VOA – CONNECT
EPISODE # 220
AIR DATE: 04 01 2022
TRANSCRIPT

OPEN ((VO/NAT/SOT))
((Banner))
Art in Words
((SOT))
((Kim B. Miller
Poet Laureate for Prince William County))
I'd say I really got serious about poetry about 10 years ago. But when I got really serious, the journey changed because I was interested in the imagery and how it felt and how it sounded and how it could touch somebody and change people's lives.
((Animation Transition))
((Banner))
Art in Objects
((SOT))
((Thomas Mann
Artrepreneur))
Well, an artrepreneur is basically the extrapolation of an artist into entrepreneurship. And it's my particular point of view that artists are, by their very nature, entrepreneurs.
((Animation Transition))
((Banner))
Art in Wood
((SOT))
((Dennis Turbeville
Owner, Austen/Morris Custom Furniture))
I always start to sketch in the computer. The satisfaction really comes from pleasing my clients, solving that problem, creating a great piece, doing something that I haven’t done before.
((Open Animation))

BLOCK A


((PKG)) A WORD LOVER BECOMES POET LAUREATE
((TRT: 08:36))
((Topic Banner: A Community Poet))
((Reporter: Faiza Elmasry))
((Camera/Editor: Mike Burke))
((Map: Haymarket, Virginia: Dumfries, Virginia))
((Main character: 1 female))
((Sub characters: 2 female; 1 male))
((NATS: Kim B. Miller and the crowd))
Hello, ladies. How is everybody?
Hi.
((Text-over-video:
Poet laureates are often chosen at the national level but smaller jurisdictions can name their own poets to inspire and represent the community.))
((NATS: Kim B. Miller and the crowd))

I'm Kim B. Miller. I'm a lover of words. Nobody wants to be silent. Yet so many are.
((Kim B. Miller
Poet Laureate for Prince William County))
I’m the first Prince William County Poet Laureate. I’m the first African American poet laureate for PWC [Prince William County.]
((NATS))
((Kim B. Miller
Poet Laureate for Prince William County))
I'd say, I really got serious about poetry about 10 years ago. I was writing poetry before that. I found some old love letters that I thought they were poetic but they weren't really good. But when I got really serious about 10 years ago, it changed. The journey changed because I was interested in the imagery and how it felt and how it sounded and how it could touch somebody and change people's lives. Poetry is a all-encompassing, beautiful thing that people kind of tend to overlook. But I look at it as a way of expressing pain, joy, happiness and touching people with all your senses.
((NATS: Kim B. Miller))
Yes, we are that county where nature feeds beauty to diverse hues.
Families of trees welcome visitors.
Leaves bow and the arts bloom endlessly on planted dreams.
With over 40 local parks and one state park,
parks breathe here.
((Kim B. Miller
Poet Laureate for Prince William County))
I put my application in. The application includes you, including your poems with no names. So, the purpose of that is everybody gets poems with no names, so they don't know who they're judging. So, they can pick a poem based on they just read it and loved it. And then I included my project or things I would be doing once I became poet laureate. And I sent my application in and I wished for the best.
((Kelly Haneklau
Member, Prince William County Arts Council))
I think poet laureates bring so much to the county and to our world. They bring a connectivity amongst people. And their work really crosses over all types of people and all, you know, the diversity that's brought in through the arts themselves. I think it's a very important part of our life. And it helps people in so many ways that we are just unaware of, mentally, physically.
((Herb Williams
Arts Recreation Specialist, Prince William County))
She was mesmerized at the fact that this beautiful poetry was coming out and she saw the work that you were doing.
The arts in the county is a great benefit because it offers an opportunity for growth. Wherever arts are, growth and development is naturally either going to join or is going to be elevated. And I think that from the standpoint of Prince William County and its over 400.000 citizens, there's so much room for growth. And we just have to work hard to ensure that every corner of the county is touched by the arts in some way.
((NATS: Kim B. Miller))
So, this is a work in progress but I am getting somewhere.
((Kim B. Miller
Poet Laureate for Prince William County))
I write everything from free hand, which means I'll just write a poem, doesn't rhyme. I'm not a rhyming poet. I do have maybe one or two poems that rhyme but that's not my specialty.
((NATS: Kim B. Miller))
The song is missing its point.
The lines are lost.
No singer will pick up broken notes,
Playing background noise so silence is drowning,
swimming like an anchor.
My lyrics cannot be complete without the chorus of truth.
I write it into every single note.
No more short verses, no more sweet tones.
Let's scream.
Let's let pain escape.
Let's make sure that the sky touches my high notes.
Let the sun burn me.
Light was never meant to be kind.
It was supposed to hurt.
It's a reminder darkness is waiting its turn.
((Kim B. Miller

Poet Laureate for Prince William County))

I'm in love with haiku. And haiku are super short poems, 17 syllable. The original form is beautiful Japanese art. It started in Japan only on nature and flowers. That's what an original haiku is. But they also came with this beautiful thing called a senryu. And that's the form I fell in love with, 17 syllables, any subject.
((NATS: Kim B. Miller))
If you're not racing against yourself, you're on the wrong track.
((Kim B. Miller
Poet Laureate for Prince William County))
I also have Kimisms, which are my sayings. So, I just like poetry and writing and words, period.
((NATS: Kim B. Miller))
I like that one.
Sound is not heard when listening with judgment.
((Kim B. Miller
Poet Laureate for Prince William County))
My joy as poet laureate was to create a couple of different platforms. One was to get us on social media and on websites.
((NATS: Kim B. Miller))
((Courtesy: Kim B. Miller / Zoom))
Then, because COVID was here, I said,
((Courtesy: Kim B. Miller / Zoom))
“Well, you have to reach people online. You reach people where they’re at.”
((NATS: Zoom Moderator))
((Courtesy: Kim B. Miller / Zoom))
I think Jessica has her hand up. So Jessica, go ahead with your question.
((NATS: Jessica and Kim B. Miller))
((Courtesy: Kim B. Miller / Zoom))
What is most of your poems about?
Great question. I do a lot on relationships and I do a lot on parenting.
((Kim B. Miller
Poet Laureate for Prince William County))
Schools in Maryland and D.C., I've been critiquing students,
showing them how to do poetry, speak poetry, say it with passion.
((NATS: Kim B. Miller))
((Courtesy: Kim B. Miller / Zoom))
And whatever way you do your poetry is perfect. Doesn’t mean you don’t have to fine-tune it. I fine-tune mine every day. Doesn’t mean I don’t practice. I practice all the time.
((Kim B. Miller
Poet Laureate for Prince William County))
So, my platform was to go and touch people and explain to them, poetry is bigger than what you think it is. Because people still go, Roses are red, violets are blue. And I say that's not poetry. But poetry is huge. So, let's go with how huge it really is.
((NATS: Kim B. Miller and audience))
How much rain do you have to walk in before you realize you caused the storm?
((Courtesy: Kim B. Miller))
Speak caringly.
Like the soul you’re about to touch will be crushed by every syllable, every verb that you throw at them.
Don’t you know we’re all carrying baggage in different packages? Just because it’s in a Louis Vuitton bag doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt.
((Kim B. Miller
Poet Laureate for Prince William County))
My motive behind my poetry and everything is the fact that I'm a Christian. I believe it's a gift from God. I believe it's one of those beautiful things that…I believe God is a poet. And I think it's really inspiring how we can take different words and use them to feed people. I mean, some people need food. Some people need humanity. Some people need love. Some people need connection.
((Kim B. Miller
Poet Laureate for Prince William County))
And then, when people say, you know, “Well, how would I go about being a poet?” or “How do I go about being a singer?” or whatever it is they were thinking about being. And I'm like, “You can be uniquely who you're supposed to be. But don't think you're supposed to be single-threaded. No one said you only have one talent.”
((NATS: Kim B. Miller))
Please recognize your accomplishments or you will label them failures. You got to be able to see you. And let me couple that with a Kimism. You will never count something as a victory that you did not count as a step.
So, when you're taking your resolutions and breaking them into plans and then breaking them into steps, you have to give yourself an acknowledgement for the steps you're making. I don't count it as a victory. But I need you to start counting your steps as a victory because if not, you won't recognize them. You will never count something as a victory that you did not count as a step.
((Kim B. Miller
Poet Laureate for Prince William County))
Look at all you have on your plate and then expand it.
If your dreams don't scare you, dream bigger.
((NATS: Kim B. Miller))
Any other questions? No? Thank you.
((NATS))


TEASE ((VO/NAT/SOT))
Coming up
((Banner))
Art and Business
((SOT))
((Thomas Mann
Artrepreneur))
I'm here to encourage people and to demonstrate and be an example for them that you can be successful, truly successful as an artist.

BREAK ONE
BUMP IN ((ANIM))


BLOCK B


((PKG)) ARTREPRENEUR
((TRT: 07:50))
((Topic Banner: Artrepreneur))
((Reporter/Camera/Drone: Aaron Fedor))
((Producer: Kathleen McLaughlin))
((Editor: Kyle Dubiel))
((Additional Drone: L. Warren Thompson))
((Map: New Orleans, Louisiana))
((Main character: 1 male))
((Sub characters: 1 female; 2 male))
((NATS))
((Thomas Mann
Artrepreneur))
What is an artrepreneur?
Well, an artrepreneur is basically the extrapolation of an artist into entrepreneurship. And it's my particular point of view that artists are, by their very nature, entrepreneurs.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Thomas Mann
Artrepreneur))
Hi, my name is Thomas Mann. And I am a professional artist celebrating my 52nd year as a self-employed entrepreneurial artist. And I live and work here in New Orleans and I love what I do.
My artistic career really began as a child. My fabulous mom, Charlotte, recognized that I had some sort of talent because I was drawing all the time. And she enrolled me in Saturday art classes at the Baum School of Art in Allentown, Pennsylvania, where I had my first introduction to painting. When I discovered jewelry making in high school in 1963 from a student teacher in one of my high school art classes, I quickly developed an interest in making jewelry because I discovered the connection between jewelry, money and girls.
((NATS))
((Thomas Mann
Artrepreneur))
I would say that the principle inspiration I've had throughout my career that has contributed to the design vocabulary that I am known for, which is called Techno-Romantic jewelry objects. Basically our whole world, primitive culture, current cultures, iconography, history, all of those things combined into the development and the extrapolation of a personal design style. That's always in the background feeding what I do.
((NATS))
((Thomas Mann
Artrepreneur))
Yeah, we're happy to be on this particular corner of Tchoup [itoulas] and Magazine [streets] because a lot of people like you are going, “What's in there? What's in there? What's going on in there?” Yeah. Yeah. Good. So, thanks so much.
((NATS))
((Randy Fertel
Author, Philanthropist))
His role in the craft's movement is huge. The interesting thing about Tom, one of the principle threads in improvisation since antiquity, is that it takes valueless things and makes valuable. The French word is bricoleur. We say tinkerer. He takes old things, puts them together with things that he's fashioned that are meant to look like they were also old things and create something new. And that's, you know, ravishing.
((Thomas Mann
Artrepreneur))
I feel like I'm on a personal artistic mission to constantly imbibing the work with the kind of energy that people witness, recognize, salute and purchase.
((Gwen Thompkins
Reporter, New Orleans Public Radio))
I think the first piece I bought must have been a broach, actually. I really love Tom's broaches. In fact, this is a Tom Mann broach. And they're wonderful conversation pieces and they're delightful and whimsical and wonderful sort of beginnings of conversations.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Gwen Thompkins
Reporter, New Orleans Public Radio))
As you know, New Orleans is one of those cities that is living in lots of different centuries all at the same time. It's living the life that we see in front of us. There's the spiritual life of the city. The dead and the living live together. We coexist together. And for some reason I think that Tom's jewelry, in many ways, is an embodiment of that.
((Courtesy: Thomas Mann))
((Gwen Thompkins
Reporter, New Orleans Public Radio))
You see images of faces, for instance, in the jewelry of people who've lived long ago but who, for some reason, have a spiritual connection to whoever's wearing that piece, for instance. You have these sort of amalgamations of very current and sleek, you know, metals. But at the same time, you’ll have wood or you’ll have some other type of resin, for instance, or you'll have some stone, some piece of glass, for instance, that was discovered
((Courtesy: Thomas Mann))
from a Roman ruin site somewhere in Europe. It's really, you know, just lovely to see the little surprises that are in each piece.
((Gwen Thompkins
Reporter, New Orleans Public Radio))
And this idea of the past and the present together, you know, that are sort of bound by the soul, perhaps initially Tom's soul. But then once you purchase it, once you wear it, then somehow your soul intermingles with it.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Thomas Mann
Artrepreneur))
I'm currently working with
((Courtesy: Thomas Mann))
a group and the leader of the group, who are determined to put artistic know-how back in high school programs.
((Courtesy: Thomas Mann))
((Rev. Goldie Westley
Pastor, Community Activist))
And what Tom does is, being a jeweler, a craftsman and a man of the arts, he possess a skill that's very unique. They're excited over, "Look at what he made. Look at what he can do. I want to see him. I want to meet him. I think I can do that."
((Thomas Mann
Artrepreneur))
In 1993, I had the opportunity to buy the building that we are in today, which is called the Rose Tattoo. That was the name of the bar that I used to attend here in New Orleans in the ‘70s. It closed in ‘82. I bought the building in ‘93 and I've converted it into basically Pee-wee's Funhouse, Tom's artistic environment. That, to me, is inspiring every time I look around the space and know that this is kind of my world. And that's an important part of how the world knows me because I live in my work. I live in the environment of my work all the time.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Randy Fertel
Author, Philanthropist))
He's a wild man, my kind of wild man. He's a lot of fun.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Randy Fertel
Author, Philanthropist))
He's got a lot to say, says it well, both in his art and in his narratives.
((Thomas Mann
Artrepreneur))
There's a belief system in our culture that you can't really make a living as an artist. So, I'm here to encourage people and to demonstrate and be an example for them that you can be successful, truly successful, as an artist.
((Courtesy: L. Warren Thompson))
((NATS/MUSIC))

TEASE ((VO/NAT/SOT))
Coming up
((Banner))
Creating in Wood
((SOT))
((Dennis Turbeville
Owner, Austen/Morris Custom Furniture))
When I first meet with clients, one of the first things I ask is, “Why are you looking for custom?” People are coming to me to solve a problem. And they can’t find what they’re looking for in the market, something that would match their aesthetic.

BREAK TWO
BUMP IN ((ANIM))

BLOCK C


((PKG)) THE ART OF FURNITURE
((TRT: 04:42))
((Topic Banner: The Art of Furniture))
((Reporter/Camera/Editor: Jeff Swicord))
((Map: Washington, DC))
((Main character: 1 male))
((Sub characters: 2 male))
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Dennis Turbeville
Owner, Austen/Morris Custom Furniture))
I first became interested in furniture when I was pretty young. I’ve been a designer for a long time. I had a career in advertising and graphic design for about 15 years. As a designer, you look at things differently and you think how could that be improved? I found myself falling into a rhythm of kind of doing the same thing over and over again. And I knew that if I was truly going to be happy and if I was going to have less stress in my life and find more joy in my work, that I had to do something different. I love a challenge and furniture-making offers lots and lots of challenges.
((NATS))
((Dennis Turbeville
Owner, Austen/Morris Custom Furniture))
I tend to put myself in the Scandinavian, mid-century-esque aesthetic.
((Courtesy: Dennis Turbeville))
((Dennis Turbeville
Owner, Austen/Morris Custom Furniture))
What mid-century did so well was make beautiful pieces that are durable, functional but also not over the top. When I first meet with clients, one of the first things I ask is, “Why are you looking for custom?” People are coming to me to solve a problem. And they can’t find what they’re looking for in the market, something that would match their aesthetic. I always start to sketch in the computer. The satisfaction really comes from pleasing my clients, solving that problem, creating a great piece, doing something that I haven’t done before. ((MUSIC))
((NATS: Dennis Turbeville and client))
How are you doing?
I’m good.
Dennis.
((Dennis Turbeville
Owner, Austen/Morris Custom Furniture))
I like working with wood. So much history buried inside of each tree. Some of the trees I work with, they were there when the [1860’s] Civil War was, you know, going on.
((NATS: Dennis Turbeville and client))
So how long…this has been here for a few years, right? Two years?
Yeah.
This is the stuff that’s really, really, going to be killer.
((Dennis Turbeville
Owner, Austen/Morris Custom Furniture))
This tree was planted in 1910 in Washington D.C. This is a walnut tree. They had it cut down. They had it milled on their property. And I just picked these up for a project that I am going to do for them. And I just love that. Like, these trees have seen the [1960’s] race riots. It’s seen all these different presidents. It’s seen gentrification. It’s seen when there was no houses there. I think that’s part of the story and you’re not going to get that when you buy furniture from any major big box retailer. And the homeowner is going to be able to tell that story to everybody that eats at their new dining table. And it just fascinates me that all this history can be in these trees.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Dennis Turbeville
Owner, Austen/Morris Custom Furniture))
Making furniture is kind of a romantic thing for me. I love walking in, flicking the lights on, turning my music on. This is my temple. This is like where I want to spend all of my time. One of the most fun parts of my build is when you put it through a planer, you put it through a joiner and you can start to see that grain like you can get really excited. I’m basically making everything from scratch.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Dennis Turbeville
Owner, Austen/Morris Custom Furniture))
Leaving my career was really, really hard. I did always know that I could kind of come back to it but the further I get away from it, the less likely that’s going to be. I had a great time, spent 15 years doing that but I am done.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Dennis Turbeville
Owner, Austen/Morris Custom Furniture))
I love furniture. I love design. To be honest, I didn’t think that I would have much success at first. You know, now I am busier than I ever thought was possible.
((NATS/MUSIC))

CLOSING BUMPER ((ANIM))
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((PKG)) FREE PRESS MATTERS ((NATS/VIDEO/GFX))
((Popup captions over B Roll))
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BREAK THREE
BUMP IN ((ANIM))

SHOW ENDS