[Updated 5/29/10]

BN-W/Educate-Empower would like to officially introduce The Impassioned Writers section, which will feature columns by several writers on a regular basis (quarterly or semi-annually).   We are so excited and very fortunate that these writers have agreed to share their knowledge and passion with us and our readers.   There are many issues and subjects that we'd like to write more about – but time and the obvious need to have knowledge of, experience with, and interest in certain topics prevents us from being able to "do it all."  So we looked for writers who have the required knowledge, dedication, enthusiasm, and love for what they do to most effectively translate it into "educating to empower" as The Impassioned Writers for BN-W.   The topics will generally cover history as well as current events and how the two connect.

In this special announcement, we’re introducing two of our writers – PJ Rain and Elmore Cisco James, Jr.   PJ will write a monthly column about Sports and has already written two, which are both posted on the site ( link here).   One was sent in January and the other will be sent to our subscriber list shortly after this introductory announcement.   Elmore will write on a quarterly basis about SocioCultural issues from an artist’s perspective.   Because we want to pace how often the columns are sent and not overload your inboxes, his first piece about make believe and showboating in America will be sent next week.   Below are brief bios of PJ and Elmore:

PJ Rain is a sports enthusiast who has been tracking biographies and stories about famous athletes since grade school.   A former high school track and field standout and NCAA competitor in the same sport, PJ is most passionate about the sport of baseball where he spent many years working in public relations and front office operations.   Most recently, PJ has been involved in career consultation for young athletes and fitness training.

Elmore Cisco James, Jr. is a director and performing artist, whose career spans more than forty years in the world of Broadway and international opera. He has also spent 35 years in arts education both in the United States and in Europe and now spends his time as a published writer and poet. In addition to his varied career, he is the creator of A Course in Genius™, a program designed to awaken the innate genius potential hidden in everyone. He has taught the course in Scotland, as well as the United States. This year he will be teaching the course in Ecuador.

C. Herbert Oliver was born in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1925 and has lived most of his adult life in Brooklyn, New York.   He served in Presbyterian churches in northern Maine, Alabama, and New York City.   He also served as Chaplain at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Manhattan for 32 years.   He was also chairman of the Ocean-Hill Brownsville School District from 1967-1970.   He has been making a close study of the U.S. Constitution over the last several years to get clarity on what is happening to Blacks in the United States (unprecedented murders by law enforcement, civil rights violations, and overrepresentation in prisons and false imprisonment) – and why there seems to be no adherence to the Constitution or rights that the government will respect when it comes to people of African descent.

Franz Jones is an actor/director/writer currently living in Brooklyn, New York.   As an actor, he has appeared in a variety of venues and in a number of plays.   He was on Broadway in the original production of Roger Miller’s Big River.   Off Broadway he has appeared at such theatres as Cafe LaMaMa, Playwrights Horizons, Soho Rep, and the Lion Theatre.   He has worked in a great number of regional theatres as well, including The Folger Theater, Tulsa Rep, The New Harmony Theatre, Florida Rep, Oklahoma Shakespearean Theatre, and the New York State Theatre Institute in such productions as Othello, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Romeo and Juliet, The Winter’s Tale, and Avenue X.    He was also resident teaching artist/guest artist at Cornell University and taught acting for two years in a program through the New York State Council for the Arts at the Alpha/Omega Theatrical Dance Company.   His writing has been largely confined to the theatre, and this will be his debut as a writer in this dual capacity.  

Anita Tsálagi Asha is a researcher of Ancient African, African American and Native American histories.   Educated in the Boston Public School and southeastern Massachusetts school systems in the 1970’s and 1980’s, she realized she wasn’t taught accurate information about these cultures while growing up.   When she began her travel career, she saw the inaccuracies between what she was taught in school and what the facts were.   Upon the realization of her miseducation, she commenced to educate herself by intense study and travel, recognizing that travel is a great tool for education.   Her travels included archeological sites in Mexico, with sojourns in Mexico and with southwestern United States and Hawaiian indigenous peoples.   She is the owner of The Antiquity Group, LLC., a company that sells Ancient African and African American historical and cultural educational materials.   She is planning to add a Native American component to her company as well as a travel desk.     

Look for some informative and truthful pieces coming from these and more of The Impassioned Writers; more brief bios will be in the next BN-W eNewsletter (#101 is on its way).   We are looking for a writer to cover the topic of jazz.   If you’re a writer with the necessary knowledge, passion, dedication, and love for this topic, please reach out to us.   If you’d like to contribute in another area, please reach out as well.

We want our readers to walk away with at least one thing they never knew (no matter how small or big) and wanting to learn more; we’re sure you will find that with The Impassioned Writers as we hope you have all these years with the BN-W eNewsletter, which definitely remains a part of the BN-W experience as well.