Wait wait wait! One more Kwanzaa 2005 entry. This one is by guest blogger, Chris Hayden. A St. Louis Native, his first novel, "A Vampyre Blues: The Passion of Varnado," was published in 2004 by Door of Kush Multimedia. (See here for a book review; See here for a short story featuring characters from the book.) He is also a poet (Kongo Groove, "St. Louis Muse")--and some of his poems can be found on the Web.
I went to a Kwanzaa celebration Tuesday night, December 27, 2005 (the day of Kujichagulia) that was held by the St. Louis chapters of Sisters Nineties Literary Group and the Yari Yari Youth Poetry Group.
A good time was had by all. There was music, the kids put on spoken word and individual recitation, many adult spoken word and poetry artists contributed (including my humble self--I was called "St. Louis Poet Laureate"--which I am not--and I got an award for contributing to the works of the organization, which I do, and I was even invited to perform one of my pieces-- "Mound City Luv").
Afterward there was bread, cheese, fruit, sparkling grape juice.
No cussing, no fighting, no getting high, all the generations mingling without any dissing, nary a discouraging word. All up at the Prince Hall Center on Newstead in St. Louis--which is in the inner city.
Of course there was nothing bad going on so the media doesn't worry about it.
I wanted to report on that and give praise and honor to Debra Morrow Loving, local poet retired from the big time publishing industry who really puts her heart and soul and money into it.
If it takes a village, this is the way you start building it.