The Inner City Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles (ICYOLA), founded and led by CSUDH Department of Music faculty member Charles “Chuck” Dickerson, performed on the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage in Washington, DC, on Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. The event was livestreamed on the center’s website. The performance was part of the prestigious venue’s “Social Impact” series, which offers free events several times a month to “reduce barriers to participation in the arts, celebrate the human spirit, and encourage intercultural understanding.” Founded in 2009, the ICYOLA seeks to transform the lives and minds of local young people through high quality music education, providing opportunities for ... Read More
CSUDH
Laura Warrell Talks Books, Jazz, and Publishing
It took more than two decades, four unpublished manuscripts, and scores of rejection letters before Laura Warrell brought her first book into the world—the acclaimed novel Sweet, Soft, Plenty Rhythm, which was published by Pantheon Books last year and recently issued in a paperback edition. A lecturer in the English department at CSUDH since 2017, Warrell discussed the challenges she’s faced as a writer, her approach to the craft, and the inspiration for her debut novel during an evening of conversation on Oct. 4 at the Marvin Laser Recital Hall. The event, co-hosted by the departments of English and Women’s Studies, was introduced by Debra Best, professor of English, and featured a ... Read More
CSUDH Alumna Fills Vanna White’s Shoes on Wheel of Fortune
When co-host Vanna White tested positive for COVID-19 before Wheel of Fortune shot their “Teachers Week” episodes in July, the hit game show called on a CSUDH alumna to fill in—2023 California Teacher of the Year Bridgette Donald-Blue. “I’m not sure how I was selected, but I was very excited to receive the call,” says Donald-Blue, who currently serves as a K-3 Math Intervention Teacher at Coliseum Street Elementary in downtown L.A. “I am very honored to have had this incredible opportunity and am extremely grateful.” Viewers of the Monday, Oct. 2 episode were surprised to see long-time host Pat Sajak walk out by himself, rather than accompanied by White. He ... Read More
Robin DiAngelo Challenges White People To Be Anti-Racist
To help dismantle systemic racism, white people need to first acknowledge that it exists–and how they personally benefit from it. That was the central argument delivered by Robin DiAngelo to an audience of CSUDH students, faculty, staff, and community members at the University Theatre on February 1. DiAngelo, a bestselling author and academic specializing in whiteness and racism, was invited by the CSUDH Mervyn M. Dymally African American Political and Economic Institute for its Distinguished Speaker Series. Dymally Executive Director Anthony Asadullah Samad kicked off the event by acknowledging that having a white featured speaker on the first day of Black History Month might ... Read More