The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell

Changing the World – One Poem at a Time Having been graciously selected by the members of The Aiken Poets to serve as Poet Laureate, I wondered what I could do to make people more excited about poetry and to make poetry better appreciated, noticed, read, memorized, written, and shared. Then I came up with this idea I call Pocket Poetry — a few lines in rhyme or free verse, written in calligraphy on white or colored cards, and distributed at random to people I meet. They go to people I know, people who provide a service, like the cashiers at the supermarket, the teller at the bank, the postal

As I have mentioned before, I am a huge fan of Audible. As a mom of two dancers, I spend a lot of time driving and waiting. Audible allows me to access a nearly endless list of audio books from my phone, in the car, in the studio waiting room, and while sewing. For a monthly charge I receive a limited number of credits included in my plan. This month, after realizing I had already used my credits catching up on speculative fiction series involving dragons and talking ships, I evaluated my options. I keep my in-person shopping limited these days, but Amazon had print and Kindle versions available, and

An Evening of Art & Music • September 30 • 4:30 – 7:30 pm We, here at Bella, are excited about small scale events coming back to life. Not only have our beloved Bella Buzz pages been empty, but no events have occurred to fill the famous “Scene Around Town” section, leaving the pages of Bella empty of the faces of Aiken. A duo of women, Peggy Penland and Katy Lipscomb, are rallying for indoor/outdoor events featuring music, art, and community to entice us to get out and experience life. And so was born An Evening of Art & Music, scheduled for September 30, 4:30 – 7:30 pm. The past

Meet Aiken Center for the Arts’ (ACA) new music instructor, Canaan Peeples. Canaan joins ACA this fall and will be offering individual instruction programs for all skill levels on the guitar, bass, banjo, and mandolin. His experience gives the student the opportunity to choose the genre they want to learn, be it bluegrass, blues, rock, or classical. Canaan is a classically trained guitarist from Barnwell, South Carolina. He was endowed with an amazing talent for adding color to music with emotion and tone. At 30 years old, Canaan has over 25 years of performing and musical experience. He started playing guitar when he was only 3 years old, and his