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Florence V: Just My Luck cont’d Part 2
New Generation Festival- Night II As soon people start heading down to the garden for intermission, I walk over to the side to meet with the Angels. Once everyone is gathered there, Ulrike leads us backstage. We head toward this stairway and the first person I spot posted at the bottom left side of…
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Florence V: Just My Luck cont’d Part 1
New Generation Festival-Night II First came his violin. Then his voice speaking mutedly to whoever is beside him. I am unable to see him due to a structural obstruction and when he soon walks up to the stage I still can’t see him at all. He is basically wedged between two large statues, one of…
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Florence V: Just My Luck
New Generation Festival-Night II When my alarm wakes me up, I head to the bathroom to get ready and this time I am not as nervous as I get dressed. I don’t try to leave a bit earlier as I did the night before and I don’t even put as much effort (or time) into…
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Florence IV: Sugar, Spice, & Everything Nice
Today I decided to do a Florence walk following the *Rick Steves Audio-guide tour. I started with the Duomo which I finally got to see in full for the first time and ended up circling around the church before I found the starting point. It is beautiful but I did not end up entering the…
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Florence III: Opening Night Cont’d
New Generation Festival-Night I I find the second half of the opera to be much more enjoyable than the first and once the show ends, I go in search of the restroom. When I come out, I make my way to the room where a Jazz band is set up for the next phase of…
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Florence III: Opening Night
New Generation Festival- Night I I choose to get my outfit ready for tonight’s festival prior to taking a nap and while ironing my dress for the occasion I find that a corner of one of my straps is loosening. I am forced to dig up a safety pin since I don’t have a…
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Florence II: Elevated Spirit
I started the day with a little foray in San Lorenzo Market. On the walk there I unknowingly deviated from the path the map was taking me through but I only realized it once I saw that I was closing in on the Duomo. I turned off maps and considered just scrapping the San Lorenzo…
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Florence I: Joy, Grace, Pleasure & Heart
When I arrived in Florence today there was almost a snafu with my luggage but I managed to get through it and make it to the shuttle stop with minimal fuss. At the pickup spot I met three Americans who were super cool and had just rounded up a trip in Paris prior to arriving…
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The Future of Black Youth (in America)- Revisited
It is with a heart that I write this letter. Another black youth slaughtered for no apparent reason. Based on the grounds that someone else felt uncomfortable, supposedly viscerally threatened by the sight of you. Your mere presence engenders such fear in another human being that they feel the only solution to ease their fear,…