e-culture: Afghan Women's Project, Who's Counting?, Fiestas Patrias, Peace Week
September 15, 2005


IN THIS ISSUE

Camp Dos Cabezas Volunteer Meeting Tuesday
Afghan Women's Project and "Who's Counting?"
Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown Gone to Glory
Celebrate with the Fiestas Patrias Parade
Decade of Nonviolence-Peace Week in Houston
Support Great Events in Houston
Our Upcoming Educational Adventures


"Sometimes I wonder about many things." Jackie is at a camp that is exposing her to many new ideas.

"How was the Earth made? Why are some stars brighter than others? Do you think Santa Claus is real?"

Twelve-year-old Jackie is at an age when great experiences can make a big difference in her life and lead to great opportunities for her to achieve success.

She is hiking through a riparian meadow amidst masses of rock deposited by an ancient volcano. She is surrounded by fantastic stone formations that have been sculpted by wind and rain for thousands of years. On the edge of the forest she sees a white tail deer, something she waited excitedly to see during her first three days in southern Arizona. Finally reaching Faraway Ranch near dark, she witnesses a brilliant yellow, orange and red sunset at the gate of the canyon overlooking the Willcox Playa. With volunteer mentors accompanying her and other children, she hikes back to camp under a bright canopy of stars.

Jackie, an HISD elementary school student, was born in Houston after her family emigrated from Honduras. Her community is made up of mostly immigrant laborers who struggle to make ends meet. Her mother and father are service industry workers who live on their day to day earnings. They never attended school. Their work schedule sometimes prevents her from being in school, and she is having difficulty transitioning to her English-only classes.

But Jackie likes school and hopes to study science. She was nominated for a scholarship to attend Camp Dos Cabezas because her teacher believes she can be successful in school with more motivation.

This is Jackie's first time away from home. It is her first time away from the small immigrant community, where members focus on getting by each day. Camp Dos Cabezas may be the inspiration she needs to persevere through her family's difficulties. At the camp, away from her tribulations, each day brings new adventures.

Driving into the Bonita Canyon campground Jackie points at a tent and asks, "Am I going to sleep in one of those?" She cheers when she learns she will share a tent with other girls at camp. She arranges her bed so she can see the night sky through the mesh window.

On the first day Jackie hikes to the top of a fire lookout on Sugarloaf Mountain, where she sees mountain ranges called Islands in the Sky across the Chihuahuan and Sonoran deserts. Each morning she organizes her backpack and prepares for the day ahead. Jackie and her friends write songs in their tent and sing them on the daily commutes to museums in Cochise County.

During her daily activities Jackie explores unique cave formations in the Coronado National Memorial and watches educational films at the Tumacacori National Historic Park visitor center, on the site of a seventeenth century Jesuit mission.

An Arizona park ranger describes the mysteries he is solving by researching family stories and historic documents in the area. Following the ranger's talk about the "real Tombstone" experienced by frontier settlers, Jackie hesitates and asks the ranger, "Are there any people living here today who were alive back then?" The ranger tells her about a woman whose grandfather's photograph is mistakenly used for frontier legend Doc Holiday.

Jackie is excited to meet the woman the ranger describes to her and hurriedly runs into the museum library where the woman works. Jackie and several of the other children take pictures of the woman holding a post card picture of her grandfather, and they have their picture taken proudly standing with the woman. Jackie and the others are delighted by the special attention given to them by the museum staff.

On the fifth day at camp she tours Spanish historic sites along the Anza Trail and ends the long day of adventure at the San Xavier Indian Reservation, where the historic San Xavier del Bac mission has functioned for more than 200 years. Jackie hikes to the top of a hill near the historic mission, where she and other girls neaten up a gravesite overlooking the valley.

One her adventures each day Jackie is busy taking pictures of plants and rock formations, and the interesting people she meets while exploring the unique narrow streets of historic towns like Bisbee and Tubac. She and the other kids discover things they each find interesting while touring an 1880s frontier school house, viewing dioramas of Indian lifeways, and trying on Spanish armor. Jackie likes pioneer houses and their artifacts; Yessenia wants to learn more about Apache Indians and the Spanish conquistadors; Kory thinks the Continental Divide interesting; and Julio likes Pancho Villa.

With the others kids in camp at night she spends time writing her journal, playing the Pima stick game and gazing at stars in the clear skies above the Arizona desert.

Jackie considers writing a story about her camp experience, but feels she can't. She explains that she has only ever written one story before. "On my eleventh birthday I wrote about my tenth birthday to remember what it was like."

Jackie's mother lost her business and wasn't able to have a birthday party for her. The family was forced to move across town and didn't have enough money for a party. For a young child, Jackie has a clear understanding of her family's hardships. When asked if she had a party for her twelfth birthday, she said she felt she was too old. But in school on the day of her twelfth birthday, Jackie learned from her teacher about her opportunity to go to the camp and felt it was a great present.

After a long day of exploring, she returns to camp where she is surprised when other children give her a birthday party. Following the excitement of the party, she gets some rest for the last day when the boys and girls accomplish a full day hike to Inspiration Point and the Heart of Rocks before leaving the Chiricahua National Monument.

Jackie continues to talk about her great memories of Camp Dos Cabezas and hopes she can go back some day. She is participating in a continuing education program where she will write stories about her camp experience and make digital movies to present to other kids. By staying involved and staying in school she will get to go to Camp Chaco in a couple of years, where she will continue her learning adventures in the canyonlands and ancient Indian ruins of the Colorado Plateau.

Now that she has been to Camp Dos Cabezas, Jackie has many interested things to wonder about during her lifetime.


If you would like to learn more about Camp Dos Cabezas, please join us for a meeting on Tuesday, September 20 at 7:00pm. We will meet at 5555 Morningside, Suite 204 in the Rice Village, just upstairs from Brian O'Neill's Restaurant.

Call 713-521-3686, or email info@houstonculture.org, for more information.
http://www.houstonculture.org/archive/gim050920.html

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Afghan Women's Project and "Who's Counting?"

Houston Institute for Culture supports The Decade of Nonviolence-Houston's Peace Week activities in September with an exhibit of Peggy Kelsey's Afghan Women's Project and two screenings of the film "Who's Counting? Marilyn Waring on Sex, Lies and Global Economics". For more information on the Afghan Women's Project and feminist-economist Marilyn Waring, please see: http://www.houstonculture.org/forums

Afghan Women's Project founder Peggy Kelsey will talk following the film "Who's Counting?"
Wednesday, September 21 & Thursday, September 22, 6:30pm
Afghan Women's Project Exhibit, September 10 ­ 25 (On view W-F, 4-8pm; Weekend, 2-8pm)

Free. Seating is limited. Please RSVP at 713-521-3686, or info@houstonculture.org.
5555 Morningside, Suite 204, Houston, Texas, 77005

http://www.houstonculture.org/forums

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Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown Gone to Glory

Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown passed away September 10, 2005, in Orange, Texas. Funeral services will be held at Mount Cavalry Baptist Church in Orange, Texas on Saturday, September 17th. The viewing time from 8:00am to 10:15am. The funeral will begin at 11:00am.

Mount Cavalry Baptist Church
612 N. 3rd Street
Orange, TX 77630
(409) 883-8317

Donations are being accepted to help with the cost of family transportation to the funeral. Please see: http://www.gatemouth.com


Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown
1924 - 2005

If we can't imagine America without New Orleans, we certainly can't imagine the music of our region without Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown. He had his hand in every kind of music in east Texas and south Louisiana, and he forged solid relationships between the diverse cultures of the region.

From Vinton, Louisiana, Gatemouth got his start on the Peacock record label in Houston's Fifth Ward in 1947. He began his career performing and recording with T-Bone Walk and influenced many other musicians along the way, including Stevie Ray Vaughn, Albert Collins, Marcia Ball and Roy Clark.

A versatile musician like his father, Gatemouth comfortably alternated between fiddle and guitar, fronted big swing bands and small jazz combos, played blues and honky tonk, and always added Cajun and Tejano favorites to suit his audiences. The roots of Gatemouth's music were far reaching - Appalachian bluegrass, Western Swing from the Texas plains, and German waltzes from South Texas.

In the 1950s he played country, bebop, and rock and roll, and appeared weekly on the Nashville soul dance program The Beat.

A few of his more than 30 recordings include Texas Swing, Long Way Home, Standing My Ground, One More Mile, Back to Bogalusa, and American Music, Texas Style. He received a Grammy Award in 1982 for Alright Again!

His most recent recording, Timeless, a highly acclaimed mix of live takes and studio recordings, was released one year ago. At 80, Gatemouth kept up a demanding tour schedule of 100 shows per year. He traveled far and wide, from Japan to Jazz Fest. Wearing his customary cowboy hat on stage at the Houston International Festival he spoke directly to longtime fans he recognized in the audience and young children playing in front of the stage.

He has achieved many awards and honors, including eight W.C. Handy Blues Awards, a Heroes Award from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, and an induction into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame.

Gatemouth evacuated his home in Slidell, Louisiana just before Hurricane Katrina struck. He was heartbroken at the loss of his lifetime possessions, and finally lost his battle with heart disease and lung cancer at 81. He died at his brother's home in Orange, Texas.

Music fans across the region and around the world feel a tremendous sadness from the loss of great national treasure, Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown.

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Celebrate with the Fiestas Patrias Parade

Celebrate Mexican Independence and Hispanic heritage during the 37th Annual Fiestas Patrias International Parade, on Saturday, September 17, at 10:00am. The parade, which features more than 6,000 participants, begins at Texas and Hamilton, near Minute Maid Park in Downtown Houston.

Learn more about Mexican Independence:
http://www.houstonculture.org/mexico/diezyseis.html

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Decade of Nonviolence-Peace Week in Houston

Saturday, September 17 to Sunday, September 25
In celebration of the mid-decade of the International 2001-2010 Decade for Building a Culture of Peace and Nonviolence for the Children of the World, Decade of Nonviolence-Houston is sponsoring a major event in the fall called Peace Week in Houston. During the week, we also encourage other groups and organizations to create peace-themed events throughout the city.

EVENTS:
Saturday, Sept. 17th: Conference from 8 AM to 4:30 PM

Texas Southern University
C. S. Lane Economics Building
3100 Cleburne, Houston, Texas

The conference will feature a "Spiral Dynamics" presentation by Brene Brown and Cindy Wigglesworth and youth performances by the 5th Ward Enrichment Center and Voices Breaking Boundaries.


Saturday, Sept 17th at 5:00PM: EarthDance Houston

Houston Garden Center
1500 Hermann Drive

EarthDance Houston is a peace-focused, community building, fundraising and networking event where free-expressive dance and music help create a common ground for diverse social groups to pray together for peace on earth, and have fun in a healthy environment.

Suggested donation at the door is $10, a portion of which will go the Citizen's Environmental Coalition.

For more information: please call 281.478.8080 or visit http://www.earthdance.org/houston.


Saturday, Sept. 24th at 6:30PM: Inaugural awards dinner featuring Dr. Jill Carroll (The Boniuk Center, Rice University)

Gauranga Fellowship Hall
At the Hare Krishna Temple
1320 West 34th Street

For more information on participation or how you can help, please contact:
Carole Keene at 713-869-6364 or 713-398-6785, Or email carolekeene@juno.com

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Support Great Events in Houston

THE "MANHATTAN SHORT FILM FESTIVAL": One Houston screening only!
Presented by the Southwest Alternate Media Project (SWAMP)

Saturday, September 17, 2005
Museum of Fine Arts Houston (MFAH)
Brown Auditorium 7PM

The Finalists:
A Black and White World (Australia)
The Instructional Guide to Dating(Australia)
Cuco Gomez! Gomez is Dead! (USA)
The Lump (Ireland)
Crickets (Israel)
The Banker (England)
Gravity (England)
The Natural Route (Spain)
Sister (Wales)
Hibernation (England)
The Ten Steps (Ireland)
Everything Goes (Australia)

Admission: $6 (MFAH members, senior adults, students with ID, and SWAMP members receive a $1 discount. Free for Museum Film Buffs.)

The entire program runs approximately 2 hours with a 10-minute intermission.

Film lovers in Texas (and 31 other select US States) will have the chance to see the next generation of filmmakers from around the world and vote for the film that they feel is the best when New York's premier short film festival, The Manhattan Short Film Festival. The cinema-going public throughout the USA will have the opportunity to judge the most creative short films in the world.

The Festival received 504 entries from 30 countries and accepted 12 finalists, whose short films (14 minutes and under in length) will be presented to the cinema-going public in 54 venues in 32 states (167 screenings over ten days). Audience members will be handed a voting card upon entry to one of the 54 cinemas and will be asked to vote for a winning filmmaker. The winner will be announced at a final screening September 25th in Union Square Park in New York City. The winner of the festival will then get the opportunity to direct a feature film that will be distributed amongst the majority of venues that participated in the 2005 Festival.

In its eighth year, the Manhattan Short Film Festival has featured short filmmakers who have gone on to win Oscar nominations and direct feature films such as Robots, Ice Age, The Animal, and The Girl Next Door, to name a few. Past judges for the Festival have included Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins, Eric Stoltz, Laura Linney, Roger Corman, and a host of East and West Coast studio reps. In 2004, the Festival expanded into seven states, handing the judging over to the general public in those states. "The response was phenomenal," said Festival director Nicholas Mason. "The events were well attended and seemed to attract a wider audience then just your usual Film Festival fanatic. When the Festival first started, the objective was to present the next generation of feature filmmakers to the people of New York City. Six years later, the technology is available that allows these short films to be seen across the whole country."

Films from Ireland, Israel, England, Wales, Australia, Spain and the USA make up this year's selection of 12 finalists. In 2006, the Festival will include Canada, UK, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Germany, Spain, France, and Australia into the voting process during the same week. "I am not to sure if itıs the largest short film festival in the world today, but I am sure it will be tomorrow." said Mason.

For more information please visit:
http://www.MSfilmfest.com
http://www.gishcreative.com
http://www.thesummerbook.com
Or contact: sarah@gishcreative.com

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Da Camera's Notebook Series of Free Family Concerts at Branch Libraries Continues with Trommel: A Percussion One Eensemble

Thursday, September 22, 2005 at 4pm

Houston Public Library
Stimley-Blue Ridge Branch
7007 West Fuqua

Da Camera of Houston presents an interactive concert, "Trommel: A Percussion One Ensemble." This program is the second in the season's free family concerts in Da Camera's "Notebook Series". Trommel was founded in 2001 by Lamar Burkhalter, percussion educator, clinician, arranger, performer and Music Director for the NFL Houston Texans. Created to showcase the wide breadth of literature available to percussion, Trommel performs music from the classic orchestral repertoire, as well as 20th century compositions, Ragtime pieces, world music and commissioned works. This innovative ensemble is one of very few of its kind in the United States. Trommel is comprised of faculty and staff members of Percussion One, also founded by Lamar Burkhalter.

For more information: please call 713.524.5050 or visit http://www.dacamera.com.

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True Words: Wood Sculpture Relief by a Group of Artists from Shandong, China

Presented by Asia Society

Thursday, September 22, 2005, 7:00 PM
The Crow Collection of Asian Art
2010 Flora Street
Dallas, TX

A public lecture by Mr. Christopher Zhu, who is the former deputy director of the Shanghai Museum and the Asian Art Advisor to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He became aware of the artists of True Words in 1998 and will present an insightful lecture on their lives and works. The exhibit True Words consists of works created by a group of deaf and mute artists in their early thirties, who live and work near the northeast coast of China. The artists' highly developed visual vocabularies are presented in woodcarvings that are both extraordinarily innovative and culturally time- honored. The exhibit will be on view at The Crow Collection of Asian Art from Wednesday, September 21, 2005 thru Monday, January 2, 2006

Co-Sponsors: Crow Collection of Asian Art , The Association for Chinese Professionals, Dallas/Fort Worth

For tickets or more information please call 214-979-6440 Or visit: http://www.crowcollection.org

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His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso will visit Rice University

Thursday, September 22, 2005

ALL TICKETS HAVE BEEN DISTRIBUTED. THERE ARE NO MORE SPACES ON THE WAITING LIST.

The Dalai Lama's presentations are being broadcast on radio for those who were unable to secure tickets. At 10:00am tune to KTRU Radio 91.7 FM; at 2:00pm the presentation will be broadcast on KTRU 91.7 FM and on KPFT 90.1 FM. There will also be live webcasts of each presentation. Those webcasts can be found at http://webcast.rice.edu

The Dalai Lama's trip to the United States will span three months and also include stops in Idaho; Tucson, Ariz.; Austin, Texas; New York City and Washington, D.C. The visit to Rice is in conjunction with the Boniuk Center for the Study and Advancement of Religious Tolerance's first conference and is also being sponsored by the Office of the President.

The Dalai Lama will give two public addresses on Thursday, September 22, 2005, at Rice University's Autry Court at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. The spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism will speak at 10 a.m. on "The Meaning of Compassion in Everyday Life" and at 2 p.m. on "Tolerance and Universal Responsibility." The theme of the Boniuk Center conference, which is being held September 19th thru the events with His Holiness is "Tolerance and Its Limits."

Rice will open its West Stadium lot for public parking at the two events, though parking will be limited. Individuals with tickets are urged to take public transportation, including Metro Light Rail to the Houston Zoo-Rice University-Medical Center station and walk to Autry Court, or Metro Buses. A map of the visitor parking and campus shuttle bus routes is located at Rice Campus Map

For more information about the Dalai Lama, please visit:
http://www.tibet.com/DL/biography.html

For more information about the Boniuk Center for the Study and Advancement of Religious Tolerance at Rice University, please visit:
http://cohesion.rice.edu/centersandinst/boniuk/boniuk.cfm

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Dance Around the World

September 24, 11:00am

Miller Outdoor Theatre
Hermann Park.
100 Concert Drive
Houston, Texas 77030
713-284-8350
http://www.milleroutdoortheater.org

Dance traditions from around the globe, presented by Houston Dance Coalition and Dance Source Houston.
http://www.houstondance.org

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6th Annual Houston Grand Taiko Festival

September 30 and October 1, 7:30pm

Massive tremors of traditional and contemporary Taiko drumming and the refined movements of classical Japanese dance, presented by Kaminari Taiko of Houston.

Miller Outdoor Theatre in Hermann Park
100 Concert Drive
Houston, Texas 77030
713-284-8350
http://www.milleroutdoortheater.org

http://www.kaminaritaiko.com

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Stay tuned to the calendar for more upcoming events.
http://www.houstonculture.org/events

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Our Upcoming Educational Adventures

2005-06 Travel Series Schedule

El dia de los muertos (The Day of the Dead)
Sunday, October 30 - Saturday, November 5, 2005
Tucson, Arizona and Nogales, Sonora, Mexico

Mexico's Copper Canyon
Friday, November 18 - Sunday, November 27, 2005
Batopilas, Chihuahua, Mexico

A Southwest Christmas
Friday, December 23 - Thursday, December 29, 2005
Santa Fe, New Mexico

Camp Dos Cabezas
Saturday, March 11 - Sunday, March 19, 2006
Saturday, May 27 - Sunday, June 4, 2006
Cochise County, Arizona.
A Volunteer Meeting will take place on Tuesday, September 20, 2005. Send an email to info@houstonculture.org for more information.

Smithsonian Folklife Festival
Friday, June 30 - Wednesday, July 5, 2006
Wednesday, July 5 - Monday, July 10, 2006
Washington, DC

The Land of Enchantment
Saturday, August 5 - Sunday, August 13, 2006
Gallup, New Mexico

El dia de los muertos (The Day of the Dead)
Monday, October 30 - Sunday, November 5, 2005
Taxco, Mexico

For more information, call 713-521-3686, or email info@houstonculture.org.



Thank you for supporting great educational and cultural activities.

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A  n  n @houstonculture.org

Ann Wang, Editor

Contributors:
Mark Lacy


Houston Institute for Culture
5555 Morningside #204
Houston, Texas 77005

http://www.houstonculture.org