Of the different schools I have attended and wrote about in Dreams of the Immortal City Savannah, the one where I did not do especially well was Temple University, home of the mighty Owls in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At this point, years later, I can smile with some humility about it because two groundbreaking books with my name attached to them are now university’s library. This is the story of why that matters during this 20th anniversary of Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance. There were at least a couple of significant reasons for my frowny-face grades at Temple. One was the difficulty I had adapting to the school’s much larger classrooms after I’d attended a private college where classes usually accommodated between 10 and 15 or 20 students. At Temple, as with many large American universities, the number of students per classroom often began at 20 and at least two of mine, dealing with the history of journalism, had more than 40. Being seen to get answers to questions could be as difficult as hearing what the professor was saying at any given moment. So far as formal academics went, I had underestimated my personal need for the more intimate setting provided by my former college located in Florida. The 3.5 average which had gotten me into Temple took a stunning and painful nosedive. At the same time, the city of Philadelphia itself––with its rich history, demographic diversity, vibrant cultural arts scene, and swinging nightclubs––provided me with an education in northern urban culture I had long desired and finally received. Partying Footballers and Privileged Roommates The second cause of my non-impressive academic performance was sleep deprivation. The resulting brain fog came from being placed in a dorm room next to a popular football player who preferred partying with teammates and adoring young co-eds way past midnight, every night of the week, as opposed to studying or sleeping on any night of the week. My next-door party-owl might not have needed decent grades or a part-time job to stay enrolled but I did. He couldn’t believe it when I dared to hammer on his door, banging louder than the drums in his blaring rock and roll, and ask him to lower the volume so those of us who were not on athletic scholarship could study and/or get some sleep. The muscle-heavy teammates standing behind him couldn’t believe it either and appeared genuinely confused that I was not begging to join them. This scenario repeated itself enough that the floor RA feared we were heading toward a battle of the over-six-footers and had me moved down to the first floor. The move created another situation with a wealthy roommate who made it clear he was just hanging out at the university until his father caved in and gave him a job at his company. With his future so solidly set, he slept all day and at night noisily exited and entered the room with his girlfriend. He became more thoughtful after I let him know what his lack of consideration felt when I spent an entire day rushing back to the room, in between classes and work, to interrupt his snoring. Fortunately for both of us, he and his lady moved in together somewhere and I actually I had the entire room to myself for at last month of one semester. Joyful GratitudeMany other experiences at Temple were very positive, like: working for Temple U Press, singing in the school's gospel choir, and photographing Philadelphia’s famed public sculptures. But I’ve always regretted having received there the only “F” and “D” I ever got at any college or university. Bearing that in mind, however, it is more than a little satisfying to know the school’s library currently holds copies of : Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance and Suzanne Jackson Five Decades. The university itself and Temple U Press are referenced several times in the encyclopedia and it contains an entire article, written by West, on Philadelphia and the Harlem Renaissance. My books’ presence on the school’s library shelves could be described as a kind of poetic justice or vindication. I like the idea that history took up its pen to write a version of my time at Temple filled with more joyful gratitude than painful frustration. Aberjhani |
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Enhanced Table of Contents for
Dreams of the Immortal City Savannah
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- City of Lights-Kaleidoscope Moon for Children Gone Too Soon #6
- Cities of Lights and Shadows and Dreams
- Flowers and Wings for Her Tears and Years
- A Brazilian Thanksgiving in Savannah
- Forsyth Park Confederate Monument in Savannah the Morning after
- Hurricane Matthew
- Trees down Everywhere
- Owens-Thomas House in Savannah, Georgia
- Dreams of the Immortal City
- B&W Digital Watercolor of Dr. Abigail Jordan
- The Bridge and the Monument: a Tale of Two Legacies
- Cartoon from Riders Reader
- Riding the Bus with Man-Boy and Shaniquananda: And Then Not 113
- That Time We Woke Up Laughing in Claude Monet’s Garden
- Monet, Vann, and Gibran at the Telfair Museum of Art
- Savannah by the Twenty-first Century Numbers
- Appendices
- Appendix A: 2016 Statement on Eugene Talmadge Bridge
- Appendix B: 2017 Statement on Eugene Talmadge Bridge
- Appendix C: Savannah Community Marks 100th Anniversary
- Appendix D: A Legacy Less Traveled
- Appendix E: A Place Called Hitch Village
Aberjhani
29 April, 2019
29 April, 2019
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The various works with the late great artist Luther E. Vann, particularly ELEMENTAL, The Power of Illuminated Love, are fairly well-known. For its blending of visual fine art and poetry by two creatives, ELEMENTAL continues to stand as an exceptional tribute to creative energies and individuals which made the Harlem Renaissance such an exciting political and cultural arts phenomenon.
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Some, however, might be surprised to learn Vann’s art also adorned the covers of several more of my books, including: the poetry collection The Bridge of Silver Wings; and, the novels Christmas When Music Almost Killed the World, and Songs from the Black Skylark zPed Music Player. In Dreams of the Immortal City Savannah, Vann’s aesthetic relationship with the artists Claude Monet and Kahlil Gibran is explored in story titled “Monet, Vann, and Gibran at the Telfair Museum of Art.” The following is a short excerpt from the story:
“When considering how the practices of slavery, philanthropy, and rebellion could all converge behind the exquisitely-rendered doors of the Telfair Museum, it becomes less difficult to imagine the different implications of it housing works by artists as diverse as France’s Claude Monet (Nov 14, 1840 – Dec 5 1926), America’s Luther E. Vann (Dec 2, 1937-April 6, 2016), and Lebanon’s Kahlil Gibran (Jan 6, 1883 – April 10, 1931)... There is a kind of unrecognized kinship between their painted meditations on the layered realities of human existence and the ever-unfolding wonders of time’s relationship with space, and light’s eternal dance with shadows and hues.” (from Dreams of the Immortal City Savannah)
The above reference to “practices of slavery” (hopefully obviously) should not be taken as allusion to those associated with today’s Telfair Museums of Art. It refers rather to past practices which made possible the foundation upon which the museum was founded. It is nevertheless painfully relevant to our modern times because of the current pandemic of human trafficking. That makes the work and function of the modern Telfair Museums, which often bridges cultural divides and celebrates human diversity, all the more essential.
Aberjhani
100th Anniversary of the Harlem Renaissance
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The month of April, with flowers blooming after a frozen winter and people enjoying outdoor weddings and other activities, tends to be a favorite time for many. It is a special month for Dreams of the Immortal City Savannah because two of the principal figures in the book, civil rights advocate Vanda Trappio Patton and metaphysical artist Luther E. Vann, both passed away two years apart on April 6.
April 2019 will mark the first anniversary of Patton’s death and the third of Vann’s. Both were former members of the onlineCreative Thinkers International Initiative.
April 2019 will mark the first anniversary of Patton’s death and the third of Vann’s. Both were former members of the onlineCreative Thinkers International Initiative.
Trees Down Everywhere
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In addition to being one of three individuals to whom Dreams of the Immortal City is dedicated, Ms. Patton is also a central figure in “Trees Down Everywhere,” the third story in DREAMS. In the story, readers meet her as elderly matriarch reluctant to leave her historic Victorian home even though Hurricane Matthew is moving steadily toward Southeast Georgia and threatening a direct hit against Savannah. This is a brief synopsis of the story:
“Following announcements of life-threatening hurricanes likely to directly strike Savannah, residents and tourists alike have often commented on how fortunate the ‘immortal city’ has been to defy these predictions. However, though nearly all agree it could have been much worse than it turned out to be, with Hurricane Matthew the luck ran out in 2016. Throughout the night when Matthew hits, the narrator struggles to prevent a friend’s house from flooding and the next day walks through city parks photographing uprooted trees. In addition, he shares what it was like to experience the psychic pressure of dealing with the hurricane while simultaneously…”
Ms. Patton’s choice and how it impacts all involved (including her recently-deceased son Moses Trappio III) makes for a compelling narrative to which many hurricane survivors around the world can relate. Her story is also one of the primary examples of how and why Dreams of the Immortal City Savannah is proving appealing as regional and world literature.
NEXT: The Month of April and Dreams of the Immortal City Savannah (part 2)
Aberjhani
100th Anniversary of the Harlem Renaissance
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About the Author:
A passionate reader, committed writer, artist, photographer, dedicated practitioner of mindfulness, hurricane survivor, maker of poems, believer in the value of compassion, historian, award-winner, journalist, adherent of beauty, and student of wisdom.
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