It is Wednesday night at the freshly renovated Oxon Hill Public Library, Oxon Hill, in Prince George’s County, and enterprise at the library is brisk. Brightly lit and effectively-stocked bookshelves beckon parents with their young children, avid readers, and college college students exploring papers. Books from all genres grace the freshly appointed shelves.
In another area of the spacious and pristine new library, a group of patrons, literary buffs, and poetry enthusiasts gather for an celebration, Sojourn With Phrases, marking the rededication and Grand Opening Celebration of the Oxon Hill Public Library. The Sojourner Truth Lecture Hall, an airy new auditorium-esque space holds the crowd.
The situation also marks the debut of the new CTV poetry program, by the very same title, Sojourn With Words, and hosted by poet, J. Joy Matthews Alford, founder of Collective Voices and Minister of Poetry at Ebenezer AME Church. Alford is poetically known as Sistah Joy in literary circles. Obtaining authored the popular best vendor, Lord, I’m Dancin’ As Rapidly As I Can, Alford has also been hailed as the Poetry Virtuosa of the northeast and is the recipient of the Washington, DC Poet Laureate Award.
The audience quieted as Evelyn Tchiyuka, an Oxon Hill Public Library official introduced the plan and County Executive Jack Johnson produced his way to the podium to the beat of djembe drum played by Doc Powell. Johnson’s information is upbeat, good, and encouraging complete of allocates for the efforts of coordinator Alford and her steadfast commitment to the Sojourn With Phrases task and to the spoken word. It is also obvious in his communication the Prince George’s County Arts Renaissance is heading powerful and gaining momentum. Sojourn With Phrases is an additional street in aiding the county obtain national prominence. The program will also support bring much more of the arts and artisans to Prince George’s County from all more than the United States.
The Prince George’s County-based poetry initiative, Sojourn With Phrases, resulted from collaborative energies of CTV, Sistah Joy, and the Prince George’s County Public Library System. CAAPA (Coalition for African Americans in the Doing Arts), SUN Furnishings, Soul Fixin’s, and other entities contributed assistance to the challenge. The program is to invite and engage other company and private dollars.
Alford’s well-orchestrated function also fused with each other classical sleek jazz by the The C. Anthony Bush Jazz Ensemble — C. Anthony Bush, a variety by tenor Julian Hipkins, and poetry presentations by Andrew Taylor, a.k.a. Brenardo, and herself.
Alford describes Sojourn with Phrases as a collective voyage of illuminating literary poetic treasures, taking participants from 1 spot to another. Like the trip African slaves produced in this region, on the Underground Railroad, in buy to claim their flexibility, Sojourn With Phrases hopes to aid the audience go to the up coming stage into a new realm of poetic stopovers in enlightenment, encouragement, empowerment, satisfaction, and amusement.
Applications will be recorded by CTV for potential airing on Ch. 76, the Prince George’s County local access station and will be introduced and recorded at numerous venues in Prince George’s County, including, CTV Studios in Largo, Maryland and The Sojourner Fact Lecture Hall at the Oxon Hill Public Library.
Poets who want to be highlighted and patrons of the arts who wish to assist the Sojourn With Phrases really should contact Sistah Joy on line at PoetSistahJoy@aol.com and might check out her website at http://www.sistahjoy.com or http://www.4caapa.org for more information.
