Wanda's Picks Radio Show Friday, March 1, 2013

We open with a rebroadcast of an interview with Joanna Haigood re: Sailing Away Sept. 13-16, 2012 on Market Street in San Francisco.

A new book edited by Selisse Berry, Out; Equal at Work: From Closet to Corner Office, features guest: Christie Hardwick who has more than thirty years of experience with Fortune 500 companies, nonprofit organizations and grassroots organizing efforts.

She holds a master’s degree in Organizational Development, is an American Leadership Forum Senior Fellow and served five years as an executive member of the Women’s Leadership Board for the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and as past president of the National Board of Directors for GLSEN: Gay, Lesbian, & Straight Education Network. She provides strategic thinking and personal guidance services to clients across the United States.

Christie has facilitated the Out & Equal Executive Forum since 2008. She lives in Provincetown, Massachusetts, with her wife, Jane Harper, and their four children.

Shirlene Holmes (Playwright) is a native New Yorker.  After completing her undergraduate work there she earned her M.F.A. (Theatre) and doctorate (Speech Communication) at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, IL. Currently, Dr. Holmes is an Associate Professor at Georgia State University where she has taught Speech, Theatre, Women Studies, and African American Studies courses since 1989. She has also taught at Spelman College, Clark Atlanta University, and Agnes Scott College. The highlights of Dr. Holmes’ career are earning advanced degrees in her field; having her plays produced on national and international stages; and being a two time alum of Playwriting Intensive Program at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.  Along with having her works performed before live audiences, she has also had works filmed for TV. Her piece, “Split Tale Reflection” was filmed for the BLACK FAMILY CHANNEL, headed by Robert Townsend. In addition Dr. Holmes has been the recipient of many awards and honors for her creative works, leadership and community service. Holmes’ dramas are rooted in the African American experience. For over 25 years she has used theatre as a vehicle for education, inspiration, and to facilitate social change. Dr. Holmes’ plays give voice to the marginalized in society and celebrate the profundity of the common person.

Her play, A Lady and a Woman, starring Velina Brown and Dawn L. Troupe, directed by John Fisher has its Bay Area Premiere: March 7 – 24, 2013  •  Wed. - Sat. - 8:00 pm / Sun. - 3:00 pm at The Eureka Theatre, 215 Jackson St. (between Front & Battery Streets near Embarcadero BART). There are two events associated with the Theatre Rhino production of A Lady and a Woman. Friday, March 8, 2013 at 10 p.m. there is a "Talk-Back with Playwright Shirlene Holmes" and on Sunday, March 17, 2013, at 5 p.m. there will be a panel discussion led by Jewelle Gomez (Waiting for Giovanni) "Portrayals of Same-Sex Love in African-American Plays" with cast members and playwright Brian Freeman.  Visit www.TheRhino.org

Dave Christensen, dir. The Harvey Milk Photo Center, a San Francisco Recreation and Park facility, and Jennifer McFarland, dir., The Pirkle Jones Foundation speak about the current exhibit Black Power/Flower Power and an upcoming talk with Emory Douglas, former Minister of Culture for the Black Panther Party on Saturday, March 9, 1-4 p.m. at the Center, 50 Scott Street at Duboce, in San Francisco (415) 554-9522. Visit http://www.pirklejones.com/ and harveymilkphotocenter.org

Bios
Currently, Dave Christensen is the Director of Harvey Milk Photography Center, a San Francisco Recreation and Park facility.  The Photography Center was established in the early 1940′s, and the oldest public darkroom in the United States. The Photo Center has been a cornerstone of arts programming almost since the building’s inception.

Dave is a professional photographer with more than two decades of experience, as well as a long-time photography instructor in San Francisco Bay Area.

He has curated many well-known local photography exhibitions at the Center featured in SF Chronicle, including the most recent ones are, “Off the Beaten Path” and “Vision Beyond the Badge”. 


Jennifer McFarland is the director of the nonprofit Pirkle Jones Foundation located in Pt. Reyes Station.  The PJF will be offering its third $25,000 visual artist support grant to emerging or mid-career Marin County artist in January 2013. The Visual Artists’ Support program aims to recognize, encourage and nurture artistic imagination and drive, commitment to the creative process, aesthetic standards and future artistic potential.  The exhibition Black Power * Flower Power by Pirkle Jones and Ruth Marion Baruch will open on January 19th at the Harvey Milk Photo Center in San Francisco. Pirkle Jones, a colleague of Ansel Adams and Dorothea Lange produced a number of extraordinary photographs during his sixty-year career. Jones’ work presents a sweeping view of California in the late 20th-century, from his collaboration with Dorothea Lange on the Berryessa Valley to wineries, small forgotten towns, the Black Panthers, hippies, and the magnificent California landscape around the Bay Area.

Jennifer and Pirkle met at Gate 5 the Sausalito houseboat community in the early 70’s, when she had a studio there. She was an associate of Pirkle Jones, the noted California photographer until his passing in 2009, their friendship spanned almost four decades. Her work as Pirkle’s major domo lasted thirteen years, overseeing day-to-day business operations including sales of fine art, exhibitions and publications.  Jennifer initially archived the fine art photography collection of Pirkle and his late wife, the photographer Ruth-Marion Baruch. She was instrumental to Pirkle Jones’ retrospective exhibitions at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, 2001 and SFMOMA, 2004; and the publications Pirkle Jones California Photographs by Aperture, Black Panthers 1968 by Jones and Baruch published by Greybull Press and A Dangerous Thing poetry by Ruth-Marion Baruch and Black Power * Flower Power published by the Pirkle Jones Foundation in 2012.   Prior to her current position in the fine arts, Jennifer worked in the field of Heavy Industrial Construction as a mechanical engineer, estimator and manager specializing in water and wastewater treatment throughout Northern California.

A 5th generation Oregonian raised in the Willamette Valley, Jennifer lives outside of Point Reyes on the California coast with her husband James Noel.

Music: Judith Sephuma LeTshephile Mang and Abraham Burton's Amina.

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