Octavia McBride-Ahebee: 2022

Monday, November 7, 2022

Heart on Your Sleeve; a Poetry Initiative Bringing Poetry into Public Spaces

*Philly- Come this Saturday, November 5th at 7 PM, for the launch of “Heart on Your Sleeve”, a year-long poetry and public arts initiative meant to bring poetry into public spaces in fun and playful ways. My daughter and poet Sojourner Ahebee is the featured. poet for the month of November.

Poet Sojourner Ahebee

For the next few months( November 2022 – April 2023), if you're in Philly, you'll be able to read selected poems on the coffee sleeves at Elixr's Center City location.

This year, these poems tap into themes of care and renewal. On Saturday, many will all gather at Elixr to celebrate the poets, and indulge in delicious food and drinks courtesy of Philly staples from Yards Brewing Company & Wood Street Pizza!

Come for the good vibes, and stay for the unveiling of the gorgeous textile installation by artist, Destiny Palmer! And leave with a coffee sleeve with Sojourner's poem on it hehe!

When: Saturday, November 5, 7-10pm

Where: Elixr Coffee on 207 S Sydenham St, Philadelphia!

This project is supported by Elixr Coffee and The Poetry Project.

And special thanks goes out to our wonderful curators, Molly Gross and Ryan Strand Greenberg !

Curators Greenberg and Gross

Thursday, August 25, 2022

Sowing Desire- Sojo's and My Poem on a Major City Mural

Sowing Desire! What an absolutely glorious day! Sojourner and I attended the dedication of a mural project we had been working on with Mural Arts Philadelphia. Our poem is featured, with the stunning artwork of Priscilla Bell, Sheena Garcia, Wanda Payne and Pauline Houston McCall, on the Market St. wall of The Fresh Grocer, between 56th and 57th Streets- West Philly! Shout-out to Cathy Harris and Jane Golden of Mural Arts. Shout-out to Noah Smalls for being the genesis of this project. Shout-out to Karen Smith, Debra Wright and the Sistahs Laying Down of Hands Collective for blessing this event with the music of our ancestors. And a huge thanks to the management of The Fresh Grocer.

Last week, the mother( in red), of one of my former students, saw the mural with the poem Sojo and I wrote on The Fresh Grocer Market wall, which is in her neighborhood. She called me - most my parents have my number-so excited to tell me so. I taught her daughter in 2nd grade and her daughter is now going to 7th grade. Mom brought her and grandmother yesterday to the dedication of the mural - Sowing Desire. I do love what I am- a teacher - because it's all about building relationships and that is holy work as one of my Uber drivers, from Iran, once told me!

Tuesday, August 23, 2022

To Live on Spring Forever

Sojourner describes so well here the multilayers of needs supermarkets satisfy in our community and why this mural matters. We are so honored to have our poem featured on this mural, on the wall of a market that means so much to our folks.

...by Sojourner Ahebee

In the Philly, where I'm from, supermarkets aren't just places to shop for food -- they're vibrant community spaces you come to catch up with neighbors and care for one another. And as a child growing up in Philly, I was lucky to be raised by a community of southern women (my grandmother Sallie and my great aunt Lillian to be exact) who only ate fruits and veggies in season, who could turn any plot of land into lush abundance, who crushed grapes in their backyard for wine, who canned their spring produce so as to live on spring forever... I come from Black women who held their labor close, who worked to make a garden out of their desire. In other words, the poem and the mural are for all the Black women we know who've taught us a thing or two about ABUNDANCE, about making something out of nothing.

Sunday, August 21, 2022

Walt Whitman Still Inspiring the Young- Whitman on Walls International Project

My wonderful students practicing yesterday for their evening performance of their poem, This is My City, for the Walt Whitman on Walls project presented at the Venice Island Performing Arts Center. They will be sharing the stage with the great poets of their city.

Thank you to all organizers of this project and participating poets: Karin Coonrod, of Yale's School of Drama and the Compagnia de’ Colombari theatre, Brooke Palma , Anthony Palma , Elijah Elijah B Pringle III , Sean Hanrahan , Alison Lubar, Leah Jackson and David Kozinski.

Here is a link to the Philly Voice article about this event: https://www.phillyvoice.com/walt-whitman-poetry-venice-island-performing-arts-center-manayunk/

Friday, August 5, 2022

May This Be a House of Joy

Poet Laureates Yolanda Wisher and Trapeta Mayson; Photo/Philly Magazine

Thank you to Yolanda Wisher and Trapeta Mayson for organizing a beautiful gathering of Philadelphia Black women and femme poets. Hosted at the Awbury Arboretum, this retreat was a day of cultivating joy through rest and pleasure.
After giving thanks to our Lenape sisters and brothers, the day consisted of literary walks, workshops, catered meals throughout the day, taking a historical group photo, double dutch, blowing bubbles and a poetry reading.

“May This be a House of Joy”
by Lucille Clifton

May this be a House of Joy.
May we be open here to dreams,
and to each other.

May all who enter in these magic walls
feel love and feel respect
for learning and each other.
May we be always friends to life.
May we walk in that friendship.

May learning live in this house.
May it never leave.

To learn more about this project read the following Philly Magazine article.

https://www.phillymag.com/things-to-do/2022/07/27/consensis-poets/

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A 106-year-old from the Philippines is Vogue's oldest ever cover model

Still Dancing by Johnathan Labillois

Mr. Labillois' Artist Statement: I donated this to the Montreal Native Women's Shelter to raise awareness of missing and murdered Native women in Canada. I hoped sharing it with others would bring this issue to the minds of many people, and hope that many of our sisters, mothers, aunts or daughters will never be forgotten. The idea for the title came from my little sister who said, "Dancers dance for those who cannot, the sick, the elders, and those who are gone. It's like all those women are still dancing thru her." * 2020 Collective vision.us - Postcards for Political Action; Click image to learn more.

March 9, 2020 7:30 p.m./ Maira Kalman | The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas Illustrated

Free Library of Phila./Central Branch-An illustrator, writer, artist, and designer, Maira Kalman is the author of a dozen children’s books, has designed fabric and accessories for Isaac Mizrahi and Kate Spade, created sets for stage productions, shown her work in nearly two dozen galleries, and, with her late husband, made accessories for the Museum of Modern Art. She has also designed several New Yorker covers, including the famed “Newyorkistan” absurdist map cover. Written by Gertrude Stein in the voice of her partner, The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas is one of literary history’s cheekiest and most loved biographies. In this new illustrated edition, Kalman brings to life the shimmering lights and intellectual luminaries of Paris in the 1920s and ’30s. Click image to learn more.

Wed, March 11, 2020 7:30 p.m.- James McBride Free Library/Central Branch

“Boisterous, highly entertaining,” and “altogether original” (Washington Post), James McBride is the author of the National Book Award–winning The Good Lord Bird, in which a young boy born into slavery joins abolitionist John Brown’s doomed crusade. His nonfiction books include the New York Times bestselling memoir The Color of Water: A Black Man’s Tribute to His White Mother and Kill ’Em and Leave: Searching for James Brown and the American Soul. His other fiction includes the novels Miracle at St. Anna and Song Yet Sung, and the short-story collection Five-Carat Soul. Also an award-winning composer, screenwriter, and saxophonist, he received the National Humanities Medal from President Obama in 2016. Deacon King Kong is a novel about a very public shooting in a 1960s Brooklyn housing project. To learn more, click photo.

Wed, March 11, 2020 6:00 p.m. One Book, Many Voices Community Dinner

Blanche A. Nixon/Cobbs Creek Library Gather for a family-style dinner of dishes from the Americas. Hear thoughts from the contributing chefs on Indigenous food traditions, as participants put text on the table and discuss passages from There There by Tommy Orange. Everyone will get to know their neighbors during this special evening, and explore together what identity and community-building mean in Lenapehoking past, present, and future. Join the party for a family-style dinner with dishes from across the Americas, in partnership with One Book, One Philadelphia. Participating restaurants include: El Merkury, Poi Dog Philly, South Philly Barbacoa and Chef Chris Paul. Registration for this FREE event is encouraged but not required; seating is first-come, first-served. Click image for more information.

Curtis Institute of Music Student Recitals-Mon., Wed., & Thu/Free

The Student Recital Series provides a platform for exceptional young musicians—and more than 100 free opportunities for audiences to indulge in a season-long showcase of artistry. Since Curtis was founded in 1924, some of history’s most important musicians have appeared on the stage of Field Concert Hall, and today the Student Recital Series continues this celebrated legacy. Students perform solo and chamber works on most Mondays at 6 p.m., and Wednesday and Friday evenings at 8 p.m. Additional dates and times are added throughout the year. Student Recitals are free and open to the public. Seating is general admission and first-come, first-served. Most recitals are about two hours long, with one intermission. Click image to learn more.

U-M anthropologist uses toe tags to highlight crisis at US-Mexico border

"Hostile Terrain 94", by anthropologist Jason De Leon, confronts viewers with a giant map of Arizona. The map is populated with 3,000 toe tags — cards used in morgues to identify the dead. Each toe tag represents a person who died attempting to cross the border through the Sonoran desert. As part of the exhibition, the viewer is invited to fill out the toe tags by hand, listing the person's corresponding name, date, location of death and condition of the body. Click image to read more of this article and to learn more about this project.

ReimaginedFLP: Free Library Opened Reimagined Spaces in the Parkway Central Library!

The Robert and Eileen Kennedy Heim Center for Cultural and Civic Engagement First Floor | 7,200 square feet An active gathering space for diverse programs and civic engagement. Marie and Joseph Field Teen Center Ground Floor | 4,000 square feet Special programming and a gaming area–exclusively for teens. Business Resource and Innovation Center Ground Floor | 8,200 square feet A new hub for Philadelphia's entrepreneurs, inventors, nonprofits, and job seekers./ Click image to learn more.

Open Archive: The Poetics of Anti-Slavery Protest- New York

Join Michelle Commander, associate director and curator of the Lapidus Center, who will explore archive material capturing the use of poetry and related arts in anti-slavery efforts in the Atlantic World. The Lapidus Center for the Historical Analysis of Transatlantic Slavery at the Schomburg Center is the only facility of its kind based in a public research library. The initial collection included 400 rare items of printed material — books and documents continue to be added to the collection — making the Schomburg Center home to one of the world’s premier collections of slavery material. The Center's mission is to generate and disseminate scholarly knowledge on the slave trade, slavery, and anti-slavery pertaining to the Atlantic World. Lapidus Center engages the public with a variety of programs, an annual nonfiction prize, exhibitions, and conferences./ Click image to learn more.

Raquel Salas Rivera

Written in response the PROMESA bill (Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act) bill, lo terciario/the tertiary offers a decolonial queer critique and reconsideration of Marx. The book’s titles come from Pedro Scaron’s, El Capital, the 1976 translation of Karl Marx’s classic. Published by Siglo Veintiuno Editores, this translation was commonly used by the Puerto Rican left as part of political formation programs. Lo terciario/the tertiary places this text in relation to the Puerto Rican debt crisis, forcing readers to reconsider old questions when facing colonialism’s newest horrors-Colette Arrand, author of Hold Me Gorilla Monsoon

Photos Of 1908 Japan, Before Wars And Devastation

Back in 1908, a German photographer Arnold Genthe (1869-1942) spent six months in Japan, documenting the everyday life of Japanese during the Meiji period. Genthe was known for his photo series, documenting San Francisco’s Chinatown. After his death, the Library of Congress acquired approximately 20,000 never before seen photographs from his studio, and buried in the collection were these rare photos from 1908 Japan, during the Meiji period. In these photos, you’ll see an almost idyllic everyday life that contrasts sharply with the soon-to-come destruction, brought by the wars. Click on image to learn more.

20 Amazing Writing Residencies You Should Apply for This Year

Leeway Foundation

The Leeway Foundation's grantmaking programs honor women and trans* artists for their ability to create social change through their artistic and cultural work. The Art and Change Grants and the Leeway Transformation Awards fund women and trans artists (including those identifying as transgender, transsexual, and/or genderqueer) living in the Delaware Valley region of Bucks, Camden, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia Counties, who engage in art and social change work and have financial need. To learn more, click image.

Hedgebrook; Women Authoring Change

Hedgebrook is a global community of women writers and people who seek extraordinary books, poetry, plays, films and music by women. A literary nonprofit, its mission is to support visionary women writers whose stories and ideas shape culture now and for generations to come. Hedgebrook offers writing residencies, master classes and salons at its 25-year-old retreat on Whidbey Island, and public programs that connect writers with readers and audiences around the world. Click image to learn more.

Rethinking Schools

Coming in early 2015 Rethinking Sexism, Gender, & Sexuality, a new book from Rethinking Schools How do you respond when a child asks, “Can a girl turn into a boy?” in the middle of circle time? What if your daughter brings home schoolbooks with sexist, racist stories? What does “queering the curriculum” really mean? What does it look like? What if parents complain? Rethinking Sexism, Gender, and Sexuality is filled with insightful, inspiring articles on these and dozens of other critical topics. Chapters include: creating safe and nurturing classrooms, coming out at school as a teacher or student, integrating feminist and LGBTQ content into curriculum, moving beyond the classroom to school and community teacher education Join our campaign to publish the book we wish our own teachers—and our children's teachers—had well-thumbed copies of in their classrooms.

The American Library in Paris Visiting Fellowship

The American Library in Paris Visiting Fellowship was created in 2013 to nurture and sustain a heritage as old as the Library itself – deepening French-American understanding. The Visiting Fellowship offer writers and researchers an opportunity to pursue a creative project in Paris for a month or longer while participating actively in the life of the American Library. The project may be a book (fiction or non-fiction), long-form journalism, film or music. The Fellowship award, a stipend of $5,000 is intended to cover travel and housing costs for the Visiting Fellow. He or she will be expected to present the work-in-progress to the public in a weekday evening talk at the Library, and to conduct one or two workshops for Library members on a subject of common interest. Click Image to learn more..

Ride a train across country and write a book. Welcome to the Amtrak Writer's Residency:

What began as a line in Alexander Chee's interview in PEN Ten and was fueled by Twitter, is now an official Amtrak program. As many of you may know by now, our test-run for Amtrak Residency was done by Manhattan-based writer Jessica Gross, whose piece, Writing The Lakeshore Limited was published in February by The Paris Review. What followed was overwhelming support on Twitter and in the media with #AmtrakResidency being featured in The Wire, The New Yorker, and Huffington Post among others. Today we are happy to announce that #AmtrakResidency will allow for up to 24 writers to take long-distance trains to work on their projects. Each writer's round-trip journey will include accommodations on board a sleeper car equipped with a bed, a desk and outlets. We hope this experience will inspire creativity and most importantly fuel your sense of adventure! Are you excited about #AmtrakResidency? Want to learn more and apply? Head over to our official entry form and good luck! Click image.

Where My Birthmark Dances is now available on Amazon

What's being said about Where My Birthmark Dances ?

The Ancient Romans used to call a person's creative spirit her "genius," and recognized the labor of setting it free as one of love and sacrifice. Octavia McBride-Ahebee's latest collection is just such a labor. Her poems depict human longing, love and dignity in the context of global inequality with fierce, uncompromising grace. As her characters speak, she creates indelible sensory images of loveliness and affection, profound misery and anger, letting each co-exist on the page. The resulting complexity of tone makes space for nuanced and compelling human voices that might otherwise be categorized as "victims" or "villains" of oppression. It takes the full use of genius to notice and capture these contradictions, and a deep social conscience to care so passionately about writing them down. This collection is one of McBride-Ahebee's "bighearted magnolia trees," its trunk scarred by the fire of sacrifice, its blossoms and branches so beautiful you don't want to leave their shade.

-Lillian Dunn, Editor of Apiary Literary Journal

Octavia McBride-Ahebee

Words without Borders; The Home of International Literature