Thursday, March 30,
2006
Vibe Coffee House, Cedar Falls
Featured Reader:
Chaveevah Banks Ferguson
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FINAL THURSDAY READING SERIES |
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Thursday, March 30,
2006
Featured Reader:
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Before the reading, join the Cedar Valley’s longest running creative writing open mic. Signup for the open mic begins @ 7 p.m. on a first come, first served basis. Limited slots are available, so readers are encouraged to sign up early and read your best five minutes of poetry, fiction, or creative non-fiction. Singer-songwriters are also welcome. The open mic begins at 7:30 p.m. The featured reader takes the stage between 8:00 and 8:30 (depending on how many open mic readers there are). After the reading, there will be a brief question and answer session.
This month's featured reader is writer, artist, dancer, and publisher, Chaveevah Banks Ferguson. Ferguson is the author of the novel, In Due Time, and illustrated the children’s book, Good Morning, Lovey! She also has worked as a professional dancer with the Muntu Dance Theater of Chicago. She is a UNI alumna and the co-owner of Waterloo’s BaHar Publishing, Iowa’s only African American book publisher. |
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Read Work by Past Featured Readers
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from What the Heart Remembers by Chaveevah Banks Ferguson
PRACTICALLY every one of us is
capable of making the clear, sound decisions that lead us to happy and
fulfilled lives. We’re also capable of doing the incredibly,
unbelievably stupid stuff that virtually guarantees a life of
unfulfilled dreams, unhappiness in profound proportions, and straight-up
drama. Trust me, I know what I’m talking about.
My name is Cora Mae Bailey, and I’m a recovering drama
addict. You probably wouldn’t believe some of the dumb stuff I’ve done,
but that’s cool; I’d probably have a hard time believing some of your
shit, too. It’s all relative, you know, trying to measure how
bone-headed somebody’s mistakes really are. When it all comes down to
it, though, the bottom line is this: have you learned from your dumb
stuff? I believe I have. Have you found your happiness? Not
‘found’ happiness, actually, but ‘rediscovered’ it, ‘cause it
ain’t gone nowhere—sometimes we forget that happiness isn’t something to
be found outside ourselves.
Am I happy? Lord, yes. There was a time when I would
have said ‘no’; but if I was, believe me, it was within my power to
change it…I just didn’t recognize it. I don’t mind talking about my
drama and dramatic recovery, either, if you’ve got time to listen; in
fact, I feel like I need to. Because sometimes,
anybody--everybody--needs to unload; you know, that old ‘confession is
good for the soul’ thang. While I’m baring my soul, forgive me if I seem to skip around, or don’t tell everything in sequence; I never was a real linear-thinking type of woman. And I kinda like to weave a tale—that is, when I finally come clean about how badly I’ve messed up in the first place—so I don’t usually spare too much detail. There’s probably a number of places where I could start, but I’ll start from where the proverbial shit hit the proverbial fan, and my life just started unraveling like a second-hand sweater.
Now Available from Final Thursday Press
Kyrie Poetry by Jonathan Stull
Ghost Wars Poetry by Vince Gotera ***Winner of the 2004 Global Filipino Literary Award for Poetry***
Laugh. Damnit. Poetry by Ahkos
Bad Men Microfiction by Jim O'Loughlin
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| updated March 21, 2006 by Jim O'Loughlin |
Vibe
is located at 909 W. 23rd St. in Cedar Falls on the second floor of
Bought again Books.