:tittp;//www.thepost.mindspring.com
16A
Cljarlotte
STYLE
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 2, 1997
A taste of the islands, mon
Local leadership training program host annual
Carribean festival. See Around Charlotte, page 15 A.
Catch a rising star
Want to see some of Charlotte’s
hottest rising stars?
Check out the annual Queen
City Talent Showcase Friday at
Theatre Charlotte, 501 Queens
Road.
Local singers, dancers, musi
cians and actors will vie for for
prizes that include $1,000 for
adult first and $200 for juniors.
The competition begins at 8 p.m.
The special guest host wiU he
golden oldie disc jockey Rockin’
Ray Gtooding.
Sponsored hy the Charlotte Area
Association of Black Journalists,
the event wiU feature music hy
Upscale, a jazz trio.
Tickets are $15 in advance and
$20 at the door. Proceeds will ben
efit CABJ’s annual scholarship
competition.
For tickets or information, call
358-5079 or 258-5086.
Neighbors unite
Did you live in First Ward before
1963?
One of Charlotte’s oldest neigh
borhoods, First Ward, was razed
in the 1960 to make way for Earle
Village - destroying more than 60
yfears of memories for the area’s
predominantly Afiican American
residents.
*rhe First Ward Organization,
formed by former First Ward
denizens, will host a picnic and
diimer Saturday at Hornet's Nest
Park on Beatties Ford Road.
Festivities begin at 2 p.m.
For more information, caU 392-
4641 or 373-1535.
Einergency assistance
program reopens
The Emergency Assistance
Program of Mecklenbing County
vrill begin taking appointments
for those in need of assistance
with rent, utility bills and other
etnergency services.
Interviews begin Wednesday.
EAP helps county residents with
financial difiBculties due to lost
hours, lay off or weather crisis.
Jib make an appointment -with a
representative, caU 336-4035.
Tee Time
Got a few hours free Saturday?
Check out the Charlotte
Chapter of the National MBA
Association’s golf classic.
Some of Charlotte’s top golfers
wiU vie for prizes that include a
car, a trip to Jamaica and a set of
oversized irons.
The time is set for 9:30 a.m. at
Regent Park Golf Club.
Festival of reading set to begin
Got some poetry that’s just beg
ging to be pubUshed?
The Beatties Ford Road Branch
Library wiU hold a lecture series
for people interested in being pub
lished, Oct. 13-15. For more infor-
iriation, call 336-2882.
The Post will host an evening
with Connie Briscoe, Oct. 23 at
the Blumenthal Performing Arts
Center. Briscoe, author of best-
seUers “Sisters and Lovers” and
“Big Girls Don’t Cry,” also edits
the American Armais of the Deaf.
The event begins at 7:30 p.m.
Afterwards, Briscoe will meet
fans and sign copies of her works.
Tickets are $10.
The events are part of NoveUo,
See AHOUM} CHAnxniE page 15A
A million strong
Local organizers of The Million Woman March hope to send ten buses to the Oct. 25 March. The group has been holding planning
sessions since June. Pictured above, group leaders Kenda Feaster, Mischelle Massey and Angel Whiteside.
Local women make
plans for march
By Jeri Young
THE CHARLOTTE POST
On Oct. 24, Charlotte AUen
hopes to see scores of African
American women gathered at
the comer of Sugar Creek Road
and North Tryon Street.
Enough to fiU 10 buses for the
Million Woman March.
‘Tf they’re not here on time,
we’re going to leave them,”
Allen, 47, said with a laugh. ‘We
are going to be on the road by 9
a.m. We have a long drive ahead
of us.”
AUen is one of the founders of
the Daughters of the Million
Woman March, a gathering of
women of aU color slated for Oct.
25 on PhUadelphia’s Benjamin
Franklin Parkway.
In the spirit of Nation of Islam
leader Louis Farrakhan’s 1995
Million Man March, which drew
at least 1 million men to
Washington, D.C., MWM vriU
mark a renewal for women.
“This is an event which wUl
bring our issues to a global
level,” Thbiyah Ngozi, pubUc
relations coordinator for the
march, said in an interview last
month with The PhUadelphia
Tribime. ‘We are encomaging
sisters from around the country
to bring their issues. We as
females are always concerned
about our chUdren, our famUies,
health and medical care and
education.”
Invited guests uiclude Winnie
Mandela and MUlion Woman
March founder Phile Chai-
oneus.
Platform issues for the march
include a national vow of sup
port for Congressional Black
Caucus chair Rep. Maxine
Waters as weU as a caU for
schools to address the special
needs of African American chU
dren.
Organizers also hope to bring,
attention to the plight of
women who have been incar
cerated, the revival of neigh
borhood health centers and the
need for more black women
leaders.
These are issues that hit
home with members of Daugh
ters of the Million Woman
March.
Every other Friday, 20 to 30
women meet at the GreenviUe
PHOTOS/ SUE ANN JOHNSON
Minister Robert Muhammad of the Nation of Islam addresses
Daughters of the Million Woman March during their weekly
meeting. Women interested in attending should call 732-6915 or
241-4140.
Center to talk and share sto
ries. They also plan their trip to
Philadelphia. Daughters
encompasses women of all
backgrounds, brought together
by their belief that women can
make a difference.
“I guess it’s a response to the
men’s march,” Mischelle
Massey, 30, said. “It shows that
women can come together to
support a cause that betters
them. Ihgethemess is a big
part of the event.”
Massey, an engineer for the
city of Rock HiU, said she start
ed going to the meetings after
she heard about the march. As
a black woman in a white male-
dominated field, meetings Uke
these are important, she said.
“When I heard about the
march, I wanted to be part of
it,” Massey said. “I felt Uke it
was important to women.”
Men wUl be aUowed to come,
but won’t have a significant
role. Most wUl provide security.
“We are also asking for those
who want to volunteer, either
as our entertainment or those
who care to do fund raising or
give a donation, to do so,” Ngozi
said.
The fact that the march is
being held in Philadelphia, site
of the signing of the
Declaration of Independence,
also holds special significance
for women.
‘We ready do need to get
together for ourselves and our
kids,” AUen said. “If we want a
better future for our kids, we
need to do this.”
Web provides place of mourning
By Patricia J. Mays
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WOODSTOCK, Ga. - The deso
late cemetery with its indistin
guishable rows of tombstones has
taken on a different tone in cyber
space, where more and more
grievers are turning to memorial
ize the dead.
The cyberspace cemeteries post
ed on the World Wide Web aUow
mourners to share their grief and,
in return, strangers who stumble
onto the site often respond with
poignant thoughts about their
own losses or just offer condo
lences.
“This is a wonderful way for peo
ple to make contacts, reach out to
other people,” said Judy
Tatelbaum, a psychotherapist and
author in Carmel, Calif “In terms
of grief, any possible way people
can communicate with other peo
ple wiU help them heal.”
The Web sites include memoirs
ranging from photographs and
biographies to audio clips of the
deceased’s favorite songs and trib
utes from friends and relatives.
‘It’s a way for them to say ‘Hey,
Fm here, I was here, I made a dif
ference,’ ” said Ben Delaney, pres
ident of SausaUto, Calif-based
CyberEdge Information Services,
which tracks virtual reality and
interactive media trends. “These
kind of memorials are way to
show others that these people
existed.”
Lois Mickelson of Tacoma,
Wash., turned to the Web after
her 11-year-old daughter, Carol,
died in March 1996 after health
problems since birth. Initially she
was hesitant about posting
Carol’s biography and photograph
on the Web, but then decide it
would be a perfect place to share
her daughter's story with the
world.
“It’s a place for me ... to remem
ber my daughter. I missed moth
ering my daughter. I missed being
able to do things for her,” said
Mickelson.
Carol’s page, which has had
more than 9,700 visitors on its
Virtual Memorials site, chronicles
her fight with epilepsy. A photo of
the smiling little girl appears on a
pink background filled with red
hearts on one page. Another page,
decorated with Mickey Mouse
and Minnie Mouse in the back
ground, is of Carol’s favorite
things: Power Rangers, an ani
mated Barney whose eye twin
kles, and a bouncing Winnie the
Pooh.
“It’s been very heahng for me,
doing the memorial. IPs been very
beneficial and therapeutic in me
adjusting to fife without my
footer
daughter.”
One browser, Tam Mester, who
inadvertently stumbled upon
Carol’s page, wrote: ‘Well, I echo
the feelings that everyone else
has said on this page. I also did
not know your Httle girl, but cer
tainly do feel I know her now.”
Another attraction of the online
gravesites is their broad exposure
- accessible any in the world,
making it especially convenient
for those who couldn’t attend the
funeral or were unaware of the
death.
That was the case for Donna
RanaUo of Pittsburgh, whose 17-
year-old son Charlie died in a traf
fic accident after the prom in
1995.
Charlie’s site is filled with mes
sages from school pals, teachers
and strangers,
“I have received so many beauti-
See MEMORIALS page 15A
By Jeri Young
THE CHARLOTTE POST
Kinfolks
Kristin Himter Lattany
Ballentine
1997
$10,95
There’s just something about
kinfolk.
The love. The closeness. The
kindness. The problems.
In Kinfolks, the hilarious latest
book by veteran author Kristin
Hunter Lattany, the relationship
between siblings and their par
ents is explored. And exposed.
When the children of two aging
single moms get engaged, a
shocking secret is revealed.
The kids have the same father -
smooth talking, poetry reciting
professor and ex-freedom fighter
Gene Green. Cherry and Patrice
figure if they got suckered by
Gene maybe there are more
women out there that used
his...ah...services.
Of course there are!
The rest of the book is a raucous
romp throughout the country to
find the rest of the “kinfolk.”
Cute and funny. Definitely
worth picking up.
The Assassination of the
Black Male Image
Earl Ofari Hutchinson PhD
Touchstone
1997
$11
Earl Ofari Hutchinson rises his
pen as weapon.
In his colurrm for the National
Newspaper Publisher’s Associa
tion, he rages about everything
from race to economics - spread
ing knowledge and making people
think.
In his groundbreaking “The
Assassination of the Black Male
Image,” Hutchinson turns his pen
to rework the media’s view of
black men. In the process he steps
on many toes and takes the read
er on an exhausting journey.
When the book was first pub
lished in 1994, it caused a stir.
Folks were angry because
Hutchinson is an equal opportu
nity destroyer. He not only “calls
out” white America, he also
reminds black America of its mis
takes.
He disses “Boyz N the Hood,”
both the movie and the lifestyle.
He reminds us of the horror of
Chuck Stuart—a white Bostonian
who after killing his wife and
unborn child, claimed the crime
was committed by an African
American.
He takes on athletics.
“Black men aren’t like normal
people. With all that muscle and
brawn, black men are supposed to
be impervious to injury and pain.
Even if they come armed with a
dozen letters from doctors and
specialists supporting their injury
claim, it won’t stop the owners
See AUTHOR page 15A