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The Bluegrass &
Old Tyme Country Music Festival
held July 31 - August 2
at the LaFayette Apple Festival Grounds
resulted in
a donation of over $22,000
to Vera House!
We extend
our sincere thanks and appreciation to
Friends of the CNY Bluegrass Association
including
John
VanDusen, Ed Campbell
and
Carl Stump
for all their efforts on behalf of Vera House.
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The festival attracted national and regional
performers and featured, among others: Ron &
Nancy One Song; Carl Stump & Stump Hollow; Dale
Barnell & Wayfaring Strangers; Shiela Brown &
Gospel Way; John Jackson & The Lovells; Father
John; Diamond Someday; John LeMay and
Cumberland; Sam Anderson & Chris Myers Band;
Shortslef Brothers. |
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On
the weekend of October 19th - 21st
King's Theatre
presented a multi-faceted benefit event
demonstrating the
remarkable power of the arts
to
touch hearts & open minds!
The
highlight of the weekend was
3 performances of Gary Sunshine's one-act drama
"AL
TAKES A BRIDE"
starring
Dana
Abrams, Kristin Kelly
& Earl Arnold
and
directed by
Victoria King
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[clockwise from upper left]
director VICTORIA KING
and
actors
EARL ARNOLD, DANA ABRAMS & KRISTIN KELLY |
Critic Russ
Tarby reviews the show:
"If the
choice was between dreaming and dying,
what would you choose?
Two
college-age actresses relived the repressions of
the 1890s as they performed a controversial
one-act play called “Al Takes a Bride" -
a dramatic, life-changing give-and-take
between two young Memphis women
who have fallen in love with each other
despite the strictures of the Victorian Era.
Director Victoria
King really drew out some fine work from these 2
young actresses, Dana Abrams & Kristin Kelly
and from Earl Arnold who was perfect
as the judge with a secret life. |
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At a
talkback after the opening night performance one
of the panelists was
Christina Carney, who is herself a talented
local actress
(and a full-time Vera House victim advocate).
Carney remarked that
a situation such as that
portrayed in the play "is tragic on so many levels.
It’s not OK
to have to live in darkness or live a lie.
Those shouldn’t be the only options.”
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Through the tremendous dedication & energy
of the
talented cast and crew
the support
of the Delavan Center & King's Theatre
and the
inspiring generosity of the community
the event
raised $1,300
for the
mission & services of Vera House!
Our sincere thanks to ALL
Y
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on
Monday evening, October 1st
the
downtown writers center was the site of our
3rd
annual
reading to benefit Vera House
the
evening's featured poet was nationally-renowned
Rachel McKibbens
A
remarkable gathering of talented poets and
supportive community members shared their
creativity and compassion.
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Rachel
signed copies of her book
"Drive the Wild Beasts Wilder:
New and Unreleased Poems" |
MNP's Jane Cassady & featured poet Rachel
McKibbens mug
for the camera! |
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The event was held to raise funds to benefit
the mission & services of
Vera House and to raise awareness regarding
domestic & sexual violence
in honor of National Domestic Violence
Awareness Month.
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Rachel's poems
examine compelling issues with unflinching
courage and honesty, shedding vivid light on
the tragic violence that poisons
relationships, families and communities.
The Art of Caring project
is honored to share several of her poems . . .
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The Second
Time
we filled a suitcase
with clothes, emptied the coffee can
of quarters into a pillowcase
and waited.
We timed our escape
around his snoring,
opening the front door
an inch for each noisy exhale.
My brother refused to
come with us, a betrayal
I would cling to
for twenty-three years.
My father had locked
the phones in the trunk
of his car. The nearest payphone
across the street in MacArthur park.
I called for the cab, my voice
bound by so much fear
I had to repeat our address
six more times.
My stepmother's nose was
broken,
a collar of blood wrapped around
her nightgown, her scalp bleeding
where the patches of hair had been.
She sat on the curb, holding a
tangled fistful of it in her hands.
It was absurd to watch her combing
through it, as if anything
could be salvaged.
Back in the apartment, she had crawled
on her knees, feeling around
for clumps of hair in the dark.
And I hated her for that. For being
nothing more than a woman,
hated her for the pity
I could not feel.
Forty-five minutes
later, I was
sitting in the backseat of the cab
watching my father rage
towards us,
my stepmother frantically
rolling up her window
yelling at the driver GO!
The cabby began to scream,
my stepmother kept screaming,
and I could do nothing
but sit quietly amazed
as my father reached in and
pulled her out through
the broken window,
dragging the soft flesh
of her thighs over
an angry tooth of glass.
The cab sped off with our
suitcase still in the trunk.
I stood at the curb, holding
a bloody sack of coins, waiting
for silence to overcome
the night.
The sprinklers came on in
the courtyard as I made
my way up the sidewalk,
following a trail
of blood all the way home.
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17 year-old Kurdish
teen
Du'a
Khalil Aswad
was the victim of an
"honor killing" in April, 2007 - a
startling, brutal pummeling caught on a
mobile-phone video-camera and broadcast
around the world.
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Honor killings take place when
family-members kill relatives, almost
always female, whose actions
they feel have shamed
the family. Du'a Khalil, whose religion is
Yazidi,
was dragged into a crowd in a headlock
with police looking on, and kicked, beaten
and stoned to death, after being seen
with a Sunni Muslim man.
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For Du'a Khalil
The morning I caught my
brother behind the couch
my pet hamster in his hands, holding her
steady as a bowl of blood, a new heat
moved through me, tightened itself
around my throat like a leash.
I smacked his face and bit his shoulder.
He dropped the hamster to the floor. An Easter present
from my father. Mine. I grabbed her
and held her up to his face,
squeezed until she went limp beneath the crush.
My brother couldn't say a word. I placed
the dead thing
in his small hands and strolled down the hallway,
whistling like a prison guard. That night, I cried for hours
while all the house slept, blamed my brother
for the wilted spine of my beloved pet,
prayed for justice, begged the gods
to snatch him from his bed,
toss him to the snapping dogs
roaming the field behind our house.
Yesterday, I mourned a girl
discovered in the wrong boy's hands. A girl
whose uncles dragged her from her home, stripped
her down to narrow hips and undeveloped breasts,
slammed concrete blocks against her head,
her chest kicked in by a proud circle of men.
And their god swooned as blood flew from
her
body like a swarm knocked loose from its home,
as teeth spilled from her mouth like fresh ripped pearls.
When they buried her beside a dog on the
side of the road,
a small child in the crowd watched quietly,
wanting to learn the softness of a woman
as my brother, sleeping 8,000 miles away,
sat up in bed with the dirt of my name in his mouth,
both of his hands hot and twitching. |
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Rachel McKibbens
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Often called a "confessional" poet, Rachel
McKibbens prefers the term "sincere."
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In
her first year of slamming, Rachel's team
won the 2001 West Coast Regional Poetry
Slam championship with a perfect score, and
she was voted "Best New Poet" by OC Weekly.
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Rachel has made National Poetry Slam teams
for 6 consecutive years, ranked 3rd in the 2003
Individual World Poetry Slam and appeared on
HBO's "Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry". |
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Rachel McKibbens is currently the SlamMaster for
NYC/louderARTS and is
an Urban Word mentor teaching poetry
through The Healing Arts Program
at Bellevue Hospital. She is also an
NYFA fellow. |
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On Sunday
afternoon, April 29th
over 150
guests joined us at the Everson Museum of Art
for a Gala Concert & Reception to honor the
opening of
"Images
of Hope & Healing"
a Vera
House ART OF CARING Survivors' Art exhibit
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A stunning display of dramatic images
created by survivors of domestic and
sexual violence captivated guests with
vibrant colors and inspiring messages.
All artwork is available for sale
to benefit Vera House.
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"Images of Hope
& Healing" showcased
22 pieces of beautiful original artwork.
The exhibit was displayed at the Everson Museum
from April 28th through June 24th.
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VH Director of Communications & Special
Events, Chris Benton, touring the exhibit
with her parents, Gwen and David Sacia.
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Art of Caring project coordinator,
Crystal LaPoint welcomes guests in Hosmer
Auditorium before the afternoon's concert.
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Robert Cowles, Artistic Director of the
Syracuse Vocal Ensemble, acknowledges
the group for their wonderful performance. The
talented singers delighted
concert-goers with a uniquely diverse set of
colorful Jewish folk songs.
To learn more about SVE, please visit their
website . . .
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Dr. Kevin Moore offered a
fantastic array of classical fireworks &
toe-tapping Gershwin jazz. Kevin's generous
support of the Art of Caring project,
including two benefit recitals
and a CD recording, earned him a personalized
brick on the Vera House
Wall of Recognition which was unveiled on
April 25th.
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Members of the
Syracuse Symphony Orchestra Brass Quintet brought the
concert to a
rousing
conclusion, filling Hosmer Auditorium with the
glorious sound of brass!
Vera House is sincerely grateful to all of
the afternoon's performers
for their generous gifts of artistry and spirit.
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Vera House Programs Administrator
&
Student Intern Coordinator,
Dotti
Barraco-Hetnar with intern,
Muna
Al-Mutawa at the reception in the
Everson Museum Sculpture Court.
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Our thanks to
News10Now
for its coverage of the event!
images
of hope & healing
To purchase artwork,
contact
Chris Benton at #425.0818 x248
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On
Saturday evening, March 3rd
an
intimate group of survivors & supporters
gathered at Jazz Central
for the first Vera House Art of Caring
"Survivors Artistry Celebration"
The event was a unique,
multi-media experience
combining sight & sound to open the mind,
touch the heart
and heal the soul!
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Throughout
the evening's performance,
a breathtaking slideshow of over 80 original
art images
created by survivors of domestic and sexual
violence was projected center stage, while a
host of talented & courageous poets, authors
and singer/songwriters
shared their experiences of despair and hope,
grief and healing.
It was a soul-stirring, emotional evening
made unforgettable by the generous gifts of:
Diane Bostick . Cathy
Brochu . Jane Cassady . Ashley Cox . Crystal
Collette
Debra Faes . Heidi Kuhl . Crystal LaPoint .
Betty Lee . Brenda Plumley
David Terrero . Jenny Terrero Rivera . Theresa
Solotoff
Mary Stebbins-Taitt . John Wolford
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One of
the
evening's highlights
was Betty Lee's
inspiring rendition
of her original song
"Pilot Light"
our special thanks to Betty
for sharing the lyrics with us
and with you . . . |
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Pilot
Light
Once she
lived in a world of dreams
With knights in white and romance themes
And hid the truth inside herself
And stored
her future on the shelf
Her brain
was numb with listening
To only words that bite and sting
Could she make it in this world alone?
She doubted it, her courage gone
She
glanced in the mirror and spoke “that’s you
I despise the woman you’re talking to
She has no strength, no will, no glue
To stick to what she has to do”
But her
soul still had a pilot light
She prayed the Lord’s Prayer every night
She finally heard her inner voice:
"Enough’s enough . . . You have a choice”
And her
flame grew brighter every day
Though she didn’t notice right away
Time to unlearn . . . and time to heal
And time must pass to make it real
In her
soul, there burns a pilot light
She says her prayers most every night
She listens to her inner voice
She can rejoice . . . she made that choice
In her
soul, there burns a pilot light
It warms her heart, and flames up bright
She can look in the mirror and say “that’s
you!
I like that woman you’re talking to"
In her reflection, she says “Hello -
I like that woman you’ve come to know"
Betty Lee
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On Sunday, February 4th of 2007, Dr. Kevin Moore
presented his second
Piano
Recital to Benefit Vera House
at Bellevue Heights United Methodist Church
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Dr.
Moore delighted an appreciative audience of
over 60
with piano masterpieces by Bach/Busoni,
Mozart, Brahms & Schumann.
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Volunteer
Andrea Roth joins Vera House Programs
Administrator, Dotti Barraco-Hetnar to welcome
arriving audience members. |
Dr. Moore graciously greeted dozens of
admiring concertgoers at a reception
following the performance. |
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The lovely reception was hosted by generous
Vera House volunteers:
(l to r) Warren Baldwin, Marcia Liggett,
VH Volunteer Coordinator Roxanne McMaster,
Lucille Viola, Pat Cupernal, Art of Caring
Coordinator Crystal LaPoint & Dr. Kevin Moore.
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A highlight of the
beautiful musical program
was Dr. Moore's sensitive
performance of
Robert Schumann's "Romance in F#, op. 28 no.2"
. . .
Our sincere
thanks to Kevin Moore
for his extraordinary musical artistry
& inspiring generosity of spirit!
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We marked our 1st anniversary on Sunday,
October 29th of 2006 with
The 2nd Annual Art of Caring Concert,
Art Sale & Reception
at May Memorial Unitarian Universalist Society |
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Vera House's
Ping Ning admires
the diverse art exhibit |
Guests
purchasing beautiful pieces
donated by regional artists |
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Guests enjoyed an
eclectic musical banquet featuring
performances by: |
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violinist .
David Alber
women's chorale .
Concinnity
clarinetist .
David Abrams
& pianist . |
singer/songwriter .
John Wolford
soprano .
Julianna Sabol
Irish music group .
Tathu
Crystal LaPoint |
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Guests,
including members of Concinnity
were treated to a lovely reception |
Vera House's
Elisa Morales & her
daughters enjoy the afternoon |
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An exhibit of work
donated by Syracuse-area professional artists
and highlighting Vera House "Survivors' Art"
posters
provided a colorful backdrop for the
afternoon's festivities.
Donating artists include:
Joan Applebaum .
Debra Faes .
John Fitzsimmons .
Shel & Donal Little
Christina Munger .
Betty Murtagh .
PhotoImpressions .
Rosalie Spitzer
Mary Stebbins-Taitt
. Maria Strazzulla .
Sylvia Taylor |
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Members of the
Irish music group
Tathu, offered a toe-tapping
conclusion to the concert! |
Caterer Amy
Bell receives a
thank-you gift from Vera
House's Dotti Barraco-Hetnar. |
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Vera House and the Art of Caring project are
especially grateful for the
inspiring & courageous performance offered by
singer/songwriter John Wolford, whose cousin
Lori Leonard tragically lost her life to
domestic violence,
leaving behind two young sons. In her honor,
and with John's kind permission
we share the lyrics to one of his original
songs... |
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Yesterday’s Sorrows
I remember long ago when I was just five
Mother had to go away - I never knew the
reason why
and I wonder still
There was a time when I learned to pray to
angels
I’d say "Send them all down
tonight I’m calling to take away yesterday’s
sorrows
Send them ‘cause I’m alone
to take away yesterday’s sorrows"
All I have now are pictures and stories
Family and friends are my link to her life
and I wonder still
Where we would be if she were here with me?
I say "Please send my love - I miss my mom
She was taken away from me to heaven up above
Please send my love"
As years go past I realize how precious life
can be
Our time on Earth is known to none - make the
most of what you see
And I understand that I still have the gift of
prayer to angels
I’d say "Send them all down
tonight I’m calling to take away yesterday’s
sorrows
Send them ‘cause I’m alone
to take away yesterday’s sorrows"
by
Jeff Leonard & John Wolford
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