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Archive for November 2010

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The Chocolate Nutcracker Comes Birmingham for One Night Only

(Founder, Tiffeny Curier interviews Choreographer Sirbrock Warren, “The Chocolate Nutcracker”)

Chocolate Nutcracker

That’s right! Project Hopewell, Inc in association with Laverne Reed productions presents the “Chocolate Nutcracker” to the Magic City. This spectacular one night only event is scheduled for Friday, November 12, 2010 at the Boutwell Municipal Auditorium, 1930 8th Avenue North. There is a special matinee for schools at 10:00am and an evening performance for the general public at 7:30pm. Tickets may be purchased at the Boutwell Ticket Office or Ticketmaster.

The Chocolate Nutcracker is a professional musical stage production. It is a theatrical dance adaptation of Tchaikovsky’s famed holiday classic Nutcracker. It is educational, colorful, exciting and provides entertainment for the entire family.  The production is set in early 1950’s Harlem, with a multicultural cast of more than 100 youth ages 4 and older from the Greater Birmingham area.  The performance is a narrated story of young Claire and the Chocolate Nutcracker as the two journey around the world in a dream.  During their global travels, a variety of dance genres – including ballet, tap, modern, jazz, gospel and hip-hop – provide the soundtrack for the choreographed movements.

The Chocolate Nutcracker explores a proud cultural heritage through the use of dance, song, rhythms, narration and drama.

B.Positive Magazine was able to catch a few rehearsals for the event. Be sure to check back for exclusive footage of what to expect from the “Chocolate Nutcracker” as well as an interview with Writer/Director LaVerne Reed and Assistant Director Monica Richardson.

Content Source (Project Hopewell, Inc.) Program Director: Ava Wise

Videography for The Chocolate Nutcracker interview shot by Patrick Johnson, Blaq Angel Media, LLC www.blaqangelmedia.com

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Can A Healthy Immune System Lead to Diabetes Prevention

B.Positive Magazine promotes healthy living and encourages our readers to alter their habits so that we all have a chance to live a healthy lifestyle. As we prepare for “Thanksgiving ” this  month we should also keep in mind that November is also “National Diabetes Prevention Month.” A recent study on metabolism and the immune system’s response was conducted by Diabetes Association-funded researcher, Gökhan Hotamisligil, MD, PhD, and his postdoctoral fellow Masato Furuhashi, MD, PhD at the  Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, Massachusetts. In the study researchers demonstrate the occurrence of inflammation in mice as well as in humans for diseases such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease. Now, postulated evidence points to a process called metaflammation. This process is triggered by the metabolism of nutrients when the body processes food into energy. For people living with Diabetes Type I and II, the process of converting food into energy is diminished. The decrease in this process can be detrimental to cells and eventually lead organ failure.

Dr. Hotamisligil explains, “When mice eat a normal diet, a molecule named PKR (RNA-dependent protein kinase) is silent. However, if a cell containing PKR is bombarded with too many nutrients, PKR grabs other immune system molecules that respond to this attack and organizes a firing squad to shoot down normal processes, leading to insulin resistance and metabolic dysfunction.”

Researchers will now focus on the identifying which nutrients cause adverse effects. “One of the difficulties in understanding how our diet is integrated into disease risk is our inability to understand what specific component of a diet is actually regulating particular responses in humans,” says Dr. Hotamisligil. “So the discovery of this molecule actually gives us a very specific way to identify the harmful components of the diet.”

Results from follow up studies are pending, after which clinical trials would be conducted to find the potential drug or nutrients that could regulate PKR.

To learn more about this research please visit www.diabetes.org

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Meditation is for Everyone

Meditation is for everyone. It is the universal state of mind when you are not resisting moment to moment experience and when you are in a state of deep loving absorption. Even most nonmeditators have “accidentally” slipped into a meditative state at one time or another.

Have you ever been so absorbed in a task that you lost all track of time? This can be prayer, sewing, singing, gardening or many other things. If so, you may have discovered meditation.

The ego resists uncomfortable experience and clings to pleasant experience, often by restricting the breath. This process is what causes stress in our lives. The resulting stress and tension wreaks havoc on the body and the mind. It also distorts our clear perception of the world and ruins relationships. We must gradually train the mind to be present with reality if we are to have any chance at realizing wholeness.

Taking time to train yourself to enter a state of relaxed, nonattached awareness is extremely rejuvenating and has too many health benefits to mention here. Regular meditation practitioners say that it is as essential for you as stopping for gas is for your car.

There are two components to meditation. They are concentration and equanimity.

Concentration means just what you think it means. In meditation, you concentrate on an object of focus. You relax into it and become increasingly absorbed in it.

Imagine two people in a room with you. One of them you are absolutely in love with and hope to marry some day. The other is some schmuck from your high school days who was never very interesting. Who are you concentrating on more? You are connected with the former on a much deeper level. The two of you “touch” on finer levels. This is what you are aiming for in an object of focus. Therefore, when choosing one, think of one that you can fall in love with. Maybe it’s the word “Jesus” or a visualization of a waterfall. Maybe it’s just your own breath or a body sensation.

Equanimity is a detached awareness of whatever is occurring in the moment. When we resist experience of senses, thoughts and emotions, clarity of mind becomes distorted. Equanimity occurs when we are present with experience and detached from the poles of attraction and repulsion.

You will be distracted with internal chatter during your concentration practice. Thoughts will tempt you, and so will emotions and body sensations. However, these are all happening in the present moment. When they come up, take note by saying “thinking” or “angry”. Let the thoughts move through you like clouds through the sky. Just watch. Then, bring your attention back to the object of focus. This process trains the mind to achieve equanimity.

Now that you know the theory, let’s try it for real.

Sit down in a chair with your ankles crossed or with your feet flat on the floor. Let your hands rest on your lap. Plant your tailbone and “stack” your vertebrae one on top of the next, starting with the tailbone. When you get to the head, your chin will want to tuck in a little bit.

Take a few deep breaths through the nose. Then, just breathe normally. Watch your breath without trying to control it. Is it shallow? Is it deep? Does it start in the chest? How does it sound? Relax and observe.

Your object of focus is the cool feeling in the nostrils as the breath enters your nose and the warm feeling as the breath leaves your nose. From here onward, pay no attention to where the breath goes. Just feel it where it enters and leaves the nostrils.

This is all that exists. Become deeply absorbed in the breath. Soon, the breath will deepen naturally and the brainwaves will slow down.

When a thought comes up, silently say “thinking” to take note of what is happening in the present moment. The thought will start to lose power over you. Go back to the breath without judgment.

Don’t worry about how “deep” you’re going. Your state of absorption will vary according to the fluctuations of your mind. Do this at the same time each day, even if you only have five minutes. You will become much better at it over time.

Now you know the basic nuts and bolts of meditation. In future articles, we will learn how you can fit meditation into the busiest schedules and how to create a strategy that makes meditation much easier to do. After a while, you will realize that meditation is for everyone, and not just people who are fascinated with “eastern” religions.

Tom Von Deck is an international corporate meditation trainer, stress management speaker and author of Oceanic Mind – The Deeper Meditation Training Course. You can sneak preview the first half of the book and get free guided meditation mp3s at Tom’s website, www.DeeperMeditation.net

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Get to know Patrick Scott

Founder, Tiffeny Curier posing with Patrick Scott

A few weeks ago you may recall Nightlife contributor Monica Byrd covering a story about the annual Arts, Beats, and Lyrics event hosted by Gentleman Jack. While attending the event I was able to get the chance to briefly speak with Patrick Scott, an Atlanta based musician, and exchange contact information. Patrick and I got a chance to talk more in dept over the phone about his music career and we manged to get a few laughs in at the end….. check out details of our conversation below!

TiffenyC. How old were you when you first started making music.
PatrickS.
I always had a passion for music and began recording at the age of about 14 or 15. I loved listening to groups like Metallica. I would sing along to their music all the time.

TiffenyC. Wait so you were into hardcore metal, with all the screaming and stuff. [laughs]
PatrickS.
Yes. I loved them. I was also inspired by artists such as John Mayer.

TiffenyC. So I know you play guitar from seeing you at the event, but what other instruments do you play outside of guitar?
PatrickS.
I play several instruments including keys, bass, drums, harmonica, guitar and the mandolin

TiffenyC. Wow, your kind of a jack of all trades..[laughs] Who in the music industry right now would you say you sound the most like, in other words who would you compare your sound to?
PatrickS.
If your referring to genre wise I would have to say The Fray, One Republic, John Mayer, and B.O.B.

TiffenyC. Wow, I love B.O.B. I think he represents real hip hop culture. So Patrick if you were given the opportunity to work with different artists of your choice who would you choose and why?
PatrickS.
Hmm..I would have to say Dave from the Foo Fighters because he is so innovative. If it is a hip hop track maybe somebody like Andre 3000.

TiffenyC. So how exactly did you hear about Art, Beats, and Lyrics? How long have you been on traveling with the tour?
PatrickS.
Its funny because that night was my first performance with Art, Beats, and Lyrics. I actually met Hustle, the guy who was rapping and the MC for the night, at a performance I had in Midtown Atlanta about 4-5 days before the event. Hustle walks in, started free-styling, and I was like he’s great. Next thing you know the group invited me to the Birmingham event. So it was my first time for everything.

TiffenyC. Really, you did really well for the first performance on tour. How is it touring and where are you guys heading off to next?
PatrickS.
I drove to Birmingham myself but overall its a pretty cool atmosphere. The next performance is St. Louis, November 12th.

TiffenyC. What are you bringing different to the industry, what sets Patrick Scott apart from the other artist currently out?
PatrickS.
One major thing is my writing ability, most musicians don’t do a lot of their own writing. I really just try to get my thoughts out and concentrate on what people really want to hear.

TiffenyC. Patrick where do you see yourself five years from now?
Patrick S.
Definitely working with a few more artist. I would like to be pursuing music full time and have put out a full album with about three or four different genres. I also hope to do more hip hop.

TiffenyC. If you had to choose three words to describe yourself which three words would you choose?
PatrickS.
Energetic, outgoing, and polite.

TiffenyC. If you had to write about three topics what topics would you choose to write about?
PatrickS.
Of course one would automatically be relationships and women. The second one would be life in general and just how hard life can sometime get. I would talk about how you have to just stick with life no matter the outcome. Last I would talk about people loving people, and crossing racial boundaries.

TiffenyC. I think its important we cross racial boundaries. We could realize how much we all really have in common with each other if we just took time out to stop the hate and see.
PatrickS.
Exactly

TiffenyC. So now is the really random and fun part of our interview. I’m just going to ask you very random questions that dont pertain to music at all. [laughs]
PatrickS.
[laughs] Ok.

TiffenyC. If you had to go by an alias or a stage persona similar to Beyonce’s Sasha Fierce what would it be?
PatrickS.
Well I actually use go by Patrick Hoydar, Hoydar is actually my real last name. No one could ever pronounce Hoydar and it was really confusing so I changed my stage name to Patrick Scott. Scott is my middle name.

TiffenyC. Oh okay. That’s so crazy. [laughs] So if you were trapped on an island what one item would you bring?
PatrickS.
Given I have the essentials I would have to say my guitar one hundred percent.

TiffenyC. Lets say you win one million dollars and you have only a day to spend it, how would you spend your money?
PatrickS.
I would have to definitely throw a few thousand to my parents and a lot would go to a music foundation I want to start. The foundation would serve as some type of after school function that was music related, so I would purchase guitars, amps, etc.

TiffenyC. Whats your most used phrase?
PatrickS.
Its actually something really corny that I say all the time when I’m leaving or hanging up the phone, its Peace Out.

TiffenyC. Are you serious? That has to be an Atlanta thing because my best friend Bre attends college in Atlanta and she says Peace Out all the time. [laughs] I swear I say it all the time now too! Are you single or taken?
PatrickS.
Happily taken. My girlfriend is very supportive and usually tries to come out and support me as much as she can.

TiffenyC. So were at the last question, its a really fun one. What super word would you make up? Similar to supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.
PatrickS.
Even though this is a word already I would have to say janky. I love that word.

TiffenyC. Well Patrick its been my pleasure to interview you. I hope we can keep in contact.
PatrickS.
Definitely!

To hear music from Patrick Scott check out his website at www.patrickscottmusic.com.

You may also find Patrick Scott on: Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, Reverbnation, Purevolume

You can view the original post covering the Gentleman Jack AB+L event by clicking here!

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