Wednesday, October 9, 2013
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, New York, NY For years, if not decades, Laraine Gaunt (It’s OK to be Different) and Timothy Bellavia (We Are All The Same Inside) have both worked tirelessly for their communities, demonstrating the beauty of diversity, and bringing awareness to intolerance and bullying while implementing their innovative school programs. Both award winning educators focus on celebrating differences, promoting acceptance and peace within the classroom and beyond.
After meeting initially on Facebook and then at an American Girl / We Are All The Same Inside ®doll-making event in Greenwich, CT in the spring of 2012, both agreed that the philosophy behind their programs brought them together.
Now, Laraine Gaunt and Timothy Bellavia will team up to debut Bellavia’s new Sage doll – making workshop, The Words Remain Inside: Bullying Stops Here! at Tower Hill School in Red Bank, NJ where Gaunt currently presents It’s OK to be Different. The event will be held on Friday, October 18, 2013 at 10 am.
This new workshop is a spin-off of the popular We Are All The Same Inside® book and accompanying Sage doll, yet has participants go beyond the surface in a special bully prevention workshop for children in which students create a doll with the outside skin as well as the interior organs; but use a permanent marker with hurtful words. The dolls then will be collected and washed with detergent and presented. The results will show that despite all the detergent and fabric softener the words remain inside, thus displaying the concept and a project based approach to combat bullying that reinforces dignity for all.
With recent news about clashing religions, online and campus bullying that leads to suicide, and continuing skirmishes about immigration and basic human rights, The Words Remain Inside: Bullying Stops Here! and It’s OK to be Different affirm the need to promote tolerance at a young age.
For more information go to
www.weareallthesameinside.com
www.facebook.com/itsoktoleranceprogram
Contact Tower Hill School rep Adrienne Hoban for more information: 917-667-6735
Laraine Gaunt is the creator of the It's OK to be Different program. A special-education teacher for over 35 years, Laraine first developed the program to help students respect individual differences. She gives workshops on the program and trains parents and teachers how to deliver “It’s OK” in their own schools. In recognition of her work on tolerance, she received the Christa McAuliffee Fellowship from the state of New Jersey. Currently she is co-writing curriculum with national children’s author, Cheryl Kilodavis for her book, My Princess Boy.
Timothy Bellavia is an award winning educator and the author and illustrator of 'We Are All The Same Inside','Paper, Scissors & Magic: Seven Ways to get your Kids to LOVE Books' among other children’s publications. Currently, Bellavia is an Assistant Professor at Touro College & University System within the Graduate Division of General and Special Education. He will be presenting his academic research paper on bullying at the University of New Mexico on October 29, 2013. Previously, Bellavia has collaborated with non-profits such as: Sesame Workshop, Core Knowledge, Mattie J.T. Stepanek Foundation, Girl Scouts, Materials for the Arts, We Are Family Foundation, and NYC Cultural Affairs, among others.
Tower Hill School is celebrating 50 years of providing a quality Early Childhood Education to children in Monmouth County, The It’s OK to be Different program has been an integral part of the school for 10 years.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zE2Tw8ROyMU
Thursday, December 27, 2012
About The Day My Brain Exploded
After a full-throttle brain bleed at the age of twenty-five, Ashok Rajamani, a first-generation Indian American, had to relearn everything: how to eat, how to walk and to speak. With humor and insight, he describes the events of that day (his brain exploded just before his brother’s wedding!), as well as the long, difficult recovery period. In the process, he introduces readers to his family—his principal support group, as well as a constant source of frustration and amazement. Irreverent, coruscating, angry, at times shocking, but always revelatory, his memoir takes the reader into unfamiliar territory, much like the experience Alice had when she fell down the rabbit hole. That he lived to tell the story is miraculous; that he tells it with such aplomb is simply remarkable.
More than a decade later he has finally reestablished a productive artistic life for himself, still dealing with the effects of his injury—life-long half-blindness and epilepsy— but forging ahead as a survivor dedicated to helping others who have suffered a similar catastrophe.
More than a decade later he has finally reestablished a productive artistic life for himself, still dealing with the effects of his injury—life-long half-blindness and epilepsy— but forging ahead as a survivor dedicated to helping others who have suffered a similar catastrophe.
About Ashok Rajamani
Ashok Rajamani lives in New York City. His work has appeared in dozens of publications, including Scholars & Rogues, South Asian Review, Danse Macabre, and 3:AM Magazine. This is his first book.
www.ashokrajamani.com
www.ashokrajamani.com
Art Direction / Video Production
Ashok RajamaniTimothy D. Bellavia
Editing
HK Cut
Saturday, August 25, 2012
Contact: Gwendolyn Black, 212/665-5313
Michael Martinez, P.R. 845/201-8820
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
1ST ANNUAL VISUAL ART AND JAZZ OUTDOOR ART FAIR RESCHEDULED
GUGGENHEIM FELLOW AND 2011 NEA JAZZ MASTER RANDY WESTON TO PERFORM
VISUAL ARTS AND JAZZFEST 2012—10TH ANNUAL CELEBRATION
Harlem, New York, August 22, 2012 –On Saturday, September 8th, 11 am – 7 pm, Artist and Curator Gwendolyn Black continues her annual Visual Arts and Jazzfest 2012 with the 1st Annual Visual Arts and Jazz Outdoor Art Fair headlined by Guggenheim Fellow and NEA Jazz Master Pianist Randy Weston.
The fair is rescheduled to take place at the Jackie Robinson Park Bandshell in Harlem at 147th Street and Bradhurst. The event will include art and photography for sale, food tastings, performances, live art, arts and crafts, along with health and wellness information.
The fair will feature some of today’s outstanding visual artists who are dedicated to supporting and preserving jazz music through their work. The fair will also include performances by many popular local jazz artists and poets.
After contributing six decades of musical direction and genius, Randy Weston remains one of the world's foremost pianists and composers today, and is a true innovator and visionary. Encompassing the vast rhythmic heritage of Africa, his global creations musically continue to inform and inspire. "Weston has the biggest sound of any jazz pianist since Ellington and Monk, as well as the richest most inventive beat," states jazz critic Stanley Crouch, "but his art is more than projection and time; it's the result of a studious and inspired intelligence...an intelligence that is creating a fresh synthesis of African elements with jazz technique".
Visual artists include Sir Shadow whose “one line-one flow” jazz drawings continue to captivate audiences everywhere and artist and author Timothy D. Bellavia whose book “We Are All the Same Inside” is making an international buzz along with acclaimed artists Tafa, Sadikisha Collier, Carol Weaver, Joan Chiverton, Daren Chambers, Alfred Weeks, Frank James, James Gethers, John Van Means, Jackie Hicks, Grace Derrick, photographer Hubert Williams, jeweler Ali, wearable arts by Debra Lynn White, producer/art consultant Loris Crawford of “Off The Main” and others.
Performers included are The Bill Saxon Quartet and Atiba Kwabena's BeFo Quotet both whose musical artistry and legacy has been an important part of the New York and Harlem landscape; blues guitarist Myer Rossabi has performed at BB Kings and his debut CD “Blues is the Color” has been played on FM Radio across the US; native Pittsburgher’s Rochelle Thompson and Anthony Thompson. Ms. Thompson, who is a familiar face on the arts and culture scene here in New York, has performed internationally and throughout the NYC area and has opened for such artists as Joe Williams, David Sanborn, Ahmad Jamal, Danny Mixon and others. Anthony Thompson, who is an award winning actor, is best known for his Langston Huges’ Jesse B. Semple Blues and Jazz Alive in Harlem series which debuted here in New York at Jazz @ Lincoln Center along with Brooklyn based singing sensation Mekka Timberlake; Poets included are Layding Kaliba (who assisted with pulling the fair together) and Tony Mitchelson of the Linyak Project with guest poets David Mills, Lora Renee Tucker, Tanya Tyler, Tom Mitchelson, E.J. Antonio, and Gary Johnston along with poet/artist Nikki Williams who is currently touring her exhibition, “Beautiful, Also, are the Souls of My People.”
On hand will be Harlem Hospital’s Stop Smoking Program and MetroPlus Healthcare who will provide health and wellness information along with Countee Cullen Library who will be sharing books on jazz for young people. Families can join us in the arts and crafts tent where they can explore their own creativity and create their very own project dedicated to jazz.
Artist and curator Gwendolyn Black was inspired to create Visual Arts and Jazzfest, now in its 10th year, to further bring to the public’s eye the importance of so many visual artists who are dedicated to preserving jazz through their work. “Displaying the artists’ work through public venues such as this increases the economic base for the artists as well as enables the public to connect one on one with them states Black. Looking back it is amazing how far we have come and how important it is for this event to continue in our community and internationally.”
Sponsors include WABC-TV, who has been a supporter for the past 11 years, along with MetroPlus Healthcare. Community support has also been provided by the Citibank Financial Group at 144th Street along with K&R Realty who has been a sponsor of the jazz exhibition series since 2004.
Additional events will continue until November include an exhibition of works on jazz, in conjunction with AHRC NY, featuring a 20ft long mural dedicated to the hit tune “A Night in Tunisia” created by adults with disabilities from the AHRC day program along with community residents and professional artists; a Taste of Art and Jazz™ Gallery and Restaurant Crawl and other planned events.
For more updates you can visit www.artsandjazzfestnyc.com or www.facebook/artsandjazzfestnyc.com or contact Gwendolyn Black, Curator/Producer at 212/665-5313 or via e-mail at blackgwendolyn@hotmail.com or gwenblackarts@yahoo.com.
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- Sage
- Since the year 2000, a friendly plush doll named Sage was invented to spread their message of peace and solidarity through books, digital stories and doll-making workshops.