Friday, May 30, 2014

Chester High School’s “And the Band Plays on” Spring Concert

CHS Band

Chester High School band played to an audience of parents and students in a spring concert which was lively and full of music. The concert took place in the auditorium of the high school this morning. Reverend Dr. Richard Brown III, band director, directed the band in playing Martin Luther King March, Come Sunday, Beauty and the Beast, Hail and Conquering Hero, and Augustus Gloop. Minuet in G Major, a flute solo, was performed by Dahnesha Tiller. Let me Love you, a duet, was performed by Savion Ellington and Jayda Carter. Climb every Mountain was sang by Maurice Grimes, Bryant Harris, Savion Ellington, Andre Fambro, Omonigho Fidelis Agbiro, and Rev. R. Brown III. Maryjane was performed by Thomas Lolley on the guitar and Bryant Harris on the keyboard. Enjoyable program!

Thursday, May 29, 2014

Chester High School receives Overall Sportsmanship Award for 2013-2014


According to Chester High School Athletic Director, Randy Legette, who attended the recent Del Val Banquet held in Media, Chester High School was awarded Overall Sportsmanship for 2013-2014. This was the first time all the teams have received the award from the Del Val Athletic Association.

Men's 3rd Annual Health Fair


Free Eye Glasses Available for Youth in Chester at the Boys & Girls Club

Wills Eye Hospital will be providing vision screenings and free glasses for kids this summer at the Chester Boys & Girls Club! 

When: Thursday, June 26th, 9am-2pm
             Friday, June 27th, 9am-2pm
             Monday, June 30th, 9am-2pm

Where: Boys & Girls Club of Chester, 201 East 7th Street, Chester, PA 19013

Contact: Janet Riley-Ford, 610-874-1237 or Janet.Ford@crozer.org

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Widener Prof Edits New Book on Argentine Cinema

Widener professor Beatriz Urraca of Wallingford presents her new book at Libros del BalcĂłn, a bookstore in Buenos Aires, Argentina.


Widener Professor Beatriz Urraca of Wallingford Edits New Book on Argentine Cinema 

Chester, Pa.- Dr. Beatriz Urraca, associate professor of modern languages and incoming director of the Program in Gender and Women’s Studies at Widener University, has co-edited the book “Directory of World Cinema: Argentina” with Philadelphia-based freelance film critic Gary M. Kramer. The book, published by Intellect in the United Kingdom and distributed by The University of Chicago Press, will be released in June. It explores approximately 90 Argentine films including Oscar winners, contemporary blockbusters, experimental documentaries and early films about the tango and gauchos. Argentina has one of the most complex, diverse and successful film industries in Latin America.

“Many colleagues and friends have asked me over the years to recommend films for their courses or for fun,” Urraca said. “We put together this book as an answer to those requests.”

“Directory of World Cinema: Argentina” is a collection of essays and reviews by scholars, critics, filmmakers and film buffs from around the world. It provides a critical analysis of Argentine movies and allows readers to learn about the country’s film industry, as well as its history and culture. Readers may get inspired to visit Argentina; Urraca especially recommends going in April to attend the Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema (BAFICI) and experience the country’s vibrant film culture. She also encourages venturing outside of the capital city to see the glaciers in Patagonia and the wineries at the foot of the Andes Mountains in Mendoza.

Urraca, a native of Spain and a resident of Wallingford, Pa., has been working on Argentine literature since completing her dissertation and receiving her doctorate in comparative literature at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She started studying film in 2004 and has taught classes about Spanish and Latin American cinema in addition to ones on literature and language. She specializes in recent film fiction from the New Argentine Cinema, which started in the late ’90s, to present-day films, with a focus on the representation of gender and how films depict social problems such as poverty and marginalization.

Urraca has also worked on civic engagement projects with students in several Latin American countries. In Argentina, she directed a service-learning program working with a church in an impoverished community outside Buenos Aires where priests are committed to fighting poverty. A similar phenomenon has been depicted in films like White Elephant and Slum, which are featured in her book and are also the subject of a forthcoming journal article for “Revista de Estudios Hispánicos.” Urraca’s service experiences have given her a well-rounded perspective of Argentina as she has lived not only in its luxurious neighborhoods, but also in its poverty-stricken areas. “It’s helped me understand the country a lot better, and I think that translates into my work,” she said.

Maya Angelou, 1928 - 2014

For one of her last events in the area last year. I knew this was my last chance to see her but it was booked solid. Much respect, RIP Maya Angelou, 1928 - 2014

Still I Rise 
 
You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I’ll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
‘Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I’ll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops,
Weakened by my soulful cries?

Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don’t you take it awful hard
‘Cause I laugh like I’ve got gold mines
Diggin’ in my own backyard.

You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I’ll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I’ve got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history’s shame
I rise
Up from a past that’s rooted in pain
I rise
I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.

(So Powerful)