By Talia Whyte
The Bay State Banner
While it’s often said that art has a way of imitating life, its capacity for shedding light on long-forgotten and dark parts of history is sometimes overlooked. “Voyeurs de Venus,” the play that kicks off local theater group Company One’s 10th season, examines one troubling piece of history that still affects the black psyche today — the tragic tale of the “Hottentot Venus.”
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By Talia Whyte
The Bay State Banner
For Joe Galeota, West African drumming is more than a style of percussion — it’s a lifelong journey into understanding how music affects both the people who play it and the people who hear it, each and every day.
The Berklee College of Music professor has been bringing the art form to his students for the last 11 years through an exchange program in Ghana, where students stay in villages and learn traditional drum and dance from local masters.
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By Talia Whyte
The Bay State Banner
For the second time this decade, Massachusetts voters on Tuesday rejected a ballot proposal to eliminate the state income tax.
The controversial Question 1 asked voters to decide whether or not to change the state’s personal income tax. A “yes” vote supported cutting the 5.3 percent tax rate to 2.65 percent effective Jan. 1, 2009, and eliminating it altogether on Jan. 1, 2010. A “no” vote meant no change.
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By Talia Whyte
The Bay State Banner
Gen. William E. Ward, commander of the United States Africa Command (AFRICOM), discussed the newly operational command’s accomplishments and future work at Boston University last Wednesday.
During his keynote speech at the university’s African Presidential Archives and Research Center (APARC), Ward also addressed concerns raised by opponents who are suspicious of the motives for establishing the military command.
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