Celebrating Bethlehem's Southside Culture
“Embracing My Melanin” Spoken Word Performance: “Embracing My Melanin” Lyrics The Black beauty my mother created, The melanin that flows through my thick colored brown veins, I’m proud to call myself a Black beauty queen. But I have no other worries about my skin, other then u know being bashed, lynched, dragged, or even a…
*Featured photo: “Darth Vase #1”– Deborah Slahta (ceramic and raku fired vase) Each year, the Banana Factory features an exhibit to celebrate the ongoing work of their resident artists. In the 2020 digital exhibition, installations include mystic glass panels of starry orbs, flowing acrylic petunia petals that blend with their background, and lonely rocking chairs,…
Ebony’s Flaws: Spoken-word Performance Lyrics: See black is beautiful, I’d never change my color for another But sometimes I feel like I can’t trust the others or my brothers so it’s hard for me to stand here screaming black lives matter When genocide became a cycle since that crack pipe shattered And it’s so hard to…
Corporate America: Spoken Word Performance Corporate America: Lyrics This land is not a country it’s a corporation That has been funded by the ignorance of Your frustration Stuck in this whole without a ladder or rope As we go back n forth about that lives has matter the most We’re all divided and I see no…
“Refuse Fascism” Spoken Word Performance “Refuse Fascism” Lyrics They want to cut family ties, that have been knotted since history, With more stories than the tallest building, Small, but we are building! Brick by brick, from the wall they use to oppress us, to impress upon them! We will… Refuse Fascism Resist Hatred Right wrongs…
“The American Dream” I woke up today in the dark… Where other people’s words were clouding my judgement… Where every mirror was either blacked out or shattered… To them my wounds don’t matter as long as they can keep their stature… I WOKE UP TODAY… IN THE DARK.. I couldn’t feel my heart..beat As I…
On Thursday, July 23, people from the Lehigh Valley and Philadelphia came together over Zoom to share their insights and reactions to Danez Smith’s powerful and haunting poetry collection, Don’t Call Us Dead. The Queer Poetry Reading Group discussion was hosted by the Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center, and sponsored in part by the Lehigh Valley…
“RYDA” Spoken Word Performance “RYDA” Lyrics I’m Rydin, I’m Rydin, I’m Rydin, I’m Ghost (Aye) Where I’m going? No one knows I’m Rydin, I’m Rydin, I’m Rydin, I’m Ghost (Aye) Where I’m going? No one knows I’m Rydin, I’m Rydin, I’m Rydin, I’m Ghost (Aye) Where I’m…
“Colors”: Spoken Word Performance “Colors” Lyrics I’m grateful every morning I don’t wake up a #hashtag A trending Topic of tragedy A black and brown body Outlined in white, red blood watering concrete Because of shades of blue White lies defining how Black Lives Matter My God There’s a war on colors Ever since we…
“To be black in America right now is a wound. Nothing seems to exactly describe the pain in my lower back, my chest, blooming between my lungs, hanging so, so heavy in my heart. My grief is miles deep, ancestral deep. I think of my father, my brother, my sister. I think of both of…