Jazz Inspired BBC Short Film "Conversation Piece" 

Posted on Tuesday, November 2, 2010 at 8:00

James Rocarols, Content Producer for BBC Film Network, brought this short film to my attention recently ~ the concept is interesting and different! Here's a synopsis from the film credits:

The Story ~ One sleepy Sunday morning, Jean notices a chip on a treasured vase. She accuses Maurice, her husband since whenever. He denies it. Employing a variety of tactics, Jean attempts to get to the bottom of the situation.

This unique musical-of-sorts matches every single syllable of dialogue to every single note from jazz cornetist Rex Stewart's 1966 improvised recording "Conversation Piece".

 

 Produced as part of BBC Film Network's BBC Drama Shorts 2009 commission, in conjunction with Lighthouse Arts & Training and BBC Writersroom.

You can find out more information by clicking this link, Rex Stewart (22 Feb 1907 - 7 Sept 1967), but the following will give you a little background on Mr. Stewart:

Rex StewartRex played cornet for eleven years with the Duke Ellington Orchestra. He was one of the many musicians that Ellington recruited for having a unique musical style. Several Ellington compositions have solos and passages that were written specifically with Rex's cornet in mind.

After departing from Ellington's band, Rex went on tour through Europe and Australia. Later in life he took residence in New Jersey to run a farm and worked in radio and television. (http://www.harlem.org/people/stewart.html)

 So, what did you think about the film? The concept? Let me know by leaving a comment below. Thank you!

AWP Award Series

See the 2010 Winners & Finalists!

Results will be mailed in September.--> 2010 results were mailed in September.
2011 entries accepted starting in January.

Manuscript Format Guidelines | Eligibility Requirements | Entry Requirements
Terms | Deadline | 2011 Final Judges & Participating Presses

 Award Series Guidelines, 2011 (PDF-474KB)

 Award Series Entry Form (doc) OR Award Series Entry Form (rtf)
DEADLINE: Entries must be postmarked between Jan. 1 and Feb. 28, 2011

The Association of Writers & Writing Programs (AWP) is a nonprofit organization of writers, teachers, colleges, and universities. AWP sponsors an annual competition for the publication of excellent new book-length works—the AWP Award Series. The competition is open to all authors writing in English regardless of nationality or residence. The Donald Hall Prize for Poetry is an award of $5,000 and publication for the best book-length manuscript of poetry. This competition is open to published and unpublished poets alike. The Grace Paley Prize for Short Fiction awards the winner $5,000 and publication. Winners in the novel and creative nonfiction categories receive a $2,000 cash honorarium from AWP and publication. The Award Series conducts an evaluation process of writers, for writers, by writers. AWP hires a staff of “screeners” who are themselves writers; the screeners review manuscripts for the judges. Typically, the screeners will select ten manuscripts in each genre for each judge’s final evaluations.

Manuscript Format Guidelines

Manuscripts must be typed and double-spaced on good quality paper, 8 1/2 x 11 inches. Poetry manuscripts may be single-spaced. Photocopies or copies from letter-quality printers are acceptable, but dot matrix is not acceptable. Manuscripts should not be bound or in a folder; they must be binder-clipped or rubber-banded together. Each manuscript must include:

1. The official AWP Award Series entry form, which includes spaces for your name, manuscript title, contact information, and an agreement to the terms of the Award Series. Please download this form from our website, enter all the information, and attach it to the manuscript as the cover page.
2. A title page with the manuscript title only. The entry form will be removed so that each submission can be read anonymously. If the author's name appears anywhere except the entry form, the manuscript will be disqualified. Do not send acknowledgement of previous publications or a biographical note.

Eligibility Requirements

Only book-length manuscripts are eligible. The Award Series defines "book-length" as: poetry-48 pages minimum text; short story collection and creative nonfiction-150-300 manuscript pages; novel-at least 60,000 words.

Poems and stories previously published in periodicals are eligible for inclusion in submissions, but manuscripts previously published in their entirety, including self-published, are not eligible. As the series is judged anonymously, no list of acknowledgements should accompany your manuscript.

The AWP Award Series is open to all authors writing original works in English for adult readers. No mixed-genre manuscripts can be accepted. Criticism and scholarly monographs are not acceptable for creative nonfiction, which the Award Series defines as factual and literary writing that has the narrative, dramatic, meditative, and lyrical elements of novels, plays, poetry, and memoirs.

To avoid conflict of interest and to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest, friends and former students of a judge (former students who studied with a judge in an academic degree-conferring program or its equivalent) are ineligible to enter the competition in the genre for which their former teacher is serving as judge.

AWP makes every effort to vary the judges by region, aesthetic, and institution so that writers, if ineligible one year, will certainly be eligible other years.

If a contestant wins in any genre, he/she may not enter the competition again in the same genre for the next five consecutive years.

You may submit your manuscript to other publishers while it is under consideration by the Award Series, but you must notify AWP immediately in writing if your manuscript is accepted elsewhere. No e-mail or phone calls, please.

AWP cannot consider manuscript revisions during the course of the contest, but the winning authors will have an opportunity to revise their works before publication. Please read carefully the entry requirements and guidelines before submitting your work.

Entry Requirements

• An entry fee of $30 to nonmembers and $15 to AWP members (not Chronicle subscribers). Make your check or money order in U.S. dollars, drawn on a U.S. bank, payable to AWP. All entry fees are nonrefundable.
• An official AWP entry form, completed with the required information. See the links at the top of this page for the entry form, or send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to AWP Award Series and request the entry form.
• Include a self-addressed, stamped postcard for notification that the entry has reached AWP. Notification will include your log number for the competition. Please use this number in corresponding with AWP regarding your entry. Due to the high volume of manuscripts, we cannot acknowledge receipt by phone.
• Also include a self-addressed, stamped envelope, business size (9 1/2 x 4 inches), if you would like direct notification of contest results. Results will be mailed in September. Do not include an envelope for the return of your manuscripts. No manuscripts can be returned.
• Send one copy of each manuscript entered, prepared according to manuscript format guidelines.
• You may enter in more than one genre, and you may also enter multiple manuscripts in one genre, provided that each manuscript is accompanied by its own entry form, postcard, and entry fee.

Terms

• Your submitted manuscript must be an original work of which you are the sole author.
• Your manuscript must be submitted in accordance with the eligibility requirements, format guidelines, and entry requirements or it will be disqualified.
• No entry fees or manuscripts will be returned.
• This competition is void where prohibited or restricted by law.
• The decision of the judge is final. The judge may choose no winner if he or she finds no manuscript that, in his or her estimation, merits publication and the award.

Deadline

Manuscripts must be postmarked between Jan. 1 and Feb. 28, 2011. All manuscripts and correspondence should be sent to:

AWP Award Series in (genre entered)
The Association of Writers & Writing Programs
Carty House, Mail Stop 1E3
George Mason University
Fairfax , VA 22030-4444

2011 Prizes, Final Judges, & Participating Presses

Donald Hall Prize in Poetry: $5,000
Dorianne Laux
University of Pittsburgh Press

Grace Paley Prize in Short Fiction: $5,000
Jhumpa Lahiri
University of Massachusetts Press

AWP Prize in Creative Nonfiction: $2,000
Susan Orlean
University of Georgia Press

AWP Prize in the Novel: $2,000
Don Lee
New Issues Press

Questions? E-mail chronicle@awpwriter.org

Student Contest Information

 

 To the student winners and to all the students
who submitted their poetry to the 2010 PSV Student Poetry Contest,
we want to thank you for all the wonderful work you sent to us.
We appreciate the time and energy you put forward
in writing and entering this contest.

 

2010 Student Contest Winners

2009 Student Contest Winners

 

 

 

Student Annual Contest - 2011 Guidelines

 

 DEADLINE: January 19, 2011
Edgar Allen Poe's Birthday

 

 

 

Entry Rules:

1. All entries must be in English, original and unpublished.
Authors retain all rights.

2. Poems submitted to the Student Contest may not enter
the Adult Contest. Poems that have previously won an
award in a PSV contest, may not enter.

3. ONE poem, per student, per page, per category.
Entries will not be returned.

4. Please submit TWO copies of each poem. In BOTH,
note the contest name and number on the upper left
side. In ONE copy add your contact information on
the upper right side. Submit on a all—white 8.5” x 11”
paper, single or double spaced.

5. Include a COVER SHEET:
poets’ name, address, E—mail, phone number,
category name and number, title, teacher’s name,
grade level, and school. Contact information can
be the student or the school.

6. To be considered, please include on the cover sheet a
signed statement, “This is my original work,” signed by
the teacher and student. All entrants must include this
statement, in all categories.

7. Entries will not be accepted by E—mail or special delivery
(certified, registered, FEDEX, UPS, etc.)

8. Winning poems will be notified by April 2011 and will
be published on the PSV web site.

9. Award—winners will be invited to the award ceremony
in Richmond, VA, scheduled for April 16, 2011.

 

Categories:

1. Grades 1—2
Sponsored by The Society
Any form. Any subject. 24 line limit.
Awards $25.00, $15.00, $10.00

2. Grades 3—4
Sponsored by The Society
Any form. Any subject. 24 line limit.
Awards $25.00, $15.00, $10.00

3. Grades 5—6
Sponsored by Dr. Edward Epstein in memory
of his parents, Bob and Fanny Epstein
Any form. Any subject. 24 line limit.
Awards $25.00, $15.00, $10.00

4. Grades 7—8
Sponsored by a Society Member
Any form. Any subject. 24 line limit.
Awards $25.00, $15.00, $10.00

5. Grades 9—10
The Jenkins Prize is sponsored
by Amber, Alyssa and Annika Jenkins
Any form. Any subject. 32 line limit.
Awards $25.00, $15.00, $10.00

6. Grades 11—12
Sponsored by Norman Soroko in memory of his parents,
Hymie and Freda Weisman Soroko
Any form. Any subject. 32 line limit.
Awards $25.00, $15.00, $10.00

7. College/University Level
Sponsored by The Society
Any form. Any subject. 48 line limit.
Awards $50.00, $30.00, $20.00

8. The Virginia Student Prize
Open to Virginia students grades 9—12
Sponsored by a Society member
Any form. Any subject. 36 line limit.
Awards $50.00, $30.00, $20.00

*Important Notice*
The Annual Contest Committee
will disqualify entries that fail to conform
to the rules. If additional information
or clarification is needed, please contact
the contest chair, Michal Mahgerefteh,
michalih@aol.com.

 

DEADLINE: January 19, 2011
Edgar Allen Poe's Birthday

No entry fee for students
No need to be a PSV member to enter
No need to be a Virginia resident

Please mail your entry to:
2011 PSV Student Contest
c/o Poetica
P.O. Box 11014
Norfolk, VA 23517

 

 

Writers Now #3

We are now accepting submissions for our third print collection.

Deadline: February 1st, 2011

- We accept all styles of writing: Essays, Poetry, Prose, Fiction, Non-Fiction.

- Include your submission in the body of the email with a brief biography and return email address.

- (Optional) Please include any photos or art work.

Email all submissions to: SEND at PALEHOUSE dot COM

Please allow some time for response while we review each submission.

10,000 copies of this book will be distrubuted nationally.

 

______________________________________________

 

We are Still working on:

* THE OPEN LETTER (LOS ANGELES)

This book is an open letter to the city of Los Angeles. It will be hand delivered to 10,000 residents in an attempt to create a stronger connection between strangers in the World, starting with Los Angeles.

- There are no rules as to what can or cannot be said. The letter can be addressed to anyone and everyone, or nobody. You can also remain anonymous if you prefer.

- 1000 words Maximum.

Please send your Open Letter to:

SEND at PALEHOUSE dot COM (OPEN LETTER - in the subject line)

Are African Americans Interested in Visual Art?

 

American People #: The Cocktail Party (1964) by Faith RInggold. 42 x24 inches. Oil on Canvas. All rights reserved. Faith RInggold Copyright. Private Collection. http://www.faithringgold.com http://www.faithringgoldsociety.org

Special to NewBlackMan

African Americans: Are We Interested in Visual Art II
by Michele Wallace

Aside from my oldest niece Faith (who seems to really love all kinds of art and photography and is an avid photographer and museum goer herself ), and my sister whose interest has become great (although it was not always), I have become (I haven't been into the Faith Ringgold Society thing most of my life) the one who is most determined to absolutely bend the space around me to conform to my notions of what black beauty is and should be.

I have now put that craving for physical and visual beauty together with the opportunity to write about and study my Mom's work at close range. When I moved out of Manhattan (living in Ithaca for awhile), I had an enormous library of visual art and photography books, which I gave to her Any One Can Fly Foundation (whose mission is the education of adults and children concerning the Masters of African American Art who were born before 1925--or in other words the artists born before Faith). I use the resources of this collection along with the massive personal and professional archive Faith has of her career at her home.

I did not come into the world, nor did I become a person who thought these matters were essential until I guess in the last decade or two. Even then for a long time I thought I could get around the whole issue of the place of painting within the canon, and/or my Mom's painting. But the thing is about this is I felt I needed to seize the particular opportunity I had as her daughter. Whether you are aware of the precise issues of this or not, everybody doesn't have equal access to the images.

(Try the following experiment. Do an image search on google, whatever you particularly like, and try things you really crave versus pictures of celebrities you are hearing about all the time, and then filter for free copyright use, and also take note of the size of the jpg you've found. When you've gotten rid of everything that is copyright restricted, you're looking at the images you are free to download, reproduce, post, print out whatever without violating anybody's copyright. Then print some of them out. Notice the size of the jpg. For the most part you will find yourself with a series of postage stamp size images, okay for posting on your wall but you can't really see them. They are not of exhibition quality and that is deliberate. You will notice this happening more and more.))

I am the only person on the planet that I know who enjoys full and unlimited access to Faith Ringgold's extensive archive of family images and photographs, as well as images of all her thousands of works of art--sculpture, painting, dolls, soft sculpture, performances, costumes, paintings, drawings, sketches and so forth. And unlike a lot of artists, Faith's work is all photographed, catalogued, inventoried with computer images of various sizes prepared for use by her nimble full time assistant (Grace Matthews). And I don't expect it to go on forever. It is a strategic access, which I am attempting to use to promote interest in the history of the development (in the course of the 20th century) of African American art and artists in general. Especially among other African Americans but everybody else as well. Just as an experiment, to see whether it is actually possible to change the public perception of something simply by the power of persuasion and good will.

So none of what I am doing follows naturally from anything, including my membership in this family or the fact that Faith is my mother and has been my mother for all 58 years of my life.

Many people who are closely related to artists decide to become artists themselves. Indeed, most people who write or have written about African American artists were either artists themselves or wanted to be artists. Sometimes people spend an entire career writing about and promoting the work of others and then retire in order to finally pursue their own art. Such a career was that of the artist and prominent African American art historian David Driscoll. Some work a day job until they retire, and then become full time artists. Such was Romare Bearden's story. Some spent a lifetime making art and were always well known in the art world and yet never made any really substantial wealth from it because their works were small and quickly grabbed up by collectors on easy terms. Such would be the case with the great master Jacob Lawrence. And for every African American artist you can name from the canon, there's a story to go with it. A reason that their children don't know their name or their images are in the public domain, their works in public collections, those that survived. This all relates to the fact that even if African Americans love African American art, they've got a great many more pressing priorities. Priorities which invariably take precedence over their interest in African American art. In general, African American art is not expensive so it can't be that. As my Mom says, back in the 60s she couldn't give the American Collection away. Nobody wanted it. Of course, she's not giving it away today. But who is out there trying to give their work away? Hope it isn't somebody in your very own family.

Although I always loved art, can't recall not loving it, It never occured to me to become an artist. Even though mother always had us painting and drawing when we were little, I was only too willing to stop when it got time to get serious. I didn't want to be an artist. I was too busy writing and nobody else in my family was doing that. God only knows where it came from but there it was almost from as early as I can remember. My sister also writes a great deal, journals mostly.

Who knows why? But my father was a musicians, and both he and his father were brilliant and prolific readers and kept notebooks, although the relationship between Mom and Dad ended early and abruptly. None of their natural abilities ever came to much--maybe because of the racism black men faced then, or maybe they just didn't have the necessary ambition but this need to communicate about ideas seems to come by some fashion from the genetic combination of my mother's abilities in the visual arts and my father and grandfather's talent for music (classical and jazz) and for intellectual investigation (they were from Jamaica). Genetics combined with opportunity for a superb education provided by the financial support of my stepfather Burdette (half tuition at New Lincoln was still a lot of money for us!) as well as all the trips to the Cape and to Europe, which he also funded.

Other than that, my particular approach to the visual (which is strategic and theoretical) has emerged over years and years of the study of questions related to visual culture (photography, film, architecture, museums and so forth, intellectual stuff generally). As you get older you start to think about, how can I make a contribution in this messed up world? And quite naturally you look to make a contribution where there is a greater necessity because there are fewer people working on it.

This is what strikes me about the lack of awareness of the extended ramifications of visual culture among AFrican Americans, particularly as regards the visual arts, particularly painting. It's pretty bad when it comes to photography too. I've been teaching photography--particularly photographs in which black people are present as photographers or subjects at Cornell and at the CUNY colleges and its been a real eye opener. It is very difficult for people to question that which they have never questioned. And they don't question what they see for the most part, especially if has the least little patina of nostalgia, or slickness or officialdom or whatever. In my experience, black folk notice stereotypes, (images they feel are designed to demean them) and nothing else. Since stereotypes are the only thing that get a serious rise out us, I am afraid they are here for the duration.

I am just saying. I don't have the problem with stereotypes that some people claim to have with them. I think they are just part of the menu of visual options in representations of the human figure but when you can't even see anything else, then you are geared to a life full of negativity.

I am going to treat you all to yet another master work from the American People Series since I know you have never or have rarely seen them. I hope you enjoy. Look to my Faith Ringgold Society Group Page or to my Facebook or to my website http://www.michelefewallace.com/ for more links and images from African American art and photography, and a range of other things bearing up the culture.

***

Michele Wallace is a Professor of English at The City College and in the Ph.D. Program in English at The Graduate Center and the author of several books including the classic Black Macho and The Myth of The Superwoman and Invisibility Blues: From Popular Culture to Theory.

 

Delphine Diallo

IMAGINE that a part of our African History has been misunderstood during years…
Imagine that this History is influencing our present…
Imagine that our knowledge is not what the official history
tells us…

Here are the questions that inspire me every day to capture 
the essence and the substance of my African roots.
Being a mixed woman with French and Senegalese origins,
I am constantly questionning my identity through words
but most of all through paintings and photographs. Questions become colours and images.
I am capturing faces of my Senegalese family and images 
of Africa, my Africa. 
My drawings and collages feature the city of Saint-Louis 
where they live, the history and legends of the city. I am using old photographs too, from the 70’s, in order to put some
of their memories in my art. 

The city of Saint-Louis was formerly known as Ndâr, which means « huge vase made of terra cotta ». Ndâr was actually
a water reserve. Here, I am exactly at the source, the essence, 
of my roots. I am at a crossroad : a place of mixed cultures, a place of constant renewal, a place of effervescence. I am a « dommon ndar », the one who is a mixed person in his genealogy but most of all in his psychology. 

Thanks to my paintings, a work in progress, I am rediscovering, or simply discovering, a part of myself, my family, my culture and a way of life. With these simple words behind : family, sharing, love, tolerance.

>via: http://www.delphinediawdiallo.com/portfolio/permalink/131590/739e3e14683cd0

____________________________________

Feature Artist: Delphine Diallo

Delphine’s artwork draws inspiration for her rich, multicultural family and personal history. Born to a Senegalese political father and French painter mother in Paris’s art Neighborhood and immigrant center 14 Arrondissement. As a visual artist Delphine’s work is inspired by her French-Senegalese heritage, using photography to portray her perspective.

“It allows me to develop images that transcend stereotypes in a world that consistently perpetuates a singular attitude as to what is deemed beautiful…. I use documentary, fashion and self-portrait photography through my journey of self-identification while discovering the amazing diversity of the world, as well as collage, and installations, which are also a part of my creative process.”

” We are all, already mixed up and make up a part of this crazy world. Superficiality,Globalization, and individuality represent our new generation. I’m just trying to find the way to go through a world filled with different questions when sometimes I still don’t have the answers. As a french-Senegalese, i cant deny that i’ve been asking me a lot question about identites and culture.

Africa is the first place where i was inspired: In this land, no one is running and people take time to share and stay in family. I’m inspired because of the nature, Light, People, Colors, wildlife…everything about Africa is inspiring. Pureness of the beauty at the moment. A natural moment is unique, like a magic chemical instant. My pictures are raw and full of natural emotion”

 

CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE

 

Facing Race 2010 Conference Panel: Latoya Peterson, Tracy Van Slyke, Kai Wright, and Veronica Arreola “Covering Race / Uncovering Racism: New Media Innovations for Revealing Realities”

22Dec2010 Filed under: Black in America, Human Rights, Progressives, Race, Racial Segregation, Racism, culture Author: Jonathan Jelks

From Facing Race 2010’s Media Plenary, A Panel on “Covering Race / Uncovering Racism: New Media Innovations for Revealing Realities”

Panelist addressed this question: While the mainstream media continues to ignore and dismiss the persistence of racism, the rapidly changing media landscape poses new challenges and opportunities for reshaping public awareness. How can we leverage the power of alternative media, social media and new media technologies to reveal not only the realities of racial inequality but also the routes to racial justice?

Moderator: Latoya Peterson, Racialicious http://www.racialicious.com/

Presenters: Kai Wright, ColorLines http://colorlines.com/ Tracy Van Slyke, The Media Consortium http://www.themediaconsortium.org
Veronica Arreola, Girl w/Pen http://girlwpen.com/

via theblackbottom.com

Our Favorite Teena Marie Videos

Starting in the late 1970s, singer-songwriter Teena Marie turned out memorable hit after hit. Widely considered to be one of the great voices of her generation, she was the first white performer signed to Motown. To celebrate her life, we put together a list of our favorite Lady T videos.

 

Captions by Abdul Ali

GO HERE TO SEE THE LIST AND VIDEO LINKS

Some Va. history texts filled with errors, review finds

By Kevin Sieff
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 29, 2010; 12:06 AM

 

In the version of history being taught in some Virginia classrooms, New Orleans began the 1800s as a bustling U.S. harbor (instead of as a Spanish colonial one). The Confederacy included 12 states (instead of 11). And the United States entered World War I in 1916 (instead of in 1917).

These are among the dozens of errors historians have found since Virginia officials ordered a review of textbooks by Five Ponds Press, the publisher responsible for a controversial claim that African American soldiers fought for the South in large numbers during the Civil War.

"Our Virginia: Past and Present," the textbook including that claim, has many other inaccuracies, according to historians who reviewed it. Similar problems, historians said, were found in another book by Five Ponds Press, "Our America: To 1865." A reviewer has found errors in social studies textbooks by other publishers as well, underscoring the limits of a textbook-approval process once regarded as among the nation's most stringent.

"I absolutely could not believe the number of mistakes - wrong dates and wrong facts everywhere. How in the world did these books get approved?" said Ronald Heinemann, a former history professor at Hampden-Sydney College. He reviewed "Our Virginia: Past and Present."

In his recommendation to the state, Heinemann wrote, "This book should be withdrawn from the classroom immediately, or at least by the end of the year."

The review began after The Washington Post reported in October that "Our Virginia" included a sentence saying that thousands of black soldiers fought for the South. The claim is one often made by Confederate heritage groups but rejected by most mainstream historians. The book's author, Joy Masoff, said at the time that she found references to it during research on the Internet. Five Ponds Press later apologized.

The unusual review process involved five professional scholars. The results, said three of those involved in the process, proved disturbing. Some submitted lists of errors that ran several pages long. State officials plan to meet Jan. 10 to review the historians' concerns.

"The findings of these historians have certainly underscored and added urgency to the need to address the weaknesses in our system so we don't have glaring historical errors in our books," said Charles Pyle, a spokesman for Virginia's Department of Education.

Five Ponds Press, based in Weston, Conn., has not disputed that its books have errors, and it said in an e-mail that it plans to incorporate historians' critiques into the next editions of their books.

"Most of the items you reference have been identified, and we sent a notice a week ago to the Virginia Department of Education with our intent to make these edits in the book's next printing," Lou Scolnik, owner of Five Ponds Press, wrote in response to questions.

Five Ponds Press provides books mainly to the Virginia Department of Education. The department is required to find texts that meet the state's stringent Standards of Learning, which includes lists of themes that each textbook must cover. That disqualifies many books produced for the national textbook market.

The department approves textbooks after panels of reviewers, often elementary school teachers, verify that the books cover each of the Standards of Learning themes. Experts in particular subject matters also sometimes review books.

"Teachers are not reading textbooks front to back, and they're not in a position to identify the kinds of errors that historians could identify," Pyle said.

The creation of Standards of Learning requirements helped create niche markets for smaller publishers, including Five Ponds Press. One of its early books was "Mali: Land of Gold & Glory," which, according to news reports, was crafted to fit a newly introduced Standards of Learning theme.

Five Ponds Press gradually expanded to other subject areas, filling a growing portion of Virginia's $70 million-a-year textbook market. Many larger publishers employ professional historians, but all of the books by Five Ponds Press have been written by Masoff, who is not a trained historian. Other titles by her include "Oh, Yuck! The Encyclopedia of Everything Nasty" and "Oh, Yikes! History's Grossest, Wackiest Moments."

Scolnik said Five Ponds is in the process of hiring a professional historian from a Virginia university.

School districts choose textbooks from a list approved by the state. Among the factors is price. The books by Five Ponds Press often are less expensive than those produced by larger publishers.

Fauquier County uses "Our America." Loudoun County used "Our Virginia" but pulled it in October, after The Post's report. Fairfax County still uses "Our Virginia," and last week, a review committee in Prince William County recommended both "Our America" and "Our Virginia" for approval.

"They are willing to go to great lengths for our business. Their product is substantially less expensive than the committee's next highest-rated competitor - very appealing in these lean economic times," said Kenneth Bassett, Prince William's social studies supervisor.

He said the textbook was not the only state-approved option with inaccuracies. "Unfortunately, errors are not all that uncommon in textbooks," Bassett said. "For example, one of the other publisher's books we reviewed confused Mount Vernon and Monticello," he said.

Four of the five experts reviewed books published only by Five Ponds Press. The fifth reviewer, DePaul University sociology professor Christopher Einolf, has written a book on a Civil War general. He reviewed Civil War content in nine Virginia textbooks published by companies other than Five Ponds Press.

His review found that one book - from publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt - has particular problems. Einolf took issue with some characterizations, saying, for example, that Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman did not "destroy" Atlanta but only portions of the city. Einolf also said that Pickett's Charge, which the book says involved 5,000 men, actually involved more than 10,000.

Calls to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt over the past week were not returned.

Einolf said many of the other books neglect key elements, such as the role of African Americans in 19th-century Virginia.

"Making a mistake is one thing. Ignoring the role that African Americans played in the state is almost as bad," Einolf said.

Historian Mary Miley Theobald, a former Virginia Commonwealth University professor, reviewed "Our America" and concluded that it was "just too shocking for words."

"Any literate person could have opened that book and immediately found a mistake," she said.

Theobald's list of errors spanned 10 pages, including inaccurate claims that men in Colonial Virginia commonly wore full suits of armor and that no Americans survived the Battle of the Alamo. Most historians say that some survived.

sieffk@washpost.com

Eight Homeless Youth Die in New Orleans Fire -

What Does It Say About US?

Wednesday 29 December 2010

by: Bill Quigley, t r u t h o u t | News Analysis

(Image: Jared Rodriguez / t r u t h o u t; Adapted: lildude, benoit_d)

Eight young people, who the fire department said were "trying to stay warm," perished in a raging fire during the night in New Orleans. The young people were squatting in an abandoned wood-framed, tin-walled warehouse in a Ninth Ward neighborhood bordering a large train yard. The young people apparently had a barrel with wood burning in it for heat. Officials said this was the city's most deadly fire in 25 years.

The eight young people, estimated to be in their late teens and early twenties, remain unidentified. "We don't know their IDs," said the fire department, "they were so burned we cannot even tell their genders."

Audrey, a young woman with brown dreads and a Polish last name, arrived at the scorched scene. She spent the night in the warehouse a couple of times. Because last night was so cold, she and a few others begged money from people in the French Quarter and got enough to spend the night in a hotel. Do you know who was in there? "Usually 10 to 15 people, nobody uses last names, but Katy, Jeff, Sammy, Nicky, John and Mooncat usually stay there," she sobbed. Why did people stay here? "A lot of freight hoppers stay here," she said, pointing to the nearby trains. "We are just passing through, hopping trains. We don't have any money." Behind her, a group of young people were crying and hugging as they picked up pieces of a navy blue sweatshirt from the burnt remains.

There are an estimated 1.6 to 2.8 million homeless youth in the US, people between the ages of 12 and 24, according to a June 2010 report of the Center for American Progress. Most are homeless because of abuse, neglect and family conflict. Gay and transgender youth are strikingly overrepresented.

The fire happened in an area of abandoned warehouses at the end of Prieur Street, two blocks toward the train tracks down from the new Family Dollar on Claiborne. It is a modest neighborhood. Some people are back, some aren't. One block from the warehouses is a long lime-green shotgun house with a beautiful, red, rose bush in front. Next door. stands a big, gray double shotgun with a wide-open door and tattered curtains hanging out broken windows. Untouched since Katrina, the gray house sports "OWNER HAS DOG" spray-painted on the front and the date, 10.8.5. "After Katrina, people don't have the money to fix their houses up," said a firefighter.

Across the street from the blackened warehouse is a vacant lot with a tiny, handmade, wooden shelter at its end. No electricity, no water. Inside are a mattress and some clothes. Follow the path through the weeds and there is another long, vacant building that looks like it was once a school. Clearly, people stay here as well. Empty cans of baked beans, chili and Vienna sausages are piled next to Four Loko cans, jars of peanut butter and empty juice boxes. "Where's our skate park?" is painted onto the wall in blazing red. A Thanksgiving card with a teddy bear on the outside lies on the pavement. Nana wishes the best to granddaughter Heather and son Dave.

New Orleans has 3,000 to 6,000 homeless people living in abandoned buildings according to an August 2010 report by Unity of Greater New Orleans. The report, "Search and Rescue Five Years Later: Saving People Still Trapped in Katrina's Ruins," notes homelessness has doubled since Katrina. Seventy-five percent of the people in those buildings are survivors of Hurricane Katrina. Outreach workers report many are disabled, but many also work. Inside abandoned buildings live full-time sitters and restaurant workers.

Since Katrina, New Orleans has a severe homeless problem because of the scarcity of affordable housing. The Department of Housing and Urban Development and local governments demolished over 4,000 affordable, public housing apartments after Katrina. "The current housing crisis in New Orleans reflects the disastrous impact of the demolition policy," according to the UN Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing in a February 2010 report very critical of the United States. Rents rose. Tens of thousands of homes remain vacant. Over 30,000 families are on the waiting list for affordable housing.

A November 2010 report from the Greater New Orleans Community Data Center pegs the number of vacant and blighted properties at over 40,000 in New Orleans with more in the suburbs - 14,000 of which are owned by the government.

Unity for the Homeless has been asking for help for people living in abandoned buildings for years. They have four outreach workers who nightly check on people living in abandoned buildings. Five recommendations from Unity to help these thousands of people: convert abandoned building into housing for the homeless; fund case managers to help people with disabilities move into housing; additional outreach and housing search workers; create a small shelter with intensive services for people with mental health problems, who are resistant to shelters; and serious investment in affordable rental housing. There are several hundred housing vouchers available for disabled homeless people, but no money to fund the caseworkers they need.

Nationally, the US has severely cut its investment in affordable housing despite increasing need from the foreclosure and economic crises. Homelessness is of course up all over. The US Conference of Mayors reported in December 2010 that demands for food and housing are up across the country. The causes? Unemployment, high housing costs and low wages.

Will we look into our abandoned buildings and look into the eyes of our abandoned daughters and sons and sisters and brothers? Will our nation address unemployment, high housing costs and low wages? Will we address the abuse, neglect and family conflict that create homelessness for millions of youth, especially gay and transgender youth? Or will the fires continue and the lives end?