Literary Birthday Celebration: Zora Neale Hurston

Wednesday, January 7, 12:00 Noon

Novelists Marita Golden and Dolen Perkins-Valdez will celebrate the birthday of American writer Zora Neale Hurston by reading selections from her work and discussing her influence on their own writing. This event is free and open to the public, and will feature a display from the Library's collections. Co-sponsored by the Library's American Folklife Center.

Location: Whittall Pavilion, ground floor, Thomas Jefferson Building
Contact: (202) 707-5394

MUFFIN SUMMIT

Kate Damon and I had another Muffin Summit (at Uprising Muffin Company on 7th Street NW) this afternoon. Joining us was Ben Wikler. Ben is the host of The Good Fight and the Washington Director of MoveOn.Org.

Here is a link to his site:
http://thegoodfight.fm/people/ben-wikler

Kate and I talked mostly politics with Ben. The focus of our discussion was on a possible presidential run by Elizabeth Warren. What would this mean?  Why should she run?

I was very impressed by Ben's thinking and the fun of sitting around talking about the future of 2016 is something we should do more of. I hope to invite Ben over to the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) next month to talk with staff and fellows. I'm looking forward to sharing another muffin with my buddy Kate. She was sporting a different look today. I had to take her picture...

THE NEW FACE OF GENTRIFICATION IN 2015 OR IS IT JUST A 5TH GENERATION WASHINGTONIAN?

Photo by Ethelbert

NO GIANT STEPS NEXT YEAR FOR WASHINGTON

I have a number of intelligent friends who believe the Washington Redskins will never have a good season until the name of the team is changed. I don't buy into the folklore. I also don't fall into the hype ever year of believing the Washington football team is going to the playoffs. Here is a list of teams no one expected would make the playoffs:

New York Jets
Jacksonville Jaguars
Tennessee Titans
Oakland Raiders
Tampa Bay Bucs

Place Washington among the five teams listed above. None of them have a good quarterback or defense.

Let's just look at numbers this season and do a comparison.

Green Bay scored the most points:  486
Washington:  301

185 point difference

Seattle only gave up 254 points this year
Washington: 438

184 point difference

Don't look for these number to change in one year. The best Washington can do is maybe pull ahead of the New York Giants for third place in the NFC East. But do they have a player as good as Odell Beckham Jr?

THE WHITE HOUSE

2014: A year in review What happened at the White House in 2014? In short: a lot. Take a look at our exclusive year in review -- including Chief of Staff Denis McDonough, recalling his favorite moments from 2014. Then, go deeper: Explore a visual collection of highlights from over the course of the year -- from historic accomplishments and economic milestones, to unforgettable behind-the-scenes moments. Don't start 2015 until you've seen it -- and shared it. Here's to 2014.

T-Shirts and Caps

Growing up I was the baby in my family. There were certain things my brother and sister got to do because they were older. I didn't think it was fair but then what could I do. I noticed yesterday that the coaches of the New York Giants and The New York Jets wore caps in support of the NYPD. No real surprise. This was done after 9/11 too. It's a way of celebrating community pride. and paying respect to the people who work to keep us safe. Call it tribal pride. But notice how the rules become different if one decides to wear a t-shirt that echoes a community protest. Suddenly there is no place for politics.Or maybe coaches are different from players - is that it?  I don't think so. Protest is good when you have the numbers - but is it really protest?  I could never get my brother and sister to see things my way.

Pope Turns Focus to Climate Change Pope Francis will intensify his efforts on climate change in 2015, issuing an encyclical to the faithful in March, highlighting the threat of global warming to the Earth before the U.N. General Assembly in September and, finally, pushing for a global compact on climate change in Paris in December. The Church maintains that humans have a responsibility to safeguard the Earth "because while God always forgives, Creation never forgives" and humanity faces catastrophe if its devastates the planet, according to The Christian Post. Read More Here

Martin Luther King Jr. Week - Jan. 11-18 Honoring the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. could not be possible without the efforts of many before his time. W. E. B. DuBois, Carter G. Woodson and countless others stood up for injustice and paved the way for a leader like Martin Luther King Jr. to emerge during the Civil Rights Movement. The DC Public Library proudly celebrates A Century of Black Life, History and Culture during its annual Martin Luther King Week festivities from Jan. 11-18. Participate in Black Space, an interactive exhibit. Enjoy an American Sign Language story time. Make your own Do-It-Yourself protest buttons and more. Orwellian America: Government Transparency & Personal Privacy Is Big Brother watching you? Join the Library Wednesday, Jan. 21 – Saturday, Jan. 31 for a series of workshops, discussions and a live-streamed marathon readingof George Orwell's classic dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Read more   NEW Digital Service – Access At Home or In Library Access more than 2,300 training videos at Lynda.com. Topics include Career Skills, Adobe Photoshop, Web design, Social Media and Business. School-age children can benefit fromScienceFlix - videos, project ideas, articles and other resources that support STEM learning. And, did you make a New Year’s resolution to read more? Check out Safari Books Online. For Children National Symphony Orchestra: Stories and Music The National Symphony Orchestra presents the narrated story of Peter and the Wolf Tuesday, Jan. 6, 7 p.m.,Woodridge Interim Library. Fun for ages 5-12 with caregiver. See all events for Children For Teens Teen Movie Night Enjoy a movie and popcorn Wednesday, Jan. 21, 6 p.m.,Northeast Library. Call 202-698-0183 for movie title. Fun for ages 13-19.  See all events for Teens For Adults Caring for Bed Bound and Mobility-Challenged Adults Beginning Thursday, Jan. 15, get information and tips to help care for your homebound adult. Topics include Home Health Aides, and Long Term Care and Hospice Home Care Services. Information sessions repeat every month at a different library location. View full schedule. See all events for Adults DC Health Link @ The Library Visit the DC Health Link enrollment center at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library to learn about your health insurance options and sign up for health insurance. Read more Other Happenings Jan. 1 – Library closed New Year’s. Jan. 15 – Letters About Literature entry deadline for grades 4-8. Learn more. Jan. 19 – Closed for Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Jan. 28 – Board meeting, 6 p.m., Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library. Mark Your Calendar Feb. 1-28 – Black History Month commemorates A Century of Life, History and Culture. Stay tuned for more details. Feb. 16 – Library closed Presidents Day. Experience the Library on-the-go. Get a library card and check out books at an event near you. Learn more How Did We Help? Click here to tell us or text 202-499-6628.     Become a fan Follow the Library Forward to a Friend Sunday, Jan. 4 Zumba Kids 3:30 p.m., ages 4-13 with caregiver Capitol View Library Tuesday, Jan. 6 Chevy Chase Library Book Club 7 p.m., Adults Chevy Chase Library Tuesday, Jan. 6 Project Bricks 4 p.m., ages 5-12 with caregiver Cleveland Park Library   Saturday, Jan. 10 Yoga @ the Library 10 a.m., Adults Dorothy I. Height/Benning Library Monday, Jan. 12 Job Seekers Skills Workshops 7 p.m., Adults Georgetown Library Monday, Jan. 12 Teen Game Night 5:30 p.m., ages 13-19 Juanita E. Thornton/Shepherd Park Library Tuesday, Jan. 13 Make & Take Tween Program 4:30 p.m., ages 9-14 Lamond-Riggs Library Tuesday, Jan. 13 Health Literacy for Healthy Living 1 p.m., Adults Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library Friday, Jan. 16 Beginner’s Amharic 4 p.m., Adults Mt. Pleasant Library Saturday, Jan. 17 Family Story Time 10:30 a.m., ages birth-3 with caregiver Northeast Library Tuesday, Jan. 20 Night Yoga 6:30 p.m., Adults Northwest One Library Wednesday, Jan. 21 Preschool Story Time  10:30 a.m., ages 1-5 with caregiver Palisades Library   Thursday, Jan. 22 A Song of Ice and Fire Series Book Club 7 p.m., Adults Petworth Library Saturday, Jan. 24 Family Craft-ernoon 2 p.m., ages 3-12 with caregiver Takoma Park Library Saturday, Jan. 24 Family Story Time 10:30 a.m., ages birth-12 with caregiver Tenley-Friendship Library Sunday, Jan. 25 I Made It Myself 2 p.m., ages 3-12 with caregiver Watha T. Daniel/Shaw Library   Monday, Jan. 26 Baby & Toddler Story Time 10 a.m., ages 3-5 with caregiver West Interim End Library Tuesday, Jan. 27 Computer Basics Class 1:30 a.m., Adults William O. Lockridge/Bellevue Library Thursday, Jan. 29 LEGO Club 4 p.m., ages 5-12 with caregiver Woodridge Interim Library See all events eNews Delivers Want Beyond Words in a different format – HTML, text or mobile? Update your subscription preferences.

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HISTORY IS NOT A BEDTIME STORY

One of the bigger mistakes we might be making these days is confusing storytelling with history. Maybe we should all go back to Alex Haley and the writing of Roots. How much of that book was historically accurate?  Did Haley "sample" work by other authors in order to tell his story? When Roots made the leap from the page to the television screen didn't we all rush home to see the next episode? How many of us starting looking into family history and holding our new born babies up to the sky and waiting for the soundtrack to descend and bless us?

I think it was Amiri Baraka who once wrote " one man's fast is another man's slow." It seems these days as one continues to struggle against oppression that storytelling is once again in vogue. This time it comes after our fascination with the memoir writing and social media. Does everyone have a right to the telling of their story?  Are all the stories true?  When is a story just a story?  What is the connection between storytelling and myth-making?

Is the battle for equality in America or the battle against racism primarily a clash of narratives with the status quo? If we seek a common language must we also accept one story? It's funny how the dream motif runs through African American literature and sounds as complex as something Thelonious Monk might compose. The essence of dreaming is storytelling. A good story needs heroes and villains. It needs tension and should be compelling. At times we want our stories to tell the truth but this is not a requirement for a good story. In fact a lie at times "sounds" better than the truth. Try changing some of the stories associated with our founding fathers, or mention how someone was black, proud but also Gay.

We all want to tell our stories these days - because we can. We can can blog, tweet and do whatever we like. But what are the consequences?  At the end of the day who controls or has a desire to edit our stories?  What happens when we seek to separate our lives from the story?  What is reality?  Is it that which we create or that which we inherit and wish to tell?  Around the world journalists are being killed for telling stories. Stories of torture, kidnapping and rape. Many people are risking their lives. I fear the knocking on the door might mean the death of history is next.

So may the poets always give birth to new words and may these words keep our children safe. Without new words our stories will  be an endless cry. Yes, we need the stories to keep us warm. We need the dreams for when we wake.

POETS PUNTING INTO THE WIND...

The last day of the regular football season. This might be the best time to punt or confess. 2014 was a sad time for many. How many black mothers are still weeping? I was just looking at a photo review of the year 2014. Many of the images were of war and destruction from around the world. Anger shots? Now and then a photograph of an entertainer performing as if they were hired to perform at a funeral or wake. Will there be a difference between 2014 and 2015? We will probably continue to do much of the same in the New Year - when do we start to count the deaths on our second hand? What's beyond the blues?  Is there a place within the human soul that never gives up on love? Maybe this is just the beginning of living and we struggle taking our first steps. How high the climb, how distant the mountain? I feel like a poet punting into the wind.

PICTURES FROM 2014

I took a number of photographs in 2014.  Here are the two that were my favorites. The first finds D.C. Renaissance man Andy Shallal in front of his new Busboys and Poets located near Catholic University. I took this picture after Andy gave me a tour in November. Although I took several pictures inside I didn't see a shot that I wanted. It was only outside while laughing and being a tad silly that I was able to capture Andy's historical moment. What I like about the picture is that it somewhat "echoes" the one of Langston taken back in the 1920s at the Wardman Hotel. Both men know how to work the camera. You come away loving their hats and how their arms are spread. One welcoming, the other serving...

My second memorable photo of 2014 is the one I took of my friend Beverly Hunt. 2014 was a very difficult year for her. But in this photo (below)  taken at a gas station in Silver Spring, Maryland I caught her reaching back into her car and looking for a credit card. Beverly happens to be wearing my hat and it looks cool on her. Decades of friendship captured in one shot. The cell phone as memoir?

My last collection of poems FALTA DE AR (published in Portugal) was dedicated to Beverly.

65 IS THE NEW 2015

65.
Growing up this was the number for the curtain call. It was the number that ushered in retirement and knee replacements.65 was always a few years away from my parent's birthday cake. They mentioned 65 like it was a lottery number. If only they could reach it - win- and be so lucky as to not work again.

But now I'll be 65 and I'm looking at pushing aside the old and contracting the new. It's time to do the heavy-lifting and the bridge building. It's time to dock on the shore; time to dream again and not surrender to the end of beauty.

DRONE NEWS

http://www.scidev.net/global/transport/multimedia/drones-future-african-transport.html

UNTITLED

I recently discovered that the death of sex

is also the end of history. Not even beauty

survives and then comes winter.

 -  E. Ethelbert Miller

 

KING FOR A DAY?

I have to confess I'm not a big fan of the instant replay in baseball. I also have problems with social movements that claim to be leaderless. In my home office I keep a picture of Martin Luther King,Jr.
It was taken by the famous photographer Henri-Cartier Bresson. He took it around 1960. King had just become a minister in the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. This was his father's church. In the photograph King is sitting at his desk holding his head in his hand. There is a pile of work in front of him. Behind King one can see his hat resting on a stack of books. This is the quiet and lonely office of the leader. How does one prepare for this?  Is everyone willing to do this work?

I believe it first begins with observation - seeing and listening. It begins with wanting to change one's surroundings. It's important to have an analysis and an understanding of what it is you're trying to change. How do you interpret what it is you're looking at?  Here is where teachers and mentors can be helpful and place things in historical and contemporary perspective. If they are successful there should be a transformation or awakening in the person on the path of becoming a leader. It is a time for study and the seeking of as much knowledge as possible. No subject should be neglected. It is only after this intellectual and emotional level is reach that one is ready to enter into activism.

As soon as one becomes an activist - the Gandhi's concept of "becoming the change you want to be in the world" is an excellent measurement of how one is doing. As an activist one's responsibilities extends beyond that of the self. The major challenge is dealing with people who oppose the things you believe in. Learning to deal with opposition is a major reason for becoming a leader. There is no change without resistance to change. One must struggle to build bridges instead of walls.

The person who wishes to be a leader must maintain their moral compass at all times. The distractions will often be the problems that come from dealing with sex, fame, money and power.

One cannot successfully navigate the river and motion of history without a moral compass.
Every day people make history. Every day leaders emerge. If we advocate a leaderless movement today it's only because the beautiful ones have yet to be born.

CALL TO AFRICAN AMERICAN POETS

 
I am Ravikumar- a writer from Tamilnadu, India.

I want to bring out a poetry collection on the Ferguson struggle. 

I need poems written by African American poets on it. 

I am a Dalit activist, poet,former legislator, general secretary of a Dalit 
Political Party in Tamilnadu. (I have brought out recently a collection of poems 
written by Langston Hughes,Maya Angelou and Ethelbert Miller in Tamil.)

This is to show our solidarity with African Americans in
their struggle against discrimination.
 
Regards
Ravikumar

adheedhan@gmail.com

FOOD FOR THOUGHT FOR THOSE WHO FAST TOO MUCH

I've been looking for articles and books that help explain what's going on in our world. I highly recommend the reading of "The Death of the Artist and The Birth of the Creative Entrepreneur" by William Deresiewicz which is in The Atlantic (January/February 2015).

I plan to sit down with 2-3 friends in the next few weeks and discuss it. There is so much I agree and disagree with in this wonderful essay. For example, I have problems with the concept of "democratization of taste." Time to talk...

William Deresiewicz

WHEN THE DAYS AND EGGS ARE GONE

Only a few days left in 2014, so you want them all to be good. Make every day count. I spent the morning sitting around the home table talking with Grace Ali, one of my best friends. I think her digital publication - of note magazine is a model of excellence and is simply waiting for a big time investor to take it to another level. Grace is a person to watch in 2015.

http://www.ofnotemagazine.org/

I met the wonderful Merrill Leffler for lunch at the Republic in Takoma Park. Much laughter, fun and conversation. Some book swapping too. I gave Merrill a copy of my memoir - The 5th Inning and he gave me a collection of his poems - Mark the Music.

I'll spend tonight and tomorrow deciding which projects to try and complete by the start of the New Year.

- I have to write an essay for the Smith Center for Healing and the Arts
- An essay to write on Pan-Africanism for a forthcoming anthology
- My next "E on DC" column..
- More work on my Collected Poems with Kirsten Porter
- 2 baseball books to review for The American Book Review

E- MEETING AT THE END OF THE YEAR

Thanks to everyone who came to my E-Meeting yesterday at Busboys and Poets. Wonderful networking fun. So nice to see the following people sitting at the same table:

Zoe Ackerman
Grace A. Ali
Michon Boston
Wendy Rieger
Amy Rolio
Josh Ford
Kate Damon
Jack Rasmussen
Aaron Jenkins
Candy Shannon
Jing Jian
Susan Barocus

Send To A Friend
The Second Arrow | December 22, 2014 Our minds are habituated to relate to suffering by resisting it through blame, bitterness, anger, resentment. That resistance is what the Buddha called 'the second arrow,' which follows the first arrow, the direct experience of pain. So much additional suffering comes from believing that 'things shouldn’t be this way'—when in fact they are that way. - Ronna Kabatznick, "Sea of Sorrow"

WILL 2015 MARK THE RETURN OF THE DESERT MONKS?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5YY684ZXDE

Breaking from Newsmax.com Obama Vows to "Do Everything I Can" to Close Gitmo President Barack Obama on Sunday said he will do "everything I can" to close the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, after four Afghan detainees held there were sent home. Obama promised to shut the internationally condemned prison when he took office nearly six years ago, but has been unable to do so, in part because of obstacles posed by Congress. "I'm going to be doing everything I can to close it," Obama said on CNN. "It is something that continues to inspire jihadists and extremists around the world, the fact that these folks are being held. It is contrary to our values and it is wildly expensive." Read More Here

WHERE?

The end of the year
and you're not near.

I know you're out there
 - somewhere.

But
where?


 - E. Ethelbert Miller

OPEN LETTER

December 21, 2014

Carole R. Zawatsky

Chief Executive Officer

DC Jewish Community Center

1529 16th Street, NW

Washington, DC 20036

Dear Ms. Zawatsky,

We are writing to express our dismay at your firing of Ari Roth as Director of Theater J, a position he has held with distinction for 18 years.

We at the Institute for Policy Studies and Split This Rock deeply support free expression and the exchange of ideas, and question the direction that this action suggests the DCJCC is moving in.

One of the roles of art should be to widen the conversations we have with one another. By firing Mr. Roth, whose curatorial vision was an expansive and generous one, you have accomplished the opposite, narrowing and limiting the space for imaginative consideration of the pressing issues of our time.

Art, too, functions to humanize others, to remind us of what we have in common as a people. As John Judis, the former New Republic senior editor, was quoted as saying in The Washingtonian, “What’s at stake here is not simply artistic censorship, but the attempt to snuff out works of art that recognize that Jews and Palestinians share a common humanity.”

We remind you: Ari's work with Theater J was cutting edge at times; this is what good theater often is. If we cannot defend the cultural front, we have no chance on the political battlefields. If we desire peace and the need to bring people together - what better place than the theater?

The road to peace with justice in the Middle East will require that we listen to one another, to many voices, sometimes even to unpopular voices. Your actions in removing Mr. Roth from your institution, sadly, work to silence the diversity of opinions so desperately needed.

We write this with great sadness because our two organizations have viewed the DCJCC as a close ally. IPS held our 25^th annual Letelier-Moffitt Human Rights Awards at the DCJCC 14 years ago with our art show of “Light Among Shadows.” We co-hosted Ariel Dorfman’s “Death and the Maiden” a few years later.   

IPS and Split This Rock will be willing partners with Mr. Roth in the new theater he intends to build at the Atlas so that we can help promote the type of cultural work that is needed today.

Sarah Browning                     

Executive Director

Split This Rock

Dan Vera

Board Chair

Split This Rock

John Cavanagh

Executive Director

Institute for Policy Studies

E. Ethelbert Miller                

Board Chair                           

Institute for Policy Studies   

CROSSING THE JORDAN RIVER

2014 has been a year of sadness and blueness. The killing of two police officers of color simply adds to the despair. I don't want to live in Crazytown. I've been to Brooklyn and I've been to Baghdad. The headlines today seem to blur this morning. Every life is sacred. I think this is what "Black Lives Matter" means. I don't want to live in a society where people think the police are the enemy or an occupying oppressive tool of the State. The killing of any police officer or members of the judiciary system begins to erode that thin blue line between chaos and civilization.

This bring me once again back to language. If you hear any chant or see any poster filled with words of hatred then it's important to ask yourself - which side are you on?  When Michael Brown and Eric Garner were killed I thought about the poetry of June Jordan. I wondered how many people went back and read her book PASSION. If they did they would find "Poem About Police Violence" on page 34.

Jordan's passionate concern about life made her write the following lines:

Tell me something

what you think would happen if

everytime they kill a black boy

then we kill a cop

everytime they kill a black man

then we kill a cop

you think the accident rate would lower

subsequently?

It's important to notice how Jordan raises a question in her poem. She is not an advocate of violence. She is simply making a connection like a probe. She is a poet asking the tough questions like a healer assigned to protect our souls. I always found "Poem About Police Violence" a difficult one to read.

It pushed me into a realm where I was uncomfortable. It's like when I hear a person using the word revolution - I think beyond the romance. Wasn't the protest about putting an end to police brutality?

Wasn't it about ending income inequality and other economic sores? 

For me, the struggle has always been about making America better - not destroying it. I want to improve the State - not overthrow it. I'm always concerned when a politician has to call out the National Guard to control our streets. It means at the end of the day the police cannot do their job.

They cannot fully protect us - and this is how we must view police officers. They must not be viewed as the enemy or become targets of people gone a tad mad. We are all guardians of the State, so every death matters - just like every life.

In her book PASSION one will also find the poem "Grand Army Plaza" on page 90. This is a love poem June dedicated to me. The last lines read as follows:

We are not survivors of a civil war

We survive our love

because we go on

loving

K-MUFFIN

Kate and I had another one of our "Muffin Summits" on Friday. That's what we call our meetings at Uprising Muffin Company on 7th Street, NW. It's a chance to discuss timely topics; we never know who might "sit-in" and join us. This week it was a young African American Muslim sharing views about his faith. Earlier Kate and I had been talking about the draft Elizabeth Warren movement for President. After good conversation, laughter and hugs we rode the Red Line...

I draw water and arrange flowers,
comforted by their scents adrift,

scents adrift, gone in a moment.
And how much longer for me?

    - Wang An-Shih (1021-1086 CE)

IS THAT THE WINTER SOLSTICE OUTSIDE MY DOOR?

In the mail a couple of books...

I-Lan'In Di Sun by Nana Farika Berhane

Going the Distance by Michael Joyce
Heart of The Order: Baseball Poems edited by Gabriel Fried

Jeffrey DiLeo (editor of American Book Review) sent me the Joyce and Fried books.
I agreed to review them for ABR. Another deadline to meet.

Howard University is closed for 2 weeks; this will give me time to complete a few projects.
Much to accomplish in 2015.  Set goals - celebrate life

Radio Days

On Monday I'll be on Andy Shallal's radio show - Business Matters (WPFW 89.3FM) with new friend Amy Riolo. Tune in from 9-10 AM. Amy is a chef and food historian; an award winning author.

Andy and Amy photo taken by Ethelbert

CUBA LIBRE?

It's so difficult to change the narrative. We become content and comfortable with the stories we hear and know. How long was the US going to have no relations with Cuba?  Until Fidel died?  There are going to be a number of old Cuban Americans who will probably begin to hate Obama as much as they hated Kennedy. But one person's grief should not bury a village. Policies die just like people do.

There is no way we can move into the future telling the same stories over and over. Cuba, was like the Middle East. How long can we watch the Israel/ Palestine conflict? I'm also tired of Islamic terrorist book clubs spreading violence around the world. From schools to chocolate shops we need to turn the page. Violence and hatred is getting old and very medieval. What's next - New Crusades?

I'm happy to see Obama and Pope Francis trying to teach us a new scripture.
Yet, how long will it take African Americans to accept the fact that Obama is not a Civil Rights leader but a president? Too many of us keep wanting the fairy tales. A sweet narrative. It's silly to expect Obama to wave a wand or sign a bill that's going to make racism vanish. Why do African American still need bedtime stories? Are we only a race of beautiful dreamers? And after all the "dreaming" will a new generation ever rise and take control?  I know that I might sound like Margaret Walker but who is reading her these days?  Please tell me about the new believers that must come naked into this world. Tell me a story in which everything changes. Don't put me to sleep - put me to work.

Cuba Si!

HEALTH NEWS AND INFORMATION

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/17/opinion/alzheimers-awareness-and-still-alice.html?_r=0

A people-powered department relies on...people. Together, we can take the USDAC to the next level in 2015! View this email in your browser

Dear Friends & Allies, Despite being allocated exactly $0 of the government’s recent $1.1 trillion spending bill, the U.S. Department of Arts and Culture is entering 2015 with momentum, possibility, and significant nationwide participation. We like to say that the USDAC isn’t an outside agency coming in, it’s our inside agency coming out. But the deepest truth the USDAC embodies is this: we are all in it together. For the first and only time in 2014, we’re turning to you, our founding Citizen Artists, with a simple request: if you believe in the work we're doing, please consider making a tax-deductible donation as part of your year-end giving. Here’s why: Nine months since posting our first call for Cultural Agents, we’ve: Trained a founding cohort of Agents. Engaged more than 2,500 participants at Imaginings in 11 different cities. Issued creative action calls for climate justice and police demilitarization. Appointed the first 23 members of a National Cabinet. Created 6 video PSAs. Launched Field Offices that are already taking on local projects in multiple states. And more... Next week, the USDAC will announce a second cohort of Cultural Agents, and next month, we’ll host thePeople’s State of the Union, a national creative action with hundreds of participants from across the country. We’ve done all of this with the entirely volunteer energy of a passionate, multigenerational team.  The USDAC defies easy categorization. Is it a performance? An organizing strategy? A movement? A community of practice? A love poem to the world we wish to inhabit? The answer, in short, is: yes. We’ve already built significant momentum and begun to demonstrate what we’re capable of creating together. Help us take the next steps. Yes, I believe in the USDAC and can help! On behalf of our passionate volunteer team of dreamers, schemers, movers, and shakers here at the USDAC, thank you for your vision and generosity. We look forward to the journey ahead! Adam Horowitz Chief Instigator Take part in the People's State of the Union! Extended Deadline: Jan 8 What if the annual State of The Union was not a speech spoken by one, but a poem created by many? Take part in this exciting national action by hosting a story circle in your community! Learn more and register to host: usdac.us/psotu-host   Statement of Values Poster Just in time for the gift-giving season, check out new USDAC swag in our gift shop! Our Statement of Values brochure folds out into this awesome poster designed by Angela Miles:  usdac.us/shop Call for Equity and Justice The USDAC continues to call on artists to join in the movement to demilitarize the police and bring justice to victims of publicly funded racism. #DearFerguson gif by Jeremy Oberstein.  Read the Call and find/share more work here.

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