HAPPY SEPTEMBER!

This Month, Pledge to: Educate Yourself! Honor a Teacher! Share your knowledge! Celebrate Your Freedom to Learn! Read to a Child! Volunteer at a School! Support a Student! Donate to a Scholarship Fund!

This issue of The Crystal News is dedicated to the memory of Willis Edwards, whose courageous accomplishments leave an indelible mark. We who knew him are the better for it.

T'Keyah’s Returns to CAAM

--> After more than seven years, T'Keyah Crystal Keymáh once again serves with a Jeffery Anderson Gunter as Co-Hosts of the California African American Museum's Target Sundays@CAAM series. The Saturday, September 2, 2012 event features a colorful array of Caribbean performers. The free event occurs monthly and is held outside weather permitting. For more info, call 213-744-2132.

Kemp Works on Abby Lincoln

Performance artist Margaret Laurena Kemp presents a workshop of her newest theatrical endeavor, "In a Circle, Everything Is Up or An Affair Abbey Lincoln," on Saturday, September 8, 2012 at Pieter, 420 W. Avenue 33, in Los Angeles.

Vincent E. Walker Photography 312-719-6830

T'Keyah’s Big Birthday Benefit Bash: Save the Date

On Saturday, October 13, 2012, COSBY / That's So Raven / In Living Color star T'Keyah Crystal Keymáh celebrates her 50th birthday with song, dance, poetry, drama and comedy, in "An Evening with T'Keyah Crystal Keymáh & Friends: A Birthday Benefit for St. Sabina Academy." The reception following will recognize organizations addressing the violence in the city, particularly in the Englewood and Auburn/Gresham neighborhoods where she grew up including the Community of St. Sabina, where Rev. Michael Pfleger, leads many of the area's peace initiatives. Dress to impress if you like, but bring your dancing shoes, because T'Keyah plans to finish the evening dancing to her favorite jams.

Doors open at 7:30PM. The show begins at 8:00PM. There will be a cash bar, treats and other items for sale, and a few surprises. In lieu of birthday presents, Keymáh is asking that patrons make donations to St. Sabina Academy and the other charities being honored. Advance tickets are $25 on the main floor and $20 for the balcony, with a $5 discount until October 1. All tickets are $35 at the door. Purchase tickets at St. Sabina's office, 1210 W. 78th Place (773) 483-4300, or through Brown Paper Tickets. (800) 838-3006 - http://keymahbirthdaybenefit.brownpapertickets.com

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Box Tops for Education: Raise Funds for St. Sabina Academy When You Shop

Collect Box Tops Coupons from many items you likely already buy for your home. Just cut out the Box Top Coupon to bring to a drop box in: 1) the St. Sabina Academy lobby outside the main office 2) the St. Sabina Church Vestibule 3) the St. Sabina Church Office. 4) Bring to T'Keyah's Birthday Benefit on October 13, 2012 (see above). Download the full list of participating retail products.
Earn eBox Tops when you shop online at over 175 of the most popular retailers in the US. Go to http://www.boxtops4education.com/ Register. Choose ST SABINA SCHOOL, Chicago IL. Then navigate to an online store through the links on the Box Tops website. Check out the full list of participating online retailers, many offering specials and discounts at the Box Top Marketplace .

On July 16, 2012, in celebration of the 150th Birthday of Ida B. Wells, Michele Duster, author of “Ida in Her own Words” and “Ida From Abroad” held a special reception in Chicago’s Bronzeville, giving attendees wine, cheese, birthday cake and an update on the status of the Monument project in honor of the civil rights leader. Guests then visited 37th & Langley, the future site of the Monument. Efforts are underway to fund world-renowned sculptor Richard Hunt’s proposed four-sided, 20-foot, metal work of art, which will highlight all aspects of Ms. Wells pioneering accomplishments on behalf of Blacks and women. For more information on the project, visit http//www.idabwellsmonment.org/.

Natural Woman / Natural Hair Spotlight

Kim Coles abandoned her signature micro braids early this year to embrace her natural coils, and has been testifying on the joys of going natural ever since. The funny lady of Living Single fame was also one of the original stars of In Living Color, where she met and became friends with Natural Woman / Natural Hair author T'Keyah Crystal Keymáh.
Would you like to be featured in our Natural Hair Spotlight? If so, email a link of your best natural hair photo with a sentence or two about you and your natural hair to: naturalhairspotlight@tkeyah.com. Public links only (Photo Bucket, etc., or your website). Attachments will not be opened.
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WHERE THE ACTION IS:

Formerly "T'Keyah Fights City Hall" which was formerly the "Do Something" and sometimes the "T'Keyah's Two Cents" columns of this newsletter, this is what the action should be...

- More on Water -

This information has appeared before in The Crystal News, but we are such creatures of bad habits, it bears repeating

Bottled water in your car is very dangerous! The heat reacts with the chemicals in the plastic of the bottle which releases dioxin into the water. Dioxin is a toxin increasingly found in breast cancer tissue. Use a stainless steel canteen or a glass bottle instead of plastic! This information is also being circulated at Walter Reed Army Medical Center ... No plastic containers in microwaves. No plastic water bottles in freezers. No plastic wrap in microwaves. Dioxin chemical causes cancer, especially breast cancer. Dioxins are highly poisonous to cells in our bodies. Don't freeze plastic bottles with water in them as this also releases dioxins from the plastic. Do not heat food in the microwave using plastic containers..... This especially applies to foods that contain fat. The combination of fat, high heat and plastic releases dioxin into the food. I am against using microwave ovens for any reason, but if you must partake, use glass, such as Pyrex or ceramic containers (even if you have to removed the food from its original container) and cover with glass, ceramic or a paper towel. Bottom line: Water is good for you. Poisoned water is not.

T'Keyah’s Goes Back to School

On Friday, September 28, 2012, T'Keyah Crystal Keymáh will once again join more than one hundred fellow HistoryMakers across the country for the third annual Back-to-School with the HistoryMakers event. In 2010, Keymáh spoke at Pearl Cohn High School in Nashville while directing Amun Ra Theatre's premier production of Route 66: Finding Nat King Cole there. Last year, she was able to speak at her alma matter, St. Sabina Academy in Chicago while rehearsing her show Don't Get Me Started. This year, she will speak at the Coretta Scott King Young Women's Leadership Academy
in Atlanta, GA. The Florida A&M University graduate will be in Atlanta for her induction into the National Black College Alumni Hall of Fame.

The 100 Black Men of Chicago, Inc. will host their 10th Annual College Scholarship Fair, presented by State Farm Insurance, on Saturday, October 13, 2012 from 9:00am to 2:00pm, at the UIC Forum, 725 W. Roosevelt Rd., Chicago, IL 60608. Registration is free and open to all high school students. Junior and Senior High School students are encouraged to bring copies of their high school transcript, college entrance exam score, letters of recommendation, personal essay and resume. Parents and students are encouraged to pre-register on-line at:

www.100BMC.org. Please e-mail us at admin@100bmc.org if there are any questions. 1 00 Black Men of Chicago, 3473 S. Martin Luther King Drive, #206, Chicago, IL 60616 www.100bmc.org

Thank you to: Everyone who attended or otherwise supported the CHARM GEMSS Scholarship Ball! MUAH! And I mean it!

Congratulations to: artist Jason DeCaires Taylor on his breathtaking, heartbreaking underwater sculpture, located in the Caribbean Sea off the coast of Grenada; and my TV daughter Raven~Symone on her breathtaking Broadway debut (that Sister can Act!) go on ~~girl~~ woman!

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