UMAverse
November 5th, 2020 | Issue #3 - TRANSITION

Board Updates
Masio Dotson on transition
Poem by CD Collins
Artwork by Sky Malerba
Filmbuilding Workshop
#MaldenTogether excerpt
Upcoming Events
Tell your story of Impact
Dear Friends,

In this issue, we reflect on transition that art and nature helps us embrace as the unfolding of our individual and collective stories. We feature an interview with MATV/UMA staff member Masio Dotson, artwork from intern Sky Malerba, a poem by author and recent Storytelling instructor CD Collins, new short films from the latest Filmbuilding workshop and more!
~ Kamila
News and Updates

The MATV/UMA Board welcomed newly voted Board Member Karen Lynch at recent first-ever Virtual Membership Annual Meeting. The Board also said goodbye to Board members Sergiu Parfeni, co-owner of Bikeeny Caffe, and Shikha Vyas.
From Intern to "Master Yoda"

Volunteer and Intern Coordinator Masio Dotson reflects on his own transition from being intern to staff and his approach to empowering interns.
"It’s all about being empathetic, understanding what people want and what their expectations are in trying to fulfill that.

Having interned and worked at other places where the culture was anything but inclusive and warm, I want to make the intern and volunteer experience very inviting and open.

I want everyone to feel validated and allow the interns to grow into whatever they see themselves being.

I see myself as Master Yoda and the interns as my full-of-promise padawans.”
Verse
Photograph by local artist Ose Manheim
Sycamore by CD Collins

The sycamore cannot stretch as it grows
It splits its skin, shedding scales,
Leaving a mottled bark, taupe over cream.
 
The pond in today’s downpour is a boiling eye 
With a brow of tumbled down briar.
 
Inside, I press myself into books like a flower
My day’s faltering chronicle.

While outside the dimensional world 
nests in the tree’s hollow trunk.
 
Let me break if I must, so that I might rise
from the dormant landscape 
of charred purple and muted gold. 
Open-crowned, naked and pale,
Thirsty for rivers
Rooted, unbound.
CD Collins is an author, poet, performing artist, and a storytelling instructor at MATV/UMA
MATV/UMA Spotlight
Shattering Remnants by Sky Malerba
Featuring Art by Sky Malerba
MATV/UMA Intern and Student of Mass College of Art Describes Artwork
"This piece is a drawing of two characters who represent the past (left) and the present (right). I achieved a look of impending chaos by using photoshop to render a shattering stained glass window. I might call this a self portrait as it represents the tension between how I view myself and how others view me.

With every reaction or feeling I have, I often feel the complete opposite emotion at the same time. Am I more collected and put together or am I rather prickly and hard to understand?

These characters, a forest sprite and a demon spirit, are to be the focal point of an upcoming novel in which a girl reincarnates into a form where she becomes her worst fear. 
I have often felt like most were not able to understand or relate to my work or the interests that inspire it.

A huge part of my work meditates on inter-generational trauma and the numerous pleasures I take in reconciling historical figures, music, art and sensibilities between now and a bygone era.
In some way, I think we’re all doing this as a new tide is coming in and we’re shifting perspectives. As we enter a new era of American history (hopefully for the better) I want to be part of that tide and create things that could potentially inspire and heal. That’s my dream as a creator."
Filmbuilding Workshop: 'The Antidote to Despair'
MATV/UMA, in collaboration with Filmbuilding founder and instructor, Tom Flint, held a workshop for adults over a weekend in October. Nine participants split into two groups to create short films inspired by the theme 'the Antidote to Despair.'
Using Zoom, WeVideo, and their cellphones, our participants were able to collaborate and make art together virtually, which resulted in two short films. Special thanks to Malden Reads for sponsoring this workshop! For details about this and future filmbuilding programs, visit filmbuilding.org
A Life Well Lived
The Urge of Now
Tell Your Story
MATV/UMA and the City of Malden invite you to help bring #maldentogether by sharing your
Covid-19 experience via social media.
Conversation of the Month

"The changes we dread most may contain our salvation." 
Barbara Kingsolver

Transition can feel strange, especially this year. What transitions have you experienced during this pandemic? What transitions have you observed around you, within your family or community?

Share your post on Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube with #MaldenTogether and your post will be added to the #MaldenTogether wall. You can also post your story directly to the MATV Facebook or email us your story.
Excerpt from the wall

Fruits of Transition
Provided by Intern Amanda DeRosa
There is a chestnut tree outside my home. Since the pandemic began, I began paying more attention to it. It goes through many different stages of growth. These transitions are visible, and I have documented some of these changes through photographs and videos.

The tree has gone from bare bones, to buds, to sprouts, to flower--and the flowers die soon after bloom. It is only after the flowering process that the chestnuts grow, in their hard, spiky shells--protecting themselves from the world. I wonder how many of these chestnuts are now stored inside the tree, by the family of squirrels that has made home here.

The tree reminds me that transition is a natural process. The tree only fruits due to its transition through time, and the transition is necessary for the tree to survive.

Even though the winter will render the tree dormant, I know that it will blossom once again.
#MaldenTogether Logo design by Busha Husak
Upcoming Events
Tuesday, November 10, 7PM

Tuesday, November 17, 7:30PM

Crowdsourced Cast Away Screening
November 19 (details coming)

December 14
Support MATV/UMA
Consider making a tax-deductible tax-deductible donation!
In this video Ose Schwab shares her own story of MATV/UMA's impact and urges you to write a letter of support for our cable franchise renewal process.


This newsletter is produced by Kamila Rodrigues
(left) and Amanda DeRosa.
MATV, soon to be UMA (Urban Media Arts) is an interconnected hub of creativity, dialog and evolving community, centering around media, arts and culture, and proudly based in Malden, MA.