aaduna , the multicultural literary and visual arts journal read in 101 countries, in collaboration with its official blog, aadunanotes, kicks-of its National Poetry Month initiative starting tomorrow April 1 st .     Simply titled, Four for the Fourth , aadunanotes will host a poem from four poets every day during the month of April, which is the fourth month of the year.   Four for the Fourth!   This venture means: 120 poems and poets recognized during the month of April. If you read, write, enjoy, go to poetry readings or present at open mic sessions, you should go to www.aadunanotes.blogspot.com each day in April starting April 1 st .   And if you want the full schedule of scheduled readers make that request via info@aaduna.org Also , aaduna is using this celebration to transition the look and feel of its blog for an enhanced experience for readers and followers.   We hope you enjoy this different feel and ambian...

  Featured artist, Ron VanNostrand with his band, The Flock of Free Range Children, performed at The Carriage House Theater on March 23rd at The Cayuga Museum, as part of the "Word, Revisited" literary program. Words form our existence with each other, and shape those thoughts in our mind when we quietly speak to ourselves. Words are our conversational dialogue as we navigate our life, and more importantly, words provide our structural foundation when we create images and platforms to mold and manifest our creative ideas.      It is then fitting that we celebrate words especially as expressed in poetry, fiction, dramatic works, and especially as lyrics to a musical composition.  Poetry formed Smokey Robinson’s songs and have built the foundations for many songwriters.  And last night, Ron VanNostrand used words as a poet and lyricist to mesmerize “ word, revisited ” participants who were transported to levels of personal exuberance and...

Tuesday, March 21, 2017 is World Poetry Day. aaduna recognizes this significant day by celebrating with a March 2017 penned poem by Isis Arias Clermont, who resides in Brooklyn, New York, USA. HER She enamors me  Wraps me up in her bales of laughter Rolling over me in curls of light  Climbing over my anxieties to be great and stomping out sadness  when it comes to call  "Smile? Are you happy? Smile!" Squeezes held tight  Long whispers of hold me  Don't go  Stay with me  Her not knowing I will never leave her side Will always be there to hold her Always a solid support Love is an understatement  Hearts exploded when she appeared  Bright eyes  Soft smiles  Her smell simply enchanting  Creating an insatiable need to protect and care for  She has no idea the effect she has on others  The world lays down at her feet   Simply because she chooses ...

(left to right) Dr. Walt Aikman, BOD secretary, Billye Chabot, BOD/Treasurer, Eli Hernandez, BOD member, Ellen Blalock, BOD member, Bill Berry, Jr. CEO/aaduna Inc., publisher/aaduna, Lisa Brennan, BOD member/aaduna visual arts editor & executive manager of administration and marketing Hosted by the historic and internationally recognized Seward House Museum and its director, Billy Chabot (a Board member,) the aaduna Board grappled with a variety of programmatic and strategic issues to chart the journal’s direction for 2017.  The Board encouraged and embraced organizational direction to expand and enhance editorial review of poetic genre submissions; provided options to broaden marketing and promotional initiatives, and offered workable suggestions and pertinent ideas to the planned May 2017 aaduna fundraiser planned for May 25 th at the carriage house theater (a.k.a. Theater Mack) at the CayugaMuseum in Auburn, NY.  The Board also decided to take un...

Author Michele Jones Galvin reads at "word, revisted" at the Carriage House Theater, Cayuga Museum While her and family were leaving Syracuse, NY at 2 AM this morning to drive south to Church Creek, Maryland to attend this weekend's official opening of the visitor center “dedicated to the life and mission of abolitionist and legendary Underground Railroad conductor Harriet Tubman,” last evening, March 9th,  Michele Jones Galvin captivated her audience as she read from chapter five of her book, “'Beyond the Underground: Aunt Harriet, Moses of Her People,” co-authored with her mother, Joyce Stokes Jones.   Ms. Jones Galvin , a Tubman descendant, kicked-off the inaugural season of “word, revisited’ a literary speakers’ series and open mic segment extolling the written word sponsored by Auburn, New York’s legendary Cayuga Museum of History and Art in partnership with Olive Trees (a three decades old print publication devoted to poets and writers) and...

The InterFaith Works and El-Hindi Center for Dialogue hosted its 2017 Racial Justice Awards Ceremony last night at Syracuse Stage in Syracuse, NY.  Interfaith Works, founded in 1976, builds “bridges of understanding among people of different religions and across racial divides."  The El-Hindi Center “serves as regional hub for constructive community engagement and the important work of dialogue” among disparate groups of people to foster mutual understanding and trust. The 2017 awards ceremony recognized Zau Jat N-Hkum with the Racial Justice Youth Award; Jawwaad  Rasheed received the Catalyst Award; the Organizational Award went to the Brady Faith Center located on the City’s South Side, and Auburn resident and social justice leader, Laurel Ullyette was bestowed the Lifetime Achievement Award.   aaduna visual arts editor, Lisa Brennan with Laurel Ullyette, recipient of the 2017 Lifetime Achievement Award Dick Ford, pianist and director o...

Artistry can easily be defined as a combination of skill, knowledge of craft, imagination, creative intent, and perseverance. But is that all of the story? I suspect it is how an artist intertwines, loops, twists and weaves all these nuances into a visual entity that ignites the viewer’s imagination and creates the need to see more, experience other levels of subtlety, instills the desire to embrace all that the artist has to offer. Some is never enough.   Unwrapping Vanessa: Fiber Memory Art by Vanessa Johnson is a visually mesmerizing exhibition of personal stories expressed in fabric, beads, small and found objects, and photographs. The exhibition explores Johnson’s new work that “honors the voices of women and girls who continue to influence the artist’s life, and speaks to her own transnational experience through women who inspire." Ms. Johnson combines her over two decade background as a fiber artist, writer, storyteller, community activist, and actor to bri...