This program is being offered virtually through Zoom. In order to participate and receive the Zoom link, register by clicking the RSVP button above or by emailing programs@smithcenter.org.

You will receive the Zoom information no later than the morning of your program.

with Martina Sestakova 

No matter what ‘change’ may mean to you, the theme will inspire us during a guided meditation and a visual exploration of ‘change’ in a medium of your choice (e.g., magazine cutouts). By the end of the workshop, you’ll have created a one-of-a-kind artwork communicating your particular experience of change. No experience needed.

Suggested Materials: 

  • Magazines
  • Colored pencils
  • Watercolors
  • Brush
  • Watercolor paper
  • Photographs
  • Cup with water
  • Paper towel
  • Pencil
  • Pen
  • Paper for notetaking
  • Glue

You are welcome to use any materials for a collage that you enjoy even if they are not listed. Martina Sestakova, your instructor, will create a sample artwork combining colored pencils and magazine cutouts).

Suggested Donation: $15


About Martina Sestakova

Martina Sestakova (owner at RADOST) engages in textile design, painting, and art education. Martina creates scarves that invoke stories of life experiences. Her scarves have been featured on Voice of America and at the Smithsonian American Art Museum (DC). In her paintings on yupo, she communicates words through colors and shapes. Her artworks have been shown at the Adah Rose Gallery (MD) and Latela Curatorial (DC) and other art institutions. As an art educator, Martina offers workshops and brings creativity to the public and communities with limited access to the arts. Martina Sestakova resides in Kensington, MD.

This program is being offered virtually through Zoom. In order to participate and receive the Zoom link, register by clicking the RSVP button above or by emailing carla@smithcenter.org.

You will receive the Zoom information no later than the morning of your program.

Panel Discussion Featuring Jamecia Muckelvene-Jackson, Kenneth Johnson, Robert Ginyard and Tawny Chatmon. Hosted by Lisa Simms Booth.

A Panel on Prostate Cancer and Life After

Join us for a panel discussion with artist Tawny Chatmon, survivor and advocate, Robert Ginyard, survivor and facilitator of the Gay Men’s Prostate Cancer Healing Circle, Kenneth Johnson, and leader, advocate, coach, and self-styled freelance writer, Jamecia Muckelvene-Jackson. We will discuss the diverse effects of prostate cancer in our lives, culture, bodies and minds. We hope this conversation will help bring awareness to the disease and the importance of regular screening and preventative care.

Suggested Donation: $15

All proceeds benefit the Joan Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery.


About Jamecia Muckelvene-Jackson

Jamecia Muckelvene-Jackson
Jamecia Muckelvene is a leader, advocate, coach, and self-styled freelance writer based in Bowie, Maryland. Jamecia draws inspiration from her family experiences, most poignantly her Army veteran father’s struggle with prostate cancer which later evolved into a rare strain of cancer classified as Sarcomatoid Carcinoma. Her first published work, The Very Awesome Adventures of RuRu & Rudy, was written in collaboration with her sisters and dedicated to their father’s memory. Jamecia’s early years were spent traveling extensively due to her father’s postings in Asia, Europe, and across the U.S., experiences that provided her a unique worldview and continue to inspire her creative pursuits today. Outside of the written word, Jamecia’s passion for advocating on various topics and shedding light on prostate cancer led her to establish a non-profit, Warriors Fighting For His Cure, in 2010. When away from the writing table, she finds herself at the center of her family – with her husband and two children named, naturally, for her parents Pearline & James, and her chosen son and grandson Zayne. 

About Kenneth Johnson

Kenneth Johnson
Kenneth Johnson, of Washington, D.C., is a co-facilitator and founding member of the Healing Circle Supporting Gay Men with Prostate Cancer hosted at the Smith Center since October 2018. Kenneth was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2016 at the age of 50 and treated with surgery and radiation. Before volunteering with the support group, Kenneth volunteered with many LGBTQ+ organizations and community non-profits in Atlanta, GA. Now, when not enjoying his bookclub’s latest selection or trying to keep his heart rate up at the gym, Kenneth can be found enjoying time with his vibrant parents who will soon celebrate their 57th wedding anniversary. Kenneth is nearing the end of a 34-year career in federal service as an information technology analyst and looks forward to hitting the highways to visit family and friends around the country. 

About Robert Ginyard

Robert Ginyard

Robert Ginyard is an entrepreneur, speaker, and prostate cancer survivor. He is the creator of the Shusokumb (shoes, socks, and umbrella) bag – a compartmentalized tote bag designed for women who wear sneakers to work and later change into a pair of heels once they are in the office. The Shusokumb was sold by major retailers, and featured in national newspapers/magazines.  

As a result of his prostate cancer journey, Robert created DiBi DiBi- Dream it. Believe it. Do it. Be it— an awareness campaign and lifestyle brand to encourage people to live out their dreams. Additionally, Robert serves as creator, producer and host of “Intentionally Overheard with Robert Ginyard” — a podcast that highlights stories of people who dared to dream and committed to making their dreams come true.          

Robert is a sought after speaker, and is a frequent guest on local and national radio and television programs. His products/brand have been featured in Redbook, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Baltimore Sun, Ebony Magazine.Com, The Dr. Nandi Show, Sirius XM, and many other publications and radio and television news outlets.

As a prostate cancer survivor, Robert has appeared before Congress (The Senate Appropriations Committee) to share his prostate cancer story and advocate for increased funding for prostate cancer research. He currently serves as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of ZERO- The End of Prostate Cancer. Robert has been named as one of Cancer Health Magazine’s 2020 Change Makers – making a difference for others living with cancer.      

Robert lives in Baltimore with his wife, Karen, and their two daughters.

About Tawny Chatmon

Tawny Chatmon

Tawny Chatmon is a Tokyo-born photography based artist residing in Maryland. In 2010, the then commercial photographer’s outlook and relationship with her camera shifted when she began photographing her father’s battle with cancer, consequently documenting the disease unexpectedly taking his life. With her father’s passing, she gradually began to look to her camera less as a device for monetary gain and more as a way for her work to serve a higher vocation.

While the camera remains her primary tool of communication,  the self-taught artist takes a multi-layered approach in her process. She does not restrict herself to following any set of rules and does not subscribe exclusively to traditional photography practices. Her photographs are often digitally intensified by exaggerating the hairstyles of her subjects (who are often her children and other family members), lending them the eyes of someone older and wiser, and elongating their form, drawing inspiration from the Byzantine period to signify importance. Thereafter, she typically combines overlappings of digital collage and illustration. After refining and printing, she frequently experiments with various art practices by hand-embellishing with acrylic paint, 24-karat gold leaf, and materials such as paper, semi-precious stones, glass, and other mixed media. In choosing to frame the achieved iconography in golden antique, repurposed, and contemporary baroque frames, the artist composes a touching counter-narrative that is more than just a photograph, but a new, meaningful compositional expression.

Chatmon suggests that our life experiences and memories are largely responsible for who one ultimately becomes and that “what we are exposed to, what we are taught, and even the toys we play with as children” contributes immensely to shaping us into adulthood. A Black woman and mother of three Black children, she is motivated by “leaving something important behind” to the world her children will grow up in while creating imagery that celebrates and honors the beauty of Black childhood and familial bonds while at times addressing the absence and exclusion of the Black body in Western art.

This program is being offered virtually through Zoom. In order to participate and receive the Zoom link, register by clicking the RSVP button above or by emailing carla@smithcenter.org.

You will receive the Zoom information no later than the morning of your program.

with Gayle Danley, CEO, Poetry Pros and James Pennebaker, PhD (University of Texas, Austin)

Did You Know?

Smith Center is pleased to announce the launch of a special series of talks designed to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the founding of the center. Each of the talks will highlight one of eight healing practices that research and practice tell us is important to the health and well-being of cancer patients/survivors, and their loved ones.

The topics include: Eating Well, Moving More, Managing Stress, Sleeping Well, Creating a Healing Environment, Sharing Love and Support, Exploring What Matters Now, and Expressing Oneself.

For each topic, we will have two expert speakers. One will provide a clear and concise review of the science behind the given topic: what we do and do not know about the topic, the impact of this practice on cancer-related quality of life and mortality specifically, and national recommendations for action. The second speaker will “translate” this information into an action plan (e.g., provide user-friendly tips about how to integrate this aspect of healing into your daily life). At the end, there will be time for a question and answer period.


Did You Know? will be hosted Monthly on Wednesdays from 6:00-7:30pm ET.

Upcoming Dates: 

  • October 20 – Expressing Oneself
    • with James Pennebaker, PhD (University of Texas, Austin), and Gayle Danley, CEO, Poetry Pros

In honor of our 25th Anniversary in 2021, we are suggesting donations for this series in fractions or multiples of the number “25.” E.G. $2.50, $12.50, $25, etc.


About Gayle Danley, CEO, Poetry Pros

Gayle Danley

Soon after crushing the competition at Asheville’s National Poetry Slam in 1994, Gayle Danley entered America’s classrooms teaching thousands of children how to access their emotions through the force of words. She performed and taught her way from Maryland Young Audience’s Artist of the Year, to National Young Audience’s Artist of the Year. She’s also both a former national and international poetry slam champion. CBS 60 Minutes profiled her work with middle schoolers as well as the Baltimore Sun, Washington Post and New York Times.

For the past five years, Gayle’s Grieffriend sessions have helped women who are living with AIDS, widows, incarcerated youth and those struggling with drug addiction and recovery use poetry to cope and bravely face life’s challenges.

Gayle was recently named Maryland Library Association Poet of the Year.

About James Pennebaker, PhD

Jamie Pennebaker is the Regents Centennial Professor of Liberal Arts and Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin. His early research dealt with physical symptoms and health which eventually merged into the discovery of expressive writing.  He and his students discovered that when people were asked to write about emotional upheavals for 3-4 days for 15-20 minutes a day, their physical and mental health improved compared to controls. Over 1,000 studies on expressive writing labs around the world continue to show the value of this method. For the last 25 years, he has focused on computerized text analysis as a way of understanding and measuring people’s social behaviors and psychological states. His text analysis program, LIWC, is well known in psychology, business, and computer science. 

Pennebaker has been continuously funded by NSF, NIH, and other federal agencies since 1983. He has published over 300 articles and written or edited 12 books. He has received many awards and honors for research (e.g., Honorary Doctorate, Social and Personality Society’s Distinguished Scholar, Health Psychology Distinguished Scholar, APA’s Distinguished Contributions to Applications in Psychology, the Pavlovian Award, APS’s William James Fellow Award) and teaching (UT Austin’s Academy of Distinguished Teachers). He served as Chair of UT’s Psychology Department from 2005-2014 and President of the Society of Personality and Social Psychology in 2014. His most recent books are The Secret Life of Pronouns: What Our Words Say About Us (Bloomsbury, 2011) and Opening Up by Writing it Down (Guilford, 2016).