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Another year...

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  Thank you for your sentiments; another year quickly came to closure and has now morphed into another new year. In essence, I am good. Celestial angels continue to bless me even as I wonder why and think that they have me mixed up with someone else! The past several weeks best “capsulates” the past year as far as being busy with activities that have ranged across diverse interests. Of note, aaduna continues to be a “playa.”    Back in June, as part of the Auburn’s 2024 city-wide Juneteenth celebrations,  aaduna  in partnership with the Auburn Enlarged City School District , Seymour Library and the Friends of Seymour Library hosted “Words and Art” with poets Howard Nelson, Chantel Frazier, Ron Van Nostrand, Sarah Collins and Shawnte Blyss Barr; an exhibition of artwork by 3 rd  and 4 th  grade    Owasco Elementary students, and the premier of Auburn artist, writer and muralist, Arthur Hutchinson’s newest work “Cosmic Black Joy,” an exhibition of images on tapestries that hung from the
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The Excellence of Tradition

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  Howard Nelson on stage at aaduna's Halloween Gala Fundraiser, October 31, 2019  Carriage House Theater, Auburn, NY  In every community whether seen as a country, state, county, big city or small town, there are creative people who have an extended their creativity instincts to such an height that they are considered giants in their creative field. Interestingly, when the public may deem such creatives as being at the pinnacle of their artistry, these folks keep pushing the creative envelope. They continue to explore new nuances and themes, as well as re-interpreting what as been accepted as excellence in their field. These traits make them exciting people “to watch” since their creativity enables the public to explore personal concepts and attitudes of the relationship between artistic merit and life’s daily dynamics.   Howard Nelson (photo credit:  Lisa Brennan) Howard Nelson has lived in Cayuga County since 1970. Born in New Jersey in 1947, he was educated at Gettysburg Colleg
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Genesis moving towards Being…

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  There is always a beginning in the natural order of things and even if one was to investigate the nuances of evolution, there are stages. There is a learning curve. There is nurturing and mentoring. There are experiences that construct and guide the processes of   moving from point A to point B. What is exciting to see and bear witness to is the transformation from point one to beyond. What is exciting is to be an observer in that ever-changing landscape of individual development where you see how a person navigates an intuitive process and goes from a seed to…   A few years ago, an ‘aspiring poet attended one of the aaduna gala fundraiser with folks who invited and encouraged her to attend. Now, it is not evident whether or not there was an already planted seed just waiting to sprout or a barren landscape, devoid of growth that would require planting a seed.   What is now known is that this person will read her work to an audience. Her poetic work will soon be published. So, under
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Re-Awakening

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  The process of renewal, re-birth, reconnecting are innate life experiences most people have dealt with. When that happens, there is an individual or collective sense of discovering those things that were readily known or embracing the opportunity to explore something new, and possibly grasping certain unique experiences that inevitably re-charge our spirit and strengthen our soul.   The inaugural poets and writers that graced the initial issue of aaduna were unique in that they charted the pathway; set the bar for subsequent contributors and built a formidable creative presence as their ongoing work found new publication avenues. It is understandable, that the rapid spread of Covid-19 darkened the spaces where literary folks presented their work to the public. To their credit, creatives discovered that dormancy is not permanent. It ebbs and flows but is not constant. And clearly, not an obstacle to diminish or deter the creative flow.        One of those inaugural poets is an “ad
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