Under the baobab: Happy Valley Latin Festival, other events celebrate culture, community
“We are all bound up together in one great bundle of humanity, and society cannot trample on the weakest and feeblest of its members without receiving the curse in its own soul.” — Frances EW Harper, National Women’s Rights Convention, 1866
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper was a creative artist, activist, engaging orator and one of the foremost abolitionists before, during and after the Civil War. Yet she is virtually unknown in popular history. Professor Sherita Johnson, director of the Penn State Africana Research Center, P. Gabrielle Foreman, co-director of the Center for Black Digital Research (#DigBlk) and founding director of the Colored Convention Project, and Carmin Wong, State College poet laureate, addressed that oversight by sponsoring a three-day symposium, “Frances EW Harper 200: Looking Back, Moving Forward,” a gathering of the world’s foremost experts on Harper at the Paterno Library Foster Auditorium and Center for the Performing Arts.
Elsewhere recently, hundreds of happy folks visited the Happy Valley Latin Festival on Fraser Street and the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Plaza. The daylong music and arts festival showcased the vibrancy and diversity of Latinx/Hispanic culture in central Pennsylvania.
Dozens of vendors presented delicious and unique food, various service organizations shared their missions, entertainers performed and visual artists displayed their craft. Ady Martinez, owner of Juana’s Venezuelan Cuisine, working with community members, conceptualized and developed the festival in 2021. Attendance and participation has steadily increased since then. Sponsors include the Happy Valley Adventure Bureau, State College Borough, CPA, Juana’s, Helen Velasquez Photography, Gorinto Productions, Mint DJ and Event Group, McDonald’s, Super 8, Chumley’s, Sheetz, Zeno’s Pub, The Basement Nightspot, Linda’s Beauty Care, 3 Dots, Kish, Community Diversity Group and Dance4Joy.
Rasa “Ray Dray” Drane, the artist-in-residence at 3 Dots, presented her original piece, “Whem Chile! Black Women Working.” Moderated by Carmin Wong, the musical featured Lasha Hardy, Jessica Henry, Chantel Harley and Issa Rae Drane. Stephen M. Mariner “preached” and led the band on keyboards. Gary Abdullah played bass and Jaden Adkins accompanied on drums. The cast and moderator discussed poignant examples from the lives of Black women. 3 Dots, a major community resource, is facing severe financial issues because of funding cuts.
Over 100 people stopped by the home of Prof. Jennifer Hamer, senior faculty mentor from the Office of the Vice Provost for Educational Equity, and her husband Clarence Lang, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts. The food was as good as the conversation. People had a chance to meet and greet over mac and cheese, potato salad, chicken wings with a range of deserts including peach cobbler. A dozen or so kids under 10 brightened the space. The gathering has become a major fall ritual at the university. When I asked Jennifer what they called this event, she thought for a while and said, “Conversation, Connections and Community Gatherings.”
The Center for the Performing Arts, led by Sita Frederick, held their 3rd annual Move/Mix Festival featuring the mesmerizing sound of Egypt-born oud prodigy and world-versed musician Mohamed Abozekry, who is parked at the intersection of Arabic modality, Middle Eastern classical music and international jazz fusion. He led his sextet in a performance of boundary-pushing, contemporary compositions atop his lilting and swirling vocal melodies.
The festival also included Kikora Franklin, director of the School of Theatre and professor of dance, joined by Terrie Ajile Axam and Mojah Dance Theatre of Atlanta for their performance of “Move Mix: Join the Mojah Movement.” Mojah is a celebratory, stylish fusion of modern, jazz, and West African dance techniques.
And the League of Women Voters, WPSU and the Constitution Day Centre led by Vicki Fong celebrated Constitution Day with a community discussion on the meaning of democracy on the 250 anniversary of the founding of America.
During these high holy days, we wish you, L’shanah tovah u’metukah.
Charles Dumas is a lifelong political activist, a professor emeritus from Penn State, and was the Democratic Party’s nominee for the U.S. Congress in 2012. He is a Lions Paw honoree. He lives in State College with his wife and partner of over 50 years.