Kuma2.net Blog

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – HARLEM PRIDE 2010
Celebrating Pride and Diversity of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Same Gender Loving neighbors and organizations in Harlem.

Harlem, NY, the historical center of African – American culture, will host to its FIRST EVER Pride celebration. Harlem Pride is pleased to announce its schedule of events for this historic celebration:

June 12, 2010
”Coming Out” Art Show A Historical Retrospective of New York’s Trailblazing LGBT Institutions
Casa Frela Gallery 47 W. 119th Street (btwn Lenox & 5th Avenues) 2pm – 10pm
Honored organizations include Black AIDS Institute, The Callen-Lorde Community Health Center, Fierce, Folsom East Street Fair New York, Harlem United Community AIDS Center, The Hetrick-Martin Institute, Human Rights Campaign, Imperial Court of New York , Leslie & Lohman Gay Art Foundation, The LGBT Center in NYC, LIVE OUT LOUD, PFLAG, SAGE and SALGA.

June 25, 2010
Harlem Pride Official VIP Launch Party Billie’s Black Bar/Restaurant//Lounge 271 W. 119th Street (btwn St. Nicholas Ave & Frederick Douglass Blvd)
7pm – 4am

June 26, 2010
Harlem Pride Day Celebration W. 119th Street (btwn Lenox & 5th Avenues)
12pm – 6pm

June 27, 2010
”Bowl with Pride” – Closing Event Harlem Lanes 2116 Adam Clayton Powell Blvd. (btwn W 125th and W 126th Street)
6pm – 10pm

The purpose of Harlem Pride is to promote Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Same Gen-der Loving Pride in Harlem by providing opportunities for networking and communication among organizations and community members in Harlem. To do that, Harlem Pride will become a com-munity partner in support of existing programs and we will also produce our own events that will celebrate LGBT & SGL pride. Lawrence Rodriguez and Carmen Neely, two Harlem LGBT activ-ists/residents saw an opportunity to celebrate the LGBT & SGL community and its role and contri-butions to Harlem’s rich history. They envisioned an annual celebration of gay liberation in Har-lem’s Mount Morris Park Historic District because the area has become a thriving “gayborhood,” and would be an excellent symbol of uptown gay pride. With thousands of LGBT residents in Har-lem and more visitors expected for general June Pride Month events, Harlem Pride’s time has come. Harlem Pride’s founding board members include Lawrence Rodriguez (Founder/Executive Director, Casa Frela Gallery), Carmen Neely (Founder, Crucial Arts), Michael Hodge (Owner, Kai & I Catering), Adriane Ferguson (Owner, Billie’s Black Bar/Restaurant/Lounge) and John Reddick (Founder, Harlemonestop.com)

Harlem Pride thanks its supporters the West 119th Block Association, Billie’s Black, Crucial Arts, Casa Frela Gallery and Gay Black Travel.

For more on Harlem Pride, our events, and how you can support. please visit our website at www.harlempride.org

BUTCH Voices is a national organization composed of social justice activists who share a commitment to building inclusive community for self-identified Butches, Studs, Tombois, Machas, Aggressives, our partners and allies.

This year we will be holding BUTCH Voices Regional Conferences in Dallas, New York, Los Angeles & Portland. We invite you to join us for workshops, panels, and performances intended to celebrate our diverse identities.

BUTCH Voices Dallas – June 5, 2010 – contact – bvdallas2010@gmail.com

BUTCH Voices NYC – September 25, 2010 – contact – bvnyc2010@gmail.com

BUTCH Voices Portland – October 2, 2010 – contact – bvportland2010@gmail.com

BUTCH Voices LA – October 9, 2010 – contact – bvla2010@gmail.com

These regional conferences will be an amazing opportunity to create local and regional community awareness, to share butch voices, and critical thinking about who we are. BUTCH Voices Regional Conferences are a place to: talk about why we identify in the ways we do, learn how to tell our stories, address femininity, masculinity, discuss areas of overlap and intersection that are none of the above. We will talk about sex, embodiment, community building, our physical and mental health, and issues that stand in the way of Butch-identified solidarity and justice. Most importantly, BUTCH Voices is the place where we can be ourselves with one another.

This is our Call for Submissions. We welcome workshop ideas of all kinds, films, performances, skill shares, especially on topics which speak to the cultural, sexual, emotional, physical, and psychological relationships that arise in the lives of Butches, Studs, Tombois, Aggressives, Machas, etc. We are open to all perspectives–queer, feminist, womanist, neither or beyond! We particularly encourage proposals by and for people-over sixty, under twenty-one, working-class, and people of color or persons with disabilities.

Deadline for Submissions for BUTCH Voices Dallas is May 15, 2010 and for the other three Regional Conferences is August 1, 2010. Please submit your proposal or abstract to the corresponding Regional Conference (email addresses listed above) in which you wish to present along with a short bio of yourself and any other presenter.

Please forward this widely to all who may be interested in participating.

It would be a lot easier for you to leave a comment about your favorite lgbt books–if I would actually enable the comments, right?  So, let’s try this again: Kuma Project #4.

About the Film:

Here’s a review of black./womyn: conversations…that I wrote for a movie ticket site-

Most mainstream ideas of who black lesbians are and what they are like come from images/media NOT created by black lesbians themselves. That’s why black./womyn: conversations… is such a breath of fresh air. The documentary contains interviews with a wide variety of black lesbians who discuss a multitude of topics.

I would say that the overarching theme of the movie is: How do you exist/survive in a world where everything that you are (black, female, lesbian) is NOT valued–if not downright despised?

Though people are frank and honest, it’s not a depressing film at all and has quite a bit of humor.

About the DVD:

Time and care went into the designing of this package–it looks like a special, deluxe edition. Watch it unfold (literally) here: ‘black./womyn.’ Individual Edition DVD First Look
Another great feature is a bonus “making of” interview with Executive producer / Director Tiona McClodden.

The Verdict:
Tiona McClodden made a high quality film–and then went a step beyond to transform it into an absolutely beautiful, must have DVD. Buy it.

We really, really need to update/renovate our books section–and want to know what your favorite books/authors are. What would you recommend–give us your top 5 fiction and your top 5 nonfiction. If you have fewer than 5 faves, that’s okay–send what you have. Your list can include old books, new books, etc. We need the title, author, and (if you want) what about the book made it one of your faves.

You can put your top 5 in the comments section here (the blog) or comment on the Facebook note. If have a full list with a lot of explanation/praise for your books, you can always drop us an email: kumaxtasy2@kuma2.net.

In the last four years of Edgar Richards’ life, Edgar was utterly dedicated to Maranatha‘s vision and the life of The Riverside Church. The $1,000 scholarship that was set up in his honor recognizes this service.

The scholarship committee is looking for young people who have been active in the LGBTQ community and dedicated in service to the similar work that Edgar was. In the loss of someone as vibrant as he was, God’s good comes through the dissemination of this scholarship each spring at the Pride breakfast.

If you are a young person active in the LGBTQ community and planning to go to college or are presently in college, we invite you to apply for this scholarship that perpetuates the light that Edgar shone on earth.

You may download the application HERE: Maranatha Scholarship Award 2010

Scholarship Application is due May 28, 2010.
You can find out more about Edgar Richards at The LGBT Religious Archives Network’s Profile Gallery: Edgar Richards

(NOTE: If you have trouble clicking the link, please copy and paste this link into your web browser:
http://cid-3d762133987072c8.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/Maranatha^4s%20Files/Maranatha^_Scholarship^_2010.pdf  At the new page, you can click on the document icon to download. If you still have difficulty, please e-mail MaranathaTRC@hotmail.com, and we will send it to you as an attachment.)

Please pass this information along to those high school or college age students you know that may be in need of additional support for tuition.

Remember the Kuma Artist Kaution?

The author / writer / high octaine entrepreneur is starting a new venture: an online, audio soap opera called “Kaution presents…Konfessions”

Kaution Media Concepts’ brainchild of author/artist Kaution announced the new online soap opera series entitled “Kaution presents…Konfessions” in development and set for production in early April. The unique online soap series is one of several Kaution Media Concepts projects due to be released in 2010. Konfessions will be the first audio production in KMC’s audio catalog.

Audio soap operas is not a new concept but Konfessions will be the first of its kind in the history of audio dramas to be based and targeted to the urban LGBT community. Each episode will be 35 minutes in length with a new episode weekly, featuring music from various cast members as well as Spoken Word stanzas with contributions from other LGBT artists contributing helping to shape each episode.

Created by the author Kaution, gay lit fiction writer and written by Kaution and new creative partner GYFTED the two tell the tale of two record labels in the fictitious city known as Hillside owned by rival lesbians once friends now turned enemies and the people caught inadvertently in the middle.

With power struggles to control the music scene close to erupting in the city and old debts of revenge needing to be repaid, Hillside City’s many dark secrets with seeds that were planted twenty years in the past struggle to surface only to reveal years of lies and deceit that was buried but forgotten now ready to show itself in the light of day. The show’s characters will have friendships tested, loves destroyed, lies exposed and families torn into pieces as all the major players work towards their own personal agendas at any cost. Even the “good” guys are bad in this audio drama packed with twists in every episode.

The story asks one question, “Can you handle the truth?”

Read the entire press release here.

For more about Kaution, visit http://www.kaution-online.com/