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Shakespeare’s Face Reinterpreted: The Second Coming of Artist Rocky Bettis

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(“Shakespeare Considered Sepia” 2024 digital painting by Aberjhani based on original 1623 First Folio engraving by Martin Droeshout.)    “Life beats down and crushes the soul and art reminds you that you have one.” --  Stella Adler (from Stella Adler on America's Master Playwrights) 1. Different Times and New Places     Have you ever noticed how that ultimate icon of English literature, William Shakespeare (1564–1616), sometimes pops up in places where you might least expect to find him? That was my experience twice in February 2024. The first instance occurred while I was conducting research online for a James Baldwin Centennial Project and received several Google search results referencing Baldwin’s essay, “Why I Stopped Hating Shakespeare.” The great “Bard’s” name had not been included with my query, while Baldwin (1924-1987) had recently been the subject of a Google Black History Month doodle, so the search result seemed odd.  The second instance would occur after I learned a

Embracing the Whole of Life: Notes on James Baldwin at 100

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( “Embracing the Whole of Life” digital painting of James Baldwin by Aberjhani ©2024 modeled after original photography by Sedat Pakay ) The centennial celebration of the birth of author-activist James Baldwin in 2024 offers a unique opportunity for educators, students, advocates, and various groups to delve into the profound sociopolitical, psychological, and spiritual dimensions of Baldwin's life and work. Of particular use in this endeavor may be this observation made by author-poet-artist Aberjhani: Please CLICK HERE FOR FULL FREE ACCESS to read entire article .

Dreams of the Immortal City: A Literary Odyssey through Savannah's Cultural Embroidery

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Here's a question worth considering: At the heart of the 8 compelling nonfiction stories and 5-article appendix which make up Dreams of the Immortal City Savannah is this interesting question: What would your life mean if you were living someone else's dream of what it should be? For some very good answers to why, please check out: https://www.prlog.org/13003205-dreams-of-the-immortal-city-literary-odyssey-through-savannahs-cultural-embroidery.html Cyberwit.net News Release

From Dream to Book: How I Wrote Dreams of the Immortal City Savannah

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Like many of the real-life characters in its pages, including me, the author, Dreams of the Immortal City Savannah is a survivor. It has endured several powerful hurricanes, withstood the terror of too many computer crashes to count, eluded theft, and dodged falling ceilings. The real miracle is the book not only survived these successions of turmoil but managed to steadily evolve with the addition of my artwork to the nonfiction stories. To appreciate how truly exceptional that is, please note that when I first began writing the book I did not consider myself a visual artist of any kind at all: not an amateur digital craftsman, acrylic stylist, photographer, or portraitist. I was the author of Songs from the Black Skylark zPed Music Player and co-author of Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance beginning a new literary adventure. Dreams of the Immortal City Savannah started with the experience of an actual dream in 1989. It had to do with a group of friends banding toge