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Boomer pride

Posted on March 5, 2015March 6, 2016 by Sylvia Wong Lewis

Boomer pride
By Victoria Grant, Guest writer
(In honor of Women’s History Month.)

I am a Baby Boomer, born nine months after the end of World War II; raised within the social confines of the Betty Crocker fifties; broke those chains in the Age of Aquarius freedom of the sixties; matured under the fragile shelter of the not-quite-fulfilled female empowerment and racial equality promise of the seventies; starved during the It’s-All-About-Me eighties while I taught myself computing, and thus thrived in the tech-boom nineties when my computing skills paid off.

Believing in my invincibility, in 1973 I became a Single Mother By Choice. I’d say successfully so – when I’m not ticked off at my one-and-only. (I swear I should have had five more.) A native-born New Yorker born to native-born New Yorkers – the Brownsville section of Brooklyn, in fact – I’ve lived my adult life in the Northeast, Southeast, Southwest, on a Caribbean island, and now the island of Manhattan.

At 55, I returned to college in an attempt to ensure that some brain cells survived during my years working for a pseudo-government organization while raising a man-child to be a college graduate. I graduated magna cum laude, but, more than this esteemed signature of accomplishment, I cherish most during that tenure my entrée into creative writing. In my enthrallment with creative writing classes, I almost forgot to take the mandatory courses for graduation.

For one of my class assignments, I wrote a brief ethnological study on MTA New York City Transit and its employees. Notwithstanding the fact that I may have been the only submitter to the English Department’s Ethnological Studies competition, I was pleased that the report earned me a City College of New York writing award.

I always thought my knowledge of what goes on with the workers and inner workings of a system that transports seven million people daily could produce interesting stories. While at Stanford I wrote the first draft of my novel of an out-of-town “innocent” coming to New York to make it big, and who winds up working for Transit. New York by itself can be a mindbender, but the microcosm of New York City Transit can be a mind shifter into an alternate universe. I know, I retired from there adding to my family’s aggregate 100 years of Transit employment. I want to offer readers revealing and entertaining tales. No one else is telling my story. It’s the 21st century, and about time I tell it.

(Victoria Grant is a Brooklyn-born, Harlem-based writer. A 2013 graduate of Stanford University’s Creative Writing Program, Victoria is completing her debut novel. Go to @TransitWriter1 on Twitter or https://www.facebook.com/TransitWriter)

(Cover art photographed by Sylvia Wong Lewis, is one of a 5-panel glass mosaic mural at the MTA NYC Transit’s 125th street station called ‘Flying Home” by Faith Ringgold, an internationally noted African American, Harlem-based artist. It illustrates Harlem notables and makes them fly. Go to MTA.info for details.)

Mom, my shero

Posted on March 3, 2015March 6, 2016 by Sylvia Wong Lewis

mother and daughter — Mother and daughter, media mavens, Theresa B. Leeke and Ananda Leeke.

Mom, my shero
By Ananda Leeke, Guest Writer
(In honor of Women’s History Month)

Musician. Feminist. Sorority Leader. Educator. Traveler. A former paper girl with a newspaper route and dreams of working as a radio DJ in Indianapolis, Indiana. These are just a few words that describe my mother, Theresa B. Leeke. She is my Women’s History Month shero because of her passion for information, media, and technology. She decorated the landscape of my childhood. It started with her listening to an early morning radio show, WTOP-AM. The show provided updates on local news, politics, traffic, weather, and school closings. My mother was in the know 24/7/365.

Her passion embraced the headlines of the Washington Post newspaper and the evening news on television. It also greeted me each week when JET Magazine, the Indianapolis Recorder newspaper, and the Catholic Standard newspaper arrived in the mailbox. Each month her favorite magazines, Ebony, Essence, and Ms. appeared on my family’s kitchen table. Because of her voracious media appetite, my brain inhaled it all!

When I turned 13, I developed a healthy appetite for lipstick, fashion, entertainment, and women’s issues as a result of reading my mother’s Essence and Ms. magazines. I also discovered my own favorites– Mademoiselle, Glamour, Right On!, and Vogue. All of the articles I read inspired me to expand my wardrobe while I was a seventh grader. I begged my parents for money to purchase outfits, shoes, and accessories. But my mother told me I would have to make do with what my parents already purchased unless I found a job. She suggested I become a paper girl like she was when she was a girl. This would allow me to earn my own money and spend it the way I liked. The power of being able to earn and spend my own money was exciting. So I took the leap into the paper girl world.
Nowadays, my mother’s passion for information, media, and technology is still going strong. Her favorite news sources have expanded to include CNN and MSNBC; the Washington Post, Washington Afro-American, Washington Informer, Prince George’s Journal, Catholic Standard, and Indianapolis Recorder newspapers; and WHUR-FM and WTOP-AM radio stations. Her magazine collection includes Prevention, Real Simple, and The Oprah Magazine.

She has one laptop for her music and work as the director of liturgical music and gospel choir director for her Catholic church. Her second laptop is used to access the Internet, email, online banking, Amazon.com, and her work with Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. and the Phyllis Wheatley YWCA. YouTube is one of her favorite places to visit online. She enjoys watching videos featuring gospel music singers and musicians. They help her prepare and select music for her church’s weekly Masses and concerts. Facebook is her online community du jour. She uses it to stay in touch with family, friends, former students, sorority members, and colleagues. Her Facebook status updates give voice to her spiritual inspirations, feminist perspective, support of President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, and sense of humor.

(Based on an excerpt from Digital Sisterhood: A Memoir of Fierce Living Online.
Ananda Leeke is CEO of Ananda Leeke Media l Author l Artist l Creativity Coach l Yoga Teacher Go to: www.anandaleeke.com.)

Prix Europa Award to “Strange Fruit”

Posted on October 27, 2014March 6, 2016 by Sylvia Wong Lewis

BBC Radio Producer Maggie Ayre received Prix Europa 2014 in Award in Berlin for Best European Radio Music Programme for 'Strange Fruit.' — BBC Radio Producer Maggie Ayre received Prix Europa 2014 in Award in Berlin for Best European Radio Music Programme for ‘Strange Fruit.’

Congratulations to Maggie Ayre, BBC radio producer, for winning the prestigious Prix Europa Award 2014 for Best European Radio Music Program “Strange Fruit,” that featured my storytelling about lynching among others. The award was presented in Berlin on October 24, 2014. Click here for a link to the Prix Europa winners and award-winning ‘Strange Fruit’ program. The award ceremony will be streamed on the website through November 8.

“The song, Strange Fruit. memorably encapsulates a poetic depiction of the brutal lynchings in the southern United States. The winning programme used this Billie Holliday song to explore the deep wounds, encountering people with close connections to the events; the stories were calmly recounted, adding intensity to the words, and allowed time for reflection. The song is delicately woven into a tapestry of sad memories. Strange Fruit demonstrates the ability of radio to communicate strong emotions and profound insights,” stated the Prix Europa Award 2014 announcement.

History: “PRIX EUROPA – The European Broadcasting Festival awards the best European Television, Radio and Online productions each year with the aim of publicising them throughout Europe and supporting their continental distribution and use. It calls on all media professionals and their commitment to quality to compete against each other with their best productions.”

Sylvia Wong Lewis on BBC Radio — Sylvia Wong Lewis recording at BBC Radio

Philanthropy is the new marketing

Posted on August 17, 2014March 6, 2016 by Sylvia Wong Lewis

squash plants growing at Charles Madison Nabrit Memorial Garden

Philanthropy is the new marketing. Take food activism. Our media team learned this lesson the hard way. This summer we launched a campaign to set up an urban garden, actually a mini-farm, called the Charles Madison Nabrit Memorial Garden on the indiegogo.com, a crowdsourcing platform.

Our team chose this particular project because we wanted to devote our efforts to an environmental or green cause for our social impact project. What could be better than helping to build a mini-farm or fixing a ‘food desert’ in Middle America (Columbus, OH.)?

A story from Paula Penn-Nabrit (Wellesley ’76), garden founder, food activist, and my seven-sister college sibling, made a compelling case as she outlined the importance of learning to grow and preserve our own food during these trying times of hunger and poverty in America.

“If growing your own food is like printing your own money, then preserving your own food is like saving your hard earned cash!” said Penn-Nabrit.

By now, the Charles Madison Nabrit Memorial Garden, named for Paula’s husband, has made great strides. They had raised $5000 of a $10,000 campaign. But they still need more money. They need fencing to keep deers and critters out. And, they are getting ready for a robust harvest, farmer’s market and community classes.

Quote from Paula Penn-Nabrit about her Columbus, Ohio community mini-farm in the works

‘Marketing’ your stories to your friends with the hope that they will participate and share with others unknown to you is a challenge. But it is a strategy that works. Like a garden, it takes time and constant tweaking.

A recent article in Philanthropy.com by Paul Van DeCarr explores how philanthropy is the new marketing and some tips to consider.

“How do we create or “market” stories so they’ll appeal to people other than those who already support us; so they’ll reach people who may be unfamiliar with our issue or even disagree with us? We’ve all been there before—with documentary-film screenings, story-sharing websites, or social-change plays that preach to the converted. To enlarge your audience, sometimes all you need to do is activate people who are sympathetic, but inactive. Or, you may sometimes want to engage people who aren’t already on board. As for engaging people who disagree with you, often times the best you can hope for is to neutralize their opposition.”

Consider the following principles to build your base through storytelling. Click on this link.

Want to solve hunger and poverty in Middle America? Contribute here to the Charles Madison Nabrit Memorial Garden.

Is philanthropy the new marketing in your life’s work?

Morning by Morning

Stories from stuff

Posted on May 19, 2014March 6, 2016 by Sylvia Wong Lewis

Stories from stuff – Let go of your stuff with a story at a Show & Tell-NYC event Saturday, May 31, 5-7pm, @BuythatBag, 159 28th street, Sunset Park, Brooklyn.

Here’s an excerpt from my story:
“I refused to dump mother’s possessions at the curb. But, I could not keep anything. I was in a dilemma. I justified leaving the old trunk safely in the house just sold. Since the new owners were distant relatives, I left hoping that they might find something useful. Their eyes lit up! They knew of mother’s superstitious habit of hiding her money. My inner artist had long been submerged by grief on that last day at mother’s house. Today, I would have easily found a way to keep some colorful fabric to make quilts, other creations and donate the rest.

Show&Tell-NYC, May 31, 5-7pm, @buythatbag,Brooklyn — Show&Tell-NYC, May 31, 5-7pm, @buythatbag, Brooklyn“I refused to dump mother’s possessions at the curb. But, I could not keep them. I was in a dilemma. I justified leaving the old trunk safely in the house just sold. Since the new owners were distant relatives, I left hoping that they would find some use for that old stuff. My inner artist had long been submerged by grief on that last day at mother’s house. Today, I would have easily found a way to keep some of that fabric to make quilts and other creations and donate the rest to charity.

My mother told me that she inherited that old, heavy, wooden trunk from her mother. When my maternal grandmother arrived in Harlem from Trinidad, she found it on a sidewalk. She painted it with colorful flowers and it moved into her life. My mother said that she used to sit and climb on it just as we did as children. That trunk moved with Grandma every time she moved—to various Harlem apartments, down to the Bowery, to 14^th street, Chinatown, and eventually to our house on President Street in Brooklyn. The trunk, now painted grey, was last kept in our basement. It was intermingled with my mother’s and grandmother’s things—vintage fabric and tapestries, sewing notions like zippers, snaps, hooks, buttons, beads and fibers including yarn, threads, twines, ribbons, sequins, lace, fringe, trimmings, tassels, and crochet, knitting, embroidery and art supplies. There were also nick-knacks, old greeting cards, and how-to booklets. My maternal elders were talented craftswomen who made everything with their hands—upholstery, apparel, costumes, rugs, curtains, quilts, pillowcases and other domestic items.” Excerpted from “Fabric of Our Lives,” published in my blog post March 12. 2013.

If you are de-cluttering, moving or simply letting go of your old stuff, tell a story about it at a grown-up “Show & Tell” coming to Brooklyn – @BuythatBag, 159 28^th street (Sunset Park), Saturday, May 31, 5-7pm. This event will benefit the Housing Works, an organization that helps HIV-AIDS survivors. Here’s the link for more information:

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/show–tell-nyc-teams-up-with-housing-works-hwthrifts-259287471.html

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