I caught a snippet about National Crime Victim’s Rights Week (NCVRW) when listening to the news this morning and just took a moment to research it to share with you.
Each April since 1981, OVC has helped lead communities throughout the country in their observances of National Crime Victims’ Rights Week (NCVRW). Rallies, candlelight vigils, and a host of commemorative activities are held each year to promote victims’ rights and to honor crime victims and those who advocate on their behalf.
They have a page where you can download banners to place on your website. I’ll be adding my just after publishing this post.
The fight to end malaria got some popular attention recently when CNN and Ashton Kutcher had a competition on Twitter to see who would get the most followers. Ashton Kutcher won, and CNN Worldwide had to fork out $100,000 to UNICEF for mosquito nets to help protect people from contracting malaria. In an article posted in UNICEF’s website, Ann M. Veneman explains, “These new donations will help deliver–insecticide treated nets to children at risk from this deadly disease, and will save lives.” (click HERE for article).
Yesterday, April 26, 2009 was 2nd annual World Malaria Day. The name was changed in 2007 from Africa Malaria day in order to address malaria as a global problem, however, over 85% of malaria cases are within the content of Africa.
One of the simplest things to do is to purchase an insecticide treated mosquito net. A friend of mine shared this link in her facebook status yesterday.
I was excited to have the opportunity to preview Nelson George‘s latest book “City Kid” a memoir. I’ve recently began following his career more closely after learning about his involvement with Chris Rock‘s documentary “Good Hair” that won an award at Sundance. In this post, I’ve written a review of “City Kid” and am also including an interview between Nelson George and I in podcast format for you. Reading about and speaking to other writers is always a unique experience. It’s almost like turning the camera on the camera man. Nelson gave me a great interview but not without a few surprises and push back to keep me on my toes. “City Kid” is worth adding to your reading list. This post along with my others regarding this book should give you a introduction to Nelson George and what to expect as you read his memoir. I would love to hear from any of you who have picked up the book as well as any of you who have read or watched any of Nelson’s other works.
City Kid- A Review
In “City Kid,” Nelson writes of his life where “family and art intersect” as he describes in the Introduction. Ever present throughout is the influence of music on his life from the early days listening to his mother’s Motorola hi-fi to his writing career. Quick to refer to his family unit through often, and perhaps over, cited statistics on Black American families and broken homes, Nelson was no exception. He grew up in the Tilden projects in Brownsville neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. His mother Arizona (nicknamed “Doll”) worked hard to make ends meet and his father, Nelson Elmer George was largely absent through Nelson’s life after being lured into the counterculture looming in New York City at the time. Nelson had one sibling, his sister Andrea who was a rebellious soul which extended to their relationship as brother and sister. It took Andrea cheating death when contracting and living with HIV to ultimately lead to a reconciliation amongst the siblings. The reconciliation occurred as a moment of truth as Andrea began to talk about her life with HIV. Nelson wrote and directed a screenplay based on Andrea’s life the was released through HBO Films entitled “Life Support.”
On the surface, I’d say “City Kid” is a “man book,” but there were elements that I was fond of and could identify with as a writer and music lover. Ladies, you can skim the parts about Nelson’s love for comic books, sports, and tales of man adolescence; however, there are still threads integral to his memoir that you’ll enjoy. For example, Nelson’s affection for his mother and longing for male role models are endearing and bring you closer to the man behind the mirror.
For aspiring and established writers, you’ll enjoy and likely identify with Nelson’s lifeblood as a writer. An avid reader from the time of his youth, Nelson shares that he was particularly fond of Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald. Actually, one of the highlights of this memoir is the fantastic library of must read books interwoven throughout. I have generated quite a list in my notebook that maybe I’ll publish at a later time.
Perhaps the most poignant part of this book is the education you get from reading about the evolution of popular black music as it parallels then intersects with Nelson’s life. Oh, to be a fly on the wall in Brooklyn during the rise of hip hop and a bit of a “Harlem Renaissance” that occurred during Nelson’s twenties as the Ft. Greene neighborhood became a mecca for artists like now famous Spike Lee and Chris Rock.
My only criticism of “City Kid” is related to the style. What makes a book a great read for me is being able to get that contact high from just holding the book in your hands, inhaling every word. I had a hard time doing that completely with “City Kid.” I attribute it to Nelson’s largely journalistic style narrative of his own life that left me perched at a safe distance from Nelson’s authentic self. Personally, it’s most exciting to finish a memoir feeling that I really got to connect to the person in a way that would not have happened otherwise. I feel like I could recite Nelson’s life, but I don’t know his life.
If you’re interested in picking up a copy of “City Kid” I would suggest you check out the links I provided for you below the interview.
Interview with Nelson George about “City Kid”
Here’s the interview I conducted with Nelson George on April 9, 2009, a week after the release of “City Kid.” This is my first whirl at editing and posting a podcast, so bear with me and certainly let me know if you have any suggestions, feedback, or are experiencing technical difficulties. For you corporate types, this is my “development opportunity.”
*NOTE* actual interview ends at 19:56 (gotta work out why the dead air on the end, sorry).
Here are a few additional resources that are either mentioned during the interview or would be useful to you.
What does Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Senegal, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo all have in common? They are the five countries to be visited by Healthy Black Communities, Inc.’s Chief Executive Officer LaMont “Montee” Evans within the next two months to exchange information on what works around HIV/AIDS prevention education and testing.
“Black AIDS Project – Africa is a community mobilization effort designed to encourage Africans in various countries to get educated and get tested for HIV, as it continues to devastate the Continent,” says LaMont “Montee” Evans, of Healthy Black Communities, Inc. – an international organization based out of Atlanta, Georgia. “This trip will allow our organization to highlight the devastating effects of HIV/AIDS in specific African countries and bring video and pictures back to the United States to mobilize resources to help turn the epidemic around in Africa.”
To date, HBC has been working in West Africa since 2004 (Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire) to mobilize villages and communities with the highest HIV incidence to get tested and provide HIV/AIDS 101. The focus of this five-country tour is to expand Black AIDS Project – USA’s components of mobilizing Black communities around education, testing, involvement and treatment. Due to limited country-by-country resources for treatment, HBC’s focus has been health education and disease prevention.
In order for this trip to be successful, HBC needs to raise $10,000 to purchase and transport medical supplies, clothes/shoes for youth and young adults; and purchase food for AIDS orphanages and poor villages in five countries.
Individuals are asked to log on to: www.hbc-inc.org/bap_africa.html to make their donation. For more information on Healthy Black Communities, Inc. or Black AIDS Project – USA/Africa, visit www.hbc-inc.org.
During the time I hit “post” to put this online, 10 years ago on April 20, 1999, 2 Columbine High School students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold arrived at school during lunchtime armed and ready to kill. Students and teachers thought it was a prank but soon learned otherwise. In the end, 14 students and 1 teacher were killed, including Harris and Klebold who each committed suicide in the library at the end of their attack. Just over 2 dozen other students were injured but survived. Ground zero for most of the killing was in the school’s library. Within the course of 45 minutes, Harris and Klebold would wreak havoc on a Denver suburb that would leave it emotionally scarred forever. We watched as a nation and asked ourselves over and over again “why?”
Unfortunately, 10 years later a school shooting doesn’t affect the same way it did before. It’s become all too common, and it’s not just school aged children. Adults, weary at work situations, have also taken on indiscriminate shooting rampages at places of work.
Bullying, music lyrics, violent video games, graphic Hollywood movies, lack of spirituality, gun control, and so many more explanations have been offered but none of theme seem to conclusively explain what happened at Columbine High School.
There is sooooo much information out there that it feels overwhelming to collect my thoughts in a single post. I’ve parsed through a lot of it and am including some video and links that I thought were among the best that I encountered in my search. If you have any additional links to share, please include them in your comment or via my CONTACT page.
For a detailed timeline account of the Columbine High School massacre, I found that wikipedia has a really good entry. The resources cited at the end are also helpful.
Below is a link to Columbine High School. There have been several local events today and over the past weekend. The link I’m including lists events in association with their Community Day 2009.
If you google just about anything related to Columbine High School, this Denver Post article has consistently come up on top. I eventually read it, and it’s an excellent article that takes a look at several students who survived the shooting 10 years later as they reflect on the events that are now fading into distant memory. As you read, you also get to know the individuals as they are today- education, family, and careers.
Below is an interview with Anne Marie Hocchalter, former Columbine High School student. Her story is profound. Surviving with a spinal chord injury, Anne Marie had to face yet another tragedy as her own mother committed suicide 6 months after the shooting having struggled a lifetime with depression.
Here is a 2001 report from the weekly news show 60 minutes about an investigation they conducted into Harris and Klebold and the resultant shooting. Like so many, people wanted to know if there were warning signs or anything that the parents and school system could have or should have done to potentially prevent this incident from ever occurring. Don’t watch this and get mad all over again at Columbine, rather, take note and make sure you are doing your part today to make sure we are vigilant about preventing any potential future incidents.
Talk about bad luck, Regina Rohde attended Columbine High School during the shooting 10 years ago and was also attending Virginia Tech 8 years later during the shooting that shocked our nation again. Below is a link to the NBC Today Show interview she did with Meredith Vieira shortly after the Virginia Tech shooting. It’s interesting to see that she’s still processing things and more importantly her views that are shared by many residents in Littleton, Colorado who resented the invasive media presence during the time the once “anonymous” small town was grieving.
NBC Today Show- INTERVIEW WITH REGINA ROHDE (click VIDEO link 1/2 way down page on the right for the interview)
What is going on with our children? It just crushes my heart to read headlines about children committing suicide. Their life has barely started. It makes you wonder what has gone so wrong in those few precious years that leaves them so desperate that suicide is a viable option?
No one is reporting whether or not Carl was indeed gay, but it really doesn’t matter. Every child deserves the right to go to school and feel safe.
*NOTE* Please do not confuse this story with 11 year old Aquan Lewis that I reported on before. The only similarity between the two for certain is that they are both African American 11 year old boys. They lived in completely different parts of the country (Illinois and Massachusetts) and had different circumstances leading to their suicides.
Here are some links. I will expand as I receive and process more information…
The Springfield, Mass., football player and Boy Scout was ruthlessly teased, despite his mother’s please to the New Leadership Charter to address the problem.
Sirdeaner L. Walker, 43, found Carl hanging by an extension cord on the second floor of the family’s home April 6, just minutes before she was going to a meeting to confront school authorities again.
“I am brokenhearted,” she told ABCNews.com. “We worry about the economy and about Iraq, but we need to be worried about our schools.”…
…The boy had been active in his church, taking communion on the recent Palm Sunday and playing a wise man in the Christmas play. He helped the needy…
Mrs. Walker says other students told her son, “you look gay” and “you act gay.” She says they made fun of him for the way he dressed and that one student even threatened to kill him.
She says she called the school every week to try and get her son help. She knew how painful this bullying was for him. Even though she’s a member of the Parent Teacher Organization, she says nobody helped her son.
UPDATE APR 21, 2009
Carl’s story has gained celebrity attention thanks to Ellen DeGeneres who dedicated her GLAAD award in his honor. Here’s a snippet of a statement from Ellen’s show website (not the GLAAD acceptance speech) about Carl.
I don’t know if you heard about this story of an 11-year-old boy in Springfield, Mass. who was bullied at school. His mother says they called him “gay” and told him he “acts like a girl.” Carl Walker-Hoover could only take it for so long. And last week he took his own life. It’s heartbreaking. And it shouldn’t be happening…
…At risk kids can find help at the Trevor Helpline (thetrevorproject.org). It’s open 24 hours a day and kids can call and talk to someone who can really help…
While I’m applaud Ellen for giving attention to Carl’s tragic story, part of me just wishes that black Hollywood would step in regarding Carl Walker-Hoover and also Aquan Lewis. Where’s our passion?
There’s also a short mention in Cleveland.com (click HERE)
Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison will help dedicate a bench to honor the slaves who traveled the Underground Railroad at 1:30 p.m. Thursday at North Main and Lorain streets in Oberlin. The “Bench by the Road” project was conceived after a statement by the celebrated poet in 1989 in which she said, “There is no suitable memorial, or plaque, or wreath or wall, or park or skyscraper lobby. There’s no 300-foot tower, there’s no small bench by the road” to commemorate the path escaped slaves took to freedom. The bench, honoring those who found refuge in Oberlin, is one of 10 that will be installed across the country.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 1, 2009
Area residents are invited to join celebrated author Toni Morrison on Thursday, April 23, at 1:30 p.m. in the park at the Corner of North Main (Rt. 58) & Lorain Streets (Rt. 511) for the dedication program: “A Bench By the Road, a tribute in memory of the enslaved persons who sought refuge in Oberlin.”
Inspired by Morrison’s 1989 statement – “There is no suitable memorial, or plaque, or wreath or wall, or park or skyscraper lobby. There’s no 300-foot tower, there’s no small bench by the road” – the Oberlin installation is one of 10 planned for around the country to commemorate slaves and their history as part of the “Bench by the Road” project created by the Toni Morrison Society. The author, whose first novel, The Bluest Eye, is set in nearby Lorain, picked Oberlin as one of her favorite sites for the bench, says The New York Times.
The wording on the bench will read: “The bench by the Road Project was launched by the Toni Morrison Society in honor of Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison, a native of Lorain, Ohio. This bench is placed in memory of the enslaved men, women and children who followed the path of the Underground Railroad and sought refuge in the community of Oberlin, Ohio, in their quests for emancipation. Their spirit endures and will inspire us until every human is raised up to freedom.”
The April 23 dedication will precede Morrison’s Convocation address, “Home,” at 8 p.m. in Oberlin’s Finney Chapel. Her latest novel, A Mercy, published in 2008, “makes a spellbinding companion to Beloved, her 1987 tour de force that transformed our understanding of slavery and won the Pulitzer Prize,” says the Washington Post Book World. A question and answer session and a book signing will be held after the talk.
A limited number of free Convocation tickets for the general public – two per person – will be available beginning April 8. They may be requested by April 15 by sending a self-addressed stamped envelope with the request to Central Ticket Service, 67 North Main Street, Oberlin, Ohio 44074, (1-800-371-0178 or 775-8169).
The Convocation Series is sponsored by the Finney Lecture Committee and the Office of the President. For more information and directions, contact the Office of Public Programs at 440/775-6785.
If you attend, tell them that affrodite.net sent you! …and I want to see your pics! I would love to see some photos of African American women with natural hair styles.
Operation Step-Up, a youth focused non-profit organization based in Cincinnati, Ohio is hosting “The Dream is Real Weekend” during Memorial Day Weekend 2009 (same weekend as the Taste of Cincinnati). The links in this announcement are not active, but you can get full details on “The Dream is Real Weekend 2009″ by going to…
Last year, was the first time I read or heard of Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM). Although the National Day of Action has passed for this year, I still wanted to take a moment to bring awareness through this blog. Here’s a link to what I posted last year.
This year’s national theme is preventing sexual violence in the workplace. Rather than continue to focus exclusively on the black community, I want to include resources in the post in support of this year’s theme as well as good resources to have on hand or to increase your own awareness.
Here is a link to the White House Press Release declaring this month as SAAM.
If there are any resources, links, events, etc. that you would like to share with other readers, please comment here or use my CONTACT page to email information. I will update this post periodically with information as well.
2009 Campaign Information
(from National Sexual Violence Resource Center: NSVRC)
Theme: Prevent Sexual Violence…in our workplaces Slogan: Respect Works! SAAM Day of Action: Wednesday, April 8, 2009 NSVRC website- http://www.nsvrc.org/saam/
Additional blog posts on the topic from this year’s research. I’ve tried to focus on listing articles that cover the topic nationally as opposed to locally.
I watched the debut episode of The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency on HBO over the holiday weekend, and I’m sad to say that I’m not hooked. I don’t think the show is particularly bad, but it was hard to get through the nearly 2 hour season debut and the bits and pieces of subsequent episodes that I’ve watched since have failed to draw me in. I love Jill Scott and think she’s doing a wonderful job portraying an authentic version of an Botswanian woman, down to the accent. I’ve traveled to Kenya before and found elements of the show that reminded me of being on the continent (riding the mutatoos- city “buses”, some of the landscape, etc.), but something about the storyline seems to lack power in my opinion.
I’m almost sad that I don’t like it, but maybe it’s just not my cup of tea. However, I wanted to throw a post out there and see what your initial reaction was to the series so far.
Have you read any of Alexander McCall Smith’s books? Is the series consistent with his writing style? Better? Worse?
Is this show hot or not? Are you hooked?
What do you enjoy about watching the series?
What do you think could be added to make the series better?
p.s. I think Grace Makutsi (Anika Noni Rose) who is Precious Ramotswe‘s (Jill Scott) assistant and business partner strengthens the plot and secretly steals the show.
I just finished reading City Kid by Nelson George and am so excited to bring you more posts on both with my soon to be posted review and even more exciting upcoming interview with Nelson George. So just to wet your appetite, I’m including a few more links and videos and such as well as channels to purchase City Kid online.
The below video is a must preview before reading Nelson George‘s City Kid. I’m looking at it after, but I like to read in a vacuum, unadulterated so I can look at the work with essentially a virgin’s eyes. Maybe it’s a silly practice that I’ll eventually abandon, but it’s kind of my learning/absorbing/analytical ritual.
A mini-doc of Nelson George’s upcoming book release: “City Kid: A Writer’s Memoir of Ghetto Life and Post-Soul Succes” (April 2009, Viking).
I just heard a segment on CNN about doctors refusing treatment to patients based on their religious beliefs, and I wanted to put this post out to see what you’re thinking.
The Obama administration plans to reverse a regulation from late in the Bush administration allowing health-care workers to refuse to provide services based on moral objections, an official said Friday.
The Provider Refusal Rule was proposed by the Bush White House in August and enacted on January 20, the day President Barack Obama took office.
It expanded on a 30-year-old law establishing a “conscience clause” for “health-care professionals who don’t want to perform abortions.”
Under the rule, workers in health-care settings — from doctors to janitors — can refuse to provide services, information or advice to patients on subjects such as contraception, family planning, blood transfusions and even vaccine counseling if they are morally against it.
Doctors are becoming more assertive in refusing to treat patients for religious reasons, expanding the list of services they won’t provide beyond abortion to include artificial insemination, use of fetal tissues and even prescribing Viagra.
The shift is prompting a new round of debate in courts and state legislatures over the balance between protecting the constitutional right to religious freedom and laws prohibiting discrimination…
…The collision between religious freedom and rules against discrimination occurs when physicians perform procedures selectively, offering them to some patients but withholding them from others, says Jill Morrison, legal counsel to the National Women’s Law Center.
This year in a case generating wide interest, the California Supreme Court will hear a first-of-its-kind lawsuit: fertility treatment denied to a lesbian.
In Washington state, a gay man recently settled out of court with a doctor who refused to prescribe him Viagra…
Ok, I’m no doctor, but this legislation sounds insane! I should’ve known it was from the Bush era. As a doctor or health care professional, I feel like you have to take an “oath” of objectivity.
Before I go on and on…
Should health care providers refuse care to patients based on their religious or moral beliefs?
Are there certain circumstances where you think the choice is ok or is not ok?
I’m trippin’ on CNN’s statement about “janitors to doctors” meaning this applies to anyone working in a health care setting. So can a janitor refuse to clean up a blood on the floor from a patient? or something like that?
Do you think this rule, as it exists today, enables a legal form of discrimination?
received this info via email from Sharon Carson…
Chicago, Ill. April 5, 2009 — Author Sharon P. Carson of Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man, says the Steve Harvey‘s book of the same name is a misrepresented take on her original work. Carson, who is pursuing her rights under unfair competition laws, secured a copyright for the title in 2004, and then established www.actlikealadythinklikeaman.com.
Harvey’s book, published in January of this year, copies the title and theme of her work, says Carson, and takes some of her authentic thoughts and conclusions and contorts them into a detrimental message for women. Carson says his approach is a distorted view of her original vision.
Carson says her self-published book was written, “To encourage women to accept and appreciate who they are both inside and out and to respect themselves and demand respect from their male counter part.” She also felt women need to be as tough minded as men are in relationships, which is how she created the title, Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man.
Harvey has stated the title for his book came through an editor, but originally contained the word “girl” instead of “lady,” a substitution for which he takes credit.
An excerpt from Carson’s book discusses the unnecessary concept of women changing themselves physically for their partner:
Why should women become someone they hate in order to please someone they think they love? What if the relationship ends, will they have to change again to please the next man?
An excerpt from Harvey’s book, on p. 207, mirrors Carson’s point:
But if you’re telling your man you want a nose job and he sees nothing wrong with the nose you already have then maybe you ought to think about leaving your nose alone. Why run the risk of something going wrong when your man is already happy with the way you look? Why lose the extra weight if your man is happy with you the way you are?
In addition to reworking her original ideas, Carson objects to the anti-empowerment message of Harvey’s take on a successful woman, per p.182:
If you’ve got your own money, your own car, your own house, a Brinks alarm system, a pistol and a guard dog and your practically shouting from the roof that you don’t need a man to provide for you or protect you, then we will see no need to keep coming around.
Carson asks, “How does this message empower us as women? Should we prepare for success so that we can provide and protect ourselves or should we forgo that and wait for a man come along and do it for us?”
While Carson is looking into protecting her own rights as an author, she also is concerned about getting her message out there—that women are their own authority, they are complete with, or without, a man.
Fans of Carson’s book frequently react with praise and the desire to pass on the book’s message. One reader writes, “You were right ON point w/this book! I learned these things the hard way, but I am gonna give a copy to my daughters to read! And your insights really helped me build more effectively with my son! Thank you!”
About Sharon P. Carson Sharon P. Carson is a gifted author and poet, and has published four books in her lifetime, including the poetic volume Not By Bread Alone and Go Tell The Children. Carson, a State Certified Real Estate Appraiser, is the mother of two children, and lives in Chicago, Ill. With her husband of 41 years.
50% of your donation (less Pay Pal fees) will go to Emerge Global charity (http://emergeglobal.org/). The other 50% funds the sweat equity I put into my work for your enjoyment. My hope is that one day I will be able to donate 100% to charity.
I was excited to have the opportunity to preview Nelson George‘s latest book “City Kid” a memoir. I’ve recently began following his career more closely after learning about his involvement with Chris Rock‘s documentary “Good Hair” that won an award at Sundance. In this post, I’ve written a review of “City Kid” and am also including an interview between Nelson George and I in podcast format for you. Reading about and speaking to other writers is always a unique experience. It’s almost like turning the camera on the camera man. Nelson gave me a great interview but not without a few surprises and push back to keep me on my toes. “City Kid” is worth adding to your reading list. This post along with my others regarding this book should give you a introduction to Nelson George and what to expect as you read his memoir. I would love to hear from any of you who have picked up the book as well as any of you who have read or watched any of Nelson’s other works.
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