WE INVITE YOU TO VISIT NOMMO's WEBSITE TO BOOK EMPOWERING SPEAKERS FOR YOUR NEXT SPECIAL EVENT. Event Planning Needs? Let NSB help make it magical. (click logo below) View this email in your browser JULY 'Purposeful Parenting Month' Nommo Highlights 2 Speakers - Fathers with the 411 on Successful Parenting E. Ethelbert Miller:  The Poetics of Parenting By: Eugene Holley, Jr.  Literary activist/poet E. Ethelbert Miller has been the artistic, behind-the-scenes mover and shaker in the Nation’s Capitol for four decades. The recipient of the 1995 O. B. Hardison Jr. Poetry Prize for excellence in poetry and teaching, Miller has been the director of the African American Resource Center at Howard University since 1974, and has published and co-edited over a dozen books of poetry, essays and two memoirs including First Light: New and Selected Poems, Fathering Words: The Making of an African-American Writer and The Fifth Inning.   Miller talked about how he raised his daughter Jasmine-Simone and his son, Nyere-Gibran, in the midst of writing of those powerful and poignant memoirs. “When I wrote my first memoir, Fathering Words, I wrote about the loneliness of Black fathers, Miller recalled. “I grew up with my father. But he was very traditional: we didn’t have ‘father-son’ conversations. He just told me what to do. When I wrote my second memoir, The Fifth Inning, Iinterviewed my son and daughter. I wanted to know what mistakes I might have made. It was a very sensitive thing. I’m not going to assume that I’m a good father. I don’t look at parenting in the abstract. I wanted to hear it from them. My kids came into the world with a set of expectations. I was aware of them having their own identity. I thought it important for me them to have a moral compass.” “When I look at my children, and their success, and how people view them, I feel I’ve done a very good job.” E. Ethelbert Miller's book, Fathering Words: The Making of an African American Writer is available for purchase at: http://nommospeakers.com/product/fathering-words/  Take a listen to his interview on The Diane Rhem Show (WAMU 88.5, NPR) talking about his memoir. http://shar.es/Lq0aC. NommoSpeaker, E. Ethelbert Miller is available for speaking engagements, poetry readings, webinars, or workshop bookings at http://nommospeakers.com/e-ethelbert-miller/.  Book early for National Poetry Month for poetry readings in April 2015. Miller is the Editor of the Poet Lore Magazine, which celebrates its 125th anniversary in September 2014 at the Folder Theater in Washington, DC. Share Tweet Forward +1 Acklyn Lynch: Successful Parenting By: Eugene Holley, Jr. The life and career of educator/essayist/cultural critic Acklyn Lynch, Ph.D., represents the successful inventions and dimensions of Black parenting in the Diaspora. For four decades, the Caribbean-born, metro DC-based polymath, who earned degrees at Howard, Harvard and Johns Hopkins Universities, taught at Howard, the University of Massachusetts, and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. He has written and lectured a plethora of subjects, from economics, culture and political science, to Pan-Africanism; child development and sports. He wrote a book of essays, Nightmare Overhanging Darkly: Essays on Black Culture and Resistance. But his greatest works are his daughter, Pilar, an international education consultant who taught in the Caribbean, Africa, and China; and his son, the Olympic gymnast Jair Lynch, who both received the same kind of holistic parenting he received from three major sources growing in Port-Of-Spain, Trinidad. “The first person for me was my mother,” He fondly recalled “The second person was my school teacher, Mr. Grandison of Eastern Boys School, who introduced me to Duke Ellington, Paul Robeson, and Richard Wright.  And three, There were families like [writer/intellectual] CLR James’ family and the Constantine family. The parents of that era – from turn of the twentieth century, to the Depression era – they had a vision of tomorrow, based on two principles: religion-spirituality, and education. You had to perform well. You had to understand what education meant. Education was an exercise of discipline and a projection of what I wanted to be.” Though he lived in a colonial situation, Lynch grew up in a Black community that functioned as an extended family that stressed all aspects of education, in and beyond the classroom; something he passed on to his two children. “Education was not simply something you learned in school,” Lynch remembered. “Our parents also understood the value of sports. You had to be athletic. You had to be healthy. Secondly, [they stressed] the arts: dance, carnival, playing Mas, and singing. I taught my son Jair, all of that. When he decided to become a world-class gymnast, I said ‘you gotta swing, brother; you gotta dance.’ You have to use your artistic imagination, in order to underlie your scientific knowledge.” “The rest was history.”  View Dr. Ackyn Lynch talking about his formula for parenting. http://youtu.be/_pjwXoFT6yY *(Click link or Click on Picture) Copyright © *2014|* *|Nommo Speakers Bureau, LLC|*, All rights reserved. *|Nommo 2. July 2014 |* *|Purposeful Parenting Month NSB Profiles - 7/2014|* For Bookings or Interviews Contact Nommo: *| www.nommospeakersbureau.com | info@nommospeakers.com| (202)232-3400|* unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences

THE E-DAD

http://nommospeakers.com/blog/purposeful-parenting-month-july-nommo-profiles-e-ethelbert-miller/

C.L.R.JAMES

I've started working with Paul Buhle and Milton Knight on a C.L.R. James comic.
It's a wonderful project in need of support.
We're looking for a publisher. Spread the word.

See link:
http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/23254-clr-james-back-in-style-black-in-style-a-review-and-a-comic?tmpl=component&print=1

BLUE DEATH

A dead raccoon

 (I thought)

asleep outside ( my door)

I discover on (my way)

to discard (my trash).

A blue

recycle bin

in (my hands).

  -  E. Ethelbert Miller

POETRY AND PEACE:

We Begin Here: Poems for Palestine and Lebanon

                                

IS THAT A POEM IN YOUR POCKET OR DO YOU JUST WANT TO BE POET LAUREATE?

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/28/arts/poet-laureates-multiply-but-job-requirements-vary-widely.html?_r=0

I went to the movies and saw Lucy.
It's a movie with a good beginning and then you want to turn your mind off to the rest of it.
When is Morgan Freeman going to turn down scripts like this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bN7ksFEVO9U

Furious Love

(for Ethelbert Miller, who coined the phrase)

my friend said,

now is the time for furious love,

I agree,

what could be better

than to make love furiously,

or to have furious love,

not just for one person,

but for all of mankind

as for me,

I’d opt for both

© sam hamod, 7.27.14

-- 

The cease fire ends and the bombs fall again
If we desire peace now is the time for furious love.

  - E. Ethelbert Miller

THE WORLD WAS ONCE AN APPLE

The world falls apart

losing its buttons.

War undresses citizens

and soldiers alike.

Everyone is wounded

by hatred

and bleeding

from love.

We are Adam

and Eve thinking

about that

last fuck

wishing we could 

start all over again.

   - E. Ethelbert Miller

Found Poem # 1

Pope 

Francis

had lunch

with Vatican

workers on 

Friday.

He walked

into the cafeteria

unannounced

and lined up

tray in hand.

(New York Times/7-26-2014)

Yes, that was Kate (Damon)  and I eating our muffins yesterday at the Uprising Muffin Company (1817 7th Street, NW). This is a cool place located right next to the HU Metro Station (Green Line). Kate is cool too.

TRIBUTE TO ESSEX HEMPHILL

https://www.facebook.com/events/436293586513433/?ref_dashboard_filter=upcoming


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxfILbV1JTc

HAVE POEMS WILL TRAVEL

http://nommospeakers.com/e-ethelbert-miller/

THE SCHOLARS - UDC-TV

It looks like I will be returning to the UDC television studio in late November or early December. Upgrades and renovations are taking place at the station. This will give me additional time to do research and prepare for my guests.

http://www.udc.edu/news/udc%E2%80%99s_new_cable_tvseries_%E2%80%9Cthe_scholars%E2%80%9D

JULY 24, 2014      The immigration debate has exploded again in the United States, this time around the tens of thousands of minors detained at the U.S.-Mexico border.  More than half of these children are fleeing violence and threats at home in Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador. As FPIF columnist Laura Carlsen explains in Blowback on the Border, many families have concluded that the children are safer making the journey to the United States than staying at home. And, as Nathalie Baptiste points out, the United States is partly responsible for the conditions of poverty and violence that serve as the push factors for the migration. The refugee crisis in Syria is reaching cataclysmic proportions. Farrah Hassan, who visited refugee camps in Syria back in 2003, notes that over the last five years, the country has gone from the second largest host of refugees to the second largest producer of them. Meanwhile, Hillary Margolis provides snapshots of five courageous women activists from Syria, several of whom have already been forced to leave the country. Also this week at FPIF, Didier Jacobs urges a reset of relations with Iran, Phyllis Bennis provides an update from Gaza, and Ved Singh reviews a book on the challenges of exiting from state-building operations.  Finally, in this week's World Beat column, I look at the crossfire of accusations and counter-accusations surrounding the downing of Malaysian jet liner MH17 in Ukraine and compare the situation to the war that nearly took place in 1983 between the United States and Soviet Union. In our Focal Points blog, Latifah Azlan looks at how the Malaysian government is respondingand Russ Wellen asks questions about Ukraine's fateful decision not to close off its airspace. John Feffer Director, Foreign Policy In Focus World Beat MH17: Cold War Replay? John Feffer Unless a plane completely disappears—a truly unlikely scenario until it happened to another Malaysian airliner back in March—it’s usually possible to get to the bottom of air disasters with the help of black box recordings, satellite data, and the scraps of wreckage. But it takes time to sift through the evidence. And during that time, all manner of wild speculation can take place. Sometimes that speculation is idle and produces only flame wars on the Internet. But sometimes it can lead to a very dangerous escalation in tensions between armed combatants. Read more…   FPIF Features Refugee Crisis: The Stunning Collapse of Syria’s Safe Spaces Farrah Hassen In just five years, Syria has gone from being the world’s second-largest host of refugees to the second-largest producer of them. Women and the War In Syria Hillary Margolis Meet five women who are bearing the burden of conflict in Syria and persevering in spite of it. Reset Relations with Iran Didier Jacobs If President Obama wants his legacy to be as a peacemaker, Iran must be the place to start. Child Migrants Are Refugees the U.S. Helped Create Nathalie Baptiste Central American children fleeing poverty and gang violence are refugees—often from situations U.S. policies have helped to create—and they should be treated as such. Blowback on the Border: America’s Child Refugee Crisis Laura Carlsen Decades of short-sighted, inhumane U.S. policies have brought a child refugee crisis to America's door. NBC Pulls Its Best Journalist from Gaza Just as Israel Invades Phyllis Bennis With Israeli tanks rolling into Gaza, NBC has pulled the reporter who has done more than any other to show the human costs of the conflict there. When and How to End a Foreign Intervention Ved Singh Oxford professor Richard Caplan examines the challenges of exiting from state-building operations. America’s Border Fascism Todd Miller Border Patrol practices have created extensive "constitution-free zones" where civil liberties are routinely infringed. Focal Points Blog Malaysia Regains Its Footing Amid Intensifying Hostilities in Ukraine Latifah AzlanAfter learning airline crisis management the hard way, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak has quickly taken control of the investigation of MH17. Israel’s Operation in Gaza: Terrorism by Any Other Name Adil E. ShamooIsrael is obviously determined to subjugate Gazans by instilling fear. Scotland Deserves to Be Independent Sufyan bin UzayrScotland has a chance to obtain what’s been denied its people: sustainable economic growth, social justice, and, most of all, a Scotland-first approach. Red Carpet Into Harm’s Way Rolled Out for Flight MH17 Russ Wellen Between Ukraine airline officials keeping planes flying too low and the pilot diverting his plane into the vicinity of the military transport, MH17’s fate was sealed. Suddenly Putin Blaming Ukraine for Flight 17 Makes a Shred of Sense Russ Wellen The Russian prime minister may still bear some of the blame, though. Hungary’s U-Turn John FefferHungary, once a liberal democracy, regressed to a semi-autocratic regime. The Most Obvious Way for Iraq to Fend Off ISIS Russ WellenIraq President Nouri al-Maliki’s attention remains divided. Support FPIF! To protect our independence, we never run ads on FPIF. We take no money from governments or corporations. We survive on donations from readers like you. We’re a small non-profit with a tiny staff, so your dollars go a long way. Donate today!

Daybreak

This morning you wake to bombs

as if your nightmares were not enough.

Sleep knows what it means to be a refugee.

In the next room your children play 

like Innocence walking along the beach

discovering broken seashells.

  - E. Ethelbert Miller

THE TERRIBLENESS DESCENDS AND WE RUN

What do the living do?  Many times I've found myself outside conflicts and war zones. What I have found is that we view things as if they were baseball or football games. We can't and shouldn't reduce things down to winners and losers. The problem with this Middle East World Cup is that we've suddenly have two nations playing like Brazil. It's so disappointing looking at Hamas and Israel throwing rockets and bombs back and forth. One could see this coming after the first Palestinian threw a stone. Now everyday is a sad day and one fears the world is now filled with tunnels and darkness ready to emerge everywhere. What will happen if Israel loses it's soul? I fear a world in which Jews are attacked for simply being Jews. I fear a world in which every Palestinian is born invisible.  Oh, this terribleness descends and there is no where to flee. Run Love run.

WHAT DID I DO TO BE SO BLACK AND BLUE?

http://bai.northwestern.edu/2014/07/call-for-proposals-black-arts-united-states-institutions-and-interventions/

DICEE - An organization before its time?

This week I pulled some files that took me back to 1991.  I found the Articles of Incorporation for The District of Columbia Interracial Coalition For Environmental Equity (DICEE). This organization was an outgrowth of my work with Neil Seldman and the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. Other people involved were Damu Smith, Lisa Moscynski, Charles Tate, Charles Wilburn and Norris McDonald..

The purpose of DICEE was to work on environmental problems facing the District. Raise the consciousness of District residents. Take environmental issues which are adversely affecting the minority community in D.C. and do something about it. DICEE was created to put pressure on the Mayor's office and District Council to implement environmentally sound legislation.

We wanted to provide an interracial forum on environmental  issues.

THE FUNK IS BACK

I attended a special screening of Get on Up  at the Newseum last night. The funk is back. This is an excellent movie about James Brown. The reason is mainly the acting of Chadwick Boseman. This picture has to bring him an Oscar nomination. Nuff said. Don't miss it.

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

RADIO DAYS WITH REHM

Diane Rehm to Receive National Humanities Medal from President Obama

Washington—Diane Rehm, host of WAMU 88.5’s and NPR’s The Diane Rehm Show, has been named a recipient of the 2013 National Humanities Medal, to be presented by President Barack Obama at the White House on July 28, 2014.

The National Humanities Medal honors individuals or groups whose work has deepened the nation’s understanding of the humanities, broadened our citizens’ engagement with the humanities, or helped preserve and expand Americans’ access to important resources in the humanities. Recipients are selected by the President of the United States in conjunction with the National Endowment for the Humanities.

“It is a great privilege to be among those selected to receive the National Humanities Medal. To receive this award from President Obama and the National Endowment for the Humanities—and to be in the company of recipients who have inspired us through work that captures the human spirit—is an incredible honor,” Rehm said.

“For nearly 35 years, Diane Rehm has brought thoughtful conversations to millions of public radio listeners worldwide, and her careful and curious exploration of literature, the arts and the broader humanities has long been one of her distinguishing qualities,” said WAMU 88.5 Programming Director Mark McDonald. “We congratulate Diane on this esteemed and richly deserved recognition conferred upon her by President Obama and the National Endowment for the Humanities.”

Diane Rehm is a native Washingtonian who began her radio career in 1973 as a volunteer for WAMU 88.5. In 1979, she was selected to host WAMU 88.5’s local morning talk show,Kaleidoscope, which was renamed The Diane Rehm Show in 1984. The program has grown from a local morning talk show to a public broadcasting powerhouse, and is distributed by NPR, NPR Worldwide and SIRIUS XM to nearly 2.6 million listeners weekly. In 2010, Rehm was awarded a Personal Peabody Award for nearly in public broadcasting.

WAMU 88.5 is licensed to American University and began broadcasting in 1961. It is the leading public radio station for NPR news and information in the greater Washington, D.C., area, providing programming to a total audience of more than 838,000 listeners on air and online. In addition to its flagship frequency, WAMU 88.5 operates WAMU’s Bluegrass Country, Intersection, 88.3 Ocean City, and the digital platform wamu.org.

###

BUT WHAT ABOUT POET LORE MAGAZINE?

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/21/business/media/riding-the-juggernaut-that-left-print-behind.html?_r=0

AND WATCH HOW THEY WILL SAY THE CRISIS IN THE MIDDLE EAST MADE US DO IT

Breaking from Newsmax.com Obama Opens Eastern Seaboard to Oil Exploration The Obama administration is reopening the Eastern Seaboard to offshore oil and gas exploration, approving seismic surveys using sonic cannons that can pinpoint energy deposits deep beneath the ocean floor. The move, which stands to create thousands of jobs to support a new energy infrastructure, dismayed environmentalists and people who owe their livelihoods to fisheries and tourism. Read More Here

DRONE NEWS

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/22/science/drones-on-a-different-mission.html?_r=0

Whether this earth comes to an end or not, we'll slog over this endless road.

   - Mahmoud Darwish

Excerpt from a letter to a friend in Israel:

This is also a clash of historical victims fighting historical martyrs. It's a cultural prison. The past is the big bomb that keeps exploding. We have leaders who have decided to embrace chaos before peace

  - E. Ethelbert Miller

RETURN TO YOUR CONTAINER - DO NOT OPEN!

Below is an article I found interesting. However I read the print version that was in the express. That one mentions how these shipping containers could be used to house Georgetown's homeless. This needs to be monitored. It might be a clever way to move the poor and homeless off DC land and place them in "containers." So Sci-Fi it makes you believe in UFOs. The reality is that DC residents could disappear or simply become invisible. I could see Ralph Ellison beginning his novel by describing how a person is living in a container; this time without the 1,369 lights.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/shipping-container-apartment-being-erected-in-washington-this-week/2014/07/20/50adbd04-0e01-11e4-b8e5-d0de80767fc2_story.html

The war is going on between Hamas and Israel. My friend Joanna (in Israel) and I spend the morning on Skype discussing  the essays in Jane Hirshfield's Nine Gates. What else but poetry can comfort us? This is what the living must do. I am trying to see the world from two sides. My friends are Palestinians and Jews. We all reside in the World House. But who keeps knocking on the door?  Is it Mr. Hate or Mr. Death?

At the center of trying to understand blackness there is nothing but a void. How do you explain why a person might not want to sit next to you on a bus?  The small things that during a lifetime can cause you to mumble (to yourself) in public. Mental illness can be an outgrowth of history or simply every decision you make.

Some 46,000 Prisoners Could Be Eligible for Reduced Sentences Anthony Papa July 18, 2014 Huffington Post   On July 18, the U.S. Sentencing Commission unanimously approved an amendment that retroactively applies reduced sentencing guidelines to people who are currently serving time for select nonviolent drug offenses. The sentencing reduction was first approved by the Commission in April 2014, but did not include retroactivity. The Commission estimates that approximately 46,000 prisoners could be eligible for a retroactive sentence reduction.     U.S Attorney General Eric Holder, US Embassy,     Today the U.S. Sentencing Commission voted to retroactively apply an amendment approved earlier this year by the U.S. Sentencing Commission that lowers federal guidelines for sentencing persons convicted of drug trafficking offenses. The vote could shorten sentences for tens of thousands of people who are already incarcerated and serving sentences for drug offenses by granting eligible individuals a hearing before a federal judge to evaluate whether their sentence can be reduced to match the reduced guidelines. The underlying drug guidelines amendment was approved by the U.S. Sentencing Commission and submitted to Congress for review in April. Provided Congress takes no action to disapprove of the drug guidelines amendment before November 1, 2014, it will take effect on that date and courts may then begin considering petitions from incarcerated individuals for sentence reductions. Today's vote allows the drug guidelines amendment to apply retroactively. The U.S. Sentencing Commission ruled that no one who benefits from this reform may be released from prison before November 1, 2015. Today's decision reflects efforts underway in Congress and by the Obama administration to reform federal drug sentencing laws, as well as a broader effort to adapt federal policy to overwhelming public support for reforming drug laws, ending marijuana prohibition, and reducing collateral consequences of a drug conviction. In 2010 Congress unanimously passed legislation reducing the crack/powder cocaine sentencing disparity. Bipartisan legislation reforming mandatory minimum sentencing, the Smarter Sentencing Act, has already passed out of committee this year and is awaiting a floor vote in the Senate. Attorney General Eric Holder has made numerous changes this year, including directing U.S. Attorneys to charge certain drug offenders in a way that ensures they won't be subject to punitive mandatory minimum sentencing. In just the past two months, the U.S. House of Representatives has voted to block the Drug Enforcement Administration from spending federal funds to undermine state medical marijuana laws and state hemp cultivation laws, and voted on Wednesday to allow banking institutions to accept deposits from marijuana stores and dispensaries in states that regulate marijuana. On Monday, the White House issued a Statement of Administration Policy that expressed strong opposition to a House Republican amendment by Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD) directed at blocking implementation of a recent law the District of Columbia passed replacing jail time for possessing small amounts of marijuana for personal use with a small fine. The statement calls marijuana reform a "states' rights" issue, a groundbreaking policy position for the White House to take. "It makes little sense, of course, to reform harsh sentencing laws proactively but not retroactively," said Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance. "But that's what politicians do when they're scared of allowing people out of prison early. The Sentencing Commission really had no choice but to rectify the moral absurdity of keeping people locked up based on sentences that are no longer the law. What they did today was right and just." According to the U.S. Sentencing Commission and a recent report by the Congressional Research Service, mandatory minimums have significantly contributed to overcrowding and racial disparities in the Bureau of Prisons (BOP). The BOP operates at nearly 140 percent capacity -- and is on track to use one-third of the Justice Department's budget. More than half of the prisoners in the BOP are serving time for a drug law violation. Even though African-Americans are no more likely than Whites to use or sell drugs, evidence shows they are far more likely to be prosecuted for drug law offenses and far more likely to receive longer sentences than Whites. With less than 5 percent of the world's population -- but nearly 25 percent of the world's prison population -- the U.S. leads the world in the incarceration of its own citizens. As someone who has felt the sting of harsh sentencing laws after serving 12 years of a 15 to life sentence, I think the retro-application of the guidelines would balance the scales of justice, in reforming bad laws that dished out unfair sentences to individuals and allow them to be reunited with their families. [Anthony Papa is the Manager, Media Relations, Drug Policy Alliance. Follow Anthony Papa on Twitter:www.twitter.com/AnthonyPapa]	VIEW ONLINE PRINT SUBSCRIBE VISIT PORTSIDE.ORG TWITTER FACEBOOK

THE LIGHT AND ART OF KARLISIMA-RODAS

Photo of Potter's House by Ethelbert

Karlisima-Rodas photo by Ethelbert

PRESS RELEASE

For immediate Release

Contact: Karlisima Rodas-Israel

Cell Phone: 703-819-8069

The Potter’s House Mural:

Public Art at Risk of being destroyed!

By Karlísima Rodas-Israel and Marcela Guio-Camargo

Washington D.C., July 19, 2014.

The Potter's House, 1658 Columbia Road NW, in the heart of Adams Morgan, believed to be the first coffee house in Washington, D.C., has been a landmark for over 5 decades.  The mission of the Potter’s House is to be the church in the market place. It is not only a coffee house or a bookstore. To understand The Potter’s House, you have to know that it is first and foremost a church and a spiritual gathering place where people of all races and social backgrounds find refuge, comfort and hope.

In 2009 The Potter’s House Mural entitled “The Light of the World” was painted by local artist Karla-“Karlisima” Rodas-Israel.  She is an award-winning Salvadorian-born artist who has lived and worked in the Adams Morgan community for more than 22 years.  She was featured in an article by the Washington Times “Driven By Work” as one of the most outstanding and talented local muralists.  In addition, her drive and perseverance, has brought her international recognition with art exhibitions in London and Berlin in 2005 and 2006.  In 2008 she painted the “Mama Ayesha’s Presidential Mural” with 11 USA Presidents including President Obama.  This mural has been featured in Wikipedia, Fox News, CNN and PBS-WETA, MTV, and in US History texbooks in Norway.

“The Light of the World” was funded by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities. It is painted outdoors right above the entrance of the Potter’s House at the second level, and it depicts a purple candle with colorful and bright rays of light.  Meetings were held with community members to approve the mural’s image and design, which were approved not only by the community, but also by the Adams Morgan ANC and the Board of Directors of the Potter’s House.  

To get the design approved and to paint the mural took about nine months to complete.   She had to hire five assistants to achieve the task. Now everybody takes pictures of the mural and she gets compliments. People from the community told Karlisima that the mural is cheerful and that it brightens up the street with its attractive colors.

The Potter’s House has recently changed ownership, and it is going through major renovations. It now belongs to the Eighth Day Community Church. They chose a Project Team to make decisions about the future of the Potter’s House, and they decided that they will not keep the mural when they do the renovations. Their intention is to paint over it to give the New Potter’s House a more conservative “corporate, clean look.”

The community really loves the mural and feels that it is already a “landmark” in our Adams Morgan multicultural neighborhood.    This mural does not conflict with the overall structural design of the New Potter’s House. They should not paint over this beautiful mural, which is a piece of art. You don’t paint over a piece of art!  …especially since it gives enjoyment to the people.

The mural has been paid with community tax payers’ dollars, and, therefore, it belongs to the community.  The people have already expressed their opinion, which is that they do not want to see the mural get destroyed.  “The Light of the World,” is a mural that has indeed become a beacon of Hope and Light to the people of our community. 

Word for the Day

Constructive ambiguity

# 100

I take out the trash

as if my life was this bundle.

Tied tight at the top -

a knot preventing my head from falling

out.

So sad the smell of sadness

and the sweet waste of love.

 - E. Ethelbert Miller

RSVP here Saturday, July 26, 2014, 1-5pm Impact HUB 419 7th St NW Childcare available at rmintz@layc-dc.org ONE DC http://www.onedconline.org/

ONE DC · 614 S Street Northwest, Carriage House in Rear, Washington, DC 20001, United States This email was sent to emiller698@aol.com. To stop receiving emails, click here. You can also keep up with ONE DC on Twitter or Facebook.

GAZA 

      (for Hind)

We live in a world where

children die before they grow old.

A place where limbs disappear as

if by magic.There are places where

the sky falls and we cut our hands

picking up the pieces. So many

hearts live in dark basements

scratching love poems on the walls.

They have been prisoners inside

of angry men and women. Tell me

the story of the heart and I will

restore light to this earth. 

Make me a believer in the goodness

of human life (again). Bring me dreams so

I might touch tomorrow's brightness.

Oh, Hind compose the fragrance

for our flowers. Now is the time 

for things to bloom and petals of peace.

to descend from your lips.

  - E. Ethelbert Miller

THE 5X5 PROJECT

http://www.the5x5project.com/a-m-weaver/isaac-diggs/

IPS

July 24 @ 6:30 pm  - 8:00 pm

Busboys & Poets 14th & V

2021 14th Street NW, Washington, DC United States

+ Google Map

The Institute for Policy Studies, with many friends, present a DC based civil rights culmination of icons to wrap up the 50th Anniversary Tribute to Freedom Summer.

The core of the book is a selection of 150 black-and-white photographs, representing the work of photographers Bob Adelman, George Ballis, Bob Fitch, Bob Fletcher, Matt Herron, David Prince, Herbert Randall, Maria Varela, and Tamio Wakayama. Images are grouped around four movement themes and convey SNCC’s organizing strategies, resolve in the face of violence, impact on local and national politics, and influence on the nation’s consciousness. The photographs and texts of “This Light of Ours” remind us that the movement was a battleground, that the battle was successfully fought by thousands of “ordinary” Americans among whom were the nation’s courageous youth, and that the movement’s moral vision and impact continue to shape our lives.

Invited event co-sponsors: Institute for Policy Studies, Julian Bond, Aviva Kempner, Lessons of the 60′s Project, NAACP Washington D.C. Branch, SNCC Legacy Project, WPFW, Teaching for Change

BUT WILL THEY REMEMBER HIM IN THE BRONX?

MONDAY, AUGUST 25TH.

THE CORNELIA STREET CAFE

29 Cornelia Street, Greenwich Village, N.Y.

6:00PM  BENNINGTON WRITERS - POETRY  V. Hansmann, host E. Ethelbert Miller, featured reader; Elaine Fletcher Chapman;  Miriam O’Neal;  Joseph Tobias

E. Ethelbert Miller is tonight’s featured reader. Joining him will be Elaine Fletcher Chapman; Miriam O’Neal: and Joseph Tobias. E. Ethelbert Miller is a writer and literary activist. Born in 1950, he grew up in New York City. Miller chairs the board of the Institute for Policy Studies, a progressive think tank located in Washington, D.C. And he serves as editor of Poet Lore, the oldest poetry magazine published in the United States. The author of several collections of poetry, Miller has published two memoirs, Fathering Words: The Making of an African American Writer (2000) and The 5th Inning (2009). Recently, He has begun hosting and producing the television show, The Scholars, which airs on UDC-TV. Miller has taught at UNLV, American University, George Mason University, and Emory and Henry College. For several years, he was a core faculty member of the Bennington Writing Seminars, where he endowed the Annual Poetry vs. Prose Softball Game. Miller can often be heard on National Public Radio.

HOW I HEAR IT. PLUMS ANYONE?

Because of a few people, many people die. Maybe this is why I was terrible at math. The numbers never added up or made sense on my page. I was never one to cheat, stretch my neck and look at my neighbor's paper. Was I too smart or too dumb? Now the war begins again in the Middle East. We keep waiting for a cease fire but our language fans the flames. Last night I watched the news. They told the story of Israeli airplanes dropping fliers on areas in Gaza targeted for bombing. The note told people to leave but where could they go? One man holding a flier looked at a news reporter and mentioned he couldn't read. Is it true that literacy might one day save us?  Something is wrong with the narrative we keep telling ourselves. The only way to have new minds is to have new words. Peace should be as sweet as plums when mentioned in a crowd.

This is sad...

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/17/nyregion/a-treasure-house-of-yiddish-prepares-to-close.html?src=twr&_r=0

Coming, Going | July 17, 2014 Empty-handed I entered the world Barefoot I leave it. My coming, my going— Two simple happenings That got entangled. —Kozan Ichikyo, "Coming, Going"

# 98

Inside a cat's eye there is mystery

As if the unknown could be reached

We live without translation

Trying to learn a common language

Nothing matters except this moment

When our love turns to mist

We are beautiful believers

Counting beads and suffering

We fail as humans so we dream.

Angels never sleep

  - E. Ethelbert Miller