Sorry that I had to miss this conference which took place this past weekend:

The Message is in the Music:
Hip Hop Feminism, Riot Grrrl, Latina Music, and More
Twelfth Annual Women's History Month Conference at Sarah Lawrence College
Bronxville, New York

Congressional Entertainment Industries Caucus Producers Guild of America East
PGA New Media Council East
Washington, DC Independent Film Festival
 
proudly present
 
THE 2010 INDEPENDENT FILM SUMMIT ON THE HILL
Thursday, March 4 at 9:00am to 12:30pm
 
Rayburn House Office Building
Gold Room, Room 2168
50 Independence Ave. SW
Washington, DC 20515 Free, with RSVP
 
Filmmakers- come have your Mr. Smith moment in Washington, DC. This is an opportunity for filmmakers to converge on Capitol Hill for a morning of panels and individual sessions with members of Congress and their staff, focusing on issues of particular importance to the industry. This is the only venue for independent filmmakers and policymakers to discuss and propose initiatives that will help to produce films in the United States.

African-American men are diagnosed with schizophrenia at rates four to five time more than other groups. Schizophrenia is a biologically based disease, with no genetic links to ethnicity or gender. Are black men inherently crazy?

From the 1920s to the 1950s, schizophrenia was considered a fairly harmless disease that primarily affected whites. The illness was associated with "emotional disharmony" and the suggested treatment for those affected was that they be nurtured, not feared.

But in the 1960s and 1970s, advertisements for new schizophrenia drugs appeared featuring scary-looking black men under the tagline, "Assaultive and belligerent?" Apparently, "cooperation" could be achieved with doses of an antipsychotic drug, Haldol.

You can consider yourself lucky, blessed, chosen if you get a say in your book cover's design.

So if I such an opportunity for PATTERSON HEIGHTS, here's a direction I'd go in.

Designed by Robert Trujillo. If you're among the chosen, hit him up for your book cover.
]]> http://www.feliciapride.com/blog/2010/02/patterson-heights-remixed/ http://www.feliciapride.com/blog/2010/02/patterson-heights-remixed/ Patterson Heights book cover designer designer robert trujillo Thu, 11 Feb 2010 12:05:04 +0000

My first YA novel, actually, correction, my first novel, PATTERSON HEIGHTS was recently chosen by the American Library Association as a 2010 Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers.

This writer was beyond thrilled.

While I was writing the novel, in the back of my mind were the young people that I worked with at various libraries around Baltimore City. Kids, who despite being classified as nonreaders, blah, blah, blah, would read if I put engaging material in their hands. Go figure!

Check out ALA's Quick Pick list and other book recommendations for our teens.

Follow me on Twitter at @feliciapride.

I recently stumbled upon José James during one of my web-based procrastination periods. Since then, I've been consuming James like Baileys on the rocks.

Don't just truss me, hear for yourself.

Sidebar: I'm so confused when people say stuff like, "There isn't any good music being produced these days." Between the internet and my penchant for going to live shows whether or not I've ever heard of the artist, I'm way behind in consuming all the great music that's out there.

An item on my to-do list: listen to all new music that I've downloaded. It's that serious.

So for some time now (years actually), I've neglected my blog. See I used to blog all the time when I had the humble little blog I started in 2005 over at Blogger. Granted, I was never daily with it.

But now I'm hardly even monthly. Pathetic.

Or is it? Just read this article about teens moving away from writing and reading blogs to even more immediate forms of media. Remember when blogging was immediate?

And, coming off of the success of their RAP exhibition, on Wednesday December 2 Art vs Commerce, Smirnoff Vodka, and The Source Magazine will again partner on the second installment of The Classics - this time with Series 2: SOUL.  Similar to the first exhibition, this version will feature a bevy of album cover art however this one will consist of over forty classic Soul album covers, courtesy of DJ YZO.  SOUL, in some ways, will actually serve as a prequel to RAP, in that a variety of the albums on display contain songs that have been sampled and used in many classic rap music records.

Taking it's lead from RAP, SOUL, which will take place on Wednesday December 2^nd at Lounge of 3 (1013 Ust NW), 5pm-9pm, will again have Nick Da 1da and DJ 2-Tone Jones providing the sounds, along with DJ YZO.  Guests will also be treated to a new series of complimentary signature cocktails (7pm-9pm), courtesy of Smirnoff, which include the Stevie Wonder and Gil Scott Heron (Note: Lounge of 3 still serves the signature drinks from the RAP exhibition).

In addition to the album covers displayed, SOUL will also have its own series of cultural projects and a few extras that include a:

• Interview: Tom Nickosey (www.tomnikosey.com)
• Instrument Highlight: The Clavinet
• Connoisseur Profile: Nick Da 1da
• Soul Food items added to the menu
• Surprise Feature

For more information visit www.gmoney77.wordpress.com or call 202.460.3594.

Thirty-five years ago, Toni Morrison, then an editor at Random House, joined with a team of black memorabilia collectors, helmed by Middleton A. Harris, to assemble what Henry Louis Gates Jr. considers the "ultimate treasure chest of the black experience." The result is a collection of more than 500 documents, photographs and articles that fashion an imaginative narrative of the African-American journey from slavery to the civil rights movement. There are slave sale receipts, patents by African-American inventors, sheet music for "coon songs," images of black war heroes and everything in between.

Not long after the release of The Black Book, a New York Times best seller, Morrison received a letter from a prison inmate who asked for two more copies of the book. One was to give to a friend. Another was to throw against the wall "over and over and over." The copy already in possession was to be held tightly, close to the heart. Morrison writes about this request in a new foreword for the 35th anniversary edition of The Black Book released this week by Random House. The unknown inmate, as Morrison acknowledges, encapsulated how one feels about this scrapbook of our country's history. It's beautiful and maddening. It's necessary and heart-wrenching. It should be a text used in all American History classes, and it should be kept in the homes of Americans everywhere as a reminder and testament. As Morrison writes as eloquently as only she can, "It's new life is more than a welcome gift; it is a requirement for our national health."

Read the entire article and view the picture gallery.

Serious poetry collections continue to be birthed. The evidence:

Arc & Hue
By Tara Betts
Willow Books, September 2009
Excerpt from "Why I Collect The Hair":

Years ago, a college boyfriend left my bed
to go home. His mother honed in
on the brassy streaks
and pulled them off
with what white girl are you seeing?
So, I'm still plucking, gathering up
small tumbleweeds in my palm,
clues that deny brown
coiled inside me.

Read the entire article.

Lisa Cortés has been navigating the entertainment industry for more than twenty years. She worked at Def Jam during the hip-hop label's early days in the 80s. She cofounded a company with Russell Simmons that represented music producers. She even started her own record label.

Eventually the Yale graduate turned her talents towards film, officially entering the game as an assistant to director Lee Daniels during the making of Monster's Ball. Since then, her producer credits have included The Woodsman and Shadowboxer. Now, she's traveling around the world promoting her new project, Precious, the emotionally-charged film that she executive produced.

Books on the Root talked with Cortés about the representation of black women in film, healing, and the work of Octavia Butler.

Books on the Root: Tell me about Precious.
Lisa Cortés: Precious was a very political and personal film for me to make. It was political because so many of the issues, from literacy to overall neglect and sexual abuse are so prevalent in the film but not talked about or addressed actively as they should be. The film has provided a tremendous forum for healing and discussion.

It was personal because as a black woman, I don't see myself when I go to the movies. I don't see the beauty and range of our journeys. Not everyone in Precious is good; there are bad people; there are people who transform. There is a range of black women in Precious from Mo'Nique to Paula [Patton] to Gabby [Sidibe] to Mariah [Carey] to Sherri [Shepherd] that shows a full spectrum of who we are. When's the last time we could go to the movies and see ourselves in such complexity and handled with such intelligence?

Read the entire interview.

Follow me on Twitter: feliciapride.