Proud Mama- Sojourner Ahebee Celebrating the Humanities At Stanford

    I am so proud of my daughter Sojourner Ahebee,  a recent Stanford grad, who was invited by the university to share her experiences as a humanities major ( African and African-American Studies). Stanford is world-renowned for its science and technology programming, but it has equally stellar humanities programs.  Enjoy!!!

Praise Song for the Gravediggers by Octavia McBride-Ahebee

     I am so excited about my new poetry collection, "Praise Song for the Gravediggers", which delivers a geography of women/girls whose stories, once historically silenced, rise to the top to be heard and considered. Readers meet the likes of Aminata, a Malian woman, who crossed both the Sahara Desert and the Mediterranean Sea finally landing in an urban, U.S. city where she, undocumented, braids working class African-American girls’/women’s heads using the hair Indian girls/women donated to their religious shrines to receive blessings; no money. All this feminine intersection, this cast of global females, gathering in the flesh or in hair, in unassuming salons, in the hood is magical, yet buoyed by undercurrents of structural, economic inequities. This collection brings women from all backgrounds into a fertile space where world history, economic systems and current events meet to form an oasis of human exchange and storytelling.

Available on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/Praise-Song-Gravediggers-Octavia-McBride-Ahebee/dp/1792945213/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_1?keywords=praise+song+for+the+gravediggers&qid=1555963413&s=gateway&sr=8-1-fkmrnull

The Burial of Kojo- A Film by Blitz Bazawule

         

                 A film by Samuel Bazawule                                                                                                                        This is an absolutely stunning film, by Ghanaian filmmaker Samuel 'Blitz' Bazawule, which is currently being shown on Netflix.  It is interesting in that my daughter and I had strongly visceral reactions to the film, but ones at the opposite ends of the emotional spectrum.   Nevertheless, we were both move by this film and its bold imagination. And, yes, the soundtrack is gorgeous.

Here are some links to reviews/interviews:

1. The New Yorker  https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-front-row/the-burial-of-kojo-reviewed-a-boldly-lyrical-portrait-of-a-young-ghanaian-girl

2. Shadow and Act   https://shadowandact.com/exclusive-blitz-bazawule-challenges-hollywoods-africa-narrative-with-magical-realist-the-burial-of-kojo

3. Ava DuVernay's ARRAY Acquires Surrel Drama 'The Burial of Kojo', Sets Netflix Premiere Date

https://deadline.com/2019/02/array-releasing-the-burial-of-kojo-samuel-blitz-bazawule-ava-duvernay-1202558477/

Blitz 'The Ambassador' Bazawule: "Stories are ours to tell"

Theodore Warren McBride, Sr. - Rest in Peace

My dear father Theodore Warren McBride, Sr. passed on Sunday, September 23, 2018 after a lengthy illness. We were able to celebrate his 87th birthday with him on the 15th.  He was a great husband and dad; a wonderful example of paternal commitment, love of life,  love of God and a huge curiosity about the world.  I will post a link to his obituary tomorrow.

Theodore Warren McBride  1931-2018

                                                                

Ode to Sadness                                                                               

by Pablo Neruda

Sadness, scarab
with seven crippled feet,
spiderweb egg,
scramble-brained rat,
bitch's skeleton:
No entry here.
Don't come in.
Go away.
Go back
south with your umbrella,
go back
north with your serpent's teeth.
A poet lives here.
No sadness may
cross this threshold.
Through these windows
comes the breath of the world,
fresh red roses,
flags embroidered with
the victories of the people.
No.
No entry.
Flap
your bat's wings,
I will trample the feathers
that fall from your mantle,
I will sweep the bits and pieces
of your carcass to
the four corners of the wind,
I will wring your neck,
I will stitch your eyelids shut,
I will sew your shroud,
sadness, and bury your rodent bones
beneath the springtime of an apple tree.

Sonia Sanchez Tribute at Philly's African-American Museum

 Yesterday's celebration of  poet and activist  Sonia Sanchez at Philadelphia's African-American Museum was amazing.  Area poets came out to laud this stellar talent  on her 85th birthday.  Here I am reading to her my poem of tribute to her.

Poet Sojourner Ahebee to Read at Apiary Event

Beer & Honey is back!  They are  bringing together some of their favorite writers to celebrate 10 years of APIARY - and the beginning of their submissions period for APIARY X! Join them on 9/15 at Pentridge Station Pop-Up,  5110-5120 Pentridge St, Philadelphia, PA 19143, @ 7:30 for a DOPE lineup of performances from 8 Philly writers including Sojourner Ahébée!

Sojourner Ahebee writes stories about African diaspora identities and the eternal question of home & belonging. Sojourner believes not in the boat that floated her here but what she’ll do with the water. Her debut poetry chapbook, Reporting from the Belly of the Night, was released in August 2017. You can find her on Instagram @daughteroftheyam as she dreams up other suns.

APIARY X is supported by the The Velocity Fund and Temple Contemporary. #Apiary #Beer&Honey 

Poet Sojourner Ahebee

Terence Nance's Univitellin

Terence Nance by Kehinde Wiley

My daughter just introduced me to some of the work of filmmaker Terence Nance, who is the creator of the HBO show Random Acts of  Flyness. Given my West African  and  French bent,  I was particularly impressed by his short film Univitellin.   Enjoy this short excerpt.



UNIVITELLIN from Terence Nance on Vimeo.

Philly's Own Poet Sonia Sanchez Wins $100,000 Prize

     The Academy of American Poets announced that  our beloved Sonia Sanchez is this year’s winner of the Wallace Stevens Award.  Kudos to her !!!!

Independent Lens Presents Winnie Mandela Documentary

One of the more misunderstood and intriguing contemporary female political figures, Winnie Mandela’s rise and seeming fall from grace bear the hallmarks of epic tragedy. Winnie explores her life and contribution to the struggle to bring down apartheid in South Africa from the inside, with intimate insight from Winnie herself, those closest to her and enemies who sought to extinguish her activism.   

Streaming now until February 20, 2018  Click link: http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/videos/winnie/

What can a Black Moor, Our Mona and the very Adept Anthony Teach Us About Being a Good Neighbor – Come see the play "Lacunae"!

Playwright Mona R. Washington

Mona R. Washington most recent play, "Lacunae" will be performed at the Philadelphia Museum of Art's Perelman Building , 2525 Pennsylvania Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19130, December 9th at noon. This is a pay what you want event. This commissioned play is part of the "Philadelphia Assembled" project which is the first public art project ever undertaken by the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Washington is the featured playwright. Her 'atmosphere', which is the way the project is organized, is 'Reconstruction' and for this project she has written plays about gentrification and displacement, and mass incarceration.

Director Antony P. Kamani has directed all of Washington's plays commissioned for "Philadelphia Assembled", including the short "Pop-Ups" and the upcoming "Lacunae". 

Director Tony P. Kamani 

For Washington, "Lacunae" is about making public art, and the multifaceted participation that entails, especially for theatre. She described this play as the culmination of all of the previous plays she has written-short and long-for "Philadelphia Assembled"...and it addresses the major question "What constitutes a just neighbor ?”

So, save the date. R.S.V.P. at magicwriting@live.com #PhilaMuseum #PhiladelphiaAssembled #PhilaOpenYourDoors

The Moorish Chief  by  Eduard Charlemont