Thursday, May 17, 9pm – Poetry & Music – BYOB – $5 Suggested Contribution

Elliott Levin & ASCHAK and Friends

Aschak, poet and artist, was born in Trinidad but has long been a Philadelphia resident. Besides writing and performing his poetry, he has organized readings and brought poetry to the schools. His paintings can be seen on Astral Wilderness.

Elliott Levin has performed with groups including Cecil Taylor’s Ensemble, Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes, Odean Pope’s Sax Choir, Scram!, New Ghost, Atzilut (Fourth World), and Talking Free Bebop.

Beginning an on-going series of musical poets and poetic musicians.

On MP3: WHYY Interview regarding the Martin Delany Project

Samuel Delany on Moonstone Arts Center (video)

Thursday, May 3 – 7pm

Race in America: A Discussion with Erica Armstrong Dunbar, Clarence Page and Linn Washington

District 1199C Philadelphia Headquarters, 1319 Locust Street

Erica Armstrong Dunbar specializes in 19^th Century African American History and is author of A Fragile Freedom. Clarence Page is a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist of The Chicago Tribune and author of Showing My Color.  Linn Washington is an award-winning journalist for the Philadelphia Tribune.

For More Information: www.moonstoneartscenter.org/martindelany

Saturday, May 5, 8pm – Theater – $3.50 ticket

Leroy “Satchel” Paige: Long Rifle – A one man performance by Cedric Liqueur

It is estimated that Leroy “Satchel” Paige was born on July 7, 1906. The mere idea  that his birthday is an estimate provides perfect evidence to the mystery that was Satchel Paige. In 1965, 60 years after Paige’s supposed birthday, he took the mound for the last time, throwing three shutout innings for the Kansas City Athletics.

Joe DiMaggio called Satchel Paige “the best and fastest pitcher I’ve ever faced”. His pitching was amazing and his showboating was legendary. His career highlights span five decades. Pronounced the greatest pitcher in the history of the Negro Leagues, Paige compiled such feats as 64 consecutive scoreless innings, a stretch of 21 straight wins, and a 31-4 record in 1933. For 22 years, Paige mauled the competition in front of sellout crowds. Sure, he liked the attention, but to him, there was only one goal.  That goal would be to pitch in the Major Leagues.

In 1948, Paige’s dream came true. The Cleveland Indians were in need of extra pitching for the pennant race. Legendary Bill Veeck tested Paige’s accuracy before offering him a big league contract. As the story is told, Veeck placed a cigarette on the ground to be used as a home plate. Paige took aim at his virtually nonexistent target. He fired five fastballs, all but one sailing directly over the cigarette. Veeck was indeed pleased, and Paige helped the Indians win the pennant.

In addition to Cleveland, Paige played for St. Louis and Kansas City. When his Major  League career was completed, he compiled a modest 28-31 record with a 3.29 ERA. He also served as coach for the Atlanta Braves in 1968. What made Paige so  memorable was his longevity in the game. The main reason his age was so difficult to track was his seemingly endless success. He rarely answered questions about his age, and when he did, he replied with something like: “Age is a question of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.”

In 1971, Leroy “Satchel” Paige was given the ultimate honor, he was elected to join the very best in baseball history in the Hall of Fame. Contact Cedric Liqueur at cedricliq@aol.com

Sunday, May 6, 2pm – Exhibit, Film & Discussion

The Taller de Gráfica Popular, El Sole Sale Para Todos, Aqui Estamos, Blue Corn Alianza & Cenzontle Cuicatl - Produced in cooperation with De Pueblo a Pueblo

The Taller de Gráfica Popular (People’s Graphic Workshop) was an artist’s print collective founded in Mexico in 1937 by artists Leopoldo Méndez,  Pablo O’Higgins, and Luis Arenal. Peter Schneider, the organizer of the exhibition, is a collector of Mexican prints and an expert in the work of the TGP. His presentation will give context to the 29 prints exhibited. El Sole Sale Para Todos, chronicles the rapid growth of the Mexican community in the historically immigrant neighborhood of South Philadelphia. Aquí Estamos is a bilingual book documenting JUNTOS work and oral stories of Mexican immigrants written by Leticia Roa Nixon

Blue Corn Alianza (BCA) a transnational collective created to support and distribute organic blue corn products that come from the community of San Mateo Ozolco in Mexico.  Cenzontle Cuicatl is an Aztec Dance group which is the cultural branch of Blue Corn Alianza.

Sunday, May 6 – 7pm – $10 Admission

An Evening with Tim Wise

District 1199C Philadelphia Headquarters, 1319 Locust Street

Tim Wise author of Dear White America: Letter to a New Minority and White Like Me is among the most prominent anti-racist writers and educators in the United States, and Michael Eric Dyson has called,  “One of the most brilliant, articulate and courageous critics of white privilege in the nation.”

For More Information www.moonstoneartscenter.org/martindelany

Monday, May 7 – 7pm

Who Am I? The Poetry of Identity

Moonstone Arts Center, 110A S. 13^th

A Poetry reading by Sonia Sanchez, Lamont Steptoe, Daniel Abdah-Hayy Moore, Hanock Guy and open reading

How do we identify ourselves? Others?  By our ethnicity? Our gender? Our age? What makes us who we are?  This is one of the perennial topics of poetry. Tonight we feature Sonia Sanchez, Lamont Steptoe, Hanock Guy, and Daniel Abdah-Hayy Moore and then open the floor to the audience. Who are You?

For More Information: www.moonstoneartscenter.org/martindelany

Tuesday, May 8 – 7pm – Poetry

Eduardo Bechara Baracat & Eduardo Bechara Navratilova

Eduardo Bechara Baracat was born in Deán Funes, Cordoba (Argentina) in 1975. He´s the son of a Syrian descendent father and mother, and has a bachelor in Business Administration (Universidad Blas Pascal), Cordoba, Argentina. During 2003 and 2004, he studied in Egypt and earned a Masters degree in Public Administration at American University in Cairo. From 2003 till 2006, he worked as Managing Editor for: El Gouna and Taba Heights Magazine (Both published in Cairo). He wrote essays about Politics and Economics, and worked as a consultant for Cairo Magazine, censored by Mohamed Hosny Mubarak´s government. Since 2000 he has travelled and lived outside his hometown, devoting himself to a nomad life. In 2008, he moved to Bahía, Brazil. Returned in 2010 to Deán Funes and published his first book Creaturas del Mandala (which translates as: Mandala Creatures, 2010, by El Copista & Escarabajo Publishing House). Patria del viento (which translates as: Country of wind, 2012, by Boulevard and Escarabajo Publishing House), is his second book.

Eduardo Bechara Navratilova was born November 9, 1972, in Bogotá, Colombia. He’s the son of a Lebanese descendent father and a Czech mother. In 1993 he was awarded the Juan Bautista Solarte’s medal by the Colombian Army, granted as the best soldier of the 1992′s Fourth (4th) Colombian Recruiting Direction Contingent. He graduated from Universidad de los Andes Law School in Bogotá, Colombia in 1999, and then went on to receive a degree in Commercial Law in 2000, from Pontificia Universidad Javeriana. After working three (3) years as a lawyer, he did a six (6) month trip through Western and Eastern Europe, Mexico and Canada, and went back to Colombia to publish “La novia del torero” (which translates as: The Bullfighter’s Girlfriend, 2002, by La Serpiente Emplumada). He graduated from Universidad de los Andes Literature School in Bogotá, Colombia, in 2005, and published his second novel “Unos duermen, otros no” (Some Sleep, Others Don’t; 2006, by Escarabajo Publishing House). He’s a lecturer and a creative writing workshops teacher. He’s a travel chronicle writer and a Graphical Reporter for Colombia’s El Tiempo newspaper. In 2007 he covered the Brazilian coast, writing chronicles to raise funds for poor children with cancer. In 2009 he graduated from a Master of Arts in fiction writing at Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.A., where he was a creative writing teacher in 2009 and 2010. “Poemas a una ciudad un insecto y una mujer” (which translates as Poems to a city, an insect and a woman) by Escarabajo and El Copista Publishing House, from Córdoba, Argentina, 2010, is his first book of poems. He is a freelance writer for various newspapers and magazines, having a principal theme of human beings and their behavior in the contemporary world.

Wednesday, May 9 – 2:30pm

Martin R. Delany and the Birth of Black Nationalism

Paley Library Lecture Hall, 1210 Polett Walk

A lecture by Molefi Kete Asante, professor, department of African American Studies at Temple University and author of over 70 books including 100 Greatest African Americans, Erasing Racism, and African American History: Journey of Liberation. For More Information www.moonstoneartscenter.org/martindelany