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October 2017 fresh Issue #1


October 2017<br />

In loving memory...<br />

"Awww, girl you don't need to be nervous, you're<br />

with family."<br />

----Lorna Pickney<br />

Rest in joy Lorna, you will be beautifully<br />

remembered.<br />

7/12/74 - 10/05/17<br />

1


Where does the trash go?<br />

There was never a<br />

time in my life that I felt<br />

more lost than a few<br />

years ago when I decided<br />

to become an<br />

entrepreneur. In deciding<br />

how I wanted the world<br />

to view me as a business,<br />

I found myself sifting<br />

through the trash that<br />

was all my old hopes, dreams, was aspirations, and<br />

emotional baggage. Why hadn’t I pursued them?<br />

Why was I still holding on to them? Why were they<br />

just sitting there in my “mental trash can” unattended<br />

if I didn’t plan on going back for them? Was I<br />

planning on going back for them? Where does the<br />

trash go if I’m not going back for them?<br />

Then it hit me that I was lost because there<br />

was so much trash all around that I couldn’t clearly<br />

see the things that made me the real me anymore. I<br />

had never taken the trash out so there was years and<br />

years of mental clutter built up in there. It was<br />

keeping me from being able to feel like I was starting<br />

fresh on anything I had ever done, and I needed a<br />

fresh start this time like I had never had before. So<br />

where was I supposed to put this trash?<br />

I have always been in love with art and<br />

anything creative, but as I got older, became a<br />

mother, worked myself to the bone, and went through<br />

some pretty intense life experiences, creativeness as<br />

my emotional outlet dwindled. I never even realized<br />

how important creating was to me and my sanity until<br />

well into adulthood. Due to my stagnant creative<br />

flow, my mental trash was unknowingly piling up<br />

year after year.<br />

2<br />

Though the experiences were long gone, the trash<br />

they created in my subconscious was still wreaking<br />

havoc. I needed to create, and I realized that very<br />

thing was what I wanted people to know me for if<br />

nothing else. My continuous need to produce<br />

something from everything that is poured into me<br />

every day is how I dump my trash, and to keep<br />

pushing forward for my family and anyone else who<br />

depends on me, I must feel full and refreshed. I<br />

encourage you take a good look at how you dump<br />

your trash and how often because carrying it around<br />

with you stinks big time! Reclaiming the real me was<br />

tough, but I am glad I took her back and let go of all<br />

that trash so that I could finally have my fresh start.<br />

How are you dumping your trash?<br />

Best wishes,<br />

Avian Mills<br />

Publisher<br />

Who we are<br />

Founders<br />

Avian Mills and Joi Donaldson<br />

info@evincivemag.com<br />

Evincive Magazine is a free monthly online<br />

TM<br />

publication. Evincive Magazine is a trademark of<br />

Evincive Media, LLC. Reproduction in whole or in<br />

part without written permission is prohibited.


October 2017<br />

20<br />

Spotlight<br />

20 On Display Feature Steven Casanova<br />

Departments<br />

04 Editor's Note Joi Donaldson<br />

08 On Display Jim Schlett, "L Pos" Davis, and more<br />

26 Community Blu's Dance Studio<br />

26<br />

08 10 16<br />

3


A Fresh Perspective<br />

We are pleased to deliver you the inaugural edition of our digital magazine<br />

Evincive.<br />

Evincive strives to bring you the art and perspectives that go against the grain -<br />

those that tend to fall through the cracks in the melee of “notice me.” With every<br />

issue, we ask you to think outside the box - tilt your head and view what’s in<br />

front of you differently. Our first issue dances around the meanings of “fresh.”<br />

What does fresh look like to you? Is it the bright red of a bushel of cherries? The<br />

smell of a newly-cracked can of paint?<br />

How does fresh look when it comes from a differing source?<br />

How do you deal when the familiar now tastes, smells, feels outside the norm?<br />

How is fresh expanded? What causes it to adapt and transform as time goes on?<br />

These are the questions we ask this issue of Evincive. We speak to featured artist<br />

Steven Casanova who shares a perspective on food that is both artful and<br />

informative. Our artists within this issue stretch fresh beyond its limits.<br />

Curl up and enjoy being fresh in all the best ways.<br />

Joi Donaldson<br />

Editor-in-Chief<br />

Advertise with us!<br />

info@evincivemag.com<br />

Visit www.evincivemag.com<br />

for more information.<br />

4


5<br />

October 2017


6


7<br />

October 2017


Jim Schlett's interest in photography began<br />

with a gift of a Polaroid camera from grade school in<br />

New Jersey many years ago. He later obtained an AA<br />

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degree in Photography and Art and continued to take<br />

workshops and courses, which has produced a wide<br />

range of thoughtful and well composed photographs.<br />

In 2011, after working for the Federal government as<br />

an Executive in Washington D.C., he “refocused” on<br />

his love for the National Parks and photography. He<br />

is a long-standing member of the Reston<br />

Photographic Society (RPS), Northern Virginia<br />

Alliance of Camera Clubs and the former President of<br />

the League of Reston Artists (LRA). Jim's great love<br />

of travel resulted in a large collection of many<br />

Visual<br />

pictorial images of almost all of the national parks,<br />

cityscapes and nature in nearly all fifty states. His<br />

images have been described as intense colors, vibrant<br />

and “pop.”<br />

His photographs have been published in the<br />

Washington Post, Reston Magazine, Fairfax Times,<br />

Elan Magazine, annual reports, newspapers, exhibited<br />

in local galleries and art shows, and won numerous<br />

competitive awards. One of his images was displayed<br />

in the Art Takes Times Square Exhibition in New York<br />

City in June 2012. He was the Artist in Resident at the<br />

Whiskeytown national Recreational Area in California<br />

in 2016.<br />

For more info visit: http://photomanva.zenfolio.com/<br />

8


October 2017<br />

Lassen Two at Dusk<br />

Taken at Lassen National Park in California<br />

late in the afternoon and the soft, haunting<br />

colors in fact reminded me of the<br />

Shenandoahs. The ridges of the mountains<br />

was bathed in beautiful blue tone.<br />

Memories of Spring<br />

Taken at the Hillwood Estate in DC in the early<br />

spring. The view and surroundings reminded<br />

me of a painting by Monet and I have heard<br />

comments saying the same thing from people<br />

who have viewed the print.<br />

IP Whiskeytown Fire in the Sky Taken at Whisketown National Recreational Park as I had found a great spot for<br />

sunset and dusk pictures. After the sun had set and most folks left the beach area, the sky and lake came alive in the<br />

reflections.<br />

9


Visual<br />

Larry “L Pos” Davis,<br />

which stands for “Live Positive”<br />

creates artwork that is a visual<br />

display of him sharing his testimony,<br />

with the world, about the positive<br />

impact that God has had in his life.<br />

References of Faith, Love, Peace,<br />

Hope, and Perseverance, are<br />

commonly seen throughout his work,<br />

and are the 5 core foundational<br />

principles, for why his works exist.<br />

His mission is to positively influence<br />

anyone who gets a chance to view<br />

his work, and each story that lies<br />

within. "To God be all the glory. I'm<br />

just doing what He has called me to<br />

be...'A Light' (Matthew 5:16)," says<br />

Davis.<br />

"We create what we want to see, not what the world wants to show us. Be a Light, not a lampshade."<br />

--Larry “L Pos” Davis<br />

10


October 2017<br />

Gauge Your Dreams Outside the Box<br />

God has given each and every one of us beautiful<br />

dreams, passions, and ambitions, but these beautiful<br />

discoveries can not fully live to become what they are<br />

meant to be, unless we let them outside the box...our<br />

inner box, which is our comfort zone. In order for God<br />

to bless our talents and gifts, we must first trust Him,<br />

and then utilize what He has given us. We cannot keep<br />

hostage inside, what God has given us to share with the<br />

world. So whatever dreams, passions, ambitions, gifts<br />

and talents we possess, we must step outside our<br />

comfort zone and use what God has given us. Be free,<br />

and a prisoner of fear and failure no more! There are no<br />

limits outside the box. Start today, and let God's glory be<br />

seen through your good works.<br />

A Love 4 All Colors (Why Not America?)<br />

Why NOT America?! Why can't we just have a genuine love for all "Colors" of people? Why do we have to continue<br />

fighting back and forth about color and race, when none of us picked our nationalities in the first place? This wasn't a<br />

choice for anybody! Our beautiful skin tones and complexions were given to us by God Himself, and that's exactly what<br />

makes us all beautiful!<br />

A Night In Paradise (Heaven at Night)<br />

Late at night, while laying peacefully in your bed, have<br />

you ever just wondered, what paradise is really like?<br />

Yeah? Well I have too. Here's my vision, and<br />

expression of how, "A Night in Paradise", would look. I<br />

imagine it's a place so amazing, that once there, the<br />

mind still can't even comprehend it's beauty, and<br />

majesty. A place where the only thing that is constant is<br />

peace, in the very essence of the word. Everything<br />

there, is in it's rightful place. The breeze blows, as<br />

gentle as a child's touch. The climate is as perfect as,<br />

that vacation spot you've always wanted to escape to.<br />

And time stands still like you're not even moving.<br />

Everyday is the same as the last, and joy is never<br />

ending. Yes...this is exactly what "A Night in Paradise"<br />

would be like. Enjoy it in this moment, and maybe, just<br />

maybe, you can go there tonight.<br />

For more info visit:<br />

https://www.facebook.com/larry.l.davis.94<br />

11


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14


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October 2017<br />

Kizzie is a painter, collage artist, and Richmond, VA<br />

native.<br />

The Histrionic Mould<br />

This mixed media collage was created in reaction to the<br />

image of hyper-feminism, that society pastes onto<br />

women, in an effort to show that this is actually an<br />

atypical generalization of who we are as women today.<br />

Histrionic personality disorder is characterized by<br />

constant attention-seeking, emotional overreaction, and<br />

suggestibility. These are all characteristics that many<br />

men feel are "normal" for a woman, but these<br />

characteristics aren't present in all of us, and I feel<br />

women should continue to strive to change this image.<br />

We need a fresh new perspective on who we are because<br />

we are more than our looks and emotions.<br />

Kristina Trader's grandmother, whom she<br />

calls, "Nonny", is responsible for who she is today.<br />

Nonny always had a camera in her face since birth, which<br />

inspired her to get involved with photography. Since she<br />

was two years old, she lived with Nonny as the daughter<br />

she never had. The passion for photography just grew and<br />

eventually Trader took another class her senior year, and<br />

a course at John Tyler Community College when I<br />

graduated high school. A year after I graduated I became<br />

pregnant with my son, now eight years old. I put my<br />

passion on hold to take care of my son. Then, four years<br />

later, my daughter was born. My heart was now twice as<br />

big than it was five years prior. I got a job in retail, going<br />

to work every day and coming home to take care of the<br />

kids, then going back to work to repeat the process.<br />

Something was missing. After receiving a DSLR camera<br />

as a gift from her husband, she decided to start her own<br />

photography business, and she aspires to have her own<br />

store front within the next two years. "I have learned to<br />

never give up on my passion. If you find what makes you<br />

happy in life, never let it go," says Trader.<br />

Paix (Peace) My family and I went to the zoo one<br />

sunny afternoon, and I took this shot of the Fennic Fox<br />

through the glass. He was sleeping so peaceful, he was so<br />

relaxed like he didn't have a care in the world.<br />

First My Mother, Forever My Friend<br />

This particular day was muggy, and filled with mosquitos<br />

at the location my client and I chose. We were not<br />

prepared, no bug spray, only our sweet meat for these<br />

blood suckers to feast upon! This shot was totally at<br />

random. I was getting my settings on my camera right,<br />

because the exposure on the water was much higher than<br />

on land. I was just snapping away and came out with this<br />

gorgeous piece.<br />

For more info, visit: www.facebook.com/kristinatraderphotography<br />

15


Sylvester Was a Weird Kid<br />

Author: Terri L. Jones<br />

Genre: Juvenile Fiction<br />

Literary<br />

Author's Note:<br />

Before I started writing marketing for a<br />

living, I kept my creative juices flowing<br />

by writing short stories. I love all things<br />

spooky, eerie and out of the ordinary. I<br />

also love children. So, in the 1990s, I<br />

came up with this suspenseful children’s<br />

short story, which went on to win the<br />

Edith Thompson Award for Juvenile<br />

Fiction.<br />

Sylvester wasn’t weird like other kids in<br />

Joey’s class, the ones who were really quiet or the<br />

ones who lit fires in the back of the school.<br />

Sylvester was weird in a way that Joey had never<br />

seen before. He wore black shirts and black pants all<br />

the time, never jeans and t-shirts like the other kids,<br />

and he could make his voice sound like it was<br />

coming from the front of the room when he was<br />

sitting in the back. He had a pet bird that he carried<br />

on his shoulder to the 7-11, he ate spiders and<br />

beetles for fun, and no one had ever been inside his<br />

house.<br />

All the kids in the school called him “freak” and<br />

no one would sit next to him at the lunch table<br />

because he always said he had things like bat wings<br />

and mouse tails between his Wonder bread. But Joey<br />

liked Sylvester because if you could talk him into<br />

playing soccer at recess he always could kick the<br />

ball harder than any other kid (no one ever could<br />

block his kicks). And Sylvester could definitely tell<br />

a good story.<br />

Sylvester was always making up stories, like the<br />

time he brought a plain old gray rock for show-andtell<br />

and said it had supernatural powers or last year<br />

when he told the teacher that his mother was a<br />

witch.<br />

Photography by Kizzie<br />

So when Sylvester told Joey that he had a glass eye,<br />

Joey just laughed. Joey knew real people didn’t have<br />

glass eyes, just like real people didn’t have vampire<br />

teeth and dogs couldn’t talk. That stuff was just in<br />

the movies. Sylvester was just a weird kid.<br />

Sylvester made up this particular story one day<br />

on the playground when Joey caught him “giving<br />

the evil eye,” as the older kids called it, to one of the<br />

little kids on the playground. Sylvester had this<br />

really funny way of looking at you. That was part of<br />

the reason the other kids made fun of him. If you<br />

were standing beside him and he looked over at you,<br />

one eye looked at you but the other one looked<br />

straight ahead. It made you feel really creepy when<br />

he did it and it made the younger kids run away<br />

crying.<br />

“Why do you have to scare the kindergarten kids<br />

like that?” Joey asked when he saw the little girl<br />

crying behind the monkey bars.<br />

“I have a glass eye,” Sylvester said, “I can’t help<br />

it. I can’t make it move like my other eye.”<br />

Joey just snickered. “You don’t have to try to<br />

fool me.”<br />

“Do you want to see it? I can take it out and you<br />

can even hold it?” Sylvester said.<br />

16


October 2017<br />

Just as Sylvester said this, Liza, one of the girls in<br />

their class, walked by. The boys in Joey’s fourth-grade<br />

class didn’t really like the girls much, but you couldn’t<br />

really count Liza as one of the girls exactly. She never<br />

wore dresses and she didn’t mind getting dirty like the<br />

other girls. And everyone said she had “gazelle legs”<br />

because she could run faster than anyone in the class.<br />

All the boys, including Joey, thought Liza was ok. Joey<br />

had even seen Sylvester talking to her once or twice,<br />

probably showing her his magic rock or something.<br />

Liza stopped in her tracks. “Yeah, do it, do it!” she<br />

said and Sylvester grinned, sliding his eyelid back and<br />

digging his thumb and forefinger until they practically<br />

disappeared into his eye socket.<br />

Joey felt his stomach do a somersault.<br />

He turned to Liza whose eyes were still glued to<br />

Sylvester. “He’s just making up stories again,” Joey<br />

said.<br />

Liza just shrugged and walked away.<br />

Sylvester looked after her. Then squinting his eyes<br />

up tightly, he glared at Joey. It wasn’t exactly his usual<br />

“evil eye,” but it was close enough.<br />

“You’ll see” was all he said and walked away. The<br />

hairs prickled on the back of Joey’s neck.<br />

At the end of the day as Joey was chaining his<br />

bicycle up outside the school, Sylvester came up to<br />

him. “I’ve got my eye on you,” Sylvester whispered to<br />

Joey, winking over and over. Boy, was that Sylvester a<br />

weird kid.<br />

When Joey slid his books in the rack under his desk<br />

the next morning, he heard something hit the floor.<br />

Looking down, he saw a greenish marble rolling across<br />

the floor toward the back of the classroom. He sure<br />

hadn’t put it there. The teacher didn’t let you have toys<br />

in class; she had a whole drawer full of stuff she had<br />

taken from kids.<br />

The marble rolled all the way to the coat room and<br />

stopped. Just as Joey was about to go grab it, the<br />

teacher walked in so he sat back down. When the bell<br />

rang for lunch, he walked to the back of the classroom<br />

and looked for the marble. It was gone. He was a little<br />

disappointed because it didn’t look like any other<br />

marble he had ever seen before and would’ve<br />

looked cool in his marble jar.<br />

Sylvester wasn’t in school that day or the day<br />

after when Joey noticed the marble tucked snugly<br />

behind the teacher’s chair leg. It was big and green<br />

and glinting in the sunlight. When he tried to pass a<br />

note to Liza about it, the marble rolled out from<br />

beneath the teacher’s chair and slammed so loudly<br />

against the wall that it made Joey jump. No one<br />

else in the room seemed to notice.<br />

By the end of the day, just like the day before,<br />

the marble had vanished.<br />

Joey caught up with Liza as they left school.<br />

“Have you seen Sylvester lately?” he asked her<br />

since she was really the only other kid he had even<br />

seen talk to Sylvester.<br />

She scratched her head. “I don’t think so, not<br />

even in his backyard,” Liza said. “He’s usually out<br />

there blowing up something or looking through his<br />

telescope.”<br />

Joey didn’t know they lived on the same street.<br />

“Yeah, he’s sort of a weird kid,” said Joey.<br />

Just then, something hard hit him right between<br />

the shoulder blades. He spun around to see if some<br />

kid had lobbed a rock at him, but there was no one<br />

in sight. Whatever had hit him seemed to instead be<br />

dribbling around – as if gathering steam -- inside<br />

his backpack. Then with even more force than<br />

before, it pelted him right where his dad had told<br />

him his kidneys were. “Oweeeeee,” he squealed in<br />

pain.<br />

“What’s the matter with you?” Liza stared at<br />

him funny.<br />

He yanked the backpack off before the crazy<br />

jumping bean inside could cream him again.<br />

“Ummm, I’m ok, see you…” he managed to get out<br />

before taking off at a fast clip to find a safe place,<br />

away from the other kids, to let his attacker loose<br />

from his backpack.<br />

17


Literary<br />

Sylvester Was a Weird Kid continued...<br />

Author: Terri L. Jones<br />

When he reached the bike rack, he dropped the backpack to the<br />

ground. He unzipped it slowly, his heart hammering so hard in his<br />

ears that he couldn’t hear anything else. He slowly peered inside.<br />

There, at the bottom beside a chewing gum wrapper and a dirty<br />

penny, lay the marble. The sun hit its glassy surface and it seemed to<br />

wink up at him.<br />

Joey waited a few moments to see if the marble would begin to fly<br />

around again but it seemed to have worn itself out and was now<br />

completely still. He picked it up and held it in the palm of his hand to<br />

get a closer look. It was definitely bigger than any marble he had ever<br />

seen and it was mostly green but it had a small black center and a few<br />

pinkish streaks through it. Joey stared at it for a really long time. He<br />

rolled it around in his palm a few times, but each time, the green part<br />

rolled back up to face him like it was weighted or something. It was<br />

hard for Joey to tear his eyes away from the marble.<br />

On the ride home, he didn’t put the marble back in his backpack<br />

but held it tightly in his fist. Joey knew, without looking, that the<br />

green part was facing up the whole way.<br />

Joey thought he had left the marble on his dresser when he went to<br />

dinner that night but somehow when he took his plate to the kitchen,<br />

the marble was sitting by the doorway as if it were waiting for him.<br />

For the rest of the night, he kept it tucked between his thumb and<br />

forefinger as he did his homework, as he watched TV, even as he<br />

took a bath. When he was in the tub, he heard the phone ring in the<br />

hallway. He heard his mother say, “I’ll tell him…ok. Goodbye.”<br />

She opened the bathroom door an inch. “That was your friend<br />

Sylvester, honey,” she said through the crack in the door. “He said<br />

he’ll be back in school tomorrow. And he also said something odd.<br />

He said ‘tell Joey I don’t like water in my eyes.’” His mother<br />

laughed. “That Sylvester is a strange child.”<br />

The next day, Joey couldn’t decide whether to take the marble to<br />

school. If he did, it was bound to cause trouble. If he didn’t, he was<br />

afraid it wouldn’t be there when he got home. But all morning as he<br />

got dressed, the marble kept catching his eye from its place on the<br />

dresser. Finally he just grabbed it and tossed it in his backpack.<br />

During the whole ride to school, as he pumped the pedals, the marble<br />

thudded heavily against his back, almost as if keeping beat with some<br />

tune Joey couldn’t hear.<br />

Inspired words<br />

We understand that sometimes<br />

it's hard to get your creative<br />

juices flowing, so here's a<br />

couple of prompts you can use<br />

to get your wheels turning. Use<br />

either of the prompts below to<br />

craft some genre of creative<br />

writing and submit it to us to be<br />

included in a future issue. Make<br />

sure to indicate the prompt<br />

number in which you are writing<br />

from.<br />

Prompt #1:<br />

Tell about a time when an<br />

unexpected transformation<br />

changed how you felt about<br />

something or someone.<br />

Prompt #2:<br />

Tell about the hardest thing you<br />

have ever had to let go of in<br />

your life.<br />

18


October 2017<br />

At school, Joey looked around for Sylvester but<br />

his seat was still empty when the teacher called roll.<br />

He guessed eating “disease-carrying rodents,” as his<br />

mother called them, had finally caught up with him.<br />

Joey came back to his desk early after lunch.<br />

Sometimes when his dog was locked up in his cage<br />

all day, a few minutes of running around outside<br />

would calm right down. Maybe marbles were like<br />

dogs and they just didn’t like to be cooped up. But<br />

when he unzipped his backpack and looked inside,<br />

the marble was nowhere to be found. Only the<br />

chewing gum and the penny were at the bottom of<br />

the bag. He turned the backpack upside down and<br />

shook it, but it was no use. The marble was gone.<br />

He felt his stomach drop to his knees, kind of like<br />

when he left his brand-new baseball glove in the<br />

rain all night.<br />

“Where could it be? Where could it be?” he<br />

wondered, his mind spinning so fast that he didn’t<br />

even notice someone standing behind him. When he<br />

turned around, he practically crashed right into<br />

Sylvester.<br />

“Looking for this?” Sylvester asked, and in his<br />

hand was the marble, all green and twinkling in the<br />

sunlight. Sylvester was winking at Joey again.<br />

When Joey went to scoop the marble out of his<br />

open hand, Sylvester raised his hand to that winking<br />

eye and Joey heard a kind of popping sound. When<br />

Sylvester dropped his hand again, it was empty and<br />

instead of winking, Sylvester was now just staring<br />

at Joey. Joey blinked at the bright-green eye looking<br />

back at him.<br />

Yep, that Sylvester definitely was a weird kid.<br />

Terri L. Jones<br />

When Terri was a kid, she would climb into a tree and read while her friends played kickball and rode bikes below.<br />

She started writing her own poems stories in elementary school, and from that point on, never veered from “wanting<br />

to be a writer when I grow up.” Decades later, Terri, who owns WordPlay, writes marketing for businesses and<br />

nonprofits and is a weekly blog contributor to Seniors Guide Online. She’s also authored articles on everything from<br />

the human body for National Geographic Explorer to creating a pet-friendly home for BOOMER.<br />

A family owned and operated business and is<br />

designed with the goal of not only providing<br />

the clean car effect, but also giving our<br />

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Spotlight<br />

Steven Casanova<br />

We met at Broad Appetit, clad with<br />

signage and a wealth of knowledge about<br />

food and the spirit behind it. His pace was<br />

eager; his work full being able to tell it's<br />

enjoyable - a labor of love. “Have you<br />

heard of the Black Belt?”, he asked myself<br />

and the couple beside me. He then takes us<br />

on a journey that culminates into The<br />

Richmond Cookbook. Here, he shares his<br />

passion.<br />

Walking into his joint exhibit within The<br />

Anderson at VCU named Reach Out and<br />

Touch, you first come across a color-coded<br />

map of Richmond. Highlighted with red,<br />

blue, yellow and white, I learn it’s the<br />

demographic makeup of the city and If<br />

you’re familiar, you can tell which area is<br />

“Food address all your<br />

senses at once. You tap<br />

into so many memories<br />

- good or bad.”<br />

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October 2017<br />

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AAAAAA<br />

home to who. As you walk farther, you<br />

reach an arch of recipes strung from the<br />

ceiling. As you visited the space, you were<br />

asked to add your favorite recipe. They run<br />

the gambit of vegan, your college go-tos<br />

remixed, expensive full-course creations,<br />

gag recipes and fully fleshed out dishes.<br />

Along the walls are photos of meals inside<br />

of kitchens.<br />

Steven Casanova is a photographer, a<br />

socially aware artist and lover of food. We<br />

sat on bean bags in The Anderson at VCU<br />

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“I have been humbled<br />

hearing their stories<br />

across the spectrum”<br />

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23<br />

October 2017


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AAAA<br />

as his audio installation played in one room<br />

and the slideshow of video he took around<br />

the city ran across the walls of the other.<br />

He shares growing up eating both Puerto<br />

Rican and “American” foods. Boxed<br />

macaroni, Farm Fresh chicken, Hamburger<br />

Helper - the foods many of us hold with<br />

special consideration as staple faves. His<br />

tastes for authentic Puerto Rican food grew<br />

in college where he decided to travel deeper<br />

into his gastronomic roots The nuisance and<br />

love for it grew deeper.<br />

“I need to look at this<br />

differently and realize<br />

that every interaction is<br />

the art”<br />

What the Health is brought into the<br />

conversation where we laugh about the<br />

hyperbolic nature of the director who gives<br />

off the hard-hitting vibes of Michael Cera.<br />

“You were like the second person to tell me<br />

about it which made me say, ‘I’m not<br />

watching it. Too many people like it’”, he<br />

laughs as we begin to discuss eating habits.<br />

“The problem I have with the idea that<br />

veganism will cure everything is that it<br />

ignores the fact that we just eat too much.<br />

It steers the conversation in a good<br />

direction but it still doesn’t address the<br />

overeating.” Sitting down with Steven is<br />

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October 2017<br />

like encountering Dan Pashman who is<br />

ready and able to open a new world of<br />

food and information to you. In creating<br />

The Richmond Cookbook, he has spoken<br />

with all walks of life - a woman whose<br />

most precious meal is a tomato sandwich,<br />

someone who finally found a delicious<br />

Filipino restaurant after living 20 years in<br />

the city, a family who shared both their<br />

photos and their country’s dishes. His<br />

work takes him into one of the most<br />

intimate spaces of home - the kitchen.<br />

On October 6th, 2017, Steven and Reach<br />

Out and Touch closed the exhibit with a<br />

potluck and open mic with donations and<br />

benefits going to aid small Puerto Rican<br />

farmers recovering from Hurricane Maria.<br />

Reach out to him to find out more ways<br />

you can help this effort.<br />

Story and photography by Joi Donaldson<br />

Steven has discovered that it’s possible to<br />

tackle the toughest mindsets and stances<br />

over a good meal.<br />

For more info, visit: http://www.stevencasanova.com/richmondcookbook/<br />

25


Evincive sat down with 10 year old Zaniyah<br />

Moore and Coach Aishah “Blu” Ramsey after<br />

dance troupe practice.<br />

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA<br />

AA<br />

Empower<br />

Evincive: Why do you love dance?<br />

Zaniyah: I love dance because a friend taught me<br />

how to dance and I felt inspired by her. I started to<br />

like dance after that.<br />

E: You’ve been trusted to lead many classes, from<br />

troupe to Tiny TuTu. You’re basically Blu when<br />

she isn’t here. How has that responsibility been for<br />

you?<br />

Z: When Blu first called me to lead I was scared. I<br />

didn’t know what to do. There’s another girl in our<br />

class Blu uses to lead so I started copying her until I<br />

got the hang of it.<br />

E: What does it feel like to be one of the girls Blu<br />

counts on?<br />

Z: I feel like a leader.<br />

E: What does Blu’s Dance Studio mean to you?<br />

Z: It makes me feel like when I grow up I can be a<br />

professional dancer. But for now, when I go to<br />

parties, I’ll be getting it.<br />

(Aishah asks Zaniyah a question)<br />

A: How do you feel you’ve changed since you’ve<br />

been at Blu’s Dance Studio?<br />

Z: Well… after all the times you told me I had two<br />

left feet I feel like I’ve improved! (laughter)<br />

Dance Like<br />

Nobody's<br />

Watching<br />

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October 2017<br />

Z: I am proud of myself<br />

A: I am very proud of you too. You came in here shy<br />

with two left feet to now leading different dances. I<br />

know I can call and count on you to get the job done.<br />

You do very well.<br />

E: So Zaniyah has explained how much Blu’s Dance<br />

Studio means to her. Tell me how Zaniyah’s presence<br />

here makes you feel?<br />

A: I love her presence. I can count on her. She has<br />

moved forward past obstacles she didn’t think she<br />

could overcome. She’s here five days a week. Her<br />

social skills have blossomed. We love her here and<br />

when she’s not she’s surely missed.<br />

Meet Zaniyah and Coach Blu at Blu’s Dance Studio<br />

at 11023 Hull Street Road to dance like nobody’s<br />

watching!<br />

Blu's Dance Studio<br />

(804) 621-5038<br />

For more information, please visit:<br />

http://www.blusdancestudio.com/<br />

Interview and photography by Joi<br />

Donaldson<br />

PINOCCHIO $12<br />

Saturday, October 14, 2017<br />

Saturday, October 14, 2017<br />

11:00 am<br />

1:00 pm<br />

Presented by VA Rep on Tour! Fun for all ages! Imagine Geppetto’s surprise when the puppet he<br />

carves from a most unusual piece of wood suddenly springs to life. The wooden boy, named<br />

Pinocchio, becomes like a son to the kindly old wood carver who provides him with a loving home.<br />

But the mischievous Pinocchio has other ideas and sets off on a series of fantastical adventures.<br />

Along the way he learns valuable lessons that lead him back home to Geppetto and earn him the<br />

thing he most desires – to be a real boy. Based on the novel by Carlo Collodi. Book and Lyrics by<br />

Bruce Craig Miller. Music by Michael Strong.<br />

GET TICKETS<br />

27<br />

Glen Allen Cultural Arts Center<br />

2880 Mountain Road PO Box<br />

1249 Glen Allen, VA 23060


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