BTW--this is who Arleen Schloss is

Apparently, Arleen Schloss mixes it up at her atelier and performance space "A's" in Manhattan's Lower East Side.

While researching Schloss, I entered a portal to some old experimental Austrian audio tracks, archived here; "Punkapella" (circa 1978) was fun. Ah, punk rock, circa 1970s. Reminds me that one great thing about doing all-nighters is that public television will stay up with you, sharing the most incredible free programming you'd ever want to listen to while you create your ferociously brilliant late-night writings. At about 3:30am, KERA-TV broadcast a documentary on The Ramones, followed by a touching paean to Joe Strummer.

Joe Strummer, why did you go so soon? You were turning into the most tender teacher and old-school rock star. I loved the sections of his film, where he's hanging out on the streets with teens, just ambling along in conversation as non-didactic as you'd ever expect a true punk rocker to be...

....which also reminds me that I heard Ian MacKaye on NPR this morning, on a segment touting THE EVENS, Ian's newest and very low-volume musical project. If you go to the NPR website, I'm sure you can download the audio file to hear it yourself. Folks, this is a way different Ian from the Minor Threat singer I came to hear and love in the early 1980s. Politics, heart is the same. But THE EVENS tunes: way mellow. Please don't let him start doing double-bills with Loudon Wainwright the third...

Like i said, "Clutter is Utter Global"

I've been in transit, the last five hours. That is, I've been asleep, in bed, catching up after an all-nighter meeting a Gunk performance grant deadline. Who knows where I'd been--Asia, the Pyrenees, Crested Butte peak, kindergarten cloakroom--cuz the slam of a check (!) into my mailbox by the letter carrier (nongender specific) sent me hurtling out of the latest dreamscape of subconscious choice. Quite quickly. And I've lost the flavor of the dream, the map of its location. Damn forgot it.

So now I'm in my favorite state of consciousness--hypnopompic--at 6:24pm on a Saturday, and am reluctant to exit this post-sleep stupor. Except to, perhaps, join the masses enjoying gorgeous winds and climate on rugby fields, city parks, and barbecue grill backyard decks. I would, however, simply launch a kite. Like rooftop Buddhist monks, between chanting sessions, in Kathmandu.

Instead, I'm in my indoor stupor, checking out the latest update to my currently favorite place to check for online poetry. I like its global flavor, as it is created/updated by a poet in Singapore. Please persuade yourself to click onto STEPHEN BLACK's section to read For Arleen Schloss right now. I just returned from everywhere; he is still everywhere.

Book on environmental degradation of Texas - just released!

My friend and non-stop publisher Bryce Milligan sends the following anuncio from San Antonio:

Please check out the new Wings Press anthology, FALLING FROM GRACE IN TEXAS: A Literary Response to the Demise of Paradise. This book is comprised of "cautionary tales on the environment" by 33 Texas writers (including philosphers, poets, journalists, and environmental warriors) from the Panhandle to the Gulf, from the Piney Woods to Big Bend.

FALLING FROM GRACE IN TEXAS, "originally conceived as a 'gift' to every member of the Texas Legislature", was edited by Rick Bass and Paul Christensen.

"A book that every Texan should read . . ."
-- Steve Bennett, Book Editor, San Antonio Express News

"There's much work to be done to remake paradise, and reading this book is a good start."
-- Gregory McNamee, The Dallas Morning News
 
For more information about this book, or to order it on-line, please go here.

InterPlay founder to visit Dallas for two events this weekend

[This from Sheila Collins, Director, Wing & A Prayer Players and InterPlay Texas.]

The co-founder of InterPlay, Phil Porter, will be in the Dallas area this weekend from Oakland, California, on a promotional tour for the new book on InterPlay titled "What The Body Wants".

The first event is in Dallas, Friday evening April 29th, from 7- 9:30pm at ArtSpirit, Southside at Lamar, 1409 S.Lamar (the old Sears building which is now artists' lofts).

The second event is on Saturday April 30th, from 10am to 12:30pm at Horizon Unitarian Church, 1641 Hebron Pkwy. in Carrollton. 
 
Folks can get more details about both of these events, as well as others scheduled to take place in Austin and Houston by visiting Sheila's website. [Click under the section heading “What’s New?”]

Do You Want to Become a Teatrista?

DEADLINE: May 1st - That's this coming Sunday!

Description of Instituto de Teatro - Two Week Summer Camp in Chicano Theater:

"The Instituto de Teatro is a comprehensive, two week summer training grounded in the historical, political, cultural and spiritual expression of Chicano theater. Participation in the Instituto will strengthen individual identity and encourage social action through artistic self-development and collective learning. It is a training ground for those interested in a political and cultural expression through theater. We seek to foster a high standard of artistic quality through the teaching of teatro Chicano whose roots extend deeply into the performance traditions of indigenous America, the religious and popular theater of colonial México, the colonized Southwest and the Chicano liberation movement."

The Instituto will be enrolling a maximum of 20 students to ensure guaranteed individualized instruction and an in-depth group experience. The Instituto will take place July 8th-24th, 2005.

For more information, visit their website soon. Again, the deadline for apps is May 1st, 2005.

FW Benefit on Saturday, April 30th--raise funds to get to Halliburton protest

[Thanks to Ramsey Sprague for the following announcement/invitation]:

Please come out to support local activists' trips to Houston for the Halliburton Annual Shareholders' Protest. The performers will be fantastically eclectic, too!

Benefit in FW - SATURDAY, APRIL 30th

7pm
$5 suggested donation
alcohol and smoke free environment - with board games downstairs!

1919 Hemphill St
Fort Worth, 76110

>>> http://1919hemphill.org <<<

PERFORMERS INCLUDE:

Theater Fire : http://theaterfire.com
The Folly Fandango : the name says it all!
Tracie Merchant : http://traciemerchant.com
and other talented local artists! - check the calendar on the website!

BENEFIT:

The money raised from the door will go directly to the costs of renting and traveling in the vans that 1919 and CODEPink are co-organizing for the trip to the Houston protest.

Van travelers will be leaving the evening of Tuesday, May 17th, and arriving back in FW on the evening of Wednesday, May 18th.

Housing arrangements need to be made as early as possible, so please contact us ASAP if you're interested!

Interested folks are encouraged to contact:
Ramsey Sprague
rsprague@tarrantgreens.org
682-556-0553

===================

Join the mobilization to protest the 18 May 2005 Halliburton Shareholder's meeting in downtown Houston!

WHEN: Wednesday, 18 May 2005; 8:00 AM

WHERE: Gather at the green space located at 1000 Crawford (Crawford and Lamar), in front of the statue of George R. Brown. March to the Four Seasons Hotel, 1300 Lamar Street, Houston, Texas

WHAT: Hundreds of peace, labor and consumer rights activists will gather outside the annual Halliburton shareholders meeting in Houston, Texas on May 18 to protest war profiteering and corporate cronyism as exemplified by Halliburton.

Come to Houston on May 18th, participate in the protest at Halliburton's annual shareholder meeting, and make a bold statement supporting Iraqi self-determination and justice for all! "Stop Halliburton's Corporate Occupation of Iraq!"

Halliburton is essential to continuing the war and occupation in Iraq and forcing them to withdraw their participation would shut down essential parts and motives for the war and occupation. Not only are their operations in Iraq depriving the children and people of Iraq of any sort of future, but also the billions upon billions in no-bid contracts heaped upon them by George Bush and Dick Cheney results in the further weakening of social services here at home.

Join us in Houston on May 18 for a lively protest against war profiteering and corporate cronyism outside Halliburton's shareholder meeting in Houston. Halliburton needs to be held accountable, not made more profitable! Creative autonomous action encouraged!!!

Sponsored and Supported by Houston Global Awareness, Global Exchange, Code Pink, Latinos Por La Paz, the Maryknoll House, Texas Fair Trade Coalition, Peace Action-Houston, Austin Spokescouncil, Witness for Peace, Anti-Racist Action, Progressive Action Alliance, Louisiana
Activist Network, North Texas for Justice and Peace, Peace Action Tarrant County, and others.

For more information, contact hgac@riseup.net, check out www.houstonglobalawareness.org or call 832-725-6220. or join our region-wide coordination list-- hallibacon@lists.riseup.net

For even more information, click here.

Where to get those entry forms for the "Reduce, Re-Use, Recycle" art exhibit

All entry forms can be picked up at the Firehouse Studios and Gallery (4147 Meadowbrook Dr.) in E. Fort Worth or send a self-addressed stamped envelope to P.O. Box 8776, Fort Worth, TX. 76124-0776.

In conjunction with the REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE ART EXHIBIT, there will be a "Trash Art Fashion Show" at the opening/reception on the evening of Saturday, June 4th, 2005.

Trash Art Fashion Show© combines art, fashion and entertainment, while also highlighting important environmental messages, such as "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle." The garments reflect the fact that household and industrial products can have more than one use. They can be recycled and reworked into something beautiful and practical.

As with submissions for the art exhibit, interested parties who want to participate in the “Trash Art Fashion Show” should submit completed entry forms [see above]. There is a $5.00 entry fee. Participating Schools, 4th grade through college, have no entry fee.

Call for entries - "Reduce, Re-Use, Recycle" juried art exhibit

This was sent to me by artist Junanne Peck:

The Firehouse Studios and Gallery presents Paintings and Assemblages - Reduce Reuse Recycle, a juried art exhibition featuring new works by local and international artists. Curated by Junanne Peck.

All artists are invited to enter works of any media. Artwork must incorporate recycled materials. The exhibit will be juried by a panel of three jurors that include Junanne Peck, artist /curator; Lori Thomson, artist/gallery owner; and Susie Sweeton, City of Fort Worth Environmental Education Coordinator.

This exhibition celebrates the transcendent, innovative and experimental works of artists working with paintings, assemblages, mosaics, installations from junk, dumpster trash, found objects, cardboard and anything else our society has deemed no longer useful.

Eligibility
Artwork must incorporate no less than 50% recycled materials. Only work completed within the last three years will be considered. Artwork must be ready for installation at the time of delivery. No artwork shall be removed from the exhibition before the closing date. Complex installations should be coordinated and supervised by the Visual Arts Coordinator.

Entries/Slides/Photographs
Please fill out the entry form and return it with your slides/photographs to:
Junanne Peck
P.O. Box 8776
Fort Worth, TX 76124-0776

An entry fee of $15.00 will be paid to the Firehouse Studios and Gallery. Glass mounted slides will not be accepted. Please do not submit original slides. The Firehouse Studios and Gallery will not be responsible for damaged slides.

Please label your slides/photograph with the following information: artist name, title of work, medium, size and year. Please mark the top of your slides with an arrow.

Exhibition Schedule
Deadline for submission of entries, slides, photographs: May 25, 2005
Acceptance Calls: May 27, 2005
Delivery of accepted work: June 1, 2005 (10 - 6 P.M.)
Exhibition reception: June 4, 2005  (6 - 10 P.M.)

The Firehouse Studios and Gallery
4147 Meadowbrook Dr., Fort Worth, TX 76103

Exhibition closes: June 25, 2005 (11 - 2 P.M.)
Artwork pick up: June 27, 2005 (10 - 6 P.M., unless other arrangements are made with the Firehouse Gallery owner)
For more information about this exhibit, please contact Junanne Peck, curator, at 817-457-6688; email junannepeck@mac.com. Lori Thomson, owner, Firehouse Studios and Gallery, at 817- 534-3620.

Where have all the flowers gone?

Poets Michael D. Meyer (friend of ire'ne, moises, Enrique Cabrera, and lover of la luna) and Ken Hunt (queer-activist poet i knew and worked alongside in Austin in the 1990s) BOTH died (one in Floresville, TX and the other in Chicago) in the same week in late March. Ken was 34, Michael was 25.
 
And most know that Hunter S. Thompson died, along with Robert Creeley, but then--closer to home--Boyd Vance, a remarkable and tireless artist and actor in Austin, passed away on Saturday, April 9th.

And then Rudolpho "Corky" Gonzalez, seminal leader in the Chicano Movimiento and poet who penned the anthemic "I Am Joaquin" died on Tuesday, April 12th.

What can this mean? One approach I have is that their work is done, but their legacy continues to impact and positively affect. But I am left, I am here to continue the work. La lucha continua, the poems (and essays and stage plays and one-woman shows) must be written. I must do maybe double the work, quicken my pace, increase my production. All in the name of these brothers (and monumental leaders) who have crossed over.

We carry on, struggle on. In the name of Ken, Michael, Boyd, Corky, Hunter, Robert, and all those who have left before them. Honor our past, work for our future. Breathe in the present.

I wrote this recently:

My Soldiers are Gone

my soldiers are gone
the song is done
can anyone hear the heart
who will clean the hearth
set atop it candleflame
and we will incant a name
and another and yet one more
will the next one to exit
please close up the door

my soldiers are gone
and no one to slay
the silence and sorrow of
a day like today
who will set the table
and who can clean the sink
we have one name and one
more and another i thnk
will the ones who left early
tell us how to fill their shoes

my soldiers are gone
and the trumpet sings low
i had so much to share with them
before i let go
now i keep on singing and have some
words still to share, so
i direct them up skyward,
i hasten them there.


for my friends:

ken hunt
michael d. meyer
boyd vance


and for those i knew less:

rudolpho "corky" gonzalez
robert creeley
hunter s. thompson

Ken West - here's a poem

For S/HIM, Ken

you were my buddy in cultural crossfire
we recognized the line btwn your homo my hetero
your white my brown
your tall my tiny

but we blurred it distinctly
conversation, cerebral flames over lukewarm ale,
showed us familiar and parallel,
enough so that we made the shadows of our selves
confuse
the concrete
as we meadered in thought, but plowed with words
dropping dirt, instigating seed, mouth-watering:
i loved that moment when the $2 drafts ignited
us and we dived into a bed of flitting simmer,
hoisted to conceptual heights our excited and uplifted eyebrows
tried to scale.

i will look for you, today/tomorrow, walking the pavement on the Drag,
through the #1 Metro bus window, sullied with a scum i’m
not convinced isn’t my own weeping mixed with
stains of city prayer.

Some cool people in Urbana-Champaign

A guy named Abel was the dj at tonight’s noche de cultura event at the YMCA.  His wife, like him, is from the LA area.  She is studying w/ the Profesor from Juarez, who is in the department of Anthropology.  She spoke of the struggle she has been fighting to counter old-school ideologies that suppress free thinking and educational equality at UI, in the Anthropology Department in particular.  She appeared to get increasingly frustrated and distraught as I listened to her describe this struggle.  I see so many of our people working, not only on their degree plans and scholarly pursuits as students, but also having to doggedly construct strategies of negotiation or postures of resistance in order to merely survive as humans in their particular academic setting.  This was making me very sad to hear.  Our people--as usual--culturally isolated, and marginalized by the admin./faculty hierarchies of power.

(I remember when my friend, journalist/writer and Michener Fellow Belinda Acosta, told me that one of her professors at UT-Austin pronounced that Chicana Literature would NEVER be part of the "LITERARY CANON." Whatever.)

I also met Joe and Laura, from E. Los Angeles, who moved here to Illinois in order to study under the tutelage of Profesora Antonia in the Department of Education Policy Studies.  Joe told me that he was in the audience for my show at the Caffe Paradiso on Thursday night, and that he was so happy to hear someone saying “Chicano”, cuz he doesn’t happen to hear that very often at UI or in Urbana-Champaign.

He was so happy to introduce me to his wife, Laura, who immediately warmed to me.  She offered me something to drink and somewhere to sit. She reminded me of so many of my Austin/Califas/Denver compas, who exhibit sweet generosity while also being chingonas (used in the most affectionate sense of the term) in the battlefields of activism and academia. You go, girl!

At that same event (YMCA Noche de Cultura), La Profesora Antonia---sang and played a sweet song on guitar.  Earlier, she’d made an announcement about having a lump in her breast, and being ready to confront that, though she is far from her family.  She said that she would have to seek comfort from her family in “the school”—her students and colleagues.  So many students and others moved to her side, offering hugs and soft words, after she revealed this.  She is in the Department of Education Policy Studies, and apparently has a great influence on many of her students.

I felt, watching all of this and meeting such cool gente, that I had really encounted "comunidad" in Urbana-Champaign.

Another poet takes flight - RIP KEN HUNT

So, I was too excited and blissed out to sleep. I decided to put on some music, relax, and check my email.

What do I find? Information about a scheduled MEMORIAL and TRIBUTE for a friend, my friend Ken Hunt. He died?, I ask myself incredulously. I am disbelieving and my emotional Richter scale registers high numbers. One email sent me scouring the web for more substantiating information. As I am in Urbana-Champaign, it is particularly ironic that Ken died in Chicago, where I am heading in less than 48 hours.

So I get the news and, indeed, it is very disquieting. How can such joy be followed by tremendous quakes of quivering despair and humility? I had just been feeling so great, and then, by merely reading words on a monitor screen, my life seems to forever be transformed. A world without Ken Hunt. My fellow poet and comrade in experimental performance art. A sometime associate on stages at the Electric Lounge, Ruta Maya, and Movements Gallery in Austin. I had recalled, a few months ago, that Ken had videotaped my first-ever performance of butoh dance--with a group at Movements Gallery on Sixth Street. We had witnessed so many of one another's pioneering moments of individual expression.

Y'know, it's interesting too, that I had recently become reenamored of Ken's writing. I had pulled his chapbook AERODROME off the bookshelf, earlier in March, and had been re-reading it, in new light with new eyes. We were living in different states and doing different things, but I have always considered him a close comrade-in-letters and activism. And so, it struck me, reading about Ken's death (due to a seizure he had on the streets of Chicago), that my renewed interest in his work was perhaps a way of spiritually preparing for more reasons to honor and acclaim him and his work.

I will continue to do that. Check out more information on my dear friend and ally, the one and only KEN HUNT.

This is what our mutual poet-friend, Phil West, wrote back in the 1990s about Ken:

“The ex-Austinite, in his three years here, not only delivered some of the most immaculate poetry on the scene, but was also one of the most daring and memorable performers in the Performance Art Church, a group which certainly has no lack of over-the-top characters. Now based in snowy Madison, WI, Hunt's return promises work that is edgy, often political, and always smart.”

His Seattle buddy, Jason Webley, offers links to audio files of both bands that he was in with Ken (Self-Help Seminar and Toast) and a link to some poetry by Ken, in his own voice. Wow. Check out "Architecture of Distance" and "I Drew the Body". I downloaded the files of these poems, weeping as I heard his familiar voice. Will the internet keep it alive for me forever? Ken did incredible work, and I trusted his motivation for it, and I definitely felt the love behind his anger, the compassion behind the sometime darkness of his writings.

In lieu of flowers, monetary donations may be made in hir (Ken West's) name to Midwest Books to Prisoners Project, c/o Quimby's Bookstore, 1573 N. Milwaukee PMB 460, Chicago, IL 60622. Checks/Money orders should be made to the order of Sarah McHugh.

According to Morris Stegosaurus' blog, Ken had a tattoo of every place he'd ever lived. I guess they're inking him up in heaven tonight.

Rest in peace, beautiful poet.

"Blazing Voices" - a hot event in cool Urbana-Champaign

The event "Blazing Voices on the Prairie", featuring myself and New York poet Elliot Torres, was an amazing success at the local coffeehouse Cafe Paradiso in Urbana--mere blocks from the Unit 1 Dorm where I am lodging during my short stay here. A very sweet and gracious emcee, Steve Dorado, hosted an open mic segment, wherein some local young talent showed us some provocative work. The standing-room only crowd, serious (there were at least one hundred people there), was boisterously responsive, keeping the house sizzling.

When Elliott took the stage with his punchy quick jolts to the mindframe, speaking of love and sexual identity politica, the audience was mesmerized. I saw him selling his books, hand over fist, even before he took the mic. That's how excited this audience was.

When I took the stage, it was still packed in the place, and I saw the most beautiful array of brown young brothers and sisters listening intently--yearning for learning--and hollering after each piece. My books and cds also flew out my hands. I was giving stuff away too, and would've autographed my socks if they'd been deemed poetic. A few Chicanas who spoke with me insisted that they would start putting down their thoughts in future poems, and I took this as the highest compliment. Afterwards, we (the party people) headed to a drinking establishment in downtown Champaign. We were all glistening with Raza pride and comaraderie, and engaged in great conversations over Pilsner Urquells and tarty martinis.

Earlier in the day, I had read a profile about a 21-year old Urbana-Champaign woman who'd just won a national female dj competition in L.A., and was scheduled to be spinning at a place called the Barfly tonight. I told some of the others (the party people), and before long we'd migrated from the Boltini Lounge to the Barfly to hear J-Phlip do her thing. We musta been there an hour, slowly pulsating to the handily-managed turntable stylings of the new female star dj from the Midwest. I decided to lubricate with a mint chocolate martini and shared one of my bandilleras with a Chicana student dancing near me. I wanna say that the Barfly is the coolest, most chill dance club I've been to in many a year. The most effortless dancing kept us blissed out as we swung to the rhythms, and Alicia (la Associate Director of the Latina/o Studies Department at UI) seemed so relaxed and happy after all the scurrying we'd done earlier today, doing the radio show at WEFT-FM and setting up the audio equipment for the show at Paradiso.

Grooving at Barfly was icing on the cake of a gradually-peaking day. Stellar day.

Thursday in Urbana

At this point (Thursday a.m.), I've already: visited two Latina/o Studies classes for lecture/performances; facilitated a writing workshop in the Latino/a Cultural Center, had lunch with some young professors, and seen a local production of the play MARISOL by Jose Rivera (which is really good!).

Today, I have a stint on a community radio station (world music show) and then I'm featuring at a Latino/a Slam at a cool coffeehouse called CAFFE PARADISO.

Gas is high here ($2.24), so don't complain there in TX. Have been mostly on foot myself. It's comfortably cool, and unexpectedly humid here. But I shouldn't complain either.

But--there was a fire drill this morning at 6am, so we had to evacuate the whole building. Oh well. It was only for about 20 minutes.

Next, I'm off to Chicago (on Saturday). There's a Latino Film Festival happening there, as well as a big Zine (self-publishing) Festival near Wicker Park on Saturday afternoon, so I'm sure to find some fun diversions. Chicago's always buzzing. Record stores, bookstores, coffeeshops, and the L train. Maybe I'll go check out one of the blues clubs. Depends on what my friends want to do too.

Songwriting workshop w/ Terri Hendrix on April 16th

Gemini Ink, a nonprofit literary organization based in San Antonio, sent me the following announcement:

"Attention songwriters! Spots are still available in Terri Hendrix's course "Successful Songwriting: The Truth Beneath it All," meeting on Saturday, April 16th, from 1-4pm.

Join one of Texas' most beloved singer-songwriters for a workshop that will encourage participants to peel away layers in their own writing to reveal the raw words and emotions that inspire our music."

Registration deadline is approaching fast: April 12th! For more information, call Gemini Ink at 210-734-WORD or check out their website for full course description.

Tale of two cities--one university campus

Just arrived in Urbana-Champaign today, with only 4 hours sleep (up packing 'til 3am, last minute hurry).

It's now 9:45 pm, and I want nothing more than to sleep. I'm lodging in a very interactive dorm called "Unit 1: Live and Learn" where they host visiting artists. Previous artists-in-residence at Unit 1 include: Patch Adams, Fred Ho (jazz musician/activist), Barbara Trent (filmmaker, "Panama Deception"), Born with Two Tongues (spoken word), and the Spiderwoman Theater group. I'm in the resident artist/visitor apartment--a very nice suite, actually, with high-speed internet on the Dell, and a kitchenette. I just walked about 2 miles to find the health food store--Strawberry Fields--so now I have my rice milk, a fresh loaf of bread, and bar of cucumber soap.

I am leading a workshop in the Chicano/Latino cultural center called La Casa, and will be visiting two Latino/a Studies classes tomorrow. Busy schedule.

But I will stay focused on the moment, relishing every nuance of this trip. Oh, one interesting nuance is that this campus is partly located in Champaign and partly in Urbana. Kinda weird, cuz at any given moment, you might be leaving one town and arriving in the next--by merely crossing a street. The university basketball team lost a BIG CHAMPIONSHIP game last night. They were in the FINAL 4. Everybody seems to be wearing orange (school color) today.

Francine Prose in Dallas on Sunday, April 10th

One of the "sharpest cultural satirists" in the country, Francine Prose will be the featured speaker at the WRITERS STUDIO, a literary interview/reading series, which will be recorded for eventual broadcast on KERA 90.1 FM Radio.

If you want to be in the live audience for this event, check it out on Sunday, April 10th, in Dallas. For more information: 214-828-1715 or go here.

Please help three Farmers Branch children

Tony (13), Allison (12), and Trinity (6) are now orphans. On Thursday, March 24th, their mother, Misty Davila was killed by their father, who beat her with a baseball bat. He threw himself to his death by jumping off a bridge. This is horrifying and tragic indeed.

The Farmers Branch Police Association is now coordinating a fund-raising campaign to collect donations and resources for the support of the three children, who have now been taken in by family members.

Here's an excerpt from the letter from Sergeant Doug Parr, of the Farmers Branch Police Department:

"The kids are in desperate need of some help. The Farmers Branch Police Officers Association (a non-profit organization) is tryiing to get additional help from the community in order to help out this family.

If you or your constituents know of some resources that can help us in this common cause for some innocent children who could use a helping hand, please let us know. The tax deductible donations can be made to the Farmers Branch Police Association.

Please contact Investigator Terry Eoff at 972-919-9354 or 972-754-7728. If you cannot reach him, please contact Lieutenant Darran Dyer at 214-636-5160 or myself at 972-571-2504 or 972-919-9364. We appreciate your prompt response and concern."

douglas.parr@farmersbranch.info