i am

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harlem, usa
same-gender-loving contemporary descendant of enslaved africans. community activist, feminist, health educator, independent filmmaker, mentor, playwright, poet & spiritual being. featured at, in & on africana.com, afrikan poetry theatre, angel herald, bejata dot com, bet tonight with tavis smiley, blacklight online, black noir, brooklyn moon cafe, gmhc's barbershop, klmo-fm, lgbt community services center, longmoor productions, nuyorican poets cafe, our corner, poz, pulse, rolling out new york, rush arts gallery, saint veronica's church, schomburg center for research in black culture, sexplorations, the citizen, the new york times, the soundz bar, the trenton times, the village voice, upn news, uzuri, venus, vibe, wbai-fm, wnyc-fm & wqht-fm. volunteered with adodi, bailey house, inc., black men's xchange-new york, colorofchange.org, drug policy alliance, east harlem tutorial program, imagenation film & music festival, presente.org, save darfur coalition, the enough project, the osborne association, the sledge group & your black world. worked on films with maurice jamal & heather murphy. writing student of phil bertelsen & ed bullins. mjt975@msn.com.

Thursday, July 19, 2018

Expanding Voter Registration in California and Illinois Jails

in california, a bill - assembly bill 3115 - to increase voter education in jails recently cleared the senate public safety committee. 

the bill requires jails to partner with at least one organization to provide "both written and verbal information about voting rights upon release from jail, providing affidavits of registration to eligible voters with the completion of the affidavits of registration, and assisting eligible voters in returning the completed voter registration cards to the county election official."

illinois governor bruce rauner is expected to sign a bill requiring every jail in the state to provide voter education and make in-person or absentee voting available to all eligible incarcerated voters.

only eight counties in the state have any voting process for people in pretrial detention. "there is confusion around how election code actually applies to the jail," says jen dean, who runs cook county jail votes, the group who helps facilitate registration and voting in the largest jail in the country. den says, "this bill creates a system of uniformity across the state to make sure there are systems in place so that everybody has access to the ballot."  

Sunday, July 15, 2018

Angelique Kerber and Novak Djokovic win 2018 Wimbledon Singles Titles

world #10 angelique kerber of germany defeated 23-time major singles champion serena williams of the u.s. 6-3, 6-3 on saturday at the all-england club to win her first wimbledon crown. kerber avenged her wimbledon finals loss to williams in 2016, and won her third career major singles title.

"i think it's the experience. i think you have to go through all the things - the good things, the bad things - and then you need to learn. i know that against serena, i have to play my best tennis, especially in the important moments," said kerber. 

kerber is the first german to win the ladies wimbedon singles championship since steffi graf in 1996. kerber won the australian open and u.s. open in 2016. she broke williams in the opening game of the match and played superb tennis from start to finish; she had just three unforced errors in the first set.

world #21 novak djokovic of serbia defeated world #8 kevin anderson of south africa 6-2, 6-2, 7-6 on sunday at the all-england club to win the men's wimbledon crown. djokovic earned his fourth career wimbledon trophy, and now has 13 major singles titles - fourth most in men's history.

"there were several moments where i was frustrated and questioning whether i can get back to the desired level or not. but that makes this journey even more special for me. it's easy to talk now and look back at it and be kind of grateful, but i really am grateful to go through this kind of, so to say, mixed emotions, turbulence as well, mentally, moments of doubt and disappointment and frustration and anger," djokovic said. 

a year ago, djokovic, 31, quit during his wimbledon quarterfinal because of his painful right elbow. djokovic took the rest of the year off and struggled during the early part of 2018. in april, he reunited with marian vadja, the man who coached him for several years before he worked with boris becker and andre agassi, respectively.