‘Vagina Monologues’ Debuts at Lincoln Theatre Saturday, Feb 24 2007 

DC Style Magazine Stacy A. Anderson 3:28 PM

By Stacy A. Anderson, DC Style Magazine

February 23, 2007

 http://www.dcstylemag.com/blog_main.cfm?P=%23%22%3D%2FK%0A

A star-studded cast will share the joys and pains of womanhood in The Vagina Monologues at the historic Lincoln Theatre tomorrow night at 8 p.m.

The all-female ensemble includes reality TV star Omarosa Manigault Stallworth; actresses Phyllis Yvonne Stickney and Vanessa Bell Calloway; bestselling erotic book author, Zane; talk show host Rolonda Watts; Sister to Sister magazine publisher Jamie Foster Brown, Radio One personality Jeannie Jones and R&B singer Tanya Blount.

“It’s literally about the vagina, but don’t let that scare you,” says Yetta Young, the show’s L.A.-based producer. “It’s so empowering. I’ve never heard of a woman who walked away and didn’t feel empowered.”

Young’s adaptation is based on Eve Ensler’s Obie Award-winning Broadway play, developed after interviewing more than 200 women about their bodies, and covers the gamut of real-life female experiences from childbirth to orgasms.

The show is raising proceeds for V-Day, an initiative to prevent the abuse of women and girls. The event will also benefit the District’s own Rebecca Project for Human Rights, which helps to rehabilitate women leaving the prison system.

Tickets are $25 to $100, and can be purchased at http://www.VDayLADC.com. Tickets are also currently available at the Lincoln Theatre box office at 1215 U St. NW (202.328.6000).

 

Fashion Noire Tuesday, Feb 20 2007 

DC Style Magazine Stacy A. Anderson 4:37 PM

 noire1

By Stacy A. Anderson, DC Style Magazine

February 14, 2007

http://dcstylemag.com/blog_main.cfm?P=%23%22%3D7K%0A

Models will strut to the rhythms of Nigerian hip-hop and American pop beats at the 4th annual African Student Association Fashion Show on March 2 at 7 p.m. in the Crampton Auditorium. The show is titled Noire (“black” in French) and themed after the black and white cinematography of the 1930s.Coordinators Eniola Shitta and Aderayo Sanni, junior architecture and history pre-law majors at Howard University, claim that every individual can relate to the theme since films tend to be a universal means of expression across cultures.

“Everyone has their own style, but everyone can come together and sit down for a movie. Everyone can relate to the story in some way,” Shitta says.

 

The showcase will feature designs by Ean Williams, the director of D.C. Fashion Week, Cote Minu pieces from the Cameroon sisterly duo of Mary Anne and Stephany Enanga-Mokoko, African-American designer Renee Hill’s crochet swimsuits, Ghanianese tie-dye assembles by Adwoa Agyeman and mosaic-patterned swimsuits by Adrienne.

 

The show will also include threads from Ifueko Igiehon, a New York stylist for Bebenoir, who coordinated the first three shows. She is returning as a contributing designer with her line Idia.

 

“It’s a cultural show,” Shitta says. “Our attraction is that it’s something new and innovative. We try our best to bring alive the continent to the audience.”

 

Tickets are available through Ticketmaster or the box office located at 2455 Sixth Street, NW.

 

 

Evacuees call for low-cost housing Saturday, Feb 10 2007 

Los Angeles Times Stacy A. Anderson 7:14 PM

 

By Stacy A. Anderson, The Los Angeles Times

February 7, 2007

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-na-katrina7feb07,1,7600245.story

 WASHINGTON — In the 17 months since Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, Sharon Jasper has shuffled from place to place, including a cot at the Superdome and temporary housing in Houston.

On Tuesday, she and nine other displaced residents of New Orleans’ public housing projects came to Capitol Hill to tell their stories, as the House Committee on Financial Services examined the loss of affordable housing because of the storm.

“As a New Orleans resident, a mother and a grandmother, I am looking out for the families that need shelter and a place to live,” Jasper said before the hearing at a news conference sponsored by the Advancement Project, a Washington-based civil rights group that filed suit in June against federal and local housing agencies. “Why not bring us back home?”

The lawsuit charges that by failing to repair and reopen undamaged or minimally damaged public housing, the agencies are discriminating against low-income African American residents.

The St. Bernard complex, where Jasper lived, suffered minor flooding and some mold damage from the storm. But the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Housing Authority of New Orleans plan to demolish it and similar complexes to build mixed-income apartments. More than 4,000 mostly black families who lived in public housing have been unable to return to New Orleans because of the demolition plan, according to the lawsuit’s supporters.

Julie M. Andrews, another displaced resident, told the House panel of her concerns about racial and economic disparity in the redevelopment of New Orleans.

“At this time, the rich are getting richer, and the poor are being further oppressed by the vicious plot to eliminate the low-income people of New Orleans, most of who are people of color,” she said. “It is an abomination to attempt to replace one race of people with another for the sake of economic gain.”

Andrews added that she and other evacuees were willing to work with the government to return to New Orleans. “The calls and cries of our people are deafening,” she said. “We need to come home.”

HUD spokeswoman Donna White said in an interview that redeveloping public housing would be more cost-effective than repairing current units, which she described as old and deteriorating even before the hurricane.

“These families deserve better homes and housing, and also a better neighborhood,” she said.

Her agency shares the same concerns as the displaced residents, she said. “We hope to work expeditiously. They should have the opportunity to come back. They have been through a lot.”