Sweet Music in Harlem
by Debbie A. Taylor

June 2007

SENIOR WOMEN IN THEIR MOST PRODUCTIVE YEARS GRANT - 2007 awarded funding to a writing project:

“Talent, Courage and Musicianship: Clora Bryant, Rosalind Cron and Mary Lou Williams”


This project will highlight the musical and social feats of three outstanding jazz pioneers: Clora Bryant and Rosalind Cron and the late Mary Lou Williams. The final product will include three posters featuring each of the musicians and a picture book manuscript.

April 2007

Sweet Music in Harlem will be featured in a performance by the The Ann Arbor Symphony in January 2008. The brilliant Andy Kirshner is the composer.


January

The new year begins with my gratitude for recent opportunities presented by "Sweet Music in Harlem" in 2006.

In December I met with two representatives of the phenomenal organization, JAZZISTRY, founder Vincent York and board member Tasha Lebow. After seeing a lively,educational and truly inspirational presentation for educators at the Ark, in Ann Arbor, I simply had to meet with them to discuss a possible collaboration.

In mid-November, I participated in the Miami Book Fair International Student Literary Encounters. I gave presentations at Miami Shores, Cutler, Van E. Blanton and Dr. Edward Whigham elementary schools. The creative, enthusiastic welcome I received at each school was both memorable and humbling. The bright, creative students, parents and staff found time to read the book, make posters, compose a cheer, decorate rooms, formulate questions and bake treats in my honor.

I feel I should be honoring THEIR focus on literacy and their respective communities. Reading specialist Brandy Derringer drove me from school to school.
(No, I could not resist asking her about that made-for-a detective-novel-heroine name.)

Emerson School in Ann Arbor hosted two visits in November. The students were so engaged and asked such good questions! When we discussed how to write great beginnings, they even provided some terrific suggestions for improving the first paragraph of a story I am revising. I am looking forward to seeing the work of their media specialist in print someday.

My husband, Charles, is putting the finishing touches on a novel, "Rhythm" and his feature-length film script. How he finds time to teach at the University of Michigan, care for our home, cook exotic meals, support my efforts AND write, is beyond me.

A visit to the University of Michigan Matthaei Botanical Garden's special Winter Solstice Exhibit provided just the change of scenery I needed--and gave me a few ideas to include in my solstice manuscript.

I sent in a requested rewrite of a fictional story about the famous Tuskegee Airmen after a conversation with a local Tuskegee Airman. I take every opportunity I can to chat with one of these American heroes. There is a Tuskegee Airmen Museum in Detroit that I must visit this year!

I make resolutions often. For now, they are:

1) Spend more time with my family.
2) Carve out more time to write.
3) Think and write outside the box.
4) Devote time to spiritual matters.
5) Enjoy each day.

Peace.