Aspire: Magic Johnson’s channel for black families

By FRAZIER MOORE AP Television Writer

photo released by Starpix shows former NBA… ((AP Photo/Starpix, Amanda Schwab))

NEW YORK—As the crowd counted down, Magic Johnson pulled a large silver lever jutting from a box labeled “ASPiRE.” With that, his new cable network went live.Then stagehands whisked the contraption off the dais at Aspire’s gala premiere party Wednesday night. The switch was just a prop, of course, connected to nothing.

But Magic Johnson’s ties to the African-American community (not to mention sports history and contemporary culture) are direct and strong.

Now, the basketball great and business tycoon is leveraging his clout and good name to launch Aspire.

“We have a big platform for African-American work,” Johnson told the gathered. “Family driven content, positive images of African-Americans—that’s

This June 27, 2012 photo released by Starpix shows the Rev. Al Sharpton during the launch of the Aspire Television Network in New York. Aspire, which signed on during the ceremony, is led by Earvin “Magic” Johnson in partnership with family-oriented channel GMC TV, and will dedicate itself to enlightening and positive programming aimed at black families. It will air movies, documentaries, music and comedy, as well as faith and inspirational programs. ((AP Photo/Starpix, Amanda Schwab))

what we want that platform for!”Big aspirations, indeed, as Aspire makes its debut. Initially it’s available in about 7 million homes and in 16 of the top 25 African-American markets (including New York, Atlanta, Chicago and Washington). It can be seen by some customers served by Time Warner Cable Inc. and by Comcast Corp., the nation’s largest cable operator, which is introducing the minority-oriented Aspire as part of an agreement struck with the Federal Communications Commission when Comcast purchased NBC Universal.

Aspire’s reach will grow to 12 million homes by year’s end, to 20 million to 30 million homes by the end of 2013, and to 40 million homes within two years, according to Johnson.

“Focus groups told us

African-Americans want more family content on TV,” he says a few hours before the party. “If they would have told me, ‘We don’t need another channel, there’s not an opportunity for you,’ we wouldn’t be sitting here.”Seated in a raised director’s chair whose exaggerated height seems made-to-order for the towering former L.A. Lakers point guard, Johnson is speaking with a reporter in an NBC green room during a busy day of meetings and media appearances.

“I wouldn’t get into this if I didn’t feel there was an opportunity,” he goes on. “That’s what I do. I look for opportunities.”

Johnson doesn’t dismiss the growing roster of other networks targeting black viewers.

“BET dominates the young people and does a great job,” he says. “TV One skews a little older. We’re gonna skew older than both of them. Blacks want options; they want variety, like everybody else. There’ll be enough viewers for all of us. So everybody wins.”

He says Aspire is aiming for black families with a slate of enlightening and positive programming—the sort of fare that everyone can gather in the living room to watch, “the way I grew up,” Johnson fondly recalls.

Aspire will air movies, documentaries, music and comedy, as well as faith and inspirational programs.

Initially, the schedule consists of acquisitions, including long-ago series like “The Bill Cosby Show,” “I Spy,” “Julia” and “The Flip Wilson Show.” The network promises documentaries chronicling real-life events, people and places that shaped black history. Movies include “Shaft,” “Bird,” “Sarafina!” and “Lilies of the Field.”

Eventually, Aspire plans to create its own programming. For that, Johnson hopes to tap black artists ranging from young up-and-comers to the likes of Spike Lee and Tyler Perry.

But what about a certain world-class star already on the payroll? Will Earvin “Magic” Johnson step in front of the Aspire cameras?

“I may do a show interviewing celebrities,” he says. “Or a business show. We haven’t planned it yet, but African-Americans want to know how to build wealth. They want to know how to start a business or grow one. Home ownership. Having good credit. I think I’m going to have to go on and teach them that sort of thing.”

The principal owner of Aspire is Magic Johnson Enterprises, with the 52-year-old Johnson as the network’s chairman and CEO.

But Aspire is teamed with Atlanta-based GMC (formerly the Gospel Music Network), which, available in about 50 million homes, focuses on uplifting music and family entertainment. GMC is providing operational infrastructure (what Johnson dubs “the back of the house”) for Aspire, also based in Atlanta.

Johnson declines to say exactly what he’s investing in Aspire as its principal owner, but acknowledges “it takes $100 (million) or $150 million just to turn the lights on and really get it going—and we’re gonna be in that neighborhood.”

Already, Johnson has landed five blue chip “charter brand partners”: Coca-Cola Co., Chrysler, Wal-Mart Stores Inc., L’Oreal and Nationwide Insurance. He says his network is on track to be “almost break-even in a year.”

Johnson sees Aspire as the logical next step in his burgeoning media empire, whose holdings include 20 radio stations, Vibe magazine and the “Soul Train” brand.

But an almost dizzying array of other investments includes real estate, restaurants, a prepaid debit card he soon will introduce and, of course, the Los Angeles Dodgers, purchased in May for $2 billion by a group he fronted.

“I am SO proud of the Dodgers,” he grins when that subject comes up. “I’m like a little kid! To know I own the Dodgers is even blowing ME away!”

In short, Johnson’s career as an NBA legend and Hall of Famer is rivaled by his entrepreneurial efforts, which, along with his philanthropic and motivational work, largely cater to the black community.

“I’ve been doing business almost as long as I’ve been playing basketball,” he says. “I bought a radio station when I was 19 years old, when I first got drafted by the Lakers.”

For now, despite his many business interests, he’s giving Aspire top priority.

“When you’re starting a business, you have to be more involved day-to-day,” he says. “I’m a control freak. Even though I allow people to do their jobs, I want to know everything, and I HAVE to know everything: It’s my brand, my name; everything is out there on the line.”

Looking to Aspire’s future, he points out how he always had two big dreams: to play in the NBA and be a businessman.

“I don’t know why God blessed me with this life, but I’m glad he did, and I love it,” Johnson sums up. “And I’m full steam ahead!”

———

Online:

Aspire: http://www.aspire.tv

Magic Johnson: http://magicjohnson.com

GMC TV: http://www.watchGMCtv.com

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CARIBBEAN TECHNOLOGY NEWS SUMMARY for the week ending June 29th, 2012

YOUTHFUL ENTREPRENEURS GET BOOST AT DIGITAL JAM 2.0—06/23/12
Young people in Jamaica who want to become entrepreneurs in the virtual economy will show off their talents and learn lessons for big players in the industry at the Digital Jam 2.0, which will be held at the end of June 2012. Companies from Silicon Valley, Australia, and Europe will participate and determine how they can engage Jamaican youth in regard to microwork and applications development. The event is part of the Caribbean Growth Forum, which is led by the World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, and Caribbean Development Bank.

CARICOM READY FOR TECHNOLOGY SUMMIT—06/24/12
The “Connect the Americas” summit, one of the largest conferences on information and communications technologies held in the region, will take place in July 2012. The Secretariat of CARICOM is leading a preparatory meeting in Barbados to solidify plans for participation in this summit. Jennifer Britton, deputy program manager for the ICT 4D program in the Secretariat will chair the preparatory meeting. Over 45 projects have thus far been registered for review at the summit, which is organized by the International Telecommunication Union. It is hosted by the government of Panama.

FLOW OF INFORMATION BETWEEN U.S. AND CUBA EXPANDED—06/25/12
The United States Department of State increased funding for the technology portion of Cuba democracy programs. The move is designed to obtain a greater amount of uncensored information into and out of Cuba. According to Mark Lopes, deputy assistance administrator for Latin America and the Caribbean at the U.S. Agency for Development, spending for technology to enhance the flow of information between the two countries has increased. The agency will have spent $20 million in the fiscal year ending September 30, 2012.

DIGICEL’S 4G MOBILE NETWORK READY—06/27/12
Digicel Jamaica commissioned new 4G mobile service and is currently marketing this service to customers under a plan called “Surf, Stream, and Share.” Digicel reports spending US$30 million on the new network. The network covers 80 percent of Jamaica’s population. It is based on HSPA+ technology and will cost J$1,500 to J$5,000 per month. A 50-percent discount on 4G handsets is being offered as part of the Digicel’s marketing program.

 

Two Americans: Two Citizens Face to Face at Each End of the Immigration Debate

by Eduardo Barraza

New documentary explores local enforcement of immigration laws and the separation of families in Maricopa County, Arizona.

Originally published in Barriozona Magazine

Phoenix, Arizona – A new documentary about immigration in Maricopa County, Arizona produced in the place known as “ground zero” of the immigration debate was presented in a Phoenix theater on May 31.

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Two Americans —produced by journalist Valeria Fernandez and documentary maker Dan DeVivo— juxtaposes two defining factors of the illegal immigration issue in Arizona: the enforcement of immigration laws by local authorities and  the separation of families where some members lack legal status and others are U.S. citizens.

The story line revolves around internationally known Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who bills himself as “America’s  toughest sheriff”, and 9-year old Katherine Figueroa.

The girl emerges as an involuntarily character in the context of immigration enforcement by the sheriff’s office. She is  pulled into a sociopolitical and legal dilemma when her parents, Carlos and Sandra, are arrested at their workplace by deputies, accused of working with false documents.

The documentary places its focal point on the paradoxical fact that both Arpaio and Figueroa are U.S. born American citizens. On one side of this immigration equation is the sheriff, an inflexible enforcer of immigration laws at the local level, and on the other side is Figueroa, as much citizen as Arpaio is, but victimized because she is the daughter of unauthorized immigrants.

The film seeks to highlight that while two Americans have the same birth rights granted in the U.S. Constitution, the younger one finds herself in a devastating predicament when her undocumented parents are incarcerated, and she faces the reality that her citizenship is not enough to keep her family together.

Two Americans captures the girl’s drama and emotions and contrasts them with the sheriff’s arrogance and cynicism. Both divergent real-life characters —Arpaio and Figueroa— are shown in unscripted moments rarely captured by traditional news media. The girl’s innocence and dignity stand out before a senile, media-obsessed sheriff who shamelessly gives more importance to have done things “his way” in his life than to act as a the elected official he is.

Considering its title, Two Americans, the documentary comes a bit short of drawing a more consistent parallelism between the older “American” and the younger “American”. The producers excluded family background information on both Arpaio and Figueroa to establish and weave the fundamental element of citizenship —an almost unavoidable scene could have been seeing Figueroa reciting the Pledge of Allegiance at school and Arpaio at a public ceremony, for instance. To have included a more strong symbolism of some defining aspects of the American citizenship would have achieved a deeper analysis between the “two Americans”.

Two Americans could have also presented a broader picture through a brief introduction to establish why and how Arizona and Maricopa County became the immigration’s debate “ground zero”. A short summary beginning with the massive immigration marches of 2006 through the start of the sheriff’s immigration raids in the Fall of 2007, as well as explaining the reasons Arizona saw an influx of undocumented immigrants, could have given a little bit of context to those who are not familiar with the problem as those who have lived in the midst of it.

The documentary frequently jumps from aspects directly concerning the script of the “two Americans” to others a little unrelated —among them corruption of public officials, deaths of inmates in county jails, and a protest of a group of young Phoenix anarchists, for example. These scenes, although part of the overall situation in Maricopa County, take away the focus from the central plot and take the place of scenes more essential and relevant to the comparative analysis of Two Americans.

Nevertheless, Two Americans is a remarkably strong documentary. It represents a serious and extensive work that documents a key time in history, and will have an important place within the collectiveness of other recent works on the topic of immigration. The work done by Fernandez and DeVivo stands out for showing the collision between the enforcement of immigration laws at the local level and undocumented immigrants, as well as the separation of families that result from that collision.

Both immigration enforcement and separation of families are two of the most dramatic components of the complex and highly-polarized issue of illegal immigration in the state and other parts of the country. Two Americans achieves this through two opposing and conflicting characters that ironically are linked by their American citizenship.

Arguably, one of the major contributions of Two Americans is that it shows a more informal portrait of Sheriff Joe Arpaio, whose grandiose personality and barefaced sarcasm proves, for the record, that the octogenarian man has long forgotten the oath of office he took to serve and protect the residents of Maricopa County, to entertain himself with his shameful delusion of grandeur.

Two Americans; two children of immigrants

While the documentary does not point it out, there is an interesting underlying reality: both Arpaio and Figueroa are children of immigrants who came to the United States looking to improve their economic situation. Arpaio’s parents came to the country from Italy in the 1930s, and Figueroa’s parents arrived from Mexico, presumably within the last two decades.

Of immigrant parents, Arpaio came to be an obstinate enforcer of local immigration laws, arresting thousands of undocumented immigrants who —though illegally— came to the U.S. for similar reasons as his parents did: to work and to better their lives.

In this context, by arresting Figueroa’s parents, Arpaio comes —if figuratively— face to face with a 9 year-old girl, and by looking at her he sees himself in a mirror where U.S. citizen by birthright is the common denominator. Constitutionally, Joseph Arpaio and Katherine Figueroa are on equal terms: two children of immigrants, two Americans, each of them representing both ends of the immigration debate.

Paradoxically, Arpaio, the son of Italian immigrants, becomes during the last few years a persecutor of immigrants, but in doing so he finds himself confronted by a child just like the child he was: a member of an ethnic minority growing in the U.S., a child of foreign parents who left their country to seek the American Dream. Arpaio the enforcer, Arpaio the megalomaniac, Arpaio the “toughest sheriff of America”, is not better, is not far, is not above in any term to little Katherine Figueroa.

 

Class and Race as Competing Self Interests or Whiteness as Symbolic Politics, Part 2

by Thomas Rudd

Read part 1

Research conducted by Kinder and Winter (2001) suggests that there is a huge difference in public opinion between Whites and Blacks on policy issues related to race. They maintain that the racial divide over such policy issues as school integration and affirmative action is mostly a story of political principles and social identity. Their analysis suggests that if differences of principle and identity could be eliminated, the racial divide would be drastically diminished. The republican party has capitalized on this ideological gap by openly opposing school integration and equal opportunity policies. This opposition has intensified with the election of Barack Obama. In this landscape, it would be unwise for progressives to think that the ideological differences between Whites and African Americans can be nullified by a colorblind narrative, by avoiding a dialogue on issues that have a racial context. As a powerful symbolic attitude that directs political behavior, whiteness will be reinforced and reconstituted without a dialogue on race and, if left unchallenged, this power will continue to align with the political party from which it gains the greatest energy—republicans, and especially the tea party coalitions.

If we accept the premise, as conservative politicians have, that whiteness and white privilege are powerful symbolic attitudes capable of overpowering deep-seated self-interest in economic gain, family security and other tangible rewards, then it is imperative that progressives conceive of ways to counteract this power. Two strategies seem salient: First, expose and confront the underlying notions that support the ideology of whiteness – notions like racial and cultural superiority and fear of the “racialized other.” Second, illuminate and contextualize socio-political-economic barriers to prosperity that confront not only poor and working class Americans but middle class Americans as well. This narrative must include the reality that while all populations suffer in a recession, populations of color have, historically, suffered the most and that remedies to these problems must employ a “targeted” approach that acknowledges this reality. As Lani Guinier and Gerald Torres suggest in their powerful book, The Miner’s Canary: Enlisting Race, Resisting Power, Transforming Democracy (2002), racial inequality is a warning sign that the entire society is out of balance.

In a political and economic environment that increasingly favors corporate profiteers, wealthy elites and Wall Street speculators over ordinary citizens and where conservative politicians increasingly pander to the interests of the wealthiest Americans and the corporations that empower them over the needs and interests of the “99%”, liberals and progressives have a splendid opportunity to build coalitions across racial and class lines. When American corporations send manufacturing and service jobs to competing countries to increase profit, shareholder dividends and executive bonuses, African Americans workers are especially hard hit, but everyone in the 99% is affected—poor people, people near poverty, working class people and middle class people. When republicans hold hostage unemployment benefits to protect tax breaks for the wealthy, whiteness does not insolate middle class workers; when toxic sub-prime loans saturated African American communities and greedy banks rolled this dog and pony show into middle class neighborhoods, playing on the misguided belief that white banks will not deceive White people, whiteness did not save hundreds of thousands of families from foreclosure.

The occupy movement is an angry response to the realization that widespread institutionalized greed is colorblind and class-blind, that corporations, banks, Wall Street and wealthy elites will indeed deceive and steal from White middle class Americans to maintain their own position of privilege and power and that the very politicians who have gained their power from middle class voters are riding shotgun over these crimes. This is an incredibly rude awakening for millions of White Americans who have believed that whiteness would protect them from the burdens imposed for centuries on African Americans and other populations of color in the U.S. The occupy movement is a visible expression of collective self-interest, but still without a salient recognition of race-based inequality.

As we approach the 2012 presidential election, conservative politicians are counting on White voters to violate their own collective and individual self interest as they have done in the past. By appealing to racial resentment and fear, appealing to implicit notions of white privilege and white superiority, embellishing the “American dream,” and distorting the real causes of the current economic crisis in the U.S.—blaming liberals, democrats, poor people, people of color and the President rather than greedy corporations and banks—conservatives hope to win the White House and eventually take full control of the U.S. Senate. If this happens, tea party inspired politicians will do everything in their power to “take back the country,” and turn it over to megacorporations, Wall Street, big banks, White nationalists, nativists, homophobes, misogynists, and gun-toting ideologues of every ilk. If you think it is unimaginable that conservative legislators in several states have proposed bills that would allow restaurant owners to refuse service to gay patrons, then, baby, you ain’t seen nothing yet…

Works Cited

Staats, A. W., and C. K. Staats (1958). Attitudes established by classical conditioning. Journal of Abnormal

and Social Psychology, 57, 37-40.

Lau, R. R., Brown, and T. A., Sears, D. O. (1978). Self-interest and civilians’ attitudes toward the Vietnam War. The Public Opinion Quarterly, 42, 464-481.

Sears, D. O., Lau, R. R., Tyler, T. R., and Allen, H. M., Jr. (1980). Self-interest vs. symbolic politics in policy attitudes and presidential voting. The American Political Science Review, 74, 671-684.

Frankenberg, R. (1993). White Women, Race Matters: The Social Construction of Whiteness. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

powell, j. a. (2006). Dreaming of a self beyond whiteness and isolation. Washington University Journal of Law & Policy, 18, 13 – 45.

Kinder, D. R. and Winter, N. (2001). Exploring the racial divide: blacks, whites, and opinion on national policy. American Journal of Political Science , 45, 439-456.

 

Class and Race as Competing Self Interests or Whiteness as Symbolic Politics, Part. 1

 by: Thomas Rudd

In the heart, where empathy and compassion reside, who cares more profoundly about the welfare of the poor, the working class and the middle class in America—Barack Obama or Mitt Romney? Which of these men is more connected, emotionally and intellectually, to the struggles that millions of Americans face every day as they reach for some small measure of comfort and optimism about their future and the future of their children? Which of these men is more likely to subordinate the needs of the 99% to the wants of the 1%? Why aren’t voters asking these questions?

 

In the ever increasing discourse over the “red-state, blue-state” phenomenon, popular culture pundits, social scientists, political analysts, scholars, journalists and just plain folk are trying to make sense of the behavior of millions of White working class and middle class Americans whose voting behavior in presidential elections often appears to betray their own deeply vested self-interest. Popular author Thomas Frank dissects this phenomenon in his 2004 book, What’s The Matter With Kansas? How Conservatives Won the Heart of America. In a 2004 interview Frank explained that Kansas is a metaphor for the rest of the country. What’s wrong with Kansas is that it is becoming increasingly conservative and this pronounced slide to the right has caused the people of the state to vote against their own economic interests. Much of the state, Frank said, is“in deep economic crisis – in many cases a crisis either brought on or worsened by the free-market policies of the Republican party – and yet the state’s voters insist on reelecting the very people who are screwing them…”.

 

Frank and other political observers have puzzled over the behavior of millions of White voters in the states that won the White House for George Bush in 2004. This perplexity stems from the prevailing hypothesis that voting behavior is driven by political attitudes and that political attitudes are formed, maintained and energized in direct relationship to an individual’s assessment of material gain and wellbeing—variables like financial status, health, domicile, and family security. Inherent in this hypothesis is the notion that “people develop or change attitudes which maximally satisfy their needs or serve their interests when incentive-contingencies change…” (Sears, 1978; Sears, 1979 ).

 

One salient explanation for this paradox is found in research on the formation of symbolic attitudes and the process of cognitive consistency. Researchers in this area suggest that:

• Attitude development may take place without regard to whether or not the individual’s needs are satisfied, such as by a process of simple conditioning. That is, attitudes may often be acquired simply by being paired with positive or negative unconditioned stimuli (Staats, 1958).
• A child will hate communism if that concept is paired with contemptuous or derogatory expression each time he or she hears it. The individual’s needs or interests are irrelevant to attitude formation (Lau, 1978).
• By this line of thinking, people acquire stable affective preference through conditioning in their pre-adult years, with little calculation of the future costs and benefits of these attitudes. The most important of these are presumably some rather general predispositions, such as party identification, liberal or conservative ideology, nationalism, or racial prejudice. When confronted with new policy issues later in life, people respond to these new attitudes on the basis of cognitive consistency. The critical variable would be the similarity of symbols posed by the policy issue to those of long-standing predispositions. Political attitudes, therefore, are formed mainly in congruence with long-standing values about society and the policy, rather than short-term instrumentalities for satisfaction of one’s private needs (Sears, 1980).

Sears, et al. (1980) tested the impact of self-interest vs. symbolic attitudes on responses to four policy issues: unemployment, national health insurance, busing, and “law and order.” The independent variables in this study are self-interest, symbolic attitudes and relevant demographic variables. Three significant symbolic attitudes were used: party identification, liberal or conservative ideology and racial prejudice. These researchers found that, generally, self-interest had little or no effect on voters’ policy preferences, while symbolic attitudes had major impact. For example, findings indicate that no self-interest index significantly explained whites’ opposition to busing. In contrast, all symbolic attitude variables had significant impact. “In all cases, liberalism-conservatism far outstripped any of the self-interest variables, and racial prejudice did so in two areas (busing and law and order) where it was relevant.” Even when the order of entry of these three variables is varied in the regression analysis, “symbolic attitudes are consistently much more important than self-interest in determining policy preferences.”

 

If we accept the proposition that symbolic attitudes like party-affiliation and racial prejudice are more powerful drivers of political preferences and voting behavior than self-interest, how can we use this information to frame the dialogue for a progressive political agenda, to build support for liberal ideology and liberal political candidates? Within this context, will an appeal to class interests, absent a salient discussion of race and American racial politics further this goal? These questions cannot be answered without an understanding of “whiteness,” the implicit need to maintain boundaries around idealized and tangible white space.

 

In America, “whiteness” is a dominant symbolic attitude. It is the collective unconscious belief that certain people are entitled to a position at the top of an imagined social/political/economic hierarchy, that this is the natural order of things. Author Ruth Frankenberg (1993) defines whiteness as a structural location that confers exclusive privilege, “a standpoint from which to view and assess Self and Other, and a set of cultural practices that is usually unmarked, unnamed, and normatively given.” Even among white ethnic immigrants, whiteness is profoundly important in America. Frankenberg maintains that conflicts over the meaning of whiteness and Americanness precipitated by European immigrants have been resolved through processes of assimilation, not exclusion. Euro-ethnic mobility into whiteness, she suggests, was facilitated by shifts in social climate that the 1940s war effort engendered by state policies and subsidies. Scholar john powell (2005), currently Director of UC Berkeley’s Haas Diversity Research Center, has suggested that the development of racialized identity in America coincided with the historic development of the American psyche and that, therefore, White Americans are heavily invested in maintaining the boundaries around whiteness that regulate the distribution of benefits. This view suggests a dynamic synergy between whiteness and patriotism.

 

So, if whiteness is a dominant symbolic attitude in America and symbolic attitudes can be more powerful than individual self-interest in shaping responses to political ideology and policies, can a unified class-based appeal energize a progressive political agenda without illuminating and challenging the structural dynamics that account for significant differences in opportunity between White Americans and Americans of color? Popular definitions of whiteness suggest that Whites go about the business of maintaining white space, energizing race-based power differentials, managing racialized arrangements, and reinforcing racialized disparities in the distribution of opportunity and burdens without an explicit reference to race or racism. By implication then, a political agenda that does not speak openly about race, implicit racial bias and racial disparity in America will, by default, reinforce prevailing attitudes of whiteness. Left unchallenged, prevailing attitudes about whiteness will continue to fuel racial resentment and fear and impede the development of a shared notion of collective self-interest among poor, working class and middle class Americans of all races and ethnicities.

 

‘Mike Tyson: Undisputed Truth’ on Broadway Directed by Spike Lee

James Nederlander, Mike Tyson, Spike Lee on stage at The Longacre Theatre for press conference (Photo credit: Getty Images)

*Tickets went on sale on Monday, June 18, 2012 for* the upcoming Broadway blackbuster, Mike Tyson: Undisputed Truth starring the former boxing champ Mike Tyson and directed by Academy Award nomineeSpike Lee at Broadway’s oldest theater, The Longacre Theatre, in Times Square, NYC.

Tyson, the youngest undisputed heavyweight champion in boxing history, will bring his story to The Great White Way in a candid autobiographical one-man show for a limited run.  Performances will begin on Tuesday, July 31, 2012 and will run for an exclusive six-night limited engagement through Sunday, August 5, 2012.  Ironically, both Tyson and Lee will be making their Broadway debuts.

The celebrated boxer recently enjoyed a successful show at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas where he performed an unhampered look at his struggles with drug abuse, professional triumphs and a series of personal setbacks.  Ticketholders learned about his life experiences after he became the heavyweight champion of the world; time spent in prison for a rape conviction; and battling drug addiction.

At a special press conference conducted by acclaimed public relations guru Ken Sunshine of Sunshine Sachs, Tyson — looking like he had just come from a GQ magazine shooting wearing white shirt and white trousers topped off with a lilac jacket with a white pocket hankie — accompanied by mega Broadway producer James L. Nederlander and Lee, sat in director’s chairs on stage as they each talked about their role in the upcoming production.  Tyson and Lee were in good form and even playfully sparred for photographers.  Then the trio participated in a Q&A session.

Mike Tyson: Undisputed Truth is a rare, personal look inside the life and mind of one of the most feared men ever to wear the heavyweight crown.  Directed by Lee, this riveting one-man show goes beyond the headlines, behind the scenes and between the lines to deliver a must-see theatrical knockout.

“It is an honor to work with Spike Lee,” said Tyson.  “I have always admired his work. Sharing the highlights and lowlights of my life with New York is especially important to me as I was born and raised in Brooklyn.  I am thrilled to bring the story of Undisputed Truth to Broadway.”

“It’s my honor to be making our Broadway debut together,” added “Brooklyn-in-the-house” native Lee all spruced up in a retro pin-striped suit.  He called his collaboration with Tyson, “Brooklyn to Broadway.”

Mike Tyson carries his sleeping daughter Milan into The Longacre Theatre followed by wife Kiki to participate in press conference (Photo credit: Getty Images)

Though Tyson and Lee promise the show will be honest and Tyson will be vulnerable.  “I have to be careful because I can’t stay on some subjects for a long time.  I can’t stay … for a long time because I might cry, something might happen,” said Tyson.  “It will be raw but not raw in a vulgar sense… I’m just naked and very vulnerable, and telling you who I am, and where I’m from,” he explained.  “How this happened, and how I lost all this damn money, and how I had all these children and I go to prison and… you know. You know what happened, guys.”

“We love good stories and great storytelling,” Lee explained.  “When Mike Tyson is on this stage, you’re going to hear a great American story.”  “But crying’s alright, though,” Lee added.

When asked what ticketholders can expect he said, “Well, they’ll find out that my mother is a prostitute, my father’s a pimp and I come from a real, um, this — I don’t know what — the sex worker world and stuff, you know.  That’s why I look at the world from a different perspective than most people when I was a young kid,” Tyson said.

The former boxer said the show is part of his effort to move his life in a positive direction.  “This is just what me and my wife wanted to do.  This is what we decided to do after I gave up using drugs and being a pig and stuff, right, so this is what we decided we were going to live on this kind of level.  Just keep it moving and doing positive things,” he said.

Lee discussed how brave he thinks Tyson is for doing the show.  “It takes courage to get into the ring, but it takes courage to get onto the stage,” Lee said.  “Denzel’s not playing Mike, it’s not Sam Jackson.  It’s Mike Tyson, in person, on stage.  That takes a lot of courage.”

Tickets are on sale now with pricing from $75 – $199.  A limited number of VIP tickets, which include a meet and greet and photo with Tyson after the show, are available for $300.  Tickets can be purchased online atwww.telecharge.com or over the phone 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  Tickets are available for the following performances: July 31 and August 1 at 8pm; August 2 at 6:30pm (opening night); August 3 and August 4 at 8pm; and August 5 at 7pm.

Created by Adam Steck, CEO of SPI Entertainment, Mike Tyson: Undisputed Truth is presented by James L. Nederlander, directed by Spike Lee, written by Lakiha “Kiki” Tyson and Randy Johnson, executive produced by Mike Tyson, Kiki Tyson, and Steck and originally directed by Johnson.

When asked whether he’s ever tempted to return to the ring.  “That will never happen, he exclaimed!  My fighting days are over.  I think fighting’s for saps now.”   Spoken like a true champ!

 

About Mike Tyson
Mike Tyson is a larger-than-life legend both in and out of the ring. Tenacious, talented, and thrilling to watch, Tyson embodies the grit and electrifying excitement of the sport. With nicknames such as “Iron” Mike, Kid Dynamite, and The Baddest Man on the Planet, it’s no surprise that Tyson’s legacy is the stuff of a legend. Tyson was one of the most feared boxers in the ring– and one look at his resume proves he is one of boxing’s greats: Aside from having been the undisputed heavyweight champion, Tyson holds the record as the youngest boxer to win the WBC, WBA and IBF world heavyweight titles. He was the first heavyweight boxer to hold the WBA, WBC and IBF titles simultaneously. In 2011 Tyson was inducted into the Boxing Hall of Fame, and earlier this year was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.  Tyson’s enduring mass appeal owes not only to his incomparable athleticism, but to his huge personality and unrivaled showmanship.  His ability to work a crowd extends far beyond the ring Tyson’s career in entertainment spans blockbuster movies (The Hangover and The Hangover 2), television (the Animal Planet’s “Taking on Tyson”), his own clothing company, and iPhone ap called “Mike Tyson: Main Event.”  He is the CEO of his production company, Tyrannic Productions.

 

About Spike Lee
Spike Lee is a writer, director, actor, producer, author and educator who has helped revolutionize modern Independent cinema.  Lee is a forerunner in the ‘do it yourself’ school of independent film.  Spike’s latest endeavor is the Peabody Award winning documentary If God is Willing and Da Creek Don’t Rise, which revisits the recently Storm ravaged Gulf Coast region as residents attempt to rebuild in their cities while also demanding assistance and accountability from their political leaders.  Recent critical and box office successes have included such films as Inside Man, 25th Hour, The Original Kings of Comedy, Bamboozled and Summer of Sam.  Lee’s films Girl 6, Get on the Bus, Do the Right Thing and Clockers display his ability to showcase a series of outspoken and provocative socio-political critiques that challenge cultural assumptions on race, class and gender identity.  Spike’s commercial work began in 1988 with his Nike Air Jordan campaign.  Collaborating with basketball great Michael Jordan on several commercials, Lee resurrected his popular character, Mars Blackmon from She’s Gotta Have It.  His other commercial ventures include TV spots for Philips, ESPN, American Express, Snapple, Taco Bell and the Lean Forward campaign for MSNBC.  Lee began teaching a course about filmmaking and Black cinema at Harvard in 1991 and since 2002, Lee has been Artistic Director of the Graduate Film Program at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts where he received his Master of Fine Arts in Film Production.  Spike Lee has combined his extensive creative experience into yet another venture: partnering with DDB Needham he created SpikeDDB, a full-service advertising agency.  SpikeDDB clients include Chevy, Pepsi and Comcast.

 

About James L. Nederlander
James L. Nederlander, president of The Nederlander Organization, leads a family business that began in 1912 and now encompasses every aspect of the live entertainment industry from venue ownership and management, theatrical producing and concert presentation, concessions and patron services.  With venues in New York, Chicago, Durham, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose and London, Jimmy is a prolific producer who is currently represented on Broadway by Evita starring Ricky Martin, Priscilla Queen of the Desert and Spider-Man: Turn off The Dark.  With a keen eye for popular entertainment for audiences of all ages, he has also produced dozens of distinguished, award-winning musicals and plays including Movin’ Out; Fiddler on the Roof; Grease; La Cage aux Folles; Million Dollar Quartet; Next To Normal; The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee; West Side Story, and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Jimmy is also one of the country’s most astute presenters of headline talent such as Adele, Billy Joel, Harry Connick Jr., Neil Diamond, U2, Paul McCartney, Florence and the Machine, Pink Floyd, Sting, U2, and the Rolling Stones to mention a few.  In addition to being a business innovator, Jimmy is also a committed leader and philanthropist who sits on the Board of Trustees of many leading organizations.

 

House Votes to Hold Eric Holder in Contempt; CBC Stages Walkout

*The House has voted to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress over his failure to turn over documents related to the Fast and Furious scandal, the first time Congress has taken such a dramatic move against a sitting Cabinet official.

Politico reports: The vote was 255-67, with 17 Democrats voting in support of a criminal contempt resolution, which authorizes Republican leaders to seek criminal charges against Holder. This Democratic support came despite a round of behind-the-scenes lobbying by senior White House and Justice officials – as well as pressure from party leaders – to support Holder.

Dozens of Democrats marched off the floor in protest during the vote, adding even more drama to a tumultuous moment in the House chamber. The walkout was led by the Congressional Black Caucus, many of whom gathered outside the Capitol while their GOP colleagues moved against Holder.

Rep. Elijah Cummings (Md.), the top Democrat on the Oversight and Government Reform, charged that Republicans, led by Rep. Darrell Issa (Ca.), had been unfairly targeting Holder for months.

“They are finally about to get the prize they have been seeking for more than a year – holding the attorney general of the United States in contempt,” Cummings said. “In reality, it is a sad failure. A failure of leadership, a failure of our constitutional obligations and failure of our responsibilities to the American people.”

During the floor debate, a group of nine black lawmakers, led by Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas), raised a question of the privileges of the House, accusing Issa of interfering with the investigation and withholding critical information from Democrats. The motion disapproved of Issa for “interfering with ongoing criminal investigations, insisting on a personal attack against the attorney general of the United States and for calling the attorney general of the United States a liar on national television,” which “discredit[ed] … the integrity of the House.” The motion was not allowed to proceed.

For his part, Issa insisted that the House must act in order to get to the bottom of what happened in the botched Fast and Furious program.

During this under cover operation, federal agents tracked the sale of roughly 2,000 weapons to straw buyers working for Mexican drug cartels. The sting operation failed, and weapons related to the Fast and Furious program were found at the shooting scene when a Border Patrol agent was killed in Dec. 2010.

Relying on what they said was inaccurate information supplied by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives – which comes under DOJ – senior Justice officials told lawmakers in Feb. 2011 that no guns were allowed to “walk” to Mexico. That letter was later withdrawn by the Justice Department as inaccurate.

Issa has been investigating what happened during Fast and Furious for 16 months, and he subpoenaed the Justice Department last October. Since that time, his panel has been squabbling over what documents will be turned over. Justice officials note that 7,600 pages of Fast and Furious material has already been given to Issa, but the California Republican has demanded more.

Obama asserted executive privilege on some of the documents Issa is seeking shortly before the Oversight and Government voted on party lines to approve a contempt resolution against Holder.

Despite a face-to-face session between Issa and Holder recently, the two men never reached a compromise to end the standoff.

Since the Justice Department would have to seek an indictment of Holder – a department he oversees as attorney general – no criminal charges will be brought against him. Previous administrations, including the Bush administration in 2008, refused to seek criminal charges against White House officials when a Democratic-run House passed a criminal contempt resolution over the firing of U.S. attorneys.

Speaker of the House John Boehner, though, is expected to submit a criminal referral to the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, Ronald Machen, in the next few days, according to a Republican official.

Issa’s aides have already begun discussions with the House General Counsel’s office over the anticipated lawsuit against DOJ, but it is not clear when that the legal challenge will be filed.

The heated House floor vote on Holder capped a historic day in Washington, coming just hours after the Supreme Court, just across the street from the Capitol, issued its landmark ruling upholding most of Barack Obama’s health care law.

 

‘Jitney’ is the Play to See at Pasadena Playhouse

 

“The first act of Jitney is a perfect piece of theatrical carpentry that may well be the best thing Mr. Wilson ever wrote. 
Make every effort to see it”  -Terry Teachout, The Wall Street Journal

*A telephone rings. A man jumps up from his circle of cronies, to pick up the ringing phone. “Cab Service. 125^thand Lexington? Be there in 10 minutes. Blue car!” The cab driver makes his mark on the board, grabs his hat off the rack and walks out the door. He has just booked his cab. Seconds before he sat around the storefront with a crew of regulars who shoot the breeze, unapologetically meddle in other peoples’ lives and sometimes even find their bloody nose at the end of a fist. This is a day in the life of a jitney cab driver. “Jitney” is the term used in the African American community for a gypsy cab. Unlicensed, they drive the locals where traditional cab companies won’t go and set their own prices for the trip.

The South Coast Repertory production of “Jitney” begins its three-week stint at the Pasadena Playhouse in Pasadena, California, where a talented director and tight-knit ensemble of nine talented actors – all make their Pasadena Playhouse debut – and seem to effortlessly transport audiences to 1977 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where the play is set. “Jitney” is the first of ten plays from the renowned “Pittsburgh Cycle” series by acclaimed playwright August Wilson. These plays document the African American experience in Wilson’s childhood neighborhood, decade by decade, over the course of the 20^th century.

Pasadena Playhouse Artistic Director, Sheldon Epps, who has been in this role since 1997, admits to the numerous components he has to juggle when determining his season of plays. “We are criticized by some press for our choices…I agree with that…You have to meet your yearly budget. You have to do what will sell tickets…The challenge is not to completely sell out and kowtow to the audience…You don’t compromise your beliefs,” he says.

“Jitney” wasn’t even scheduled to run at the Pasadena Playhouse. But due to circumstances it replaces the play originally set to run. Amazing how things happen. Audiences should definitely recognize this inclusion as a gift in disguise.

“I think it is one of August Wilson’s most hopeful and optimistic plays,” Epps offers.

“Every time you do it with different actors…you find something different,” says director Ron OJ Parson, a native New Yorker and accomplished performer and director who has directed or acted in 19 August Wilson plays. Though Parson admits there is nothing in particular he looks for in casting, and chooses each actor based on the “vibe” he gets and not what they do in audition, the final cut for “Jitney” wasn’t an easy one. “I went home and I thought about it….talked with my assistant…The voices you hear talking is exactly what it sounds like when you go into a jitney station,” he adds.

The performances are stellar indeed. The accomplished ensemble works well together and each actor admits to being drawn to the play for personal reasons.

“I get [to hear] my father’s voice. That’s one of the reasons I wanted to play this role,” says Charlie Robinson, who plays “Becker” — owner of the jitney station — with a beautifully quiet intensity and a solid sense of leadership. This is not Robinson’s first August Wilson play. He performed in “The Piano Lesson,” and even won aBest Actor in a Play Ovation Award for his portrayal of Troy in “Fences”. Ironically, Robinson’s father – who died at the age of 36 from alcoholism – was a jitney driver.

Audiences will get a real kick out of Ellis E. Williams’ “Turnbo”, who is really the “life of the party” at the jitney station. The most meddlesome of them all, Williams’ character keeps the play moving as ‘life happens’ to the various relationships exposed. Williams, who has an extensive Broadway repertoire, totally immerses himself in his role and, through his delivery, audiences will most likely find themselves groaning at times, laughing at other times and even cringing in some instances from his characters’ very colorful personality.

Montae Russell plays “Booster” — Becker’s recently released from prison son. From the moment he enters the room, audiences feel it. He is just that powerful a presence. The strained relationship between “Booster” and his father — revealed through dynamic scenes and great dialogue will definitely touch a nerve.

August Wilson once said, “When I first started writing plays I couldn’t write good dialogue…I thought that in order to make art out of their dialogue I had to change it, make it into something different. Once I learned to value and respect my characters, I could really hear them.”

This play confirms that.

Kristy Johnson, a Harvard Law School graduate and former practicing attorney plays “Rena” – the distraught girlfriend (and baby-momma) of the youngest jitney driver. As the only female in the cast, Johnson’s “Rena” is thoroughly convincing and even likeable. In her scenes with Darnell especially, though understated, and possibly by the way she uses her voice, her character generally appears to be one iota away from a nervous breakdown; while the scene does not always appear to call for this. Johnson, who says her dressing room was the ‘party place’ for the rest of the cast, has also performed in other August Wilson plays.

David McKnight’s kind-hearted “Fielding” a sharp dresser who goes nowhere without his concealed bottle of courage; Larry Bates’ “Youngblood/Darnell” – the youngest of the cabbies, who will only take so much from a certain colleague, yet ‘cleans up well’; and James A. Watson, Jr. – a face audiences will find familiar from numerous television roles, who plays “Doub” confidante and loyal friend to “Becker” are all outstanding.

“Jitney” runs through July 15, 2012 at the Pasadena Playhouse located at 39 South El Molino Avenue in Pasadena, California. Performances are Tuesday through Friday at 8:00 p.m., Saturday at 4:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m., and Sunday at 2:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. For more information call 626-921-1161 or visitwww.PasadenaPlayhouse.org.

DeBorah B. Pryor began her career in journalism in New York City more than 30 years ago. She has been a contributing writer for Lee Bailey’s EURweb since 2003. She is also the author of “Public Speaking for the Private Person” a communications seminar designed for professionals who are thrust into public speaking situations due to their work. She teaches her seminar at local universities and community colleges throughout Los Angeles County. Visit her website at http://www.dpryorpresents.com for more information.

 

 

See Where Your State Stands With Health Care

by Associated Press

Here is a look at where each of the 50 states stand on implementing President Barack Obama‘s federal health care overhaul, which the Supreme Court ruled Thursday can go forward with its aim of covering more than 30 million uninsured Americans.

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ALABAMA

NUMBER OF UNINSURED: 720,000 state residents are uninsured, or about 15.4 percent.

WHERE THE STATE STANDS: Republican Gov. Robert Bentley, a physician, created a commission in 2011 to recommend a plan for a health insurance exchange, but he successfully opposed efforts by some legislators to enact one in May. Critics said the bill would have limited the exchange to companies operating statewide, which is one at this point. Bentley said it was premature to act before the Supreme Court ruled.

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ALASKA

NUMBER OF UNINSURED: 125,000 state residents are uninsured, or about 18 percent.

WHERE THE STATE STANDS: Alaska, which is among the states that sued over the constitutionality of the federal health care law, has yet to implement a health care exchange. The health department has hired a consultant to help design one, and that report is expected soon.

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ARIZONA

NUMBER OF UNINSURED: 1.28 million state residents not covered, or about 19 percent

WHERE THE STATE STANDS: Arizona is among the states challenging the constitutionality of the health care overhaul. The lawsuit covers about 22,000 people statewide, including some 14,000 people in the Phoenix area. Republican Gov. Jan Brewer’s administration is moving to implement part of the contested law by reviewing health insurance rates to see if they should be labeled unjustifiably high. The state also has accepted a federal grant to create a state health insurance exchange.

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ARKANSAS

NUMBER OF UNINSURED: 539,000 state residents are uninsured, or about 19 percent.

WHERE THE STATE STANDS: Arkansas decided on a federal-state partnership for its health insurance marketplace. Legislators blocked a bill by which the state would have created its own insurance exchange but have since accepted a grant that will allow it to at least have a role in the federally created exchange.

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CALIFORNIA

NUMBER OF UNINSURED: NUMBER OF UNINSURED: 7,209,000 state residents are uninsured, or about 19 percent.

WHERE THE STATE STANDS: California has worked to be a model for the health care law and has begun implementing parts of it already, including creating the beginnings of health care exchanges to provide consumers a marketplace to purchase insurance policies starting in 2014. The state has also already banned insurers from refusing coverage for children with pre-existing illnesses and young adults are allowed to stay on their parents’ plans through age 26 in California.

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COLORADO

NUMBER OF UNINSURED: 656,000 state residents are uninsured, or about 13 percent.

WHERE THE STATE STANDS: Colorado lawmakers passed legislation in 2011 to set up health insurance exchanges, and a commission is in the process of implementing them. The exchanges are set to start October 2013.

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CONNECTICUT

NUMBER OF UNINSURED: About 377,000 state residents are uninsured, or about 11 percent.

WHERE THE STATE STANDS: Connecticut has hired staff and a board of directors to begin implementing health care exchanges and have them in place by the 2014 deadline set by the federal law. The state already is allowing people under 26 years old to stay on their parents’ health insurance policies, which is part of the federal law.

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DELAWARE

NUMBER OF UNINSURED: Between 100,000 and 110,000 Delaware residents are uninsured, about 11 percent of the state’s population.

WHERE THE STATE STANDS: Delaware officials are working on a health care exchange. State officials also are accepting public input as they come up with minimum coverage requirements that must be included in health care plans for individuals and small businesses.

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FLORIDA

NUMBER OF UNINSURED: 3.85 million Floridians are uninsured, or about 21 percent.

WHERE THE STATE STANDS: Republican Gov. Rick Scott ordered the state not to accept federal money for implementing the health care law after he took office last year. Florida has rejected or declined to pursue more than $106 million and has returned $4.5 million. The state has its own health insurance exchanges, mainly for small businesses but without an individual mandate. The state has not implemented an exchange that would meet the requirements of the federal law.

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GEORGIA

NUMBER OF UNINSURED: 1,905,000 state residents are uninsured, or 19 percent.

WHERE THE STATE STANDS: Georgia has done nothing to implement a health care exchange. Lawmakers have introduced bills that would either allow or hinder implementation of the law, though none have passed.

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HAWAII

NUMBER OF UNINSURED: 97,000 state residents are uninsured, or 7.7 percent.

WHERE THE STATE STANDS: Hawaii has been moving at full speed in anticipation the overhaul will be upheld. It joined several states last year in filing a friend-of-the-court brief in support of the law. Gov. Neil Abercrombie, a Democrat, said at the time the law preserved the best elements of Hawaii’s long-standing health care statutes. The state also used a $300,000 private grant to create a state job for a coordinator to implement the overhaul. Hawaii plans to develop its own insurance exchange, a key component of the federal overhaul.

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IDAHO

NUMBER OF UNINSURED: 294,000 state residents are uninsured, or about 19 percent.

WHERE THE STATE STANDS: Idaho has not implemented health insurance exchanges, over objections from insurers including Blue Cross of Idaho. The GOP-controlled Idaho Legislature declined to accept federal grants for the project and also balked at putting together a scaled-down state-funded version while awaiting the Supreme Court’s decision.

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ILLINOIS

NUMBER OF UNINSURED: 1,914,000 state residents are uninsured, or about 15 percent.

WHERE THE STATE STANDS: Illinois has received three federal grants to study and start building its health insurance exchange, but the Legislature has failed to pass a law establishing it. Gov. Pat Quinn, a Democrat, has considered an executive order to do that, but now may pursue a federal-state partnership instead.

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INDIANA

NUMBER OF UNINSURED: 850,000 state residents are uninsured, or about 13.4 percent.

WHERE THE STATE STANDS: Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels ordered state agencies to build a framework for a possible exchange, but he has not implemented one pending the Supreme Court ruling. Indiana also has pushed to use its health savings account to help cover an estimated 500,000 who will become eligible for Medicaid in 2014 under the federal health care overhaul, but federal officials denied the request in September, saying it was premature.

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IOWA

NUMBER OF UNINSURED: 366,000 Iowa residents are uninsured, about 12 percent of the population.

WHERE THE STATE STANDS: The state does not have a law establishing a health insurance exchange, and Republican Gov. Terry Branstad has said Iowa will create a state-based exchange only if the law is upheld. The Republican House Majority leader says the state has already enacted several pieces of the law, including a website that helps residents find insurance, but the state has yet to comply with other requirements.

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KANSAS

NUMBER OF UNINSURED: 350,000 state residents are uninsured, or almost 13 percent.

WHERE THE STATE STANDS: The Republican-dominated state government has been hostile to the 2010 federal law and hasn’t moved to set up a health care exchange. Last year, GOP Gov. Sam Brownback’s administration returned a $31.5 million federal grant.

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KENTUCKY

NUMBER OF UNINSURED: 640,000 state residents are uninsured, or about 15 percent.

WHERE THE STATE STANDS: Kentucky has laid the groundwork for a statewide health insurance exchange, but Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear opted to wait for the Supreme Court ruling before moving doing anything more.

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LOUISIANA

NUMBER OF UNINSURED: 886,000 state residents are uninsured, or about 20 percent.

WHERE THE STATE STANDS: Louisiana has not implemented health care exchanges, instead choosing to have the federal government create and operate them. Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal and Attorney General Buddy Caldwell oppose the health care law, and Louisiana is one of the states challenging it in court.

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MAINE

NUMBER OF UNINSURED: 121,000 state residents uninsured, or about 9.4 percent. The number may rise due to Medicaid cutbacks authorized by the latest state budget.

WHERE THE STATE STANDS: Maine had a task force to create a health care exchange, but legislation implementing one was set aside until after the Supreme Court’s decision. Maine has passed laws implementing components of the law, such allowing parents to add coverage of children up to age 26 and outlawing denial of insurance coverage due to pre-existing conditions. Maine has also passed a law that will allow consumers to shop out-of-state for coverage.

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MARYLAND

NUMBER OF UNINSURED: 747,000 state residents are uninsured, or about 13 percent.

WHERE THE STATE STANDS: Maryland has passed legislation to create a health care exchange, setting up standards and regulations to run the program and creating the framework for a marketplace where individuals and small businesses can purchase coverage.

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MASSACHUSETTS

NUMBER OF UNINSURED: Massachusetts says 120,000 people, or about 2 percent of the population, remained uninsured in 2010. The U.S. Census Bureau had a somewhat higher estimate of about 370,000 people, or more than 5 percent of the population.

WHERE THE STATE STANDS: Massachusetts passed a sweeping health care law in 2006 that became the blueprint for the federal overhaul. Many of the key elements of the federal law, including the “individual mandate” requiring nearly everyone have insurance, remain the law in Massachusetts.

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MICHIGAN

NUMBER OF UNINSURED: 1.27 million Michigan residents are uninsured, about 13 percent of the population.

WHERE THE STATE STANDS: The Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs has been working to set up a health insurance exchange but has had limited success because House Republicans refuse to let it use $9.8 million in federal planning dollars. Because of looming federal deadlines to have an exchange in place, state officials are planning for a state-run exchange while also talking to federal officials about a possible partnership on a federal exchange where the state handles just some responsibilities, such as customer service.

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MINNESOTA

NUMBER OF UNINSURED: 509,000 state residents are uninsured, or about 9.8 percent.

WHERE THE STATE STANDS: Minnesota has embraced the health care overhaul more than many states. Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton used a provision in the federal law to extend Medicaid coverage to more than 80,000 vulnerable adults as soon as he took office in 2011. His administration has focused on developing an online health insurance exchange envisioned as a key part of the law, securing $28.4 million from the federal government for Minnesota’s planning efforts.

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MISSISSIPPI

NUMBER OF UNINSURED: 618,000 state residents are uninsured, or about 21 percent.

WHERE THE STATE STANDS: Mississippi Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney, a Republican, has been working on a health care exchange and has accepted federal money for the project. The exchange originally was proposed by Republican Haley Barbour when he was governor.

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MISSOURI

NUMBER OF UNINSURED: 835,000 state residents are uninsured, or about 14 percent.

WHERE THE STATE STANDS: Missouri received an initial planning grant but has not implemented a health insurance exchange because of opposition to it by some Republican state senators.

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MONTANA

NUMBER OF UNINSURED: 176,000 state residents are uninsured, or about 18.1 percent.

WHERE THE STATE STANDS: Republican lawmakers in Montana who controlled the Legislature rejected any efforts to establish a health insurance exchange.

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NEBRASKA

NUMBER OF UNINSURED: 237,000 Nebraska residents are uninsured, about 13 percent of the population.

WHERE THE STATE STANDS: The state does not have a law establishing a health insurance exchange. However, Republican Gov. Dave Heineman has instructed the state Department of Insurance to plan for one in case the law is upheld.

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NEVADA

NUMBER OF UNINSURED: 563,000, or about 21 percent.

WHERE THE STATE STANDS NOW: The Nevada Legislature in 2011 passed a bill implementing the Silver State Health Insurance Exchange and creating a seven-member board to oversee it. Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval opposed the federal health care law as a candidate. He also allowed a private attorney appointed by former Gov. Jim Gibbons to continue representing Nevada in the lawsuit filed by more than two dozen states challenging the law. State officials estimate the Affordable Care Act would cost Nevada $575 million in the first five years as more people become eligible for Medicaid.

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NEW HAMPSHIRE

NUMBER OF UNINSURED: 134,000 state residents are uninsured, or just more than 10 percent.

WHERE THE STATE STANDS: New Hampshire currently has laws that echo portions of the Affordable Care Act, such as allowing dependent unmarried residents to remain on their parent’s health care insurance until age 26. Last year, state legislators passed laws that said residents cannot be required to obtain health insurance or be fined for not being covered. They also established a state oversight committee that must give its OK before the federal law is implemented. Democratic Gov. John Lynch’s office said it has done some work on implementing aspects of the Affordable Care Act, but has put plans on hold until the U.S. Supreme Court makes its ruling.

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NEW JERSEY

NUMBER OF UNINSURED: 1.3 million, or about 15 percent.

WHERE THE STATE STANDS: The Legislature passed a law to set up a state health insurance exchange, but Republican Gov. Chris Christie vetoed the measure in May, saying he did not want to spend money on something that could be ruled unconstitutional.

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NEW MEXICO

NUMBER OF UNINSURED: 433,000, or about 21 percent.

WHERE THE STATE STANDS: New Mexico this week announced formation of a task force to develop a proposal for creating a state health insurance exchange. Republican Gov. Susana Martinez’s administration is also working on an overhaul of Medicaid to try to slow the growth of the program without cutting enrollment or changing who’s eligible to receive medical services. The state wants to have the revamped Medicaid program implemented in the fall of 2013.

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NEW YORK

NUMBER OF UNINSURED: 2,886,000 state residents are uninsured, or about 15 percent.

WHERE THE STATE STANDS: Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo issued an executive order April 12 to establish a statewide health insurance exchange, where individuals and small businesses could tap up to $2.6 billion in federal tax credits and subsidies, planning to show by January that the state is ready to participate, start taking applications the following October and start operating Jan. 1, 2014.

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NORTH CAROLINA

NUMBER OF UNINSURED: 1.57 million state residents are uninsured, or about 17 percent.

WHERE THE STATE STANDS: Legislation aimed at prohibiting the mandate for individuals to buy health insurance was the first item introduced after Republicans took over control of by North Carolina’s General Assembly last year. Lawmakers haven’t been able to overcome Democratic Gov. Beverly Perdue’s veto of their bill. But work to design health care exchanges has stalled since last summer.

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NORTH DAKOTA

NUMBER OF UNINSURED: 83,000 North Dakota residents, or about 13 percent, had no health insurance in 2010.

WHERE THE STATE STANDS: Legislators rejected a state-run health insurance exchange last year. Majority Republicans said it was too complex and too expensive and to do so would be tantamount to accepting the federal health care overhaul.

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OHIO

NUMBER OF UNINSURED: More than 1.5 million state residents are uninsured, or about 14 percent.

WHERE THE STATE STANDS: Ohio has not moved to create a health care exchange but is evaluating its options. It received a $1 million federal exchange planning grant in 2010. Republican Gov. John Kasich’s administration has taken advantage of some parts of the new law to expand coordinated care and propose changes to Medicaid eligibility. Democrats have unsuccessfully pushed bills in the Legislature to set up a state-run exchange. But Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor, who is also Ohio’s insurance director, frequently criticizes the overhaul and says it’s premature to plan for an exchange without further clarification from the federal government.

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OKLAHOMA

NUMBER OF UNINSURED: About 624,480 Oklahomans are uninsured, or about 17 percent of the state’s population.

WHERE THE STATE STANDS NOW: Oklahoma lawmakers first rejected $54 million in federal funding to create a health care exchange and then decided to take no action on developing an exchange, deciding instead to wait and see whether the law is upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.

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OREGON

NUMBER OF UNINSURED: 612,000 state residents are uninsured, or about 16 percent.

WHERE THE STATE STANDS: Oregon is working aggressively to implement the health care law and is farther along than most other states. The federal government has committed more than $60 million in grants to develop a health insurance exchange that could be duplicated in other states.

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PENNSYLVANIA

NUMBER OF UNINSURED: 1.37 million state residents are uninsured, or about 11 percent.

WHERE THE STATE STANDS: Republican Gov. Tom Corbett, as state attorney general in 2010, joined a group of state officials in challenging the law. Still, Pennsylvania is working to set up a health insurance exchange required by the law, although the state Insurance Department says it is waiting for the Supreme Court’s decision before it touches a $33 million grant it won in January to build out the exchange.

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RHODE ISLAND

NUMBER OF UNINSURED: 119,000 state residents are uninsured or about 11.4 percent.

WHERE THE STATE STANDS: Rhode Island has received $58 million in federal funds to assist in the creation of its health benefits exchange. Gov. Lincoln Chafee, an independent, last week picked a former state health official to direct the exchange.

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SOUTH CAROLINA

NUMBER OF UNINSURED: 930,000 state residents are uninsured, or more than 20 percent.

WHERE THE STATE STANDS: South Carolina, which is among the states that sued over the constitutionality of the federal health care law, opted not to implement health care exchanges after a panel concluded there were too many unanswered questions.

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SOUTH DAKOTA

NUMBER OF UNINSURED: Federal officials estimate 105,000 state residents are uninsured, or about 13 percent; South Dakota officials say state survey data is lower, about 9 percent.

WHERE THE STATE STANDS: Republican Gov. Dennis Daugaard has delayed work on setting up a health insurance exchange until the Supreme Court’s decision.

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TENNESSEE

NUMBER OF UNINSURED: About 930,000 people, or 15 percent.

WHERE THE STATE STANDS: Tennessee has laid the groundwork for a health insurance exchange but would have to wait until the Legislature returns in January to complete it.

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TEXAS

NUMBER OF UNINSURED: About 6.2 million, or about 25 percent.

WHERE THE STATE STANDS: Texas has not implemented a health care exchange. Texas has joined with other states in challenging the law in court. Gov. Rick Perry, who is vocally opposed to the law, says the state can “deliver health care more efficiently, more effectively and cheaper than the federal government can.”

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UTAH

NUMBER OF UNINSURED: 386,000 state residents are uninsured, or nearly 14 percent.

WHERE THE STATE STANDS: Utah implemented a health insurance exchange before the federal Affordable Care Act was passed to help small businesses obtain insurance coverage for their employees. Utah is among 26 states that sued the federal government over the law. Republican Gov. Gary Herbert has criticized the individual mandate and the expansion of Medicaid rolls that administration officials say would cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars.

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VERMONT

NUMBER OF UNINSURED: 59,000 state residents are uninsured, or about 9.5 percent.

WHERE THE STATE STANDS: Vermont in 2011 passed legislation to use the insurance exchange called for under the federal health care law as a springboard to launch a statewide, universal, publicly funded health care system by 2017.

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VIRGINIA

NUMBER OF UNINSURED: Nearly 1.1 million state residents are uninsured, or about 14 percent.

WHERE THE STATE STANDS: Virginia has expressed its intent to create a health care exchange, but Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell has not acted on recommendations made by a gubernatorial advisory council. Virginia filed its own lawsuit challenging the health care law, but lost in federal appeals court.

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WASHINGTON

NUMBER OF UNINSURED: 927,000 state residents are uninsured, or about 13.8 percent

WHERE THE STATE STANDS: Republican Attorney General Rob McKenna signed on to the health care lawsuit against the wishes of the state’s Democratic governor and majority Democrats, but Washington state moved ahead this past legislative session with implementing its own health insurance exchange.

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WEST VIRGINIA

NUMBER OF UNINSURED: 244,000 West Virginians are uninsured, or about 13.5 percent.

WHERE THE STATE STANDS: West Virginia has enacted legislation allowing for a state-run health care exchange, but the state has slowed the pace of setting it up to see how the Supreme Court rules.

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WISCONSIN

NUMBER OF UNINSURED: 526,000 state residents are uninsured, or about 9 percent.

WHERE THE STATE STANDS: Wisconsin has not begun setting up its health insurance exchange. Work on that was put on hold in January by Republican Gov. Scott Walker, who wanted to await the Supreme Court’s decision.

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WYOMING

NUMBER OF UNINSURED: 93,000 state residents are uninsured, or about 17 percent.

WHERE THE STATE STANDS: Wyoming has not implemented health care exchanges, but a steering committee is studying an exchange for Wyoming and will present a report to the Legislature this fall.

 

Black Doll Museum opening in Mansfield

Wicked Local staff photo/Ashley McCabe

Dawn Kiyanda and Alexis Kiyanda, 11, check out the exhibit of tribal dolls during the preview of the new National Balck Doll Musuem in Mansfield Center Saturday.

By Heather Harris

For more than 50 years sisters Felicia Walker, Debra Britt and Celeste Cotton have been collecting African American dolls. Their collection contains more than 5,000 dolls which will soon be on display at the new National Black Doll Museum in Mansfield.

The museum, located at 288 North Main St., next to the True Value Hardware store, will officially open its doors to the public Tuesday, July 11 in conjunction with Family Fun night.

“We all liked collecting dolls,” Britt said. “Our father collected records and pipes, our brother matchbox cars and G.I. Joes and we all liked dolls.”

The sisters had been looking for a building to launch the museum for the past five years.

“We had been looking in Brockton,” Britt said.

However, when the opportunity presented itself to house the dolls in Mansfield they jumped at the chance.

“We all live here in Mansfield and are happy to be able to be in town. It all fell into place,” Britt said.

The museum contains many exhibits. The first one that greets guests upon arrival is called the “Ugly Truth”.

“This explains many of the ugly truths African Americans were told growing up,” Walker said.

Further into the tour dolls representing the pyramids in Africa are on display as are fertility and tribal dolls. There is a room with “star” dolls such as a Will Smith doll from the popular “Men in Black” movies and actor Wesley Snipes as the vampire from “Blade.”

Inside of a Dogon hut replica live eight-foot dolls.  A darker, dimly lit room next door represents a slave ship.  More than 700 wrap dolls, that the sisters made themselves, are part of the slave ship display.

“The dolls represent the people that survived the passage from Africa,” Walker said.

The sisters have traveled across the country to teach children how to make wrap dolls as part of a bullying prevention program. The dolls, made out of recyclable materials, help to build self-esteem and teach cultural diversity, according to Walker.

“We tell them to put their fears and worries into the dolls and also their hopes and dreams,” Walker said.

The sisters will be offering wrap doll workshops, starting in August, in the adjoining building next door to the museum.

Also along the tour are historical figures, such as Martin Luther King Jr., who are made into paper dolls.

“These are ordinary people who made extraordinary accomplishments,” Walker said of the display.

She explained the mirror on the wall behind the paper dolls was there for a reason.

“The mirror is there so people can see that they too are extraordinary,” Walker said.

Retiring Jordan/Jackson Elementary School music teacher, Eleanor Vaughn has an entire room dedicated to her in the museum.

“She has been at Jordan/Jackson for 16 years and is retiring,” Britt said. “We wanted to do something special for her.

In the Vaughn room, a record player will be set up for people to play records from the sisters’ father’s record collection. He once owned a record store.

The museum also hosts a sports room with various memorabilia, a fashion room with “Big Beautiful Dolls,” an area honoring the first African American woman astronaut Mae Jemison, and a Reach for the Stars display showcasing U.S. president Barrack Obama.

After the July 10 opening, museum hours will be Tuesday-Saturday from 10a.m.-7p.m.

For more information you can find them on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/NationalBlackDollMuseum.

 

Race Matters: NAACP Protests Proposed Gun Offender Registry Law In Wealthiest African-American County In U.S.

NAACP Protests Proposed Gun Offender Registry Law In Wealthy African-American County

A law that would require members of the community convicted of gun-related crimes to check in with police every six months is in the works in Prince George’s County, Maryland.

The NAACP chapter of Prince George’s County, which is the wealthiest African-American majority county in the nation, says they are not havin it.

The Prince George’s County’s chapter of the NAACP is hoping to stop County Executive Rushern L. Baker III (D) from signing a countywide gun offender registry program into law, claiming the law is unconstitutional.

The registry program, passed June 5 by the County Council with a 9-0 vote, would establish a police-kept registry for those convicted of gun-related crimes who would have to check in with police every six months for three years in addition to providing information such as phone numbers and where they live and work.

Legislation for the registry was introduced by County Councilwoman Karen R. Toles (D-Dist. 7) of Suitland and co-sponsored by the entire council to serve as “a deterrent to gun offenders” to reduce the amount of gun-related crimes and homicides in the county, Toles has said.

Members of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People met June 21 to discuss their opposition, saying the bill violates the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, which prohibits governments from depriving a person’s life, liberty and property without first taking certain steps to ensure fairness. In addition, they are citing flaws in similar legislation in Baltimore for a gun-offender registry that is currently up for potential appeal after a city circuit court judge said April 6 that the legislation was unconstitutional and too vague.

 

For African-Americans and Latinos, few California high schools offer path to college: report

Research highlights ‘broken pipelines’ to post-secondary education

By Joanna Lin on June 29, 2012 – 12:01 a.m. PDT

California high schools that serve largely Latino or African American students are failing them as pathways to college, according to a new report by a statewide education policy, research and advocacy organization.

Just 10 percent of high schools that serve primarily Latino students have above-average graduation and college-going rates for Latinos. The same is true for African Americans at 24 percent of high schools serving the largest proportions of African American students, the Education Trust–West found. Many students in both populations are low-income.

The college-going rate among Latino and African American students who graduated high school in 2010 lagged behind that of white and Asian students by 20 and more than 30 percentage points, respectively. The estimate, released last week, found 45 percent of Latinos and 46 percent of African Americans in the class of 2010 enrolled in college.

Researchers analyzed high school graduation rates for students who earned diplomas in 2010 and estimated their college-going rates using data from 2009, the first year such information was available. Their findings, they said, were disturbing.

“Far too few schools with large populations of African American, Latino and low-income students are serving as pipelines to post-secondary education,” the report said. Post-secondary education includes both community colleges and four-year universities.

Among high schools with the highest proportions of African American students, 52 percent were considered either “broken pipelines,” schools where African Americans graduate and go on to college at lower rates than statewide averages, or “not college bound,” schools where African Americans had higher-than-average graduation rates but lower college-going rates.

Nine out of 10 Latino-dominant high schools were either broken pipelines or not college bound, researchers found.

Still, Orville Jackson, senior research analyst at the Education Trust–West, said he was pleased to find a number of schools serving as college pipelines.

There were “not as many as we’d like, but at least (there were) some schools where we could highlight where it’s possible,” he said. “They’re kind of showing that it can be done – that you can both graduate above average and send those kids on to college.”

Imperial High School is among those identified as a college pipeline. The school, located less than 20 miles north of the Mexican border in Imperial County, has about 1,000 students, three-fourths of whom are Latino.

Ninety-two percent of Imperial High’s Latino students graduated in 2010, according to the report. Among graduates, an estimated 78 percent went on to college.

Imperial High partners with its district’s middle school, the local community college and San Diego State University to instill a “college-going culture,” said Roger Ruvalcaba, the school’s principal.

Although its graduation requirements do not mirror entrance requirements for the University of California and California State University systems – something the Education Trust–West recommends for all high schools – the school’s counselors discuss both graduation and state university admissions requirements starting in eighth grade, Ruvalcaba said.

The school has also made efforts to make college preparation the default. In previous years, the school offered seniors an after-school opportunity to take a reading, writing and math exam for placement at community colleges; about 75 to 80 students typically participated, Ruvalcaba said. This year, however, Imperial High integrated the test into the school day and had all its seniors participate.

As a result, all seniors had test scores they could use at nearby Imperial Valley College – where most of the school’s graduates matriculate – or other community colleges. Even for students who plan to attend four-year universities, Ruvalcaba said, the test shows them where they could place at a post-secondary level.

“You always have kids who say they’re going to go away (to college) and then something happens,” he said. “It’s just another thing that helps them.”

Orville would like to see more schools like Imperial High.

“If we increase the rigor and requirements at our high schools, that’s going to be good for everyone,” he said. “We need to have high expectations for all students.”

 

Marcus Eley Discusses CD, ‘But Not Forgotten: Music by African-American Composers for Clarinet & Piano’

[But Not Forgotten: Music by African-American Composers for Clarinet & Piano; Marcus Eley, clarinet; Lucerne DeSa, piano; Sono Luminus DSL-92156 (U.S. release date July 31, 2012)]

William J. Zick interviewed Marcus Eley by phone on June 21, 2012:

Good morning!

Hello, this is Bill Zick calling for Marcus Eley.

This is he speaking. Good morning and thank you so much for your time!

Oh, it’s my pleasure! This is the first opportunity I’ve had to write about a clarinet and piano CD. It’s not an instrument combination that has come up very often.

Well, based on the repertoire and on the reviews for this recording, we hope that that will change!

I do too. A contact in the U.K. sent an email that it was coming out there a little bit earlier than it is in the U.S.?

Yes, I found that interesting myself, because, surfing the web I saw that the recording will be released July 2 in the U.K. It won’t be released here until July 31. Whenever it hits this world, that’s good!

Right, I certainly agree with that! I understand you grew up in  Indianapolis?

That’s correct, yes. I was born in Indianapolis and attended Indianapolis Public Schools and Indiana University. From there I studied at the Hochschule fuer Musik und darstellende Kunst in Vienna, Austria. I did some postgraduate work with Robert Marcellus at Northwestern University.

I read that you and your sister took part in a radio contest for school children to identify music?

That’s correct. There was a competition in the Indianapolis school system. It gave students a chance to become oriented in classical music. We would hear excerpts from records. After a perfect score of identifying ten excerpts, we would progress to the radio stage. After you got a “10” on that you would hear a live orchestra performing. In this case the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra would perform snatches from the Brahms Third, or it could have been the Grieg Piano Concerto.

You got to hear them in person, right?

Yes, you would go there as the winner of this competition, hear the concert live and have a chance to guess which movement it was and the composer. I missed one, and my sister got a perfect score and she won the prize, a recording of Fritz Reiner and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra performing the Tragic Overture, and on the same side the Brahms Third or Fourth. I was very upset with that at the age of 8 or 9!

Did it help stimulate your interest?

Yes, it did!

Doesn’t the program on this recording reflect the concept of the performance that you and Lucerne DeSa gave a few years ago?

That’s correct! One of the things that I wanted to do when I received the invitation to perform at the National Arts Center Festival in Grahamstown, South Africa was to present a program that would be unique, reflecting the reason that I was invited. For the first time at the festival they wanted to focus on the diaspora. Because of the uniqueness of my program, it was something that allowed me to feature women composers, African-American women and African-American composers that had never been highlighted before at the previous festivals. I thought well, since I am going to be here, and we had rehearsed the program, and we had performed it, let’s record it. Before leaving I was able to find a very fine concert hall in Stellenbosch that had the time available and allowed us to give our concert there and at the same time we were performing we would be able to record the music on the concert hall stage.

Did you bring something back?

Yes, I did! In fact it was recorded there, I then brought it back to the United States, and I had it mastered. The biggest challenge was to start trying to find a record home for this. It took quite some time. And then I was very, very conscious about trying to find the right vehicle for this. I went, and I had written and spoken with all of the major classical record companies in this country. Can I mention the names?

Yes, certainly.

From BMG to Sony Classical to Decca, Universal, Harmonia Mundi, etc. Unfortunately, after several weeks passed, I would get a phone call or a message or email saying thank you very much, but we can’t find a home for it; we don’t know how to place this. Nothing critical of the performances, but in fact in all cases, very fine performances, well presented and so on but the next step was going on because, even in my previous recording, I believe that because of the nature of the recording at this point it is almost incumbent to the artist to make sure that everything has been placed…

You say the previous recording; would that be the Arabesque CD called Welcome Home?

That’s correct!

Would you like to comment briefly on that one?

Again, I wanted the recording to be a potpourri of music by American composers for clarinet and piano. It includedForest by Alec Wilder, a composer I had met.

David Baker?

David Baker, of course!

H.T. Burleigh?

Yes! And another good friend of mine…

Thom Ritter George?

Thom Ritter George I met at the Sun Valley Arts Festival years ago. These were the composers I wanted, to say that this is a panorama of American composers.

Oliver Nelson and John Price?

Yes, exactly! John Price I had met some years previous and I had the pleasure of performing a recital at Auburn University and at the time, we met and talked. I had already performed his Blues and Dance I and I said if I ever get a possibility I will record your work. The mission became possible, and then I recorded it. It’s angular in its compositional technique.

I haven’t heard your current recording, but someone wrote a glowing review for the American Composers Alliance…

Yes!

Dorothy Rudd Moore said the performance of Night Fantasy was stunning!

Well, thank you very much!

I’m just passing on what she said! 

Oh, it was very kind of Dorothy Rudd Moore! I had performed her work at the conference in South Africa. All the works in this compilation were of African-American composers. I wanted to give an overview of what it is like, because there is nothing, to my knowledge, that has a recording of this type for this instrument and these composers. I wanted to have Undine Smith Moore’s work and I wanted to make sure that women composers were represented.

The program goes on to Alvin Batiste, Episodes?

Alvin Batiste was a very good friend. We had the pleasure of working with Alvin on different occasions. This musicEpisodes is a part of a larger piece for clarinet, string quartet and jazz trio, which Alvin and I will perform on the next recording, which will be the music by Black composers or African American composers for chamber music setting. First you have the clarinet and piano, then you have the larger chamber music.

Then you have Clarence Cameron White, The Basque Folk Song?

Yes, that has not been recorded. That is something I think is from the middle part of his compositional life. All these pieces on the recording reflect the composer’s passion for the instrument and the setting, particularlyThe Basque Folk Song. The same thing is true with theRomance composed by William Grant Still which I had found out was originally a dynamic piece for alto saxophone. As I listened to it as I was reading the score, I thought this would work really well with the clarinet. As I mentioned in the program notes, it is a song without words, and it has a very nice melody which is typical of William Grant Still.

I see the program goes on with another woman, Undine Smith Moore?

Undine Smith Moore has been, throughout her compositional life, someone who wanted to show her love for the spiritual, and also her work for choral writing. I remember when I first got the work from her she said this is one of my earliest pieces for clarinet, and it wasIntroduction, Allegro and Fugue, so one other piece if I’m not mistaken. I remember the discussion very briefly. This piece, again, is one of the pieces which work well for the instrument. It allows one to see what Undine Smith Moore has done outside of her area. Her instrumental writing is very interesting, and challenging!

A fascinating choice I haven’t seen before, Samuel Akpabot?

This is from a larger piece.

Scenes from Nigeria?

Exactly! This particular excerpt from the piece features the clarinet. He rewrote this for clarinet and piano. I think I found this piece at Indiana University School of Music. It’s a piece that’s very melodic. Its titled Pastorale; it’s a lullaby type of song which puts it in a very tranquil and relaxed mood. This is one of his pieces that I wanted to include. For an African composer, you don’t see that many pieces for traditional wind instruments in Western compositional technique.

I see you go on then to Quincy Hilliard?

Yes.

You chose his work Coty?

Yes, I did. A friend of mine knew Coty. He said Quincy is a very fine composer; this is a piece for clarinet you should look at. This is a friend of mine from the Indianapolis Public Schools who knew Quincy Hilliard. When I got the piece from him, I thought it was quite interesting. It is something that could definitely work well in any recital setting for clarinet. The second movement is something that I think is very interesting and yet passionate. The last movement, which is something that I remember from playing it in South Africa, reminds one of the Mission Impossible theme.

Is that right!

In the ostinato; when you listen to it you’ll hear it. What makes it very interesting is what Mr. Hilliard does in the clarinet part. It’s the movement that is the most virtuosic for the instrument. There are things that require a lot of technique and use of different types of control of the instrument. It’s a fun piece; I think you’ll enjoy it! It reminds me of that period, and it works well!

You have Scott Joplin represented here?

Yes!

With Weeping Wilow, A Ragtime Two-Step?

Exactly! This piece is something that I have done many times as an encore. Not many people know this piece! It’s one of the pieces that are arranged to give the clarinet a prominent voice but then still goes back to what Mr, Joplin said, that a rag should be played not very fast, and that it’s much more dignified than what people frequently think of when they think of the rag. This one I wanted to have a very stately approach to a genre that many people feel should be played very quickly. The Weeping Willowwas something that I felt works well on the instrument.

The piece that follows is Todd Cochran’s Soul Bird?

Exactly! This was commissioned from Mr. Cochran. Todd, a good friend, lives here in the Los Angeles area, and has done much work as a jazz pianist and also as a film composer. When I approached him I said I’m going to South Africa, I really want to feature a world premiere. Would you have anything, or would you have the time to compose a piece? He graciously accepted and Soul Bird is one piece that, as I wrote in the program notes, gives one an impression of how a bird will land, a soul bird metaphorically speaking, will land and become a part of life and then flourishes and then the bird encounters the rest of his life. There are things that happen, and then he flies away before he dies.

You close the program with Amazing Grace?

Yes! This piece I have given several years ago, and and it’s a great arrangement!

The arrangement by H. Stevenson?

Yes! Mr. Stevenson lives here in the Southern California area. I was able to get the piece. My friend said “Marcus, I know you can play this quite well!” I’ve used it as an encore. It’s a composition everyone knows, but to have it performed on the clarinet gives it a different type of feeling. My hat goes off to the arrangement by Mr. Stevenson! With all these other composers, and all the works that have been played and not played, the amazing grace is that we are able to realize that there by the grace of God with all these works that the composer’s art has contributed, we are able to say, that we have come, and we will survive and we will not be forgotten!

You end with a very thoughtful and pleasant perspective!

Yes, in fact that’s what I want! This is a celebration of works by composers whose voices need to be heard! They have to be heard! And they will be heard! I want in this recording to do what I can do as a performing artist to show what there is in this repertoire. Hopefully this will stir other composers, other musicians, other clarinetists to aggressively challenge the view of work. When you look at the programming of orchestral, chamber and solo recitals or concerts, you don’t see this type of thing.

You have chosen a fine record label, Sono Luminus!

Oh, thank you very much! It was a challenge trying to find a home, and I am so happy that Sono Luminus has given me this opportunity and I am sure that this will add significantly to the discography of works by African-American composers!

This is the second Sono Luminus recording that I’ve dealt with. The first one was the Russian Viola Sonatas of Eliesha Nelson and Glen Inanga.

Yes!

Is there any concluding remark you’d like to make?

Just listen, enjoy and listen again!

Thank you very much, Marcus!

Thank you so much for allowing me to have the forum!

 

Standard Surveys Overestimate Black Progress in Education, Earnings

By many counts, the lives of African-Americans in the United States have progressed since the Civil Rights era. National surveys show narrowing over the past few decades of gaps between blacks and whites in education and employment. There’s a growing black middle class and a black president.

The surveys also suggest a smaller racial gap in voting, and many credit a large turnout of black voters for President Barack Obama’s 2008 election.

But when Becky Pettit, a sociology professor at the University of Washington, took a closer look at the numbers, she found that most measures exclude 2.3 million Americans in prisons and jails.

“A disproportionate number of these individuals are black men with little education, whose exclusion from social surveys gives the illusion that black people in America have achieved more than they actually have,” Pettit said.

She describes her findings and their social consequences in “Invisible Men: Mass Incarceration and the Myth of Black Progress,” a book published this month by Russell Sage Foundation. The title is a nod to Ralph Ellison’s 1952 novel, “Invisible Man.”

Federal surveys such as the monthly Current Population Survey rely on data collected from individuals living in households, which does not include those who are incarcerated, on parole, in the military or in mental hospitals.

When Pettit factored in inmates, she found that young black men without a high school diploma are more likely to be in prison or jail than have a job, and that nearly 70 percent of young black men without a high school diploma will be imprisoned at some point in their lives.

Standard surveys underestimate high school dropout rates for young black men by 40 percent, Pettit found.

“Including inmates, we find little improvement in the black-white gap in high school completion for the last 20 years,” she wrote in “Invisible Men.”

When inmates are included, employment rates for young, black men with less than a high school degree have decreased by half since 1980. In 2008, 25 percent of all jobless black men under 35 were in prison or jail, compared with 9 percent of young white men.

With more young black men unemployed due to incarceration, the black-white gap in earnings grew too. Pettit calculates that in 2008, average earnings by blacks were 30 cents for every dollar earned by whites.

Since most inmates are ineligible to vote, mass incarceration of black men has affected their participation in democracy. Pettit found that 48.6 percent of all young black men, including inmates, voted in the 2008 presidential election. Without including inmates, it appeared that 55 percent of young, black men voted – a statistic that led many to attribute Obama’s victory to a large turnout of black voters.

“Although blacks who voted in the 2008 presidential election supported President Obama by wide margins, a large fraction of black men were ineligible to vote because they were incarcerated. It is likely that even more will be ineligible for the 2012 election,” Pettit said.

Other consequences of incarceration, such as higher divorce rates, greater economic hardship for families of inmates and poor health status, are also obscured by omitting prison inmates from social surveys.

Pettit argues that shifts in criminal justice policy over the past few decades – not increases in crime – have led to greater incarceration of young black men.

“In any single case it is easy to point to crimes committed and the need to lock a person up,” she said. “But after decades of doing just that, when we step back and look at the criminal justice system as a whole, we can see that very clearly that it has become an institution that increasingly houses American’s most disadvantaged.”

 

Newswire : Black colleges and the Black press revive old partnership

 

Clockwise from 2nd row) NNPA Chairman Cloves Campbell, President of Xavier University, Norman Francis, Fort Valley State University President Larry Rivers, Florida Memorial University President Henry Lewis III, Rev. R.B. Holmes, South Carolina State University President George Cooper (retired), Virginia Union University President Claude G. Perkins, Tuskegee University chief of staff Tamara Lee (interim), and Clark Atlanta University President Carlton Brown. NNPA Photo by Freddie Allen.

 

 

By Freddie Allen, NNPA News  Service

WASHINGTON (NNPA) – It was a reunion of sorts. The presidents of seven Black colleges met Black newspaper publishers for a breakfast consisting of French toast, eggs and bacon. The setting was the annual convention of the National Newspaper Publishers Association here. And the goal was a familiar one – explore ways to strengthen a unique partnership.The relationship between Black colleges and the Black Press dates back to 1944, when Frederick Patterson, president of Tuskegee Institute and Mary McLeod Bethune, founder of what is now Bethune-Cookman University, established the United Negro College Fund,  a federation of private Black colleges.

Patterson utilized the Black Press to garner support for and increase the visibility of the fledgling organization and to also alert Blacks to the financial struggles of the 27 HBCUs sprinkled across the South at the time.

In the book, Envisioning Black Colleges: A History of the United Negro College Fund, Marybeth Gasman noted the significance of the relationship between Black schools and the Black press to the survival of higher education in the Black community:

“According to Morehouse president Benjamin Mays, the UNCF required the support of the Black press including the Pittsburg Courier, the Chicago Defender, the Baltimore Afro-American, the Atlanta Daily World and the New York Amsterdam News during this time as well as any time the Fund was asking for support: ‘It was important because all Negroes were reading and they were seeing how important it was, that the Negro colleges needed the Fund…You can’t get along without the media.’”

According to UNCF’s Web site, the organization has raised more than $3.3 billion and assisted in excess of 400,000 students attend college. Only the U.S. government has distributed more money than UNCF on higher education for African Americans.

“[Frederick Patterson] broached that idea through the Pittsburgh Courier,” said Raymond H. Boone, editor and publisher of the Richmond Free Press. “If it were not for the Black Press of that period, it’s a good chance that the idea wouldn’t have taken off. White papers were not publishing news about Black people and Black institutions in a positive way.”

Now, as the federal government cuts education funding to colleges and universities and threatens to double the interest rates on student loans, Black college presidents are again turning to the Black Press for support.

“In the four years I served as president, we lost 50 percent of our state appropriations,” said George Cooper, recently retired president of South Carolina State University. “The budget decreased from $26 million to $11 million.” Ninety percent of the freshman students entering South Carolina State are eligible for Pell grants, said Cooper, meaning that their combined family income is less than $30,000.

Cooper suggested that the Black Press can help HBCUs convey their commitment and mission of providing access to opportunities to parents and students.

Black colleges and universities make up three percent of the higher education institutions in the U.S. but nearly 25 percent of the baccalaureate degrees are awarded to African-Americans, said Cooper

Cooper also said that the Black Press can also explain federal legislation affecting Black colleges and students, including a proposal that could have doubled interest rates on subsidized Stafford college loans if Congress hadn’t  acted. Lawmakers were forced to work on a rushed agreement to avoid the rate hike, based partly on political pressure and negative coverage in the media.

Cooper also urged publishers to create a virtual communications network with HBCU presidents. “We don’t have to have conversations face-to-face, but if there was a quarterly virtual platform where we could engage each other, it would allow you to really understand some of the issues that would impact us,” he said.

Even as smaller HBCU’s struggle to survive, Norman Francis, president of Xavier University in New Orleans said that he still gets asked if Black colleges are even relevant today.

“We need this partnership, what I’m seeing today is what I saw in the 60s. It’s coming back around the next civil rights revolution will be on education,” said Francis. “I plead with you to answer the question ‘Why America needs Black colleges?’”

Claude Perkins, president of Virginia Union University in Richmond, said, “You need to get to know us. You need to get to know who we are, what we do and what our values are.”

Even as university officials implored the publishers to open their pages to the ongoing financial plight of Black colleges several of the publishers pushed back, noting that communication and effective partnerships live on a two-way street.

“We’re almost 190 years old,” said John Warren publisher of the San Diego Voice and Viewpoint and the Florida Tribune. “We’ve been doing what we do a long time. We need your people to understand who we are and what we do from a standpoint of cooperation and not from a standpoint of second thought.”

Warren said that the communication and PR departments at the schools should send out ready-to-print press releases and photographs for use in NNPA member newspapers, the same way that the predominantly white universities do.

For some publishers the key to a beneficial relationship between the NNPA and HBCUs is showing students the importance of media ownership.

“The Black Press was founded to speak out for our own cause,” said Boone. “That’s most important today at a time when corporate America has taken over the entire press and the political system through the money.”

James Washington, publisher of the Dallas Weekly, said:  “Some of these newspapers have bought a few houses, cars for people, sent some kids to school, put some money in the bank. That’s capitalism. The Black Press is an institution.” Just like the Black school, and the Black church, the survival of the Black press is essential to the progress of the Black community, Washington noted.

 

RTWT Popular Post Thoughts: 75-Year-Old Black Grandma Is World’s Oldest Female Bodybuilder

I fell off the wagon you all. Many months ago I promised to write more and I have not kept that promise. What keeps me from writing? I can say I lead a busy life which is true but the fact is people make time for what they want; I suppose that I just didn’t want to write. This is due lack of desire, lack of discipline and fear. Well here I am writing again. I decided to start writing on my most popular posts. The first of which is 75 Year-Old Black Grandma Is World’s Oldest Female Bodybuilder . Ernestine Shepherd keep getting hits on RTWT. Her story inspired me to get back to my fitness. It is during the last three weeks of working out that I began to think about writing. Each week my body grew in strength and the thrill of feeling my body shake from pushing beyond my mental limits inspired me. When I was performing my leg presses I thought of Ernestine and my mantra became “If she can do it, I can do it”. Her impetus to body build was out of love and loss. She took a tragedy and made it into an inspiration. I don’t think Ernestine knew that she would inspire a young black woman (relatively young) to respect the machine that is her body and in turn activated her mind.

My blog followers, tell me if Ernestine’s story inspired you and if so, in what way?

 

We’re Not Sick or on Break; We’re Having a Baby

By Christina Caldwell

WeNews commentator

It’s time to do something about the lack of paid parental leave in the United States. Does anyone realize that this deprivation leaves us in the company of such under-developed countries as Papua New Guinea and Swaziland?

ELBA, Alabama (WOMENSENEWS)–As I look ahead to giving birth for the first time, I find myself, strangely, thinking about the new parents of Papua New Guinea.

And those of Swaziland.

And the United States.

For all of the differences in all our millions of lives we have one thing in common: Out of 181 countries studied by Harvard and McGill, we are the only three countries with no paid parental leave.

I currently work for an organization that is listed as, not one of, but the No. 1 business in the country for providing optimal employee benefits. So I was shocked to discover I had no paid parental leave.

Yes, I can take 12 weeks off, which I understand is way more than many parents get. But it’s all unpaid.

A human resources manager says I can combine my sick leave and vacation leave for the time I will need to take off. Since so many workers go without paid sick days or even vacations, I hate to gripe. But pregnancy and infant care aren’t sicknesses. Nor are they vacations. They’re draining and important times for couples to get their families off to a good start.

My partner’s employer takes a different approach. His job allows him to take unpaid leave for family bonding. Bravo! But he must use a sick day to be with me during delivery and then immediately send the human resources office documentation that proves the birth really did occur on that day.

Unaffordable Option

Even with proper financial planning, few parents can afford to take unpaid leave. So parents who are lucky enough to have sick leave and paid vacation, like me, wind up using it all up. All my sick days will be spent on my pregnancy. Then all my vacation days will be spent after delivery in “diaper city.”

But even this kind of patchwork won’t hold together unless everything goes just right.

One young woman I know went into labor six weeks early. She’d been counting on those six weeks to accrue a bit of leave. Instead she delivered her premature child on Thursday and had to be back to work that following Monday morning while her baby was still in the hospital.

That kind of story is repeated all over the country. And even when things go as planned during the pregnancy and delivery, millions of men and women must return to their paid work too soon after their child is born, simply because they can’t afford to take time off to care for them.

Public health officials encourage us to provide exclusive breastfeeding for six months, but that’s all but impossible when mothers are expected to report back to duty within days. Before they get a solid breastfeeding routine established many women go through all kinds of adjustments. If new mothers are expected to be right back at work the whole breastfeeding project can easily fall apart.

Wider Health Push

Any serious public health push on breastfeeding should include lobbying for at least a few weeks of paid leave. At that point, a woman has a fighting chance of breastfeeding in her off hours and using lactation breaks at work.

Employers have plenty of reasons to offer paid leave. For one, children who have the benefit of breastfeeding will, in general, enjoy health benefits, as will the mother. And that means employees will spend less time in the pediatrician’s office and less time being stressed out and distracted at work.

The Family Medical Leave Act does protect an employee’s job security for up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave. But the 16 percent of U.S. companies that do offer paid leave have much lower turnover than those where the leave is unpaid.

There’s something really wrong when people who generate a profit for their employers and pay taxes can’t expect some decent set-aside time off to care for their families.

There’s also something wrong when a highly industrialized nation such as the United States shares a category with Papua New Guinea and Swaziland, two of the least developed countries in the world.

I know I’m only talking about this now because it’s about to affect me personally. But it’s time for everyone to take up this cause, which would serve the entire national “family.” Parents with newborns need your help. We’ll be too overwhelmed and time stressed, under our current system, to lobby for ourselves.

Christina Caldwell is an independent journalist reporting on issues that affect women worldwide.

 

New York’s Brazilians Fill Erotic Dancing Niche

By Suzana Maia

WeNews guest author

Many middle-class Brazilian female immigrants in New York City have turned to erotic dancing to support themselves, says Suzana Maia in her book, “Transnational Desires: Brazilian Erotic Dancers in New York.” In this excerpt, she explores why.

 

Credit: Thomas Hawk on Flickr, under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC 2.0).

 

NEW YORK (WOMENSENEWS)–In Queens bars, semi-naked women wearing G-string bikinis and, at times, without the top, parade up and down a small platform alongside the bar.

Their work consists of dancing and attracting clients who, sipping their drinks, observe the dancers’ performance. Every now and then dancers stop to receive dollar bills from clients, which is the way they make most of their money. On a regular night’s shift–from 7:30 p.m. to 4 a.m.–about 10 to 15 dancers take turns performing onstage. Each stage performance lasts 20 minutes.

When not dancing, a woman is supposed to socialize with clients on the floor and encourage them to buy her drinks, from which she receives a small percentage. Some bars also offer lap dances in which a woman dances for a single client, usually in a corner of the bar or in a separate space. In Queens gentlemen’s bars, a dancer can make between $100 and $400 per night, and sometimes more, depending on her performance, the day of the week and the mood of the bar.

Contrary to the common belief that erotic dancing is a form of prostitution, there is no exchange of money for sexual intercourse in gentlemen’s clubs and, in fact, strict city and state laws define the border between prostitution and erotic dancing.

 From the beginning, I was particularly struck by the presence of Brazilian women from the middle class. Being a Brazilian middle-class woman myself, I could perceive their class markers in their ways of speaking and moving, in their gestures and mannerisms. I identified with these women on a variety of levels. Often when I went to a new bar, dancers I did not know, clients and management would see me as a potential dancer. I was of the same nationality, age and body type as most of the women working in the bars.

Soon after I started visiting gentlemen’s bars in Queens, I was lucky enough to meet Barbara and Clara, two women from the same part of Brazil as me. I became close to Clara sooner, as she has an outgoing and friendly personality, and after our meeting in the bar she was the first to call me. Clara is a lawyer and one of the 18 women from her extended family who live in New York, most of whom work as erotic dancers. Through them, I met an extensive network of dancers from the Brazilian middle class.

More Appealing Option

Contrary to public debate that often links migrant sex workers and human trafficking, poverty and oppression, this association does not by any means apply to the women in my research. In fact, throughout my fieldwork, I met mostly middle-income Brazilian women who for many reasons had chosen to work as erotic dancers rather than as domestics, the other most common job available to migrant women.

Some women told me they found working in another person’s house demeaning to their class status. Brazilians from the middle classes usually grow up being served by maids, often women of African descent. Indeed, to have maids in Brazil is a marker of class status and is felt as a basic need for the maintenance of a middle-class family dynamic.

To work as a domestic servant in the United States would subvert a deep-rooted class and racial habitus of the Brazilian social structure, perhaps painful for many Brazilians as a signifier of their social downward mobility. In addition, in tune with their modern middle-class tastes, these women find the bar scene and New York’s nightlife more appealing and exciting than the isolation of domestic work, as well as better paid.

Excerpted from the new book, “Transnational Desires: Brazilian Erotic Dancers in New York” by Suzana Maia, published by Vanderbilt University Press, 2012. Reprinted with permission. For more information:www.VanderbiltUniversityPress.com.

Suzana Maia is a professor of anthropology at the Universidade Federal do Reconcavo da Bahia, Brazil. She received her Ph.D. from the City University of New York Graduate Center.

 

Walmart Gifts $50,000 to THEARC

 

The nation’s largest retailer recently gifted thousands of dollars to a Southeast arts facility for its programs that emphasize healthy eating and a health-conscious lifestyle.

Representatives of Walmart and the Walmart Foundation presented a $50,000 check to Edmund Fleet, executive director of THEARC [Town Hall Education Arts Recreation Campus] for its nutrition and wellness programs that include its organic teaching garden. D.C. Council member Marion Barry (D-Ward 8) attended the event on Wed., June 20 and applauded Walmart for its generosity.

“THEARC is a committed member of this community and this partnership with Walmart will help address critical needs of our residents,” said Barry, 76. “Improving the health and wellness of the children in our community, especially in an area of need as great as Ward 8, should be a top priority of our community partners. I applaud this generous commitment to help that cause.”

THEARC opened in October 2005 and has hosted various events with White House officials, well-known artists and athletes and community leaders in attendance. It’s also home to 11 non-profits and has a community theater, a gymnasium, libraries, computer labs and classrooms for public use. THEARC is known for its dance and music programs, particularly for young people.

Fleet, 43, echoed Barry’s sentiments.

“THEARC is delighted and grateful to Walmart for enabling us to provide a healthy breakfast, lunch and dinner daily and health and wellness instruction each week to all of our campers this summer,” said Fleet. “THEARC’s mission is to provide the kids and families who live east of the Anacostia River with all of the opportunities they need in order to live healthy and productive lives. Providing our kids with healthy fresh meals and information about how they can take good care of themselves goes hand-in-hand with the educational, cultural arts and recreational programs we already provide at THEARC.”

Fleet, who lives in Southeast, said that children who are well-nourished perform better in their fine arts classes. He noted that Walmart supported THEARC’s healthy living efforts last year but the $50,000 gift is a first of that magnitude for the company.

David Berns, the director of the D.C. Department of Human Services, said the gift comes at a critical time. “Convenient access to affordable, healthy foods is a pressing issue affecting an increasing number of families in the District of Columbia,” Berns said.

A 2010 report by the Food Research and Action Center in Northwest stated that over 35 percent of households with children in the District said that they were unable to afford enough food. The problem is more acute in Wards 7 and 8, which have the city’s highest obesity rates and are home to large “food deserts”, which are areas where people don’t have access to quality foods and grocery stores.

The organic teaching garden is in response to first lady Michelle Obama’s program that promotes good health through the expansion of farmers markets and home-grown foods. Walmart supports Obama’s efforts. Walmart is scheduled to open six stores in the District, though none are located in Ward 8. Nevertheless, Henry Jordan, Walmart senior vice president of the Eastern Seaboard Division, said that his company is happy to do its part to help the community.

“We are committed to helping those in need in communities we serve,” Jordan said. “Through this grant, we hope to help THEARC continue to provide healthy meals and engaging nutrition-based programming for young people in the District of Columbia.”

 

Magic Johnson’s ASPiRE Network Goes Live on June 27th at 8:00 PM Eastern

–Schedule will Feature an Entertaining and Inspiring Mix of Original and Groundbreaking Programming –Oscar® Nominee Laurence Fishburne, Comedian Jonathan Slocumb, Actor Omari Hardwick and Grammy® Winner Esperanza Spalding Join the Lineup as Programming Hosts

ATLANTA, June 27, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — ASPiRE, the new television network from Magic Johnson Enterprises, debuts today, Wednesday, June 27 at 8:00 pm EDT with a unique mix of original and groundbreaking programming aimed at African-American viewers. The network will launch with inaugural distribution partners Comcast and Time Warner Cable. At launch, ASPiRE will be available in approximately seven million homes and in 16 of the top 25 African-American markets including New York City, Atlanta, Chicago and Washington, DC. ASPiRE also will launch on FAVE TV and with five charter brand partners: The Chrysler Group, L’Oreal USA, Nationwide Insurance, Coca-Cola and Walmart. ASPiRE will celebrate its historic kickoff tonight with a private, star-studded event at Cipriani Dolci in New York City.

Joining the network as hosts of its primetime programming blocks are award-winning actor Laurence Fishburne (Boyz ‘n the Hood, The Matrix, School Daze, “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation”), who will host “Groundbreaking Movies”; actor and comedian Jonathan Slocumb (Meet the Browns, “The Steve Harvey Show”), host of “Groundbreaking Comedies”; Actor Omari Hardwick (Sparkle, I Will Follow), host of ASPiRE’s first original series, “ABFF Independent”; and Grammy Award®-winning musician Esperanza Spalding, host of “Groundbreaking Music.”

ASPiRE’s mission is to entertain, enlighten and inspire. It will shine a light on the positive contributions African-Americans have made to American culture and be a window through which we can experience the next generation of ground breakers and game changers.

ASPiRE will offer a diverse slate of programming spanning five categories: movies (including features, documentaries and short films); music; comedy; visual and performing arts; and faith and inspirational shows. The network’s initial schedule will feature the following programming blocks:

Groundbreaking Movies (Thursdays, 8 p.m.) – Renowned actor Laurence Fishburne (The Matrix, Boyz ‘n the Hood) will guide viewers through the background, cultural relevance and historical significance of each night’s selection. Currently scheduled films include Shaft, Rosewood, Bird, Sarafina!, Bustin’ Loose, The Defiant Ones and Lilies of the Field.

Groundbreaking Comedies (Tuesdays, 2 p.m., 8 p.m. & 11 pm) – Hosted by actor and comedian Jonathan Slocumb (Meet the Browns, “The Steve Harvey Show”), ASPiRE’s Groundbreaking Comedies will celebrate trailblazing Black funnymen and women with iconic TV series including “The Bill Cosby Show” (Chet Kincaid), “The Flip Wilson Show” and more. Slocumb will share with audiences the known and not-so-known facts about the shows, their stars, and their enduring influence on popular culture. Groundbreaking and original standup comedy performances will also be featured.

Groundbreaking Music and Performance Specials (Fridays, 8 p.m.) -Hosted by one of the biggest breakout stars of 2011, Grammy Award®-winning jazz bassist and singer Esperanza Spalding (Chamber Music Society, Radio Music Society), this unique night of programming will present musical performances by pioneering and influential artists from every generation and genre. ASPiRE will also present examples of African-American theater, dance and visual arts, offering viewers a chance to enjoy the wide spectrum of talent in the African-American creative community. Programming will include “Jazz Giants of the 20th Century,” “Make It Funky!” and “Earth, Wind & Fire in Concert” to name a few.

“ABFF Independent” (Mondays, 8 p.m.) – This weekly two-hour original show, hosted by actor Omari Hardwick (Sparkle, I Will Follow), will present the best shorts and feature films from emerging African-American writers, producers and directors, selected from the American Black Film Festival (ABFF).

Groundbreaking Documentaries (Wednesdays, 8 p.m.) – Fascinating films chronicling the real-life events, people and places that shaped the course of African-American history and culture, currently scheduled documentaries include Academy Award® winner When We Were Kings, Rising from the Rails: The Story of the Pullman Porter and Oscar’s Black Odyssey: From Hattie to Halle, among others.

“I ASPiRE” Featurettes – These 30- and 60-second shorts offer intimate profiles of and by the next generation of groundbreakers and game changers across African-American culture. The short films feature a dynamic selection of creative talent including concert pianist Jade Simmons from Houston, painter Matthew Thomas from Memphis and surfer Marcos Chatman from Los Angeles.

“It has been a long-held dream of mine to launch a television network that offers viewers inspiring and positive portrayals of African-American lifestyles, accomplishments and talent, while also creating opportunities for the next generation of artists and storytellers,” said ASPiRE Chairman and CEO Earvin “Magic” Johnson. “My vision for ASPiRE could only become a reality with a group of visionaries and bold charter brand partners, The Chrysler Group, L’Oreal USA, Nationwide Insurance, Coca-Cola and Walmart. I am thrilled to have GMC TV as my partner along with our affiliate partners Comcast, Time Warner Cable and FAVE TV to help make this dream come true.”

Added ASPiRE General Manager Paul Butler: “It’s tremendously exciting to be part of a new venture that we all believe is poised for great success. I look forward to implementing Earvin’s vision and to making ASPiRE a top viewing choice for African-American households, as well as the next big platform for the African-American creative community.”

ASPiRE was selected by Comcast from among over 100 candidates as one of four new minority-owned independent networks to be distributed to millions of households on Comcast’s digital basic tier.

GMC will provide operational support for ASPiRE, including affiliate and advertising sales, marketing, programming, production and technical operations. Charles Humbard, GMC President and CEO, said: “We are delighted to be partnered with Earvin Johnson in the creation of this new network. Between his inspired leadership and our day-to-day operational experience in programming for, and marketing to, African-American audiences, our two brands are a perfect fit.”

ASPiRE expects to be available in over 12 million homes by the end of 2012 and in 20 to 30 million homes by the end of 2013.

About Laurence FishburneOscar nominee Laurence Fishburne is a critically acclaimed star of movies, television and theater as well as a playwright, producer and director. His numerous film roles include What’s Love Got to Do with It, The Matrix, Boyz ‘n the Hood, Searching for Bobby Fischer, Mystic River, Akeelah and the Bee, Othello and Higher Learning. On television, his credits include “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,” The Tuskegee Airmen and Miss Evers’ Boys, as well as an Emmy-winning guest performance on “Tribeca.” On stage, Fishburne won a Tony Award® for his performance in “Two Trains Running.”

About Jonathan SlocumbRenowned for his ability to crack up even the most jaded audiences with his squeaky-clean humor, Slocumb is best known to fans of the “The Steve Harvey Show” as Steve’s band-mate Clyde, a role he played for five years. He has hosted numerous awards shows, appeared on “Jamie Foxx Presents Laffapalooza” for Comedy Central and played the part of the pastor in the Tyler Perry comedy Meet the Browns. Slocumb is also the creator, host and producer of GMC TV’s original comedy series “Ha! Standing Up for Clean Comedy.” As a stage actor, he just completed a national tour with the play “Cheaper to Keep Her,” starring Brian McKnight and Vivica A. Fox.

About Esperanza SpaldingIn 2005, at the age of 20, jazz bassist and singer Esperanza Spalding became the youngest faculty member in the history of the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston. Her first solo album, “Esperanza” (2008), was the year’s best-selling album by a new jazz artist internationally and stayed atop the Billboard Contemporary Jazz chart for over 70 weeks. In 2011, Esperanza released her ground-breaking internationally critically acclaimed Chamber Music Society and received the Grammy® for Best New Artist. She has performed at the White House (twice), been featured in a Banana Republic ad campaign and received the Jazz Journalists Association’s 2009 Jazz Award for Up and Coming Artist of the Year. Esperanza has just released Radio Music Society, her follow up to Chamber Music Society, a kaleidoscopic collection celebrating the power of song. The 12 songs are accompanied by conceptual short musical films, which further express Esperanza’s inspiration and story behind each track. The videos were shot in various locations including New York City; Barcelona, Spain; and Portland, Oregon.

About Omari Hardwick Hardwick’s numerous film credits include Sparkle, I Will Follow, For Colored Girls, Kick-Ass, The A-Team, The Guardian, Beauty Shop and Gridiron Gang. Also known for his television roles, he played Ty Curtis on TNT’s “Dark Blue,” opposite Dylan McDermott, and was John “Sack” Hallon on the 2006 TNT series “Saved,” opposite Tom Everett Scott. The multi-talented Hardwick was a football star at the University of Georgia, where he minored in theater, and has written over 4,000 poems.

About ASPiRESpearheaded by entrepreneur and NBA Hall of Famer Earvin “Magic” Johnson, in partnership with GMC TV, ASPiRE delivers enlightening, entertaining and positive programming to African-American families that includes movies, documentaries, short films, music, comedy, visual and performing arts, and faith and inspirational programs. ASPiRE celebrates African-American heritage and groundbreaking cultural achievements and will create new opportunities for the next generation of African-American visionaries. For more information, visit http://www.aspire.tv .

About Magic Johnson EnterprisesMagic Johnson Enterprises acts as a catalyst for driving unparalleled business results for its partners and fosters community/economic empowerment by making available high-quality entertainment, products and services that answer the demands of ethnically diverse urban communities. For more information, visit http://magicjohnson.com/enterprises .

About GMC TVGMC ( http://www.watchGMCtv.com ) is America’s favorite television channel for uplifting music and family entertainment. The Parents Television Council(TM) has twice awarded its Entertainment Seal of Approval(TM) to GMC for being “an authentic family-friendly cable network.” GMC is the only television network brand to be so honored. GMC has been the fastest growing entertainment network in television in the key demographics of W18-49 and W25-54.

GMC can be seen in more than 51 million homes on various cable systems around the country, as well as DISH Network on channel 188, DIRECTV on channel 338 and Verizon FiOS on channel 224. Follow GMC TV on Facebook and Twitter at http://facebook.com/gmctv and http://twitter.com/gmctv .

SOURCE ASPiRE

Copyright (C) 2012 PR Newswire. All rights reserved

 

D.C. HIV/AIDS Report Reveals Fewer Deaths

Infections Still Rampant Among Low-Income Black Women

 

 

Two years ago, the District of Columbia struggled to get a grip on its burgeoning HIV/AIDS cases which had reached pandemic proportions among the heterosexual population, and giving the city notoriety as the leading AIDS infected jurisdiction in the nation.

But even more disturbing is that in spite of its concerted efforts to quell the number of new cases, infections among heterosexual black women – particularly those living in the poorest wards in the city, have nearly doubled since 2008.

The good news however, is that in addition to the city showing a dip in the overall number of new AIDS cases in four years coupled with improvements that have gotten infected individuals into care more quickly, 76 percent of infected people received care within three months of diagnosis in 2010.

“The 2011 ‘HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis, STD and TB Epidemiology Report’ is a picture of progress and we try to follow the national HIV/AIDS strategy,” Mayor Vincent Gray said on June 20 during a standing-room only press conference at N Street Village in Northwest, where he along with Dr. Mohammad Akhter, director of the D.C. Department of Health and Dr. Gregory Pappas, senior director at the department, shared findings contained in the 96-page study. However, officials said little about how the epidemic has become commonplace among black females.

“It’s an initiative that I have been devoted to for a long time,” said Gray, 69. “We’re treating the whole person and a set of conditions . . . they [can obtain] treatment right away [as opposed to having to] wait months and months.”

Nevertheless, with black women in D.C. taking the lead in newly-diagnosed cases, there remains great cause for concern as their numbers are also indicative of growing incidences of infections across the country. Particularly after a study in 2009 of 40 U.S. states and territories showed that 66 percent of women diagnosed with HIV happened to be African American as opposed to 17 percent white, and 14 percent Hispanic.

A Center for Disease Control and Prevention report in 2009 also revealed that when black men accounted for 70 percent of the estimated new HIV infections among all blacks, African-American women living in poverty-stricken areas such as the District’s wards 7 and 8, accounted for 90 percent of the estimated new HIV infections among all blacks in the city. That not only means that the number of black women in the District who’ve contracted HIV has doubled from 6.8 percent over the past four years, but that they most likely represent a minority who have no idea they have been infected.

To that end, D.C. resident Zelphia Turner, who has been HIV positive for 24 years, pleaded with other females to get tested. She also urged those who have tested positive for HIV to take their medications diligently. Turner, whose daughter was born with HIV, said that because of advances in medicines, living with HIV/AIDS is no longer the death sentence it used to be. As a result, she has become committed to helping others deal with their affliction.

“Being that that situation happened to me, I felt that I should get out here and try to help somebody else because somebody helped us get into care,” Turner told an attentive audience at the press conference. “When I first got diagnosed, they gave me 10 years and I was panicking . . . I started out working in prevention and outreach programs for needle exchanges and HIV testing and then the whole nine yards.” After attending nine months of training, Turner said she was hired for the outreach program, CommonHealth Action in Northwest, which gets HIV-positive individuals into health care.

“When I get notice that people are out of care, I call them. If I get no answer, I send them a letter – or I’ll go and knock on their doors,” said Turner. “I try to fix some of the barriers that led them out of care and I work with their case workers to get them back to taking their medicines, because if I hadn’t been taking my medicines all these years, I might not be standing here. I’ve seen all three of my children and my grandson grow up.”

On the other hand, Deloris Dockery, HIV-positive for 16 years and who runs the highly successful One Conversation project, a public-education AIDS-prevention and community-action campaign of the Hyacinth AIDS Foundation in Newark, N.J., said in an interview on Examiner.com, that she’s looking forward to the International AIDS Conference which takes place next month in the District. Dockery noted why it’s important for Black Americans to attend and what needs to be done to end the scourge of HIV/AIDS on society.

“We need to identify every single person who is infected by HIV, and we need to get them care,” she said, echoing Turner’s sentiments. “And ‘care’ does not necessarily mean putting them on medication – it does mean getting them into [health and social services] care and tracking their disease progression. This is important because if we can suppress viral loads to undetectable levels, we can reduce transmission.”

Dockery added that involvement of more of the individuals infected is needed in the whole decision-making process regarding what can be done to stamp out HIV/AIDS. “This can’t just be about people creating legislation and making other moves on behalf of people living with HIV,” she said. “It has to be done in partnership with those who are affected.”

She said that hearing the voices of black women living with HIV in the United States highlights their presence. “Oftentimes we’re not heard and we’re not seen,” she said. “For me that’s really important. That’s one of the things that I have been fighting for.”

The CDC report goes on to state overall, that most black women with HIV contracted the virus through heterosexual sex. More good news for D.C. is that in spite of having 2.7 percent of its total population infected in comparison to December 2010 when there were 14,465 cases of residents diagnosed with HIV, the number of new cases declined last year.

Also, since 2009, there have been no children born with HIV in the District. Gray said that while the number of new AIDS-related cases in the District decreased last year by 32 percent, the number of deaths among individuals who died after 2006 decreased by half – from 399 to 207. He said there was a 24 percent reduction in the number of people diagnosed, and that cases fell last year from 1,103 to 835 cases. In addition, some 4,300 young people were tested in the same time frame for HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases.

Gray also said that the health department distributed five million condoms in 2011. “We know that [the use of condoms] is a great prevention technique,” Gray said. “As a result, it’s a 10-fold increase from 2007,” he said. “There was a point in the city when we were fearful that injection drug use was about to match sexual activity as a cause of transmission of the [HIV] virus.”

However, “The number of cases through IV drug use is down to below 100 at this stage, based on the most recent data that we have.” Akhter said “it’s wonderful” to see the strides the District has made. “The number of new cases are going down and they’ve been going down steadily. At this time, there are 835 new cases in the District, but they are 835 cases too many,” he said.

Pappas praised the report’s findings, insisting that leadership and commitment play a vital role getting the numbers down. But he also alluded to the shift in the District’s population, saying that has had a lot to do with a decrease in cases. “We’ve had fewer deaths [from AIDS], but that number [is] going down,” Pappas said. “It’s a statistical anomaly . . . that is part of a national trend.”

 

Third World June 27th – 7:00pm Rockefeller Park

RTWT WILL BE THERE

 

Third World

June 27th – 7:00pm

Rockefeller Park

Rockefeller Park, Battery Park City at the corner of River Terrace and Warren Street

Third World are one of the longest-lived reggae bands of all time, and one of Jamaica’s most consistently popular crossover acts among international audiences. While they were long capable of authentic roots reggae, they usually preferred to mix in elements of R&B, funk, pop, and rock (and, later on, dancehall and rap). Come and enjoy Third World’s upbeat music at sunset by the Hudson in beautiful Rockefeller Park.

 

Presented by Battery Park City Authority.

 

Chicago gospel music museum set to open this fall in Bronzeville

By DAVE HOEKSTRA Staff Reporter/dhoekstra@suntimes.com

Records and photos (above, Mahalia Jackson) from the Rev. Stanley Keeble’s personal collection will be displayed at the Chicago Gospel Music Heritage Museum, scheduled to open this October in Bronzeville. | John J. Kim~Sun-Times

The idea of a Chicago gospel music museum is a longtime dream of the Rev. Stanley Keeble, who worked with gospel legends Inez Andrews and the late Jessy Dixon.

As the 27th annual Chi­cago Gospel Music Festival moves this weekend to Bronzeville, it’s fitting that plans for a museum have been resurrected for a spot across from the landmark Pilgrim Baptist Church, 3300 S. Indiana. In the 1930s, its congregation played a role in the rise of gospel music, as the home base of Thomas A. Dorsey, the father of gospel music, and author of more than 3,000 blues and gospel songs, including “Take My Hand, Precious Lord” (1932), recorded by acts as diverse as Elvis Presley, Merle Haggard and Ike and Tina Turner.

Pilgrim Baptist pastor Tyrone R. Jordan recently reached out to Keeble. “He needs a base,” Jordan said in an interview last week. “And what is a better base than the home of gospel music?”

Jordan offered Keeble the entire 3,000-square-foot third floor of Pilgrim Baptist’s temporary home at 3301 S. Indiana, a former car dealership. In January 2006, Pilgrim Baptist was consumed by fire and is being rebuilt on its original site.

“Things are finally taking to take shape,” said Keeble, who in 2010 had announced plans to open the museum in the former parsonage of the Metropolitan Apostolic Community Church, 4108 S. King Dr., but that fell through. “It’s looking very good for the museum.”

Keeble and Jordan hope to open the museum, to be named the Chicago Gospel Music Heritage Museum, by October.

Keeble, 75, has a long association with gospel. In addition to his work with Andrews and Dixon, he formed his own gospel choir, the Voices of Triumph, in 1968. In 1980, he began teaching English in the Chicago public school system, where he created an accredited program on gospel music.

He also has a huge collection of memorabilia, such as the tuxedo worn by gospel great James Cleveland when he received the first of his five Grammy Awards, along with uniforms from Chicago’s legendary Thompson Community Singers. He recently acquired every album recorded by gospel icon Mahalia Jackson.

In addition, Keeble wants the museum to have a digital component, allowing visitors to explore virtual history. This digital component complements Jordan’s plans to establish a “media ministry” at Pilgrim Baptist.

Next week the church will debut its site (pilgrimbaptischurchchicago.org) via which it will stream church services worldwide. “So many people love Pilgrim Baptist Church,” said Jordan, 50. “It was one of the first mega churches. That’s why so many people are concerned about rebuilding. We’re going to use the Internet to show our Sunday morning services and update people on our rebuilding process. We will link to other church sites.”

The Chicago Gospel Music Heritage Museum would be the latest in a series of tribute sites. In 1989, a Jazz-Blues-Gospel Hall of Fame opened in the Chicago Public Library Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington. (The project was led by Charles Suber, publisher of DownBeat magazine from 1955-’62 and 1968-’82.) Initial inductees were Jackson, Dorsey, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Muddy Waters and Willie Dixon. The hall of fame moved to the Harold Washington Library when it opened in 1991 and is now accessible as part of the library’s archival collection.

Meanwhile, the Chicago Gospel Music Festival runs Saturday-Sunday in Ellis Park, 37th and Cottage Grove. For a full schedule, go to explorechicago.org.

 

National HIV Testing Day 2012: Advocates Stress Benefits of Knowing

BY AARON MORRISON

Day of awareness is crucial to slowing down spread amongst younger generation

The idea behind National HIV Testing Dayisn’t that everyone run out on their lunch break and get tested.

(Of course, no one in the HIV prevention and treatment community would complain if that did happen.)

Chances are good that the most at risk populations – young, lower income minorities – don’t enjoy the luxury of a lunch break long enough to “drop in.”

But that excuse isn’t flying with HIV prevention professionals, who will be on hand Wednesday to offer free tests and counseling at community centers and clinics around the country.

Of the estimated 33 million people living with HIV worldwide, less than 20 percent of them know they are infected. Those that do know their status are likelier to seek the appropriate amount of care and support, prevention advocates say.

“Testing really is the starting point of letting people live healthier lives,” says Dr. Jonathan Mermin of the Centers for Disease Control. “The latest generation of tests detect the presence of the virus at the time (those already infected) are most likely to be infectious.”

In other words, early detection is paramount in populations that might otherwise take a test dangerously close to a full-blown AIDS diagnosis.

With the prevalence of HIV among African American men and womenmuch higher than previously believed, advocates are stressing the need for more frequent testing and for a wider range of testing options.

“We should not lose sight of the fact that you can’t get treated for HIV if you don’t know that you have it,” said Phill Wilson, president of theBlack AIDS Institute. “It has never been easier.”

The CDC on Tuesday announced plans to make home testing kits available at pharmacies and retail stores nationwide.

Until then, advocates and health professionals want anyone without current knowledge of their status to take advantage of a free test today and any day tests are offered.

“Anybody can get HIV whether you’re young or old, gay, straight black or white,” said Aletha Mayband, assistant commissioner of the New York City Health Department. “It is especially important for the African American and Latino communities to get tested since eight out of 10 new HIV cases occur among blacks and Latinos.”

In New York, Young Professionals United For Change will help host “Love and Politics II,” a free testing event from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. ET in front of the Adam Clayton Powell building in Harlem.

YP4C founder Brian Benjamin is stressing the importance of testing even among those who presume themselves to be less at risk.

“Our degrees, jobs, titles or money don’t protect us” from HIV,  Benjamin said. “That’s why it’s important for all of us to know our status. It is not just a disease for gay folks and drug users.”

 

5 Tips for Teaching Teens About Money

As children blossom into young men and women, most insist on planning and running their own lives. Parents worry about all the basic essentials for their kids’ independent living, like housing, eating properly, staying warm, being careful at night and more. But most parents forget to teach their youngsters one of the most important lessons of all – financial responsibility. The resulting turmoil can spell disaster for a child’s future.

Consider this: The average young adult amasses $45,000 in debt by the time they turn 29, according to a recent PNC Bank report.

“This generation of 20-somethings was raised during an economically-thriving period,” says financial expert Mark Hansen, author of Success 101 for Teens (www.success101forteens.com). “Undisciplined spending habits, student and car loans, and a tough job market have stymied their financial growth. Perhaps the worst culprit is financial ignorance, but we can count this as a lesson for future 20-somethings.”

For young people, organizing finances can be intimidating to the point of prohibitive, he says.

“We need to have a curriculum in schools, from kindergarten through 12th grade, that ensures our kids graduate with financially literacy,” he says. “From balancing a checkbook to understanding what it means to pay – and earn – interest, kids need basic money management skills to survive in the world, and most aren’t getting them.”

Hansen says all teens should know and practice so they can control their financial destinies:

• Saving for dreams – the three-envelope method: Use the first envelope for your day-to-day expenses: gas or lunch money. Pause before blowing this money at the movie theater or a fast-food restaurant! Envelope No. 2 is for short-term goals, which might be clothing or a new laptop. The third envelope is for long-term goals such as a car, college or a “future millionaire club” fund.

• How to create a budget: A budget lets us know what’s possible, and not possible, with money. There are six steps to creating a budget. 1. List all of your expenses. 2. List all income. 3. List monthly expenses. 4. Add up these lists separately. 5. Tweak your budget so you can meet your expenses with money left over for savings. 6. Review your budget every week.

• How to set and follow through on goals: First, figure out what your current finances are, then determine what they will be in the future — one year out, then two years out, then four years later, etc. How will you get to your one- or two-year goal? You need a plan, and most of the time that means either earning more money, spending less, or a combination of the two. Finally, you have to stick to your plan in order for it to work.

• Understanding interest rates, such as credit cards: Interest is a fee paid for using someone else’s money. Simple interest is straightforward: 5 percent accrued in your bank account with $100 yields $5 in interest at the end of the year. Compound interest, however, means ever-increasing amounts. This is crucial to understanding debt you may take on from lenders. Know what you are borrowing, and the terms thereof. Just as your money can work for you in a bank account, money borrowed can work against you if it is not paid back in a timely manner.

• How to write checks and balance a checkbook: These days, it’s easier than ever to review accounts online, which automatically tracks exchanges. HOWEVER, banks do make mistakes, which is why it’s wise to track your accounts independently. Ask. Don’t be embarrassed. Banks are putting a premium on service and want to establish a positive relationship with young customers. If you have a question, speak to someone at the bank. As you take control of your money, you’ll also take control of your life.

 

CDC trying out free rapid AIDS test at drugstores

By MIKE STOBBE | Associated Press – 3 hrs ago

• 

  Walgreen’s pharmacy manager Sarah …

• This undated image provided by …

ATLANTA (AP) — Would you go to a drugstore for an AIDS test?

Health officials want to know, and they’ve set up a pilot program to find out.

The $1.2 million project will offer free rapid HIV tests atpharmacies and in-store clinics in 24 cities and rural communities, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Tuesday.

Officials are hoping testing for the AIDS virus will become a routine service at drugstores like blood pressure checks and flu shots.

“By bringing HIV testing into pharmacies, we believe we can reach more people by making testing more accessible and reduce the stigma associated with HIV,” CDC’s Dr. Kevin Fenton said in a statement. He oversees the agency’s HIV prevention programs.

The tests are already available at seven places, and the CDC will soon pick 17 more locations.

The HIV test is a swab inside the mouth and takes about 20 minutes for a preliminary result. The test maker says it’s correct 99 percent of the time. If the test is positive, customers will be referred to a local health department or other health-care providers for a lab blood test to confirm the results, counseling and treatment.

When the project ends next summer, CDC officials will analyze what worked well and what didn’t, said Paul Weidle, the epidemiologist who is heading up the project.

An estimated 1.1 million Americans are infected with HIV, but as many as 20 percent of them don’t know they carry the virus, according to the CDC. It can take a decade or more for an infection to cause symptoms and illness.

Since 2006, the CDC has recommended that all Americans ages 13 to 64 get tested at least once, not just those considered at highest risk: gay men and intravenous drug users. But fewer than half of adults younger than 65 have been tested, according to the agency’s most recent statistics.

It’s important to know about infection not only for treating the condition but also to take steps to prevent spreading it to others. An HIV diagnosis used to be a death sentence, but medications now allow those infected to live longer and healthier lives.

On special occasions, health organizations have sent workers to some drugstores to offer HIV testing. This week, Walgreens — the nation’s largest chain of pharmacies — is teaming with health departments and AIDS groups to offer free tests in 20 cities.

But the CDC program is different: It’s an effort to train staff at the pharmacies to do the testing themselves, and perhaps make it a permanent service.

“I’m excited. It’s such a new and novel thing for us,” said Sarah Freedman, who manages a Walgreens in Washington, D.C., that is participating in the pilot program.

At her pharmacy, prominent signs advertise the test but the testing is done in a private room. They’ve also taken steps to make sure that a customer can very quietly request the test. For example, they’ve put out stacks of special test request cards — they look like business cards — at George Washington University and nearby businesses. Anyone seeking a test can simply hand the card to the clerk, she said.

Only three or four customers have gone through with a test in the first few weeks.

“We get a lot of questions,” she said. “Usually they get the information and they go and sit on it and think about it.”

There’s a second Walgreens in Washington offering the test, as well as branches in Chicago and Lithonia, Ga. Other test sites: East Pines Pharmacy in Riverdale, Md., Mike’s Pharmacy in Oakland, Calif. and a federal Indian Health Service location in Billings, Mont.

Each location will get enough tests to check 200 to 300 people. Made by OraSure Technologies Inc., the $17.50 test is the only government-approved rapid HIV test that uses saliva. Other rapid tests on the market analyze a finger-prick blood sample.

Rapid tests are used routinely in doctor’s offices, hospitals and clinics.

The OraSure test can also use a blood sample but the CDC drugstore program will use a mouth swab, said company spokesman Ron Ticho. The stick-like testing device is used to wipe the inside of the mouth, then it is put in a solution. If two lines appear, that indicates a positive test.

The company is seeking government approval to sell it over-the-counter for home testing. A decision is expected later this year.

The test is sold in about 40 countries. Ticho said he is not aware of another country where pharmacies routinely offer the testing.

___

Online:

CDC: http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/

 

Media depictions of Asian Americans lack important depth

By Joshunda Sanders
Contributing Writer

(Special from Maynard Institute and New America Media) – From New York Knicks basketball star Jeremy Lin to Priscilla Chan, wife of Facebook founder Mark Zuck­erberg, the mainstream media usually portray Asian-Americans as wealthy, well-educated and foreign. The dominant cultural narrative routinely ignores working and middle-class Asian Americans, people of various nationalities who struggle with the same socioeconomic conditions as do other Americans.

Despite shortcomings, mainstream media are rarely criticized for the way they depict Asian Americans, even though the lack of depth in the coverage is stunning. In fact, Mee Moua, president and executive director of the Asian American Justice Center (AAJC) in Washington, says simplistic media coverage pictures Asian-Americans as either the model minority or the perpetual foreigner.

Because of this, she says, “the true needs and complexity of Asian Americans are totally missed by mainstream reporters. ‘American Beats Michelle Kwan’ or ‘The Ultimate Assimilation’ are mainstream headlines that underscore my point — the media need to do better.

“What about the struggles that certain Asian-American groups have [such as] the lowest rates per capital income of any racial group or that more than half of all Asian-Americans attend community colleges? Where are those stories exploring the needs of the community?”

That has been true, even as Asian Pacific Americans have found themselves confronted with the same racial and economic problems that plague other people of color in the United States.

The death last October of Army Pvt. Danny Chen, 19, who apparently killed himself in Afghani­stan last fall, and the 1982 beating death of Vincent Chin in Detroit are examples of alternative narratives of Asian-American men that display a more nuanced portrait of the Asian community in America.

Chin, 27, a draftsman, was attending his bachelor party at a suburban Detroit strip club when he got into an argument with Ronald Ebens, a white Chrysler plant superintendent. Witnesses recalled Ebens saying to Chin: “It’s because of you little [plural expletive] that we’re out of work.”

The two fought, and Ebens’ stepson, Michael Nitz, also laid off from his job at an auto plant, jumped in. A parking attendant broke up the struggle, but Ebens and Nitz later followed Chin to a fast-food restaurant. Nitz held Chin while Ebens struck Chin in the head with a baseball bat, authorities said.

Chin lay in a coma and died four days after the beating. His death was a turning point for the Asian Pacific civil rights movement in America. Fifteen years later, Alethea Yip wrote in an Asian Week article that the incident was emblematic of anti-Asian sentiment in the United States.

“It was ignorant; Ebens and Nitz presumed Chin, a…Chinese-Am­erican, was Japanese. It was economically motivated; the two autoworkers blamed the Japanese — and, mistakenly, Chin — for the ailing U.S. auto industry and the consequential loss of jobs. And it was horribly violent; the use of a baseball bat as a murder weapon was a brutal act and an equally brutal reminder of Americana.”

Ebens and Nitz pleaded guilty to manslaughter. Each received three years probation and a $3,000 fine. They were acquitted in a subsequent federal case.

The unsettling outcome led to creation of organizations like the AAJC but has not resulted in more visibility for Asian Americans, Moua says. She cites, for example, the case of Chen, who died from a gunshot wound in 2011 after being heckled by fellow soldiers.

For about six weeks, Chen was allegedly tormented daily by white superiors, reporter Jennifer Gon­nerman wrote last January in New York magazine. “They singled him out, their only Chinese-American soldier, and spit racial slurs at him: “gook,” “chink,” “dragon lady.” They forced him to do sprints while carrying a sandbag. They ordered him to crawl along gravel-covered ground while they flung rocks at him. And one day, when his unit was assembling a tent, he was forced to wear a green hard-hat and shout out instructions to his fellow soldiers in Chinese.”

Stories like Gonnerman’s are rare in mainstream news coverage, Oliver Wang, an assistant professor of sociology at California State University Long Beach, wrote in an email. “It’s hard to describe anything as usual, since stories about Asian Americans in the mainstream tend to be unusual by their very presence.”

Wang noted, however, that the model minority stereotype, which supports the idea that Asian Americans exemplify the best way to be a person of color in society based on stellar academic performance, modesty and hard work, is pervasive across a range of media stories. Jen Wang, co-creator of and a popular blogger at DISGRASIAN.com, agreed.

Jen Wang cites the story of Diane Tran, 17, a Houston-area honor student jailed for a day for excessive unexcused absences. Lanny Moriarty, justice of the peace (Precinct 1), told KHOU-TV in Houston that Tran was in his court in April on truancy charges after missing too much school. When she came before him again in May, she was jailed for missing more classes.

The story went viral and prompted creation of helpdianetran.com, which by early June had raised more than $100,000 to help support her. The site, which has ended the fundraising campaign, des­cribes Tran as “an 11th grade honor student” and says she “works a full time job plus a part-time job while taking advancement and dual-credit college level courses in high school.”

Friends, co-workers and classmates describe her as a diligent, hard-working student. “She goes from job to job from school,” classmate Devin Hill told KHOU. “She stays up until 7 in the morning doing her homework.”

In an email, Jen Wang wrote, “I personally think her story is extraordinary, and she deserves all the help she can get. But I do think a factor in her story reaching a larger audience has to do with the fact that it’s a narrative the public is familiar with vis-a-vis Asian-Americans—i.e. we’re hardworking, industrious, overachieving—and, moreover, it’s a narrative that the public likes.”

Beyond the stereotype that all Asian Americans are doctors or lawyers who attend good schools are startling statistics about the rest of the Asian-American community. A recent Economic Policy Institute report showed that despite higher levels of education overall, the Asian-American unemployment rate is higher than that of whites.

About 12 percent of America’s Asian community lives below the poverty level, compared with 9.9 percent of non-Hispanic whites, according to the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights in Washington.

In a blog last October for New America Media, where he is an editor, Andrew Lam cited a news release from the conference reporting that “Asian Americans as a group have lower-than-average poverty rates, but several Asian nationalities have higher-than-average rates of poverty. The poverty rate among Hmongs is 37.8 percent, among Cambodians 29.3 percent, among Laotians 18.5 percent, and among Vietnamese 16.6 percent.”

Thus, Moua says, the most troubling ramification of the model minority narrative is that it “blinds policymakers and decision-makers to the needs of the community. We all know that the extraordinary achievements of some individuals doesn’t mirror all Asian Americans and should not hide the real needs and challenges facing our community.”

 

Black Canadian theatre company owns Dora awards

J. KELLY NESTRUCK

Black was the new black at the Dora Mavor Moore awards on Monday night, as Obsidian Theatre dominated Toronto’s annual theatre, dance and opera awards.

Canada’s leading black theatre company was the big winner in both the play and musical theatre categories with a pair of co-productions of challenging contemporary American works.

Topdog/Underdog, Suzan-Lori Parks’ sharp 2001 two-hander about African-American brothers named Lincoln and Booth, was named outstanding production of a play, beating out such high-profile competition as the international stage hit War Horse.

Obsidian artistic director Philip Akin was given the gong for best director for his work on the production, which was originally staged at the Shaw Festival before traveling to Toronto. Nigel Shawn Williams received a Dora for best actor for his portrayal of a one-time street hustler working as an Abraham Lincoln impersonator.

Meanwhile, Caroline, or Change – produced by Acting Up Stage Company in association with Obsidian – received the award for outstanding production of a musical. Cast members Arlene Duncan and Sterling Jarvis were named best actress and actor in a musical, for their performances in Tony Kushner’s sung-through musical about a African-American maid struggling in 1963 Louisiana.

Acting Up Stage Company picked up an additional award for best touring production for bringing Atomic Vaudeville’s hilarious hit musical about an undead high-school choir, Ride the Cyclone, to Theatre Passe Muraille.

The big surprise of the evening came when Pamela Mala Sinha’s Crashwas named best new play over Ins Choi’s sold-out Soulpepper comedyKim’s Convenience.

Sinha also picked up the best actress award for her harrowing performance in the solo show that explores the aftermath of a brutal rape.

Mirvish’s all-Canadian production of War Horse did not ride out of the Dora empty-hooved; it won for best costume design (for Handspring Puppet Company’s extraordinary puppet horses) and best choreography (for Toby Sedgwick’s “horse” movement).

While Canadian Stage was shut out in the general theatre division, its presentation of choreographer Crystal Pite’s Dark Matters was named outstanding dance production. Lina Cruz and Fila 13 Productions’s Soupe du Jour was honoured for outstanding original choreography.

In the independent theatre division, Theatre Smash’s production of The Ugly One was named best production, while Jules Lewis’s absurdist comedy about jealousy, Tomasso’s Party, was named best play.

Last but not least, in the opera division, the Canadian Opera Company’s presentation of Iphigenia in Tauris was named the best of the year.

For the entire list of Dora winners, visit tapa.ca/doras.

 

Greg Wolley Named to Oregon Fish & Wildlife Commission

Becomes first African-American appointed to the board

By Bruce Poinsette Of the Skanner News

Greg Wolley (left) leading a snowshoeing trip

When it comes to the outdoors, Greg Wolley has been everywhere you can imagine, defying many stereotypes about African-Americans and wildlife.

“They say Black people don’t bike, hike, etc.,” he says. “Students of color are not seeing images of people in natural resources that look like them — they don’t have role models.”

On May 21,  Wolley became the first African-American to serve on the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife Commission (ODFW).

Besides increasing the participation of people of color, Wolley wants to focus on policies around hunting and fishing. He says he wants to clarify how many and what types of animals can be hunted and ensure that the fish populations are strong and healthy.

In addition to these agendas, he also wants to look at the impact large mammals like wolves, bears and cougars have on people’s lifestyles. Lastly, Wolley wants to balance populations of prey and predators.

His appointment adds another honor to his long list of services in the area of environmental education.  Throughout his career, Wolley has worked to engage the Black community in outdoor activities and the natural world.

“People of color are so underrepresented in natural resources,” he says. “It has changed slowly.”

Wolley’s fascination with nature began as a child in California.

“I was always looking under rocks and bringing critters home,” he says.

This led to extensive reading about nature and, eventually, enrollment at the University of California, Berkeley, where he studied wildlife and took a number of ecology courses.

Afterwards, Wolley taught environmental education to kids in urban areas of Southern California such as Watts and East Los Angeles.

As a part of a small nonprofit called Outward Bound Adventures, Wolley exposed senior and middle high school students to the outdoors through activities like backpacking in the Mojave Desert.

He also worked on outdoor projects as part of the California Conservation Corp.

After spending years in urban California, Wolley’s travels took him to Ashland, Ore., where he continued his education at Southern Oregon University. There, he earned a Masters of Science in Environmental Education.

Now it’s 32 years later, and Wolley has been working in Portland ever since.

At first he taught at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI). As a way to reach out to kids in inner Northeast Portland, he worked with a program called Alberta Science for Kids (ASK).

“At the time, OMSI was located by the World Forestry Center,” says Wolley. “It was criticized for being out of reach of youth from Northeast Portland.”

He later spent 7 ½ yrs. working for the US Forest Service, a federal agency that manages public lands in National Forests and Grasslands. His youth outreach continued with the Forest Service through teaching forest ecology and forest management at Portland Public Schools, including Grant, Madison and Roosevelt High Schools, and Beaumont Middle School.

During this time he was also trained to become an In-Service Trainer for the Peace Corps, and had the opportunity to teach environmental education in Africa to Peace Corps volunteers in Swaziland and to education administrators from Botswana and Zimbabwe.

Keeping busy, Wolley followed the Forest Service with a position as a regional planner with Metro Regional Parks and Greenspaces, where he managed open space properties throughout the three-county Portland Metro Area.  Following Metro, he became part of the community relations group for Tri-Met’s Interstate MAX project. At TriMet he coordinated communication between the surrounding community, local businesses, and the construction team.  At this time Wolley was also trained by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to teach a comprehensive environmental justice training course.

Wolley’s career then brought him to the City of Portland, where he served on the River Renaissance Committee that developed Willamette River planning guidelines for Portland’s Bureau of Planning and Sustainability. He also coordinates business development for minority, women and emerging small businesses.

Throughout his career, Wolley says people of color in authoritative positions have been rare.

To address this problem while focusing on health, Wolley founded the African American Outdoor Association (AAOA) in 2005.  The mission of AAOA is “To address the health disparity issues in African American communities by engaging participants in vigorous physical activity that brings them into the natural environment”.  Some of these activities include hiking, biking, snowshoeing and cross-country skiing.  AOAO exposes both adults and kids to the natural world, and helps them to expand their physical boundaries, says Wolley.

The group’s mission is to address the health disparity by engaging in vigorous physical activity. Some of these activities include hiking, biking, snowshoeing and cross country skiing.

AAOA provides exposure to both adults and kids and helps expand their physical boundaries, says Wolley.

ODFW wants to reach out as well, which factored into his appointment.

Gov. John Kitzhaber made a commitment to diversify state boards and commissions in various areas, including age, race and sexual orientation, according to Wolley.

There was some initial controversy in his appointment because the forestry, ranching and agriculture communities didn’t know him, despite his extensive outdoors work.

However, Kitzhaber eventually shoved Wolley and two other candidates’ appointments forward.

He emphasizes that he is available for any questions.

“I encourage people to go on the website and learn more about what the department does,” says Wolley. “Feel free to contact me if you want to get more involved in the outdoors or learn more about the environment.”

To learn more about the work of the Oregon Dept. of Fish and Wildlife, go to www.dfw.state.or.us.  For information about AAOA, seewww.africanamericanoutdoors.com, send  email to urbanhikers@hotmail.com , or sign in on Facebook.

 

Caregiving with Love: Five Tips to Better Healing

by  Guy Magar, Hollywood Director
Whether it’s your wife or husband or child, or a relative or close friend you are caring for, it is paramount that you become the best caregiver possible for your loved one. As a caregiver for my wife Jacqui during her brave journey to beat aml-leukemia, here is what I learned and can share as I honor and applaud caregivers everywhere.
1. Be the trusted advocate. No matter the illness, the medical journey to heal is lengthy and complicated especially if the battleground is cancer. It is important to make sure that you – the caregiver – understands the treatment that your doctor has initiated, no matter how complex, and that all questions have been answered including the many what ifs and whens. If you need to research various options or get second opinions, make it happen. If you need a clinical trial, find it. If the patient is overwhelmed or can’t focus, they must feel and know the caregiver is the responsible advocate and is knowledgeable of the best possible medical journey. If they do, they will feel protected and loved, and thus empowered to just focus on their part: the healing.
2. Become the cocoon around your loved one. Every day I’d get into Jacqui’s bed and we’d hug tightly as she’d wrap herself around me while we chatted or napped. I always made sure she felt totally surrounded, completely cocooned, by my love, my strength, and my positive attitude. As a caregiver, you have to supply that grounding, that safety net. No matter how bad or creepy or doubtful a patient may feel, you have to provide an unconditional, unbending, concrete tower of absolute certainty about positive progress, as well as an ocean of love that will not allow anything to happen but the very, very best that can be. As caregiver, you must be the unmovable rock of strength and security. A granite-strong cocoon!
3. Don’t just be present, be a partner. You work as a team, in partnership with the patient; to be there and support them with any and all treatments from MRIs to IV line cleanings. Whether double-checking with the nurses the drugs they’re hooking up, making sure the bed is made or freshened while the patient is in the shower or bathroom, scheduling the physical therapists to keep your partner active and limber, dealing with the three meals and snack orders, you are there to deal with the many details that make up daily hospital life. An unspoken team partnership is crucial for caregivers to bring to the table and for patients to rely on. It was my commitment to make sure Jacqui felt her partner was engaged with the journey 24/7. She knew it, she felt it, she counted on it.
4. Keep them active and involved. Sometimes it’s just being there to open the shades and point out how beautiful the sunrise is that morning. Sometimes it’s sharing an important front-page story in the news, or breaking out a favorite game like yahtzee to encourage their competitive spirit to win. Sometimes it’s playing a CD of oldies but goodies and getting up to do some crazy dance steps to get a laugh or better still to get them to dance even if it means they’re standing on your feet because they are too weak to stand on their own. When you’re ill, the world feels like it’s closing in on you. It’s important for the caregiver to keep enlarging the boundaries and keep the patient involved with the outside world. Jacqui, who worked in women’s retail and was not familiar with daytime TV, really enjoyed watching Ellen when I started putting it on as she saw women celebrating life…laughing and dancing every day. The will to live and being active with the outside world is crucial therapy.
5. Arrange for small doses of one on one time with special friends and family. Your loved one values friendships, and some concentrated time with a dear friend or family member can be restorative. Have a special friend come over for ten minutes to an hour (depending on how your loved one is feeling that day) and occupy yourself with a task nearby. This way you can be summoned easily if needed, but they still have some privacy and a small sense of normalcy. And if you need to regroup, grab a coffee with a friend or get on the phone with a college buddy. Do whatever it takes to remain strong, clear-minded, and balanced. Your own good mental outlook is crucial to your partner.
The caregiver must become the dependable all-around partner for the patient, and if you can do that effectively and incorporate these five tips, he or she can relax as they heal and know the train has a co-driver and all is well with the arduous journey. The more you take on your shoulders, the less remains on the patient’s. Needless to say, this includes everything else going on with your home, financial concerns such as paying monthly bills, and keeping family and friends informed.
I was busy, as all caregivers are. And every single day, I am deeply grateful for Jacqui’s healing.
About Guy Magar: TV and film director/writer/producer Guy Magar has worked for more than 30 years in the motion picture industry. His credits include Battlestar Galactica, The A-Team, La Femme Nikita and Children of the Corn: Revelation. Guy is the author of Kiss Me Quick Before I Shoot: A Filmmaker’s Journey into the Lights of Hollywood and True Love (www.kissmequickbeforeishoot.com).