Poet Laureate of Carrboro, NC 2019 -2022 / 2019 Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellow
Although these three albums don’t even begin to scratch the surface of Duke’s range and contribution to the world of music, they all hold a special place in my heart and in the development of musical “ear”….I will talk about this later…in the meantime go and listen to Duke and if you are DC walk down You Street, down to the Howard Theatre and Frank Holliday’s Poolroom (the old Cafe Mawonaj) where Ellington started his musical career at 14…
The Pink Line Project’s Picture Equality comes back to Anacostia check it out here
As part of the Anacostia Art Walk for the Anacostia Cherry Blossom Festival a couple weeks ago, The Pink Line Project produced an awesome art exhibit celebrating youth making art for social change, with the curating assistance of Chanel Compton. It’s a really special exhibit so we decided to open it up again so more people can experience the work of these remarkable young artists.
Picture Equality
Graffiti, Turntables, and Documentary Photography
Friday, May 1
9pm – 12am
@ 2204 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave, SE
Awesome Anacostia!
View pictures of the opening and the exhibit here and here.
About: Critical Exposure and Words Beats & Life are Washington DC based youth arts organizations that empower their students to be the leaders of today. The featured works, graffiti and photograph were created by students and supporters in order to promote social change and to share their creative vision.
Special thanks to Red Bull for their support of this project.
Click here here for more info
City as Memory: A Lyrical City Writing Workshop
Whether we were born in Washington, DC or migrated here, the city functions as a living repository, holding memories of people, places and events in our lives. What happens to our memories as the city evolves and changes, as landmarks disappear and new sparkling edifices take their place? How do we write about the places and people that have shaped us? What have you been a witness to? How do we look into the mirror at ourselves?
E. Ethelbert Miller kicks off the Lyrical City writing workshop series with a class on memoir. In addition to the workshop on Sunday, all are invited to attend his presentation “No Women, Two Books, One Man: An examination of memoirs and family” the day before at the Washington Historical Society (details below).
Bio
E. Ethelbert Miller is a literary activist. In addition to several volumes of poetry, he is the author of two memoirs, Fathering Words, and most recently, The 5th Inning. He is the board chairperson of the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS), a board member of The Writer’s Center and editor of Poet Lore magazine. Since 1974, he has been the director of the African American Resource Center at Howard University. Mr. Miller is the former chair of the Humanities Council of Washington, D.C. and a former core faculty member of the Bennington Writing Seminars at Bennington College.
About Lyrical City
Lyrical City is a six-part writing workshop series facilitated by outstanding writers with a strong DC connection. The workshops focus on the African-American poetry tradition in DC and various cultural aspects of the city. The workshops are open to all. There is also at least one slot reserved in each workshop for an emerging youth writer (age 16-25).
Participation is limited to 12 people. The cost of each workshop is $25. Some partial scholarships are available. (To request a scholarship, please include a 2-3 sentences briefly explaining your financial needs.) Residents of the Mt. Vernon neighborhood receive a discounted rate. To apply for the workshop, please send an email with your name, a brief paragraph (50-150 words) explaining what you hope to get out of the workshop and one poem. Accepted applicants will be notified on how to make advance payment (online or via snail mail).
The first workshop will take place on Sunday May 3 from 4-6:30pm at Busboys & Poets, 5th & K, in the Cullen Room.
Upcoming workshops will be facilitated by Reuben Jackson, Thomas Sayers Ellis,Toni Asante Lightfoot and Sharan Strange.
This workshop is funded in part by the DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities, an agency supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts
The Historical Society of Washington, DC presents:
“No Women, Two Books, One Man: An examination of memoirs and family”
Saturday, May 2, 2:00 – 3:30 p.m.
801 K Street, NW at Mount Vernon Square, Washington, DC 20001
Ethelbert Miller discusses his two memoirs—Fathering Words and his new book,
The 5th Inning. This discussion is an opportunity to talk about love, divorce, marriage, and family life. Are all the stories true? Come and find out. The author writes in his new book, “This book is a riff on middle-age, marriage, fatherhood, and failure. In baseball the fifth inning can represent a complete game. The structure of this book consists of balls and strikes. As a writer I might now and then throw the reader a curve.”
(Ages 12 to Adults) RSVP@historydc.org or 202-383-1828. FREE
If you happen to be in Southern Cal this weekend an artist whose work i came across is going to be showing at the Lois Lambert Gallery (http://www.loislambertgallery.com/) in Santa Monica April 4th – May10th. His name is Gerard Caliste and his website is http://www.gerardcalisteart.com. check it out!
Anacostia Cherry Blossom Festival Press Release
Come be a part of Anacostia’s premiere spring event, the Anacostia Cherry Blossom Festival to be held on Saturday, April 11th, 2009 from 10 am to 4 pm. The festival draws residents and tourists from throughout the city. It will be a day packed with activities, including an Opening Ceremony & Tree Dedication, an Arts Walk, live Music and more. The majority of the days’ activities will take place along Good Hope Road S.E. toward the Anacostia Park Entrance and on up the 1900-2000 Block ofMartin Luther King Jr. Avenue~ The Historic Anacostia Corridor.
The Main Street Anacostia Promotions Committee strives to create a thriving and robust business district for its residents, while encouraging folks from other neighborhoods and towns to come experience what we have to offer. We are thrilled to have the support of some great sponsors including DC Lottery, Environmental Design and Construction, Four Points Properties, ARCH Development Corp, 1918-1922 Partnership LLP, Venable and Anacostia River Realty.
The day kicks off at 10 am in the Anacostia Park with a cherry blossom tree planting and dedication as part of the National Cherry Blossom Festival’s Neighborhood Tree Planting Program, presented by The Home Depot and supported by the DC Lottery and the DC Chamber of Commerce. Tree dedications will be awarded to Phil Pannell, Marion Barry and Butch Hopkins by the Anacostia Garden Club. The festival continues with live jazz music by The Young Lions at Honfleur Gallery at 1241 Good Hope Road at 1 pm. More music can be heard throughout the day from 11am – 11pm at Eric Whitehead’s JazzNSoul Café, located at 2020 Shannon Place S.E. Musicians include SamO & JFC, Earl Carter, Glenn Arnett, Jamie Jones, Paul Chew, Nonya Whitley, DJ JAMMER and many more!
The Art Walk begins just a short distance from the Anacostia Metro with the grand opening of Vivid Solutions, a new photographic gallery located at 1227 Good Hope Road S.E. Sakura: Awakened by Spring is a group show of photography all submitted with the Spring theme in mind. It is full of color, nature and some unexpected visions. Outside in the open lot next to the gallery is the Art + Craft Market, open all day with local artists ready to sell their work. Please stop by and see the assortment of jewelry, paintings, books and other crafts. At the market, Curbside Café offers their homemade burritos, and pick up an Anacostia Cherry Blossom Festival t-shirt as well. Other food is available along the Art Walk; check out the Jamaican cafe or renowned Soul Food restaurant on MLK Jr. Ave.
Continue on the Art Walk to the storefront at 2204 MLK Jr. Ave SE where you will find a Pink Line Project exhibit in collaboration with Critical Exposure, with curatorial assistance from Chanel Compton. Don’t forget to also check out the Cherry Blast event the night before the festival on Friday April 10th from 9pm-2am, also hosted by The Pink Line Project. Cherry Blast highlights fine art, live music, dance, a DJ, fashion, anime, and origami, presented in association with the National Cherry Blossom Festival and through funding from the DC Commission for the Arts and Humanities.
Alison Spain will paint “live” in a raw studio space on the next stop on the Art Walk at 2200 MLK Jr. Ave S.E. She is offering a charcoal drawing workshop for area youth from 2pm – 4pm; all are welcomed to join. Spain’s colorful abstract paintings are larger than life in both size and dynamism. Upstairs is a showcase of eight selected artists invited to use the space to display their work in any way possible. Don’t miss all this creative energy!
Stop into the American Poetry Museum at 1922 MLK Jr Ave, to hear some live readings by local poets. The current exhibit, Beats to the Rhyme: Visual Representations of Hip-Hop Poetry features works by Franc Rosario, Sami Miranda, Fred Joiner, Howard Fleming, Kenneth Robinson, and Nia Smith. The next space on the Art Walk is at 1231 Good Hope Road S.E. at Arch Training Center, showing local student photography in Spring Visions and Inspirations. Just a few doors down at Honfleur Gallery, take in Darren Smith’s solo exhibition Cross & Ladder. This DC-Based artist pushes the boundaries of photography with handmade photo mosaics and a few large installation pieces.
Stay tuned for updates, directions and more info. Save the date: Anacostia Cherry Blossom Festival, April 11, 2009 from 10am to 4pm! For more information on the Anacostia Cherry Blossom Festival and Art Walk, go to www.archdevelopment.org/events.html. For more information on the Cherry Blast event, see www.pinklineproject.com.
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
Sex and Hip-Hop Beyond Misogyny
Many have stated that sex sells with regards to commodities, hip-hop culture in particular. However, in recent years the industries surrounding sex and hip-hop have developed a symbiotic relationship. For example, rappers often use strip clubs to premiere records and circumvent mainstream radio payola. In turn, the porn industry employs rappers to promote its DVDs and websites. This connection not only allows the two industries to benefit financially, but also results in their mutual exploitation.
Traditionally, hip-hop scholarship and commentary has focused on the misogynist and sexist nature of cultural products. That is, until now, academic debates about how sex is addressed by the hip-hop community have centered primarily on topics such as the treatment of the video girl, Nelly’s “Tip Drill,” depictions of rappers as violent, sexual predators, etc.
For the forthcoming issue, “Sex and Hip-Hop Beyond Misogyny”, Words. Beats. Life: The Global Journal of Hip-Hop Culture invites scholars, students, and practitioners to submit nuanced takes on gender and sexuality within hip-hop culture. Topics may include sex trafficking, sexual education, hip-hop and sex in film and literature, queer hip-hop, boyhood and girlhood, and representations of the body. We hope to push ideas about sex and hip-hop beyond simple investigations of misogyny in this issue.
Submissions Process
All submissions are accepted on a continuous basis and need not be limited to the themes outlined.
All submissions designated as scholarly require an abstract of 150 words or less and up to five key words to accompany each submission.
All scholarly submissions should follow the APA style guide.
Submission Formats
Research Papers: 3,000 words
Essays:1,500 words
Editorials:1,500 words
Short Stories: 3,500 words
Lyrics:150-300 words
Featured Poet:150-300 words (4 poems, bio, and photo)
Featured Artist:PDF or JPEG (5-7 pieces, bio, and photo)
Scholarly Reviews: 2,000 words (albums, books, and films)
Interviews:1,500 words
Submissions and Inquiries:
E-mail: journalstaff@wblinc.org
Mailing address:
Words Beats & Life
Attn: Journal Staff
1525 Newton Street NW
Washington, D.C. 20010
The Journal is the world’s only peer-reviewed academic journal dedicated to hip-hop culture used by organizations and in university classrooms, including Harvard, Morgan State and the University of Maryland, around the country. Please contact us if you are interested in becoming a peer reviewer.
We look forward to receiving and reviewing your submissions.
Sincerely,
Simone Jacobson
Cipher Director