Culture Currents

‘Beyond Us: Black Minds in Horror,’ a collection of films curated by award-winning horror author Crystal Connor, will screen Feb. 16-17 by Sumiko Saulson “Suffering from multitudes of negative stereotypes, minorities have not traditionally fared...

A recent UCLA study shows that the children of parents with four or more Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), such as abuse or neglect, are twice as likely to develop ADHD, which makes it more likely children will become hyperactive and unable to pay attention or control their impulses.

Oakland – After more than 20 years of experience as a thought leader in criminal justice and community empowerment, Ella Baker Center Executive Director and author Zach Norris will launch his new book “We Keep Us Safe“ on Tuesday, Feb. 4, in Oakland. In the book, Norris presents a vision for how the United States can achieve safety and security for everyone, especially the most vulnerable members of society.

In 2008, award winning filmmaker and community activist Kevin Epps wrote, directed and produced a documentary, “The Black Rock,” a film that tells the story of the African American history on Alcatraz. This month, Epps is releasing a companion book to that documentary called “Black Alcatraz,” which goes deeper into the experiences of the Black prisoner on the island while correlating those stories to today’s prison system.

Makeshift memorials to Kobe have popped up all over the country, underscoring how eager people have been to honor the 41-year-old NBA legend who Magic Johnson dubbed in death as the greatest player in Los Angeles Lakers history.

Happy New Year, everyone! Happy to be in 2020 – We get an extra day in February; it’s the 30th anniversary year for the Celebration of African Americans and Their Poetry, Saturday, Feb. 1, and the 25th anniversary of MAAFA San Francisco Bay Area Ritual, Sunday, Oct. 11.

Happy Black History Month! We get an extra day and we need it too to get our Black Joy parade gear picked out for Sunday, Feb. 23. It’s an attitude, not an outfit.

Project Level is a non-profit youth organization that serves underserved communities by teaching them how to create opportunities for themselves by utilizing the arts and their own creative talents.

I’m a dancer. My body is my instrument. It is the sacred vessel I am gifted to live this life in. It is my duty to honor and care for it, and to use it to the fullest of its capacity.

The most amazing person I ever met was Dr. Oscar Jackson, an eminent Black San Francisco surgeon, businessman, military officer, world traveler, explorer, philanthropist, fraternity brother, husband, father and remarkable storyteller.

During these monumental moments, WE come together to highlight some of the past, present and evolving methods of survival, accomplishments and future developments of our Alkebulan-African and New Afrikan nations and achievers. In February, and throughout the year, WE continue our studies, dialogues and learning of important lessons from our powerful Ancients and Ancestors from yesteryears and yesterday.

In February, Poor Press will be releasing eight powerful and beautiful books, including “Black Disabled Ancestors” by Leroy Moore, “Unwritten Law” by Dee Allen, “When Mama and Me Lived Outside” by Lisa “Tiny” Gray-Garcia, “Disturbance Within Myself” by Audrey Candycorn, “Chimalli” by Muteado Silencio, “Horse Tuuxi: My Name is Kai!” by Angela Taylor, “Everybody’s Jesus” by Katana Barnes – the most diverse Poor book-making program in the history of Poor Press

One of the Bay Area’s most entertaining new Black convention offerings is AfroComicCon, which injects a healthy dose of Black culture into the family-friendly comic book convention. Comic book conventions are places where you can go to buy comic books and related gear, but they are not stuffy and academic. They are fun, all-ages enticing, and feature family fun entertainment that makes them especially attractive to teens, the young at heart, and people with young children.

This poem is water It is palm wine to the ancestors Ones with heads up, lips parted Utterance stuck in throat It is fresh water with peppermint It is nommo Words into flesh Blackness Melanin A magic hue Sun kissed by time

If you live in San Francisco, you’ve probably seen her smiling face on billboards, the side of buildings, the back of buses, transit stations, and lining Van Ness and other major thoroughfares. Bayview resident Susie Tyner is one of five seniors who exemplify a new generation of older adults: accepting of the inevitable aging process but making a conscious decision to live full lives.

Sunday afternoon, Feb. 23, at the Museum of the African Diaspora in San Francisco was an opportunity to see what Black Joy looks like. While Africans in Oakland were celebrating what makes us a people, in San Francisco, artists, curators and scholars were discussing Kwame Brathwaite’s work in the “Black is Beautiful: The Photography of Kwame Brathwaite” exhibit up through March 1. More than a tangible aesthetic enumerated, Brathwaite’s “Beautiful” is an opportunity to reflect on the many ways through the ages Blackness – while commodified – transgressed and transcended, even morphed into something completely incomprehensible (in that moment) like Charlie Parker’s “Koko“ or Dizzy Gillespie’s “Shaw ‘Nuff” or John Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme.”

There were several interesting and exciting Black History Month and Afrocentric Bay Area events, some of which I personally attended and was involved with last month.

Sir Jules Haywood, minister of music at Third Baptist Church for 32 years, died on Jan. 20, 2020, at the age of 95. Funeral services were held on Feb. 11, at Third Baptist Church in San Francisco.

Mainstream fiction genres such as sci-fi, horror and fantasy have visual arts components to them. Conventions and festivals often have a separate arts room displaying fantasy and science-fiction centered painting, digital art and sculpture. Music like horror core is associated with the horror genre, and there are horror centered visual arts movements as well.

More than 163 million cats and dogs currently make their homes in backyards and living rooms across America. That adds up to a lot of dug-up flower beds, vet bills and ruined upholstery. It also adds up to a lot of happiness.