CVN May 2008, page 6
ACCESSPRESS announces the launching of two new books by New Bedford author Claudia Grace. Ms. Grace has served as a correspondent for the CVN since 1983, covering both community and Schooner Ernestina events. She has woven her journalistic background into The Other Side of Where I Used to Live, praised by renowned poet Michael Harper as a book of “…bountiful generosity and prolixity….an impulse for community and voices is the strong point where the people are real and hard to contain”.
This book brings together the saints and sinners, the ancestors and neighbors, the celebration of family and the joys of love along with the desolation of the voiceless.
There are poems which capture New Bedford’s
Cape Verdean community in action (among them South Central address, Steam, whiskey tango kilo, The Tree of Life, syncopating night), as well as a Cape Verdean character in one play and another drama dedicated to Joli Gonsalves. Diverse characters articulate universal themes with specific concerns which confront our lives.
Write for Life, an instructional manual in creative writing, is a process which has evolved from her popular course taught at diverse sites including UMD Continuing Studies.
Twelve steps of background theory and exercise provide tools to access both personal stories and social and cultural narratives. These techniques amplify psycho-social dynamics and perception to work as
The organizing committee of the Alfred J. Gomes School , New Bedford, Massachusetts 30th Anniversary celebration are l-r Rosemary Medriros, Rosa Oliver and Barbara Ganeto. The 30th Anniversary celebration took place April 12th and was held at the Cafe Funchal located in New Bedford. A large crowd was in attendance. (cvn photo)
Phyllis Corchado and Maria Lopes walk 20 miles and raised hundreds of dollars Walk for Hunger
On Sunday May 4th, Phyllis Corchardo and Maria Lopes walked 20 miles to raise funds to alleviate hunger. The walk was organized by Project Bread. Thousands of people walked in the 40th Annual fundraiser and all who finished received a Certificate of Achievement. The CVN tips its hat to Phyllis and Maria on their outstanding achievement. Thousands of dollars were raised Maria is the wife of CVN publisher Tom Lopes
ADVENTURES WITH MOM
By Marian June Rose
It was another beautiful Cape Cod day, one to take a trip and travel is what my mom and I did. Mary Vieira Rose has many friends here in Wareham so it was difficult who would go with us to the Cape Verdean Museum Exhibit located in East Providence, Rhode Island. Other attendees have told us how interesting and well organized this Exhibit was and we felt it was time to go and investigate for ourselves.
Doris Baptiste and Mary Paulette both from the Onset area were thrilled to accompany us and represent the Oak Grove Cape Verdean Cultural Center. Mom and I worked diligently in our kitchen earlier preparing cornmeal goofong to be our appreciation gesture to Denise Olivera, their Exhibit coordinator. Finally we were ready and we all piled into my hybrid Prius for the road trip to Rhode Island.
The Cape Verdean Museum Exhibit facility was very easy to find. The address is 1003 Waterman Avenue, East
powerful tools across genres, empowering writers to structure the content of their lives with meaningful form. Discover why the Write for Life process, an antidote to fear of the blank page, has been called “inoculation against writer’s block”.
Ms. Grace is experienced in print/ broadcast media and theater. Her work has been produced by Providence’s Rites & Reason Theater, and she has co-produced 18 multi-cultural documentaries aired in 11 New England communities via cable access television. She holds M.A. in English and Creative Writing from Brown University and a B.A. in English from U.M.D. (S.M.U.) where she was a co-founder of SIREN: A Woman’s Journal. She has earned recognition and grants both for her own work and as artistic director for nonprofit A.C.C.E.S.S. Art Corp International. She is also a test assessor for Educational Testing Services, a test developer for American Institutes for Research, and a teacher with the PEN New England Prison Writing Project. She lives on New Bedford’s peninsula with her husband, Captain Thomas A. Grace.
Both books, along with details, are available through the organizational website: www.accessartcorpintl.org.
They can also be purchased as at Baker Books (North Dartmouth, MA), U.M.D. Campus Store, Brown University Bookstore, Amazon.com, and Barnes and Noble.com.
From left: New Bedford Port Society Volunteer Coordinator Christine Berry, Park Superintendent Celeste Bernardo, Seamen's Bethel volunteer Paul Swain
National Park Service volunteers (from left) Jane Harrop, Cliff Roderiques, Judy Roderiques
New Bedford, MA—Almost 100 park and partner volunteers recently attended the park's annual volunteer appreciation event. The event took place in the 2nd floor education space of the Corson Building adjacent to the park’s visitor center. The event included awards, refreshments, and tours of the building which had been rehabilitated after a devastating fire in 1997. The highlight of the evening was the recognition of 34 National Park Service (NPS) volunteers for ten years of service. This number represents 45% of the original 75 volunteers that joined the NPS’s Volunteer-in-Parks program in 1998. In addition, seven NPS volunteers received recognition for five years of service. Also, for the first time, volunteers from the park’s many partner organizations were in
attendance and recognized with certificates for their support of the mission of the National Park Service. These partners include the New Bedford Historical Society, Waterfront Historic Area LeaguE, New Bedford Whaling Museum, New Bedford Port Society, Rotch-Jones-Duff and Garden Museum, and Schooner Ernestina. At the conclusion of the awards program, volunteers were taken through the newly-rehabilitated Corson Building. Park Volunteer Coordinator, Emily Prigot, remarked on the importance of hosting such an event, “The annual appreciation event is a small token of our gratitude to the hundreds of volunteers who contribute their time and expertise to the park.” Prigot continues, “It is fitting that we included our partner organizations in this year’s recognition event as we work side by side everyday to tell the
Gomes School’s 30th Anniversay organizing committee