LMRD No. 682, Fri, Aug 31, 2018
Ping & Super Chikan Tonight!
Friday, Aug 31st, 6-8pm




~Grand Opening Celebration Water/Ways~


Sunflower Avenue Block Party
In Front of Quapaw Canoe Co.

featuring:


Bluesman Extraordinaire:
James "Super Chikan" Johnson

~~ and ~~

Wang Ping: Rivers and Spirituality
Life of Miracles Yangtze & Mississippi
12noon Sat, Sept 1

~ Program, Fri, Aug 31, 2018 ~

6pm

James "Super Chikan" Johnson

6:30-7pm

Remarks by Scholars, Partners, Special Guests:

MCs: John Ruskey, Mark River ~ Quapaw Canoe Company

Shannon McMulkin ~ Director, Lower Mississippi River Foundation

Stuart Rockoff ~ Director, Mississippi Humanities Council (MHC)

Panny Mayfield ~ MHC Board of Directors

Bill Luckett ~ MHC Board of Directors

Wang Ping ~ Poet, Macalester College

Kelly McGinnis ~ Director, Mississippi River Network/1Mississippi

Alison Jones ~ Founder, No Water No Life

7-8pm

Super Chikan and exhibition!

Thank you to our celebration sponsor: Levon's Bar & Grill
(on same block of Sunflower Avenue in downtown Clarksdale!)






~Made possible by the Mississippi Humanities Council~




~Presented by the Lower Mississippi River Foundation~


With the partnership of 1Mississippi and the Mississippi River Network

Wang Ping: Spirituality and Rivers

Saturday, Sept 1, 12noon - 1pm

Book-signing during Water/Ways: Life of Miracles along the Yangtze and Mississippi, by Wang Ping, 2018 University of Georgia Press. 6 x 9, 376 pages, 21 b&w images. Winner of Association of Writers and Writing Programs Award for Creative Nonfiction selected by Gretel Ehrlich.

Wang Ping: Spirituality and Rivers

Saturday, Sept 1, 12noon - 1pm

Water/Ways at Quapaw Canoe Company

Mississippi River Interpretive Center

289 Sunflower Avenue, Clarksdale, Miss

Program Summary:

There are only two ways to live our life, according to Albert Einstein: one is as if nothing is a miracle; the other, as if everything is a miracle. Dr. Wang Ping will talk about how the impossible became possible—about things that happened in China and America to the people Wang Ping grew up with, met, and befriended along her journeys between these two distant rivers. This is also a story about water, alive with spirits and energy, giving birth to all sentient beings. We are water. The river runs through us. Those who live in harmony with water can ride the current of the universe—the secret of Tao, reaching all the way to the sea of miracles, one story, one droplet, and one wave at a time. A miracle is a state of mind, a way of living: how we face hardship, pain, and tragedies, how we transform them into fuels for our journey and transcend them into joy and hope. This is a program about how ordinary people perform miracles every day; how we are touched, touching, all the time, across oceans and continents, across time and space, through our stories.

Life of Miracles:

Wang Ping will display river flags that were made along the Yangtze and Mississippi Rivers and many other rivers at the site, talk about how these flags were made with the best intentions of the folks along rivers, have been traveling along the world rivers, blessing and being blessed by rivers, land, birds, fish, animals, and human spirits. She'll also read from her new book Life of Miracles along the Yangtze and Mississippi, from the story about paddling the lower Mississippi, and how she connected with the spirits of the mighty Mississippi.

About Dr. Wang Ping:

Wang Ping was born in China and came to the United States in 1986. Her publications of poetry and prose include Aching for Beauty, The Magic Whip, and The Last Communist Virgin. She won the Eugene Kayden Award for the Best Book in Humanities and the Minnesota Book Award. She is the recipient of an NEA grant, the Bush Artist Fellowship for poetry, the McKnight Fellowship for nonfiction, and many other honors. She is professor of English at Macalester College.

The Water/Ways exhibit will be on display in Clarksdale from August 31st through October 13th, 2018. Water/Ways is designed to be a starting point for conversations about water and how it impacts our lives. The exhibition explores the role of water in culture, spirituality, communities, and economics, as well as some of the current water issues on our planet and their potential impacts. Visitors are encouraged to share their own stories and discuss ideas sparked by the exhibit.

~ Program ~

6pm

James "Super Chikan" Johnson

6:30-7pm

Remarks by Scholars, Partners, Special Guests:

MCs: John Ruskey, Mark River ~ Quapaw Canoe Company

Shannon McMulkin ~ Director, Lower Mississippi River Foundation

Stuart Rockoff ~ Director, Mississippi Humanities Council (MHC)

Panny Mayfield ~ MHC Board of Directors

Bill Luckett ~ MHC Board of Directors

Wang Ping ~ Poet, Macalester College

Kelly McGinnis ~ Director, Mississippi River Network/1Mississippi

Alison Jones ~ Founder, No Water No Life

7-8pm

Super Chikan and exhibition!

This celebration is made possible thanks to all of the above speakers and Ben Lewis, Meraki Coffee Shop, Jen Waller, Coahoma High Education Center, Chandra Williams, Cultural Crossroads, Charles Coleman, Clarksdale Collective, JoAnn Blue, Carnegie Public Library, Shelley Ritter, Mississippi River Parkway Commission, the City of Clarksdale, the LMRF Board of Directors: Jenn Mohead, Erin Lee, Erickson Blakney (ex of), Scott Shirey, and Kevin Smith, and many, many others in Clarksdale, Helena, Memphis, and elsewhere. Special thanks to Ellis Coleman, Mark River Peoples and Lena Von Machui for helping prepare for celebration.

Clarksdale is also the only location on the Lower Miss to host the Smithsonian Water/Ways Exhibition in 2018. Chosen as one of six sites in the State of Mississippi, we at Quapaw Canoe Company are making it part of our 20th Anniversary Celebration.

Exhibition will be stationed for 6 weeks Aug 31 to Oct 13 in our Mississippi River Interpretive Center at 289 Sunflower, next to the fountain in Sunflower River Park. Made possible through the Mississippi Humanities Council, and presented by the Lower Mississippi River Foundation.

Water/Ways Grand Opening Celebration with Super Chikan is one week away, Friday Aug 31, 6-8pm, on Sunflower Avenue in front of Quapaw Clarksdale, thanks to Levon's Bar & Grill.

Wang Ping: Spirituality and Rivers, brown bag event, noon to 1pm, Sat Sept 1, Quapaw Clarksdale. Life of Miracles shared through stories, poetry and art (prayer flags created by citizens of Yangtze and Mississippi Rivers).

Book-signing during Water/Ways: Life of Miracles along the Yangtze and Mississippi, by Wang Ping, 2018 University of Georgia Press. 6 x 9, 376 pages, 21 b&w images. Winner of Association of Writers and Writing Programs Award for Creative Nonfiction selected by Gretel Ehrlich.

~~ Keep reading below for complete schedule ~~

Go to the Lower Mississippi River Foundation website for more info

Go to Water/Ways Facebook Page and join event

Made possible by: Mississippi Humanities Council through the Smithsonian Institution and the National Endowment for the Humanities

Partners:

Quapaw Canoe Company

GRIOT Arts Program/Meraki Coffee Shop

Coahoma County High Education Center

Clarksdale Press Register

Cultural Crossroads

Clarksdale Collective

Carnegie Public Library

Mississippi River Parkway Commission

City of Clarksdale

Mississippi River Network/1Mississippi

No Water No Life

Spring Initiative

Kinship of Rivers

Helena Partners:

Delta Cultural Center

Mississippi River State Park

Sponsors:

Quapaw Canoe Company

Levon's Bar & Grill

Presenters:

James “Super Chikan” Johnson

Dr. Wang Ping, Macalester College

Dr. Jim Geisen, MSU Dept of History

Paul Hartfield (USFW)

Hank Burdine (Mississippi Levee Board)

Fundraising Initiative:

Water/Ways is fundraising for LiNKS, which includes all river programming done with Camp ROCK, GRIOT Arts, Spring Initiative, Summer Camp, Day Camp, and any other schools, churches or youth programs. LiNKS = Leave no Kid on Shore.