In Time... After Thoughts
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| A Glimpse of the Gardens at Seward House Museum, photo by Lisa Brennan, August 5 2022 |
After a few years of appropriate, health-driven safety isolation and contact with others primarily platformed by zoom, Facetime and other modes of “artificial” interaction including social media, mass distribution of e-mails…you get the picture.
In 2022, folks are starting to venture
out and take advantage of the opportunity to see others from the neck down
without a background of kitchens, living rooms, at home libraries or the cat
walking across the screen or the incessant barking of the family dog. Or just
the unmoving face or a black screen with the person’s name since these people
had something better to do. Were they really listening as they ventured to
accomplish other tasks out of sight?
While there are still moments when one
should err on the side of being cautious, the human need for interaction with
others has slowly permeated the scope of our social interactions.
aaduna has been quietly active during the
pandemic.
Unfortunately, the website had to transition
to an “in exile” state due to repeated foreign hacking infringements, as well
as our content outgrowing the site. Or, maybe it was our older, specifically
designed for our use a technology that eventually became incompatible with the
new! However, the creative work of each issue was available on the blog
platform (aadunanotes.blogspot. com)
where the poetry, fiction, non-fiction, and visual imaginings of
contributors are available and duly archived.
Intriguingly, the work to establish a
new publishing platform will continue. More importantly, submitters’ interest
in “what aaduna does, and how it does it” remains strong. For those creatives who seek a respectful,
nurturing, collegial space steeped in multiculturalism, artist-driven publication
nuances and understandings that is compatible with diverse avenues to build a
public audience for aaduna contributors and an intrinsic simpatico
relationship with contributors.
Notwithstanding this past recent
history, the story of this “blog” is really centered on an August 2022 First
Friday celebration at The Seward House Museum in Auburn, NY.
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| aaduna at The Seward House Museum, First Friday Event, August 5, 2022 |
aaduna returned to a public space in the unique way that aaduna parties after forced time in “isolation”
On August 5, 2022, it happened.
aaduna weaved its magic on the south porch
stage of the museum.
Chris Jones, not to be outdone, snapped his wrists
and maneuvered around his drum set driving the keyboardist’s music to heights
where foot stamping was the norm and not the exception.
Williford and Jones opened the Seward’s
August First Friday and set the ambiance for the coming words and phrases that
would float; drift throughout the garden; rip through but not harm flowers and
shrubs; laying still, resting softly on the shoulders and laps while quietly permeating the mind of audience
members. And then…
Barr and Dafoe took the stage.
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| Shawnté Blyss Barr, aaduna featured poet, Seward House Museum, First Friday Event, August 5, 2022 |
Shawnté
Blyss Barr weaved emotional words defining and reimaging
relationships.
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| Nancy Avery Dafoe, aaduna featured poet, Seward House Museum, First Friday Event, August 5, 2022 |
Nancy Avery Dafoe poignantly led us to levels of understanding and reflections that should mark our relationship with a world that all too often we overlook or take for granted.
Dafoe and Barr let their words out on a
journey to explore our being and then cascade thru our inner ear to rest
comfortably in the recesses of our mind so later we could retrieve their poetic
messaging and find sublime peace in what we learned from their creativity.
With two rounds of Bernie, Chris, Shawnté,
Nancy, and bill berry as emcee, audience members enjoyed hors d’oeuvres and
beverages prepared by museum staff.
And
in one unexpected moment, Williford took over drum and Jones sat at the
keyboard and the audience enjoyed his vocal capabilities. Keyboard to drums.
Drums to keyboard riveted by vocals. And in the second set, Bernie displayed
his vocal talents.
The
evening was an exploration of the potency of words and music, music, and words.
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And
with gracious thanks to and support from Billye Chabot, executive director of
The Seward House Museum and her staff, aaduna returned to its public
readings.
More to come from aaduna in October 2022!
PS
The “aftershock” took place after the audience drifted off to other First
Friday activities…Barr took to displaying her vocals. Williford and Jones laid
down the music following her rendition of Marvin Gaye’s classic “What’s Going
On,” and then Bernie and Chris improvised as they presented the musical
backdrop for a Blyss original song.
What
a First Friday in August…2022.
aaduna
at
Seward House Museum.
[][][]
PPS
I suspect the enchanting words of Dafoe…her exquisite and thoughtful articulation
and phrasing permeated how she presented her words…the arrangement…the
phrasing, and then, the unexpected interplay of music references intermingled
and fortified by words that skipped, jumped and playfully impacted me in one of
Barr’s poems, are uniquely the aftereffects of Nancy/Blyss, Blyss/Nancy.
Furthermore, my memory was uplifted by the diversity of rapid fired musical notes
that interplayed with and were masterfully intertwined with downbeats and
upbeats by Jones and Williford, Bernie and Chris.
I was reminded. I thought oops. I mis-stepped. I had to add to what I thought was the final blog draft. It was not. I had to hold the platforming so I could write more So…
Here
is background information of our August 2022 First Friday readers;
Shawnté Blyss Barr grew up in Auburn, New York, and graduated from Auburn High School. She earned her Master of Science in Psychology degree from Grand Canyon University, and her Bachelor of Arts in Cultural Studies from SUNY Empire. She is a poet, writer, celibacy, and healthy mindset coach, and a womanpreneur.
In addition to managing her own retail store, Neema Noire, Blyss manages a coaching business, Amenya Journée, LLC, and a magazine, Flyy Girl Zone, a magazine dedicated to Black women and mental health. In her spare time, Blyss likes to make videos for social media, create art, making connections, and watching “The Young & the Restless.”
In April 2022, Blyss published her first poetry book, Stained Glass Windows for Butterflies, a book of transformation and movement, which can be purchased on Amazon. You can contact her at shawnte@amenya.co.
<>
Nancy Avery Dafoe, author/poet/educator writes in multiple genres and has thirteen books through independent publishers. Her poetry won the William Faulkner/Wisdom award in 2016, and her fiction won the short story award from New Century Writers. A member of the Central New York (CNY) Branch of the National League of American Pen Women, Nancy is currently serving as second vice president of the organization.
Ms. Dafoe’s most recent work is Unstuck in Time, A Memoir and Mystery on Loss and Love (2021) and her pending publications are Socrates Is Dead Again (available in September 2022) and The House Was Quiet, But the Mind Was Anxious (pending for an October 2022 release.)
To
contact Ms. Dafoe or for further information, please visit dafoewritingandconsulting.com or nancydafoebooks.com
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To reach the aaduna publisher, e-mail bill@aaduna.org
More importantly,
support creative people. Go to readings, concerts, exhibitions, dance performances,
recitals, theatrical presentations, community events. Buy their books, musical
recordings, support the venues that provide the space for creatives, etc.!!!
Creatives offer a lot to humanity and
local communities…embrace their creativity and support them in any way
that suits you.
aaduna stands
with you…from our inception in 2010 as a NYS non-profit and IRS 501(c) 3 organization
to now...without doubt...without hesitancy…against all odds.
Audience and creatives.
Creatives and audiences.
Bringing them together in a joyous
party!
The
aaduna way.
Our only way.
aaduna - an online adventure with words and images - a globally read, multi-cultural, and diverse online literary and visual arts journal established in 2010.
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