Features

Chatham professors publish “Words Without Walls: Writers on Addiction, Violence, and Incarceration”

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Professors in the MFA Creative Writing Program Sheryl St. Germain and Sarah Shotland have coedited a book entitled “Words Without Walls: Writers on Addiction, Violence, and Incarceration,” now available.

“We wanted works that spoke to experiences we believed would resonate with our audience and that included difficult things—like addiction, incarceration and familial violence,” said St. Germain, who has worked at Chatham since 2005.

In choosing selections for the book, St. Germain looked for, “works that were accessible on a first or second reading, but still offered opportunities for reflection.”

“I tried to pick pieces that were immediately arresting; pieces that grab the reader from the very first line and never let go,” said Shotland, who joined Chatham’s faculty in 2011.

“Words Without Walls” provides perspectives from a broad range of voices, including more widely known authors like Anna Quindlen, Raymond Carver, and Jesmyn Ward—who spoke at Chatham earlier this semester—to those who have personally spent time in prison.

“We wanted a mix of new and respected voices, and we also wanted to honor some of the very best writers from [Allegheny County Jail] and Sojourner House.”

“I tried to pick a range of writers that could begin to represent the diversity of the American experience—in gender, class, ethnicity, geography, and subject matter,” said Shotland.

The book shares its title with the Words Without Walls Program, co-founded by St. Germain and Shotland (when she was a graduate student at Chatham) in 2009, through which Chatham MFA students in Creative Writing teach in the Allegheny County Jail, the State Correctional Institution Pittsburgh, and Sojourner House. St. Germain serves as president to the program, and Shotland serves as program coordinator, and both women teach at Sojourner House (although St. Germain is not teaching this term).

Four pieces included in the book are by Words Without Walls students at Allegheny County Jail and one is from a student at Sojourner House. Work by Words Without Walls teachers Jessica Kinnison and Jen Ashburn and Chatham MFA alum Christine Stroud are included as well. St. Germain and Shotland also have compositions in the book.

Both St. Germain and Shotland have long been passionate about the work that Words Without Walls does.

According to St. Germain, her younger brother spent time in prison as a young adult and, “was taught nothing of value in the prison except how to make art objects with popsicle sticks.”

The two corresponded via letter, and St. Germain was surprised by how well he could write. He died of a drug overdose a few years after being released from prison.

“My initial work with teaching creative writing in prisons stemmed from a desire to reach out to those who might have been like my brother—with some writing skills, but needing nurturance and support,” she said.

During the years between her undergraduate and graduate study, Shotland worked as a teaching artist at a drop-out recovery high school in Austin, Texas, a program she cites as being “enriching and meaningful.” After this experience, she knew she wanted to continue with this kind of work.

“Art at a correctional institution is free from the conventions students learn (and then spend time unlearning) in formal programs. It’s refreshing to be around writers who write because they need to express something deeply important and meaningful, rather than writing with professional goals in mind,” said Shotland.

She continued. “I have professional goals for my writing…so I want to make it clear there’s nothing wrong with professional goals. But it’s important to remember that we create art because it’s necessary for ourselves and our readers and our culture; and hopefully we would continue to do that with or without a prestigious publication or paycheck. Working at the jail reminds me of the necessity of art.”

It is the necessity of art that makes the publication of “Words Without Walls,” which gives voice to a range of authors with a range of things to say, pertinent.

“When our students get up to read their work for each other, their hands are shaking, their voices quiver,” Shotland said. “These are people who have witnessed extreme violence, who sometimes participated in it. It’s sometimes surprising to see how nervous they are at a poetry reading. But it speaks to the fact that these poems, these stories, they matter. A lot.”

 

Dr. Jessie B. Ramey announced as inaugural director of the Women’s Institute

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Last May, University administration announced the development of a Women’s Institute to preserve Chatham’s dedication to women after the decision that it would admit men beginning in the fall of 2015, and on March 19, they announced that Dr. Jessie B. Ramey would serve as the Institute’s inaugural director.

As inaugural director, Ramey will be responsible for focusing on the Institute’s mission, which is, she said, “to help overcome and eradicate the social injustices facing women.”

“That’s a tall order, but one that we will continue working on as a campus community in three main ways: through education, research, and outreach,” she said. “Chatham has a long history of excellence in these areas and the Women’s Institute will build on those traditions.”

Ramey has ample academic and professional experience with women and gender issues, as well as history and social justice.

Ramey earned a BA in Social History and an MA and a Ph.D. in History from Carnegie Mellon University and an MA in Women’s History from Sarah Lawrence College.

She currently serves as a Visiting Scholar in Women’s Studies at the University of Pittsburgh, and she is an adjunct professor of History in the Humanities Scholars Program at Carnegie Mellon. She also serves on Mayor Bill Peduto’s Task Force on Education.

Ramey is no stranger to Pittsburgh nor to Chatham.

She has been a guest lecturer in a few of Chatham’s history classes, but, “most of my relationship to the University has been as a member of the Pittsburgh community,” she said.

At around age 13, Ramey saw her first play at Chatham’s Eddy Theater—“’The Dollhouse,’ of course,” by Henrik Ibsen.

“I caught the theater bug and went on to run my own theater company specializing in new plays by women,” she said.

Additionally, Ramey’s children have spent summers at Chatham’s Music and Arts Day Camp, and they have piano recitals each spring in Laughlin Music Hall.

“The sense of connection between Chatham and the broader community is an important part of its legacy,” she said.

Ramey has high hopes that the Women’s Institute will be beneficial to a wide range of people.

“One of my goals for the Women’s Institute is to help everyone in our campus community to feel [that they are] a part of its mission of advancing gender equity. I’m really excited about that focus, because it acknowledges that we still have deep and abiding gender inequality—politically, economically, culturally, socially,” she said. “We are making a bold statement with the Women’s Institute by acknowledging that our gender work is not done and that a co-educational university should play a central role in addressing inequality.”

Ramey also hopes the Institute will, “help people, especially those outside the University, understand this commitment that Chatham has made—and to help them see why that is so distinctive and so significant.”

Additionally, Ramey hopes, the Institute, “will play a role in bolstering Chatham’s national, and even international, reputation, in fields where it is already well known and highly regarded, as well as in some new dimensions.”

The Institute will be particularly relevant in Chatham’s time of transformation.

“There’s a sense that when an institution ‘goes co-ed’ that they no longer exist as a women’s college. They lose that unique identity. Yet, when historically black colleges and universities accept white students, they still retain their identity as HBCUs; or when religious universities accept students from other faiths, they don’t lose their religious identity,” she said.  “Perhaps we need a new acronym for ‘Colleges that Historically Enrolled Women’—CHEW?  Yuck—But seriously, I imagine we could have a robust conversation about the gender dynamics at work that so quickly make women’s education invisible­—and why labels matter and what they reveal or obscure.”

Ramey is optimistic about the Institute’s future.

“I hope that [the Institute] becomes a place where we can ask these questions together, have these conversations about gender—and race and class and other systems of power—and promote pedagogies, programs, and scholarship that move us towards equity and justice. That’s not only relevant but exciting work for all of us to be a part of.”

Review of graduate reading series, Word Circus

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“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you,” Maya Angelou once wrote in her novel, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.”

This was undoubtedly the case for the writer’s attending the Chatham MFA Creative Writing Program’s reading series, Word Circus, at the Most Wanted Fine Art Gallery on Friday, January 23.

The gallery, set up with several rows of chairs facing a small stage adorned with a music stand and a single microphone, seemed immediately to be the perfect venue for the event.

With its mixed media pop-art, soft light, and quasi-industrial grunge inspired décor, it set the tone for the raw pieces of prose and poetry that were to be read throughout the evening.

Though it seemed like the kind of place one might find a group of stereotypical starving artists, it was unlikely that any of the artists in attendance were starving, given the large assortment of cheese, chips, crackers, desserts, wine, and of course–because what small scale artsy hipster gathering would be complete without it–a case of Pabst Blue Ribbon.

As the lights began to dim around 7:30, and the people who were casually chatting around the room began to take their seats, it became clear that, though the space was small and the weather outside less than pleasant, the event had managed to draw a nearly full house

After everyone was seated, Alex Friedman, the host for the evening, took the stage amidst a round of applause.

“You have to woo for everyone if you’re going to woo,” he joked before welcoming everyone, specifically thanking the two professors in attendance–Heather McNaugher and Marc Nieson–for coming.

Before bringing the four graduate student featured readers to the stage, Friedman explained that, in preparation for the event, he had asked all of the readers some questions about themselves.

The questions, full of witty and sarcastic humor, included things like which artist they would want to paint their portraits, and why they chose to pursue a career in, “making things up in an obsolete medium.”

The first featured reader, Michelle Sinclair, who would want to be painted by either Frida Kahlo or Andy Warhol and who writes because, “everyone has their flaws,” began the evening with her piece of prose entitled, “Knit for Naught.”

As she stood under the blue tin ceiling of the gallery, Sinclair wove–or knit, as the case may be–an engaging storyline, making the audience feel a full spectrum of emotions.

Her soft voice rose and fell as she took the audience through flashbacks about the main character, Shirley, an avid knitter who, towards the end of the piece, the audience discovers is still heartbroken over the loss of a child.

Sinclair was followed by Taylor Smith, who said that he would want his portrait done by Stanley Kubrick in the style of “2001: A Space Odyssey” and who, according to Friedman, “was voted Most Likely to be Merlin or Gandalf” in high school.

Smith began with a somber poem about heartbreak and change, his voice resonating through the room as he read.

The audience responded well, laughing enthusiastically when he got to the first line of his final poem, which read, “In the winter time, Buddha is hiding in the bushes, spying on the neighbors again.”

Leila Zonouzi, the third featured reader for the evening, indicated that she would want her portrait done by the comedian Louis C.K.

Upon taking the stage she explained that she would be reading a selection from of larger piece on which she is currently working.

The tone of her piece, which was about the events of a woman’s day, was somber, and her attention to imagery and detail seemed to give the piece a life of its own.

In response to the question of why she chose to be a writer, the final featured reader, Alison Taverna, gave a comical response about how her dream of being a professional unicyclist didn’t pan out.

As soon as she got on the stage she began joking with people in the audience, saying, after one of her poems, that she, “really wanted to drop the mic on that one.”

The close knit group of people in attendance made it feel more like a family gathering than a public reading, which had the potential to make outsiders feel alienated–except for the fact that the welcoming atmosphere made that outcome impossible.

Towards the end of her set, Taverna read a poem inspired by Justin Bieber’s new haircut, and in it she said, “It’s okay, sometimes, to be mistaken for who you are.”

This theme of being who you are was felt throughout the event in everything from the featured readers portion to the open mic portion–during which six people went on stage to share their work–and even during the breaks in between when everyone gathered together to chat and enjoy each other’s company.

Word Circus is a monthly event and information about the next one, occurring Friday, February 20, can be found on MyChatham.

Chatham takes interest in Circle of 6 phone application

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With recent awareness campaigns about the prevalence of sexual assault on college campuses, the smartphone application Circle of 6 has been developed to prevent sexual abuse and dating violence before it even begins.

The application is designed to allow users to quickly and discretely contact their circle—comprised of six friends—if they are in an uncomfortable situation.

Selecting the car icon sends a text reading, “Come and get me. I need help getting home safely,” and the sender’s GPS coordinates.

The phone icon asks the user’s circle to, “Call and pretend you need me.  I need an interruption.”

Finally, the chat icon sends a text saying, “I’m looking up information about healthy relationships and respect. Just letting you know.”  According to Circle of 6’s website, “This keeps your circle informed of what’s on your mind, but doesn’t ask for immediate action.”

In emergencies, the application’s exclamation point icon can be used to access national hotlines and customized local emergency numbers.

In 2011, the application won the “Apps Against Abuse” technology challenge sponsored by the White House.  In 2012, it came in second place in the “Ending Violence @ Home App Challenge,” funded by the Avon Foundation for Women.

Some colleges—including University of California, Los Angeles; Hobart and William Smith Colleges; and Williams College—have adopted Circle of 6 U, which is geared specifically towards college students.

Chatham University has not yet adopted Circle of 6 U.  Instead, students are encouraged to try the Circle of 6 application, and Student Affairs and Assistant Professor in the Doctor of Psychology program Dr. Britney Brinkman are conducting a research study on Chatham students’ impressions about the application, the nature of their conversations about safety with close friends, and their attitudes about their role in preventing sexual assault and relationship violence.

“Essentially, it’s a pilot to see if rolling the application out campus wide would be beneficial to students,” said Assistant Dean of Career Development Dr. Sean McGreevey.

Although preventing violence is the application’s main goal, it also promotes discussion and trust between friends.

“There is power in communities having conversations about how we all can contribute to safer environments,” said McGreevey.  “The application asks users to have conversations with six close friends. There is power in those conversations.”

“The stigma surrounding [sexual assault and intimate partner violence] often makes it difficult for people to engage in conversations about them,” said Brinkman.

Brinkman also hopes that through these conversations, students can, “shift away from conceptualizations of sexual assault and relationship violence that assume women are responsible for avoiding violence.”

“Rather, we hope to spark dialogues about the role all community members—female and male—can play in creating safe environments and being proactive, supportive bystanders,” she said.

To help promote conversations and new ways of thinking, Chatham is holding several training sessions focusing less on using the application itself—which is designed to be simple to use—and more on, “how we can come together as a community and leverage the technology towards community solutions,” according to McGreevey.

“It’s not about the application, it’s about how the technology can enhance our community’s efforts to bring the conversation to the table, empower people to intervene as bystanders and give users a way to contact help if they need it,” he said.

Training sessions are scheduled for Tuesday, January 27 and Monday, February 2.  McGreevey hopes these sessions will attract groups of students, “to participate so we can elicit student feedback and potentially adopt the application as a campus.”

“Sexual assault and relationship violence is a critical issue for all campuses,” he said.  “Ultimately, we just want to continuously evolve in ways that best serve the Chatham community.”

International students at Chatham settle into life in Pittsburgh

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Chatham University has been an international campus since the 1930s. Today Chatham has 180 students from several countries mostly from Saudi Arabia, China, and Canada. International students are involved in different programs at Chatham including the English language program, graduate, and undergraduate studies, in addition to one semester or full year programs.

International students at Chatham have different experiences living away from home even though they live on the same campus.

“It’s an amazing but challenging experience. One of the biggest challenges I’ve been facing is the cold winter. I’ve lived in a tropical country all my life and have never experienced this type of cold,” said Silvia Alejandra, an exchange student from Honduras. “The culture shock of being in a new country can be overwhelming, but it’s an amazing experience to get to meet new people and immerse yourself in a new culture,” she added.

For Daniella Bauer who is studying English language, the challenge is different.

“The biggest challenge was to deal with my loss of professional identity and activities. I used to be very active at work and studies in Brazil,” said Bauer. “Other challenges for Brazilians are the interpersonal relationships. We like make connections and know about peoples’ lives and customs. At Chatham, I meet people from many countries, and the teachers as well, made me feel very connected and welcome,” she added.

“Well I guess the only challenge I’m facing right now is the fact that I’m not allowed to work off campus and so can’t really fund my education until I get a job after graduation,” said Komal Kooduvalli, a graduate student from India. “Honestly, I love Pittsburgh. It’s become my home now, and I love the people, place, and culture.”

Kooduvalli continued, “I think Chatham has been instrumental every step of the way in helping me adjust including helping me get proper on-campus accommodation and everything. My teachers are fantastic and always ready to help, and friends support me emotionally and have become my family here.”

For May Alrawaqi, an English language student originally from Saudi Arabia, dealing with weather is very sensitive.

“Living in Pittsburgh is so challenging during the winter, especially when it snows. Since I have a child, I have to skip classes whenever it gets so cold in order to take care of him. Not to mention getting cold and sick,” said Alrawaqi. “Although I like Chatham university and feel very comfortable studying here, I have to leave it next year. I am seeking a masters degree in mathematics, but this major isn’t available at Chatham,” she added.

Many international students share the the worry about their kids and their family members living at home.

“My greatest challenge is the separation with my family. I miss and worry about my daughter, my husband, and my parents,” said Wenju Chen, a graduate Nursing student from China. “Then the language barrier comes next. Sometimes, I feel lost when I talk with people here,” she added.

Lama Alrwais, who also has a child, said,”being a mother and a student is hard. I have late classes at Chatham, and after going home I have to take care of my baby and cook dinner for my family. By the end of the day I don’t have the energy to do school work.”

Alrwais is Saudi Arabian, and currently studying English at Chatham.

“The language is so different from mine. I feel like my simple vocabulary does not convey my ideas and thoughts to people and teachers,” she added.

At Chatham, the Office of International Affairs tries to help students adapt to the new environment by providing pre-class orientations and workshops through the fall and the spring semesters. The workshops introduce international students to U.S. culture and its academic system, and they help students determine their future careers.

Slutciety feminist publication makes a name for itself at Pitt

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On Wednesday nights in room 918 in the William Pitt Lounge, meetings for the University of Pittsburgh’s feminist publication Slutciety come to order. Armed with laptops and covering topics that range from female soldiers in the Middle East to sex education in American schools to the commodification of the female orgasm, Slutciety is making their collective voice heard at the University of Pittsburgh.

Typically, when most people hear the world slut, they do not immediately think of an articulate, empowered woman. Slutciety is pushing back against that. Why such a provocative name?

“It’s a mush together of slut and society,” said Amanda Chan, President of Slutciety, “‘Society’ has a connotation of order and tradition and ‘slut’ brings about feelings of chaos and bitterness and stigma. By mushing these two together, I want people to question why being a promiscuous woman would be so against society.”

“And women are going to get called sluts no matter what, so we’re just reclaiming that word,” Zoe Hannah, Vice President of Slutciety, said.

Slutciety takes an interactive community approach to editing articles. Roundtable style and computers out at meetings, the writers read aloud their work and provide comments, suggestions, and the occasional anecdote. They also do more than just write; in November, Slutciety was responsible for bringing Political Commentator and Activist Zerlina Maxwell to Pitt to speak about rape culture.

Although the writers cover topics that might make some clutch their pearls, the members agree that as a whole they are been well received on their campus.

“If nothing else, people are intrigued by us,” said Hannah.

Understandably so as Slutciety is the only feminist group on the University of Pittsburgh’s campus.

These ladies don’t pull any punches and did not let lack of funding in the earliest days of the paper’s existence stop them from making their voices heard. Before they had a budget, this group at one point in time had to use their collective print budgets to run issues.

Why did these young women go outside of the University of Pittsburgh’s official newspaper? For one, the authors of Slutciety do not consider themselves a journalist source. More so, they enjoy the freedom that having their own paper allows them.

“We create a safe space, where anyone can come and feel comfortable talking to us,” said Hannah.

Slutciety places a special emphasis on intersectionality–the concept of how different identities and forms of discrimination interact and impact one’s life. In the simplest of terms, they are determined to make sure that queer people and women of color are properly represented.

“It’s not real feminism unless it’s intersectional,” Chan said.

With humor, honesty, and a willingness not to shy away from uncomfortable topics, it seems that Slutciety will continue to challenge conventions at Pitt. To see some of Slutciety’s work, look them up on Tumblr at Slutcietyatpitt.tumblr.com or follow them on Twitter at @slutciety.

Chatham Relay For Life Committee gears up for annual event

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What event combines music, games, and food and lasts for 12 hours? Only one event comes to mind, and that’s Relay For Life.

Chatham’s Relay For Life will take place on February 6 from noon to midnight in the Athletic and Fitness Center. Relay For Life is a fundraising event for the American Cancer Society (ACS).

This will be Chatham’s fourth annual Relay For Life.  Last year Chatham’s Relay raised $10,000 for the ACS, and this year they are reaching for that same goal. The money raised helps to provide support for individuals and families affected by cancer.

According to the ACS, Chatham’s Relay For Life has supported 76 calls to the cancer information center for a cancer patients. It has helped 432 people get connected to clinical trials through clinical trials matching. It has funded 86 rides for cancer patients to and from treatments through the Road the Recovery program. It has supported 88 women in the Reach to Recovery program where women facing breast cancer are paired with a trained breast cancer survivor for support. It has helped to provide 130 nights of free lodging at a Hope Lodge for a cancer patient and their caregiver. It has funded 21 early career researchers who have turned to the American Cancer Society to investigate cancer, its causes, and how to help patients cope with the effects of the disease and its treatment. All of this was possible with the help of Chatham’s Relay For Life.

Relay For Life is a not an athletic event but a celebration of life. There are not any relays or baton passes. What can be expected at Chatham’s Relay is a whole 12 hours packed full of activities.

Interested participants can register on relayforlife.org/pachatham and join or make a team. Anyone a can make a team–academic departments, classes, friends, student organization, residence halls. There’s a special treat for those who register and donate to Relay For Life. Registered participants who raise $25 will be entered into a drawing to win tickets to see One Direction and Taylor Swift.

“For every $25 you raise, you receive one ticket to put into the drawing,” said Coordinator of Residence Life and Student Activities, Emily Fidago. “So if you raised $100 you would receive four tickets. The more you raise the more chances you have to win.”

Tickets will be pulled from the drawing between 9 p.m. and midnight and you must be present to win.

There will also be a silent auction with gift baskets from local businesses, gift cards, Pittsburgh Pirates tickets, and much more.

Relay For Life kicks off at noon with Dine & Dance. Lunch will be served in the AFC gym.  At lunch there will be a swing dance lesson taught by Swing City Pittsburgh instructor Jared Clemens.

At 5 p.m. is the survivor ceremony with guest speaker, Dr. Harrington. Hall Olympics will commence at 7 p.m. followed by a game of extreme musical chairs at 9 p.m.

Special guest performers include University of Pittsburgh Hip Hop Dance Crew and the Panther Belly Dancers. In addition, Chatham alumna Olivia Traini will return to perform a comedy set.

The Relay For Life Committee and the Office of Residence Life and Student Activities-Student Affairs also have events leading up to Relay. On January 29, the Student Alumni Association (SAA) is hosting a bowling night at Forward Lanes. The cost is $11. This includes two hours of bowling and shoe rental.

On February 5, Chatham has a night out at the Mongolian Grill. It is $25 for, “all you can eat.” For another $5 you will receive a movie ticket. All proceeds benefit Relay For Life.

“Relay For Life is a time where the whole Chatham Community can come to together to help support the fight against cancer, celebrate those who survived and celebrate those who were lost to the disease,” said Meg Scanlon, Relay For Life co-chair and Community Service Coordinator.

 

Coming to a Theater Near You: “Pass the Light”

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It’s not too often that a film is made whose focus is not on special effects or big name stars but on uplifting the hearts of those who watch the piece and one is coming to a theatre near you.

The feature length film, “Pass the Light” (2015) tells the story of a high school boy, Steve Bellafiore (Cameron Palatas) who stands up to a local politician who is running on a platform of hate and intolerance.

Rachael Kathryn Bell, who portrays the character Louise in the film, had a great experience working on a film that meant so much to her.

Bell was born and raised in Butler, Pennsylvania. From the age of 13, she knew that had to fulfill her love of acting because nothing made her feel more alive. Bell is best known for her role “Addison” in Disney’s the Suite Life on Deck.

She was able to balance school and acting even with auditions consuming two months of every spring and fall. After graduating high school, Bell packed up and moved to Los Angeles to pursue her dream at 18 years old.

Bell currently resides in Los Angeles, performing roles in upcoming television shows and movies, attending acting classes, and living her dream. She said she could not have reached as much success without the steadfast support of her parents.

When Bell first auditioned for “Pass the Light,” it was for a different role. The part was given to another actor who was a better fit. However, Bell did not leave the auditions unnoticed. The producer, writers, and directors loved what she brought to the audition, and as a result, they changed the part of Louis to Louise.

“I was thrilled for the opportunity to be part of this project and that more doors are opening for women in Hollywood,” Bell said.

Bell also says that the industry’s decision to change a male role for her changed her perspective and increased her faith in the world’s treatment of women.

Bell and Louise are alike in their core values where they both want everyone to be kind, understanding, and to treat each other better. It bothers Bell personally when people spread hate, but she is constantly working on limiting her own negativity in order to have a positive impact on others.

The film focuses on a group of nine students called the Force. Their purpose was to spread the message of hope, tolerance, and love. To accurately portray these students, the nine actors spent a lot of time interacting with one another. The mood on set was fun. They all took their crafts seriously but in their downtime they had a blast.

Bell’s favorite part of “Pass the Light” is one of the final scenes when Steve gives his campaign speech which states why he decided to run against a prominent politician and attempt to stop the spread of hate. Bell believes the content of his speech is important for all genders, races, ages, faiths, and sexual orientations to hear.

Bell thinks this is a film everyone should see. After the film, viewers will walk away a little more open-minded and determined to treat one another better.

“Regardless of someone’s set in stone opinions of faith, if they can be open-minded after seeing the film, isn’t that a beautiful thing?” Bell said.

Pass the Light will be released on Friday, February 6 in over 200 theatres nationwide. Local theatres screening the film include: Carmike 10 in Pittsburgh, Carmike 6 in Uniontown, Southpike Cinemas Digiplex in Sarver, Clarion 7 in Clarion, and Cinema 4 in Indiana, PA.

For updates on “Pass the Light” like and follow them on Facebook, follow @Passthelightmov on twitter and follow Rachael Kathryn Bell on Twitter @RachaelKBell. Visit the page on tumblr at passthelightmovie.tumblr.com

Chatham alumna Najaa Young releases successful film, “Blood First”

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It is every filmmakers dream to create a film that is not only successful, but that also has a real impact on the people who view it. For Chatham University Alumna Najaa Young (Class of 1995), that dream has become a reality.

With screenings in Los Angeles, New Orleans, Cleveland, and Pittsburgh, her film, “Blood First,” which is now available online at Target, Best Buy, and Amazon, has made quite a name for her and her production company, NaRa Films.

Regarding her time at Chatham, Young spoke highly of the college, explaining that, “in an industry dominated by men, [it] helped to bolster my self-confidence and make me comfortable with being in leadership roles.”

While here, Young was an active member of the campus community. In addition to participating in campus events she was also the president of the Black Student Union, which she said, “helped me to learn how to work well with others, respect differences of opinion, and find common ground with others…skills that I employ everyday whether I am working on set or not.”

Despite wanting to major in film from the time she started college, Young said that Chatham did not have a film program, so she chose instead to major in Theatre Arts, to “develop [her] directing, acting, and writing skills while taking additional classes from the Communications department to get more technical experience with cameras.”

She also took classes from Pittsburgh Filmmakers, and from there, she went on to earn her Masters in Film from Florida State University.

Young’s first film after graduation, a documentary about, “African Americans reclaiming and practicing traditional African religions in the United States,” was one that she had wanted to make for a long time, so together with her friend Rasheed Jihad, she formed a production company and set to work making the film.

Now, a few years later, NaRa Films, in collaboration with O.Y.’s Spotlite Entertainment has recently released its first feature length film entitled, “Blood First.”

The idea for the film came from Young’s brother, who, “wanted to make a movie about brothers who grew up ‘in the streets’ with the same code of ethics and upbringing only to have one brother decide to go against that code.”

“I didn’t want to make another gangster film,” said Young, “and I thought it might be a good way to raise some important questions about what manhood in urban communities means and how boys are being raised to become men. Furthermore, I wanted to show the cyclical nature of crime, violence, and imprisonment so that we can all begin to have solution oriented discussions around these topics.”

According to Young after three drafts of the script, which took three months to write, the project “hit the ground running.”

In four weeks they had a cast, crew, locations, and equipment. The film itself only took 26 days to shoot, with another three months to edit it.

On her ability to balance writing, directing, and producing her films, Young said, “It’s definitely difficult at times, and if I had my druthers, I’d concentrate solely on writing and directing. But producing is great because you’re the boss, and I really like being the boss at times.”

Additionally, she said, “I rely on my partner as co-producer to oversee things on set, manage the crew, and basically, “put out fires.” So, I guess I’ve found balance by selecting a good business partner.”

“When I look back on the experience, it was one of the greatest experiences of my life and one of the hardest,” Young said of the process. “Every decision I made carried so much weight and impacted multiple people’s lives and careers including my own.”

When asked about her advice for burgeoning filmmakers currently studying at Chatham, Young highly recommended internships, and even just volunteering at production companies.

“The key is to get valuable experience under your belt so be enthusiastic, hard working, and reliable,” she said, “it will get you very far in this industry.”

Creative Writing Club upgrades from Spit Reel to the Rea Coffeehouse Reading Series

chathamcommunique

The goal of the Chatham University Creative Writing Club (CWC), according to its mission statement on the University’s website, is to, “unite Chatham undergraduate writers and to further the development of their writing skills.”

One of the ways that the club accomplishes this goal is through it’s yearly reading series which provides students with opportunities to workshop their prose and poetry pieces, and read them to an audience of like-minded individuals with the goal of gaining experience and improving their writing.

The CWC’s reading series, however, recently underwent a change in structure as the former “Spit Reel,” gave way to the new and improved “Rea Coffeehouse Reading Series,” which had its premiere in the Rea Coffeehouse on Thursday, November 20.

The event, emceed by CWC advisor Lorena Williams, showcased five featured readers and included an open-microphone portion for anyone in reading their original works.

The series debut was a great success and student reactions to it were positive, but many were interested in the cause of the change, which impacted the name, format, and location of the event.

According to Terensky, “The name of our reading series officially changed over the summer,” which was just in time to begin planning for the event on November 20.

“The Creative Writing Club felt that Spit Reel was not a very clear name for the undergraduate reading series,” Brittanie Terensky, CWC president, later explained.

A lot of people would tell us how they would have come to the event if they would have known what it was; the name just didn’t convey that it is a reading series.”

The event on Nov. 20 reflected this opinion, as there was an excellent turnout, and the open microphone portion of the event was dominated by people outside of the creative writing major.

“The Creative Writing Club always encourages everybody to submit for Featured Reader and to read at open mic, regardless of major, so it was great to see other students branching out and reading at our event,” Terensky said in response to this.”

Additionally, the format of the reading series changed from taking place twice a semester to only taking place once a semester, the number of featured readers rose from three to five, and the time allotted for each featured reader increased for eight minutes to 15 minutes.

Describing the process of choosing the featured readers, Terensky said, “Featured Readers submit their work to our club advisor, Lo Williams, and the CWC’s officers receive them anonymously. The officers then go through the submissions and decide which work is the strongest.”

The process does not end there, however, as they also, “offer those individuals a workshop with the club where we can all look over the submissions and talk about how they are going to read out loud and how to make them stronger.”

“I was very happy with the event. I think there was a great turnout and we had some amazing readers,” Terensky said of the event.

In response to the new format and location, she said, “having the reading series in Rea Coffeehouse completely changes the atmosphere of the event, which we were all so happy with. The CWC’s undergraduate reading series is definitely at home in the Rea Coffeehouse.”