Rev. Al Sharpton and April R. Silver Endorse Rhymefest for Alderman

"We are asking them to get involved and give back.  Che is doing that. I am here today because I support Che "Rhymefest" Smith. If he was a negative force, I would not be here today.” 

~ Rev. Al Sharpton

"Hip hop culture at its best teaches us love of self, love of family, and love of community. It teaches us to be pro-active and to ignite positive change. Che "Rhymefest" Smith's run for Chicago's 20th Ward Alderman is a great symbol of hip hop as a tool for change.

His candidacy also represents the kind of dedication we all should have to our communities. What I respect most about Smith is that when he got 'sick and tired of being sick and tired' of the injustices in his community he decided to do something about it. He didn't get stuck complaining, or being apathetic, and or being indifferent. He decided to stand up and give of himself. I applaud him for that and I encourage people to support his important campaign in any way that they can."

~ April R. Silver
Editor of the anthology Be a Father to Your Child: Real Talk from Black Men on Family, Love, and Fatherhood (featuring Che "Rhymefest" Smith)

The run-off election is Tuesday, April 5, 2011.

Please vote. For more information, please visit www.FriendsOfRhymefest.com

I Host a Screening of "I Will Follow" THIS SATURDAY

I am happy to make this special announcement about the film "I Will Follow" and the fact that I'm hosting a screening THIS SATURDAY in New York City at 6pm (all details below).

Shout out to ImageNation for doing great work and for helping to market the hell out of this indie film :-)
--

April R. Silver of AKILA WORKSONGS, Inc.
to Will Host a Screening of the Film
I WILL FOLLOW
March 19, 2011 (THIS SATURDAY)

at the 34th Street AMC Theater
in New York City

Silver is proud to support the efforts of ImageNation and Urbanworld in presenting the New York City theatrical release of the critically acclaimed film "I Will Follow," starring Salli Richardson-Whitfield, Omari Hardwick, Blair Underwood and Beverly Todd.

ImageNation [www.imagenation.us] and Urbanworld [www.urbanworld.com] are members of the African American Film Festival Releasing Movement (AFFRM).

*ABOUT THE FILM*
Maye (Richardson-Whitfield) is a success. Hot career. Hot boyfriend. But when her world is turned upside down by tragedy, she must struggle to keep her balance. "I Will Follow" chronicles a day in the life of a woman at a crossroads, and the twelve people who help her move forward into a brave, new world.

"I Will Follow" is written and directed by 2011 NAACP Image Award nominee AVA DuVERNAY.

WHEN: March 19, 2011

WHERE: AMC Loews 34th Street (located at 312 W. 34 Street, between 8th & 9th Avenues in New York City)

SHOWTIME: 6:00pm

BUY TICKETS at https://www.fandango.com/transaction/ticketing/redvines/ticketboxoffice.aspx?date=3%2F11%2F2011&tid=AAQCR&mid=142279&row_count=0

ABOUT AFFRM:
AFFRM's mission is to foster and further Black films through theatrical distribution beyond the studio system, powered by the nation's finest African-American film festival organizations. For more information, visit www.affrm.com

Walter Mosley, A Discussion, Reanding & Book Signing (Free in Brooklyn)

An Afternoon with Walter Mosley
Discussion, Reading and Book Signing

Sunday, March 20, 2011

1:30 p.m. Dweck Center

at the Brooklyn Public Library
10 Grand Army Plaza
Brooklyn, NY 11228

FREE & OPEN to the public.

Best-selling author Walter Mosley, creator of the Easy Rawlins mystery series, and the novels Walkin’ the Dog; Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned; The Man in My Basement; and the recently published The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey, will be the special guest for an afternoon reading and book signing presented by the Center for Black Literature at Medgar Evers College, CUNY and the Brooklyn Public Library. For more information, please call:
the Center for Black Literature at 718.804.8883, www.centerforblackliterature.org;
or the Brooklyn Public Library at 718.230.2100, www.brooklynpubliclibrary.org.

April R. Silver Waives Speaking Fees

Social Entrepreneur • Activist • Writer/Editor
APRIL R. SILVER
Waives Honorarium
through April 3, 2011 *


For Women's History Month and beyond, social entrepreneur, activist, and writer/editor April R. Silver announces that she will waive her speaking fee for select engagements, regardless of location, through April 3, 2011.

Silver is a respected entrepreneur and activist who has been speaking publicly on the national scene since her student activism days at Howard University. For years, she has moderated panels, given career day presentations, keynoted at college graduations and conferences, and more. She has also addressed non-profits and conducted business workshops for both aspiring and established entrepreneurs. Working seamlessly as a social justice activist, an entrepreneur, and an arts marketing specialist, Silver presents topics that are varied but have a common thread: self-improvement, community improvement, and improving with integrity. Her short bio is below.


Select presentations for this promotion:

• Arts+Activism 101
• Art, Culture, Media as Tools for Change
• Hip Hop Culture: The Good, The Bad, & What's Powerful
• Black Men and Fatherhood: The Untold Story of Black Men Who Love
• The Life and Leadership of Harriet Tubman
• Essential Communications: What Makes You Special?

Now is a cost effective time to tap into Silver's life/work experiences. For the next several weeks, you can bring Silver to your conference, prison, library, college campus, special event, and/or community center without having to pay her standard speaking fee. *

BRING APRIL TO YOUR EVENT TODAY.
Inquire Now: Special Offer Ends April 3, 2011
Contact Drake Holliday at drake@akilaworksongs.com
or call 718.756.8501 (toll free: 866.570.9499)

ABOUT APRIL
April R. Silver is a social entrepreneur, activist, and writer/editor. She is also Founder and President of AKILA WORKSONGS, Inc., a leading communications and management agency headquartered in New York. The company specializes in "arts and activism" public relations, marketing, and programming (a phrase that Silver is credited with popularizing). The former talk show host of My Two Cents (on BETJ, now known as Centric TV) is also editor of Be A Father to Your Child: Real Talk from Black Men on Family, Love, and Fatherhood, a critically acclaimed anthology. Silver believes that art must be intertwined with one's pursuit for self knowledge and community empowerment if the pursuit is to be meaning and enduring.

Silver's experiences and achievements in the fields of social justice and entrepreneurship have been widely documented for over twenty years. Susan L. Taylor, Editor-in-Chief Emeritus of Essence magazine and Founder of National CARES Mentoring Movement, calls April "a spirited and visionary leader."

True to her nature, the Gemini founded Put On BLAST!®, an email/online marketing service created to share news, events, and opinions for and by artists and activists. The database features thousands of email list subscribers, Facebook friends, Twitter followers, and LinkedIn connections. Consistently popular since its launch in 1997, the service has helped place Silver as a trusted voice in new media communications amongst progressive and creative communities.

Silver's writings have been published in the NY Daily News, daveyd.com, allhiphop.com, Words.Beats.Life: Global Journal of Hip Hop Culture, and more. In 2010, she served as Managing Editor for "A New Way Forward: Healing What's Hurting Black America" a manual on mentoring and healing, edited by Susan L. Taylor.
----
Find out what April is up to on Facebook, Twitter, or visit her personal website at www.aprilRsilver.com. For other lecturers managed by AKILA WORKSONGS, email speakers@akilaworksongs.com

________________________________________

* Business workshops are excluded. Travel and hotel accommodations are separate and apart from speaking fees. Expenses for round trip travel (ground, train, or air) and hotel (if applicable) are not waived and are the responsibility of the booking entity. For the "Black Men and Fatherhood" presentations, book purchase is required. All engagements also require a written agreement. Drake Holliday is available to answer all inquiries.

Photo by Michael Scott Jones

Technology/Facebook at its Worst!

I missed this one folks. Here's yet another example of why you should use social media sites, like Facebook, as your back up presence on the Internet. If being recognized in the public arena is an objective of yours, then invest your resources into developing and growing your own email list. Check this from The LA Times.
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Facebook bug targets and shuts down profiles of female users

A growing group of Facebook users is taking to Twitter to complain that their profiles have been hacked. And the vast majority of them happen to be female.

“Not only has facebook been hacked, but it was hacked by an apparently sexist hacker,” one user wrote. “Only in the 21st century folks.”

Some are claiming that their passwords have been changed, others are saying that their entire profiles have been disabled. To get back in, a few users said that they were asked to send a scanned image of government identification, such as a driver's license.

In a statement from Facebook, the company acknowledged discovering a “bug in a system designed to detect and disable likely fake accounts. The bug, which was live for a short period of time, caused a very small percentage of Facebook accounts to be mistakenly disabled. Upon discovering the bug, we immediately worked to resolve it. It's now been fixed, and we're in the process of reactivating and notifying the people who were affected.”

The horrified tweets started this morning.

“I miss my Facebook…I’m locked out, I hope I can get back on today!!!” one woman wrote.

Earlier today, Jessica Boyer, 29, a public relations executive from Beverly Hills, realized that the password she had used for three years was no longer working. Shortly afterward, her account seemed to be disabled. She was prompted to send in an image of her identification, which she declined to do.

As of Tuesday afternoon, she still can't access her profile.

“I’ve never posted anything controversial or fraudulent, so I knew I had a legitimate account,” she said. “I need Facebook for work. It’s all very frustrating, especially for people who depend on it.”