MSW@USC Student Wins Children’s Book Award

Donalisa Helsley has been writing since she was in first grade.

Now all that practice has paid off.

“I was only allowed to watch one television show a week, so I spent my time reading and writing my own stories,” the USC School of Social Work student said.

Helsley’s first published children’s book, “The Day No One Played Together,” has received a Mom’s Choice Award, an honor that recognizes excellence in family-friendly products, services and media.

Helsley, a Tulsa native pursuing a Master of Social Work through the Virtual Academic Center, promised her daughter Jadyn that she would write a book for her. Jadyn—who is black, white and Chinese—wanted to see a book with a main character that looked like her. The book grew out of Helsley’s own parenting and tells the story of two sisters learning to compromise—a lesson she taught her own daughters Jadyn and Genesis.

His Blason

My adored with his eyes wide and dreaming
of babies’ coos and technicolored fences—
God-placed vases teeming

Celestial lips, a tulip
leashed by a hummingbird’s tongue
hors d’oeuvres that ignite my soul

Cherub-wing ears
tasty, melt-in-your-mouth
like his favorite beer

Honeybear arms and ox legs
fertile tree branches, my roots
awaiting springtime ornaments

His chest, my home
a king-sized winter skin blanket
of shivering, lovemaking honesty.

Left to My Own Devices

Reblogged from Joe W. Tatum:

Drawers hang open like some dumb tongues Hanging out of mute wooden mouths, Lights are left on – I don’t mean to do this, but I do, Music’s weirder and louder too, Dust can be seen (my friend says it’s dead skin piling up), The bed’s not right, Don’t always lock the front door at night, More beer cans, in general, And the shower’s dirtier and so is dinner.

Read more… 7 more words

I can relate.

Performer Tammy Lang channels late singer, Velvet Underground collaborator Nico in “Chelsea Mädchen”

She sang for the Velvet Underground, acted for Fellini, and posed for Warhol, but Nico the German-born singer also led a chaotic life — she was a heroin addict for years — and died in 1988. Singer Tammy Lang, who made a name for herself playing a country singer named Tammy Faye Starlite, is bringing Nico back to life with a show called “Chelsea Mädchen,” where she channels the late rock icon on stage. She talked with Off-Ramp producer Kevin Ferguson.

Credit: Bob Gruen

Lang first came across Nico while reading a biography on Edie Sedgwick, who along with Nico, was one of Warhol’s “superstars.” Immediately after, Lang hit up her local record store to buy the Velvet Underground’s debut effort “The Velvet Underground and Nico.”

After that, Lang was hooked.

MSW@USC Student to Compete in 2012 Paralympics

MSW@USC student Eric Hollen. Photo courtesy of USA Shooting.

Virtual Academic Center student Eric Hollen was tending his horse farm about 10 years ago when his tractor tipped over, pinning him. He spent five months in a hospital being treated for the dislocation of his third and fourth lumbar vertebrae, a ruptured diaphragm, a broken pelvis and a torn aorta.

Hollen said an important step in his healing process was finding a way to move past his injuries so he could get on with his life.

“I was able to shift paradigms ⎯from that of disability to ability ⎯through sport and then through academics,” he said.

That Moment

Follow joewtatum.wordpress.com/. Because he writes good poems and I am going to marry him.

That Moment.

The Vollrath, Indianapolis: History, Music and Beer

Bras.  Some big, others small, and most of them ratty.  As I walked in, the first things I noticed were the ladies’ garments hanging from the ceiling. However, I thought, this place is home to the daily $2 Pabst Blue Ribbon, one of my favorite crisp, everyday lagers; that alone gives the Vollrath every right to hang dusty bras from its ceiling.

The Vollrath Tavern closed its doors in October. (This picture is borrowed from an IndyStar.com blog.)

Since 1926, the bar known as the Vollrath has been slinging drinks and supporting live, original music in the historic Indianapolis neighborhood of Sacred Heart.

When I took a seat at the bar, I felt the ornate wood in front of me and knew it was the original.  It was the place where infamous American gangsters like John Dillinger sat, seeking solace during Prohibition when the establishment served as a speakeasy.

Dark, divey, smokey and a little musty, the Vollrath hosts eclectic lineups of local and national touring bands many nights a week.  One thing it always promises is a very mixed crowd, from old bikers to young hipsters to metal-heads with technicolored hair and mohawks.  Despite the diversity, like any other Midwestern gathering, there is never a shortage of conversation at the Vollrath.