Tucked away on a high shelf in the collections room of the Museum of Science is a startlingly unique rock specimen. It is white with long jutting crystal arms and made of a fragile mineral called calcite. The piece looks like it comes from completely different planet.
The Overtown section of Miami was the heart and soul of music during the early to mid-1960’s.
It developed as Southern and Bahamian blacks relocated to Miami area to work on Henry Flagler’s railroad.
As they prospered, so did the club and performing arts scene.
Other venues included the Rockland, Palace, the Harlem Square Club, the Cotton Club, the Ritz Theater, the Mary Elizabeth Hotel and the Sir John, to name a few.
Richard Blanco wasn't the only poet to pen a line for President Barack Obama's second inauguration. Last week, our partners at The Takeaway asked for your help writing a poem for the inauguration.
Poet Kwame Dawes wrote the first line--"Say 'nation.' In the Wake of quarrels, say 'hope'"--and the audience tweeted the rest of the lines.
After a failed career at home in the U.S., the Chinese-American rapper Jin found an unexpected second chance at stardom on the other side of the world.
Credit Louis Trinh / Courtesy of artist
After a failed career in the U.S., the Chinese-American rapper Jin got an unexpected second chance at stardom — in Hong Kong.
Cienfuegos: Bailly was inspired to paint this portrait of Blanco by the line 'There should be nothing here I don't remember'
Credit John Bailly
Miami: During the making of this series, Blanco sent Bailly his works in progress. Sometimes there would be ten iterations of the same poem in one file.
Credit John Bailly
Old Havana: Bailly lived in France until he moved to Miami at 10 years old. Blanco came to Miami as a small child, the son of Cuban exiles. The two friends plumbed those experiences in their work.
Credit John Bailly
The Beach of the Dead: 'It was kind of this idea of not really belonging anywhere, but kind of belonging in more than one place, which made us collaborate together,' said Bailly.
Credit John Bailly
Neuilly: 'I think Richard makes me dream, in a sense – dream about places that I’ve known before or places that I wish existed,' says Bailly
When Richard Blanco read his inaugural poem, One Today, one of the friends cheering him from afar was South Florida painter John Bailly.
Bailly and Blanco met nearly 20 years ago and bonded over a shared interest in cultural identity. The conversations between friends led to Place of Mind, a collaboration of paintings and poems that has been on display in South Florida and is now on its way to New York.
Bailly spoke to WLRN about culture, identity and working with Blanco to create the collection of images.
Richard Blanco's inaugural poem, One Today, may have addressed the whole nation, but the details were full of South Florida.
A father's hands callused by cutting sugar cane, a mother who taught Blanco to speak Spanish--these are some of the personal details that worked their way into the poem.
From the National Mall in Washington, D.C. to Old School Square in Delray Beach, poetry class is in session.
Today, 44-year-old Richard Blanco, the Miami-raised son of Cuban immigrants, becomes the fifth poet ever to take part in a President's inaugural ceremony. Blanco is scheduled to read an original poem after President Obama is sworn in for his second term.
