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 Rita
J. King
in 2004, King was the recipient
of two first place awards from the New York Press Association (NYPA)
for in-depth reporting and spot news coverage of the nuclear industry
and environment. "Ruminations," her weekly opinion column
which appears each week in the North County News in Westchester
County, New York, has received three awards from NYPA since 2001.
King’s essays, articles
and photographs have been published (some under byline Rita Ferrandino)
in diverse publications, from the cover of the Village Voice to
the Sunday Travel Section of the New York Times. She has written
two stories for the Village Voice’s ongoing coverage of terrorism.
She recently completed a novel, The Transfer of Energy.
Dancing Ink Literary Productions
is King’s business, and she writes intimate stories about
people’s lives for private use within families to foster increased
understanding between members. The projects range in length from
short essays to books.
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Be the
Change You Want to See in the World
The Ruminations on America Project was dedicated to Kathy and
Amy Eldon to commemorate the twelfth anniversary of Dan Eldon's
death on July 12, 1993. Investigative reporter and columnist
Rita J. King is currently interviewing one person from each
of the fifty states (in alphabetical order) on their respective
lives, states and state of the union to discover the truth about
core American values--beyond those promoted by the mainstream
media. A man who runs an AIDS program in Delaware also happens
to be a High Priest of Wicca. An African-American former welfare
mother from Arkansas now identifies potential leaders in disenfranchised
communities and teaches them how to pull themselves out of poverty--and
teach others to do the same. A Muslim attorney in Florida practices
Constitutional law and handles civil rights cases. An intimate
portrait of life in the United States, from domestic crises
to foreign policy.
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Somers High students
receive global lesson
Students at Somers High School were given a crash course in global
citizenship last week by a woman who has traveled the world with
the mission of forming a global tribe as she seeks a remedy for
the many of the agonies she has encountered. |
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For decades, Maryknoll
Sister Lelia Mattingly followed a bloody trail across Latin America.
Her journey eventually took her across the protest line at a military
base in Georgia, and now it will take her to prison in Connecticut.
The Catholic nun, who has spent the last several years at Maryknoll
in Ossining, will begin her six-month stint at the Danbury federal
prison this Tuesday, the penalty for a repeat charge of civil
disobedience for crossing the line onto a military base during
a protest. |
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We Exist Somewhere
Here
The evolution of consciousness promises that if humanity is capable,
we can master the medium into which we’ve been born, or
at least survive within it indefinitely. Life is art. Or, at least,
it can be. Ideas about life and death might be a trick of our
minds. A sparkler, spinning in a circle, takes on the appearance
of a solid shape. Our lives are the same way. Eternity is composed
of a transfer of energy, and each life is a cross-section of that
process. Many people have been deeply affected by Dan Eldon’s
work... |
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The Gates
The Gates in Central Park brings up a debate that has long been
buried in the plastic glare of corporate chintz that too often
passes for creativity in America. An artist I interviewed for
an article about the project said the real question is not, “Is
it art?” but, “Is it good art?” Good art, this
particular artist argued, is not about a massive use of materials....
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In the record of himself
left behind, he is timeless
A grave in Greece is graced with the following phrase: "I
hope for nothing. I fear nothing. I am free."Hope and fear
are locked into a struggle, and falling prey to this battle creates
a tremendous obstacle on the path to freedom. One creates a shadow
beneath the other. If you hope for anything; love, money or success,
then you fear, at some level, that these ideals might never be
attained. If you fear poverty, illness or betrayal, then you hope
they will never take shape in your life. Hope and fear are time
killers. They can't postpone the inevitable, just as no amount
of daydreaming can ever replace deliberate action. |
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Birth of a Movement
The violence of La Carpio, a Costa Rican camp for Nicaraguan refugees,
has triggered a revolution half a world away in a small school
district in wealthy Westchester County, New York. Despite steep,
time-consuming state and federal mandates, the Somers School District
is taking a revolutionary step by voluntarily directing its focus
toward empathy and a humanistic perspective of life. |
Rita J. King lives with her husband,
musician and writer WB King, in New York.
She can be reached at dancingink@hotmail.com
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