Artists, journalists, religious institutions, students and academics still have a shot at getting their mojito on with a Treasury Department license. But no cigar and rum smuggling please.
And jazz is still hot!
Maybe hotter than the 95 + degree heat.
I’m sure in anticipation of the end of the embargo, Wynton Marsalis was checking Havana out for the next jazz superstar who will be young, passionate about the music, and bring a unique groove to the sound. Hey, they even had a Facebook sign up sheet for the Jazz at Lincoln Center event in Havana! I can say I was there before Wynton (jazz and all).
Arts and commerce often bring down walls without firing a single shot.
If you are a U.S. citizen, and don’t met the criteria to travel to Cuba, you can get a little taste of what that world will be like here at home — DC’s got something going on:
Ariel Fernandez Diaz has an Afro-Cuban groove happening tomorrow night – Thursday, October 14:
AFROCUBA! DC Edition
A monthly party with all the AfroCuban vibes & beyond.
A project from Asho Productions.
This Thursday October 14th, 2010.
9PM-2AM
New Location!!! NO COVER!
Sutra Lounge in Adams Morgan.
2406 18th Street NW,
Washington DC 20009 www.sutraloungeadamsmorgan.com
Music by resident DJ Asho playing ALL night the best of salsa, timba, guanguaco, cuban reggaeton, rumba y yoruba.
Chucho Valdez Quartet and the Afro Jazz Messengers
Saturday, October 30, 8 PM
Warner Theater
Tickets available here.
Multiple Grammy Award-winning pianist Chucho Valdes, “the dean of Latin jazz,” has made an illustrious career performing with countless jazz masters, including Herbie Hancock, Dizzy Gillespie, Wynton Marsalis, and Chick Corea. “Valdes demonstrates a dizzying exuberance at the piano…like [he] can barely contain his enthusiasm” (All About Jazz). “Compared to everyone from Oscar Peterson and McCoy Tyner to Duke Ellington and Count Basie, Valdes is spoken of in reverent terms throughout the community of jazz musicians” (Los Angeles Times). Sample his new album in this rehearsal video.
Today, DC Public Schools chancellor Michelle Rhee announced her resignation effective at the end of October. Rhee’s deputy chancellor Kaya Henderson will be interim chancellor until the next Mayor (presumably Council Chair Vincent Gray) selects a new chancellor. Below is the text of a DCPS issued letter from Rhee about her resignation.
October 13, 2010
Dear DCPS Parents and Community,
Today Chairman Gray and I have reached the mutual decision that I will leave my post as Chancellor of the DC Public School System.
This is not a decision we made lightly. But it is one that I believe is essential to allow Chairman Gray to pursue our shared goal of uniting this city behind the school reforms that are making a difference in the lives of our children. In short, we have agreed – together – that the best way to keep the reforms going is for me to step aside so that he may appoint a schools chancellor who shares his vision and can keep the progress going.
Kaya Henderson, currently deputy chancellor, has been named Acting Chancellor. This decision by Chairman Gray should put to rest any question of whether reform will continue under the Gray administration. Chairman Gray is committed to continued and uninterrupted reform.
Thank you to each of you. You’ve emailed me, you’ve called me, you’ve come to the coffees and the office hours, you’ve never been shy about telling me when you disagreed with me, and because of you, we are bringing change into every corner of this city.
I have confidence in this reform’s continued success because I know you – our valued partners – will continue to play a critical role in creating a world class educational system for our students.
Nothing would be more detrimental to our prospects for success than cutting back on education. It would consign America to second place in our fiercely competitive global economy. But China and India aren’t playing for second. South Korea and Germany aren’t playing for second. They’re playing for first – and so should America.
Education continues to be the hot topic, at least for now. It’s ground zero for the direction and identity the country will take. It’s highly debatable in terms of what is applicable and what is useless knowledge for life. Education has many measurements, yet may also be the least valued asset. In the President’s weekly, he wants to make more of an investment.
That’s why, from the start of my administration, we’ve been fighting to offer every child in this country a world-class education – from the cradle to the classroom, from college through a career. Earlier this week, I announced a new Skills for America’s Future initiative that will help community colleges and employers match what’s taught in the classroom with what’s needed in the private sector, so we can connect students looking for jobs with businesses looking to hire.
One of my Facebook friends drew our attention to Glen Greenwald’s post “Collapsing Empire” on Salon.com:
…as recently as 1999, the U.S. was ranked by the World Health Organization as 24th in life expectancy. It’s now 49th. There are other similarly potent indicators. In 2009, the National Center for Health Statistics ranked the U.S. in 30th place in global infant mortality rates. Out of 20 “rich countries” measured by UNICEF, the U.S. ranks 19th in “child well-being.” Out of 33 nations measured by the OECD, the U.S. ranks 27th for student math literacy and 22nd for student science literacy. In 2009, the World Economic Forum ranked 133 nations in terms of “soundness” of their banks, and the U.S. was ranked in 108th place, just behind Tanzania and just ahead of Venezuela.
What about “the children”? What about the banks? What about jobs?
Recently urban education reformists (superintendents and chancellors) such as Joel Klein (NY), Michelle Rhee (DC), Andres A. Alonso (Baltimore), Paul Vallas signed onto a “manifesto” that was published in the Op-Ed Sunday section (Outlook) of the Washington Post on Sunday.
Test #1. Ask students “what is a manifesto?” Watch certain segments of the population get nervous. But here these education leaders stand:
As educators, superintendents, chief executives and chancellors responsible for educating nearly 2 1/2 million students in America, we know that the task of reforming the country’s public schools begins with us. It is our obligation to enhance the personal growth and academic achievement of our students, and we must be accountable for how our schools perform.
How will that accountability be measured?
As President Obama has emphasized, the single most important factor determining whether students succeed in school is not the color of their skin or their ZIP code or even their parents’ income — it is the quality of their teacher.
To which another education expert, Keven J. Welner, director of the National Education Policy Center, offered this rebuttal:
If the president did in fact say this, he is wrong. While no researcher could offer precise numbers, regression models tend to attribute a far greater role to out-of-school factors such as parental educational level and family income.
While teacher quality is, in my opinion, the most important in-school factor, there are many others: school leadership, class size, facilities (e.g, working bathrooms, heating, air conditioning, lighting, etc), learning resources (books, computers), and curriculum.
….It is disgraceful for these leaders who are in charge of 2.5 million students – disproportionately students in impoverished, urban areas – to act as enablers for those who dismiss the need to address issues of concentrated poverty.
Meanwhile, a Superman (Geoffrey Canada, founder of the Harlem Children’s Zone) has happened across kryptonite aka The New York Times:
After a rocky start earlier this decade typical of many new schools, Mr. Canada’s two charter schools, featured as unqualified successes in “Waiting for ‘Superman,’ ” the new documentary, again hit choppy waters this summer, when New York State made its exams harder to pass.
….The parent organization of the schools, the Harlem Children’s Zone, enjoys substantial largess, much of it from Wall Street. While its cradle-to-college approach, which seeks to break the cycle of poverty for all 10,000 children in a 97-block zone of Harlem, may be breathtaking in scope, the jury is still out on its overall impact. And its cost — around $16,000 per student in the classroom each year, as well as thousands of dollars in out-of-class spending — has raised questions about its utility as a nationwide model.
How did my 5th grade public school teacher do it? He promised my mother he’d raise my math scores by the end of the semester (by the next test). He accomplished his goal. We had daily drills. Prizes for improvement. Score sheets posted on the wall (competition). And once I reached my goal, my job was to teach a fellow student who was still behind. Sometimes the best way to learn is to teach. But that’s not a manifesto.
Maybe the success factor goes back to my answer to the pollster’s question on education reform: “It’s too soon to tell.”
Update: The Washington Post is reporting that DC School Chancellor Michelle Rhee will announce her resignation from her position effective the end of October. The mayoral election for DC is November 2nd. The school year is just entering its 2nd quarter (out of four).
American Public Television (APT) is streaming episodes of the series “Voces” including the documentary Celia: The Queen about the one and only la reina of salsa. Catch it through October 31st at www.voces.tv.
Opening October 9 at the National Museum of Women in the Arts
The National Museum of Women in the Arts says this is the first retrospective of works by Lois Malou Jones (1905 – 1998) from her 75 year career. I came to know Jones’ work while she was a professor of art at Howard University. She was known for her art created in and inspired by her time in France and Haiti. I recall seeing posters she designed for the arts festival in Dakar, Senegal. Howard University will host a weekend at the museum in honor of the exhibit October 29 (free to HU faculty, students, alumni, and staff). More information available here. The exhibit runs through January 9, 2011.
Community Cinema [DC] New Season
This weekend, Community Cinema DC kicks off a new season with free screenings of the documentary “Reel Injun: On the Trial of the Hollywood Indian.” Neil Diamond takes an entertaining, insightful, and often humorous look at the Hollywood Indian, exploring the portrayal of North American Natives through a century of cinema and examining the ways that the myth of “the Injun” has influenced the world’s understanding—and misunderstanding—of Natives.
WHEN/WHERE: Sunday, October 10 at 3 PM; Washington DCJCC (1529 16th Street, NW) followed by Q&A with Francene Blythe, Director of All Roads Film Project Monday, October 11 at 5 PM; Busboys and Poets (2021 14th Street, NW) followed by Q&A with Kiros Auld, appeared in Terrence Malick’s feature “The New World” (2005); Francene Blythe, Director of All Roads Film Project; Karen Zill, National Association for Media Literacy Education
FREE with RSVP – reelinjun@communitycinema-dc.org or call 202-939-0794
For more information, visit: www.communtiycinema-dc.org
Hip Hop Caucus and Roadside Organics present
LOCAL FOOD BLOCK PARTY
October 10, 2010
Bread for the City, 1525 7th Street, NW
While organic fervor has struck in DC, it has not yet reverberated across the city. We want to bring the new food movement to those residents living in the District’s notorious food ‘deserts’, showing how bringing back age-old Sunday supper can anchor families in new healthy lifestyles.
We believe in the power of local food to uplift our communities, improve our health, and revitalize our local economy.
The event is part of 350.org’s Global Work Party that is putting people to work around the world to make a positive impact on our climate and environment. The event will be free and feature seasonal food cooked by several of DC’s best chefs and music from local hip hop artists.
Every meal makes a difference. Let’s join together and chart a new beginning.
Washington DC Jewish Community Center
October 17-27, 2010
The Hyman S. & Freda Bernstein Jewish Literary Festival presents the year’s best in Jewish writing by both emerging and established authors from across the globe. An annual celebration of Jewish Literature, the Festival features engaging author panels, readings, and talks for lovers of fiction, history, politics, humor, children’s stories and much more. Tickets are on sale now.
Earlier I mentioned my widening enthusiasm gap for Jon Stewart’s “Rally to Restore Sanity” October 30th. But now that the location has been revealed (between 3rd and 7th Streets, NW – west of the U.S. Capitol I’m guessing); and the benefactor announced, I’m feeling perky again. No pun on the final punch line in this clip. Keeping up the symbolic sacred grounds of free speech is also included in the price of the freedom ticket.