WHO: Young Women's Drumming Empowerment Project
WHAT: Open-Mic for Youth Building Bridges
WHERE: Mayorga Coffee Factory, 8040 Georgia Ave., Silver Spring MD
WHEN:Friday, December 8th 2006 7-10 p.m.
Directions/Other www.mayorgacoffee.com // www.openingminds.org/events.html
Youth Building Bridges (YBB)
invites you to an
Open Mic Night!
Friday, December 8th 2006
@ the Mayorga Coffee Factory
8040 Georgia Ave., Silver Spring MD
Metro: Silver Spring (red line)
7pm-10pm
Let your voice be heard!
Fundraiser for YBB scholarships and programs
Ÿ All ages welcome Ÿ Sign up at the door to performŸ
Ÿ Suggested $10 general/$5 youth donation Ÿ
DOOR PRIZES!
Performances by members of
the Young Women’s Drumming Empowerment Project!
Opening Minds: The Washington Region for Justice & Inclusion is a nonprofit organization committed to upholding the values of equality, understanding, and respect for all people. Youth Building Bridges, our youth program, brings together teens, educators, and parents to identify and resolve issues caused by isolation and prejudice in their schools and neighborhoods. For more information, please visit us on the web at www.OpeningMinds.org or contact Abra Pollock, Director of Youth Programs, at (301) 650-2438 or apollock@openingminds.org.
Wednesday, December 6
Thursday, November 30
YWDEP features at OCU CREATIVE SHOWCASE, Dec. 2
WHO: Young Women's Drumming Empowerment Project
WHAT: CREATIVE SHOWCASE
WHERE: St. Stephens Church, 1525 Newton St NW
WHEN: Sat Dec. 2 6-9 p.m.
Directions/Other
I'm writing to invite all to the One Common
Unity CREATVIE SHOWCASE happening this Saturday, Dec.
2 from 6-9 at St. Stephens Church in Washington, DC -
1525 Newton St. NW.
The young women of YWDEP, along with a host of other
creative acts will be featured. The event is a
membership drive for OCU, which is the fiscal sponsor
of YWDEP and other organizations who are working
through arts and media to build a more peaceful and
sustainable planet. The event will offer $10
vegetarian plates from Whole Foods, and the show is
planned to be broadcast on PUBLIC ACCESS TV. See below
for more details and hope to see you there!
WHAT: CREATIVE SHOWCASE
WHERE: St. Stephens Church, 1525 Newton St NW
WHEN: Sat Dec. 2 6-9 p.m.
Directions/Other
I'm writing to invite all to the One Common
Unity CREATVIE SHOWCASE happening this Saturday, Dec.
2 from 6-9 at St. Stephens Church in Washington, DC -
1525 Newton St. NW.
The young women of YWDEP, along with a host of other
creative acts will be featured. The event is a
membership drive for OCU, which is the fiscal sponsor
of YWDEP and other organizations who are working
through arts and media to build a more peaceful and
sustainable planet. The event will offer $10
vegetarian plates from Whole Foods, and the show is
planned to be broadcast on PUBLIC ACCESS TV. See below
for more details and hope to see you there!
One Common Unity Hosts Creative Arts Showcase & Membership Drive Saturday, December 2nd
------------ --------- ---------
Washington, DC – One Common Unity, Inc. (OCU), a DC-based 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization, whose mission is "to create sustainable communities through innovative peace education, arts and media," will host a creative program showcase & membership drive featuring various initiatives and projects currently sponsored and supported by OCU.
This creative showcase will take place on Saturday, December 2nd, 2006, from 6pm until 9:00pm at St. Stephen and the Incarnation Church, 1525 Newton Street, NW , Washington , D.C. A donation of $5 - $10 is suggested for admission. Vegetarian Dinner plates, graciously donated by Java Green & Whole Foods Tenleytown Market, will be available for $10. Proceeds will benefit OCU. All are invited to attend.
The purpose of this showcase is to build One Common Unity's membership base through increasing the number of annual donors; while simultaneously, introducing the Washington, D.C. community to OCU's strategic partnerships, creative projects and youth initiatives sponsored, including Revel Youth Shine (RYS), the Young Women's Drumming Empowerment Project (YWDEP), ShantiSalaam, The Movement, DC Guerrilla Poetry Insurgency (GPI), DC-ICE (Inner City Excitement), Beyond the Global Divide, and Share a Moment of Love.
This showcase community event will celebrate ShantiSalaam' s, OCU's first international, arts-based innovative peace education project, departure on December 3, 2006, for South Asia, specifically India and Pakistan, to promote peaceful relations between the two countries. With an anticipated return to DC on January 27, 2007, Indian and Pakistani artists and musicians in this program, will unite under the titled "ShantiSalaam" and together tour universities located in their
respective countries to promote unity and conflict resolution.
In attendance will be OCU's Board of Directors and members of its Advisory Council. The dynamic evening, filmed by DC Public Access Television video cameras for the creation of a special documentary, will be interlaced with musical performances, poetry, live community mural painting, and a special art auction. During the Creative Showcase, an official announcement will be made to herald the launch of OCU's new website and the opening of its newly founded "Creative Arts and Healing Center," in partnership with Abram's Creek Retreat and Campground, Allegheny Mountain, West Virginia.
Founded in 2000, OCU initially was focused on providing alternatives to violence for DC youth through community events and festivals, as well as facilitating workshops in public schools, fostering creative self-_expression through poetry & music. Now in its sixth year, OCU has expanded its mission to include peace education, conflict resolution, cross-cultural and intergenerational engagement, and creative activities that immerse young people in nature, cultivating respect for themselves, others and the natural world, while also learning about new and innovative ways to make their communities more sustainable and environmentally friendly.
By sponsoring an array of projects, OCU continues to expand upon its network of peace educators and creative artists both locally and internationally in an effort to fulfill its mission of sustainable community development.
For more information about One Common Unity's Creative Showcase & Membership Drive, please call Hawah Kasat, Executive Director, at (202) 529-2125 or email hawah@onecommonunity.org.
###
Ladies DRUM Night ROCKS
WHO: Women of the Palisades
WHAT: Ladies Drum Night Out
WHERE: The Home of the Illustrious Laura Lee
WHEN: last Tuesday, Nov. 28 2006
Directions/Other
Laura Lee, an amazing lady I know through my drumming classes at Circle Yoga Studio loved drumming so much that last year she decided to invite all of her cool friends to a drumming party at her home in the Palisades neighborhood of DC. And thus began LADIES DRUM NIGHT OUT (LDNO).
These sort of became a phenomenon all their own and i doubt they exist in many other places - at least not quite in the same way. The women come - most of them in their 40s and with crazy busy lives. Laura's place is beautiful and she always has a spread. Several different kinds of wine plus hors d'oervers (sp?). Not snacks - hors d'oervers. There's a lot of catching up and chatting when I arrive with my 15 or so large West African djembes. Laura plays some music on the stereo - usually something with a good beat to get folks revved. Everyone's affectionate, curious, excited for what's to come. They put down their wine glasses when i enter - and they come outside to my car to pick up drums, weighing anywhere from 10 to 30 lbs.
We heft the drums back to the house and start moving furniture around. Laura's got a beautiful cracklin fire going - there's always a decision to make about where to put the wine/food altar. This time - which was our 5th LDNO - I insisted that the food go outside the circle so that the energy could flow better. This necessitated a couple of wine breaks during the session, which is always welcome and fine, regardless of the awkwardness of drums and wine together.
This is something I want to explore further as well. In the West African drumming communities from which I've acquired knowledge and understanding, I have never seen beer or wine mixed with drumming. It's a very spiritual practice and one in which a person must be grounded BEFORE playing, as well as maintain proper posture and body composition and breath support WHILE playing. In a word, it's a sobering act - though it brings you the kind of natural high that can never be gained through a substance. Perhaps because it IS substance.
Regardless, you gotta give these ladies CRED. FULLY.
How many women approaching middle age from wealthy neighborhoods DO this sort of thing? And so much is offered to me - and I consider all of it a form of a blessing - including the wine. So we all partake - with wine breaks in between drumming - though the altar is outside the circle the bottles slowly move to the center, and while I'm going around the circle teaching them the "slap" by demonstrating it on the other side of their drums, i knock the wine over on the carpet, and laura doesn't even flinch. she's cool - very down to earth lady and i am constantly amazed at her ability to stay that way.
So I talk about the culture because it's very important to me to relay what I know - we are not playing drums we are playing DJEMBES. And Ashikos, plus my one wonderful Bougarabou. Then I talk a little about how the drums are used to heal in today's culture. They get a laugh at my reference to how drumming helps to stave off Alzheimer's disease and helps improve nerve function in Parkinsons patients...and how it can keep off dimentia. None of them are even close but I enjoy the laughter. I always give my plug too about YWDEP - and this past drum night out we gained a new YWDEP member to my delight.
We learn the basic notes of the instrument and I teach them a rhythm - 2 parts usually and they play them together. We sound good. We raise the freakin roof. Then we jam - we add one drummer in at a time and bring out the bells and shakers and make it happen. I "woo!" here and there and remind folks to listen, use my voice to change the dynamics and end with a solid heartbeat and everybody's eyes are closed and we fade out - then begin a roll that starts on the bass and moves to the tone and then the slap, louder and louder, until we are looking up at the ceiling and screaming (or wanting to). And everyone stops and in the silence you can feel molecules of positivity and joy.
They hoo-rah. I feel complete.
And then they give me hug.
And they pay me WELL.
Though I marvel at watching the girls in YWDEP grow and become incredible young women drummers and poets, though I would never even think to compare the two situations, the feeling I get after coming from the LDNO is one I want more of, because it is completely regenerating.
Thanks, Laura.
WHAT: Ladies Drum Night Out
WHERE: The Home of the Illustrious Laura Lee
WHEN: last Tuesday, Nov. 28 2006
Directions/Other
Laura Lee, an amazing lady I know through my drumming classes at Circle Yoga Studio loved drumming so much that last year she decided to invite all of her cool friends to a drumming party at her home in the Palisades neighborhood of DC. And thus began LADIES DRUM NIGHT OUT (LDNO).
These sort of became a phenomenon all their own and i doubt they exist in many other places - at least not quite in the same way. The women come - most of them in their 40s and with crazy busy lives. Laura's place is beautiful and she always has a spread. Several different kinds of wine plus hors d'oervers (sp?). Not snacks - hors d'oervers. There's a lot of catching up and chatting when I arrive with my 15 or so large West African djembes. Laura plays some music on the stereo - usually something with a good beat to get folks revved. Everyone's affectionate, curious, excited for what's to come. They put down their wine glasses when i enter - and they come outside to my car to pick up drums, weighing anywhere from 10 to 30 lbs.
We heft the drums back to the house and start moving furniture around. Laura's got a beautiful cracklin fire going - there's always a decision to make about where to put the wine/food altar. This time - which was our 5th LDNO - I insisted that the food go outside the circle so that the energy could flow better. This necessitated a couple of wine breaks during the session, which is always welcome and fine, regardless of the awkwardness of drums and wine together.
This is something I want to explore further as well. In the West African drumming communities from which I've acquired knowledge and understanding, I have never seen beer or wine mixed with drumming. It's a very spiritual practice and one in which a person must be grounded BEFORE playing, as well as maintain proper posture and body composition and breath support WHILE playing. In a word, it's a sobering act - though it brings you the kind of natural high that can never be gained through a substance. Perhaps because it IS substance.
Regardless, you gotta give these ladies CRED. FULLY.
How many women approaching middle age from wealthy neighborhoods DO this sort of thing? And so much is offered to me - and I consider all of it a form of a blessing - including the wine. So we all partake - with wine breaks in between drumming - though the altar is outside the circle the bottles slowly move to the center, and while I'm going around the circle teaching them the "slap" by demonstrating it on the other side of their drums, i knock the wine over on the carpet, and laura doesn't even flinch. she's cool - very down to earth lady and i am constantly amazed at her ability to stay that way.
So I talk about the culture because it's very important to me to relay what I know - we are not playing drums we are playing DJEMBES. And Ashikos, plus my one wonderful Bougarabou. Then I talk a little about how the drums are used to heal in today's culture. They get a laugh at my reference to how drumming helps to stave off Alzheimer's disease and helps improve nerve function in Parkinsons patients...and how it can keep off dimentia. None of them are even close but I enjoy the laughter. I always give my plug too about YWDEP - and this past drum night out we gained a new YWDEP member to my delight.
We learn the basic notes of the instrument and I teach them a rhythm - 2 parts usually and they play them together. We sound good. We raise the freakin roof. Then we jam - we add one drummer in at a time and bring out the bells and shakers and make it happen. I "woo!" here and there and remind folks to listen, use my voice to change the dynamics and end with a solid heartbeat and everybody's eyes are closed and we fade out - then begin a roll that starts on the bass and moves to the tone and then the slap, louder and louder, until we are looking up at the ceiling and screaming (or wanting to). And everyone stops and in the silence you can feel molecules of positivity and joy.
They hoo-rah. I feel complete.
And then they give me hug.
And they pay me WELL.
Though I marvel at watching the girls in YWDEP grow and become incredible young women drummers and poets, though I would never even think to compare the two situations, the feeling I get after coming from the LDNO is one I want more of, because it is completely regenerating.
Thanks, Laura.
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