First and foremost, these affiliates of the Miss Black USA pageants

focus on recognizing scholastic achievement and the impact that education can have on achieving lifetime success. Lori Bryant, the 2010 Miss Black New Jersey USA winner, plans on attending law school in the fall of 2010 while also working to start her own online book club that will cater to issues that directly affect African American women. In addition, she seeks to give back to her community by teaching free dance lessons to inner-city youth in addition to encouraging young people to vote and advocating breast cancer awareness.  She believes that success “can be defined as a journey where one has to overcome obstacles that shape his or her character.”

            The main pageant itself is definitely an event that leads its young female participants to grow as individuals. The Miss Black New Jersey and the Miss Black New York competitions are based on participants’ scores in a personal interview, on-stage question and answer, a talent, evening gown, and personal fitness. Fedlene Larose, the 2010 winner of the Miss Black New Jersey Talented Teen competition, believes that, while many perceive pageants are based on beauty or superiority, that it challenges “physical and mental endurance.” Larose is convinced that the Miss Black New Jersey Talented Teen competition helped her to learn what she is capable of, in addition to the various aspects that she needs to improve on in order to project herself as a “confident young woman.”

            The Miss Black New Jersey USA and the Miss Black New York USA pageants, in addition to each organization’s Talented Teen pageants, seek to showcase the talent, beauty, and intellect of young women to family, friends, and a panel of judges in 2011. Applicants for the Miss Black New Jersey and Miss Black New York pageants must be between the ages of eighteen and twenty-seven and must be either a high school graduate or in their senior year of high school. They must live, work, or attend school in either New Jersey or New York respectively, and, in addition, have a 2.5 cumulative GPA at the time of their application. Talented Teen applicants must be between the ages of thirteen to seventeen. Interested young women should apply online at either www.missblacknewjersey.org and www.missblacknewyork.org.

            Larose speaks highly of the way the pageant helped her learn the importance of responsibility, dependability, and commitment. The pageant winners’ focus and drive for causes and lessons outside of the typical conception of beauty pageants is certainly something that young women-as well as men and women of all ages araces can certainly learn from themselves.

The post The Miss Black New Jersey USA and the Miss Black New York USA Pageants first appeared on River View Observer.

Hoboken Film Festival
Saturday, May 30th at 12:00 PM
Cedar Lake Cinemas
503 Cedar Lane
Teanek, NJ 07666

New Jersey Film Festival
Sunday, June 7th at 7:00 PM
Milledoler Hall #100
(Near the corner of College Avenue and Hamilton Street)
College Avenue Campus, Rutgers University
New Brunswick, New Jersey

Director & Producer: Beth Toni Kruvant 2008
Executive Producer: Paul Bartick Composer: Ben Decter
Editor: Anand Kamalakar Director of Photography: David Harges
Good Footage Productions

Running time: 84 minutes

Heart of Stone – an inspirational documentary film by independent film producer and director Beth Toni Kruvant – documents the challenges of an inner city high school in the Weequahic section of Newark, NJ and the workings of its devoted principal Ron Stone, ambitious Jewish and African American alumni, students, and even gang members, to restore the school’s safety and past glory.

Urban life in Weequahic changed abruptly after the 1967 Newark Riots. Jewish families moved out and were replaced by many poor African Americans. For the next 30 years, a culture of discipline was replaced by a culture of crime as academic performance plummeted and the Bloods and Crips ruled campus and the streets. It was not until 2001 that Weequahic High School saw a glimmer of hope with the arrival of its new principal, Ron Stone, who vowed to return the school back to its former glory.

Principal Stone was an unconventional African American educator who stunned many in Newark when he married a Jewish woman. His unconventional attitude was at the heart of the conflict resolution program he created in order to work with the school’s gang members whom the local police dismissed as fated criminals.

Stone, who watched students engage in a mass brawl upon his arrival to the school, was able to make a truce with the gangs and even establish the school as a “non-violence” zone. He partnered with the Jewish and African American alumni to raise funds for college scholarships, but it was the familial relationships he developed with students that inspired gang members to leave the comfort of the streets and attend college.

HEART OF STONE provides a thought-provoking look into America’s history of racial tension and why education is the road to change.

Stone proved through his personal life and through his leadership at Weequahic High School that it is possible for people of different races to work together to create better and safer communities.

AWARDS
Audience Award – 2009 Slamdance Film Festival
Kaiser Permanente Thrive Award – 2009 Cinequest Film Festival
Best Documentary Feature – 2009 Cinequest Film Festival
Best Feature Film – 2009 Philadelphia Film Festival
HEART OF STONE DATES & VENUES

 

Kim Dixon
Founder / CEO
dominion3
Film Corporate Events
6464 Sunset Boulevard, Suite #740
Hollywood, CA 90028

telephone: 323.466.3393
facsimile: 323.466.2773

kim@dominion3.com
http://dominion3.com

 

The post Heart of Stone -Being Shown May 30th Hoboken Int’l Film Festival first appeared on River View Observer.