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Four Seasons Breeze October 2018

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FOUR SEASONS BREEZE | OCTOBER 2018 45 READINGS IN AFRICAN AMERICAN CULTURE "Sometimes, I feel discriminated against, but it does not make me angry. It merely astonishes me. How can any deny themselves the pleasure of my company? It's beyond me." ~ Zora Neale Hurston Storytelling is an essential part of many cultures and held dear by communities whose identities have been formed in extremely difficult circumstances. This has certainly been the case for the rich African-American oral tradition. The oral tradition is extremely important for it is the only way of passing on traditions, beliefs, truths and stories. Zora Neale Hurston was an influential author of African- American literature and an anthropologist. She was gifted in her ability to transform the spoken word into the written word. Many contemporary African-American authors found inspiration in Hurston's work. A group of young black writers including Hurston, Langston Hughes, and Wallace Thurman, calling themselves the Niggerati, produced a literary magazine called Fire! that featured many of the young artists and writers of the Harlem Renaissance. Hurston published four novels and more than 50 published short stories, plays, and essays; her most popular novel is Their Eyes Were Watching God, written in 1937. Hurston never received the financial rewards she deserved. The largest royalty she ever earned from any of her books was $943.75. She died on Jan. 28, 1960 at the age of 69, after suffering a stroke. Her neighbors in Fort Pierce, Florida, had to take up a collection for her funeral. The collection did not yield enough money to pay for a headstone, so Hurston was buried in a grave that remained unmarked until 1973. Hurston's works touched on the African-American experience and her struggles as an African-American woman. After the Harlem renaissance, Hurston's works went virtually unrecognized until Alice Walker chronicled her search for Hurston's unmarked grave in her essay "In Search of Zora Neale Hurston." It was first published in the March issue of Ms. Magazine in 1975. Walker also purchased a plain gray headstone and borrowing from a Jean Toomer poem, she dressed the marker with a fitting epitaph: "Zora Neale Hurston: A Genius of the South." ~ Excerpted from www.zoranealehurston.com. 2018 AACC Christmas Gala tickets are now on sale! Call (909) 534- 4918. The AACC Meets the first Monday of each month in The Lodge Card Room at 6 pm. For information contact Joyce Allen at (951) 769-4354 or Roxie Elliott at (951) 769-2517. ~ Regina Thomas African American Cultural Club The Four Seasons Rainbow Group is an informal opportunity for our LGBT neighbors and any other residents who are interested in meeting with us, to keep up-to-date, meet new members and to have a relaxing dinner together. Our purpose is connecting by social "meetin'-ya" via "face-to-face-look." We meet every month on the fourth Thursday. Our next meeting is Thursday, Oct. 25 at 6 pm. We gather at the atrium in The Lodge, order any Smitty's and then move to The Lodge Card Room. Feel free to bring your own adult beverage, if you desire, and appropriate glassware. Everyone is welcome. Any questions can be directed to Dale at (951) 797-0364. ~ Dale Beckes Rainbow Group

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