WEDNESDAYS
2007

ANANSI WRITERS WORKSHOP
Jawanza Dumisani, Coordinator
Conney D. Williams, Volunteer
Regina Higgins, Volunteer
D-Black, Volunteer
Wednesdays (7:30-10:30pm)
Workshop at 7:30-8:30pm | Features at 8:30-9:00pm | Open Mic at 9:05pm
$5 donation
No one turned away for lack of funds

FEATURES
SEPTEMBER 2007

| 08.08.07 NO BOUNDARIES


No Boundaries


No Boundaries consists of two special and talented individuals, Don Whitehead and Harley A. Searcy. Close friends since the late 1960s, they both have enjoyed successful careers. Their creative collaboration of No Boundaries was born in 1995 – an inspirational, no holds barred, anything goes, in your face message, spoken word/musical experience.

Don Whitehead performed electric bass with Al Green and Little Richard as well as wide spectrum of local jazz talent in the Chicago area. He has written, performed, collaborated and/or recorded with a variety of artists such as Chicago's illustrious Pharaohs: Jerry Butler and Donny Hathaway. Don was a co-founder and an original performing member of the dynamic musical aggregation Earth, Wind and Fire.

Harley Searcy, honored as Outstanding Young American in Who's Who in California, received a B.A. from UCLA and a Juris Doctorate from Stanford Law School. He has been writing creatively for over twenty years. His literary accomplishments include: "In the Eye of the Midnite Pearl," a collection of Harley's poetry. His works are included in "Black Light," an African-American poetry anthology by Hallmark Press and "NOMMO," the UCLA Black Student's publication where he served as both Poetry Editor and Managing Editor. He was also Co-Producer and writer for "The Cotton Club Revue," a song/dance/drama/musical annual show for five consecutive years at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles. A native of Beaumont, Texas he currently resides in southern California where he is an attorney specializing in public and private real estate development.

AUGUST 2007

| 08.08.07 JALONDRA DAVIS

Jalondra A. Davis


Born on February 18, 1984, Jalondra A. Davis is a Los Angeles native who began writing "As soon as I could scrawl the letters on a page. When I wasn't satisfied with the stories people read to me, I wrote my own." A graduate of Loyola Marymount University with a BA Magna Cum Laude in English, she is now enrolled in the Masters of Professional Writing program at the University of Southern California.

Jalondra is the recipient of the Loyolan Writer's Block first place award for fiction and the Ruth R. Cohen's Endowment for Graduate Studies in Creative Writing. Jalondra's work has appeared to rave response in the international literary non-fiction journal, The Truth About the Fact. She has also appeared as the featured writer at the Anansi Writer's Workshop in Leimert Park. Also a performance poet and trained dancer, Jalondra is a backup dancer with 3 Dreams Entertainment Company and has performed dance and spoken word at venues throughout Los Angeles.

Jalondra currently works as the Communications/Publicity Assistant for Lula Washington Dance Theatre, a non-profit arts center in South Los Angeles. She is at work on her first novel, Switchblade, about a damaged, shallow LA beauty who, on a self-sabotaging quest to reclaim her first love, stumbles on a confrontation with her shattered family and a journey towards true self-worth.

"I don't think there is any existence more empowering than being a writer. Maybe as I get older I'll find that that isn't true, but for now, this is it. I feel like there's a greater meaning to every moment of my life, because whatever happens, good, mundane, painful, it's all material. It all has the potential to be beautiful and immortal, because it is all subject to my pen."