Susan Stinson ([info]susanstinson) wrote,
@ 2008-04-20 08:11:00
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Entry tags:toni brown

Toni Brown


Susan Stinson, Sally Bellerose, Toni Brown, Janet Mason, Janet Aalfs, 2005, Northampton/Philly reading, originally uploaded by susanliz.



Edited to add: There is a memorial for Toni this Sunday, April 27, at the Painted Bride Art Center in Philadelphia -- 230 Vine Street, Philadelphia , PA 19106 from 2 to 4, people are invited to bring memories, photos of Toni they may have, and light refreshments to share. Her family will be there. There is info on parking and directions in a comment below.

UPDATE:
I saw the following information, with more of Toni's strong, strong poetry, here.

Toni Brown Memorials

Friday, April 25, 2008
Trinity Episcopal Church
3 Goddard Avenue
Rockland, Massachusetts
7-9pm
(781-871-0096)

My friend, writer Toni Brown, has died. She's the beautiful African American woman in the middle in the picture above, which was taken the last time I saw her, at a reading in Northampton two and a half years ago.

I just heard this, and can barely believe it. Toni had such gorgeous, generous habits. Once, when we were in a tiny plane to Philadelphia to do a reading -- we did that, we had a reading in Northampton for a Philadelphia feminist writers group, and they held a reading in Philadelphia for us, mostly, I think, through Toni's wide network of friends, but also because we'd been running into each other at the OutWrite conference in Boston. So we were crammed into these way too small seats on a little plane that was bouncing with the weather, and when I told Toni I was sorry for taking up some of her scarce room, she leaned closer, snuggled in, and said, "Yum," or words to that effect. That is probably the best moment that I have ever had on a plane in my life.

After Toni moved to Philadelphia, she put me up more than once when I was travelling through to give readings. She introduced me when I read at Giovanni's Room after a Nolose conference. I know that some of the folks on my friendslist were there, so you might remember her. After the reading (it's one that kind of shimmers in my mind as intense and intimate), she and Janet Mason walked with me to the car. Toni had brought a copy of my book, Belly Songs (which was itself published by a micropress Sally Bellerose, Janet Aalfs and I -- all above! -- formed out of the writers group), and, since she asked me to, I read it aloud on the sidewalk to her and Janet as they leaned against the car.

We haven't been keeping in close touch, but, oh, I'll miss having her here in the world. If I hear more about a memorial, I'll post it.

(Post a new comment)


[info]amarama
2008-04-20 03:47 pm UTC (link)
Love and condolences, Susan. This is really sad.

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[info]susanstinson
2008-04-20 03:50 pm UTC (link)
Thank you, hon. It is, it's really sad. I was just remembering that you were at that reading after Nolose in Philadelphia

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[info]amarama
2008-04-20 04:02 pm UTC (link)
Yeah, I have a vague recollection of her from that reading. Losing friends really fucking sucks. I hope you're as well as possible.

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[info]daisydumont
2008-04-20 03:53 pm UTC (link)
oh, how terribly sad. the poem for ian is very moving. what a shame such a lively voice is silenced.

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[info]susanstinson
2008-04-20 08:02 pm UTC (link)
Lively voice, for sure. I love that poem.

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[info]oursin
2008-04-20 04:03 pm UTC (link)
So sorry to hear this. Condolences and sympathies.

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[info]susanstinson
2008-04-20 08:03 pm UTC (link)
Thank you.

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Unfair!
[info]crazycrone
2008-04-20 04:08 pm UTC (link)
What sad news. Condolences.

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Re: Unfair!
[info]susanstinson
2008-04-20 08:04 pm UTC (link)
Thank you. It seems right to me that people all over are thinking of Toni and maybe reading a bit of her work.

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[info]desayunoencama
2008-04-20 04:14 pm UTC (link)
My sympathies.

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[info]susanstinson
2008-04-20 08:04 pm UTC (link)
Thank you.

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[info]kellidunham
2008-04-20 04:53 pm UTC (link)
Oh, I am so sorry. I remember one day in Mount Airy, running into Toni walking her dog. I think Janet might have been with her? Anyway, she was talking about the loveliness of the night and she said "it smells like hope." She said this just out of nowhere, and then the previous conversation resumed. I thought perhaps she was quoting someone, but it was such a singular act of presence that I have though of it many times since.

My sympathies.

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[info]susanstinson
2008-04-20 08:05 pm UTC (link)
Oh, I should have that thought that you might know Toni. What a beautiful story. She was full of singular acts of presence, was Toni.

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[info]charlottecooper
2008-04-20 06:35 pm UTC (link)
Sad, sad news. I remember that reading in Philly and I'm really sorry to hear that she's gone.

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[info]susanstinson
2008-04-20 08:08 pm UTC (link)
It is, it's sad. I thought you'd remember the reading -- I thought you were so intrepid to drive us to the bookstore, and I'd never would have made it on time without that. And then, while I was waiting upstairs, Toni walked in, with another kind of home feeling about her -- it doesn't make sense to try to describe it, but, of course, I'm thinking a lot about her today.

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[info]firecat
2008-04-20 08:05 pm UTC (link)
I'm so sorry. The poems are beautiful.

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[info]susanstinson
2008-04-20 08:11 pm UTC (link)
Thank you. "For Ian" just gives such a strong sense of her voice, for me, and it's a rarely described moment, elemental almost, and brave to try to give it its wholeness, broken car, and all. Writing that made me sigh really hard -- Toni.

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[info]mbogoo
2008-04-20 09:10 pm UTC (link)
I am so sorry. I work with Janet Mason and she was telling me that her friend Toni had been having a lot of health problems. I was so surprised to see this post while checking out the latests posts linked to Rachel's (The F-Word) blog. She told me some things about Toni and I'm very sorry you lost her. You all have my condolences.

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[info]susanstinson
2008-04-20 10:13 pm UTC (link)
Thank you. Janet told my friend Sally about this morning, and Sally called me. I'm sorry you had to learn about this in a such an unexpected way, but I do think it's a good and powerful thing that so many people are thinking about Toni right now. She was such a lovely person.

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[info]mbogoo
2008-04-21 12:00 am UTC (link)
It's OK. :) I'm glad I know so I am prepared for Janet to not be her usual perky self tomorrow. She's really a great person to know and she spoke highly of Toni.

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[info]plaid_is_best
2008-04-21 03:29 am UTC (link)
You and Janet Mason look like sisters

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[info]susanstinson
2008-04-21 11:53 am UTC (link)
She's so much than me that we don't really, in person, but I see what you're saying.

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[info]susanstinson
2008-04-21 11:53 am UTC (link)
taller than me

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[info]oneroom
2008-04-21 03:43 am UTC (link)
Oh, Susan. I'm sorry. I remember this picture - it is beautiful. Thank you for writing such a beautiful remembrance.

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[info]susanstinson
2008-04-21 11:55 am UTC (link)
Toni's poem "For Ian," (it's at the link in the post above) echoed so strongly for me with all that you wrote yesterday. It was like a conversation.

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(Anonymous)
2008-04-22 04:15 pm UTC (link)
I just heard about Toni's passing. There will be two memorial services in: Philadelphia , Pennsylvania and Rockland, Massachusetts. Don't know where to get more info, but just wanted to let you know. AML

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[info]susanstinson
2008-04-24 02:15 pm UTC (link)
Thank you so much for the information.

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(Anonymous)
2008-04-22 07:16 pm UTC (link)
My daughter is a current student of Toni's at Montgomery County Community College. Even from the hospital she stayed in touch with her student by email. We are so very shocked by her passing and give our condolences to you and all of her family and friends.

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[info]susanstinson
2008-04-24 02:14 pm UTC (link)
She was such a committed writer, and in every context I knew her, she was supporting other writers in their work. I bet she was such a good teacher. I feel like the condolences coming through here are for everyone who is mourning Toni, especially, yes, her family and dearest ones.

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Toni
(Anonymous)
2008-04-22 09:02 pm UTC (link)
I worked with Toni at Big Sisters/Girls Inc. She was an earth mother to all the girls and the staff. She encouraged my writing career and because of her I took risks in my writing. Thank you for posting this tribute to her. What a wonderful soul..

Nancy McCullar

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Re: Toni
[info]susanstinson
2008-04-24 02:26 pm UTC (link)
As I'm thinking about Toni, all sorts of memories are coming back, and one is talking to her a little about a sort of archive she had, of interviews, I think they might have been tapes, conversations she had with other women who were mothers and, I think, were participating in or identified in some way with feminism and/or womanism in (I think) the seventies and eighties. I know she had serious information and nuanced perceptions from all that listening and lived experience and thinking and writing and working about being a mother and mothering and caring work of all kinds. Different ways she encouraged my writing are coming to me, too.

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[info]serazin
2008-04-22 11:09 pm UTC (link)
How shocking. She sounds like she was a wonderful person.

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[info]susanstinson
2008-04-24 02:29 pm UTC (link)
Yeah, she really was. A full person, you know, with the full range of human qualities, like we all have, and, from my perspective, from this distance, and over time, really persistently hardworking, kind, generous and perceptive, and kind of quietly, intent and serious about the things that really matter, for all her wicked sense of humor.

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I knew Toni from her work at Girls Incorporated
(Anonymous)
2008-04-24 01:14 am UTC (link)
I was so heartbroken to hear about Toni! She took a grantwriting class from me, amd later recommended me to her boss at Girls Incorporated. I worked closely with Toni just recently on a $300,000 grant request to the Mellon Foundation,...and now she's gone! Here is the information on the memorial that I received this morning from Jan at Girls Incorporated:

Toni Brown, a long time employee of Girls Inc. passed away Saturday, April 19th. Toni was the Director of Education, Training and Outreach and a true champion of inspiring all girls to be strong, smart andbold! She will truly be missed by her Girls Inc. family and all of those whoselives she touched.
>
>Services for Toni will be this coming Sunday, April 27th@ 2 p.m. at The Painted Bride Art Center located at 230 Vine Street (between 2ndand 3rd) in Old City.
>
>Here are directions and parkinginformation for Sunday:
>Parking
>Street Parking is available along 3rd St., Vine between 3rd and 4th Streets, and on Wood St.
>
> Nearby Attended Lots:
>
>Old City Parkominium*, 231 N 2nd Street
> $10 evenings
>
>Olde City Garage - Patriot Parking, 304 Race Street
> $14 Fri & Sat evenings
> $7 Sun-Thurs evenings
>
> E-Z Parks, 44 N. 3rd Street
> $10 evenings
>
> Central Parking, 218 Arch Street
> $10 evenings
>
>Getting to the Bride
>By Subway:
> Take the Market-Frankford line to 2nd and Market, walk North on 2nd or 3rd St. to Vine.
>
> SEPTA Bus Routes:
> Market Street (East/West): No. 17, 33, 44, 48, 121. 3rd & 4th Streets (North/South): No. 57
>
> From Points North:
> 1-95 South to Center City/ Callowhill exit, continue straight on 2nd Street one block to Vine Street. Right on Vine to the theater.
>
> From Points West:
> Schuylkill Expressway to I-676 (Central Philadelphia) exit. Take I-676 and exit South on 8th Street to Race. Go left on Race to 3rd Street and then left on 3rd to Vine.
>
> From Points South:
> I-95 North to Columbus Blvd. exit. Left onto Columbus Blvd., follow to Center City exit (right over I-95) to 2nd and Market Streets. Proceed one block to 3rd Street. Go right to Vine.
>
> From South Jersey:
> Cross the Ben Franklin Bridge. At the base of the bridge, turn right onto 5th Street. Go one block to Wood Street and turn right. Go two blocks to 2nd Street and turn right, one block to Vine, turn right to the Bride.
>
(posted by Linda Procopio: www.procopiofundraising.com )

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Re: I knew Toni from her work at Girls Incorporated
[info]susanstinson
2008-04-24 05:53 pm UTC (link)
This reminded me of grassroots fundraising that I've seen Toni do as part of the writers group we were in together years ago, and made me want to post one of the poems that was in a chapbook, Tuesday Night that published the writing some of that group. This was one of Toni's (it originally came from a writing exercise we did together about; I've edited this to use the later version from Toni's chapbook, Sightings):

Like the Weeds...

I am like the weeds
green and brown
sturdy stems pushing out
fibrous leaves that will survive
sharp as mustard

I sprout bitter flowers
and many seeds able
on the edge of a filament
to float on a sigh
and travel far

There are burrs
woody barbs with curved sharp edges
Do Not Touch I say
my voice bright as poison ivy
breath a miasma of skunk cabbage

Looking for moist black earth
to settle into waiting for rain
I throw out roots grow
my crab-like grasses push up through sidewalks
or roll as tumble weed on dusty plains

I move unnoticed from day to day
and everywhere are my kin

Toni Brown

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toni brown
(Anonymous)
2008-04-28 07:40 pm UTC (link)
toni was a dear friend for more than 20 years. i think i published more of her work than any other single publisher and she was working on a young adult novel for me before she died. we used to eat chinese food together and laugh--a lot. she was allergic to walnuts and cats and,like me, hated mushrooms. we had writing, women, germantown and many other things in common and i will miss her with all my heart---victoria brownworth

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Re: toni brown
[info]susanstinson
2008-04-28 08:08 pm UTC (link)
Thank you for coming by here to honor Toni. Your friendship sounds like a gorgeous one. And thank you for publishing so much of her work.

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[info]haannabee
2008-04-29 04:46 pm UTC (link)
I lived with Toni Brown.......I loved her intensely, she was my lover and my friend and our connection ran deep. We shared a home for a few years......a time too brief but it was magic. She helped shape my daughter who was young at the time, she's now 21 and a beautiful person, a writer and a poet, influenced no doublt by Toni with whom she maintained a continual relationship. We loved her and she loved us. I called her "Toni, My Toni" and she responded, "Ann, of My Ann."
I will never be the same.....my grief inconsolable. I believe now that she must have always known her time here was short.....she didn't have time to linger long with earthbound issues, (no matter whose issues they were), she was driven, she had a lot to do.....and she did a lot.

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[info]susanstinson
2008-05-06 03:23 am UTC (link)
I am so sorry for the loss, Ann, and praise the love that you and Toni had between you.

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