Under the baobab: Join together, celebrate as rebuilding continues in Centre County

“We will rebuild, reconcile, and recover,

In every known nook of our nation,

In every corner called our country,

Our people, diverse and dutiful.

We’ll emerge, battered but beautiful…”

-Amanda Gorman, “The Hill We Climb”

Sisters and brothers, in the corner of our country that we call Centre County we continue to try and recover. We have been through a difficult time together. I have documented some of that journey in this column, which I began about a year ago. As we begin to “emerge” some of you have told me you enjoyed reading Under the Baobab. I am blessed by you.

I ran into old and dear friends at Arts R Alive, a salon organized by Mike Desmond at Hyatt Place. There were lots of hugs with the gin and tonics. Performances included Shannon Bishop enchanting us with her exquisite belly dances. Dmitry Myers wowing us with his artistic dance moves. We were delighted by the Adam Schwartz Puppets. Over 1,000 folks showed up for the first Thursdays of WingFest at Tussey Mountain. There were performances by Completely Unchained, Quarterstick, Ted and the Hi-Fis and local superstars Pure Cane Sugar. Yet to come on future Thursdays are: Katz 22, Bonfire (an AC/DC tribute band) with Miss Melanie, The Ten Band (a Pearl Jam Tribute Band), and My Hero Zero with Kristi Jean and her Ne’er Do Wells.

The Spikes won a game and put on a top notch fireworks show for 7,183 fans, the most ever to see a game in Medlar Field. Church offered an opportunity for more hugs, which lasted longer than they used to.

We found some more folks hanging out at Pat Romano’s bar/restaurant, We Are Inn, the new Nittany Lions stomping ground in Philipsburg. At the Philipsburg Festival, there were lots of good bands, a cruise of vintage cars and a performance by my old friend, Coolio. We did a film together back in 2003 called “Red Water.” It was about a shark that comes upriver and terrorizes people. It also starred Lou Diamond Phillips and Kristy Swanson. At the time I was a Fulbright Fellow at Stellenbosch in South Africa. I managed to get 20 of my students into the film.

A former Penn State student, Herb Newsome, who is now well-known director, recruited me to do a Zoom production of August Wilson’s “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone” for the Kendall Senior Residence. It also featured Wil Hutton, Joy Hooper, Donna Johnson, Kevin Brown and Karla Payne. Other projects with which I am involved include Tyler Perry’s TV series, “All The Queen’s Men,” scheduled to drop this summer on BET. I am also working with Carla Hargrove developing her TV series. Finally, I am developing a one-man show based on the life of Sgt. William Carney, the first African American to be awarded a Congressional Medal of Honor for his actions during the Civil War.

On Saturday, Sept. 4 in Sidney Friedman Park, Cynthia Mazzant and Elaine Meder-Wilgus of Tempest Productions are organizing “Bard in the Boro” featuring actors, artists and neighbors performing scenes from Shakespeare. Come on out and get your “Bard On.”

Let’s celebrate at church, temple, mosque or synagogue or walk together through the Arboretum, cheer on the Spikes, watch Simone Biles change the world of gymnastics at the Olympics.

Let’s laugh again, and hug again, and learn to be with each other joyfully, not fearfully. The sadness is not over but it’s subsided. It’s a new day. Amanda Gorman tells us:

“When day comes, we step out of the shade,

Aflame and unafraid.

The new dawn blooms as we free it,

For there is always light,

If only we are brave enough to see it,

If only we are brave enough to be it.”