Moon Mami Writes

The dates and location for my play Running: AMOK 's run in the Capital Fringe Fest this summer have been released! Venue: The Apothecary Venue Address: 1013 7th Street NW, Washington, DC 20001 Performance Dates/Times: Friday July 9 @ 10pm Sunday July 11 @ 1:15pm Thursday July 15 @ 7:30pm Saturday July 17 @ 11am Tuesday July 20 @ 10pm

So, my play "Running: AMOK" is becoming a living and breathing artistic creation. I had a rehearsal with the cast this past Saturday and the growth I've seen already in the character development is amazing. Lyn Artope, the actress who plays one of the supporting roles has totally shocked me moreso than anyone else because she is not a performer at all. While most of the actresses in the play are singers and/or actresses, Lyn is a human resources professional, mother of two and wife who tried out for the part on a whim. She is already off book and is amazing. All of the actresses are awesome. I feel so lucky to have them as part of this cast. We took some photos after rehearsal so I can begin putting together our media kit. Here are some of the shots I may work with. My daughter is excited about the play and looks forward to the ladies coming to our house to rehearse. One of the actresses usually brings her daughter who is around the same age as my little one, so they ...

On April 17, I facilitated a writing workshop for GED students at Southeast Ministry in Washington, DC. Loved it. I introduced the students to poetry interpretation using Robert Frost's popular poem "Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening" before leading them into a series of writing exercises, stressing the importance of showing instead of telling when writing. I had a ball and really connected with the group. ( In photos above are the students that I worked with. The last photo is of me with three of the ladies in the class. Two of them were part of the group I worked with last summer.)

This past week was one of my best weeks ever creativity-wise. Ever. I worked with the kids at the elementary I've been working at this past week continuing the arts literacy series I'm facilitating on music, did a booksigning and writing workshop for students at Southeast Ministry and attended the 2010 Reader's With Attitude Author's Pavillion in Richmond, VA. At the Author's Pavillion, I hosted the Author's Speak at the Authors Pavillion and was so thrilled to so see many of the members of my online network www.LiberatedMuse.com. Some of them, I met for the first time in person! Here are some of the photos from this past week.  ( In photo: My 6 year-old took this photo of me with the ladies of the RWA Book Club, the group that put together the Author's Pavillion on Saturday where I hosted the Author's Speak.)  ( In photo: My honey took this photo of me with R.J. Johnson, Mahoganee and Serena Wills, three members from my network www.LiberatedMuse.c...

So, I'm excited about some upcoming events on my calendar. I will be back at Southeast Ministry on April 16 doing a writing playcation next weej and signing copies of Liberated Muse Volume I: How I Freed My Soul which is still on sale. I also will be attending the Readers with Attitude (RWA) Author's Pavillion which is on April 17 in Richmond, VA. RWA is a popular book club that is hosting this event for the first time in a mall in Richmond with a partnership with Barnes and Nobles. How awesome is that-- readers producing events to support the books they like? I think its awesome. I will be hosting their Author Speak segment where authors throughout the day will be able to do little blurbs of their books and mini-readings. I will be selling copies of Liberated Muse Volume I :How I Freed My Soul and one of the contributors, to the anthology, Serena Wills, will be on hand selling her work and reading her piece from the anthology. The anthology features writings...

I'm so sad that I'm having issues uploading photos to this blog b/c I really wanted to share my photos from the Cherry Blossom festival:-( Kite-flying So, this past weekend was a busy one. I loved it. I hung with the fam on Saturday down on the National Mall, enjoying the cherry blossoms as the National Cherry Blossom festival kicked off. Now, we initially set out to go there to fly kites because the Kite Festival by the Smithsonian was going on, too-- outside on the grass on the National Mall and inside at the Air and Space Museum. However, we missed the Kite Festival festivities and decided we were going to check out the cherry blossoms after we got to flying our kites apart from the festival. I flew a kite for the very first time in my life! Now, as a child, I've made kites, I mean, what child hasn't? But, I always made kites with heavy materials like sticks and construction paper with no sense of gravity and no guidance from an adult to be like, "look kid,...

I was sooo thrilled to find an email in my inbox this morning telling me that my song I had submitted in a songwriting contest last week had been selected and I am to perform in the event detailed in the flyer above. The event is part of a 3 part concert series exploring topics of health, education and the environment. I had written a song about the health debates and political fervor going on about health care and they liked it. The irony is that I was notified the same day that Barack Obama signed the new health care reform bill into law. I'm not sure how I feel about the new bill. While, I think in theory it is ideal to want healthcare to be accessible to everyone, what does that mean? The fact that we will be fined if we do not choose a health care plan is frightening to me. I am part of an HMO now where I receive very substandard health care already (I can blog on for days about that) and to imagine a day that will come soon where I won't have the option to drop them if ...