It’s the Seasoned Seniors at Ft. Stanton Recreation Center on Stanton Rd. in S.E., DC.
Under the leadership of Mr. Jones, I’ve already started exercising at 8 AM (a miracle) Mon, Wed, & Fri; I’m going with them to water aerobics class at the beautiful Barry Farms pool; and, I really look forward to his weight reduction program in January… especially after I saw pictures of him & another man who’d lost so much they’re buying new, smaller clothes…my goal is to be pressure medication free.
I’m sure I’ll reach my goal, finally, because what I’ve needed for a long time to succeed is experienced company…sort of like a 12 Step group for support, encouragement & sponsor-like guidance from people who’ve done it.
I don’t know what else I’ll be doing with the group but I’m sure it’s going to be a great 2016 hanging with the Seasoned Seniors.
Chicago Woman Calls For Sex Strike To Stop Gun Violence…She Joins Women in Nigeria, Colombia, Kenya, The Pilippines, South Sudan, Togo and Nobel Prize Winner, Leymah Gbowee…For Organizing The Sex Strike To End Liberia’s Civil War
A South Side Chicago native, April Lawson a mother and activist from Auburn Gresham, started an online petition asking women to sign onto this pledge: I vow to stay celibate until black men organize and create a strategy to keep the peace in our neighborhoods,” Lawson read.
Both Lawson and Chi-Raq are mirroring the idea of an Ancient Greek fable, which the film is also based on. And in recent years, similar boycotts in other countries have been used to promote social and political causes.
“If you decide to silently protest,” Lawson said, “It might get them to think.”
Do you think a sex strike could ever really become the catalyst for lasting change?
‘My’ answer…why not, it’s worked elsewhere. Leymah Gbowee even won the Nobel Peace Prize for Liberia’s successful sex strike.
“It’s time for women to stop being politely angry.”
“It’s time for women to stop being politely angry.”
What a great way to start 2016…with a ‘sex strike’.
I saw Chiraq 3 times. The 1st time with a friend & the 2nd & 3rd times with my granddaughters, Nyasha & her male friend &, then Kiara…a Kwanzaa gift to each. Both grands wanted to see it but because they both had just gotten their 1st apartment, neither could afford the movie.
They both liked it for different reasons & I enjoyed it even the more because Spike Lee crammed it with historical truths to include the African woman, Lehman Gbowee who led women to end the Liberian civil war via a sex strike. In 2011, she won the Nobel Prize for organizing the successful strike.
My oldest grand, by 6 mos, said, Lee was smart to use rhyme to interest her generation. I was amazed, everything!!! rhymed… everything… really speaks to our genius.
After the movie, the oldest & I ate at the Match Box at Eastern Market. I don’t know if it’s Black owned but most of the young waiters & waitresses are Black & most of the chefs appeared to be Latino. The other granddaughter & I ate same place earlier.
Blacks Adopting white Male Children in Mass…Racism Would End in a Generation…Why?
We would teach them to be humane; to see others as human and deserving respect. Even Rodney King said, ‘can’t we just get along’. The relatives of the Charleston 9 forgave the killer even before their relatives were buried.
Why, because the tenets of African culture are rooted in maat and ubuntu, i.e., ‘interdependence, cooperation, respect, and an honoring of children’. And, people raised by these values don’t strive to ‘dominate and control’ others or things.
Whereas, the white patriarchal cultural tenets of ‘domination and control’ under gird all forms of abuse…the ‘isms’. Remember, before whites ever encountered people of color, wealthy or white men with more food and/or land controlled and dominated poor white men and white women. In other words, sexism and classism originated and existed among whites when whites only knew whites.
Therefore, what can or will they teach our children but what they know…sexism, classism, racism, etc. They will teach our children to be ‘white’ ideologically (Fanon, DuBois)…and, gay…their study results, notwithstanding.
And, they’ll probably sexually abuse our children. If old, white haired archbishops and priest don’t know sexual abuse of children is wrong, if they think it’s ok because the kids ‘want it’, and if Pope Frances thinks a commission is needed to establish an ‘education and training program’ to teach old men not to have sex with children, what do you think the changes are that the gay men who adopt our (male) children will most probably do to them?
It’s so endemic to their way of life and it’s accepted…consider, the Vatican’s been aware of sex with boys for centuries…with no consequences.
Consider also, that their cherished Plato…states in the introduction (2 of 3) of The Symposium:
“[t]he love with which the dialogue is concerned, and which is accepted as a matter of course by all the speakers, including Socrates, is homosexual love; it is assumed without argument that this alone is capable of satisfying a man’s highest and noblest aspirations, and the love of man and woman, when it is mentioned at all, is spoken of as altogether inferior, a purely physical impulse whose sole object is the procreation of children.”
It’s their culture!!! They can only do what they know. Why put our children in probable harms way?
Born in Boston in 1905, Jones – influenced and nurtured by her parents – trained at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, and came to prominence at a time when issues of race, discrimination and gender bias held their sway.
Panelist Connie Spinner recounted some of the difficulties Jones endured, including the subtle bias and racism in Boston and the overt and mean-spirited racism she faced when she taught in Sedalia, North Carolina, where she established an art department at black prep school Palmer Memorial Institute.
Jones chafed against the racism she faced and like countless black writers, novelists and musicians, including James Baldwin, Richard Wright and her friend Josephine Baker, Jones emigrated to Paris in the 1937. Relishing the freedom from racial prejudice she found in France, Jones spent many summers there over the next 20 years, her former students and panelists said. Her Haitian influence developed after she married Haitian graphic artist Louis Vergniaud Pierre-Noël in Cabris, France in 1953 and spent considerable time in Port Au Prince.
“For more than 50 years, she enjoyed consistency as a painter, teacher, book illustrator and textile designer,” said Connie Spinner, a DC-area educator and head of the School Community College Prep Academy. “She influenced art on three continents, North America, Europe and Africa, and she had 70 group shows and 21 one-woman exhibits before the Civil Rights movement.”
Jones influenced fellow artists and others during the Harlem Renaissance. A quote attributed to her said: “I felt that my greatest contribution to the art world was proof of the talent of black artists.”
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A vigorous question-and-answer session followed the discussion, with guests asking a range of questions including queries about buying quality fine art, becoming collectors, as other questions about Jones’ impact, recognition, life and legacy.
“This is a personal exhibit with personal connections,” said Keyonna Jones-Lindsay, director of the Center. “My dad had a chance to meet Ms. Jones. I recognized paintings in the other room from when I was young and my dad lived in an apartment. This exhibit motivated me to put up my husband’s art around our house.”
“Barry’s an amazing curator. I reached out to him. It’s been a great, amazing collaboration.”
Several painters who studied under acclaimed artist and educator Loïs Mailou Jones recounted their experiences at a recent reception marking the opening of an exhibit that captures her almost 70 years as a painter, designer and sculptor.
The exhibit – which debuted on Nov. 12, days after what would have been Jones’ 110th birthday – brought together a coterie of admirers, friends and former students at the Congress Heights Arts & Culture Center to honor a woman who New York Times art critic Holland Cotter described as “an iconic figure, and an important historic link in a path-breaking generation of Black American artists.”
“My reason for going to Howard University was to study watercolor under Loïs,” said Master Artist Bernie Brooks. “She was a strict disciplinarian but I took every watercolor and design class with her. She was almost a mother to some students and antagonist to others … she had complete mastery of watercolor but she was also a phenomenal oil painter.”
Brooks’ wife, Gwen Aqui-Brooks, agreed.
“She was no-nonsense in her class. She was an excellent teacher with a dangerous red pencil which she used to write on your painting,” Brooks joked. “She was a stickler for presentation. If you got an A in her class, you worked for it. She was also interesting because she kept up with the times. She always wore very bright clothing and had red and blonde hair.”
Federal Communications Commissioner Mignon L. Clyburn said she made two visits to the cultural arts center, both to see the exhibit and offer her support.
“What drew me back here was the simplistic beauty of the place,” said Clyburn, who has served on the FCC since 2009, becoming the first black woman to hold that position as well as wield the gavel as chairman. “It highlights the art in a special way. It’s not pretentious. The simplicity and understated nature of the presentation draws you. It allows you to digest it.”
“That’s what brought me back.”
Jones, a Boston, MA native who taught at Howard for 47 years, left behind an enviable body of work that includes a mélange of Cubist, African, Caribbean and Impressionist-inspired watercolors and oils, stained glass, sculptures, motifs and other works of art.
Exhibit curator Barry Blackman said he felt good knowing that an exhibit of this quality, facilitated by local businessman Phinis Jones, is accessible to residents living East of the Anacostia River.
“A lot of times we see these collections in a museum; we don’t see them in our community,” said Blackman, whose career as a curator spans almost 25 years. “I wanted it to be as informative as possible. She had several phases represented in different rooms including her Martha’s Vineyard phase, her Africa period, and the main room has examples of her Haitian and French periods.”
Jones, a Mississippi native who’s called the District of Columbia and Southeast DC home for 47 years, said he’s been collecting art since the mid-1980s.
“I love art and there are probably four or five different artists (whose work I collect) but I love Loïs. She was an African American working in an era, knocking down doors when I was in Mississippi.”
The European Habit of Renaming This Servers to Confuse …”Isis”…Ifal
So Glad They Renamed the Terrorist Group Because to Ifal because “Isis” is the Name of the Black Madonna. Europe worshiped our deities before the Nicean Council in 332 A.C.E. After that meeting the Black Aset and Heru became white in appearance and their names were changed to Mary and Joseph.
This change is the basis of the psychological chain of religious slavery (lecture tomorrow by Tony Browder on the Breaking the Chains of Religious Slavery).
Christian Church- Pope Francis and Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI pray together in front of the black Madonna
March 23, 2013 http://bit.ly/1NuQStr
Pope Francis and Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI together at Castel Gandolfo
Breaking the Chains of Religious Slavery…It’s Like the Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome
This maybe one of the most important lectures…ever…because ‘this’ form of psychological slavery is seldom, if ever talked about. And, we need to discuss any and everything that’s keeping us in bondage. And, for those of you who can’t attend, I’ll take notes for you.
SUPPORT FOR “BUILD FIRST” MODEL AT GREENLEAF GAINING STEAM…Arthur Capper/Carrollsburg Senior Dwellings Don’t Fit…Have To Go…But Where?
Can Utah Help…They Made ‘Housing First’ Work
A number of neighborhood groups have been working for months on how to implement a “build first” strategy for Greenleaf, so existing residents are not displaced from Southwest while the public housing complex is redeveloped over the next several years. “Build First” was first made popular by former Ward 6 councilmember and current director of the DC’s Department of Energy & Environment, Tommy Wells. In previous cases across the city where public housing complexes were redeveloped, current residents were given vouchers or moved to other areas of the city while redevelopment occurred. Once the new housing was built, some of the residents who met eligibility standards were allowed to return. In the case of Arthur Capper/Carrollsburg in Navy Yard, which was redeveloped through the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Hope VI program, it has been about a decade since the old buildings were demolished and many former residents remain displaced, thanks to extended construction timelines of replacement housing and eligibility limitations. In contrast, a “build first” model allows vacant areas of a public housing complex or other parcels in the vicinity to be redeveloped first so residents can stay in the community during the redevelopment process. Many believe “build first” is the only way to avoid permanent displacement, but it is typically difficult to implement because there usually isn’t enough land available or the political will to do it. “Build first” can be implemented at Greenleaf because there is sufficient land available and, because of community activism, this is the first time public officials have put themselves on record in support of seeing it realized.
There Is Plenty of Land in Southwest
Greenleaf stretches 15 acres across several city blocks on either side of M Street and includes 493 public housing units in 23 buildings. The majority of the units are two-bedroom apartments, a minority of units in new housing developed recently in Southwest, and the mix ranges from one-bedroom up to six-bedroom units. One of the components of Greenleaf is a seniors building on Delaware Avenue and M Street, and displacement would be even more of a hardship for this population, so the focus of the Community Benefits Coordination Council (CBCC) has been to find one or more sites for a mixed-income seniors building. Unity Health Care’s Southwest Health Center at Delaware Avenue and I Street has been identified as a potential location for such a complex, combining health services and mixed-income seniors housing. Although the three-story building is a historic landmark, there is the potential to build residential units above and on land adjacent to the clinic.
Unity leases the building from the DC government and does not have the funds to maintain the building. The elevator no longer works and the cost to repair it is too expensive for Unity, so they have decided to do a minor renovation of the facility by moving all services to the first floor. As a result, the Southwest Health Center will lose dental services once renovations are complete in 2016. If the Unity site is redeveloped as a health center/mixed-income seniors housing complex as a part of Greenleaf’s redevelopment, funds would be available to fully renovate the building, and allow dental services to return to the clinic, as well as the potential for additional services. This is a proposal that has been introduced and supported by the CBCC in order to avoid displacement of Greenleaf residents, including the seniors as a result of redevelopment. As CBCC Vice Chair Fredrica Kramer said, “Having easy access—health services by elevator—to a greatly expanded clientele would be a mutual win for the [DC] Housing Authority [DCHA], the community’s larger-than-city-average senior population, and the current primary health care provider.”
Political Support
The ANC voted unanimously in October on a resolution, sponsored by 6D-03 Commissioner Rachel Reilly Carroll, called “Resolution in Support of Avoiding the Displacement of Public Housing Residents During the Redevelopment of Public Housing Buildings in the Southwest Neighborhood,” which supports a “build first” model for Greenleaf’s eventual redevelopment. The resolution urges DCHA, the DC City Council, and the Office of the Mayor to form an Interagency Working Group within the next 30 days to evaluate the feasibility of executing a “build first” strategy utilizing one or more of the 21 publicly owned parcels in Southwest identified during the Office of Planning’s recent Southwest Neighborhood Plan process. In addition, the ANC would like at least one commissioner to serve on the Interagency Working Group and to report on its progress and findings at least once a month to the Greenleaf Neighborhood Advisory Group until redevelopment commences.
Ward 6 Councilmember Charles Allen has also expressed strong support. Allen introduced a Sense of the Council Resolution in October supporting a “build first” model for Greenleaf. The resolution states in part:
“The Greenleaf and surrounding Southwest community share significant concerns regarding potential displacement of current Greenleaf public housing residents as part of the DCHA future redevelopment. The Office of Planning, as part of its extensive small area plan process, recognized these concerns and included recommendations in its Southwest Neighborhood Plan, which was approved by the Council of the District of Columbia on July 14, 2015.”
Greenleaf Redevelopment Plan
A public meeting was held on Oct. 24 by DCHA, master planner Perkins Eastman, and consultant HR&A Advisors to discuss the redevelopment of Greenleaf. More than 100 people attended the meeting at Westminster Presbyterian Church, including a large number of Greenleaf residents, other residents of the Southwest community, and public officials. Many of the attendees expressed their desire for DCHA to implement a “build first” model for Greenleaf. At the meeting, there were five design principles discussed that will be used in the redevelopment of Greenleaf:
Utilize a mix of tall and low buildings;
Create a well-defined public green space;
Use trees to beautify, help make place, and create a healthier living environment;
Connect the new Greenleaf to other areas of the city;
All new construction must first and foremost be exemplary urban architecture.
The October meeting was the first chance for the greater Southwest community to get involved in the redevelopment process, but Greenleaf residents have been engaged over the past year or so. According to the HR&A consultants’ presentation, the redevelopment plan will be created over the next six to nine months with two additional community meetings planned in the interim. The final plan is expected to be completed sometime in mid-2016. After that, an request for proposal will be released, and it will take another six to nine months to receive responses, get community input, and select a winning developer. Then, developer negotiations will take a year to 18 months to complete, but design and permitting can be done concurrently. After that, construction can begin on the first phases, which can take two to three years to complete. Other phases will be completed depending on market conditions.
A Model for the District
The redevelopment of Greenleaf as a mixed income community should be possible without displacing current residents. Implementing a “build first” model, starting with a health center/mixed-income seniors housing complex at the Unity site would be a win-win for the community—expanded health services in a modern facility and seniors of all income levels can “age in place” with easy access to medical care. This can serve as a model for the district, and perhaps the nation, as aging public housing complexes are razed in favor of mixed-income communities.
March 23, 2013 http://bit.ly/1NuQStr
Pope Francis and Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI together at Castel Gandolfo