Saludos to my evening buggers!

First you all will want to know that coming up on some breezy evening later this summer is Cucuyo’sFIREFLY BREW benefit.  The idea is to hear some live bluegrass and jazz and watch with fireflies come out as we enjoy all things brewed.  We’ll serve a variety of sun teas, home beer micro-brews, wine, 1000 faces coffee, kombucha (if you haven’t tried kombucha it’s high time, oh yes!) and, of course, some beautiful food to wash it down with!  Cucuyo’s board- Rachel Watkins, Jen Carter and Sorrow Keeler are the ones to praise for making this happen.  You may hug them or sing to them.  $25 for a round of food, drink and silent auction tickets.  Invitations will go out soon—look for more on that. 

Permit me to excitedly chatter about Cucuyo’s recent PLANNING TRIP to our site in the Dominican Republic.  Oh, how inspiring!  What an adventure!  Soon Laura will be posting a power-point presentationabout all the wonderful nitty-gritties of our journey on the website.  It includes our various destinations, a profile of the different neighborhoods and the overall impression of the places in the scheme of Cucuyo’s vision. 

Directors Laura and Stephen, accompanied by fellow comrade, Justin bused themselves around the Dominican Republic meeting with dedicated community organizers, members of the press, existing non-profits, enthused youth and many a street vendor.  We met so many colorful personalities:  a pair of cuban actors, an eccentric painter on the coast, a budding rap artist from the barrio…

We asked the kids about what they did in their spare time, about what really goes down in their neighborhoods, about their previous opportunities to participate in the arts.  Their answers respectively?  1) Nothing/watch TV; 2) Selling drugs/ fight against poverty and 3) “I did theatre in my church once” to “I’ve never held a paintbrush.” 

So we asked what arts they would be interested in.  [Hands shooting up all over the room] “Dance, music, painting, theatre!” 

How do you like the idea of doing all this together with a group of American youth during the summer? You could teach them how to dance the bachata; you could show them what it means to be Dominican.  “That would be awesome!”

The bottom line, (You know how you always read only the last sentence of movie reviews?  The equivalent follows:) THESE DOMINICAN YOUTH ARE INCREDIBLY EXCITED ABOUT THE PROSPECT OF A BI-CULTURAL THEATRE AND ART PROGRAM!  So we’re goin’; you, me and the world are makin’ it happen.