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Entry for October 12, 2006
Craig L. Erving is an artist possessing a wealth of experience working with inner-city youth. In 1986 he received a mandate from a branch of the Nigerian government’s Youth Development Division to form the United States chapter of  “The Sheriff Guard of Nigeria”. The Sheriff Guard was a youth organization dedicated to the social, mental, physical and spiritual development of inner-city youth created in Nigeria in 1974 by Dan Isokrari.  Erving began writing at an early age. He was a member of his high school journalism department, wrote for the school newspaper and was first published in The Oakland Tribune newspaper at the age of 17 years old. Since that time he has published three books of poetry (under he pseudonym Zahieb A. Mwongozi), has had his articles published in national magazines such as  The Source Magazine  and 4080 Magazine ). From 1988 through 1989 Erving was a staff writer for The Monroe Free Press in Monroe, LA. His ties to media are numerous: he worked for a year in college radio at the University of California Berkeley’s KALX, has been a stage actor with prominent roles in works performed at the Oakland Ensemble Theater, the Black Repertory Theater in Berkeley, CA, and Laney College Theater, Oakland,CA. His background in theater includes mentorship and direction by such black theater luminaries as Ed Bullins (known as the ‘Godfather of Black Theater’), Charles Gordone (R.I.P.), author and director of the famed stage play “No Place To Be Somebody”, and poet/writer/social activist Marvin X (In the Name of Love, Flowers for the Trashman, Confessions of a Wife Beater). He has also trained in workshops at the San Francisco ACT under the tutelage of Danny Glover. Erving has been equally prolific as a recording artist and performer. He signed his first recording contract at age fifteen with MUSIC CITY RECORDS in Oakland, CA and is said to have written over 200 individual original songs including the album “From Debasement to de Penthouse” which sold over 15,000 units throughout Europe and the United States. He is also the father of two Washington High School graduates aged 19 and 20 who are in college. Erving currently resides in South Bend, IN.
2006-10-12 16:36:37 GMT


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