COMMUNITY FORUM FOR WOMEN - SATURDAY, JUNE 1, 2013 - A Discussion on Equal Pay and Domestic Violence

THE GRAND
100 Grand Avenue
Oakland, CA

11 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.

RSVP BY MAY 30, 2013

Tickets and Details at Eventbrite

THE WAITING PERIOD - "Laughter In The Darkness"

Brian Copeland

Thursday, May 23, 2013

8 p.m.

Theatre on San Pedro Square
29 N. San Pedro Street
Downtown San Jose

Tickets:  1-800-838-3006


www.tabardtheatre.org

Book Review: "DECADENCE" by Eric Jerome Dickey

I don't know if there are really places like "Decadence."  I suspect there are.  I do know that there are people like Nia Simone Bijou.  

People who aren't afraid or ashamed to be in touch with their feelings, emotions and sexuality.  People who know what they want and go for it.  People who think they know what they want and go for it.  And people who realize what they really want and go for that too.

This book that made me reflect on years gone by and just how much the college years shape the adults we become, baggage we carry, the things we shed, the people we keep and the people we let go.

You might feel a little naughty after reading "Decadence," but,  you'll never forget it.  

And besides, if you can't afford the membership, that's no reason you shouldn't go to the club (wink).



"New York Times bestselling author Eric Jerome Dickey returns to the life of Nia Simone Bijou (of Pleasure fame) as she embarks on a quest to enhance her artistic gifts through heightened sensory experience, Hollywood-style. 

Four years have passed since the events of Pleasure, and Nia’s success as a writer has grown, bringing her from Atlanta to Los Angeles. But she remains on a quest to quiet her inner storm, to draw on her well of emotions and explore them fully before leaving this season of her life and moving on to what could be the next stage: marriage and motherhood.

Drawn to an exclusive pleasure palace, where patrons try on roles as they actively shun their respective realities, Nia’s ability to balance truth and fantasy becomes increasingly blurred. What has happened to the compartments she has so carefully created for the different aspects of her life? Will her relationship with the mysterious, often unavailable Prada survive the countless temptations? Will her successful literary career be given over to impulse indulgence? Does decadence know any bounds?

When Nia’s past comes back to mingle with her present, and when her staid public persona clashes with her fantasy life of decadence, readers will be stunned by the outcome. Eric Jerome Dickey’s newest tale of excess—and its sky-high costs—is a thrilling portrait of a glittering world."

O.J. Simpson's Latest Bid for Freedom

Am I the only one who felt just a little sorry for OJ Simpson this week when he showed up in court in shackles?  

I actually didn't think I would ever care to write or really talk about "The Juice" again, but, I allowed myself to get sucked into a story about a man who not only doesn't know that I exist, but wouldn't give me the time of day.  

In fact, if OJ were freed today, I doubt he would "go back black."  But that's his loss.  

Seriously, though, how many people actually think the current sentence he's serving has anything at all to do with the alleged "robbery" that took place in Las Vegas five years ago when he went with his "muscle-men" to recover his property from that hotel room?

We all know that it's "the system's" way of making him pay for the deaths of Nicole Simpson and Ron Goldman.  And for the record, not only do I believe they really did fit, I believe he is a murderer.  I just don't think that's what he's currently doing time for.

But the sentence - 9 to 33 years - essentially "life" for a man who's nearly 66 years old now, is just a little harsh. He'll get what's coming to him.  But I guess the American public just wants to make sure they see him suffer - just a little bit.  On this earth.

I'm no lawyer, but it seems his defense team could have at least lobbied for him to appear in court in street clothes.  And shackles on his hands and feet?  Really?  He looked like "Django" (chained).

And even though, I've never been a Simpson fan (I'm one of those sisters who is still mad at how he did Marguerite), I was happy to see that even though they tried to break him down on the stand and embarrass him before a national TV audience, when he testified, I could swear he had a little "swag" left.

 Let God be the judge.  

The Kinsey Collection: CLOSING WEEKEND - MAY 18, 2013

Kinsey Collection Closing Events

Saturday May 18, 2013

11:00 am - 6:00 pm

The Kinsey Collection: Shared Treasures of Bernard and Shirley Kinsey, Where Art and History Intersect.


11:00am: MoAD Members-only continental breakfast, plus morning viewing hours and tours.


1:00-2:00pm: Bernard and Shirley Kinsey Book Signing in the Salon (Free with MoAD Admission).

All-day: Wells Fargo Customer Appreciation Day. One free general admission limited to cardholder.

Museum of African Diaspora (MOAD)
685 Mission St  San Francisco, CA 94105
(415) 358-7200

History and Background

The Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD) is a San Francisco based nonprofit organization that was conceived as a cornerstone of the economic and cultural revitalization of downtown San Francisco. Since it opened in December 2005 MoAD has become an anchor with its neighbors, the San Francisco MoMA, the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Zeum, and the Contemporary Jewish Museum, in making this dynamic cultural corridor a premier cultural destination.
As a dynamic, world class institution, MoAD brings people of all ages, ethnicities and backgrounds together so they can enjoy, study and appreciate, through enriching exhibitions, public and educational programs, the culture, history and art of people of African descent within the United States and throughout the world. MoAD is uniquely positioned as one of the only Museums in the world focused exclusively on African Diaspora culture and on presenting the rich cultural products of the people of Africa and of African descendant cultures across the globe.
MoAD developed as part of a public/private partnership led by the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency, in cooperation with the Mayor’s Office and the developers of the St. Regis Museum Tower. In 1999 under the mandate from the City of San Francisco to include an African American cultural presence in the last vacant parcel of Yerba Buena Gardens, Mayor Willie L. Brown appointed a steering committee to begin a process of determining the mission and scope of a cultural facility within the complex. Cultural management, architectural, and design consultants were contracted by the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency to work with members of the steering committee to formulate the facility design and program elements of a new museum.

The African American Cultural Institute grew out of the research and development process that began in 2002 and included participation by local and nationally known scholars and community leaders. The new museum was renamed Museum of the African Diaspora to reflect a broadened scope and mission, was incorporated in 2002 as a 501 c 3 nonprofit, and opened in 2005 in an architecturally stunning space that was designed by the nationally-renowned firm, the Freelon Group within the footprint of the St. Regis Museum Tower.*(From www.moadsf.org)

www.moadsf.org

FELA! Returns - Oakland's Paramount Theater - June 4-9, 2013

THE PARAMOUNT THEATRE

2025 BROADWAY
OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA

June 4-9, 2013

http://www.paramounttheatre.com/

TUESDAY, JUNE 4 @ 8:00 PM
THURSDAY, JUNE 6 @ 8:00 PM
FRIDAY, JUNE 7 @ 8:00 PM
SATURDAY, JUNE 8 @ 2:00 PM
SATURDAY, JUNE 8 @ 8:00 PM
SUNDAY, JUNE 9 @ 2:00 PM
SUNDAY, JUNE 9 @ 7:30 PM
FELA! The Musical
Doors open 60 minutes before show time.

Presented by Shawn (Jay-Z) Carter, Will Smith and Jada Pinkett-Smith