An estimated 2,000 Haitians in Florida under Temporary Protection Status (TPS) were granted more time to stay in the Sunshine State, at least for now. TPS was extended this week for four groups in the U.S. – Salvadorans, Hondurans, Sudanese and Haitians – allowing TPS holders from those countries to remain in the U.S. until Jan. 2, 2020. The Trump administration announced in 2017 that it was ending TPS for those four countries in 2018. Marleine Bastien, Executive Director of Family Action Movement Network (FAMN), joined Sundial to discuss the extension.
Gulliver Schools,in partnership with Florida International University, the CLEO Institute and National Geographic, is hosting the Miami Youth Climate Summiton Saturday, March 9. The Summit is specifically designed for teachers and students and will include breakout sessions and a screening of the Netflix Documentary “Chasing Coral,” featuring coral expert Zack Rago. Rago and Gulliver Schools Biology teacher Emilia Odife, who was part of the 12th group of National Geographic Grosvenor Teacher Fellows in the Galapagos in 2017, joined Sundial to preview the summit.
Palm Beach State College English Professor Brad Johnson is attempting to change the narrative and perspectives around poetry, which he calls “a lost language.” He recently won the prestigious Wheelbarrow Books Poetry Prize from Michigan State University and will have a book of poetry published through Wheelbarrow Press next year. In Johnson’s first full-length poetry collection, “The Happiness Theory,” he writes what he calls “witness poetry,” accounts of what he or his family experience in their day-to-day lives. Johnson joined Sundial to talk about the intersection of poetry and politics and his advice for students pursuing a literary career.
In the 1950s and 60s, many mambo music fans were Jewish. A new documentary film premiering at the Miami Film Festival,https://vimeo.com/267148924" style="color: rgb(1, 143, 226); text-decoration-line: underline;">“The Mamboniks,”chronicles the rise of mambo music in the U.S., and how it specifically appealed to Jews from New York to Miami Beach. Director and documentary filmmaker Lex Gillespie joined Sundial to talk about the film and the passionate Jewish dance he found, like “Mambo Judie.” The film will show on Wednesday, March 6 at Silverspot in Downtown Miami at 7 p.m.