Wanda's Picks

As BTR concludes, here are some highlights from a career that began in 2008 to 2025. Thanks for all the listens. The shows are available @Wanda's Picks at iTunes https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/wandas-picks/id297197493 and via Spreaker at https://www.spreaker.com/tags/wandaspicks. Stay in touch. I am revamping my website, wandaspicks.com However, you can email me there as well as follow my interviews and commentary on YouTube.com/wandaspicks and FB, ISG, X or TW @wandaspicks

My blog is wandasabir.blogspot.com 

Be well! Stay present. God is change. We shape God with our beingness. Stay present. We matter, as in elemental, like the sun and the air and the starlight. Planets don't blink, but people do. Don't travel alone.

Introduction or Abstract

          Nancy Ross Gooch was a Black woman whose family—the Gooch-Monroes, owned most of Coloma, specifically the area around Main Street. Coloma, a small city in El Dorado County, is where James Marshall discovered gold at Sutter’s Mill in 1848. If it weren’t for her family’s stewardship of the land, this town might not exist, yet Californians do not know her name. Children in Coloma and residents in the nearby towns of Placerville nor Sacramento know this important history. It is time to change this. 

         September 9, 1860, is California Admission Day. 2025 marks its 175th Anniversary. It is a perfect time to remember the life and legacy of this powerful Black woman who symbolized industry, intelligence, faith and forgiveness, Mrs. Nancy Ross Gooch (Aug. 1811-Sept. 17, 1901). 

          The way people live in the minds and hearts of future generations is by naming institutions after them, by erecting monuments, by continuing their work, by calling their names. In a state the size of a country, California should have more public art honoring its citizens, especially this women, California pioneer and citizen, Nancy Ross Gooch. Join the campaign. #sayhername  #nancyrossgooch  #californiapioneer

If you are interested in the campaign to have a statue erected to honor Nancy Ross Gooch contact the author:

Ms. Wanda Sabir  [email protected] or 510-397-9705.

 

To read the proposal: https://wandasabir.blogspot.com/2024/12/nancy-ross-gooch-ca-pioneer-presente.html

Damu Sudi Alii began his musical career playing trombone in junior high school, then switched to piano in the United States Air Force.  He went on the road in 1969 with a group called "The Mint Juleps" led by trumpeter, vocalist, and multi-instrumentalist Clarence Pinckney. The group toured the midwest, southwest, and northwest United States.  Damu later joined a group in Los Angeles called the "Geechie" Smith Allstars" and played the B-3 organ in this group from 1975-1977.  After moving to Oakland around 1979, Damu played in several groups including eight years, 2001 to 2009 with William "Doc" Webster's group, "Jazz Nostalgia" at Les Joulins Jazz Bistro in San Francisco.  He was a sideman for many years with "Hanif and the Sound Voyagers." He also had his own group "First Edition," and occasionally performed with the "Carl Garrett Quartet".  From 1982 -1984, and again briefly in 2008 and 2010, Damu was pianist for the "Stones of Fire," a reggae gospel choir of Wo'Se Community Church in East Oakland. He was also a music teacher at Ile Omode. Damu released Serenity, Spring 2023, to great acclaim. 

Damu Sudi Alii Quintet is hosting a tribute concert to two of his favorite musician friends, Kenneth Byrd and Kamau Seitu at Oaktown Jazz Workshop, 3-5 PM PT, 55 Washington Street, Jack London Square, Oakland. Suggested donation is $20.00. There will be special guests that afternoon. It will be a highlight for 2024. 

Technical difficulties this afternoon, so we were not able to broadcast live. Damu was going to join me. See you Sunday afternoon. Blessings

This is a black arts and culture site. We will be exploring the African Diaspora via the writing, performance, both musical and theatrical (film and stage), as well as the visual arts of Africans in the Diaspora and those influenced by these aesthetic forms of expression. I am interested in the political and social ramifications of art on society, specifically, movements supported by these artists and their forebearers. It is my claim that the artists are the true revolutionaries, their work honest and filled with raw unedited passion. They are our true heroes. Ashay! 

"Blessings" is a poem I have set to music. Enjoy!

Meditation

"The Invitation" in Ten Thousand Beloved Communities by Kristen Lynn Zimmerman, forward by adrienne maree brown (2023).

We close with the poem: "Random Blessings" for Agu, by Wanda Sabir, performed to Agu's song, "Reaching In."

Presentation:

1. Grace Lee Boggs

2. Beloved Community, Zimmerman

3. Ethics of Knowledge Creation and Acquisition, Fernandes

Module 5

Theme: Bringing Spiritual Activism into Community

Materials:

Read select readings from Part 4: Direction of the Youth in Fleshing the Spirit (eds. Facio and Lara)Read Chapter 4: Knowledge in Transforming Feminist Practice (Fernandes)Read Part 2: Community Accountability and Transformative Justice in Feminist Accountability (Russo)Read first half of 10,000 Beloved Communities graphic novel (Zimmerman)Watch Zimmerman interview Watch American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs

Assignments:

Module 5 discussion post

Each module students will review course materials, post 1 substantial reflection on the materials to Canvas, cite the sources of their reflection, and end your post with an engaging question by the Friday before the next class. Students will meaningfully respond to at least 2 questions posed by peers by the Sunday before the next synchronous class meeting. Some questions include but are not limited to, What are important, compelling, or confusing terms and concepts that you have encountered in the course materials or class discussions this module?

Substantial post due 11/22, responses due 11/24.

Theme: Bringing Spiritual Activism into Community

Materials:

Read select readings from Part 4: Direction of the Youth in Fleshing the Spirit (eds. Facio and Lara)Read Chapter 4: Knowledge in Transforming Feminist Practice (Fernandes)Read Part 2: Community Accountability and Transformative Justice in Feminist Accountability (Russo)Read first half of 10,000 Beloved Communities graphic novel (Zimmerman)Watch Zimmerman interview Watch American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs

Assignments:

Module 5 discussion post

Each module students will review course materials, post 1 substantial reflection on the materials to Canvas, cite the sources of their reflection, and end your post with an engaging question by the Friday before the next class. Students will meaningfully respond to at least 2 questions posed by peers by the Sunday before the next synchronous class meeting. Some questions include but are not limited to, What are important, compelling, or confusing terms and concepts that you have encountered in the course materials or class discussions this module?

Substantial post due 11/22, responses due 11/24.

This is a black arts and culture site. We will be exploring the African Diaspora via the writing, performance, both musical and theatrical (film and stage), as well as the visual arts of Africans in the Diaspora and those influenced by these aesthetic forms of expression. I am interested in the political and social ramifications of art on society, specifically movements supported by these artists and their forebearers. It is my claim that the artists are the true revolutionaries, their work honest and filled with raw unedited passion. They are our true heroes. Ashay!

We continue our series on Octavia Butler's Parable of the Sower: The Election Episode. We speak to Nube Brown, sister broadcaster, at KPOO 89.5 FM in San Francisco. Her series on CA prisons has a wide following. She joins us to talk about parallels between Butler's dystopian California, USA 2024 and California, USA now. There is an election and the protagonist Lauren Oya Olamina and her chosen family are headed to north, from LA. They settle in Humbodlt County, which happens to be where Nube raised her son and where her mother still resides. 

We talk about ballot measures, specifically 6, 33, and 36. Listen up. We'd love to hear your thoughts on the episode and other related themes or topics. 

Musically, we feature: Nana Sula Spirit's "Oya, The Transformer featuring Sunni Patterson (poet)."

We speak this afternoon with Deborah Vaughan, Artistic Director and Founder of DIMENSIONS DANCE THEATER about the premiere of a new work, HEALING TO JOY OCTOBER 12, 2024. This new work by Haitian-American Choreographer Laurie Fleurentin and Ms. Vaughan explores the transcendent power of joy to empower unity and growth.

The work includes composer/performer Jeff Pierre and guest spoken-word artist and poet devorah major. The premiere performance marks the 51st season of Dimensions Dance Theater, one of the country’s longest-standing and most respected Black dance companies with a dual focus on creating and presenting relevant, contemporary choreography and traditional dance from many African cultures and dance of the African Diaspora. Dimensions presents a reminder of the fundamental importance of practicing culture to unite, uplift and educate community and foster positive social change. The premiere performance of Healing to Joy will be given Saturday, October 12, at 6 pm at the Malonga Casquelourd Center for the Arts in Oakland and will be followed by an audience Q&A. Tickets, priced at $15-$25 may be purchased at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/healing-to-joy-tickets-984554678547

Thursday, August 29, 2024, was the 19th Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Ms. Wanda Sabir gave a talk at a BIPOC Al Anon principles meeting.

This is a black arts and culture site. We will be exploring the African Diaspora via the writing, performance, both musical and theatrical (film and stage), as well as the visual arts of Africans in the Diaspora and those influenced by these aesthetic forms of expression. I am interested in the political and social ramifications of art on society, specifically movements supported by these artists and their forebearers. It is my claim that the artists are the true revolutionaries, their work honest and filled with raw unedited passion. They are our true heroes. Ashay!

Today we talk about the 19th Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, which is Thursday, August 29. Today is also the anniversary of Emmet Till's (July 25, 1941-August 28, 1955) killing in Money, MS. He would have been 83 this year. He was killed 63 years ago. 

We speak with veterans of the Civil Rights Resistance Movement: Dr. Robert H. King (https://www.kingsfreelines.com/), Mr. Malik Rahim, and Baba Kalamu Ya Salaam. (https://liberalarts.tulane.edu/nocgs/about/fellowship-alumni/kalamu-ya-salaam)

Music: Nana Sula Spirit's "Humanity", Katrina Bamboula Crazy by Luther Gray.