LIFE

Spoken word breaks the silence

Poets read their published work at local art walk

SAIDA MAALIN INTERIM OPINIONS EDITOR

Poets Romaine Washington and Eric “T.R.U.E.” DeVaughn left the audience visibly inspired by their performance at the monthly Riverside Art Walk.

Audience members interacted with each performance uniquely as both poets showcased their work in a creative way.

“T.R.U.E. is an acronym for, ‘Thought requires uncommon effort,’” DeVaughn said. He provoked the audience to think deeper by having everyone connect to the power of his words. DeVaughn performed a set of writings and excerpts from one of his self-published collections, “Aggressive: The Inherent Violence of My Beastly Unbecoming.” The wordsmith wrapped up his performance with a powerful poem linked to police brutality that African Americans experience here in the U.S.. “I got tired of going to poetry events and hearing certain words repeated…over and over,” he said before his last reading of the evening. “Very necessary conversations, but is there a different way we can say this? So I wrote them down. Thirteen words I have grown weary of hearing as they appear on the page.” The poem left the audience profoundly moved.

Washington followed in DeVaugns performance and read shorts from her collection of poems “Sirens in Her Belly”. One of the excerpts she read had the entire room in harmony. The piece was dedicated to Spike Lee, a critically acclaimed African American flm director, producer and writer. She asked the crowd if they could follow along, chanting “a love supreme,” influenced by the 1990 film “Mo’ Better Blues,” which was directed by Lee. “I took all of his movies up until 1992 and put it together,” Washington said about the dedication. The entire room swayed on beat and snapped in approval.

The venue associated with the art walk was held at the Riverside Public Library by the nonproft organization Inlandia Institute. “Inlandia Institute is a literary nonproft organization that serves the Inland Empire,” said Christina Guillen the program coordinator of Inlandia. The nonproft organization aims to “expand literary activity in all its forms in the Inland Empire by publishing books and sponsoring programs that deepen people’s awareness,” according to its website.

The stage opened to the public where individuals signed up for Spoken Word. Inlandia member’s Christina Guillan and Executive Director Cati Porter participated and read from different Inland Authors.

This month they renamed the experience “ Word Circus” to encourage many different writers to come and share their writing. “Inlandia has different writing workshops throughout the Inland Empire,” said Guillen. “All of it is for the community and most of it is free.”

Guests were welcomed with snacks and drinks and educational coloring pages of historical African Americans buried at Evergreen Memorial. A typewriter was also available for guests to type a note, poem or sentence that by the end of the evening.

Spoken word is open to the public and will be back around on March 5. “Next month we’re gonna be doing Sheros. It’s going to be for Women’s history month, similar to spoken word but it will be live storytelling.” said Christina.

Clockwise:

Cindy Rhine reads “Knife Me Split Memories”.

Romaine Washington reads from her book “Sirens in Her Belly”.

Christina Guillen reads from a collection of Inland Authors.

DIEGO LOMELI | VIEWPOINTS

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10:00am – 12:00pm 20th Annual War Dog Rememberance Day Program “War Dogs, America’s Forgotten Heros” @ March Air Base Museum

2:00pm – 4:00pm Family Movie: “The Addams Family” @ La Sierra Family

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11:00am – 12:00pm Sensory Play @ Main Library

February

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11:00am – 7:00pm Make It and Take It: Valentine’s Craft @ La Sierra Library

7:00pm – 9:30pm UCR Chamber Singers Valentine’s Concert

10:00am – 6:00pm Adult Coloring @ Casa Blanca Library

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7:00am – 5:30pm American Red Cross Blood Drive @ Magnolia Police Station

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11:00am – 1:00pm 20th Annual - Black History Celebration @ Janet Goeske Center

8:00am – 12:00pm ACLS Renewal - Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support

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9:00am – 11:00pm Theatre Department Festival 9:00am – 11:00pm Theatre Department Festival

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9:00am – 11:00pm Theatre Department Festival

8:00am – 6:00pm Jazz Tune-Up Festival

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5:00pm – 7:00pm Jazz Combos Masterclass

4:00pm – 10:00pm Set Up: L.A. Sax Quartet Concert

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4:00pm – 6:30pm RCC Dance Ballet Folklorico

All dates and times subject to change

DIEGO LOMELI | VIEWPOINTS Crowds gathered to watch hip hop dancers, cheerleading teams and marching bands perfrom at the 41st Annual Black History Month Parade. The expo also showcased craft and food vendors.

Black History Month Parade

Parade and expo celebrates black heritage

SAIDA MAALIN

INTERIM OPINIONS EDITOR

The Riverside community united on Feb. 8 to celebrate t h e 4 1 s t A n n u a l B l a c k History Parade themed “It takes a Village: Let’s Vote.” The parade and expo were coordinated by the Adrian Dell and Carmen Roberts Foundation. According to the Russell Ward the parade coChair, the foundation consists o f d e d i c a t e d v o l u n t e e r s focused on the development of events and activities that promote positive family and cultural interaction in a cross section of the community and the City of Riverside as a whole.

“The times we live in and our current leadership has put into question integrity, family values and economic balance,” said Ward about this year ’s theme.“Voting is the only way to address a change of direction.”

T h i s y e a r ’ s p a r a d e differed from previous years because of the upcoming presidential election. The effort was to educate and i n f l u e n c e l o c a l s o n t h e importance of registering to vote.

M a n y v e n d o r s s e t u p s h o p d o w n O r a n g e a n d Tenth Streets with food, entertainment and community s e r v i c e s s u c h a s v o t e r registration and information booths. The parade took place in front of the Riverside County Courthouse. Tommy the hip hop clown, entertainer and dancer, performed at the end and sent the crowd into a frenzy. Hundreds of families and fans of Tommy the clown came from all over. The fans packed in front of the fences set up outside the courthouse to watch his team perform. Many fans covered the streets and even took to standing on lawn chairs to not miss a moment of the show.

T h e g r o u p s t h a t participated included award winning drill teams Explosive a n d D e Va l l e j o M i d d l e S c h o o l , S a n B e r n a r d i n o We s t s i d e S t e p p e r s , S a n B e r n a r d i n o P a c e s e t t e r s , Bryant Park Dance and Cheer and a few more groups of cheerleaders and dancers from the Riverside Unified School District. Each group performed loud and proud and had the crowd cheering them on.

Event coordinators took the stage at the end of the parade to remind the public to enjoy the expo and to register to vote at the booths set up inside. The last day to register to vote for the upcoming 2020 primary elections is Feb. 18. The next Adrian Dell and Carmen Roberts Foundation event will be the Empowering Young Women’s Conference on March 7 at Riverside City College from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Landis Auditorium.