by Sandy | Jan 8, 2022 | Arts, Entertainment and Music, Blogroll, Books, Culture
Mr Sidney Poitier, whom I considered a national treasure, has left us, 1/7/22 at age 94, with great stories, great images and lots of pride and warm thoughts. He lived his life. He won an Academy Award, a Golden Globe and a Grammy. He had success as an actor, director, author and perhaps more importantly, as a man.
Born in 1927 in the Bahamas, Mr. Poitier went to New York as a teen, taught himself to read and catapulted himself into an acting career- a movie star. Not an easy road, but he did it with humor, grace, determination and a never wavering belief in him self.
He condensed some of the life lessons learned into books, not just about his journey, but also about how to conduct himself in an often difficult and complicated world.
Sir Poitier shared:
“The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography”, 2000
“Life Beyond Measure: Letters to My Great-Granddaughter” 2005
“Those that stop their questioning at 75, 60, even 30, cut short their explorations and end up with permanently unfinished lives.” – From “Life Beyond Measure: Letter to My Great-Granddaughter”
by Sandy | Jul 13, 2021 | Arts, Entertainment and Music, Blogroll, Books, Culture, Writers
~The below text was originally posted in 2009. With the popularity of Mr Wilson’s “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” last year, (film still available on Netflix) I wanted to list his other work again.
The ambitious intentions of a playwright resulted in the impressive, and enjoyable, “August Wilson Century Cycle”. It consists of a play for every decade of the 20th century that would chronicle some part of the black experience in America.
Through the use of his great ear for dialogue, Wilson (1945 – 2005) was able to give us some insight into the daily life – both struggles and triumphs – of an assortment of universal characters that his audience could easily recognize.
An ambitious undertaking, but, his huge vision was realized and, btw, it resulted in 2 Pulitzers and a Tony award. He accomplished a lot doing what he loved to do and perhaps more importantly, August Wilson left a powerful body of work that will be read and performed for years to come. Dreaming big has rewards of all kinds.
All 10 of August Wilson’s plays are collected in hard cover with a nice presentation box. Each has an introduction by an actor, director or writer familiar with his work.
In 2005, August Wilson completed the ten-play cycle:
by Sandy | Jul 14, 2020 | Blogroll, Books, Creativity, Culture, Education, Events, Learning
The annual event will be different this year. After 22 years of welcoming children and adults to their wide selections of events in person, the 2020 HBF will be “virtual”.
~ “HBF2020 will be live-streamed on Facebook Live, with simultaneous links to YouTube, Instagram Live, QBR.com, Harlembookfair.com, CAOTtv.com”
~ “Multi-platform broadcasting: The Harlem Book Fair will be available where online readers go for their information. New readers; new audiences”
~ “Your favorite books, authors, and most compelling issues presented directly to your device.”
22nd Annual Harlem Book Fair
Saturday, July 18, 2020
“The vision of the Harlem Book Fair is to partner with local and national leadership organizations under the banner of literacy awareness, affirming HBF as the nation’s largest African American literary event celebrating family literacy, community empowerment, and community cooperation.“
by Sandy | Jun 19, 2020 | Arts, Entertainment and Music, Blogroll, Books, Theater, Writers
The ambitious intentions of a playwright resulted in the impressive, and enjoyable, “August Wilson Century Cycle” box set. It consists of a play for every decade of the 20th century that would chronicle some part of the black experience in America.
Through the use of his great ear for dialogue, Wilson (4/45 – 10/05) was able to give us some insight into the daily life – both struggles and triumphs – of an assortment of universal characters that his audience could easily recognize.
An amazing undertaking, but, his huge vision was realized and it resulted in 2 Pulitzer Prizes, a Tony award and many other accolades. He accomplished a lot doing what he loved to do and perhaps more importantly, August Wilson left a powerful body of work that will be read and performed for years to come. Dreaming big has rewards of all kinds.
All 10 of August Wilson’s plays are collected in hard cover with a nice presentation box. Each has an introduction by an actor, director or writer familiar with his work
In 2005, August Wilson completed the ten-play cycle:
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by Sandy | Dec 9, 2019 | Art, Blogroll, Books, Creativity, Culture, Photograhy
“I Paint My House” by Margaret Courtney-Clarke is a collection of photographs of African women showing how they decorate their homes. In addition to pottery and textiles, there is a South and West African tradition of painting the outside of the house with bold shapes and bright colors representing the people that live inside. The women are able to express themselves as family history is documented through art and design.
Ms Courtney-Clarke has also produced coffee table sized books, “African Canvas: The Art of West African Women”, filled with her photographs of the bright geometric designs of Berber and Ghanaian women.
(“I Paint My House” is actually a book of postcards. But, the murals and decorations are so vibrant and alive, I haven’t mailed any.)
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by Sandy | Dec 2, 2019 | Art, Arts, Entertainment and Music, Blogroll, Books
Sort of like “must see TV”, this 996 page book, “1001 Paintings You Must See Before Your Die”, edited by Stephen Farthing, contains art that we must all see if wishing for a full life.
It’s described as a “highly browsable guide embraceing all cultures and every style of painting from 4,000 BC to the present. A visually arresting reference for art lovers and students, it provides a truly comprehensive worldwide gazeteer of paintings organized chronologically by date of completion.”
