aaduna Fall Issue 1 Volume 3 "Shelter and Enduring" - Rick Nicholson, Photographer (c) 2011 I don't mean to push out 2011 since October just started but it is the end of the year for aaduna as a publication.  The fall issue, which is our last issue of the year, is now available at http://www.aaduna.org/  and we are accepting submissions for the First Anniversary/winter 2012 issue scheduled for launch on February 28th.  The submissions deadline is November 13 and more detailed information is available on the website.  aaduna Penalver Gallery - Exhibit "Avalon Grail Quest" Artist, Mano Mannez    And not to thump our chests, but this issue is ambitious and empowering.  Lisa Brennan did an impressive job getting the issue up and the galleries reflect her work as our new visual arts editor.  The photographs, artwork, and a "video" created specifically for aaduna glisten with creativity by the visual artists and L...

This video was prepared by Long Island photographer and businesswoman Marilyn D'onofrio and documents an event that was a festive affair!  http://animoto.com/play/EwT2NCJsa4tukBP31TsQIA?utm_content=main_link One can always expect a "wild ride" when comics are on point and you happen to catch their eye and then become the fodder for repetitive jokes.  But it is all good because you know that eventually they will move on to another "victim" and the performance is in good fun.  The Bergan Brothers Clothing Store recently hosted the LMAO Comedy Show in Syracuse and the audience did in fact laugh their ----- off!  The show was clearly for the mature/adult audience with hilarious fun and laughter.  And in these times, that is good medicine.      

Route 89, Cayuga Lake along the Finger Lakes Wine Trail Now is the time of year that many folks pay closer attention to nature.  While recent weather has adversely affected a lot of communities, this is the season for long walks through wooded areas or along streams or lakes.  Observing the kaleidoscope of colors that trees produce can captivate the imagination and it seems there is a pleasant joy spending a weekend afternoon in the tasting rooms of different wineries.  And it is the season for aaduna.  The fall 2011 issue is getting its final touches, and the first public reading/performance from a few aaduna writers will occur on October 7th at The Seward House Museum on South Street in Auburn, NY. This past Sunday was the poignant tenth anniversary of 9.11.  I tried to capture how my community remembered that life-changing event through a lense.       Photo taken September 1...

 Tamara J. Madison    In her words:   We had lots of trees and an old school neighborhood with porch parties and the accompanying record player with card games, jacks, and hair braiding as a standard.    My realities of racism and prejudice are quite vivid, quite. Hedgebrook was also a wonderful opportunity for me to care for myself and breathe.   Having my own cottage with lunch left on my doorstep daily in a covered basket was a dream!   I performed spoken word organically before I knew there was such a thing as “spoken word” as an art form.   Don’t miss the entire interview with Tamara J. Madison available now at  rockfordkingsley.org and get the opportunity to read “Barren”, poetic fiction dedicated to the 400 victims of the syphilis experiment and a new poem in progress, “Belly of Angel: Fallen”. Her work , "Melisma" will be featured in printed and audio versions as part of aaduna's  Fall 2011 issue slated ...

Have you noticed that it is getting dark earlier?  And while Labor Day is not the seasonal end to summer, for many of us, it offcially denotes a time to start a transition especially if you have children in school or college.  David Bergan, BOA President & Bill Berry Yesterday, I had the chance to catch up with David Bergan, who is the aaduna Board of Advisors president.  While not an aaduna event, the "clambake" was a lot of fun with insightful and humorous conversation, great food, and wonderful atmosphere. David Bergan, Lisa Brennan, and Joan Bergan-LaRock While I should take today off, I'll work some this afternoon.  The Fall 2011 Issue requires some attention...maybe while I watch a movie or two with stove popped popcorn, of course!      

If you are in the area or plan traveling to CNY, join us: Seward House Museum: First Friday Event - Sept. 2 from 5pm to 8pm. Featured Artist is Alan Alger. Mike Fedorchuk of Magical Mystery Tour presents "An Evening with John Lennon." Light refreshments will be served. Free. Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center: First Friday Event - Sept. 2 from 5pm to 8pm. Quietude: Paintings and Drawing by Chris Baker and Harry Bliss. View the exhibition, meet the exhibiting artists Chris Baker and Harry Bliss, and enjoy light refreshments. Free. Auburn Public Theater: First Friday Event - Sept. 2 from 5pm to 8pm. Come hear a variety of local musicians and friends perform in APT’s café space. Free. Cayuga Museum of History & Art: First Friday Event - Sept. 2 from 5pm to 8pm. Going away party for the Civil War exhibit. Both Sides of the Wall, A Child's World and Summer in the Finger Lakes exhibits will be available and there will be guided tours of the Case Research Lab. ...

For awhile, I thought the hiatus was only a few days and then I noticed the date of the last posting.  It has been a few weeks and I was not even on a vacation!!!  For the past few weeks, I have been taking 2-3 days seminars and workshops dealing with financial sustainability, planning, and strategic thinking in Rochester, NY. putting together aaduna's first public presentation of our writers and artists for a presentation at The Seward House Museum in early October.  (Interestingly, Steven Spielberg is planning a film about Abraham Lincoln and one of his principal actors visited the Seward House as preparation for his role as Lincoln's Secretary of State.)  Finalized arrangements with the Museum's administrative staff for the October First Friday. Tamara J. Madison, Cyd Charisse Fulton, Sean O'Grady, Christine Green and Sheila Applegate will read at that event, and Lisa Brennan will mount a photography exhibition and vi...