Arts

Giving humanity a helping hand

shane — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 16:40:35 -0500

The last thing most mall shoppers want is to interact with other shoppers. Misha Maynerick, a Bahá'í artist living in Portland, Ore., wanted to see if she could get some of these people to literally reach out and touch someone -- to connect, albeit briefly, with another “stranger.”

A wondrous journey of reverence takes wing on a prayer

ellen — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 16:52:47 -0500

Lisa Blecker’s Blessed Is the Spot: A First Prayer Book with animated DVD transforms a much-loved prayer by Baha’u’llah into a multimedia experience that sends souls and hearts soaring no matter what your beliefs.

Marking time, the Baha'i way

shane — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 14:04:29 -0500

Marta Gomez, a Baha'i in Irmo, S.C., started out making a simple calendar to put on the refrigerator so her daughters, Alma, 9, and Maya, 5, could keep track of days in Baha'i and Gregorian time. But the project grew in scope and intricacy, and by the time she was done, Ms. Gomez had created an elaborate 30-inch-by-30-inch work of art in watercolor and ink.

Embarking on a musical search of the soul

shane — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 13:42:16 -0500

Marty and Wendy Quinn fell in love and married in 1982. The Baha'i couple then fell in love with a work by Baha’u’llah -- The Seven Valleys -- and the idea of turning it into a musical.

Robert Hayden: Baha'i and first black Poet Laureate

shane — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 14:59:59 -0600

Robert Hayden surmounted an impoverished childhood to become the first African-American to be appointed Poet Laureate.

Putting a spiritual spin on solutions to global warming

shane — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 18:11:34 -0500

When artist Michelle "Misha" Maynerick was asked to contribute to Chicago's "CoolGlobes: Hot Ideas for a Cooler Planet," she knew immediately how she would go about it.

Ringing to the rafters: Heavenly harmony reigns at Baha'i House of Worship’s first choral festival

shane — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 14:18:52 -0500

Close to 200 people gathered May 27 at the Bahai House of Worship for the North American Continent -- and that was just the choir. An additional 1,000 people were there to hear the first-ever choral festival at the Wilmette temple just outside of Chicago.

Bebop Baha'i: Dizzy Gillespie’s legacy of harmony lives on

shane — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 16:40:13 -0600

The world knows Dizzy Gillespie, who died in 1993 at age 76, as the king of bebop. A charismatic performer who could go from wacky to deadpan in the space of a 16th-note. A self-taught musician whose cheeks puffed out like a bullfrog when he blew into his trumpet.

Baha’i NYC attuned to the rhythms of community

shane — Tue, 15 Aug 2006 14:11:12 -0500

With approximately 900 Baha’is in the metropolitan area, the New York City Baha'i Center is a happening place.

From rainbow of voices, unity rings clear

shane — Sat, 10 Dec 2005 16:42:18 -0600

Technically, there's no such thing as "Baha'i music." But when you hear the rich, uplifting voices of the choir cascading down from on high at the Baha'i House of Worship of the North American Continent in Wilmette, Ill., "technically" seems, well, a technicality. Especially when the choir is singing "I'm So Glad," or another stirring piece written by Van Gilmer, newly appointed director of music.