Posts Tagged ‘Muriel Simmons’
Servant of the People, Gentle Giant, Drum Major, Foot Soldier, Peaceful Warrior, The Epitome of Service
By Trudy White, best friend and neighbor The epitome of service. A gentle giant, a peaceful warrior. After moving into her beautiful old Victorian home on Portland Avenue, Muriel decided to focus her attention on the culture of the neighborhood. Not pleased with what she found she decided to focus her attention into the Community. The streets and housing of West Phillips had deteriorated and become sick and wounded due to irresponsible building tenants, selfish landlords along with drug trafficking that caused crime to breed in the neighborhoods like the plaque. Unlike most of the area residents that were intimidated and fearful most of the time, Muriel Simmons decided to use her concerns and people skills to release the burden of fear in the Community and take back the streets of Phillips West! The task of making the Phillips Community better was an uphill battle but Muriel Simmons forged ahead with door knocking, phone calls, passing out flyers, thinking, [...]
1st Annual Bridging Festival was a Blast!
By Dallas Johnson Our 12 hour event on 8/13 (two dozen activities moving through 10 sites) exceeded our wildest expectations. The active embodiment of an invitation, the majority of the day was hands-on and interactive. It was well attended and numbers grew with each stop along 24th St. From collecting the water at dawn, bringing the water together (w/ Sandy Spieler), Simone Speer”'s dance workshop at E Philips Park, singing quietly in a circle (with Louis Alemayhu at PCC), decorating parade regalia (w/ Heart of the Beast), marveling at the Somali Mall, the parade up 24th St (with three 12 foot puppets, musicians and our decorated umbrellas), a big crowd and Patrick Nolan”'s original poem at the murals unveiling (w/ artists Elissa Cedarleaf and Greta McLain), neighborhood skit honoring Muriel Simmons that ended in a spiral dance, party at Center for Changing Lives with art activities, seed balls, MPRB”'s kids”' games, live African music, The Alley-hosted [...]
