Maya Angelou

How Maya Angelou Guided My Spiritual Practice

... and friend, Akin Salawu, began sending me a lot of encouragement. After many months of exchanging messages, he asked for my home address. I’d forgotten I’d answered until a few weeks later, when a small package arrived at my apartment in Union City. Inside was a book called Discover the Power Within You: A Guide to the Unexplored Depths Within by Eric Butterworth. Unfamiliar with the title or its author, I flipped open the book and there she was all tucked away like a jewel. Discover the Power Within You, a foreword by Maya Angelou. My heart opened. To explain what it feels like to have your heart open is to describe the warm feeling of joy, of belonging, of willing connection. Here I was with Maya. We were two black single mothers — two black women artists — both attempting to find God and divinity within ourselves. In that moment, I was reminded of the inextricable link between what we might ...

Va Auto Show, Screening Of Maya Angelou, And Still I Rise

... specialty vehicles, classic cars and more will be on display in a non-selling environment, talk to product specialists, inspect engines and experience the latest automotive technology. In addition to vehicles there are several special events happening for the weekend. Dare Devil Dogs Performance with dog trainer Laura Moretz Friday, at 2:30 p.m., 5 p.m. and 7:30 pm; Saturday, at 12 p.m., 2:30 pm, 5 p.m. and 7:30 pm; and Sunday, at 11 a.m., 1:30 p.m. and 4 p.m. Richmond Animal Care & Control (RACC) will be on site with dogs looking to be adopted, Friday, 3-6 p.m., Saturday and Sunday, 12-3 p.m. Other special events and appearances at the Virginia Motor Trend International Auto Show include the 2016 Miss Virginia Michaela Gabriella Meet & Greet Saturday, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., courtesy of Citgo. Citgo Gas Cards – The first 100 lucky show goers on Saturday, and Sunday, will receive a $10 Citgo gas card, courtesy of Citgo. There will also be Face Painting & Balloon Art  Sunday, from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. Show hours are Friday and Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Admission is $10 for adults, $5 for senior citizens (62 and older) and ...

Naeem Khan Closes Show With Lone Model Walking To Maya Angelou Poem

... what makes this world a beautiful place is diversification.". Of the closing bridal look he said, "That’s all Spanish; she’s a goddess from Spain. everything you saw was taken from different parts of the world.". The statement felt both political as well as emotional — several showgoers were spotted sniffling when the lights were turned on after Khan took his bow to a raucous applause. Angelou's poetry has been a part of political conversations in the past; she read her work "On the Pulse of Morning" at President Clinton's 1993 inauguration, and was awarded the Medal of Freedom by President Obama. Angelou passed in 2014. Khan also told reporters backstage that he would decline to dress Melania Trump should he be asked, calling the decision "very simple" because "the message does not resonate with me." He added that Trump could buy his clothes in a store should she so choose. Former First Lady Michelle Obama wore his designs a handful of times while her husband was in ...

Wfu Dedicates Residence Hall That Honors Poet And Author Maya Angelou

... and joined the faculty nine years later. Wake awarded her an honorary degree in 1977. Over the years, she taught a variety of humanities courses, including “World Poetry in Dramatic Performance,” “Race, Politics and Literature,” “African Culture and Impact on U. S.,” “Race in the Southern Experience” and “Shakespeare and the Human Condition.”. Hatch said that Angelou brought people together from her first moment on campus that night in 1973 when her lecture focused on the significance of black literature in America. “That February night was the start of a decadeslong relationship with this university,” Hatch said. “Here she engaged us with difficult questions, deep thoughts and meaningful exchanges. She helped us to see what we had in common, instead of how we were different. She reminded us that we are all human, that we have the power to love, to laugh, forgive and to rise.”. He said that Friday was a day to celebrate Angelou, “a towering figure at Wake Forest and across the world because she so valued all people. As a great artist, she created. As a great citizen, she educated. ...

Maya Angelou Documentary 'and Still I Rise' Set To Air

... to Stamps, Arkansas, did not allow life to defeat her. She was a teenage mother who survived rape at age 7, had three marriages, worked with Dr. King and Malcolm X, and wrote a poem for a presidential inauguration. Angelou thrived with a new voice in each decade. "Phenomenal woman wasn't just something she wrote. It was who she was," former Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton says in the film. Indeed. Though most may remember Angelou as a poet and author of "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings," Kunta Kente's grandmother in Roots or reciting the poem "On the Pulse of Morning" at President Bill Clinton's 1993 inauguration, the film sheds light on other parts of her life that are not as well known. "Most will be surprised to know that there was so much more to her than what they thought," says film co-director and co-producer Rita Coburn Whack, who spent five years working on the documentary. Related: Maya Angelou Forever Stamp Not Without Controversy. For example, early in her career Angelou, tall and lean, was a dancer and singer, known as Ms. Calypso. She toured with the Broadway play "Porgy ...

Maya Angelou’s Son Weeps Recalling Heartbreak His Mother Felt Losing Role To Pearl Bailey

... to Johnson, the moment destroyed her. “There are very few times in my life I remember my mother crying,” he said. “Because this meant she had to go back on the road and find other work. It was devastating because I knew all the sacrifices my mother made to keep me.”. Bailey would go on to win a Tony Award for her role in the all-black version of Hello Dolly!, which ran for 2,844 performances from Nov. 12, 1967 to Dec. 27, 1970. Thelma Carpenter was cast as Bailey’s understudy and alternate for all matinees, famously subbing for Bailey more than a hundred times and at one point playing the role for seven straight weeks. Guy Johnson. American Masters PBS. Years later, after Angelou would find fame as an author, the two women came face-to-face when Bailey was honored with a lifetime achievement award. According to Johnson, his mother took the high road. “They ask her — who do you want to give it to you?” Johnson recounted, crying. “She said Maya Angelou. And guess who gave it to her ...

Personal Stories Are The Highlight In Maya Angelou

... memory of Uncle Willie hidden in a crate of potatoes and onions whenever the Klan rode in (or he might be accused of raping a white girl). Her recollection of being raped at the age of seven by her mother’s boyfriend, who was so badly beaten soon after Maya told her brother that she didn’t speak for five years, certain her words had killed the man. Her casual reminiscence about losing her virginity at 16 in San Francisco: “Is that all there is? And he said, ‘Yeah.’ And I said, ‘OK. Bye.’”. There and elsewhere—as with an ’80 s spoken-word performance about a black woman’s practiced “survival” laughter—Angelou’s a fantastic storyteller. Yet Hercules and Whack dedicate so much time to her life and relationships, they don’t get to her writing until the final 45 minutes (even then it’s mostly about her famous debut memoir). It’s doubtful any big-name ...

Maya Angelou’s Messages To Young Readers

... The expansiveness of Maya Angelou’s voice reaches from the stoops of neighborhoods in urban America to podiums in capitol buildings and presidential palaces in Africa. And while her poetry and fiction are well recognized, her contributions to the world of children’s literature are less familiar to readers — but just as important. For three decades at UC Berkeley and Mills College, I taught “New Dawn on the Horizon: A Survey of Third World Children’s Literature.” In the class, I referenced and utilized works dating from the late 19 th century up to the early 21 st century. Along with Alpha Angela, Bratton, Arna Bontemps, Shirley Graham Du Bois, Lucille Clifton and June Jordan, my syllabus included children’s books by Angelou. Like many other adult poets and novelists who’ve also written ...

Belva Davis On Maya Angelou, A True ‘shero,’ And Her Salad-spinning Gift

... with a spinning top as a cover. My husband Bill and I read the instructions. Still uncertain, I put some washed greens inside the inner bowl with the holes and added the spinner. I pushed down as hard as I could to make the spinner move. I pumped with all of my strength to make the center swirl and watched the liquid that had been attached to the leaves hit the wall and drain into the outer bowl. Then I realized I had to be careful, and not overdo it and bruise the leaves. They were the foundation for the mixture of vegetables of all colors and shapes and taste that would make the salad healthy. But the leaves would serve as a background for all the other colors and textures that create the “cornucopia” we call “salad.”. Maya Angelou and director Lee Daniels attend Dr. Maya Angelou’s 82 nd birthday party with friends and family at Angelou’s home on May 20, 2010 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. ( Photo: Steve Exum/Getty Images). More Than A Spinner. I ...