Calandra Griffin, Former Ms. Texas Plus America

MESQUITE- The Texas Plus America Pageant is a competition for women sizes 14W+. The pageant will be held on Sunday, May 24, 2009, from 7-9 p.m., at the Hampton Inn and Suite, 1700 Rodeo Center Dr. The  admission price will be $25 per person.
There will be three divisons: Miss: Ages 18-29, Ms: Ages 30 & Up, and Mrs.: Ages 20 & Up married.  Ladies in the Miss and Ms. division may be single, married, divorced or widowed.  Ladies in the Mrs. Division must be married. The three division winners will advance to the national pageant in July.
Basic requirements for participants are: must be born female; must be a full-time matriculated student attending a Texas college or university, must be a resident of Texas or must work in Texas; must be a size 14W or greater;  and must be of good moral character. In addition to the pageant, Pageants Unlimited Plus and the Texas Plus America Pageant is proud to support Ladder Alliance, an innovative non-profit organization, the Ladder Alliance, founded by Sharon Cox in the Burlington Resources (now ConocoPhillips) Forth Worth office, is providing women referred from area shelters with training in office computer use, interviewing, resume and business writing, motivation and self esteem.
For more information, email Nanette Watts at nwatts3737@yahoo.com, or visit their Website at www.missplusamerica.com/texas.asp.

Camille Brown

DALLAS- Dallas Black Dance Theatre will hold a special tribute for the Majestic Theatre, May 22-23, 2009 beginning at 7:30 p.m. on both nights.  This is the finale of all finales with critically acclaimed choreography and an innovative performance by New York’s latest dance phenom Camille A. Brown. Brown received her early dance training at both the Bernice Johnson and Carolyn Devore Dance Studios.
This led to her acceptance by The High School of Performing Arts. She also attended The Ailey School on scholarship and completed her B.F.A. in Dance at the North Carolina School of the Arts.
She was a member of Evidence Dance Company, under the direction of Ronald K. Brown (2001-2007). During her time there, she had the opportunity to perform the lead role “Mother God” in the acclaimed Grace (1999) and was a dancer on the BET Jazz documentary of Brown’s Blueprint of a Lady: The Once and Future Life- a collaboration with Grammy nominated jazz vocalist Nnenna Freelon. Ticket prices start at $10 each. The theatre is located at 1925 Elm St. For more information, call (214)631-2787.

Dr. Oba T'Shaka

DALLAS- The Black Men’s Film Festival  kicks off with a screening of “ Malcolm Echo: The Legacy of Malcolm X” on Friday, May 15, 2009, at 8 p.m., and “Tribute to Malcolm X” on Saturday, May 16, with a discussion about Bro. Malcolm X’s life by Dr. Oba T’Shaka the Professor in the  Black Studies Department at San Francisco State University. The festival will be held at the South Dallas Cultural Center, 3400 Fitzhugh. General admission tickets are $5 per person.
Dr. T’Shaka  served as Chair of the Black Studies Department at San FranciscoStateUniversity for twelve years.  Dr. T’Shaka  is one of the principal architects of the African Centered Educational Movement, which led to the development of an African-centered discipline that incorporates physics, chemistry, biology, and mathematics into the core discipline of Black studies. He also led the move to define ancient African philosophy as the foundation of the Black studies discipline. Dr. Oba T’Shaka is the national vice chairperson of the National Black United Front and author of five books.
The Festival continues on May 22-23 with more films by, for and about Black men.
For more information, call (214) 939-2787.

HOUSTON- The National Black Book Festival (NBBF) will take place in Houston, May 16-17, 2009, at the George R. Brown Convention Center- Hall C, 1001 Avenida de las Americas. Hours are Saturday, May 16: Noon to 8p.m. and Sunday, May 17: Noon to 6p.m. Featured authors will include: Dr. Ralph West, Mary Morrison, RM Johnson, Brandon Massey, Tracy Brown, and many others. NBBF is an annual event, sponsored jointly by Cushcity.com, the world’s largest African-American retailer online, and the Houston Black Expo, the largest African-American tradeshow in the state of Texas.  Book signing and discussion sessions with featured authors, workshops and seminars, a spoken word poetry slam and book club give-aways are just a few of the activities. Its open to the public and admission is $10.00 for adults and $5.00 for children, each day. For more information, call (281)444-4265.

Dr. Ralph West


Tracy Brown


Mary Morrison


Brandon Massey

Melanie Lawson

HOUSTON – Melanie Lawson, co-anchor of Channel 13’s Live at 5, Eyewitness News at 11a.m. and host of the community affairs program, “Crossroads,” was elected to the Houston Museum of African American Culture (HMAAC) Board of Trustees and to the office of Board Chair on Thursday, March 5, 2009.  Lawson officially assumed the duties of the office on April 4, she succeeds Chairman, Harry E. Johnson, Sr., who will remain a member of the HMAAC Board of Trustees.

HOUSTON- DJ Southern BellE: The Vinyl Princess isn’t just another pretty face with a small frame. There’s something different about this “southern belle” in which she’s been blessed with the genes of being musically inclined on both sides of her family. DJ Southern BellE has her sights set on growing into the next mogul in the entertainment business, and although her passion for music stems from a long family history of musicians and producers, it’s her work ethnic, combined with her business mind that makes her more than just a DJ.

DALLAS- The Remembering Mom Luncheon, is an annual event where women gather to commemorate their mother’s lives the Saturday before Mother’s Day. This years luncheon will be held on Saturday, May 9, 2009, at 12 Noon,  at the Omni Hotel, 1590 LBJ Freeway. Various activities will take place during the luncheon that allow the women an opportunity to share memories of their mother with others including a candle-lighting ceremony, memory reflection and discussions, resolutions offered, a balloon launch, etc. while still feeling a sense of celebration in spite of the physical absence of the mothers.

HOUSTON– In America’s Black community, the most famous “mother” is not Mother Theresa, the Albanian Roman Catholic nun who founded the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta, India in 1950. Although Mother Theresa ministered to the poor, sick, orphaned, and dying, while guiding the organization’s expansion worldwide, the “mother” who gets the most acclaim among Blacks in America is Rosa Parks. Characterized in most church and community theater skits as “an old lady whose feet hurt” after a long day’s work, Parks will forever be tied for a calculated stand (seat?) that launched the Montgomery Bus Boycott that lasted for 381 days.

HOUSTON- Harris County Precinct One Commissioner El Franco Lee presented an emotional Black History program at The Finnigan Park Gymnasium Auditorium, “ Looking To The Future Building on the Past.”
Mistress of Ceremony Lula Jones, Play Wright Larry Hunter, monologue Helen Epherson-Dewey, Gospel & Hip-Hop Artist Koffey and Community Historian Patricia Smith Prather gave the crowded auditorium an exciting journey down Houston Fifth Ward Memory Lane.
Acknowledgments: Nat Q. Henderson Students, Seniors in Action, Takeyra Roberson, Wheatley High School, Randy Davidson, Carol Gaines, Roger Wallace and Will Jackson.


Photos:
1. Cedric Johnson & Hip-Hop Artist Koffey
2. Gloria Maloy Jolivet & Emma Thomas
3. Larry Hunter
4. Chavonne Slovak, Jerome Robinson, Dr. Youletta McCullough, Cedric Johnson, El Franco Lee and students from the Barbara Jordan High School for Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice

Most youngsters fail to learn the business end of industry