Starting this month we're going to support the many wonderful charities and non-profit organizations with a digital town hall streamed live from our websites.  This month we're focusing on Lupus with a hour that will focus on the disease on Wednesday May 15th from 1-2 pm.  It'll be streamed live on www.wdasfm.com, www.wdasam.com and www.power99.com keyword "community." Guest include  Annette Myarick  - Chief Executive Offices of Lupus Foundation of American Philadelphia – Tri State, Regina Spencer – Lupus Advocate and volunteer living with Lupus, Dr. Anapama Shahane, Assistant Professor, Division of Rheumatology University of Pennsylvania.  Also joining the discussion are Bryant M. Green Always Best Care Senior Services – an organization that works with Lupus patients, Jonathan Marks – National Development Director Alliance for Lupus Research and Diomaris Gonzales – Assistant Director, Research Administration for Alliance for Lupus Research.

 Lupus is a chronic, autoimmune disease that can damage any part of the body (skin, joints and/or organs inside the body).

Lupus is also a disease of flares (the symptoms worsen and you feel ill) and remissions (the symptoms improve and you feel better). Lupus can be mild or serious but should always be treated by a doctor. It can truly impact the life of someone living with Lupus.  Here are just some of the symptoms:

• extreme fatigue (tiredness)
• headaches
• painful or swollen joints
• fever
• anemia (caused by low numbers of red blood cells or hemoglobin, or low total blood volume)
• swelling (edema) in feet, legs, or around eyes
• Pain in the chest on deep breathing (pleurisy)
• Butterfly-shaped rash across the cheeks and nose
• Sun- or light-sensitivity (photosensitivity)
• Hair loss
• Blood-clotting problems
• Fingers turning white and/or blue in the cold (Raynaud’s phenomenon)
• Ulcers in mouth or nose

Because the symptoms mimic many other conditions - it's often misdiagnosed but with good medical care, most people with lupus can lead a full life.

In the United States alone it is believed that at least 1.5 million people -- women, men, teens, and children -- have lupus. More than 16,000 new cases are reported across the country each year.

• Lupus strikes mostly women of childbearing age (15-44). However, men, children and teenagers develop lupus, too.
• Women of color are 2-3 times more likely to develop lupus.
• People of all races and ethnic groups can develop lupus.

Please join us for this important conversation. 

I met four beautiful women who demonstrated that you can dress stylishly and modestly.  Saniyyah Bilal, Ameerah Khabir, Aliyah Ali and Lubna Muhammad came to the studio to talk about the upcoming 15th Annual Sister's Recognition Luncheon and Fashion Show on Saturday May 11th at the Hilton on City Ave.  

the event is one of the longest running Islamically based fashion shows in the United States and will feature designers for modest closets of Muslim women and women of all kinds who just want to look good.  We had a great conversation that dispelled a lot of stereotype surrounding the clothing worn by Muslim women.  Check out the interview by clicking here  and find about more about the luncheon and United Muslim Masjid by clicking here. 

On Wednesday April 11th The City Commissioner's Office is sponsoring an event called Be the Boss at the Shoprite 6901 Ridge Avenue  starting at 2 pm kicking off a voter awareness campaign.  City Commissioner Stephanie Singer and Deputy City Commissioner Dennis Lee reminds us that we're the boss of elected officials.  Check out my interview with them. Click here.

When I was first starting out in life after graduation - the minimum wage was about $4.25
an hour. I managed to survive just fine with three roommates splitting the rent and expenses. We took turns cooking every night and we ate well. I had a pair of jeans I rotated with another pair of jeans. My parents (who were far from rich) made sure my tuition was paid for so I didn't have crushing college debt. I was single and marriage and a child were still far off.

If the minimum wage was indexed to inflation – today it would be around $10.55 an
hour. (some suggest it would have been much higher. )  It’s far from that.   In Pennsylvania it’s 7.25 an hour.  For the working poor life becomes a juggling act of making daily decisions between paying the rent, food and other necessities of life. 

President Barack Obama has proposed raising the federal minimum wage to $9 an hour by 2015. Earlier this month, two congressmen introduced a bill to gradually increase it to $10.10 an hour, or nearly a 40 percent increase. Both plans would index the wage to inflation each year and raise the minimum wage for tipped a worker, which is now $2.13 an hour, for the first time in about 20 years. Advocates say a higher minimum wage would put more money in customers’ pockets and help all types of businesses. Critics claim it would burden
employers and hurt hiring.  I had the chance to speak to Acting US Labor Secretary of Labor Seth Harris who addressed the issue in a recent edition on Insight.  Hear the interview by clicking here.

The extraordinary musical Fela! based on the life of political activist and internationally acclaimed Afrobeat artist Fela Kuti has returned to Philadelphia for a week.  I caught the opening night performance at the Merriam Theater yesterday and was reminded of how relevant his music remains.   Fela was one of the first Afrobeat artists I came to know, whose music made powerful statements about political oppression and corruption, violence, corporate misdeeds and police brutality. He released the album Zombie in 1977 using the zombie metaphor to describe the methods of the Nigerian Military. It was a smash hit that so angered the government that they attacked his compound, threw his elderly mother out of an open window killing her. Fela himself was almost killed. He continued to make politically charged music and his life is captured brilliantly in the musical Fela! playing through Sunday at the Merriam Theater.

Sitting in my seat at the Merriam Theater I listened as  slowly instrument by instrument the distinctive Afrobeat sounds built  up with the polyrhythmic drums to the blasting horns.  Dancers entered the stage one by one and finally the actor Adesola Osakalumi who plays Fela appeared. From that moment on the audience was all in - joining in the call and response moments, joyfully dancing and in my case wiping away tears not only because of Fela’s suffering and tragic death by AIDS but by the names on the little coffins placed on the stage that represented the troubles and challenges of the world.  One bore the name Trayvon Martin. For info about the artist Fela click here.  For my interview with Adesola Osakalumi click here and by all means see Fela! before it leaves Philadelphia.