DISCO

What Should I Do This Weekend?

 

Marie Sutton

This weekend head out to Books-A-Million in Brookwood Village to support Birmingham-based writer Marie Sutton.

From 2 to 4 p.m. on Saturday, Sutton will be signing copies of her new book The A.G. Gaston Motel in Birmingham: A Civil Rights Landmark.

The book chronicles the story of how Birmingham black entrepreneur and eventual millionaire A.G. Gaston created a first-class motel and lounge for African Americans. The Gaston Motel was a revolving door for famous entertainers, activists, politicians and other pillars of the national black community, and served as the headquarters for Birmingham’s civil rights movement.

Sutton will also be signing books on Saturday, Nov. 22 from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Barnes & Noble at the Summit.

A.G. Gaston Motel Book Signing with Marie Sutton
Saturday, Nov. 15
2-4 p.m.
Books-A-Million, Brookwood Village
757 Brookwood Village, Birmingham, AL 35209
Saturday, Nov. 22
5-7 p.m.
Barnes & Noble at the Summit
201 Summit Blvd., Birmingham, AL 35243

 

DISCO Supply Store

Also this weekend, The Desert Island Supply Co. (DISCO) and The Southern Letterpress will host the grand opening of the Desert Island Supply Store.

Swing by Saturday anytime between 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. and stock up on message-in-a-bottle bottles, urchin decoys, water finders and other desert island essentials.

The Desert Island Supply Co. (DISCO) is a creative writing center for students in Birmingham, Alabama. Based in the city’s Woodlawn neighborhood, DISCO’s mission is simple: to give kids in the Birmingham area more opportunities to write.

Desert Island Supply Store Grand Opening
11 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Saturday, Nov. 15
Desert Island Supply Co. (DISCO),
5500 First Avenue North in Woodlawn

 

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Write Like a Girl

I kicked off Thursday’s event with a recitation of
Maya Angelou’s “Phenomenal Woman.”

For the past few days I’ve been trying to write a post about last week’s Black History Month program Phenomenal Woman: See Jane Write presents the 2014 African American Read-In. But I haven’t been able to find the words to describe the energy and love that filled the room Thursday night. About two dozen women and a few fellows gathered at the Desert Island Supply Co. (DISCO) for the event.

Women read the works of literary legends like Maya Angelou, Zora Neale Hurston, Alice Walker and Gwendolyn Brooks and pieces by contemporary writers like Joan Morgan, asha bandele, and U.S. Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey.

Some readings evoked laughter, others reverent silence, and some the need to fight back tears.

The evening was perfect and the timing couldn’t have been better. The powerful prose and poetry read Thursday night reminded me of why I fell in love with writing in the first place. It wasn’t see my name in magazines or on the cover of books. It wasn’t for blog page views either. I wrote because I loved to do so.

I want to write like a girl again. I want to sit in my room for hours writing not because I need to meet a deadline but because I just can’t help myself.

I shared these thoughts Thursday night at the end of the program because I want the women of See Jane Write to reignite their love for words too.

Write on, sisters. Write on.

Carla Jean Whitley read from U.S. Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey’s book Thrall.
About two dozen women attended Thursday’s event. 

Jill Dill Vincent read Phillis Wheatley’s “An Hymn to the Evening”

Lynsey Weatherspoon read from asha bandele’s Something Like Beautiful: One Single Mother’s Story.