Kindle e-reader: A Trojan horse for free thought | csmonitor.com

Kindle e-reader: A Trojan horse for free thought | csmonitor.com

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BAAD!ASS WOMEN FESTIVAL

BAAD! - The Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance
presents

BAAD!ASS WOMEN FESTIVAL
(Go to http://bronxacademyofartsanddance.org/index.htm for complete details)

Tonight, March 26 at 7pm - Free
Nigger/Nigga: A discussion of Language, Culture and History

As the Bronx celebrates the national Big Read with To Kill A Mockingbird, a distinguished panel of cultural warriors and artists will discuss the use of the word in the book, in culture, society and in some cases, their own work with Black Artemis/Sophia Quintero (author and founder of Chica Luna and Sister Outsider Entertainment), Rokafella (Master Hip Hop Dancer/Choreographer) and Rosamond King (performance artist and scholar). This evening is sponsored by the Freda Rosen Memorial Fund and is part of the 2009 BAAD!Ass Women Festival.

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Friday, March 27 at 8pm - $15
Warrior Women: Solo performances by Rosamond King, Hebrew Mamita and Bina Sharif

Daring performers, singular voices with Vanessa Hidary aka The Hebrew Mamita’s spoken word and luscious excerpt from, Culture Bandit chronicling her life and race in the The Golden age of Hip-Hop; downtown artist and performance diva Bina Sharif brings her comic and profound voice to Blow Job, a satirical look at the search for love, identity and the desire to be noticed and Rosamond King struts her poetry and cabaret prowess with Still Dreaming America, a non-narrative romp through how the American Dream is lived today and how African and Caribbean immigrants, queers, women, and other Americans accept and reject each other.

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Saturday, March 28 at 8pm - $20
By the Souls of Their Feet: 10 Women Choreographers

An eclectic evening of dance by ten choreographers that go from contemporary to the classical to butoh with Emily Berry, Monica Figueroa, Ann Greyson, Shizu Homma, Ebony Ruffin, Toni Renee Johnson, Suttlar Martin, Jessica St. Vil-Ulysse, Robin Wilson and Zoe.


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Friday, April 3 at 8pm - $15
I Heart Hamas

Fresh from the 2008 NY International Fringe Festival, I Heart Hamas, written and performed by Jennifer Jajeh, is one woman’s cross-cultural journey between San Francisco and Palestine as she navigates checkpoints, dating taboos, and a 450 year family lineage while striving for fame, love, and a place called Home.

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Saturday, April 4 at 8pm - $5
Dancing Like a Girl: NYC B-girls in the 1990s

B-girl/modern dancer/oral historian MiRi Park shakes up hip-hop history by looking specifically at the experiences of b-girls who were instrumental to the third revival of breaking in New York City. Their perspectives on dealing with gender, femininity, and race provide insight as to how their life decisions filter into a larger consciousness about plural identities. MiRi will be joined by some or all of her interviewees/co-writers, invited and pending confirmation are Paulito, Miss Twist, Honey Rockwell, Rokafella, and Big Tara for a discussion and a mini-jam session.

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Friday, April 10 at 8pm - $20
Staceyann Chin

Award-winning, HBO Def Poety Jamming, Cultural Amazon, Staceyann Chin makes her debut at BAAD! with her powerful one woman show followed by a book signing of her new book The Other Side of Paradise.

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Saturday, April 11 at 8pm - $20
Lift Every Voice...

This not to be missed evening features 4 amazing singers and musical acts: the powerful and seductive jazz stylings of Chaney Sims, the out Latina rapper Sargenta G and the earthy, political and commanding Mahina Movement.

Ron on the Radio

'OFF THE PAGE'
Bringing the book world to life on the airwaves
WBAI99.5FM: FRI MARCH 06 09@11AM
Host Esther Armah

Off The Page brings the book world to life. Tune in and hear from those who write, critique, publish, profit, publicize and organize - with a particular emphasis on people of color, nationally and internationally.

A DEBATE Special.
RON KAVANAUGH, Editor of MOSAIC and the vision behind The Literary Freedom Project and TROY JOHNSON, President and Founder of AALBC.com (African American Literary Book Club) in a BETWEEN YOU AND ME special on literary innovation.

Why write “Street Lit”?

Tony Lindsey, author of One Dead Preacher and Pieces of the Hole: Short Stories, gives his view on the Street Lit dialogue.

Why write “Street Lit”? This is a question I have been asked my entire writing career. Why write about people on the streets; hustlers, dope boys, pimps, etc? My answers varies between two positions; first, there are more than dope boys and hustlers on the streets, and second, real life occurs on the streets just as it does in a university or church. Many of the same people that sit in the pews of churches and walk the halls of higher learning are on the block.

I feel the milieu in which the story happens is less important than the plot, the characters and lessons learned from the tales. In addition I write in the genre because currently there is a lack of good literature written using the milieu of the street. I was drawn to the genre by writers like Ann Petry, Donald Goines, Louise Meriwether, Chester Himes, Dean Pharr, Claude Brown and Iceberg Slim. Good writers who respected the craft of writing and wrote their tales in the milieu of the street.

To correct a modern day misconception that Street Lit is a new genre I offer the following as it’s origin. Street Lit branched from Urban Literature, which branched from the Post Arts Movement, which extended from the Black Experience literature of the Black Arts Movement, which stretched from the Harlem Renaissance, which grew from Post Reconstruction Literature, which came from the slave narrative. I argue that literature from the streets is not a new, Black writers having been using urban environments since our first migration north.

I as writer in this genre I find it important to read those that came before and try to understand what they did with their art; what was their purpose in writing, what message were they trying to relay, what warning, what advice, what wrong were they attempting to correct. Why were they writing? All African tales have a message. I write Street Lit because I have a story to tell, some advice to give, some wrongs to try and right. I write Street Lit for the same reasons I write mysteries and thrillers: I got something to say.
Tony Lindsay

We're Back

I thought Wordpress was the answer. Nope! WP is not for the layperson. Blogger works just fine. I just want to figure out how to refine the look.

We Moved!

Landlord came looking for his rent so we skedaddled over to http://blog.mosaicbooks.com/. Still combing the kinks out. Will soon purchase WordPress for Dummys.

Lord, Don't Stop the Carnival! - Day II

Friday, November, 7 -All year I've convinced myself that this was a vacation. That somehow the panels and events would happen without me. Perhaps my pod-clone would do all the appearances while I ate and lounged. No luck. I spent Friday morning asking people where I was supposed to be and could they point and push me toward my destination. Turned out we had a 9am school visit in Bolan, the town next to the resort. After traveling all day, Thursday, and "huddling" with all the conference attendees that evening, I didn't get to bed until the wee hours so I was a little tired. Though I set my alarm, over sleeping was not an option. My bed was, in the spirit of Ashford & Simpson, "solid, solid as a rock."

Local bookstore workers/literature footmen Glen and Jermaine, of The Best of Books Bookshop in St. Johns, Antigua; were assigned with driving us (editor Rosalind McClymont, writer Donna Hill, Carol Mackey of Black Expressions, and me) to our school visits.

Question: Why did the chicken cross the road? Still not sure but while driving to the school we had to wait as a clutch stopped traffic right before we got to our destination. The school --three, one-story cinder block buildings painted light green-- was populated with young students, ages 7-12, as well as roosters of various ages. All the kids seemed to be snatched from a come-to-the-Caribbean ad. Cute, mannered, and smart --both mentally and sartorially. They wore mint green tops; the boys in new-grass green pants and the girls in green plaid skirts. A lot of green going on. We met with the principal and teachers then were assigned to separate classes --Carol and I in one and Donna and Rosalind in another.

God bless the teacher. It can be worse than pulling teeth when trying to engage young students --7 to 10 year olds. Carol and I bounced around subjects, encouraging the importance of reading and writing, asking the students about their favorite books. Then the teacher mentioned that all the students kept journals. So Carol asked one to read. One girl popped up and recited a poem off the top of her head. Then another read, and another. (Funny: as the kids read the roosters' cock-a-doodle-doos got louder. Offering their approval I suppose) Before we knew it the once reserved kids were battling to see who could read from their memoirs. A couple of kids made original journal entries during the class just so they could read. Even the hardcore shy were eager to read from their work. Before I knew it the lunch bell rang and the kids still wanted to read. It was cool. We encouraged the teacher to make a chapbook of the student's work as a future project.

We then headed to another school with a similarly wonderful experience. After, it was back to the resort for a panel, "Establishing Yourself in the Literary World." The panel focused on writers finding their niche in the marketplace. Panelists included Tina McElroy Ansa, Marie Elena John, Rosalind McLymont, Zee Edgell, myself, and moderator Ava Hutchinson. typical panel: started slow, picked up steam, then questions.

Everyone made smart contributions except for Zee, who sat quietly, waiting for the right moment. Near the end she interjected a wonderful story about her early efforts with trying to get published. Then, almost in passing she mentioned she was the author of a book called Beka Lamb. I have to admit I had never heard of Zee Edgel. But with her revelation came gasps of joy from the audience. Turns out Zee is part of the Caribbean literary canon and Beka Lamb is required reading for all school children. She capped an excellent panel.

After, I joined several of the post-colonial Caribbean writers for high tea. The sun may have set on the British empire, but not its traditions.

Lord, Don't Stop the Carnival! - Day I

Last year, I was invited to participate in the Antigua & Barbuda International Literary Festival. All year, I've been referring to the festival as a "vacation." Assuming that any place where there is sand and sun work could only be an afterthought. It turned out to be the best of both worlds.

Thursday, November 6, 2008 at 3:30am, a completely ungodly hour, I found myself headed to Kennedy airport to catch a 5:30 flight to Miami. (A side: $60 is way too much to pay for a cab ride that doesn't end in DC) Nothing eventful --flight was an hour late departing but that's the norm. It was a good thing that before boarding a bought a box of Lorna Doones and wolfed them down (plastic wrapper, cardboard box included) before the plan left the ground. As is the norm there was no food on the airplane.

I had a two-hour layover in Miami, which was a good thing. The flight arrived behind schedule and the walk to the connecting-flight gate was about seven miles --seriously. Once I found the gate I ran into Eric Jerome Dickey; Renee Flagler + husband, Les; Tananarive Due, Stephen Barnes, Linda Duggins, Tina McElroy Ansa, Victoria Christopher Murray, Michelle Gipson, and Mary Morrison. We huddled together forming a little Obama Kumbaya village. Told intimate stories about the times we personally watched Obama win the presidency, and how, if necessary, he could fly at the speed of light and reverse the rotation of the planet.

The flight to Antigua was fine. Again, no food. Ironic moment: celebrity chef Delilah Winder sat next to me on the flight. By now I'm crashing as my sugar rush wore off. I sucked it up and pushed through. Finally landing in Antigua, the warmth was welcomed. We were ushered through Customs where vans were waiting for us. Actress Victoria Rowell, also a fest attendee, and was on the plane. Rumor: she was selling her memoir in the airport for $10. I didn't witness it so when you repeat this please preface it with "rumor has it..."

The Antiguan roads are not for the squeamish. The roads are narrow, potholed, and they drive on the left side. Expect your life to flash before your eyes once/mile. About half way to the hotel we saw a small billboard, "Antiguans for Obama." That was cool.

We arrived at the Jolly Beach Resort and Spa. It's an all-inclusive, so all meals, drinks, and activities were included. I was a sponsor and panelist so my entire stay was comped. Every so often life is good. I unpacked, changed and met up with other Festival attendees, including Troy Johnson, James Guidard, and Clarence Reynolds. They arrived a day earlier and were already visiting local schools as part of the Festival.

Eventually, about ten of us spent the evening laughing and prepping for the Friday, the official Festival start.