Bill Cosby calling folks out (ie Dyson, Afr.Am men, etc) @ UDC

In a backstage interview with me (Clarence Page) and another journalist , Mr. Cosby scoffed at the "elitist" charge coming from Mr. Dyson, a black professor at the ritzy University of Pennsylvania. "And how much does it cost to go there [to Penn]?" taunted Mr. Cosby, who attended Philadelphia's less-elite-but-still-proud Temple University on a track-and-field scholarship.

"How many black students do they have at Penn?" he continued. If Mr. Dyson taught at a school like the University of the District of Columbia that serves mostly lower-income nonwhites, Mr. Cosby said, "then maybe he could talk."

Read Clarence Page's take on it here http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/
opinion/oped/bal-op.page23may23,0,220934.story
Read more about the event below
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/
content/article/2006/05/16/AR2006051601661.html
http://www.blackelectorate.com/articles.asp?ID=1441

READ ME!

SPRING 2006 ISSUE OF BELTWAY POETRY QUARTERLY FEATURES POEMS IN RESPONSE TO THE IRAQ WAR

Beltway Poetry Quarterly, the region's premiere on-line poetry journal, announces The Wartime Issue, an anthology of poems by 46 authors from the Mid-Atlantic region, writing in response to the ongoing presence of the American military in Iraq. The issue can be read for free on-line at: http://washingtonart.com/beltway.html.

In her Introduction to the issue, Guest Editor Sarah Browning writes: "When the politicians are compliant and the press is distracted by the next sparkly thing, the poets continue to believe, to speak out, and to say no to fear."

Poets in the issue are all ages, races, and ethnicities. They are gay and straight, and represent a wide variety of religious faiths. Some have many books of poetry to their name and for some, this is their first publication. The poets also take a diversity of approaches to the war in Iraq, telling the story of the war's impact on individuals, families, and communities at home, on members of the Armed Services, and on the people of Iraq.
Browning's introduction explains: "The poems here tell stories – of loss and of connection despite the anguish. 'A part of us vanishes each day,' writes Adam Chiles in 'Tucson Elegy.' 'We suffer another missed touch,' Venus Thrash tells us in her poem, 'Ritual.' The poems won't let us forget. When the war is, as Reginald Dwayne Betts's 'A Conversation' says, 'tucked into the back pages of the paper,' the poems remind us of the atrocities our own sisters and brothers are committing in our name. Linda Pastan asks what we are capable of. The poems answer, in sorrow: almost anything."

And yet, the poets are also hopeful. Browning writes, "Even in [the poets'] despair and their outrage, they call us, as Melissa Tuckey does in her poem, 'Forsythia Winter,' to 'go ahead, open your hand.'"

Contributors to The Wartime Issue:

Luis Alberto Ambroggio * Suzanna Banwell * Virginia E. Bell * Rose Marie Berger * Reginald Dwayne Betts * Linda Blaskey * Jody Bolz * Kyndall Brown * Grace Cavalieri * Adam Chiles * Kyle Dargan * Joanne Rocky Delaplaine * Zein Al-Amine * Yael Flusberg * Sunil Freeman * Parris Garnier * David Gewanter * Piotr Gwiazda * Leah Harris * Melanie Henderson * Esther Iverem * Reuben Jackson * W. Luther Jett * Fred Joiner * Christi Kramer * Joe Lapp * Mike Maggio * Judith McCombs * E. Ethelbert Miller * Carlos Parada * Linda Pastan * Marie Pavlicek-Wehrli * William Rutkowski * Ann Ryan * M.A. Schaffner * Johnna Schmidt * Jennifer Steele * Jeneva Stone * Venus Thrash * Lori Tsang * Melissa Tuckey * Bill Vander Clute * Rosemary Winslow * Ellen Wise * Marcella Wolfe * Ernie Wormwood *

About Guest Editor Sarah Browning: Sarah Browning is co-editor of D.C. Poets Against the War: An Anthology and coordinates the group of the same name. She is the recipient of an individual artist fellowship from the D.C. Commission on the Arts & Humanities and the People Before Profits Poetry Prize. Her poems have appeared in Sycamore Review, The Literary Review, and Shenandoah. She lives in Washington, D.C. with her husband and son.

About Beltway Poetry Quarterly: Since January 2000, Beltway Poetry Quarterly has published poetry by authors who live or work in the capital of the United States. Beltway strives to showcase the richness and diversity of Washington area authors in every issue, with poets from different backgrounds, races, ethnicities, ages, and sexual orientations represented. It has included Pulitzer Prize winners and those who have never previously published. The journal publishes academic, spoken word, and experimental authors--and also those poets whose work defies categorization.

Read Beltway Poetry Quarterly at http://washingtonart.com/beltway.html.

Homage to Gordon Parks: @ Corcoran

Homage to Gordon Parks: 1913-2006
Wednesday, June 07, 2006 @ 7:00pm

Gordon Parks was an American Renaissance man who mastered many media—including photography, film, music and writing—to express an uplifting message of hope in the face of adversity. His life and work have inspired generations of young people who have found humanity despite intolerance. Parks died on March 7, 2006 at age 93. In an insightful evening Deborah Willis, professor of photography and imaging at NYU and a lecturer at Harvard University, and Johanna Fiore, Gordon’s 18-year indispensable collaborator, and still photographer on the HBO documentary film, The Life and Works of Gordon Parks, who understands the man and his work better than anyone else, present an incomparable view of this inspirational man. Philip Brookman, Corcoran Senior Curator of Photography and Media Arts, and co-curator with Deborah Willis of Half-Past Autumn: The Art of Gordon Parks, moderates.

Members: $12.00 Public: $15.00

Washington Metro Area Cave Canem Poets @ Folger Shakespeare Library

Washington Metro Area
CAVE CANEM POETS Friday May 19 2006
7 p.m.
FOLGER SHAKESPEARE LIBRARY
(HASKELL CENTER)
301 E. Capitol St. SE
Washington, DC
featuring local & national poets attending Book Expo America:
Holly Bass
Derrick Brown
Carleasa Coates
Teri Ellen Cross
Hayes Davis
Deidre R Gantt
Brian Gilmore
Joy Gonsalves
Reginald Harris
Brandon D Johnson
Carolyn Joyner
Jadi Omowale
DJ Renegade
Frank X Walker
For more info, contact:
Teri Cross Davis, (202) 675-0374,
tdavis@folger.edu
www.cavecanempoets.org

hmmm

Nobody should be suprised by this . It has been going on well before Bush. Google Project Echelon and see what you come up with.

RIP Nestor Hernandez

RIP to photographer, Nestor Hernandez. You may not have known him, but you were probably oved by his work all the same. Hernandez did a lot of work with the dope DC-based magazine Port of Harlem, a TREMENDOUS amount of work with children, and also did a lot of documentary photography work in Cuba.

REad more about Nestor:
here
here
His website was blackpearlphoto.com and blackpearlphoto.net, but neither address is working right now.

big ups

Big ups Candace and her Newsletter called UNDER THE RADAR: An African-American Focused Non-profit Resource. It is a wealth of information...go check it out and participate in what she has going on. She is a powerful sister doing some big things!
click here for more

art stuff

Pink Lady
Girlz Club presents: Mixology
Paintings and sculpture by DC area women artists
Opening Reception, Friday May 12th
@
Wohlfarth Galleries
All openings are from 6-9pm
3418 9th Street, NE
Washington, DC 20017
Metro: Red line to Brookland/CUA, gallery is 1/2 block from Metro, across from Colonel Brook's Tavern
202-526-8022
-----
Sub-Basement Artist Studios
presents
ON THE VERGE
@\Please join us for the opening reception:
The Atrium at Market Center
118 N Howard St, Baltimore, MD 21201
410.659.6950
Friday, May 12, 6:00pm to 8:00pm.

What is On the Verge?
It’s the discovery of detail through obsession… and a new boundary of painting driven by poetry, but not just any poetry: a poetry based on disintegration and the idea that Baltimore is falling apart, our lives are falling apart, even the material we use to express ourselves is falling apart.
-----

International Visions Gallery
cordially invites you to meet:
artists; Ron Walton and Hamid Kachmar
at our opening reception:

Saturday, May 13, 6:30-9:00 p.m.
2629 Connecticut Ave. NW
Washington DC 20008
202-234-5112
across from the Woodley Park Metro
Exhibition Dates: May 10-June 17, 2006
-------
ART TALK
Saturday, May 13, 2006
10 - 11:30 AM
Steven Cushner & Jeff Spaulding
Moderated by W.C. Richardson
@
H E M P H I L L
1515 14th Street NW
Washington, DC 20005
202.234.5601
www.hemphillfinearts.com
------
Be sure to go to Authentic Art DC to find out about more art stuff then you can shake a paintbrush at.

RIP

RIP to John Hicks an jazz pianist legend.
Read more about him here and here

updates

1. If you don't know about Derrick Brown's 9 on the 9th at BusBoys and Poets...you are just missing out.....This past 9th PS24 (formerly known as Psalmayene 24) blessed us with their feature! Although it has been a few years since they performed as a group, they were right back into it with what seems to be more energy than before. It was refreshing to hear them again....Do yourself a favor and hit them up on myspace and find out where you can get their cd.

2. "We are not promised tomorrow, so we must continue to work hard on getting our vision out in the world today. Mr.(Tom) Feelings did it. Ms. Butler did it. Now what will we do?"
The above quote is from Sheree Renee Thomas' blog Black Mojo Pot and it spoke to me so i posted it check it out here

3. Poet Sarah Browning just started a blog, check it out

updates

K'Alyn giving us some updates on his stay Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.. sounds and looks like he is having a ball and learning a lot!
Read here
See here

changing tide in Prince George's County?...upscale development on the way

Prince George's to Gain Upscale Grocer Wegmans

By Ylan Q. Mui and Ovetta Wiggins
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, May 3, 2006; D01

Prince George's County has inked a deal with high-end Wegmans Food Markets Inc. to build a store near Largo, a major coup for a region that has long struggled to attract upscale retailers.

The deal is expected to be announced tomorrow in a joint news conference with County Executive Jack B. Johnson (D) and Maryland Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R), according to two people familiar with the project. The store will anchor Woodmore Towne Centre, a mixed-used development off Route 202 near the Capital Beltway that will include 750,000 square feet of retail and 1 million square feet of office space. The site also features 950 single-family homes and condominiums.

"We're looking for quality retailers that raise the bar for the available services and goods to the residents in our marketplace," said Phillip Ross, president of Petrie Ross Ventures Inc., which is developing the project.

Wegmans fits that bill. A family-owned company based in Rochester, N.Y., the chain offers pastries made with French butter, soy raspberry yogurt and cotija cheese. It also boasts a European-style cafe, quality wines and a specialty housewares department and can be four times the size of the average supermarket.

The chain operates 70 stores in the Northeast, including one each in Fairfax and Sterling. Last week, Wegmans announced it is also building a store in Anne Arundel County, near Crofton.

The site in Prince George's carries special significance for a community that has largely been ignored by upscale retailers. The county, part urban and part rural, has an ailing school system and last year recorded a record number of homicides. It is also home to expensive gated communities, a growing number of $1 million homes and a population that bristles at having to travel outside the county to spend money.

Gregory Holmes of Upper Marlboro, who helped launch a grass-roots group last summer called Upscale Prince George's, was delighted yesterday to learn about the new Wegmans.

"It's long overdue. The residents have a thirst and a hunger for a place like this," he said. "The bottom line is we live here; we'd love to spend here as well."

Arthur Turner, chairman of the Economic Development Committee for the Prince George's County Chamber of Commerce, said Wegmans' decision signifies that the county is "moving onward and upward."

"People are recognizing that money can and will be made in Prince George's County," he said.

About 10 years ago, presidents of six homeowners associations and civic federations in central Prince George's County wrote to more than 30 retail organizations, making them aware of the county's growing middle-class population.

Turner was one of them.

"It's been a very long fight," he said. "This shows that we've won a battle. And we're still not there yet. We have more fighting to do."

Jeffrey W. Metzger, publisher of trade magazine Food World, said that Wegmans has pursued an aggressive growth strategy in the Washington area but that Prince George's was a surprising choice.

"I think the demographic is narrower compared to the other sites they've opened in the Baltimore-Washington area," he said. "But one of the advantages they have is the tremendous attraction as a destination shop, and they will draw people from adjacent areas, including D.C. proper."

Developer Ross said he is wooing retailers to the Woodmore development by touting the county's statistics. Household income around the town center is about $70,000, he said.

"People are well-educated, have a high level of disposable income, and this market is underserved," he said. "If others don't see it, that's too bad. They're missing out on a great opportunity."
© 2006 The Washington Post Company

Big ups.....

Big ups to Jati...if you don't already know he has some stuff showing down near the old convention center in the middle the parking lot there between 9 and 12 Sts at H St NW. Treat yourself and go check it out

African Beat, Carribean Echoes: Blackness in the Formation of Dominican Identity

click flyer for more info, it will pop up in a new window.

The National Council of La Raza, the Inter-American Foundation, the Dominican-American National Roundtable and the Inter-Agency Consultation on Race in Latin America present African Beat, Caribbean Echoes: Blackness in the Formation of Dominican Identity.

Join us for a discussion with Afro-Dominican scholars and activists as they address the Dominican Republic's rich cultural and ethnic diversity, its important African heritage, and how Dominicans in the United States identify with their African roots. The event will begin at 6:00 p.m. on May 11, with a reception following the discussion.

Speakers include:

Dr. Celsa Albert Batista
Dominican Institute for African and Asian Studies (INDAASEL), DR

Ms. Eulalia Jiménez
Afro-Dominican Community Activist, DR

Dr. Silvio Torres-Saillant
Syracuse University

Organizer: National Council of La Raza
Location: Raul Yzaguirre Building, 1126 16th St, NW
City: Washington, DC
Region(s): Washington, DC
Url:
Contact:
(202) 785-1670
afrodominican@nclr.org