work out for us. I’ll tell you why. Because it’s not your dream. And I am not saying that we cannot pursue multiple interests and other things that we enjoy and even love. But that thing that already belongs to you, that thin that you should be sharing and imparting to the world is already
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Artistic Corner
Art & Kabobs
Eating out is an enjoyable activity that most people like to partake in. Sometimes when going out for a meal, you can get a little more than what you bargained for. Such would be the case at the Silver Spoon Kabobs. The Silver Spoon Kabobs is a restaurant that offer a variety of entrées that consist of curry dishes and kabobs. The décor is warm and inviting CZ Magazine recognized that aside from their great food this family owned restaurant connects with the community by displaying and selling art from local artists in the neighborhood. We recently sat down with the Mahmoods to find out more information about the significance of the art.
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CZ Magazine: How long has the restaurant ance of the restaurant to life. See the large been in business? lassie painted on the wall in the back (Picture Mahmood: The restaurant has been in busi- on pg. 12) was painted by a frequent customness since the end of 2004. Originally it was er of ours; Benjamin Pandit. He came in all the time and became good friends with us just called the Silver Spoon. We then changed it to Silver Spoon Kabobs house of and told us about the art work he did as a hobby. Curries and Gyros. CZ Magazine: Did that mural open the door to all the other art work? Mahmood: Several customers would come in a complement the mural and ask about the artist. So my sister reached out to Ben again and asked if he wanted to sell any of his other art work in the restaurant. He agreed and we hung it up in the restaurant and it sold. My sister realized she had found a way to reach the community through art. Soon word spread, and we were contacted by different artist about showcasing their work. CZ Magazine: Was there a specific reason for the name change? Mahmood: No one new what we had. When you see Pizza Hut or Dunkin Donuts you know what is served there but people weren’t sure what we were. CZ Magazine: Are there other locations or is this the only one? Mahmood: No, this is the only location. CZ Magazine: What is the story behind the art work that is on walls? Mahmood: My sister, Aysha was head manager before she went away for college. When she came back she was inspired and had all these ideas about how to make the restaurant better. She was always really into the arts and wanted to use art work to bring the ambi-
CZ Magazine: How does an artist reach out to you if they are interested in displaying their work? Mahmood: They can give a call to the restaurant and either speak to me or my father. From there they would bring in their art work. 15
We just ask that it be appropriate since this is a family owned restaurant and we have people pf all ages coming in. CZ Magazine: Have you received a large response from artists? Mahmood: Yes we have. We still have art work in the back that we haven’t put up yet, just because we currently don’t have space on our walls for it at the moment. CZ Magazine: Who determines the pricing for each piece of art? Mahmood: The artist do and 100% of the profits go to them as well. We wanted this to be a way for us to connect with our community. By giving each artist 100% of the profits we hope that it helps them to take something that they do as a hobby and turn it into a profession if that’s what they wish to do.
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Arts On the Go I Found My Muse By: Ayanna R. Stevenson
Upon entering you’ll locate your canvas with your name on it, yes there’s assigned seating here. All of your materials are laid out for you, including a menu of some tasty delights to satisfy your palette while you create throughout the evening. Then it’s time to grab an apron and wait for instruction. The artist of the evening, Karen went over all the supplies that we would be using and then it was time to paint. Remember coloring by numbers when you were younger? Well at Muse it’s paint by instruction. Karen went step by step until we had created a likeness of the painting hanging on the wall.
I love experiencing new things in the art world. I consider myself creative and I like to challenge my creativity whenever I can. Here lately I’ve been drawn to painting. So far I’ve painted pottery a few times and attended a Sip and Paint event where attendees were allowed to freely express themselves on their canvas while sipping wine. I enjoyed all of them, but wanted to attend something with a little more instruction.
Here’s my finished piece.
July 1st was the grand opening of the new Muse Paint Bar location in Gaithersburg, MD. I was able to attend and let me tell you it was an amazing experience that I can not wait to have again. Whether you consider yourself the next Picasso or you think your painting skills stop at finger paints you’ll feel right at home at Muse.
Muse Paintbar has several locations, be sure to check them out the next time you’re in the mood to paint.
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Artistic Corner
Dream Chaser
Josiah Henry Mitchener
Every now and again it is possible to come across someone that provides great inspiration. Such would be the case with our Dream Chaser. Meet 10 year old Josiah “JoJo” Mitchener of Brooklyn, NY. According to his mom, since he’s been able to walk he has shown himself to be a special young man. After speaking with him, CZ thought so too.
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CZ Magazine: What does it mean to be a dream chaser?
ested playing the drums at church so you only play there?
Josiah: To me it means to figure out what your Josiah: No. I play at my church and I’m the capdream is and work hard to get it. Working hard is tain of my Drumline at school. important, because if you don’t work hard nothing will happen. CZ Magazine: You mentioned Basketball as a dream too, do you play now? CZ Magazine: What is your dream? Josiah: Yes. I am the captain of my Basketball Josiah: To be a professional drummer with my own band and to be a professional basketball player
team. CZ Magazine: Who inspires you to do all that you do? Josiah: God, my mom, my uncle DJ, my family, my coach and my drum teacher. CZ Magazine: What are 3 most important things to you and why? Josiah: God, Family and Living
CZ Magazine: How old were you when you started playing the drums? Josiah: 2 years old. CZ Magazine: Why the drums? Josiah: I remember watching my uncle DJ and other drummers at my church play the drums and I said that looks fun, I have to try that and I did. I liked it and people kept telling me how good I was so I kept playing. CZ Magazine: Are you interested in playing any other instruments? Josiah: No. Drums are my passion. To me they are one of the most important part of music. No matter what kind of music you listen to: jazz, hip hop or classical drums are apart of it. CZ Magazine: You mentioned becoming inter21
Get Involved! Are you looking for some summer activities for young people or looking to work with young people yourself? Below are a few opportunities to look into this Summer National Student Leadership Conference Girl Scouts Boy Scouts American Camp Association
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Special Thank you to our contributors: Ramona Ward Senior Creative Contributor
The Girls Scout Leaders & Girl Scouts of Cornerstone Baptist Church Brooklyn, NY Ms. Mamie McCoy—Coordinator Mrs. Henetta F. Hamlett & Mrs. Precious Overton-Adkins—Daisies Mrs. Aimee Edwards—Brownies Mrs. Joy Sweet & Ms. Danika Fraley—Juniors Mrs. Latrice J. Ravenel & Mrs. Wanda Overton —Cadettes
The Silver Spoon Kabobs Restaurant Gaithersburg, MD
Muse Paint Bar Gaithersburg, MD
Josiah H. Mitchener Brooklyn, NY
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