Letting My Pen Bleed is a collection of evocative writings that capture feelings of fear, pain, anticipation and love.
The life of Beverly Jones Davis, an African American, single mother of two and published poet, resembles a roller coaster in slow motion, inching slowly up, only to roll back down. At times in her 27 years, Davis has risen above her circumstances. Despite being diagnosed with Crohn’s disease, she continues to be upbeat, controlling the condition and not allowing it to control her life.
Davis has dreams, of publishing her poetry, starting a clothing design company, sending her children to college.
Elijah’s Coin tells the story of a young man, Tom Wagner, who has suffered a tragic loss and is spiraling out of control. Angry, anti-social, and rapidly descending into a life of crime, he seems lost until a mysterious night watchman, Elijah King, is encountered. With a strange coin Elijah has given him, Tom sets off on a journey of self-discovery. Through coming to know others whose lives were also transformed by Elijah, he begins to find himself. Still, he feels desperate to locate Elijah again—a quest that ultimately leads to a shocking discovery.
Part Two of the story shows how Tom lives the message he has learned, learns to trust his own instincts, and becomes a mentor to other individuals on the verge of being “lost.” A serious conflict between his new values and a thirst for vengeance arises, however, when Tom finds himself face-to-face with the darkest figure from his own past.…
Engaging, thoughtful, and ultimately profound, Elijah’s Coin is a rare example of a work of fiction that can transform its readers.
Steve O’Brien is a lawyer specializing in international corporate law and litigation. He has extensive experience in overseas business, including joint ventures, acquisitions, and start-ups in twenty-nine countries. He has in-depth expertise in risk management, corporate ethics, governance, and intellectual property. As a litigator he has chaired more than twenty state and federal jury trials and argued seven appellate cases before state supreme courts and US circuit courts of appeal.
O’Brien earned his juris doctorate from George Washington University Law School and served on the editorial board of The George Washington International Law Review. He has written commentaries and perspectives for prestigious publications such as The National Law Journal, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and many magazines. He currently serves as General Counsel for a global consulting company. O’Brien lives in Washington, D.C., with his wife Becky; they have two children. This is his first novel. READ REVIEWS
Featured Inspiration..... TED TALKS
Ric Elias: 3 things I learned while my plane crashed
Ric Elias had a front-row seat on Flight 1549, the plane that crash-landed in the Hudson River in New York in January 2009. What went through his mind as the doomed plane went down? At TED, he tells his story publicly for the first time.
OVER TWO years ago, Ric Elias was a passenger on US Airways Flight 1549. He was seated at the very front of the plane, in 1D, so when the plane filled with smoke and the engines started going "clack-clack-clack-clack-clack," he was, by his account, "the only one who could talk to the flight attendants." He was relieved when the attendants told him not to worry, and that they had probably just hit a flock of birds. Later, when they, too, were scared, he knew he was probably about to die.
Most people know how this story ends. Mr Elias is here today because the plane's captain, Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger, successfully landed the Airbus A320 carrying himself, Mr Elias, and 153 others in the middle of the Hudson River, and because the flight attendants Mr Elias was talking to cleared everyone out of the plane quickly and efficiently.
But what happened in those moments as the plane plummeted towards the river, barely clearing the George Washington Bridge? What went through the minds of Mr Elias and all those other passengers as they saw the frigid Hudson rise up below them? What do you think about when you think you're about to die?
Featured PERFORMANCE.....
ALVIN AILEY AMERICAN DANCE THEATER
The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater grew from the now fabled performance in March 1958, at the 92nd Street Young Men's Hebrew Association in New York. Led by Alvin Ailey and a group of young African-American modern dancers, that performance changed forever the perception of American dance.
Today, led by Artistic Director, Judith Jamison, AAADT has gone on to perform for an estimated 23 million people in 48 states and in 71 countries on six continents, including two historic residencies in South Africa. The company has earned a reputation as one of the most acclaimed international ambassadors of American culture, promoting the uniqueness of the African-American cultural experience and the preservation and enrichment of the American modern dance.
Join with us as we honor Judith Jamison’s 20th anniversary as Artistic Director of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater!
Widely regarded as one of the principal figures of American dance, for the past 20 years Judith Jamison has guided Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (AAADT) in her role as Artistic Director with extraordinary skill, grace and talent.
Please consider making a special gift to support Ailey’s New Works, fellowships at The Ailey School or our vital Arts In Education initiatives, programs championed by Ms. Jamison that nurture the creative growth of youths and artists alike.
Judith Jamison. Photo by Andrew Eccles.
Featured Gallery.....Litvak Gallery
Litvak Gallery Presents Julius Weiland
Litvak Gallery delivers on its promise to provide excellent representation and staging of its massive collection of the works of some of the world’s best glass artists at this year’s SOFA CHICAGO. Litvak Gallery returns to SOFA CHICAGO with double the space of last year’s booth to showcase the work of five its represented artists, including German sculptor Julius Weiland
Julius Weiland is a young artist best known for his use of industrially made glass tubes in his work. He is the 2004 Gold Prize winner at the International Exhibition of Glass in Kanazawa, Japan, the Honorable Mention winner at the Coburg Glass Prize and the 2007 Supporting Prize winner of the Jutta Cuny-Franz Foundation. In the Litvak Gallery booth at SOFA, Weiland will present selected pieces made of the fused glass tubing he is famous for, as well as works in acrylic composite, a newer media Weiland has recently begun using in his sculpture.
Julius Weiland will be available to discuss his work with the general public in the Litvak Gallery booth. Visit his website...CLICK HERE.
Litvak Gallery
Museum Tower
4 Berkovitz St.
Tel Aviv, Israel 64238
Tel. (US Toll Free): 1-866-2591348 Litvak Gallery
As the preeminent institution devoted to the art of the United States, the Whitney Museum of American Art presents the full range of twentieth-century and contemporary American art, with a special focus on works by living artists. The Whitney is dedicated to collecting, preserving, interpreting, and exhibiting American art, and its collection—arguably the finest holding of twentieth-century American art in the world—is the Museum’s key resource. The Museum’s signature exhibition, the Biennial, is the country’s leading survey of the most recent developments in American art.
Innovation has been a hallmark of the Whitney since its beginnings. It was the first museum dedicated to the work of living American artists and the first New York museum to present a major exhibition of a video artist (Nam June Paik in 1982). Such figures as Jasper Johns, Cy Twombly, and Cindy Sherman were given their first museum retrospectives by the Whitney. The Museum has consistently purchased works within the year they were created, often well before the artists became broadly recognized. The Whitney was the first museum to take its exhibitions and programming beyond its walls by establishing corporate-funded branch facilities, and the first museum to undertake a program of collection-sharing (with the San Jose Museum of Art) in order to increase access to its renowned collection.
Whitney Museum of American Art
945 Madison Avenue at 75th Street
New York NY 10021
(212) 570-3600
Whitney.org
Featured Movie......
HOME - THE DOCUMENTARY MOVIE
HOME - THE DOCUMENTARY MOVIE is a NAIMAH FULLER PROJECT. The documentary chronicles the mass migration of African Americans relocating to the southern regions of the U.S. in the 21st century. Five years in the making - Naimah Fuller has taken on the role of producer, director, videographer, and editor with the vision of releasing this project in 2011. This filmmaker is currently seeking distribution options for the televised broadcast of HOME - THE GREAT MIGRATION OF THE 21ST CENTURY . Lwa .
Born in Indiana, but raised in multiple ethnic communities – diversity has always found its way into Traci’s musical style.She landed in Cincinnati, OH in 1995 and began actively pursuing her passion as a singer/songwriter in 1999, at which point she began playing local venues.In 2003, she and her husband, Richie, began traveling internationally, which expanded her network and provided opportunities to perform internationally.In 2006, while based in CT, she released her first full-length CD “Greener On This Side.”
As a songwriter she has a catalogue of close to 300 songs in multiple genres and was a 2007-2008 ASCAPlus Award Winner for songs from her first album in the jazz and popular division.Traci’s song “Source of Life” was featured on a Playlist Productions compilation CD distributed to over 1,000 US Radio Markets.
Her band also received recognition as a 2007 Northeast Semi-finalist in the Independent Music World Series.She toured New England in 2006 and 2007 in a variety of venues, such as The Space, Wintonbury Coffeehouse, Reality Café, Kennedy’s Midtown Boston, The Hungry Tiger, Borders, Brewed Awakenings, RI, Daniels Street, The Lion’s Den, and The Sugar Bar, NYC, and many other restaurants and coffeehouses throughout New England.In April of 2007, she was invited as one of six independent artists to showcase at GMA Week in Nashville, TN.In July 2007, she joined forces with Indie Extreme and founded her own label, Greener Music, LLC and in September she and her husband relocated to Nashville, TN. READ MORE
Featured Actor.....Marston Fobbs
Marston Fobbs was born in Southern California and grew up in City of Carson and the Crenshaw District of Los Angeles. He attended Susan Miller Dorsey High School where he played on the school's varsity football team. There, he was good enough to gain press in local newspapers and the attention of college scouts. After graduation and in need of a job, he enlisted in the U.S. Army traveling the country and overseas. While stationed at Fort Hood, Texas, he and his then-girlfriend conceived their son(b.2002). Near the end of his term of service, he discovered his mother was ill with cancer and relocated back to California to be closer to her. Receiving her blessing to pursue his aspirations in filmmaking, he began taking acting classes and auditioning for whatever projects he could find while working a variety of jobs ranging from salesman, security guard, grocery store bagger and personal fitness trainer. His mother passed away a year after his arrival. After a string of background dancing roles in music videos, he made his big screen debut in the Danielle L. Ross directed film, Voyeur: In Hindsight(2003). A dedicated Actor, Marston Fobbs continues to perform appearing on stage, television and in feature films. He continues to live in Los Angeles, CA.
I paint the natural flow of spiritual energy that exists all around us. Energism art is designed to help you reach a deeper meditative state and more easily experience the energy. See more paintings at: http://www.platris.com/
I paint the natural flow of spiritual energy that exists all around us. Energism art is designed to help you reach a deeper meditative state and more easily experience the energy. See more paintings at: http://www.platris.com/
Letting My Pen Bleed
Litvak Gallery delivers on its promise to provide excellent representation and staging of its massive collection of the works of some of the world’s best glass artists at this year’s SOFA CHICAGO. Litvak Gallery returns to SOFA CHICAGO with double the space of last year’s booth to showcase the work of five its represented artists, including German sculptor Julius Weiland
As the preeminent institution devoted to the art of the United States, the Whitney Museum of American Art presents the full range of twentieth-century and contemporary American art, with a special focus on works by living artists. The Whitney is dedicated to collecting, preserving, interpreting, and exhibiting American art, and its collection—arguably the finest holding of twentieth-century American art in the world—is the Museum’s key resource. The Museum’s signature exhibition, the Biennial, is the country’s leading survey of the most recent developments in American art.
Born in Indiana, but raised in multiple ethnic communities – diversity has always found its way into Traci’s musical style.She landed in Cincinnati, OH in 1995 and began actively pursuing her passion as a singer/songwriter in 1999, at which point she began playing local venues.In 2003, she and her husband, Richie, began traveling internationally, which expanded her network and provided opportunities to perform internationally.In 2006, while based in CT, she released her first full-length CD “Greener On This Side.”
