Culture

HARLEMUSIC: Celebrating the Life & Legacy of Dr. Donald Byrd

Ahoy Mates! This is the Captain speaking! Two great nights…two great tributes…one great musician! Celebrating the Life & Legacy of Donald Byrd, the premier hard bop & R&B trumpeter and Doctor of Music. Dr. Byrd was born Dec. 9, 1932. He passed on Feb. 4, 2013 at the age of 80. He earned five music […]

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COOL Kids in Harlem Creating Community Volunteerism to Social Entrepreneurs

Today’s youth are faced with many options which often times steer them from positive choices in life. As a result, these decisions can often end up haunting them and damaging their prospects. With the economy remaining at an unstable mark, programs have been consistently cut back that would normally create activities to help our youth

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Immigration bill would be largest such effort ever attempted

After months of negotiations, a bipartisan group of eight senators is poised to offer a sweeping bill to rewrite the nation’s immigration laws this week, taking advantage of a changed political alignment that, for the first time in nearly a generation, appears to have opened the way for comprehensive legislation. The bill would chart a

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Living and Loving In New York City: An Essay

Admittedly, it’s become a pretty tired topic for many of us Black women, considering the fact that we’ve found ourselves on the receiving end of some pretty depressing media-fueled reports these past few years concerning our allegedly lackluster crop of marrying prospects. Still, the questions sisters of all ages ask remains: where are the Black

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Achebe – I Flew On the Torn Pages of “Things Fall Apart”

My literary career kick-started on the torn pages of Things Fall Apart (TFA), the classic novel by Chinua Achebe – whom I am too afraid to prefix ‘Late’. I still have vivid memories. I was five. At Ojira, Otukpo, Benue. And, Like many girls my age then, unschooled. That was the age when girl education was still given

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Rebirth, Revisit at Rio II Gallery

New Jersey native Celia Nobleman will have her African-inspired paintings on display at the Rio II Gallery, with an opening reception on April 7th. The Rio Galleries offer space year-long to support and nurture cultural, civic, and educational programs, showing the work of emerging and established artists – poets, writers, musicians, dancers, and photographers. Located on the penthouse level of

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An adaptation of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18 “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?”

Philip Appleman’s poetry and prose have appeared in dozens of publications, including the Nation, the New York Times, New Republic, Paris Review, Poetry, and the Yale Review. He is married to the playwright Marjorie Appleman (Margie). You may read more about Mr. Appleman on the Poetry Foundation’s website. SONNET 18 (for Margie) Who, me? Compare you to a summer’s day? Heck, no,

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Children’s Books that are Great for the Entire Family

Author Carmen Rubin has been teaching and telling stories since she can remember. As a child, at the end of a school year, she would ask her teachers for leftover school assignments so that she could spend summer hours playing teacher to neighborhood kids.  It was a game Carmen and her friends found enjoyable. It’s

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