Black Horizons; 2420; Rosedale

You You Hello, I'm Elaine Afford of 1410 KQV News Radio. I'm completing my

stent as host of Black Horizons this week. Chris will return from his vacation in time for next week's show. Our agenda for today's show is enriching. You'll find out how a local neighborhood is investing in their future and how you can help. Members of the Wilkinsburg Arts Theatre will give us a sneak preview of their new play. Your cultural appetite will also be nourished by our weekly Tanner calendar. And friend and film critic Manette Seed will give us her thoughts on Eddie Murphy's new movie Boomerang. Pittsburgh has lots of neighborhoods. We also have a strong sense of community. My first guests are inspiring growth and development in their community as members of the Rosedale block cluster. And two members that are here are Diane Swan and Louise Poe. Thank you for joining us. You know when we think about Rosedale and Tyoga Streets in the headlines as the corners for drive -by shootings and dope dealing.

What's the story though this summer and are your streets safe? I won't go as far to say they're safe, but definitely they're much safer than they were. And that took a lot of energy from the community members, churches, businesses and organizations. We all collaborated. Went to the streets and passed out literature and we prayed on the corners and we sang songs. And we did some practical things. We went a step further. We organized. We incorporated. And now we're trying to go into a building, an outreach center. So the people that we have chased off of the corners, those people are our relatives, our families, our cousins, our mothers, our uncles, and our aunts. And now we want to help heal them. And we have to work from a constructive point. And that's the outreach center. Louise, what do you want to put in the outreach community center? What kinds of things will go on there? Okay, we're hoping to have daycare for the working mothers. We're hoping to have mothers with crack habits to help them.

We want the elderly to come. We want to service them. We want to have, oh, we just want it to be a family center. We want like the mother, the father, the children. They all have something to do in that health center. We'll have a playground for the little ones. We'll just have chemical people there to help with the chemical problems that we have in the neighborhood. And we just hope to get our children off the streets and in a place where they can have fun and learn and take pride in your community and pride in yourself. And that's some of the things that we hope to do there. Sounds ambitious. What do you need to do to make this a reality? Well, actually what we need, we need to be able to raise $130 ,000 the purchase to building. And we know that it's possible. That might sound like an awesome task, but we have one big promise. And that's from God. And he found that building. And I know we don't have enough time to get into that background. But he found that building. The

owners of the building have been there for 34 years. Where's the building? 78, 10, toga street. Right at the corner of toga and rose down. We were just praying for a place to go to. And one day we just went scarring through the neighborhood. And without any sign being out, we went into that building. And the building had been for sale for two weeks. So we know that God found the building and he'll find the money. So once we go in, we want to be able to offer prenatal care. Care for the elderly care. As Louise had just mentioned. Because it's the holistic approach that we're dealing with. We're concerned for the whole family because there has been a tremendous breakdown in the family as it is today. And they need that support. And without that support, the entire family cannot heal. And they belong to all of us. And now that facility is there and we must capitalize on it while we have this opportunity. And if I may add, there's one distinct difference in our organization. We are not a nine to five

organization. We will be there. We're volunteers. We will be there from Friday through Monday. And we will not be closing the five o 'clock and come back that following day. Because you know that the need is more than a nine to five operation. Yes, it's a community volunteer driven and we program. And we want to put power back in the hands of the community members. We don't want to wait for someone else to come in because we've been waiting a long time. We have nothing in our community. We don't have a makeshift basketball hoop. And we're not concerned with just recreation. We also want to give the young folks some substance. And we want to disenfranchise. We want to put them re -incorporate them back into the system. And that hasn't happened to date. But we can do it. But Diane, why not? After all, it's the city's responsibility or other organizations that have a capital, that have the resources and staff to put in a community center or a boys and girls club or why? Why is the community doing this? Why is it a community effort? It shouldn't someone else have this responsibility?

Perhaps they should. We haven't even entertained that. All we know is that nothing has been done. Something must be done and we're going to do it. So you're going to take it on rather than going to city hall and ask for money or support. You want to do it yourself? Well, we're in a crisis stage. We have to do something immediately. And I'm sure we'll have an opportunity when we get ready to go into our next building. The question is, though, there will be those who will ask, well, look. Why don't you just move out of homewood? Why take on this project, trying to raise all this money, then want you to do it? I mean, there's going to be staffing and getting in the programs that you want and things that you think the community. Why bother? Why not move out? Louise? Okay. We want to create jobs in our community. We put money in our community. We pay taxes. We want to stay there. We don't want to run. Homewood was a beautiful place at one time. It can be that way again. And with our help, as

she says, we can get together. We can keep our communities clean, drive free and killing free. Diane, why do you stay? Well, I have an emotional attachment to the community and it's home. And you don't just get up and leave home. I was already put in that situation when the Afro -Americans were relocated from the Hill District. We had to move. And a lot of our older relatives died because they were broken -hearted. And we had to move so they could build a civic arena. And most of us in the community, particularly my age and younger people, they want to be there. They have this relationship with the community. And I think that we should have an opportunity to remain where we are and in light of having an old community or old neighborhood. It is not a ghetto. I will not accept that. It is our home. And we're going to make it feel and look like a home. Now, what do you have planned to stay on track or to begin raising the $130

,000 to buy the outreach center, the building? Okay. We presently have a big project, a gospel praise. It will be held on July 24th at Bethany Church on Togas, 77, 34 Togas Street. It will be at 7 p .m. It's a free will offering. We ask that everyone come out. We have some great gifted Christians that will be there, Jackie Pullen, Dr. Reverend Kermati, the unmarried at favor, and a host of other people that are just joining this venture to help us pull this thing off because we know it can be done. Do you have a target in terms of how soon you want to raise the money so that you can buy the building and not lose it and then be on your way to putting the programs in the center? Yes, immediately. Are you starting from zero? I mean, do you have to raise all of the 130 now? We have to raise all of it. Okay. And this is the first big project? It's the first big one. And we're going to have pledges and we have a program that we're selling ads for, like

$50 for a whole page, $15 for a quarter page, $25 .5 a dollar. But we've had little side fundraisers, which Louise was in charge of, the Hogi cells and things like that. But this is our major fundraiser. And we're going to have pledge cards there also. Okay. Well, thank you for coming to Black Horizons, Louise Poe and Diane Swan. Members of the Rosedale block cluster to tell us about how you are rebuilding from within your own community. And once again, the fundraiser is July 24th, gospel praise at Bethany Baptist Church. For more information, you can call 2410911. For colored girls who have considered suicide when the rainbow is enough, is a passionate feminist spell binder opening at the Wilkinsburg Arts Theatre, July 16th. Here are three of the actresses with a sneak preview. Dark phrases of

womanhood, of never having been a girl, half notes scattered without rhythm, no tune, distraught laughter falling over a black girl's shoulder. It's funny. It's hysterical. The melodylessness of her dance. But don't tell nobody. Don't tell a soul. She's dancing on beer cans and shingles. This must be the Spookhouse. Another song with no singers, no lyrics, no voices. Are we ghouls? Children of horror? The joke. I can't hear anything. But the maddening screams and the soft strains of death. And you promised me. You promised me. Somebody, anybody sing a black girl's song and bring her out to know herself, to know you. But sing her rhythms, caring, struggle, hard times,

sing her song of life. You see she's been dead so long, closed and silent so long she doesn't know the sound of her own voice. Her infinite beauty. She's half notes scattered without rhythm, no tune. But sing her size. Sing her song of possibilities. Sing her righteous gospel. The making of a melody. And let her be born. Let her be born and handled warmly. Three of us, like a pyramid, three friends, one laugh, one music, one flower char, knotted on each neck. We all saw him at the same time. And he saw us.

I felt a quick thump in each one of us. Didn't know what to do. We all wanted what was coming our way. So we split. And he found one and she loved him. The other two were tickled and spurned his advances. When the one who loved him was somewhere else, he would come to her saying, your friends love you very much. I have tried. And they keep asking, where are you? She smiled and wondered how long her friends would hold out. He was what they were looking for. He bided his time. He waited till romance waned. The three of us made up stories about, you stood and could have been nice. The season was dry. No men, no quickies, not one dance nor eyes

unrelenting, one day after another. Except for the one who loved him, he appeared irregularly. Always expecting graciousness, no matter what. She cut fresh strawberries. Her friends caught less frequently, went on hunts for passing fancies. She couldn't figure out what was happening. And then the rose. She left by his pillow. She found on her friends desk. And there was nothing to say. I brought you what joy I found. And I found joy. Honest fingers round my face with dead musicians on 78 from Cuba. Or live musicians on five dollar LPs from Chicago where I've never been. And I love Willik alone

and Arsenio Rodriguez, especially because I could make the music loud enough so there's no me but dance. And when I could dance like that, there's nothing good hurt me. But I get tired and I have to come off of the floor. And then there's that woman who hurt you who you left three or four times and just went back. After you put my heart in the bottom of your shoe, you just walked back to where you hurt. And I didn't have nothing. So I went to where somebody had something for me. But he wasn't you. And I was on the way back from her house in the bottom of your shoe. So this is not a love poem. Because there are only memorial albums available. And even Charlie Mingus wanted desperately to be a pig. And I won't be able to

see Eddie Parmarari for months. So this is a requiem for myself. Because I have died in a real way. Now, not with the aquacuffins and the new up catalogs I used to joke about when I was messing around. But a real dead loving is here for you now. Because I don't know anymore how to avoid my own face wet with tears. Because I've convinced myself color girls had no rights to sorrow. And I lived and I love that way and kept sorrow on the curb allegedly for you. But I know I did it for myself. I can't stand it. I can't stand being sorry and colored at the same time. It's just so redundant in the modern world. Directing this play about the inner

feelings of black women is a man. Lamont Arnold. He's a 15 year veteran of Pittsburgh theater. And most recently appeared at the civic light opera production, the Jackie Robinson story. Thank you for joining us. Lamont, it seems a bit ironic that a play about black women lamenting their relationships, the conflict, their problems with black men would be directed by a black man. Well, that was very, it's a very unusual thing where I was approached by the Wilkinsburg Art People to do this play. And it was a little, a little tense moment there because a lot of women actresses had come up to me and approach, well, what right do you have to be directing this play? I feel that it's such a powerful piece and that the universality of the poems in the piece transcend any kind of gender as far as I'm concerned and the power of the ensemble that I placed together. And I think that was the intention of the playwright and the original directors, which were men, Oscar and Woody King, is that I'm really there to shape it as a piece

of theater. And I think that I become a sounding board and I can bounce those ideas off of these women who respond in kind and it helps for the process to grow along. So there's no real bias. It doesn't become a man or a male bashing thing. It becomes a celebration of women and the joy and black women and their beauty, but there's room enough for men in their lives. Tell us a little bit about the piece that we just saw with the three actresses. Well, they're sort of taken out of context from the actual rhythm of the play, but the first piece was spoken by a character that we've created for this particular production because the response was so overwhelming, audition -wise, we had to actually add in eighth color. And this is the, we call her the woman in ivory. And she talks about, she really much sets the tone of what the play is about, talking about dark phrases of womanhood and almost as if, black womanhood was a cocoon and that a butterfly was eventually going to emerge from that, but you go through darkness and turmoil in that

process, in that metamorphosis. And I think that's basically what that first poem was about. The second one deals with a relationship, a triangle of friends, and a man who comes in between that triangle and the result of that. The third piece comes in a series of what are called no more love poems by the author. And what they really are are the women sitting when talking to their men who have done something to them and saying, look, I won't hit you, I won't shoot you, but let me tell you how I feel. And that's basically what the poems are about. And I think if you see them in context and I've done very carefully in my direction, I've placed the women on stage constantly. It's a production runs about 90 minutes and they never leave the stage. And the task it had was to create the pictures and keep the pictures moving. So I kind of think of it as sort of a living, Ernie Barnes painting with lots of color and lots of movement going on at one time. So I'm very, very excited about it. I'm very excited about the ensemble and the opportunity that's been laid before me. Is it very negative? Is it a

sad tragedy? No, no, there are some tragic moments in it. In fact, there's a story near the end of the piece that has some very, very, it's about a man who eventually destroys his own children. And it's very, very graphic and very, very hurtful and painful. But it's the point where you as the audience member are completely drawn into this piece. And it becomes a cathartic thing where you can work all of the pain in the anger and the dismay of the world. And then at the end of it, there's a healing process. The final piece is sort of a healing process. It really is. And it's called a laying on of hands. And everyone is healed and taken through all the pain and put out on a brighter side of that pain through the process of the play. For a colored girl's only. And it's going to run at the Wilkinsburg Arts Theatre. The Wilkinsburg Arts Theatre, which is located in the Burrow Building, if everyone knows about that, is also the police station and the library. It's a very functional building. You're talking about multipurpose. It's on the third floor

in the auditorium. Seeding is limited. It's limited to about 90 people. The tickets are $10. If you can call the number 241467, I believe that's the number. And make a reservation that would be probably suggested. We're expecting, even with the newspaper strike, we are expecting a tremendous turnout. And we're hoping that not only the African American community, but the arts community, and the people in general will come out and support us. Well, good luck. And thank you for coming on that. Thank you very much. Thanks for having me. It's now time for our Tanner calendar. Our way of letting you know, what's up in the Pittsburgh Arts community? On Saturday, July 11th from 7 to 11 p .m., the Carnegie will hold its first summer fundraiser. It's jamming in July. And the fun includes tours of the dinosaur hall, the Walton Hall of Egypt, the art of Romair Bearden, and many other exhibits. The jamming comes in with Billy Price in his band, and a beach -style decorated sculpture court. Order your tickets by calling 622 -5780, and help support

the other Carnegie performing arts programs. Celebrate African American adoption with father -climates of the Allegheny Advisory Board. This completely free evening will take place on Thursday, July 16th at 7 p .m. at the Rodman Street Baptist Church. For more information, call 441 -848 -840 -471 -1120. Don't miss the passionate performance of For Color Girls Opening Thursday, July 16th through August 1st. This captivating feminist collection of vivid narrative pieces will be performed on Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p .m. at the Wilkinsburg Arts Theatre. You can call 241 -4467 for more details. That's it for this week's Tanner Calendar. If you have an arts or cultural event, we should know about, write us here at WQEDTV Tanner Calendar, 4802 -5th Avenue, Pittsburgh P .A. 152 -13. My

friend and resident film critic, Manette Seed, is here now. To tell us whether or not we should patronize Eddie Murphy's new movie, Boomerang. Hi, Manette. Thank you for your guidance. Now tell me about Boomerang. Should we go see it? Yes, no, up down. I would go see Boomerang. I did go see Boomerang at a really hot summer day. I was off work. The sun was out. It kind of was not in the mood to sit out on the back porch. It was two hours. It was fluffy. It was funny. It was $3 .75. So it's just kind of okay. It's kind of okay, but we were talking about this earlier. It's okay for this movie to be kind of okay. First of all, there's this huge amount of responsibility on Eddie Murphy's shoulders to bring back up his sagging ratings and to make the money and make America laugh like he used to in his early movies. So there's that own is hanging over this motion picture. And then again, it's summer. People want to be amazed, but Batman's already out and Alien

3 is already out. And so this is like a pleasant little social calm, a little male female conflict. The kind of thing that you'd usually see Tom Hanks in. And you wouldn't mind if it was only fluff and it was slightly amusing or Steve Martin. So it's Eddie Murphy. Stop expecting him to grab his crotch and just trying to go with it. And he does grab his crotch. So don't worry about it. Yeah, but I thought that the expectation is greater. I mean, his career has really taken some hits with some things like that. Yeah. So I would think he needs a big winner, not just a so -so movie here. I think he needs a big money making blockbuster to renew himself in the eyes of the studio. People and the people who pay him those outrageous salaries. But I think the people who go to see Eddie Murphy movies, people who are fans of Eddie Murphy, have to realize that people don't always do the same things. And you're not always going to be funny if you do the same things. It's not the greatest comedy you ever saw. But there are parts of it that are hilarious. David Allen Greer from In Living Color is in it. Halle Berry, who I think is gorgeous is in it. We're talking also about all the young comics who

show up in this movie, Chris Rock. Russell Simmons, who has his own comedy show on HBO. A lot of the winky, dinky dog men from Hollywood shuffle. Lots of strange people. Now do we have a clip? Can we see a little bit of this? Ooh, watch the TV. Okay. Hey. Hi. How are you? Good. You look a little bit lost. Can I help you? Oh, I'm just looking for Jacqueline basically. You're interested in her, right? No, what will make you say that? Most men are. I mean, look at her. She's fantastic. I mean, if I were a guy, I would probably be interested in Jacqueline. All of you are a guy. No. That's what I have no thought because I don't. I'm just saying she's attractive and I would probably go out with her. I know, I know where you're going. Women do stuff like that. You see other girls and you say, oh, she's cute. Her hair is nice with guys. I'll see other guys and go, oh, look at the shoulders. You know, we don't do that. And I like it. Sure you have. You've seen a movie before and you've seen a man in a movie and you've said, now there is a nice -looking man you have. Yeah, I can't believe I have this conversation. I've gone to

the movies, yes. And I remember I saw Billy D. Williams and the latest things were blues. It came out of the steps. He looked very cool. And I thought he was cool, but I didn't want to get with him, you know. No, I liked Halle Berry there. Yeah, she's great. A lot of the character actors, the supporting players, really stick out in this movie that you can really see where they're developing this thing and they're becoming really good actors. I don't know if it's the fact that you expect so much from Eddie Murphy as a big star of slash personality or it's just because you've seen him. And he's not going to put himself out there too much in a movie like this. But the other people in the movie, David Allen Greer and Russell Simmons and Halle Berry, really, really shine. Robin Givens is good, but I just have to keep asking how difficult is it to play? A gorgeous woman who makes a lot of money and has great clothes. Give me a chance, huh? Just my heart. Right. So once again, you say, go or no. No, see it. It's summertime. You don't, I mean, citizen cane, you can rent it. You want to go and be slightly amused and see if for no other reason,

look at all these black people working. It's like, go spend some money. They won't kill you. If I'm going to spend more than the movie nowadays, that drives me insane. It does. How did it go up? I don't know, but my mom brings her own bags. It doesn't really matter. Okay. You bring mom along. Good show. Okay. Thank you, Monette. That's all thanks for having me. That's it for this week's Black Horizons. That's also it for me. Chris will be back next week with a special edition of Black Horizons. I'm Elaine Effort from 1410 KQV News Radio. Thanks for joining us. Good night. You

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