Darlene Roy writes: “Atlanta was fantastic!” Here’s Rocoe “Ros” Crenshaw’s lively report of how the Euguene B. Redmond Writing Club celebrated its 25th anniversary with a release of a 700-page “Drumvoices Revue.” The event raised funds for the Redmond’s learning center at Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville. All previous 16 issues of “Drumvoices” are included…
Freida Wheaton’s sense of occasion and community brings together a diverse and accomplished group of creative and business people that are always a pleasure to meet. Last year we gathered to celebrate the victory and promise of Barack Obama’s new administration. This year we gathered again to remember Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy as it…
The three posts below are clustered. Eugene B. Redmond is poet laureate of East St. Louis. Drumvoices Revue is powered by Eugene B. Redmond. The Kwansaba is a new poetic form invented by Redmond. Then, there’s the Eugene B. Redmond creative writing club….!
To watch Eugene Redmond teach is to fall in love with writing, with words, and with the world. Here are some gems from a workshop I attended. Eugene talked about connection and continuum…how our identity is rippling out in circles: woman/womanhood; story; village/community; power; race and class; visionary source and lineage. Eugene has a big…
The Kwansaba came into being as a praise song. Drumvoices Revue has used the Kwansaba form to praise Richar Wright (2008), Maya Angelou and Quincy Troupe (2007), Jayne Cortex (2006), Amiri Baraka and Sonia Sanchez (2005), Katherine Dunham (2004), Miles Davis (2003). Outside of haiku and the blues, the Kwansaba is one of the most…
In September, my first private party in St. Louis was at Freida L. Wheaton’s Salon 53 opening for her private residential art gallery. Now, in December, my second private party in St. Louis—and my only Holiday Party this season—is at Freida’s Salon 53, whose slogan is “Home is where the art is.” In September I…