Thursday, December 27, 2007

Benazir Bhutto

June 21, 1953 – December 27, 2007.
"Bhutto was the first woman elected to lead a Muslim state, having been twice elected Prime Minister of Pakistan She was sworn in for the first time in 1988 but removed from office 20 months later under orders of then-president Ghulam Ishaq Khan on grounds of alleged corruption. In 1993 Bhutto was re-elected but was again removed in 1996 on similar charges, this time by President Farooq Leghari. "
from Wikipedia

RAWALPINDI, Pakistan - Pakistan opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was assassinated Thursday in a suicide bombing that also killed at least 20 others at a campaign rally.

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Our Voices

collards and pie and
feeling full remembering
when we were plenty


Black-eyed Susan

Potpourri: Literature & Women's Studies

There are several unanswered quizzes in Potpourri. Revisit quizzes in our Potpourri menu to your right. Answer a quiz and your name will be entered in a monthly drawing. Post your reply to the comment box. Must include your e-mail to be eligible to win.

I will check old quizzes throughout the remainder of the month and in spirit of the season, I'll select two winners for December.

Christmas Past And Present


Christmastime can be incredibly hectic and overwhelming. It is a time to gather close to friends and family, to reflect, to be reminded of what matters most to us. Tell us what this time of year means to you. We will randomly choose a number of you to send a small gift. Thank you for supporting Color Online. We wish you and yours peace, joy and love this holiday season.

Friday, December 14, 2007

Potpouri: Literature and Women's Studies

Answer the quiz and your name will be entered in a monthly drawing. Post your reply to the comment box. Must include your e-mail to be eligible to win.

QUIZ #18

In this 1993 John Singleton film, the lead character, a young woman living in South Central, Las Angels writes and recites beautiful poetry.

Name:
The Movie
The lead actress
The actual poet whose work is featured.

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Empowering Women

See The Detroit News' current story on the rise of domestic abuse during the holidays. This article features SAFE and our Executive Director, Kalyn Risker.

Join us this evening at Sisters Acquiring Financial Empowerment's (SAFE) 2nd Annual Appreciation Event.

5:30 until 7:30 pm at The Woodward Restaurant, 1040 Woodward Avenue inside of the Compuware building.

Tickets are $25.00 and include an award presentation, light refreshments, silent auction and networking. For Tickets 800-757-4919 ext. 15.

Thursday, December 6, 2007

Join Us!


book discussions and more

Potpourri: Literature and Women's Studies

Answer the quiz and your name will be entered in a monthly drawing. Post your reply to the comment box. Must include your e-mail to be eligible to win.

Quiz #17

“African American journalist with CNN, NPR and PBS, [fill in the blank] was the first African American woman admitted to or graduated from the University of Georgia. She's also the author of autobiography, In My Place, reflecting on African American life in the 1940s and 1950s and the civil rights movement of the fifties and sixties.”

Who is she?

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Fertile Ground: Selected Poetry Read

On the Edge

A blade in the bed of a child
will slice up nightmare
into simpler hungers.

But a knife is a dangerous gift
girl brave enough to be crazy
you may never read this poem again
so commit it like sin
or a promise to the place
where poetry arms your beauty
with a hundred knives
some minded in the hills above Whydah
for a good-looking Creek
on the run.

The rhythms of your long body
do not yet move in my blood
but the first full moon of this year
is a void of course moon
I dream I am precious rock
touching the edge of you
that needs
the moon’s loving.

From Our Dead Behind Us by Audre Lorde copyright 1986

Women's History

December 5, 1935
The National Council of Negro Women is founded.

“…[T]he NCNW mission is to lead, develop, and advocate for women of African descent as they support their families and communities. NCNW fulfills this purpose through research, advocacy, and national and community-based services and programs on issues of health, education, and economic empowerment in the United States and Africa.”

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

Potpourri: Literature & Women's Studies

Answer the quiz and your name will be entered in a monthly drawing. Post your reply to the comment box. Must include your e-mail to be eligible to win.

Quiz #17

Name 3 Cave Canem Fellows and three of their respective published works. When was Cave Canem established?

Congratulations Potpourri Winner


Congratulations brainymama! You've won a copy of How The Garica Girls Lost Their Accent by Julia Alvarez. Check Color Online regularly for our Potpourri quizzes. Learn about and inform others about important women who shape our world.

THE BYTETHIS POETRY SERIES

Comedy, Monologues, Poetry Readings, Performances, etc
Come Join Us @ Beans & Bytes
4200 Woodward Ave, Detroit MI
8:30pm until 11:00pm
$5 cover
Featured Poet- KAMAMU

Sunday, December 2, 2007

Calling On Poets

Split This Rock Poetry Festival

March 20-23

I read about the festival at a fellow poet activist’s blog. If you haven’t already, check out Split This Rock Poetry Festival. Festival organizers, D.C Poets Against the War, Institute For Policy Studies and Sol and Soul, Busboys and Poets remind us we can be agents of change. They write, “As we head into the fifth year of war in Iraq, our country faces a crisis of imagination…. We believe that poets have a unique role to play in social movements as innovators, visionaries, truth tellers, and restorers of language.”

Participate in a rally for change and take advantage of an opportunity to hear activist poets: Chris August, Jimmy Santiago Baca, Melissa Best (aka Princess of Controversy), Robert Bly, Kenneth Carroll, Grace Cavalieri, Lucille Clifton, Joel Dias Porter (aka DJ Renegade), Mark Doty, Martín Espada, Carolyn Forché, Brian Gilmore, Sam Hamill, Joy Harjo, Galway Kinnell, Stephen Kuusisto, Semezhdin Mehmedinovic, E. Ethelbert Miller, Naomi Shihab Nye, Sharon Olds, Alix Olson, Alicia Ostriker, Ishle Yi Park, Sonia Sanchez, Patricia Smith, Susan Tichy, Pamela Uschuk, and Belle Waring.


The festival will feature workshops, youth programming, discussions on poetry and social activism, films and walking tours. Organizers are also sponsoring a contest top prize $500. Postmark deadline is January 05, 2008.

Reviews Wanted

Color Online wants to know what you're reading. Send us a short review of a book or collection of poetry. Reviews can be as short as 200 words but no longer than 700 words. If we use your review, we'll send you a free book! We're looking for reviews on books written by women of color. Our readers are young women ages 14-21 or anyone who reads YA and women's literature. Send questions or submissions to cora_litgroup@yahoo.com. Thank you.

Potpourri: Literature & Women's Studies

Answer the quiz and your name will be entered in a monthly drawing. Post your reply to the comment box. Must include your e-mail to be eligible to win.

Ntozake Shange

Quiz #16
This playwright, poet and novelist was born October 18, 1948. In 1971 she changed her name. In Xhosa, the Zulu language it means, "she who comes with her own things" and "she who walks like a lion."

Her awards include an Obie, a Los Angeles Time Book Prize for Poetry, and a Pushcart Prize.
Who is she?