February 21, 2008 — Vol. 43, No. 28
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THUR., FEBRUARY 21

Community Town Hall Meeting Invites Residents & Experts
to Analyze and Discuss Boston Police Safe Homes Initiative
A town hall meeting has been scheduled to address community concerns regarding the Boston Police Department’s Safe Homes Initiative. This town hall meeting will feature a panel of experts from the fields of criminal justice, juvenile justice and civil rights as well as law professionals, social service providers and youth advocates. Invited participants also include local elected officials from both city and state levels, local non-profit & social service agencies, local churches & clergy including the Black Ministerial Alliance and Boston Ten Point Coalition. The purpose of this town hall meeting is to provide the general public with a clinical analysis of the plan as it has been presented by the Boston Police Department. This forum will serve as an opportunity to inform residents in order to garner community input and gauge public opinion. 6:30-9 p.m., MAMLEO Headquarters (Mass. Assoc. of Minority Law Enforcement Officials), 61 Columbia Rd., Dorchester.

“Healing Power of Happiness”: An Upcoming Workshop at the BK Learning Center for Peace.
Please join us at 7:30 p.m. for a workshop entitled “Healing Power of Happiness”. The event will be held at the BK Learning Center for Peace in Watertown, MA. This workshop is part of the “Talk and Seminar” series held monthly and sponsored by the Boston branch of the Brahma Kumaris. The focus of this event, which is open to the public and free of charge, is happiness! We all know that when we lack inner happiness, we try to look for a source of happiness outside ourselves. Discover the inner wisdom that lies in learning the message before pain. Please come early and join us at 7p.m. for our evening meditation session. This free event will be held at the BK Learning Center for Peace, 75 Common St., Watertown. 7:30- 9 p.m. workshop. RSVP at boston@us.bkwsu.org or 617-926-1230. Directions/ www.bkboston.org.

FRI., FEBRUARY 22

“Iron Ladies of Liberia” Film Screening
Follow Ellen Sirleaf Johnson through her first year in office as she faces angry mobs, ambitious political rivals, and high-ranking members of the international community. Her story is inspiring a new generation of leaders in Africa and around the world. 7 p.m. 6 Eliot St., First Church in Jamaica Plain, Unitarian Universalist. FREE. MBTA: 39 Bus to Jamaica Plain Monument, or Orange line to Green Street. Contact Info: Sarah at 617-541-0500 x302. Website: http://www.jamaica
plainforum.org. The film will be followed by an informal discussion. Free popcorn provided!

SAT., FEBRUARY 23

Book Launch to Celebrate African American Heritage in Massachusetts!
Join us as we launch the first book in the series: “African American Heritage in Massachusetts: A Coloring Book,” illustrated by local artist, Laurence Pierce, with graphic design by the youth art entrepreneurship group, Artists for Humanity. Rosalyn Elder, partner of Jamaicaway Books, an independent bookstore founded in 1998 with a focus on multicultural children’s literature, has written a series of books that celebrate African American heritage of Massachusetts. Her goal is to increase literacy in urban students by allowing them to read and be inspired by stories of heroism and determination relevant to their culture. Ms. Elder realizes that the only way to raise the educational bar is to get students to read more. The only way to do that is to raise their self-esteem by inspiring them with books about their heritage. 2 p.m. at Jamaicaway Books, 676 Centre St., Jamaica Plain. jamaicawaybooks@aol.com. 617-983-3204. www.jamaicaway
books.com.

SAT., FEBRUARY 23

11th Annual African Festival and Marketplace
The 11th Annual Africa Festival and Marketplace will be held in Brockton from noon-5 p.m. at The New Life Empowerment Center, 184 W. Elm St. This event, which has since its inception, been the largest Black History celebration in Southeastern MA, will once again feature a variety of activities for the whole family. Admission to the Marketplace Festival is $3 for children under 12, senior citizens and college students w/ID; $5 for all others. All are welcome to attend. For further information, please call 774-826-9009.

SUN., FEBRUARY 24

Royal Arch Masons Annual Commemoration
The Royal Arch Masons - Heroines of Jericho presents their Annual Commemoration of Black History Month with the theme “We’re Moving On.” Honoring the Boston Chapter of the NAACP. 3-8 p.m. Russell Auditorium, 70 Talbot Ave., Dorchester. This is a free affair all are welcome. For vendor information call 508-427-4342 or 617-459-7697.

MON., FEBRUARY 25

Roxbury’s Visual Arts Heritage: An Illustrated Slide Talk
By E. Barry Gaither, Executive Director of the Museum of the National Center of Afro-American Artists and long time leader in Roxbury’s vibrant art community. Discover a century of art by Roxbury artists, learn about Roxbury’s place in the Black Arts Movement and appreciate the important and continuing role of Roxbury institutions in fostering the arts. Funded by the Fellowes Athenaeum Trust Fund Sponsored by Discover Roxbury; Urban Arts Institute, Massachusetts College of Art and Design; and the Roxbury Cultural Network. 6 p.m. Dudley Branch Library, 65 Warren St. Roxbury. For more information call Discover Roxbury 617-427-1006 or email marcia@discoverroxbury.org. FREE.

TUES., FEBRUARY 26

“Can Democracy Be Promoted?” Simmons Lecture
A Harvard University political scientist will dissect central themes in international development in her public lecture “Can Democracy Be Promoted?” at 5 p.m. at Simmons College. Pippa Norris, a political scientist and the McGuire Lecturer in Comparative Politics at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, will speak in the Kotzen Meeting Room, Lefavour Hall, at Simmons College, 300 The Fenway, Boston. A reception will immediately follow. Norris’s talk is part of the college’s annual Warburg Lecture Series in International Relations. The reception and lecture are free and open to the public.

WED., FEBRUARY 27

Cooking With Nutrition on the Mind: A Nutrition Workshop for Adults Affected by Cancer
Please join Registered Dietician for Community Servings (www.servings.org), Heather Tsatsarones, RD, for this nutrition-based cooking class. Heather will demonstrate how to cook healthy meals during and after cancer treatment. This workshop will be held at the nutrition center at Community Servings. Community Servings is dedicated to providing free home-delivered meals throughout eastern Massachusetts to people homebound with life-threatening illnesses, who are unable to shop or cook for themselves. 1-3 p.m. RSVP required. 617-442-8800 x1790. All programs are free of charge. The Wellness Community at The Dimock Center, 55 Dimock St., Roxbury. A program provided in partnership with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, The Dimock Center and The Wellness Community-Greater Boston.

 

WED., FEBRUARY 27

Writing Race: Memory & Imagination Readings by Boston Authors: Helen Elaine Lee Reads from “Life Without”
“Life Without” is a novel about the lives of eleven characters who are incarcerated in two neighboring American prisons. These characters are connected by common experience and proximity, daily routine and interactions, and rolling domino and bid whist games through which the inmates gather to socialize. They are serving various sentences for different kinds of crimes, and each one has his or her own story of loss, despair, imagination and survival. Although they do not begin to comprise an exhaustive portrait of the men and women who fill American prisons, all are part of the whole of prison life. Ms Lee’s work on Life Without has involved volunteer work teaching writing and storytelling workshops with prison inmates over the last six years, and many interviews with ex-offenders and people who work with prisoners.The Museum of African American History, The Abiel Smith School, 46 Joy St., Beacon Hill, Boston. 6:30-8:30 p.m. ASL/English Interpretation will be provided at all readings. Refreshments will be served. For more information visit www.community
changeinc.org or call 617-523-0555

THUR., FEBRUARY 28

Black History 2008
The Mission Main Concerned Residents Committee presents its 2nd Annual Black History celebration from 5:30-8 p.m., 41 Smith Street (One block from Roxbury Crossing T Station). The event will feature dinner, raffles, African dancing with the Frederick Haynes Dance Troupe, Black history presentation, health information, appearances by local politicians and more. FREE. Call Gloria at 617-785-4646 to reserve seat.

David W. Blight Book Reading
Join us as esteemed Yale University professor and renowned historian, David W. Blight, reads from his latest work: A Slave No More: Two Men Who Escaped to Freedom, Including Their Own Narratives of Emancipation. Highlighted by a mission to preserve, interpret, and tell the story of the African American presence in Boston and the country, Prof. Blight has accomplished a powerful and enlightening composition. 6 p.m. FREE. Museum of African American History, 46 Joy St. Boston. RSVP: 617-725-0022x25 or rsvp@afroammuseum.org.

Family Night Program
Ashley Bryan, award-winning illustrator and author will present a Family Night program at the Central Square Branch Library, 45 Peal St. Cambridge at 6:30 P.M. He is the winner of this year’s Coretta Scott King Book Award for “Let It Shine: Three Favorite Spirituals.” Bryan has published over 35 books for children, including Beautiful Blackbird, Sing to the Sun and The Night Has Ears: African Proverbs. He recently received the Lifetime Achievement award from the Society of Illustrators, has received two other Coretta Scott King Awards and was the recipient of the Haggerty School of Cambridge’s Peace Prize for his work in bringing clean water to schools in Kiboya, Africa. Pizza will be served. Free. Best for age 5 and up. Please register by calling 617-349-4409, TTY 617-349-4421. Books will be available for purchase from Porter Square Books. Sponsored by the Friends of the Cambridge Public Library.

Cultural Icon Amiri Baraka Speaks at Hibernian Hall
The Roxbury Center for Arts at Hibernian Hall and ACT Roxbury are pleased to announce that noted cultural worker and activist Amiri Baraka will speak from 6-8 p.m. The talk will take place at Hibernian Hall. There is a $5 donation. All tickets can be purchased at Hibernian Hall two hours before the performance. Online ticket sales are available at www.RCAHH.org/
2008season . For questions about group sales or rental information for Hibernian Hall contact: Jonathan Bonner at 617-541-3900 Ext.324 or Jbonner@madsion-park.org or via web at www.RCAHH.org.

The Community Calendar has been established to list community events at no cost. The admission cost of events must not exceed $10. Church services and recruitment requests will not be published. There is no guarantee of publication. To guarantee publication with a paid advertisement please call advertising at (617) 261-4600 ext. 111 or ext. 119. No listings are accepted by telephone or fax. Deadline for all listings is Friday at noon for publication the following week. E-mail your information to: calendar@ bannerpub.com, or Mail your information to: Community Calendar, Bay State Banner, 23 Drydock Avenue, Boston, MA 02210.

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