by Yanick Rice Lamb | Jun 24, 2014 | Articles, Websites |
Samantha Hawkins marked the seasons of 2010 from a hospital bed at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx. She was admitted in the spring for 83 days, came out for two weeks in early summer, and returned for five and a half months spanning fall and winter. Finally, Hawkins went home for the holidays on Dec. 21. For her family, the homecoming was a Christmas miracle. At times, her relatives thought she might not make it, said her mother, Lula Hawkins. They held her hands, praying and shoring up each other through one complication after another from kidney disease, congestive heart failure, diabetes and a mysterious inflammatory ailment finally diagnosed as sarcoidosis. “That’s when things started going downhill,” said her older sister, Gwen Cooper. Hawkins has endured a 10-day coma, three mini-strokes, three bouts of pneumonia, plus surgery in August to implant a heart pump. Despite her list of ailments, part of what kept the 45-year-old stuck in the hospital was her lack of insurance. Once upon a time, Hawkins had medical coverage as a housekeeper at a hospital in Westchester County, New York. After she left that job three years ago, she took out a policy on her own, but then the insurance company dropped her. When Hawkins ended up at Montefiore, weeks turned into months as she lay in a hospital bed with no way to cover her stay there or her next level of care. In the meantime, the hospital absorbed her bill while trying to help her find a way to pay for nursing care at her mother’s apartment or for long-term care at a facility willing...
by Yanick Rice Lamb | Jun 14, 2014 | Articles, My Work, Websites |
Published in the Arts Desk section of The City Paper’s website: The fans lined up as early as 3 a.m. to secure prime real estate in the tent cities or on the sloping main lawn. It looked as if they were leaving for a month-long vacation, towing food and creature comforts on dollies, customized wagons, and platform trucks that contractors use to haul lumber. They brought air mattresses, inflatable chaise lounges, camping beds, and even landscape lights to mark their territory. All this for just a day at the Capital Jazz Fest at Merriweather Post Pavilion. For two decades, many area music lovers have made it a ritual to kick off the summer with some of their favorite jazz, R&B, and hip-hop artists at the festival. The venue was packed to near-capacity on Friday night and sold out Saturday and Sunday, with roughly 20,000 people swarming the 40 acres of Symphony Woods each day to hear artists ranging from Les Nubians to Michael Franks. Adrienne Braswell of Alexandria, Va., sold 233 of those tickets to a group of enthusiasts she calls Braswell’s Circle, which stretches from Georgia to New York. Reconnecting with old friends was one of the best parts of the weekend, said members of the Charlotte, N.C., Jazz Fest Crew. “We’ve been coming every year since 2001,” said Jeannine Chandler, who traveled to Columbia, Md., from Atlanta with her husband. Many fans were hard-pressed to pinpoint the highlight of their highlights. For some, it was hearing Erykah Badu (below) on Friday, Rick Braun on Saturday, or Keiko Matsui on Sunday. Others singled out Kem, Jeff Lorber, the O’Jays, and local favorite Marcus Johnson of Silver Spring, Md. Faith Evans invited some attendees to dance onstage, while Joe and Dwele wandered into the crowd...
Recent Comments