Two and a half weeks until New York City!

On the Chinese New Year of the Fire Monkey, we are thrilled to be preparing for our first pubilc screening of the film in New York City on Sunday, February 28, at 1:00 p.m., during the Caribbean Cultural Center-African Diaspora Institute's two-day symposium, Trade-itions: Trans-Atlantic Orisha Sacred Traditions. The film screening will be followed by a panel discussion featuring distinguished leaders connected with the path of the Orisha Yemanjá (Yemaya or Yemoja depending on the cultural tradition.) The event will be at City College Center for the Arts, CUNY, in northern Manhattan.  Check it out! http://www.cccadi.org/upcoming-events/2016/2/28/tradeitions-trans-atlantic-orisha-sacred-traditions

As Yemanjá was celebrated last week in Bahia, Brazil (on February 2), here's a photo of a permanent hommage to the Great Mother Orixá/goddess in St. Tiago do Iguape, Bahia, taken by dear friend Luciene Gordilho! Odoyá Iemanjá!

Thanks to the film's wise and wonderful Advisory Circle for contributing such terrific support and sisterhood!  We met last night to discuss the film going forward and to share some black beans and rice on a chilly winter's night.
(Left to right Sabira Bushra, Teanna Medina, Ola Obasi, me, Lilan Laishley, Celeta Hickman [standing], Victoria Hanchin, and LaVerne Baker Hotep [standing]. Mala Shah had to depart early.)

We also spoke gratitude for the mothers and matriarchs in our lives, familial and otherwise, inspired in part by the work of the extraordinary Freedom Movement activist and educator the late Rosemarie Freeney Harding and her daughter Rachel Elizabeth Harding and their new book, Remnants: A Memoir of Spirit, Activism, and Mothering. (Duke University Press). I am treasuring the final few pages now. http://www.rachelelizabethharding.com/#!remnants/crjf

Be well. Stay Warm. Happy New Year!