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Questions: www.novabos ton.org Email: info@novabosto n.org Call: 617-858-5286
The Networking Organization for Vietnamese Americans will be hosting the 8th Trung Thu Festival, also known as the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival. In a typical year, the festival is held at Town Field Park in September and is open for all to celebrate and learn about this Vietnamese holiday. Imagine a small-scale Topsfield fair with lanterns and local flair. There are lion dances, singing and dancing performances, demonstrations, storytelling skits, lantern-making contests, food vendors, and free giveaways for children ranging from school supplies, toys, fun raffles, and lanterns. It’s been a great way to kick off the school year. Historically, Tet Trung Thu is a holiday in Vietnam that celebrates the harvest and family gatherings. It is also known as a children’s festival where children participate in parades while carrying unique lanterns. People also pay homage to the moon, drink tea, and listen to poetry and songs. Mooncakes or bánh trung thu are often gifted and shared amongst family and friends. These pastries come in a variety of flavors and consist of lotus seeds, ground beans, and orange peels, with a special bright egg yolk center meant to represent the moon. Curious to try this delicacy? Several businesses and grocery shops in Dorchester already offer bánh trung thu including Ba Mi Ba Le, Nhu Lan Restaurant, and Bep Bui. This year, the Trung Thu Festival will take place on September 26, 2020. You can follow @novaboston on Instagram or Facebook as well as novaboston.org for more information relating to the festival. —Thuy Nguyen
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An Independent Arts & Culture Guide
NOTES FROM
THE CREW
Hey everyone! My name is Yari and I’m currently a senior at Hampshire College over in Amherst, Massachusetts studying Artivism, Community Organizing, and Latinx Studies. For the summer of 2020, I was looking to learn from an arts organization that was deeply involved in serving Black and Brown communities. I was fortunate enough to work alongside the Brain Arts and Dorchester Art Project team as their Programming Intern. As an intern, I learned about the behind the scenes work that Brain Arts and Dorchester Art Project do to support BIPOC artists in the Fields Corner area and beyond. I was welcomed into their space with open arms and respect, and through their support I’ve gained valuable knowledge in further understanding how to engage with communities I want to serve. They continue to push the importance of artists and investing in the community, and I walk away from this experience feeling grateful and inspired.
I hope to continue to produce public art in my communities that represent and serve the people. Shoutout to BAO Co-Directors Sam Potrykus and Emma Leavitt for giving me this opportunity and supporting all the interns and team through this crazy pandemic!
------- YARI BUSHELL
MENDING
“This land of mine remains safe and tranquil.” stigma stems from slavery - Black people -Buddha, The Lotus Sutra weren’t seen as sophisticated enough to have mental illness. Symptoms are labeled “Mending” is a sequel to pieces in my series, with words like ‘tiredness’ and ‘stress.’ Over “Surviving in Isolation: The Black Mental time this, along with survival mentality due Health Experience.” “Mending” documents to intergenerational trauma, led to the idea my own experiences with self-healing/self- of mental illness as a weakness. The piece advocacy for my mental health. I used this further discusses how, when Black people piece to represent how finding self-worth, seek help, professionals can be culturally recognizing my racial trauma as legitimate, insensitive, ignorant, and blatantly racist; and utilizing spiritual practices as a Buddhist, Black people mostly depend on community, helped me begin my healing journey. I couldn’t spirituality, and family instead. Black find professionals in my community that were communities are 20% more likely to report not uncomfortable with my experiences. I also acute psychological distress than white adults faced ableism from my own family. Struggling (via U.S Department of Health and Human with racism, gaslighting, and isolation due to Services Office of Minority Mental Health), a racially insensitive, majority white, Christian and experience mental and physical strife community for years, I decided to look within frequently. It’s crucial to develop accessible myself as a start for my healing. resources catering to the Black mental health There’s a deep-seated problem in the Black experience to save Black lives. community where those with mental illness are shamed into silence. Many fear mental If you’re a Black person struggling with illness because we deal with various forms of mental health, seek these resources: discrimination already. therapyforblackgirls.com “Much of the pushback against seeking therapyforblackmen.com treatment stems from ideas along the lines henry-health.com of: We have survived so much adversity and ayanatherapy.com (upcoming) now someone is going to say that there’s --------------- ARAMANTHIA SEPIA something wrong with us.” -Clinical Associate Professor Ruth White See Amaranthia’s personal essay “…A Black McLean Hospital’s article, “How Can We 20 Year Old’s Experience with Racial Trauma” Break Mental Health Barriers in Communities and other artworks here: www.linktr.ee/_ of Color?” discusses how Black mental health cutiehipsterart_
This month, I’m continuing on the theme of media literacy to help readers navigate beyond the binary of corporate media. Last month, I offered a resource (the website AllSides.com) to help readers navigate bias in the news they consume. Everything you read has some level of bias (can you guess what mine is???). I want to reinforce that just having a bias—or a guiding philosophy to your work—is not a bad thing. It’s sometimes even a healthy part of a free press. But corporate media outlets (and even some smaller outlets I’ve seen) live and die by their ideological biases that are often manufactured for political or financial gain—think: Fox News (far right) versus CNN (which, honestly, pretends it’s far left, but is pretty much moderate for the rest of the world on economic issues). The way bias is weaponized by these outlets turns what should be a far more natural part of a national conversation into a divisive political tool. It’s successful because news consumers have slowly been conditioned to believe bias doesn’t exist, as long as what they’re reading is the side they agree with. Because they fail to recognize bias, consumers of news may overlook important viewpoints missing from the coverage. Even more nefarious, outlets try to justify these omissions by convincing us the other side is wrong, totally immoral, and not worth even our consideration. And sometimes it is! Other times, however, you may be surprised by the sheer mundanity of what’s been censored. So this month, I want to talk about one particular kind of bias that is becoming increasingly evident to me, and how listeners can find ways around it. In his book Hate, Inc.: Why Today’s Media Makes Us Despise One Another, Rolling Stone journalist Matt Taibbi documents an important transition in media. In the last several decades, reporting went from being a working class profession to one in which less than 10% of the workforce comes from working class backgrounds. He writes: “The internet accelerated the class divide... In the digital age, it made more sense to design coverage for a sliver of upper class readers across the country, who could afford subscriptions and responded to ads, than the whole bulk of readers in a geographic area around Boston, New York, Washington or LA. Because news organizations were targeting those audiences, it made sense to pick reporters who came from those ranks, as well.”
As someone who splits their time between farming/food retail and journalism, I’ve felt this disconnect for a while. The absence of working class voices in our news—or when it is present, its distortion to fit an elitist agenda—is deepening at an alarming pace. Unfortunately, and as a progressive I hate to say this, this phenomenon is more common on the left than it is on the right for reasons you can find documented in Thomas Frank’s What’s the Matter with Kansas? The growing divide between those who write the news and those who live it has become particularly unbearable in the age of Covid-19, as journalists, from the comfort of their homes, continue to day dream articles piling on endless layers of PPE and invasive technology into every crevice of our lives without fully reckoning with the implications. In a recent article for National Geographic, one such writer gleefully described the hazmat suits airline attendants might soon have to wear as “flashy” and “medical chic,” as well as the cavalier description of an airport in Hong Kong that plans to require visitors and airport workers to enter a “negative pressure pod” that “performs a 40-second treatment with ‘nano needles,’ photocatalyst technology, and a sanitizing spray.” Is that what it will take to keep us safe from Covid-19? The answer to that question didn’t seem to matter as much as the star power of the protocols being referenced, like the creeping facial recognition and tracking technologies. Shouldn’t it concern our reporters what this frightening, new world will feel like for the people actually working in those institutions, as well as the consumers who must interact with it daily? These frontline jobs were hard before the PPE. It is a fact that they are harder now, but pay the same as before. You’d think this journalist, a fashion and style writer who in all likelihood wrote this article in her pajamas, might consider reaching out to those at the frontlines, but instead, the only sources referenced were university professors, CEOs for the tech companies, and airline companies PR teams. A full court press omission of the working class perspective is not only incredibly uncommon, it’s also dangerously subtle to detect for the average reader. So don’t fall for it. Ask questions. Demand answers.
------------------------------ KARINE VANN
ADVICE FOR
LOVERS
Q: So I recently broke up with my fiancé... it’s been about a month now and my closest friends and family know about it. I haven’t told my more estranged dad and his side of the family and they’ve recently been asking about me and my ex-partner. I don’t really know how to handle telling them because I’m doing really well and my chosen family trusts me, but my other bio fam is really complicated. It’s gonna be a thing where they all check up on me and position me as sad and a victim. How do I tell them? So far I’ve just ignored it…
the worse it is going to get, whether we are talking about communication with your family or just basic things with a partner. Because your family seems to be inquiring, and there is a conversation set up to mention what is going on, it may be easier than you think compared to if you had to bring it up yourself. I don’t know the details of your bio fam’s dynamic with you but it’s okay to speak confidently, explain yourself, and lay a line down. Maybe you don’t want too many questions involving the details or your feelings but be sure to give them security with the information you deliver. A: This is a situation that calls for the ol’ rip-off- Set your boundaries and plead the 5th if it the-bandaid method. For anything having to gets wild. do with relationships— the longer you ignore
--------- XOXO HEART SOAKED
TRASH IS
TRAGIC
Every year in late summer, I develop an urgent need to... do shit. I think I know why. In the waning weeks of August, the spirits of my ancestors return. They claw inside my 21stcentury mozzarella cheese brain and sound an alarm. “Quit jerkin’ it, sweet summer child. The harvest is here!” “Waah,” say I. “You ancestors and your fucking harvests. Harvests. Are. Cancelled. I don’t have a root cellar. Canning is for prairie folk. I live in a tiny-ass apartment in a dumbass city built on a goddamned swamp. What do you want from me?” “Look inside yourself,” they reply. “I mean, look inside the freezer.” The freezer. Where summer’s bounty can suspend in a deep sleep until winter when we need it most. Sadly, the average freezer’s contents usually fall into two categories: 1. Packaged food your roommate forgot about, and 2. Liquor. Can we admit that this isn’t the most inspired use of precious fridge space? Clear it out. Stock up on your favorite fruits and vegetables at the farmer’s market. With minimal prep work, you will spend winter enjoying locally grown summer produce in smoothies, stir-fries, salads, and bakes. Package-free. STOCK UP ON “SECONDS” Stocking up on a bunch of produce at once can be prohibitively expensive. You can purchase and freeze small quantities throughout the growing season. Or you can go the bulk route. Ask a farmer at your nearby market if they sell “seconds.” Seconds are discounted produce, usually sold in bulk. They’re completely edible but visually distressed—bruised, for example, or spotted. Not a problem. Food stored in the freezer doesn’t need to be camera-ready.
ROASTED TOMATOES A versatile culinary powerhouse. Preheat the oven to 275 degrees Fahrenheit. Quarter tomatoes, or halve if very small. Arrange on a cookie sheet. Optional: smash up some garlic cloves and sprinkle over top. Slow cook in the oven for 1.5 - 2 hours, or until softened, sweet, and roasted. When cool, transfer tomatoes and juices into jars. Leave an inch or two at the top so the tomatoes can expand when frozen. Store in the freezer. Enjoy for a year or more. BERRIES Arrange berries in a single layer on a tray that fits in your freezer, such as a cookie sheet. Place it in the freezer. Once frozen, transfer berries into a container or cloth bag. Store in the freezer. Enjoy for a year or more. PEACHES AND NECTARINES Cut the fruit. It’s up to you - halves, quarters, or slices. Make a lemon water bath, using a 1:4 ratio of lemon juice to water. Toss cut fruit in the bath. This will prevent it from browning. Arrange the bathed fruit on a cookie sheet in a single layer. Place the cookie sheet in the freezer. Once frozen, transfer into jars. Store in the freezer for a year or more. PEPPERS Remove stems and seeds. Slice peppers however you like. Arrange pepper slices in a single layer on a cookie sheet, and place it in the freezer. Once frozen, transfer peppers into a container. Store it in the freezer. Enjoy for a year or more.
------------------ MELANIE BERNIER
THE TAROT
FORECAST
The Tarot Forecast is a look at the month ahead in a tarot spread. You’ll notice several cup cards this month. Cups represent water and emotions, so allow yourself plenty of space for feelings. For the month of September, I pulled the King of Cups. The King of Cups gracefully balances masculine and feminine energy. The King is open-minded, diplomatic, and compassionate towards all. As the summer ends, take time to reflect: Are you in touch with yourself? Are you allowing yourself to feel the wide spectrum of emotions you have? Remember, there is dignity in feeling. This card also reminds us that those who deprive themselves of emotions can often be overrun with insecurities, or emotionally manipulative to others. So feel your feels. The full moon on September 2 brings another emotional card to contemplate: The VIII of Cups. This card says it’s time to walk away from broken things and broken people on the September full moon. It might be a difficult transition to just drop everything and leave, but there are too many missing pieces to make things whole again. If you need permission to leave a job, a relationship, or a mentality behind, here it is. Once you leave the toxicity, you’ll be able to find something richer, something whole. The card for the new moon on September 17 is the IV of Swords. This card swoops in to tell you to rest your mind, or you’ll burn out. It’s time to find stillness in your life. Go someplace quiet, turn off your phone, and just sit for 30
minutes. A meditation practice, journaling for reflection, or just some simple solitude will be helpful for you now. If you’re feeling restless, it’s because you have been lacking rest. Calm your mind. Then you’ll be able to tap into your intuition and see everything clearly. September 22 marks the Fall Equinox, a day of balance. I pulled the V of Cups, which is a card of deep sadness and disappointment. Are you surprised? So many things have changed; this summer was not what anyone anticipated back in March. And yet, the V of Cups reminds us that disappointment in others and in ourselves comes from setting expectations too high. Allow yourself to be sad, and grieve for all the people and things you’ve lost in 2020. But then be realistic. What can the rest of this year still offer you? How can you make do with the current reality? Let go of expectations and adapt to your surroundings. IX of Pentacles is the card of guidance for September. This card is about adding a little bit of luxury into your life, but that doesn’t mean spending all your money on something you don’t need. Allow yourself some time to take a long walk in the park, cook your favorite meal, or put on a nice outfit, even if it’s just for you. Start looking for luxury in the everyday. You’ll find happiness if you seek it.
------------------NAOMI WESTWATER
Hey all, Cory here. How are you? I’m worried. I’m also an artist, Earth dweller, and member of the Arts Working Group of Extinction Rebellion Boston (XR). XR is a decentralized, global activist organization fighting for environmental justice, honest reporting on climate change, peoplecentered decision making, and immediate action to curb climate destruction. In this column, I mostly write about art’s power to communicate social urgency. I also try to share some of my feelingwaves and learningburps in activism. It’s mid-August and I’m typing this on a sunscreen-greased laptop sitting in the grass. This is one of those eerie, beautiful summer moments when nothing seems wrong. Temp mid-70s, sky light blue, slight breeze. Greenery dry but still mostly green. People on the street taking it slow. A pervasive feeling of ease. I am very, very uncomfortable. I don’t think most of my neighbors know how much danger we’re in. The next house over still has maskless parties that wind up indoors. This area hasn’t had a lot of infections, and we haven’t experienced major storm damage in a while either. Grocery stores are well-stocked. COVID-19 is largely invisible until you or someone you know starts suffering from symptoms. Climate change is largely invisible unless you’ve been hit by catastrophic weather events or food system failures, and have the information to connect these things with fossil fuel emissions, colonialism, and abuse of farmland by Big Agriculture. Yet, these emergencies are everywhere, right now, permeating our lives and foretelling global disaster within our lifetimes.
Art has many powers. One of its strongest is the ability to manifest an idea. Images, songs, sounds, and forms can show solutions and force people to look at existing problems. Show not tell. Extinction Rebellion was founded upon the view that environmental organizing aimed at and through politics has failed. We need active resistance to corporate control and the status-quo-nosedive of governments. It needs to come from the people, at every level of society and culture. I look around me. There are several nice lawns, American flags, a Ring security system, and general, gentle hubbub. What’s next? If you’d like to help us manifest some beautiful disruption, check out our “Emergency Everywhere” campaign. It’s a spread-out push within Massachusetts cities and towns to force declarations of climate emergency and fossil fuel divestment. Each local effort will hinge on art and public messaging—flyering, wheat-pasting, singing out sleeping senators at 6 a.m., demonstrating with pink boats and big puppets, etc. www.xrmass.org/wiki/ emergency-everywhere/ The clock is ticking on human survival—it’s why there’s an hourglass in our frickin logo. I’d rather see THAT symbol on my neighbor’s lawn. It’s dire, but it’s honest, and reality is what I want to fight for. <3 Cory xrmass.org
---------------------------------------------- CORY
GENTRIFICATION
OF DORCHESTER
GENTRIFICATION FROM A DORCHESTER FAMILY’S PERSPECTIVE When I was a child taking a drive with my family, I remember thinking we were in a completely different town. I asked my father, “Daddy, where are we?” He answered “Dorchester.” I replied, “but Daddy, this doesn’t look anything like where we live, and I thought we lived in Dorchester.” “Well Joye,” he said, “this ain’t our part, this is the white part.” My sister was interviewing for her medical residency. Everyone was sharing where they were from. Upon my sister saying Dorchester, a white male turned to the table and said “don’t ever go there, it’s really dangerous.” White flight is white people moving out of urban areas with a significant amount of racial minorities and into suburban areas. My family moved out of Boston due in part to the racist brutalities during Boston Bussing (1974-1988) which was enacted to desegregate Boston public schools. When my mother would go out in these suburban areas, she was met with distaste and police being called on her for going on an afternoon stroll with her babies. A large part of this racist system described above is gentrification. It is alive and well here in Boston. When white people move into predominantly minority neighborhoods, why do we as a city encourage it when all it seems to do is create larger separations in racial demographics? I’m asked, “don’t you want the neighborhood to be better? Isn’t it good that they’re fixing things up?” Most definitely! Not in promoting separation but inclusivity. Where is the city when predominately minorities live amongst the abandoned buildings, lots, and deteriorating roads? Why is there now this urgency to “build a better Boston,” only when it’s apparent that Dorchester is suddenly attractive to more of a white demographic.
It’s amazing the swiftness in development that can happen when white people start to take an interest. My family’s journey to property ownership was not easy. It involved endless calls to bank presidents and lawyers to get a reason why we got rejected during the buying process, because they just labeled their rejection as “other”. Knowing and over-explaining our rights, sending letters, stressing, fighting, and most importantly not accepting “NO” for an answer to finally get what seems so easily accessible to the white demographic. Gentrification looks like the defamation of predominantly minority neighborhoods being suddenly changed to praise when non-white people are pushed out. It looks like luxury condos next door to the projects. It looks like the beginning of Centre Street from Jackson Square in Jamaica Plain, going towards Forest Hills, with Whole Foods as the landmark for the obvious separation. The lack of safe street signage and street maintenance in my neighborhood never seemed cause for concern to the city while I was growing up. These decisions are based on what is similar to colonization. The changes for the “better” are not for all but for the demographic of white occupancy. Now the minorities should leave, and they should longer benefit in the neighborhood they are from? Why? Because it feeds into a system that has historically displaced minorities through strategic and intentional efforts that perpetuate segregation based on the racist thought that we are not equal, that we are inferior and therefore considered undeserving. This dangerously dumb thought translates into housing discrimination, redlining, and community displacement.
------------------------ JOYE WILLIAMS
MORE AT BRAIN-ARTS.ORG
ADVOCACY
ART ACTIVISM TOOL KIT by Brain Arts staffers which features resources for political activism and education, as well as Black and Brown creatives to support. www.brain-arts.org/blog Refuse Fascism Boston - UNITED NATIONWIDE MASS PROTESTS – TRUMP PENCE OUT NOW! 9/5 4pm Copley Square Support Soul Fire Farm - Soul Fire Farm is a BIPOC*-centered community farm committed to ending racism and injustice in the food system. www.soulfirefarm.org/ Culture House is hiring! Volunteer and internship opportunities also available. www.culturehouse.cc/contact/#join-us We, Ceremony A digital platform that uses storytelling to empower and celebrate women of color. www.weceremony.com Follow FTP Boston for information on rallies, protests, efforts, and more to continue the fight to defund the police and fund our low income and POC communities @ftpboston Violence In Boston works to improve the quality of life & life outcomes of individuals from disenfranchised communities by reducing the prevalence of violence and the impact of associated trauma. Learn more and get assistance at www.violenceinboston.org @violenceinboston Power to the People “Our mission is to empower black community by acknowledging the importance of supporting Black owned businesses & returning power back to the people.” Black Empowerment Rally August 29th, Town Field, Dorchester. @__pttp Stage Source - A POC and queer led organization creating opportunities and building a diverse community for New England artists. Find out more, including a detailed list of anti-racism resources in a variety of mediums here: www.stagesource.org/page/anti-racism Follow The Other Boston! In their own words, they “highlight the #BlackBoston experience, create community thru our weekly events list + showcase our pride through our merch line” Follow Survivor Theatre Project for online events and opportunities that suppor women, queer, and POC voices. More info on IG @survivortheatreproject Center for Teen Empowerment encouraging and advocating for youth involvement in social change and political movements specifically for low income and POC in greater Boston www.teenempowerment.org/ Stavros’ Transition to Adulthood Program is an amazing resource for youth (14-22) with disabilities. They provide a number of resources as well as assistance to help youth make this difficult transition, and attempt to combat the excess challenges that youth with disabilities face. www.stavros.org STEPS’ Young Adult Resource Center is an all-encompassing resource for youth in need of
assistance. They teach a number of different life skills as well as providing a safe and accepting community for young adults. www.waysideyouth.org The Transformation Center works specifically to help decrease the stigma around mental illness and provide support for those in need. In addition, they have a peer mentorship program that can be helpful for both those currently struggling and those who have in the past. The program connects struggling youth with adults (18+) who are in recovery. www.transformation-center.org The Boston Area Rape Crisis Center (BARCC) is a resource that provides legal support, medical advocacy, counseling, and a 24/7 hotline. Further, they have a Youth Leadership Corps (YLC) dedicated to increasing education surrounding sexual violence and healthy relationships which is a great opportunity for Boston high schoolers. www.barcc.org
MUSIC & AUDIO Packlight Pillowtalk Music Series @ DAP every third Thursday starting 8/20 7-9pm August guests are Amanda Shea (Artist•️Spoken Word•Manager•Mentor•Host•Organizer•Radio Host) and Emmanuel Escobar (Multi Instrumentalist•Homeschool Dad/Advocate•Educator #BLM) **Search and Stream Live on Facebook + Youtube** New Shit Show (NSS) w/Oompa every Sunday at 6pm ABOUT NSS: The New Sh*t Show aims to turn the unexpected consequences of 2020 on its head, by instead of prioritizing productivity, finding the magic in imperfection, and being bad at things. The show consists of live performances by Oompa, weekly New Sh*t Challenges, prompts, interviews with featured guests, and open mic guests. DJ WhySham “FINALLY” Album release party and listening session! Online. Sunday September 6th, 2020 7-10pm All Ages Free Register for this event on Eventbrite. Co-Incidence Festival 2021 Applications are now open! Apply now to join this long running experimental music and visual art fest! coincidencefestival.com/application BAO in collaboration with Save the Harbor presents a beats contest! Use beach sounds sampled by local producers LDER and Rilla Force to create a unique track. Submissions will be judged by Oompa! $200 prize for the winner. Contest closes 9/7! For more info, visit www. savetheharbor.org/beats GoodMusicShowcaseSeries DJ Alcide hosts local talent with videos and live streams. Signup info: alcidemusic@gmail.com IG @goodmusicshowcaseseries SOS: So Saafyr album release party! Monday 9/7 Follow @leilahvision @lyricsbyeva @life_size_banks @redshaydez1 for more info! MFA Presents Latinx Heritage Night! Live music and dance performances plus galleries exploring works of art from North, Central, and South America. 9/16 4pm-10pm Free
Sad Milk Collective out of Lowell is finishing up new music with new releases from Inspector 34, Squash, Dad Doxxer, Idol Brain, Kofi the Spiderman, and more! sadmilkcollective.bandcamp. com/ Boston Got Next has an independent record label! Check it out at: www.bostongotnext.com/ The Creative Music Series presents Dylan Jack Trio @Assemby Square (Somerville) 9/5 5-7pm Cake Factory ambient and experimental live streams! www.cakefactory.party/main Punk Rock Aerobics is BACK featuring at home exercise set to a rotating playlist of all things punk! Follow @punk_rock_aerobics for updates and upcoming streams HER MUSE Collective: DJ series Thursdays and Sundays every week & tutorials/informative videos from womxn & ally artists all around the globe! @hermusecollective LFOD Radio features regular livestreams of music and all forms of artistic expression Follow them @lofodradio Spark Radio with DJ WhySham: Every Tuesday/Thursday from 1-3pm - Live from DAP! www.sparkfmonline.com/ Non-Event: experimental, abstract, improvised, and new music happenings. Scope Non-Event’s Youtube channel. Live streams every Friday. Feel it Speak it: Boston’s only monthly open mic movement dedicated to voices & experiences of the LGBTQ+ communities of color every Thursday. www.zoom.us/j/662513689 Meeting ID: 662 513 689 @feelit_speakit Follow Black Cotton Club for virtual open mics, community information and more! www.facebook.com/BlackCottonClub/ @BlackCottonClub Off Land: Experimental and ambient music livestreams! www.twitch.tv/offlandia/schedule Club Passim Livestreams! Folk, americana, acoustic sets, and more. Check the continually developing schedule at www.passim.org/ stream
VIDEO & FILM Crossroads 2020 is a radical, independent California experimental film festival and it’s all online this year! Check it out. www.sfcinematheque.org/ video-programs/crossroads-2020-program-4/ Arts Equity Summit archived videos on Youtube from Arts Connect International! ACI “partners with emerging artist leaders of color, and arts influencers who hold institutional power in the arts & culture sector, to collectively build equity, access, and inclusion through transformational leadership development.” Search on YouTube Somerville Media Center Podcast Series in September! How to start, run and promote your own podcast. Several sessions: Recording Your Podcast at Home (September 16) Editing Your Podcast (September 23) Hosting and Distributing Your Podcast (September 30) Somerville Media Center Free Tutorials on graphics and film
editing, music editing and production, and more! www.somervillemedia.org/classes/tutorials/ Weird Local Film Festival goes virtual! Check out the first two virtual DIY film short showcases and look out for more. Open to submissions. Scope Weird Local Productions on Youtube Follow @weirdlocalfilmfestival The LEF New England newsletter shares local filmmaker opportunities each month at www. lef-foundation.org
VISUAL & ART Drawing Together is live on Zoom with MassArt Art Museum (MAAM). Check out past recordings and follow their calendar for upcoming opportunities. maam.massart.edu/events Check out BostonAPP Lab for public art and other community opportunities. I their words, BostonAPP Lab “is a “brainstorming hub” for new collaborations, civic engagement opportunities, and supporting arts in Greater Boston’s public places” www.bostonapp.org/ Check out Beacon Gallery’s online art exhibitions and blog! beacongallery.wordpress.com/ Follow Boston CyberArts @bostoncyberarts “We recently launched a new series only available on our Instagram highlighting artists doing important and exciting work at the intersection of art and technology. www.bostoncyberarts.org/ Boston Arts Festival 9/12 and 9/13 “The Boston Arts Festival is now run by the organizers of the Beacon Hill Art Walk and Artists Crossing Gallery, and will launch Boston’s Arts Open Studios season featuring more than 70 juried local visual artists, craftspeople, and local musicians performing on the Waterfront Stage throughout the day.” thebostonartsfestival.com/ Art on the Marquee About Art on the Marquee: Boston Cyberarts and the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority have teamed up to create “Art on the Marquee,” an ongoing project to commission public media art for display on the new 80-foot-tall multi-screen LED marquee outside the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center in South Boston. The largest urban screen in New England, this unique digital canvas is one of the first of its kind in the U.S. to integrate art alongside commercial and informational content as part of the MCCA’s longstanding neighborhood art program. Artists currently on display include Xia Rondeau + Emma Dunlop, Melissa Teng + Sopheak Sam, Cierra Michele Peters + Autumn Ahn, Sarah Brophy + Katherine Chin, and Lani Asuncion + Anne Harris. www.artonthemarquee.com/ artworks/ Roxbury BPL Open call for public artists! Applications due September 9th. www.boston.gov/departments/ arts-and-culture/percent-art-program/roxbury-branch-librarypublic-art-project-ii Regular Calls for Boston Artists The Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture hosts a bi weekly call every other Tuesday at 4pm through June discussing resources for individual artists! Tune in!! www.boston.gov/news/responding-covid-19s-impact-bostonsarts-and-culture-sector Boston Lights: A Lantern Experience - nightly @Franklin Park
Zoo, Thursday through Sunday to November 1st. Experience the wonder of over 50 magnificent displays comprised of hundreds of beautifully crafted lanterns spanning Franklin Park Zoo’s 72 acres. Just Us Somerville a group of residents looking to empower artists of color. Looking for street mural artists! Hit up justussomerville@gmail.com for more info
LITERARY ART Fuck Your Dreams Zine A beautiful collection of art and writings exploring death, decay, and destruction by numerous local artists. Volume 1 out now at www.fuckyourdreamszine.com and @fuckyourdreamszine New surrealist zines by Neil Horsky! www.horskyprojects.com Follow Print Aint Dead for events like their Black Feminist Study Hall which examines crucial written works by Black writers. This past July featured Bilphena from The Womanist Reader and focused on June Jordan’s essay “Many Rivers to Cross”. @print.aint.dead Fellow non-profit Wrong Brain from NH has shared their online zine archive! Check out the collection at www. wrongbrain.net/zine-archive/ wrong-brain-1 Papercut Zine Library is digital! Check out their new virtual library: www.papercutzinelibrary. com/ DigBoston - Boston’s other rad newspaper is back in print after a brief hiatus! Also online at www. digboston.com. Dorchester Reporter Award-winning, weekly neighborhood newspaper still on the streets and online at www. dotnews.com The Bay State Banner - an African American owned news weekly that reports on the political, economic, social and cultural issues that are of interest to African American and English speaking Latinos in Boston and throughout New England. New columns daily at www.baystatebanner.com Sprout Distro - zines on music, culture, social change, advocacy, and more including “12 Things to Do Instead of Calling the Cops” zine! Find them at: sproutdistro.com
PERFORMANCE ART Midway or the Highway: The monthly, recurring open mic night has gone online! Sundays in July: 9/6, 9/13, 9/20, 9/27 Check out www.facebook.com/ groups/675089935951646 for the zoom information! Tiny and Short: Micro Performances “Artists investigate the constrictions of space and time as a means to expand choreographic structures and movement invention, and ultimately how they communicate with audiences. In the open air of Starlight Stage, Tiny & Short: Micro Performances immerses audiences in the exciting and dynamic results of these choreographic challenges. Performances take shape in three ways: 1 minute solos;
taking place solely on a 4 x 4 foot stage; and “short” works of 8 minutes or less.” 9/27 7:30-8:45pm
Fill out the 826 Boston survey for youth fall programming which will be all digital in 2020. www.surveymonkey.com/r/7Z8ZTCZ Tales From the Inside: Storytell826 Boston is a nonprofit youth ing comedians from Boston and beyond. Get out of your head and writing and publishing organiget into someone else’s! Recurring: zation dedicated to empowering traditionally underserved 8pm on 9/2, 9/9, 9/16, 9/23, students ages 6-18 to find their 9/30 voices, tell their stories, and gain www.thecomedystudio.com/ communication skills to succeed broadcast in school and in life. www. 826boston.org Illusions The Drag Brunch Boston - Drag Queen Brunch Show! Volunteers needed for NeponSeptember 6, 13, 20, 27 set River Fall Cleanup! “The perfect combination of 9/26 9am-11am spectacular burlesque style and Join NepRWA staff and voluncomedy performances” teers as we clean up the waterCheck out the Open Theatre Proj- fronts and parklands that have provided us with recreational ect! www.theopentheatre.com/ opportunities and beautiful visThe Open Theatre Project was tas over the spring and summer formed to transform lives and build thriving communities through months. high-quality theatrical experiences. www.neponset.org/cleanup2020/ We are dedicated to providing artistic opportunities which allow Free Rapid HIV Testing the expression of diverse ideas Geiger Gibson Community to traditional and non-traditional Health Center is located at 250 audiences. Mount Vernon Street in Dorchester. The closest T stop is JFK/ Umass on the Red Line and the number 8 bus. There is a parking Constructing Queer Community What does Queer Boston mean to lot behind the health center. For questions, message us on Faceyou? Constructing Queer Combook or call 617-533-2236. munity is a chance to build and 9/24 3pm strengthen our community during this period of isolation. Follow, learn more, and sign up for online Savor the Square presents Roxbury Family Festival @Nubian events at jotroll.wordpress.com/ Square constructing-queer-community/ September 26th: Roxbury Family Festival (12:00 pm - 3:00 Support Activation Residency’s pm) 2020 project “Respite as ResisSavor the Square events will intance for QTBIPOC” www.activationresidency.com/2020 clude as many local participants and vendors as possible for food, music/entertainment, proCreate the Vote 2020 duce, arts/crafts, book signings, The arts and culture sector needs food demos, MFA workshops to use the current social and and pop-up exhibits, MassArt economic crisis, brought on by SPARC Mobile, exposure to COVID-19 and racial injustice, waterfront cultural institutions, as a catalyst for change and take information tables, and speakers. action to build a more equitable, just future. MASSCreative reCambridge Carnival Internalaunched Create the Vote 2020— tional! Sunday 9/13 its non-partisan, public education “A colorful and festive celebracampaign—with a deeper focus tion rooted in African traditions. on increasing civic engagement and strengthening our democracy. This free festival is celebrating Learn more at www.mass-creative. 27 years this year! The highlight of the festival is a grand costume org parade accompanied by rich Ashmont “Grab and Go” Farmers rhythmic musicality promoting all types of cultures. Participants Market! Every Friday from 3-7pm @Droser Plaza (outside Ashmont T can be seen as revelers masquerading through the streets in station) dazzling handmade costumes, dancing to the beat of the CarniRoxbury Crossing Farmers Marval. The festival is also an opporket Tuesdays and Fridays from 11 am - tunity to celebrate Cambridge’s 7 pm through November 24, 2020 diversity, enjoy international foods, and purchase multicultural crafts from around the world!” Brigham Circle Farmers Market Thursdays from 11 am - 6 pm Codman Square Farmers Marthrough November 19, 2020 ket every Saturday all summer! www.codman.org/wellness-reOut Here 2: More Stories of source/farmers-market/ Homelessness and Transition from the Streets of Downtown Makeshift Boston: School Boston Tuesday, September 1 11:00 AM of Arts and Social Justice! Meetings online every Thursday – 12:00 PM (online) Join the Black Seed Writers Group, at 7pm. “Class topics include poetry, music, mutual aid/direct including founder and editor James Parker, and the Boston Pub- action training, and basic education on racism, trans awareness, lic Library for an online morning disability justice, and fatphobia” of poetry, protest, prayer, witness Check their site for more info and visionary reportage from the and past events: www.makeshiftstreets and shelters of the city. boston.org/events/ What’s Out There Weekend 9/12 and 9/13 Boston’s landscape legacy includes Cambridge Community Center COVID Resources for families myriad parks and plazas, culturand community members. al institutions, historic sites and neighborhoods, and the world-re- www.cambridgecc.org/ covid-19-resources.html nowned Emerald Necklace. Join TCLF for a weekend of free, expert-led tours that will reveal the Check out COVID Grants for Artists through Mass Cultural long history and intricate cultural Council heritage behind this “City on a www.massculturalcouncil. Hill.” org/artists-art/covid-19-rewww.tclf.org/ lief-fund-for-individuals
COMMUNITY
With the uncertainty of Covid-19 and the incompetence of our government, it’s hard to say when live theatre will return as thousands of companies are adapting to digital formats. Even the famous Williamstown Theatre Festival is producing its entire season via Audible. The 2020-2021 season has had a weak start, but as we look towards the fall we see a more fruitful landscape. Here’s a taste of some new shows available now. Look out for our more up-to-date listings on the Boston Compass Blog, along with our picks for FREE theatre streaming online beyond Boston. Tips? Email TheatrescapeBoston@gmail.com Daily Shakespeare on the Common Encores Every single day you can tune into the Commonwealth Shakespeare Company on one of their social media channels for a monologue from a past production by some serious local talent, including John Kuntz, Paula Plum, Jeremiah Kissel, Karen MacDonald, and many more. Commshakes.org Where: Commonwealth Shakespeare Company on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @commshakes 9/3-9/6 Gloucester Stage’s Never Dark Series 2020 Catch the end of this online series with a new play by NPR’s Jack Beatty called Battle Not Begun about the 1938 Munich Pact between Hitler
—CEEK
and British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain. This production is a collaboration with the North Shore’s female-led company, Punctuate4. WHERE: Gloucesterstage.com/battle-not-begun/
new plays. The first season of the podcast just began with their 2018 production of The Usual Unusual by MJ Halberstadt. Worth checking out. WHERE: Linktr.ee/Opentheatreproject
9/13-10/19 Choir Boy From the mind that wrote the movie Moonlight, Alvin McCraney pens another coming-of-age story brought to life with live gospel, spiritual and R&B music. Tickets are limited. Brought to you by the SpeakEasy Stage Company. WHERE: Speakeasystage.com/choirboy/
TBA Company One’s Better Futures Series Each month Company One Theatre focuses on one of the many crises affecting our Boston neighborhoods and brings together artists, community leaders, and policymakers to lead some critical conversations with our community. Check out Episode 01, Episode 02, and Episode 03 on their site to get a better idea, and look out for info on Episode 04. WHERE: CompanyOne.org/better-future-series/
Boston Project Podcast This is a new podcast version of the SpeakEasy Company’s ongoing Boston Project, which works to develop
places you can hang:
four corners in dorchester
I’m sure everyone’s eating habits have been a bit out of whack since the pandemic hit—I know mine certainly have been (who says ice cream isn’t an acceptable breakfast?). I’ve also struggled to find creative ways to move my body these past six months. The combination of sloth and gluttony wasn’t doing anything for my physical or mental health, so I knew I needed to adjust. If you’re like me and looking for a way to change things up and nourish your body with delicious and nutritious food, I would look no further than Oasis Vegan Veggie Parlor located in the Four Corners neighborhood of Dorchester. Oasis is a Black-owned business that has a strong focus on health and wellness, and takes pride in offering affordable, plantbased, made-with-love meals to the surrounding community. As well as the savory lentil stews, wraps, salads and sandwiches that adorn its menu, they also serve an array of delicious vegan baked goods and fruit-based smoothies (the golden milk is divine!). Their counter-service style has translated well in the pandemic, making it easy to pop in for a delectable and life-giving meal to go! Mind, body, and stomach all go hand-in-hand with one another! If you’re seeking a nice stretch after your meal, I recommend checking out Four Corners Yoga, a POC-owned studio that is offering by-donation classes in parks around Boston as well as affordable in-person yoga classes and massages by appointment. Namaste and bon appetit! —e.b.b.
Speak It Until You Believe It, Queen!
What are some activities that are meaningful to you?
Find Meaning It’s not uncommon for mothers to feel this way. After having children priorities change. Time feels like it’s no longer ours. It’s easy for us to forget who we were and what we enjoyed doing before giving birth. I want to talk about my understanding of meaningful activities and how they can improve our mental health. If you have questions or concerns, I encourage you to seek advice from a mental health professional or any other qualified professional. Also, please understand what works for someone may not work for you. What if I told you that meaningful activities can actually improve our mental health? Would you make changes to your daily routine? Would you make the effort to dedicate your time and commit yourself to the activities that are meaningful to you?
Although the question was clear and simple, the answer was foggy and difficult to find. She thought long and hard…
What do I like to do? What brings me joy, healing, and restoration? At one point in time it was the upbeat music that she danced to, the pages of a book she wrapped her mind in, and her career that gave her purpose. Now, the upbeat music sounded more like a whisper hushing her lively movements. Her mind spent very little time with the pages of a book; reading became unfamiliar. The career that gave her purpose became a dreary routine; she felt like she was surviving but not living. She never stopped to think about the activities that were meaningful to her. She never really thought it mattered anyway… After all, she was a mother now. Her priorities changed, her schedule changed, her life changed.
What are Meaningful Activities?
So, It Can Improve Our Mental Health? Yes, I believe it can! Social isolation can negatively affect our minds and our mental health. Extreme social isolation can impact our mood and our ability to cope with stressful situations. However, social activities can decrease loneliness, improve interpersonal skills, and improve our mood! Research has shown that physical activity can also improve mental health by reducing mental health conditions such as depression and anxiety. It can also improve our mood, self esteem and cognitive function. Some other benefits of physical activities are: improved sleep (which can improve our mental alertness), and weight release. Hobbies are a wide range of activities that bring about joy and relaxation. Hobbies can include painting, drawing, gardening, singing, dancing, baking etc. The list goes on and on! By doing what we love we are giving ourselves an outlet to release stress, unwind, feel happier, and relaxed. I want to encourage you amazing mothers out there to explore some activities that are meaningful to you. Remember, tailor them to your own interests, needs, and desires, pay attention to how they make you feel, and dedicate your time to these activities. I will do the same. After all, we are in this together!
Meaningful activities are not activities that are used to just occupy our time or fill the space on our calendar. The key to getting the full benefit from the chosen activity is to understand its purpose. Ask yourself, what is the purpose of this activity? Why am I doing it? What do I hope to get out of this? Meaningful activities can include (but are not limited to) social and physical activities, as well as hobbies. One important thing to note is, a meaningful activity can differ based on the person. We should tailor it to our own needs, desires, and interests.
CARLENE MCNAIR
Want to help make this thing? Boston Compass is produced entirely by volunteers. Email kevin@brain-arts.org if you are interested in being a part of the team!
submit your chillustrations!! send to adrian@brain-arts.org by Emrys @art_ducky_
Rainbow Crayons
by Abigail Neale @lavender_ menace_press
Poetry Comix by Ryan M Valentine @poetry_comix
tear this poster out and put it on a wall! -
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by Naijah Nine @naijahnine
STATING THE STATE OF THE STATE OF THE ART ARTS
Is TikTok Spyware?
I believe all major social media companies are carefully crafted Orwellian casinos, so frankly my take is to avoid them if you can and be sparing with your personal information when you can’t. In other words: yes, TikTok is
R
“I make a mixture of video and audio pieces. I make art to feel alive, to show love to people that I admire, and to make myself excited about expressing ideas.”
'
“…I learned early on that sometimes you can ask for things, borrow equipment and still make stuff. You can make videos on anything...if you have enough patience...”
=
“My cameras are like cameras that are everywhere, in your phone, and I have some old cameras....I really like using VHS/ VCRs and I have a camera from high school that I use. I try to make the most out of the tech that I have.”
' U
Most importantly, there is no precedent for this. The CFIUS (Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States) controls the most power in overseeing sales between the US and foreign companies; the most recent, similar case was the CFIUS brokering the sale of Grindr from a Chinese firm to an American one over similar fears. What didn’t happen was a president targeting that specific app and setting rules for sale; that’s the CFIUS’ job. What can you do? Avoid Tiktok, and while you’re at it stay away from Facebook, Instagram, and other similar social media companies. It’s about time we found alternatives especially in our socially distant new age. Join us on Mastodon at bostonmusic.online!
rene Dongo • reneDongo.com
“I work at ZUMIX as the radio station manager...” “Making art and working are kind of fluid....I’m like a cheerleader for other people’s pieces when making radio shows...and that’s all part of my art practice.”
J
“Recently I got a grant...for a project...with Brittany Thomas in East Boston called ‘Constelación de Historias’...highlighting stories and memories from folks in Eastie. It’s allowed us to focus on it but more importantly given us the chance to pay young people and community members for their contributions.” “If your idea of ‘making it’ is narrow, being on your path might be difficult. If you are flexible and can understand that you are making moves all the time, then you can see the way forward with more ease. Make stuff, find time for yourself, and express that which is real to you....[F]ind what...drives you, contribute to a community that gives you energy, and keep grinding.”
O
neil horsky • horskyProjects.com
an
Is TikTok a security or privacy threat? The answer is muddy but, like any social media, possibly yes. Tiktok, like all other mainstream social media companies, sends all of the information it opaquely collects about you back to its home base. Unlike American companies, it sends all of this information to the Chinese parent company Bytedance. From an NSA standpoint, this is bad. The NSA already has a well-documented spying agreement with all of the major American tech companies known as the PRISM program. Warrants sent to Google, Microsoft, Facebook, et al. by three-letter agencies are often granted without pushback; the process is streamlined. Naturally, the NSA does not have the same relationship with Chinese companies, on the contrary, it is the CCP that does the spying on its own citizens through Chinese companies such as Bytedance.
For one, the trade war with China isn’t officially over, so this could be a direct result of that. Trump has already pushed the blame onto China for COVID-19 since he is unable to accept his own complete failure; this naturally strained relationships since February. The panic over spying could be a legitimate fear, but why now? Could it be that people used TikTok to organize protests against the president? It’s hard to pin it on any singular factor.
interview with
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Currently, during this time of disease and stress, our elected Big Honcho is using his increasingly short time to broker a highly suspect deal over a Chinese social media app popular in the USA: TikTok. The Trump and crony line is: “TikTok is a security and privacy threat to American interests.” But how true is this? Could there be other interests at play here?
spyware, but so is every other social media company by the same metric. I posit that the Trump administration is unjustly targeting this platform for some other reason.
An
B
TikTok is definitely spyware, but it shouldn’t be treated differently than other spyware.
^
Laur a
VV
iscous erses
The Be Lie of Love All the be evil you believe. All the be lie, the lie you be, the living lies you live and be hugged-up with in thy healthy hell of honey, believing in falling, the f-stops and the fucks, strap and shutter, in the be limbs of likeness, like a belief that enters a body then leaves one body for another, environment change, and the bone trust of positions, bent-over in a doorway, lifted and open across the waist, being in earth, not on it, a grade of soft sculpture only pregnancy can reform, no separation, no space, none, all the be lining up, frontal nudity, an amniotic self-timer of morning amnesia, the astral births of another posed argument, too much touch ouch, stomach is machine store, growth flush, food shat down into the ground then shat up from the ground, snatched pocket snacks, bald brain-seed Eden Veggies, what we ate before the foreplay of Creation, before the muses arrived and ruined mood with doom, the senseless abyss of blood sugar drops, Gen Bi Polyamory, who eat throat and drink Black sneeze, Messiah Searching ribbed semen.
by Brett Angell
brain-arts.org
issuu.com/ bostoncccompass
—Thomas Sayers Ellis
PREFERRED CARRIERS
Thomas is the author of The Maverick Room, Skin, Inc: Identity Repair Poems and The Corny Toys as well as the bandleader and co-founder of Heroes Are Gang Leaders, a Literary Free Jazz Ensemble of musicians and poets. Viscous Verses is edited by Art & Letters Magazine - www.artandlettersmagazine.squarespace.com
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