It’s been awhile since the last Eclectique Interview. This will be the second interview with a poet. That’s Sarah Browning, director of D.C. Poets Against the War and Split This Rock Poetry Festival. Sarah is also author of Whiskey in the Garden of Eden (The Word Works, 2007), and co-editor of D.C. Poets Against the [...]
I will not watch television, listen to the radio or engage in any media voyeurism for the 10th anniversary of September 11. Instead, I plan to come together with real live people coming together. It’s not just an occasion to remember, but to set a path forward from here. Here are some upcoming events in [...]
I want to be remembered as someone who used herself and anything she could touch to work for justice and freedom…. I want to be remembered as one who tried. Dorothy Height (1912 – 2010) Update: Funeral Arrangements for Dorothy Height Dear Friends and Colleagues, Below is the schedule of events for the celebration of [...]
Van Jones, co-founder of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights in Oakland , CA. Van Jones, co-founder of ColorofChange.org. Van Jones, founder and president of Green for All. Van Jones, author of The Green Collar Economy: How One Solution Can Fix Our Two Biggest Problems. Van Jones, an Eclectique|916 Community Organizer Hall of Famer [...]
I may be wrong, but just in case we have another abridged King birthday with a looping of “I Have A Dream,” I want to share my favorite quote by Dr. King from his sermon “Time to Break Silence” which was delivered at the Riverside Church in New York City April 4, 1967. If we [...]
Yesterday I decided to go offline and visit the Historical Society of Washington, DC (801 K Street, NW) to see the opening of “Quilts for Obama: Celebrating the Inauguration of Our 44th President.” The exhibit is curated by photographer and quilt collector/artist Roland Freeman. Roland Freeman is one of those community activists who uses art [...]
If I were stranded on an island today, I would want these three books at my side: The Martha Rules: 10 Essentials for Achieving Success as You Start, Build, or Manage a Business by Martha Stewart Meditations of the Heart by Howard Thurman (a collection of meditations and prayers) And Taking On the System: Rules [...]
In 1981 the womens a capella group Sweet Honey in the Rock recorded “Ella’s Song,” written by the group’s founder civil rights activist Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagan. The opejning lyrics begin with “We who believe in freedom cannot rest” taken from a speech Ella Baker gave in Jackson, Mississippi in 1964 — Freedom Summer–when volunteers [...]
Dr. King once said that economic justice is the inseparable twin to racial justice. It makes no difference if you can sit at the lunch counter if you can’t afford the lunch. It makes no difference if a neighborhood is integrated if you can’t afford to buy a home there, or send your child to [...]
