Gentrification Symposium | August Wilson | Permission to Feel Loss

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June 22 – July 5, 2017
 
 
 
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On The Dock This Issue:
 
gentrification
DC Gentrification Symposium
The symposium is Saturday, June 24 from 9:30am-4:30pm. The Watha T. Daniel/Shaw Library, 1630 7th St. NW, will host the event.
 
An August Wilson Lover’s Must-See
The one man show that Wilson would perform himself is a collection of personal stories.
 
Abortion Provider Dr. Willie Parker Talks About His Deep Christian Faith
He grew up Christian in Alabama and became a doctor at the suggestion of a college mentor. "In Life's Work: A Moral Argument for Choice," Dr. Willie Parker explains why he's now an abortion provider.
 
Tracy K. Smith New U.S. Poet Laureate
She has taught at Medgar Evers College of the City University of New York.
 
Despite #45
From the Supreme Court’s turning down North Carolina’s voting laws to Oregon passing a pay equity law, Americans have managed to continue building a more inclusive and diverse nation in the #45 era.
 
Permission to Feel the Loss
Unlovable, promiscuous, and over compensating are three of the feelings that the mostly female group expressed as they talked with Jonetta Rose Barras about the void left by an absent or disconnected biological father.
 
Activities
Interesting, diverse things to do
 
Readers' Trends
Port Of Harlem, Pinterest, and Facebook
 
 
 
DC Gentrification Symposium



gentrification



Anise Jenkins of Stand  Up! for Democracy in DC (Free DC) hopes that an upcoming symposium on gentrification will help participants understand “the role of public policy on gentrification.” Jenkins will be a speaker on one of four panels when the Metropolitan Policy Center at American University and Kulture, Teaching, Urban Research & Engagement (KTURE) Institute conduct the symposium Saturday, June 24 from 9:30am-4:30pm. The Watha T. Daniel/Shaw Library, 1630 7th St. NW, will host the event.

The event, billed as  "Urban Transformation: Neighborhood Change and Development in Washington, D.C.,” will feature panels on public policy, residents' perspectives, activism, and the academic research done of the subject.

During the first panel discussion, American University Professor Derek Hyra will shed light on the question:  “What happens when young White newcomers invade historically Black communities -- and how should those communities respond?” Hyra is also the author of "Race, Class, and Politics in the Cappuccino City" and uses D.C.'s Shaw neighborhood as a case study on gentrification. (See video on his book)

Former DC Councilperson Frank Smith hopes the second discussion will clarify "the benefit and demerits of gentrification," he says. During the third panel session, activists Jenkins will shed light on the effects of gentrification on social movements.

"My hope is that people do not walk away with an overly simplistic or one-sided perspective on the concept of gentrification," added Elgin Klugh,
Coppin State University Criminal Justice and Applied Social and Political Science Associate Professor. During the final panel, he hopes to add a more historically contextualized understanding that hopefully will "alleviate negative impacts of change," in the long run. "Urban transitions are a natural part of the ebb and flow of cities." he continued.


“What happens when young White newcomers invade historically Black communities -- and how should those communities respond?”
The list of panel discussions is below. Parking is limited. The Shaw-Howard Metro is a one-minute walk from the library. The event will include a ½ on-your-own lunch break from 12:45p-1:15p.

10 a.m.: Public Policy panel – includes American University professor Derek Hyra
11:30 a.m.: Residential Perspectives –  includes African American Civil War Memorial founding executive director Frank Smith
1:15 p.m.: Activism – includes Stand Up DC activist Annise Jenkins
2:45 p.m.: Academic perspectives and research – includes Coppin State University Criminal Justice and Applied Social and Political Science Associate Professor Elgin Klugh

From Our Archives:  Gentrification – Blacks Tricked? .
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An August Wilson Lover’s Must-See


august wilson at roundhouse theater



Before August Wilson’s estate releases the rights of “How I Learned What I Learned,” RoundHouse Theater in Bethesda, MD is staging the autobiographical play until Sunday, July 2.

Wilson conceived the play with long-time collaborator Todd Kreidler. The one man show that Wilson would perform himself is a collection of personal stories. The short stories, are well performed by Eugene Lee and provides information on Wilson and the people, places, and situations that inspired him.

Lee considers himself a “Wilsonian Warrior,” in that he has performed all but two of Wilson’s plays. The artistic designer of the play is his widow, Constanza Romero.

The 90-minute show without intermission reminded me of Lena Horne’s “A Lady and Her Music.”  Being a Horne fan, I am still grateful that I did not miss the performance or The Delany Sister’s “Having Our Say.” Though I am not an August fanatic, I cannot fathom a Wilson fan or Wilsonian Warrior missing this show.
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Abortion Provider Dr. Willie Parker Talks About His Deep Christian Faith

dr willie parker


He grew up Christian in Alabama and became a doctor at the suggestion of a college mentor. "In Life's Work: A Moral Argument for Choice," Dr. Willie Parker explains why he's now an abortion provider.

When you first became an ob-gyn, you did not perform abortions because you felt it conflicted with your Christian principles. What changed?

I've been a Christian longer than I've been a physician. When I chose a career as a women's health provider, I had to think more seriously, more deeply about the fact that I see women on a regular basis who have unplanned and unwanted pregnancies. The compassion that welled up inside me for each woman — each woman had a story, a circumstance — it came to a point where increasingly it was uncomfortable to be saying no. What I believed and what I practiced began to come into conflict.

How did you reconcile your religious beliefs with your sense of professional obligation?

My epiphany came while listening to a sermon by Dr. Martin Luther King. In that sermon he described what made the Good Samaritan good. Someone had been robbed, left on the side of the road injured, and multiple people passed that person by. They all were afraid of what might happen to them if they stopped to help. A person not from the community described as the Samaritan stopped and provided aid. Dr. King said what made that person good was his ability to reverse the question of concern, to ask what will happen to this person if I don't stop to help.

On that particular day, while listening to that sermon and contemplating my role as a women's health provider, it became very personal for me. I became the person on the road having to respond to the need of another person — in this case women asking me to help them safely end their pregnancies.

Read or Hear the Complete TIME Story

Note: The Woodhull Freedom Foundation will reward Loretta J. Ross and Dr. Willie J, Parker its 2017 Vicki Sexual Freedom Award at The 8th Annual Sexual Freedom Summit, August 5. The Summit, a project of the Woodhull Freedom Foundation, will be held August 6-8 in Arlington, VA. 
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Tracy K. Smith New U.S. Poet Laureate

tracy k smith



Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden, the first woman and the first African American to lead the national library, appointed Tracy K. Smith as the Library’s 22nd Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry, for 2017-2018. Laureate. Smith, a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and a professor at Princeton University, succeeds Juan Felipe Herrera, the first Hispanic to serve as Poet Laureate. In 1986, Rita Frances Dove became the first African-American Poet Laureate.

The new Poet Laureate is the author of three books of poetry, including “Life on Mars” (2011), winner of the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry; “Duende” (2007), winner of the 2006 James Laughlin Award and the 2008 Essence Literary Award; and “The Body’s Question” (2003), winner of the Cave Canem Poetry Prize.

Born in Falmouth, Massachusetts in 1972 and raised in Fairfield, California, she has taught at Medgar Evers College of the City University of New York and is currently at Princeton University. She will take up her poet laureate duties in the fall, opening the Library’s annual literary season in September with a reading of her work at the Coolidge Auditorium.

The Poet Laureate’s job is to seek to raise the national consciousness to a greater appreciation of the reading and writing of poetry. “I am eager to share the good news of poetry with readers and future readers across this marvelously diverse country,” affirmed Smith.
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Despite #45

our cuban cousins



- On Tuesday, June 20, the Columbia, South Carolina city council voted unanimously to move the city to 100% renewable energy by 2036. The U.S. Conference of Mayors will take up the matter when it meets June 23-26, in Miami Beach.

- Oregon became the first state to adopts new rule that allows people to put an ‘X’ on state IDs and driver’s licenses instead of the traditional ‘M’ for male or ‘F’ for female.

- Oregon Pay Equity Act Also Becomes Law (short video)
Gov. Kate Brown has signed into law a pay equity bill that allows victims of wage disparity to recover up to two years of back pay by filing a complaint with the Bureau of Labor and Industries.

- MoveOn is sponsoring a series of Resistance Summer Community Cookouts across the United States. 

- In two districts that Republicans should have easily won, they won by 4 and 3 percent in Georgia and South Carolina respectively. The group Indivisble says the closer than expected special congressional races resulted in “local Indivisible groups in Georgia 6th and South Carolina 5th who for months have been knocking on doors, making calls, registering people to vote, and getting folks to the polls.”

- North Carolina voting law falls as Supreme Court turns down GOP appeal

- Republicans slam Trump’s new policy toward Cuba
Sens. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT), who co-sponsored the Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act with 53 other senators, bashed Trump for the abrupt partial reversal of the Obama administration's policy. Leahy accused the White House of "re-declaring war" on our Cuban cousins with the new policy.

- Trump criticized Cuba on human rights and the Cubans replied that the US is in no "condition to lecture us."  The Cubans continued, "We have deep concerns by the respect and the guaranties of the human rights in that country, where there is a large number of cases of murder, brutality and police abuse, particularly against the African Americans; the right to live is violated as a result of deaths by firearms."

The Cuban also mentioned other issues including racial discrimination, use of drones in combat, the wars in Iraq and willingness to cease health care for 23 million Americans.

- Trump’s announcement that the United States is withdrawing from the Paris Climate Accords was framed as his obligation to “represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris.” However, Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto (D) tweeted  “The United States joins Syria, Nicaragua & Russia in deciding not to participate with world's Paris Agreement. It's now up to cities to lead.” In another tweet, he continued, "As the Mayor of Pittsburgh, I can assure you that we will follow the guidelines of the Paris Agreement for our people, our economy & future.”

You can pick up your phone and dial 1-866-828-4162 to be connected to your Senator's office to voice your opinion on the health care bill and any other matter.

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Permission to Feel the Loss



johnetta barras

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Unlovable, promiscuous, and over compensating are three of the many feelings that the mostly female  group expressed as they talked with Jonetta Rose Barras about growing up without a meaningful connection with their biological father, or a relative who grew up without such a relationship.

Barras, the author of “Whatever Happened to Daddy's Little Girl: The Impact of Fatherlessness on Black Women,” opened the 90-minute Fatherless Daughter Reconciliation discussion with a game of charades. During the brief activity, the participants then acted out such feelings often expressed during her workshops by women who feel the loss. 

As part of A Port Of Harlem Spring at the Alexandria Black History Museum, the noted periodical writer continued to share the story of her mother having had multiple mates and how even her siblings who had a different biological father sometimes inadvertently “made me feel so different.”

Ironically, it was Barras’ grandfather, maybe feeling disconnected from a biological child with whom he was not raising, urged her mother to connect Barras with her biological father. She met him for the first time when she was 36 and did not warm up to him or feel welcomed by his other children. “I felt rejected twice,” she continued.  

“You have to give yourself permission to say this situation matters to me without receiving any judgment from others," she said with strong conviction. “You have to make a consistent effort to deal with the loss.” She then recalled, as her eyes became wet, the daddy-daughter love she had with one of her mother’s mates. Later Barras used the story to suggest that is possible to find a surrogate to fill the void left by an absent or disconnected biological father.

Some of the participants expressed the resentment others often share when they attempt to connect them with their biological father. Another participant shared how her relative would not attend the event because she felt no need to connect with her father. Dr. Tracie Robinson, who works with Barras’ Esther Productions to conduct similar workshops, explained, “every one processes the loss and the reconciliation in their own time, she just has not yet recognized the lost.”

However, Robinson says that after processing the situation some, like herself, decide they don’t want to have a relationship with their biological father. Robinson, whose doctorate is in Transpersonal Psychology, says her biological father was around for special occasions, but the father who raised her, “was there all the time.”

After the smiles, laughter, and wet eyes, the participants were not in a rush to leave. Many continued to chat and some exchanged numbers after the event that Port Of Harlem purposefully held the Saturday before Father’s Day.  Father’s Day, says Barras, “can be like a jolt or an electric reminder that ‘I don’t have that.’ It can be a painful time.”

NOTE:  Barras will conduct a free and similar program with Robinson, THE GIFT: An Interactive Arts Healing and Reconciliation Experience, October 21, 9:30a to 2:30p at the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church, 1313 New York Ave NW, in Washington. For information, contact her at Esther Productions 202-829-0591.

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Theo Hodge, Jr. M.D.
 
 
 
Activities

universoul circus



Washington
Universoul Circus
FedEx Field Stadium
Landover, MD
Thu, Jun 22-Sun, Jul 23, $

Urban Transformation:
Metropolitan Development, Demographic Change & Gentrification Symposium
Watha T. Daniel/Shaw Library
1630 7th St., NW
Sat, Jun 24, 9:30a-4:30p, free

Baltimore
Mart Cottman Gallery
The Beautiful Nude Art Show
(Featured Artists: Mark Cottman, Fernando Sandoval,
Hampton Olfus, Tom Macintosh and Paul Mintz)
1014 S Charles Street
Thu, Jun 22-Sun, Jun 24, 6p-9p, free

New York
Harlem Arts Festival
Marcus Garvey Park
Richard Rodgers amphitheater
Fri, Jun 23-Sun, Jun 25, free, $

Coming
Detroit
In Theaters Fri, Aug 4, $
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Senator Harris after Republicans defended 45 by stressing that he told Comey that he "hoped" the FBI would drop investigating Michael Flynn rather than explicitly ordering him to stop:  “In my experience of prosecuting cases, when a robber held a gun to somebody’s head and said 'I hope you will give me your wallet,' the word hope was not the most operative word.”

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