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CommonGood E-News What's happening in social justice, social action and community outreach in Dare County, Currituck Outer Banks and Lower Currituck.
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Currituck Barco Library Presents:
February 21, 2009. 2:00 p.m.
America without Indians: 
An Imaginary Journey
with David LaVere, PhD.
Dr. LaVere helps his audience understand the role of Native Americans in the development of the Western Hemisphere and discusses how our lives would be different if Indians had not existed.
David LaVere is a professor in the department of history at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington. Read more about him here. |
Make the Plunge
Make sure you're freezin' for a reason this winter! Plunge into the icy waters of the Atlantic Ocean and warm your heart knowing you've raised funds for thousands of Special Olympics North Carolina athletes. Brave the cold waters of the Atlantic Ocean on Saturday, February 21, 2009. Registration begins at 10:00am, Plunge starts at 2:00pm! Join the fun... we dare you! Location is Comfort Inn South, 8031 Old Oregon Inlet Road, Nags Head, NC
Inter Coastal Realty and Saga Construction are sponsoring the NC Statewide Polar Plunge to raise funds for the Law Enforcement Torch Run for Special Olympics.
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Write a Blessing or Wish for the Nation
The Interfaith Alliance, together with our friends at Brahma Kumaris, will collect Blessings and Wishes for a Nation through March 2009. As a part of the Cherry Blossom Festival celebrations, we will include them in the Tree of Blessings and, we will present a bound Blessings and Wishes for a Nation book to the new Administration in early April.
 Write a message of good wishes to be included as part of the Blessings and Wishes for a Nation. They are for you, your family, your community, your nation and the world. Sit for a moment. What do you want for this nation? Visualize it. Feel it. Now, take those feelings and express them in words. This is your blessing or wish.
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Mardi Gras Parade and Part to benefit
Fat Tuesday, is Tuesday, February 24th, and is the final day of Mardi Gras celebrations through out the world. This year you can celebrate Mardi Gras right here on The Outer Banks at Seagate North Shopping Center and Saltwater's Grill located at MP 5 � on the By-Pass in Kill Devil Hills.
The local celebration sponsored by Outer Banks Parrot Head Club, will include a New Orleans style Mardi Gras parade, including floats, Beads and Doubloons thrown to spectators, and music by our own local group " Just Playn' Dixieland". The parade will step off at 5:30 PM, Island Time, and will take place entirely inside the shopping center parking lot, which is very well lit. During the parade The Pirates will be selling Mardi Gras Beads, coming direct from New Orleans, with profits being donated to Gem Respite Services of Nags Head for it's Alzheimer's programs. In case of inclement weather "Just Playn' Dixieland" will move the music inside Saltwater's and beads will be thrown to those entering.
At 6:30 PM the activities will begin inside Saltwater's and will feature live music by The Calypso Nuts. Admission to the activities inside Saltwater's are free, but we do request that you bring a donation of non-perishable food for The Beach Food Pantry and/or pet food for Coastal Humane Society.
They still have a few openings for units to participate in the parade, so if you have a group, a float, or an antique car please let us know so we can save a space for you.
For additional information contact Richard Romano 255-1757.
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Black History Month
In honor of Black History month, I thought I would share with you three of my favorite books with reviews from Publishers Weekly.
A Mercy by Toni Morrison:
Nobel laureate Morrison returns more explicitly to the net of pain cast by slavery, a theme she detailed so memorably in Beloved. Set at the close of the 17th century, the book details America's untoward foundation: dominion over Native Americans, indentured workers, women and slaves. A slave at a plantation in Maryland offers up her daughter, Florens, to a relatively humane Northern farmer, Jacob, as debt payment from their owner. The ripples of this choice spread to the inhabitants of Jacob's farm, populated by women with intersecting and conflicting desires. Jacob's wife, Rebekka, struggles with her faith as she loses one child after another to the harsh New World. A Native servant, Lina, survivor of a smallpox outbreak, craves Florens's love to replace the family taken from her, and distrusts the other servant, a peculiar girl named Sorrow. When Jacob falls ill, all these women are threatened. Morrison's lyricism infuses the shifting voices of her characters as they describe a brutal society being forged in the wilderness. Morrison's unflinching narrative is all the more powerful for its relative brevity; it takes hold of the reader and doesn't let go until the wrenching final-page
Blood Done Sign My Name: A True Story by Timothy B. Tyson In this outstanding personal history, Tyson, a professor of African-American studies who's white, unflinchingly examines the civil rights struggle in the South. The book focuses on the murder of a young black man, Henry Marrow, in 1970, a tragedy that dramatically widened the racial gap in the author's hometown of Oxford, N.C. Tyson portrays the killing and its aftermath from multiple perspectives, including that of his contemporary, 10-year-old self; his progressive Methodist pastor father, who strove to lead his parishioners to overcome their prejudices; members of the disempowered black community; one of the killers; and his older self, who comes to Oxford with a historian's eye. He also artfully interweaves the history of race relations in the South, carefully and convincingly rejecting less complex and self-serving versions ("violence and nonviolence were both more ethically complicated-and more tightly intertwined-than they appeared in most media accounts and history books").
Song Yet Sung by James McBride
Escaped slaves, free blacks, slave-catchers and plantation owners weave a tangled web of intrigue and adventure in bestselling memoirist (The Color of Water) McBride's intricately constructed and impressive second novel, set in pre-Civil War Maryland. Liz Spocott, a beautiful young runaway slave, suffers a nasty head wound just before being nabbed by a posse of slave catchers. She falls into a coma, and, when she awakes, she can see the future-from the near-future to Martin Luther King to hip-hop-in her dreams. Liz's visions help her and her fellow slaves escape, but soon there are new dangers on her trail: Patty Cannon and her brutal gang of slave catchers, and a competing slave catcher, nicknamed The Gimp, who has a surprising streak of morality. Liz has some friends, including an older woman who teaches her The Code that guides runaways; a handsome young slave; and a wild inhabitant of the woods and swamps. Kidnappings, gunfights and chases ensue as Liz drifts in and out of her visions, which serve as a thoughtful meditation on the nature of freedom and offer sharp social commentary on contemporary America. McBride hasn't lost his touch: he nails the horrors of slavery as well as he does the power of hope and redemption
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Events and Activities listed may not represent the position of the editor, every organization, sponsor or subscriber. Please submit articles for publications plus attached photographs to nancy203@gmail.com by Tuesday prior to publication date.
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Nancy Proctor | | | |
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