By Gwen DeRu
TODAY…
**READ THE BIRMINGHAM TIMES. Get all the latest news!
FRIDAY…
**MOVIE NIGHT: PAHOKEE available for rent at Sidewalk Home Video, www.sidewalkfest.com.
SATURDAY…
**FUN, GAMES, YARD AND HOUSE WORK including Uno, Monopoly, Solitare. Weeding the pretty flowers in the beds, cutting the grass, cleaning the grill or just sitting outside if the weather permits.
SUNDAY…
**FAMILY TIME AND GOOD FOOD. Someone is cooking a good meal!
MONDAY…
**PLANNING AND MORE CATCH UP. Pull out that long to-do list and see what can be done during the week or weekend ahead. Making plans for the future and getting back to normal as best as can be done.
TUESDAY…
**READ A GOOD BOOK. There are a few laying around or get an e-book.
WEDNESDAY…
**WEATHER WATCHING FOR THE WEEK AND WEEKEND. Looking for the weekend and thinking of what to do that depends on good weather outdoors. Getting out of the house even if going nowhere.
THURSDAY…
**READ THE BIRMINGHAM TIMES. Catch up on the news!
FRIDAY…
**MOVIE NIGHT: THE PRINCESS BRIDE streaming on Disney +
FOR BOOK LOVERS…
…BOOKS AND MORE BOOKS… Here are a few books for your down time…
**WE WERE ALWAYS FREE – The book WE WERE ALWAYS FREE: The Maddens of Culpepper County, Virginia – A 200-Year History by T.O. Madden, Jr. is about the Madden family of Virginia considered an unusual clan of Americans in that they are people of mixed African and European descent who, through law, luck and enormous hard work and enterprise, escaped the awful fate of so many others like themselves. Never enslaved, the Madden family made its way twice to relative prosperity and standing. T. O Madden, Jr., who presents the narrative that flows, built on the ruins of his great-grandfather’s tavern business, which was weakened by economic change and ruined by the Civil War. T. O. Madden, Jr., looks back to a period genealogy, but he is a self-made man. We Were Always Free is an autobiography.
**CIVIL RIGHTS TO SILVER RIGHTS – The Book Civil Rights to Silver Rights: We Need an Economic Movement by James Covington is a must read. To everyone concerned about generating wealth in the black community and arming the next generation with the tools necessary to create wealth and prosperity, this book should be on their reading list. This is a book about change, and sometimes, change is difficult to accept. Through exhaustive research, and in a disarmingly diplomatic style, Covington challenges us to expand our thinking. He leads us towards the inescapable conclusion that the “civil rights era” accomplished its central purpose, but now remains inadequate in the dawn of the 21st century to help achieve conquests. The Civil Rights Movement no doubt achieved the goals it set out to achieve – to eliminate physical and overt barriers to blacks gaining access to public facilities, institutions, transportation, the electoral process and other rights granted to citizens of this country. But more than 50 years after Brown vs. the Board of Education, more than 40 years after the famed March on Washington, more than 40 years after the 1965 Voting Rights Act and over 40 years after the death of Martin Luther King, Jr., blacks have failed to accumulate wealth at the rate of others in America. The Civil Rights movement can lay claim for many of those gains, yet, the Civil Rights Movement was never meant to be an end or a cure all. It never had as its focus – Creating Wealth.
**YOUR HOME SWEET HOME – The book Your Home Sweet Home: How to Decide Whether You Should Stay or Move in Retirement by Penelope S. Tzougros is full of stories from people who faced the same dilemma should I move, or should I stay? Their insights, fears and clever solutions may help you sort out your emotions and questions and identify what nurtures you and enriches your life. It is not a real estate decision. It is a decision about you. If you decide it’s time to find a new place to live, you’ll find valuable information on other residential options, tools for making a change and tips on what to do with all your stuff before you move.
THINGS TO DO….
FOR THE COMMUNITY…
**WEBINAR – I HAVE PPP FUNDS…NOW WHAT? – Join the Birmingham Business Alliance, in partnership with the U.S. Small Business Administration Alabama District Office and the Alabama Small Business Development Network, for the webinar “I Have PPP Funds … Now What?” at 11 a.m. on Thursday, April 23.
For more go to: www.
**2020 SICKLE CELL VIRTUAL WALK OF CENTRAL ALABAMA – This community wide charitable event, previously known as the 22nd Annual Sickle Cell Walk, previously scheduled for May 2, 2020 has evolved into the 2020 Sickle Cell Virtual Walk. The Official 2020 Sickle Cell Virtual Walk of Central Alabama Day is Friday, June 19, 2020, which is also World Sickle Cell Awareness Day. For Virtual Sickle Cell Walk registration details go to www.sicklecellbham.org.
**VULCAN COMMUNITY AWARDS 2020 REVAMPED– Vulcan Park and Museum is searching for citizens whose actions are making a great impact for their annual The Vulcans Community Awards. Now through September 30, community members have the opportunity to nominate people in the Birmingham metropolitan area: Bibb, Blount, Chilton, Jefferson, St. Clair, Shelby and Walker counties, who work daily to effect change, serve, lead or make a difference in the lives of the people, places and organizations that make up this great region. Historically, 13 people are recognized at an awards dinner. However, in light of COVID-19, Vulcan Park Foundation will cancel the formal event and now create a six-month exhibit showcasing the multiple stories of people who have triumphed over adversity and risen to the occasion during these perilous times. Also, stories will be shared weekly via social media leading up the exhibit opening in February 2021. If you know a person who deserves to be honored for the work they are doing in the Birmingham region or to learn more about The Vulcan Community Awards, go to visitvulcan.com.
FOR MOVIE LOVERS…
**THE PRINCESS BRIDE – Disney+ will add The Princess Bride to the streaming service on May 1st. Princess Buttercup is played by Robin Wright. Westley is played by Cary Elwes. If you have never read the novel by William Goldman that the film is adapted from, this is an excellent time to get lost in that world because there is much more detail and story in the film. The story is a tale with adventure, love and hope. The film follows a farmhand who falls in love with a girl. Rob Reiner directed the all-star cast, which included the aforementioned Elwes and Wright as well as Mandy Patinkin, Christopher Guest, André the Giant, Tracey Ullman, and so many more. It’s witty, silly, and an utter joy of a film to watch. It was released in 1987. If you’ve been longing to rewatch The Princess Bride or view it for the first time, check it out at Disney+. Clear your calendar on May 1 so you can settle in for the fantasy comedy you might need.
MORE…
CELEBRATING EARTH DAY – The Sidewalk Film Center and Cinema has films available for rent or purchase on-demand, this week on Sidewalk Home Video for people that love movies, but can’t go. The following films that are a part of Celebrating Earth Day will be available beginning April 24.
**PAHOKEE, directed by Ivete Lucas and Patrick Bresnan, is about an isolated town in rural Florida, where four teens experience the joys and heartbreaks of their last year in high school.
**WOMEN’S ADVENTURE FILM TOUR, a short film compilation, is about a short film festival celebrating the inspiring women around us who are raising the bar in outdoor adventure. This years’ lineup features an all-star cast of global athletes, businesswomen, mothers and storytellers, including cliff diver Rhiannan Iffland, climber/yoga instructor Kira Brazinski, long distance hiker Jennifer Pharr Davis, and many more including women in snow sports, mountaineering and mountain biking.
**EARTH, directed by Nikolaus Geyrhalter, a documentary that was filmed at several locations where humans are transforming the planet on a grand scale: Entire mountains being moved in California, a tunnel being sliced through rock at the Brenner Pass, an open-cast mine in Hungary, the world-famous Carrata marble quarry in Italy, a copper mine in Spain, the salt mine used to store radioactive waste in Wolfenbuttel and a Northern Canadian tar sands site where the destruction of indigenous lands threatens local communities.
**FANTASTIC FUNGI, directed by Louis Schwartzberg is a documentary that is a consciousness-shifting film that takes us on an immersive journey through time and scale into the magical earth beneath our feet, an underground network that can heal and save out planet. Through the eyes of renowned scientists and mycologists like Paul Stamets, best-selling authors, Michael Pollen, Eugenia Bone, Andrew Weil, and others, we become aware of the beauty, intelligence and solutions the fungi kingdom offers us in response to some of our most pressing medical, therapeutic and environmental challenges.
MORE…
**TEEN VIDEO CHALLENGE – Sidewalk Film Center is accepting submissions from high school juniors and seniors for the Teen Video Challenge. The Challenge creates a platform for those teenagers to create a video diary of how COVID-19 is affecting them and gives them a chance to show us how their lives have been altered.
We will accept up to 50 submissions from Birmingham area juniors and seniors. All submissions that follow our guidelines will be made available to watch on Sidewalk’s YouTube channel. The top five, as selected by the Sidewalk programming team, will receive a $100 stipend, two Sidewalk Film Festival passes, and automatic acceptance into the Sidewalk Film Festival as part of our teen filmmaker programming.
**SIDEWALK FILM CENTER YOUTH BOARD – The Sidewalk Youth Board is a group of high school students from across the Birmingham area who share a love for movies. The Youth Board writes, produces, directs, edits, and eventually screens their own short film, which will also appear in the Sidewalk Film Festival lineup.
Youth Board Members: Learn about filmmaking from local professionals- scriptwriting, shooting, editing, and everything in between. Produce a short film as a team that will premiere at the Sidewalk Film Festival. Learn about film analysis and festival programming. Get an inside look at how film festivals like Sidewalk operate throughout the year. Serve as the screening committee and programmers for the Sidewalk Film Festival Teen Filmmaking Category. Youth Board members also get to help the programming team choose films submitted by other teen filmmakers for consideration at the festival. Questions about Youth Board can be emailed to kiwi@sidewalkfest.com. Application deadline is May 15.
MAYBE…MAYBE NOT…THINGS TO DO LATER… during May! (Call to confirm if open)
FOR LOVERS OF ART…
IN YORK, ALABAMA… by way of Birmingham….
AT ALTMAN RIDDICK GALLERY…LATER…
**TONY BINGHAM’S EXHIBITION OPENS IN YORK – Tony Bingham’s exhibition MEMORIAL MEDITATIONS will open at Altman Riddick Gallery, 630 Avenue A Street in York, Alabama 36925. The exhibition will close on Friday, May 22, 2020.
Well, that’s it. Tell you more ‘next’ time. People, Places and Things by Gwen DeRu is a weekly column. Send comments to my emails: thelewisgroup@birminghamtimes.
