By Angi Carter, Community Engagement Editor

Email: acarter@nhregister.com
Twitter: @ReachAngi, @nhrvoices

Facebook: Angi Carter, Community Media Lab


In observance of Black History Month, sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade students across the New Haven school district in the READ 180 program participated Tuesday in the 23rd National African-American Read-In by selecting and reading excerpts from books, poems, speeches and other literature authored by black writers.

So, we wanted to update you on the works they chose to share.


Here are some selections from 6th graders:

• "Touche" by Jessie Redmon Fauset: read by Gabby Mrzosik
• "I Have a Dream" by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr: read by Egypt Bostic
• "The World is Not..." by Nikki Giovanni: read by Jaquevia Edwards
• "Golden Oldie" by Rita Dove: read by Kelsha Sailor
• "Tears of a Tiger" by Sharon Draper: read by Khadijhah Walker
• "Blood is Thicker" by Paul Langan & D.M. Blackwell: read by Nik Kiyah Brown
• "Forged by Fire" by Sharon Draper: read by Alaysia McCann
• "Rimshots" by Charles R. Smith: read by Anton Hall and Tyshawn Coleman
• "Brothers in Arms" lyrics by Mark Knopfler: read by Herman Bellamy
• "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" by Malcolm X and Alex Haley: read by Elijah Voss
• "Mother to Son" by Langston Hughes (below): read by Dwayne Henry

"Read-In" is observed by schools around the country and sponsored by the National Council of Teachers of English and endorsed by the International Reading Association.

By Angi Carter, Community Engagement Editor

Email: acarter@nhregister.com
Twitter: @ReachAngi, @nhrvoices

Facebook: Angi Carter, Community Media Lab

In honor of Black History Month, students across the New Haven school district in the READ 180 program are participating Tuesday in the 23rd National African-American Read-In by selecting and reading books authored by black writers.

At Beecher Magnet School, students in Caroline Apgar's class will be sharing excerpts from their book choices with each other, as will many other sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders across the city.

This national event is sponsored by the National Council of Teachers of English and endorsed by the International Reading Association. The public may participate in many ways.

Lynn Brantley, literacy intervention coach for the district's Reading Department, said participating students are taking a course to strengthen their reading skills. "They are a great bunch of students," she said.

One author that has emerged as a favorite is Walter Dean Myers (left).

The students' selections will help the Register compile a reading list of African-American authors. Would you help us, too? Who are your favorite black novelists, poets and authors?

Tell us here on this blog, on our Community Media Lab Facebook page or via Twitter @nhrvoices.

By Ann DeMatteo
Assistant Metro Editor
adematteo@nhregister.com / Twitter: @annddematteo

"Women’s Education -- Women’s Empowerment," is the theme of the 2012 National Women's History Month. The New Haven Register and its affiliated newspapers will spend March 2012 bringing you stories about women who educate, empower and do great things.

We would like for you to join us in our tribute to women.

Please nominate people you would like us to feature in these categories or add your own:

• Man Behind the Woman:  This guy can work for or with a fabulous woman, or is in a domestic partnership with her
• Woman of Letters: A woman who educates the public through the written word
• Woman of Science: A researcher or scientist working on fantastic things
• A female business leader
• A young woman of note
• A woman of the arts
• A woman in education
• A female sports figure
• A woman of history, alive or deceased
• A community bridge-builder
• A female spiritual leader
• Any woman you think deserves recognition for whatever reason

Submissions may be sent to Ann DeMatteo via email at adematteo@nhregister.com or by telephone at 203-789-5716.

Thank you for your participation.

By Angi Carter, Community Engagement Editor, acarter@nhregister.comTwitter: @ReachAngi, @nhrvoicesFacebook: Angi Carter, Community Media Lab

Back in December, the Register introduced our audience to a voter-focused election project we refer to as "Citizens Agenda."

The New Haven Register, along with its sister papers in other parts of Connecticut, the Middletown Press, Register Citizen in Torrington and Litchfield County Times have been polling our readers about the issues that matter most to you, so we can have candidates in Senate and Congressional races address them during the 2012 election cycle.

On Friday, my colleague Ed Stannard - also a community engagement editor for the Register - and I went to The Grove and attended a meeting of the New Haven Votes Coalition, a diverse group working on voter education, registration and overall voter participation in the nation's democratic electoral process.

As we partner with voters to determine the top issues we will cover, other alliances are developing along the way. The League of Women Voters of Connecticut sent a representative, Jean Rabinow, to our first public forum at the New Haven Free Public Library held Jan. 25.

The next one will be 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Margaret Egan Center, 35 Matthew St., Milford.

We look forward to the League's continued involvement and now, the participation of New Haven Votes Coalition as well. But we also will be lending our resources in ways we had not anticipated when Citizens' Agenda began. The coalition brought our attention to additional ways we jointly can reach disenfranchised communities and how the Register can lend its resources to spreading the word about voter eligibility and other matters, as well as upcoming activities designed to encourage registration and voting during primaries and on Election Day.

As much we designed Citizens' Agenda to be a public service, we are being helped in this project by our audience and civic groups such as the League of Women Voters and New Haven Votes Coalition.

We thank all of you and invite you to our next forum to continue our discussion about your concerns. Poll respondents have identified the economy as the most important issue to date, followed by the unemployment rate, taxation, national debt, health care form and financial industry/banking reform. Attendees at our New Haven forum raised concerns about corporate influence in politics, the media's neglect of lesser-known candidates and the platforms of smaller parties such as the Green Party and Libertarians and how the government will redirect finances previously committed to the war in Iraq.

Thanks to a member of New Haven Votes, we now have contact information for the Working Families Party.

We hope you will chime in by taking our poll, attending the forum Wednesday, commenting on this blog and by all means, come Nov.  6, 2012 - get out and vote!

You may also send questions and ideas to Ed and I at nhrvoices@nhregister.com.

A prominent couple now living in Greater New Haven met on a blind date 53 years ago. They have been together ever since and raised a family. Can you guess who the husband and wife are?

We will reveal them Friday in the New Haven Register's Weekend! section in a special edition of Register Matchmaker (in which our Love Team has arranged almost 20 blind dates).

In the meantime, we'd like to hear your stories, too.

Tell us about your best - or worst - blind date. Did the encounter end there or did a relationship develop afterward? What advice would you give other couples about to embark on a blind date?

You can share them with us via email to Angela Carter, acarter@nhregister.com or call 203-789-5752 or post on our Facebook page. Or, feel free to share your experiences and tips on this blog post.

Responses are starting to come in and we're enjoying your stories very much. So, keep them coming and we'll be sharing them with our readers.

In the meantime, live and love!