I’ve had this book for a while, but never got to it. So while re-organizing books and records, literally, this book popped out. And it has been right on time for me.
Check out this short excerpt from “All the Joy You Can Stand”. You might even want to pick the book up for yourself.
This weekend, ThatKellieGirl attended the media reception for the Baby Bash and Bling Expo & Show, an interactive lifestyle expo that celebrates expecting moms.
Earlier this week, Sapphire released her second book, The Kid. If anyone has read Push, then you know this story is very provocative and powerful. So I will admit, I will have to gear up to read this book. It is actually much more graphic than Push. However, I am quite intrigued to learn the back story of how this family’s cycle of abuse came to be.
I missed you guys while I was out on my mini-vacation. However, I am back and I have a full line-up of weekend events! I hope this will make up for my time away.
The DC Caribbean Carnival Festival is already in full swing. Today (6/24), two events to check out are Hookie Day Fete and Pool Party at the Capitol Skyline Hotel (10 I St SW) starting at noon and a free Reggae Night at the Carter Barron featuring Archives (with Lenny Kurlou), Passion Reggae Band and Carl Malcolm & Positive Vibrations Band.
On Saturday, the Caribbean Parade begins on at Kansas Avenue at 11:00 a.m. and ends at the international marketplace at “DE SAVANNAH” – Howard Center Lot (Georgia Avenue & Bryant Street). “DE SAVANNAH ” will be from 12:00 noon to 8:00 p.m featuring food, craft and local and international entertainment. Click here for the full schedule. Ya’ll I still have to do the mud truck one year!
The weekend closes out with Earth, Wind and Fire at Wolf Trap and Mike Philips at Blues Alley.
UPDATE: I am glad to hear that Beyonce donated the payment to perform for the Gadhafi family to Haiti relief efforts last year. I hope the other artists will follow her lead. Here and here. Now she needs to do something about those pictures.
As the adage says, if you don’t know your history, you are doomed to repeat it. This is why we still see blackface images in the 21st century. The Boo, who is African, felt that the image perpetuates the stereotype that all Africans are dark skinned. She could have well-represented her African roots in her own skin color. I believe the best thing she could do to honor Fela Kuti and her African heritage is to learn about the topics. Pick up a book or even watch a documentary. Or at least have an assistant do the research and give you a debrief. SHEESH! Is it art? Is it offensive? Depending on who you ask, it is one or the other. I just feel this could have been a great opportunity to bridge and represent the African diaspora in a more powerful and positive way to the world. Beyonce should have declined the black face.
This week, I crossed an item off of my “bucket list”. The past Wednesday, I had the opportunity to attend a taping of the Oprah Winfrey Show! I will be quite honest with you, I really wasn’t certain if this was ever going to happen, especially with this being her last season. However, I am so glad that it did.
I am almost there! I think I am 95% close to full recovery. The doctor said I had an upper respiratory infection (isn’t that just a fancy way of saying I have a cold?). My mom swore I might have walking pneumonia because I was coughing so much. I do believe these virus’ have an aggressive strain because this thing wouldn’t let me lose! I was out of the office for a week. And when I came back (because I was running low on sick leave and still sick), I felt so bad for coughing, hacking and snotting on the train, on the bus, in the office…plain ole EVERYWHERE! Anyhoo…I am feeling back to my old self, so you might catch me at one of these events.
(I just noticed most of these events are celebrating women! Let’s support this wonderful events.)
Actor and writer Victoria Rowell discusses and signs her new novel: Secrets of a Soap Opera Diva. Many fans of The Young & The Restless know Victoria Rowell as Drucilla Winters. Victoria’s has penned a book based on her former soap actress life. FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
CASRAM is Washington DC’s music and arts festival dedicated to amplifying the voice of women in music and beyond. In its 5th year, CASRAM showcases some of the nation’s most talented women emerging in music and the arts.
Not a “Soul-Sista” event per se, but I know we can benefit from this… The Digital Capital Week (DCWEEK) is a 10 day festival in Washington DC focused on technology, innovation and all things digital in our nation’s capital. The mission of Digital Capital Week is to strengthen the capital region’s digital economy through events focused on creativity, technology, entrepreneurship, marketing, content creation, and innovation.
As you all know, I just finished reading Wench by Dolen Perkins-Valdez. Big-ups to my boy Will for letting me know she will be speaking tomorrow at the Chevy Chase Library (Don’t sleep on the DC Library events.) Can’t wait to get my book autographed!
A non-”Soul Sista” event….This Saturday DEKKA is hosting Popmatic – the first solo exhibition of mixed-media mastermind, Gregg Deal. After launching a successful custom-artwork enterprise, Modern Bird Studios, Gregg is debuting a private collection featuring new, experimental media. Meet the artist at this Saturday’s opening reception.
A yard sale and bake sale to benefit the Capitol Hip Hop Soulfest take places tomorrow. Come out to see what goodies you can pick up to help a worthwhile cause.
Pam Grier will sign and discuss Foxy..My Life in Three Acts. The boo is real interested in attending this event (*gives side-eye*). In this sexy, often shocking, memoir, you will get to know the real Pam Grier in all her battles and triumphs, her disappointments and her victories. This book is broken down into Three Parts: The Early Years, ‘Fros and Freaks, and Finding the Balance. Pam Grier started her career in the early 1970s, starring in a string of moderately successful women-in-prison films and blaxploitation films, and has generally remained in the public eye, starring in movies such as Coffy, Foxy Brown, and Jackie Brown.
Hello Everyone! My body has spoken. I have to get some well-deserved rest. I have been hitting it hard! From attending my sister’s graduation, hitting NYC for the FELA play and Wonder-FULL party, reconnecting with college friends at my alumni reunion, visiting family in North Carolina and coordinating and celebrating the boo’s birthday during the Memorial Day weekend…WHEW! I have four days to get it right for the weekend. So plenty of fluids, fruits, veggies and a Zumba class! You can’t keep “ThatKellieGirl” down for too long. So here is the line-up.
The DC Jazz Festival begins today for its 6th year. It is the largest music festival in Washington, D.C. and one of the most highly anticipated cultural events in the nation. Originally named the Duke Ellington Jazz Festival, the 13-day festival promotes music integration in school curricula, and supports outreach to expand and diversify the audience of jazz enthusiasts. The festival also features the return of the highly popular Jazz in the ‘Hoods which includes performances at more than 30 restaurants,clubs, hotels and art galleries across the city.
On Saturday, Roots Market, an organic grocery store, is hosting The Vegetarian Flavor Fest to offer healthy and delicious tastings of vegetarian and vegan fare.
Come to ride and show your pride at The 2nd Annual R.B.G. Ride this Saturday. Check out last year’s ride at the blog, Well and Good. After having my bike stolen , this might be the motivation I need to buy a new bike.
Sunday, June 6
Malcolm X Park
16th St N.W. & Euclid St N.W.
Noon
Sign up at truskool2006@gmail.com and get a special gift!
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Now, I have to finish my book, Wench by Dolen Perkins-Valdez for the book club. I guess there is no rest for the weary. However, I wouldn’t have it any other way!
This week, Busboys & Poets has a great line-up of speakers.
Service is the rent we pay for living” says preeminent children’s advocate Marian Wright Edelman and this is the motto by which Malaak Compton Rock, dedicated humanitarian and wife of comedian Chris Rock, lives her life. This evening, April 13th, Malaack will speak about her part memoir and part practical guide, If It Takes a Village, Build One. It offers readers insightful advice on everything from how to find just the right volunteer opportunity, how to get kids involved in a life of service, how to research charities, and even how to start a nonprofit, as Malaak did several years ago.
All of this practical wisdom is grounded in inspirational anecdotes about her own experience with service, including her work with Katrina rebuilding and her recent brainchild, Journey for Change: Empowering Youth Through Global Service, a program for at-risk kids from Bushwick, Brooklyn, which takes teens on a two week service mission to South Africa to volunteer and experience the world.
The event starts at 6PM.
In 2006 Alice Walker, working with Women for Women International, visited Rwanda and the eastern Congo to witness the aftermath of the genocide in Kigali. Invited by Code Pink, an antiwar group working to end the Iraq War, Walker traveled to Palestine/Israel three years later to view the devastation on the Gaza Strip. Her testimony is this book, Overcoming Speechlessness: A Poet Encounters the Horror in Rwanda, Eastern Congo, and Palestine/Israel. You can hear about it tomorrow, April 14th at Busboys & Poets at 6:30PM
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, Alice Walker is the author of more than thirty books including The Color Purple and Sent by Earth. Her writings have been translated into more than two dozen languages. From her essays concerning the civil rights movement to cries for intervention on the Gaza Strip, Walker continually and eloquently calls attention to ignored injustices around the world.
Ifill’s book profiles and critiques politicians such as Vernon Jordan, Colin Powell, Deval Patrick and Barack Obama. Based on her interviews, Ifill argues that America is at a pivotal moment where the Black political structure formed during the Civil Rights movement is giving way to a new generation of leadership.
Gwen Ifill is the managing editor and moderator for PBS’ “Washington Week.” She is also the senior correspondent for the PBS “NewsHour.”
Can a Sister Rock A Mic? Festival 
, this might be the motivation I need to buy a new bike.
