Join us on Sunday, Feb. 14th - benefit party!

This event will help support our annual PALABRAZOS Spoken Word Festival, the only one of its kind in North Texas. It promises to be alot of fun, and people like Natasha Carrizosa, Shannon Atkinson, Angelique, Cesar Hernandez, and Cristina Snoke are going to be unveiling some surprises for us there. Hope to see you!! And please spread the word...

Scholarships for "minority" museum professionals - apply now

[Thanks to Beto Calderon, UNT-Denton History professor and Ivette Ray, museum curator, for the following anuncio.]

Multicultural Initiatives Scholarship (MIC): The Texas Association of Museums is offering a limited number of full scholarships for the 2010 Annual Meeting to be awarded to minority professionals currently working in Texas museums. Applicants must be early-career and/or new to the Texas museum profession. These scholarships will include meeting registration, one workshop, one luncheon, one breakfast, and an evening event. The scholarship recipient(s) will be responsible for his or her travel, lodging, and incidental costs. Following the meeting the recipient(s) will be asked to write an article for the MIC blog, offering observations on the state of diversity in the museum profession and/or their observations on diversity based on the annual meeting. To apply, send a resume, references, and a one-page letter stating reasons for applying for the scholarship to admin@texasmuseums.org. Deadline for applying is January 29, 2010.


Multicultural Initiatives Committee (MIC) GLBT scholarship:
The MIC is offering a $250 scholarship for a GLBT (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transsexual) museum professional to attend the 2010 TAM Annual Meeting. Applicants must be early-career and/or have never attended a TAM annual meeting before. Following the meeting, the recipient will be asked to write an article for the MIC blog (texasmic.blogspot.com) offering observations about state of GLBT issues within the museum community and/or field. To apply, send a resume, references, and a one page letter stating reasons for applying to Ivette Ray, MIC Chair, to Ivette.ray@fortworthgov.org. Deadline for applying is January 29, 2010. (Funds for this scholarship have been generously provided by Wallace Saage.)

I'm a guest performer for the MAD SWIRL spoken word event at Absinthe Lounge in Dallas

That's tomorrow, Wednesday, December 2nd. Kicks off at 8pm.

SWIRVE--Tamitha on voice, Chris on trumpet and effects pedals, Gerard on drums--have invited me to be a guest poet performer with them tomorrow. I haven't sat in with these folks in about a year, and they are so much fun to play with. I'm hoping for a big crowd, despite the cold weather, as it's pretty rare that I get to spend an evening in Dallas doing spoken word.

Absinthe Lounge --- fun performance-friendly spot at Southside on Lamar in Dallas
MAD SWIRL --- a monthly open mic and performance melee in the best possible sensessss..

FREE and FREEING!!!! Join us, y'all.

GROUND WAVES art/djs/comunidad today in Diamond Hill 11/28/09 'til 8pm

Today! FREE! All Ages!

No bad moods, big sells, proprietary attitude.

It's ALL good vibes cuz it's a PAIN FREE production. Big ups to Mike and Mercedes for coordinating this event.

Hope to see y'all there: 3509 Oscar Street -- Mapsco 48-V -- in the field behind the Dixie Heights Baptist Church

I was selected to perform at the Out of the Loop Fringe Fest next year

Forgot to mention that my application and proposal to present my one-woman show "Saliendo Abierta" was selected for the Out of the Loop Fringe (Performing Arts) Festival in Addison, Texas. The Festival takes place in March 2010, and my performance will be presented on the mainstage on the evening of Sunday, March 14, 2010. Save the Date!

Looking over the Out of the Loop website, I see that some wonderful performers and shows will also be featured during the 2-week span of the Festival. Check it out.

I'm hoping to tour "Saliendo Abierta" to other venues and festivals, possibly even on the Eastern seaboard, in the coming year. (My undergrad alma mater, Goucher College, in Towson, Maryland, has invited me to speak on a panel about literature and poetry next April for the 125th anniversary its founding.) Also, my friend and colega, Claudia Acosta, has tentatively invited me to take my show to New York City for a monthly performance series she is spearheading called "Culture Shock: a melting pot of raw arts." So many possibilities. I hope the planets configure to make good on the promise and the plan.

The glass ornament i painted for the State Capitol holiday tree

I finally finished the holiday ornament that Lon Burnam's office gave me to decorate for the Lone Star Celebration Tree, which will be displayed in the State Capitol through the beginning of January 2010.

Photo credit: Four Hearts Photography

Thanks to the O'Briens (Danny and Kathy) for giving of their time to photograph the ornament before I delivered it to Lon Burnam.

To achieve the smoky color effect on the ornament, I poured silver, black, and white acrylic paints into the small opening at the top and swirled the colors around to mix them together for a marbleizing finish. I also used a pipe cleaner to spread the color evenly. Afterwards, I used a permanent paint marker to write the following poem on the exterior of the ornament:

sleeping panther rise
remove the smokescreen from our eyes
no more gas drill lies

I think this ornament will aptly represent what's on some of our minds lately here in the District 90 sector of the Metroplex.

Chi Kung is making me move some energy - creative impulse is surging now

I am in a burst of creativity now, and feel boosted by the Chi Kung (!) and Tai Chi class i am taking on Thursdays at the Acupuncture Wellness Center located right in my 'hood--Fairmount of Fort Worth, which even has its own website.

The instructor, Martha Fiddes, is so great to focus on the Chi Kung, which has been my favorite internal martial art so far in life. (I took a coupla classes in the 1990s in Austin, and somehow felt i couldn't afford to stick with it. Now I know I cannot
afford to NOT stick with it.)

We are breathing into our internal organs and practicing the Sun form of Tai Chi which is so elegant and beautiful to me.
It's considered the most "flowing" form.

More relaxed in my body and ready to focus on some new writing, I've started on a collection of poems about the border (Texas-Mexico border as well as the borders within) and hope to have them finished by next week. For a competition deadline.

I am not now as socially-available as before, but am choosing to enjoy my new focuses (foci) at home. Have been marbleizing glass holiday ornaments, a new experiment and expression for me. I was brought to this because of a request by the folks at the offices of State Rep. Lon Burnam. They gave me the task of decorating a large transparent glass orb which, when I've finished with it, will be mailed to Austin and hung on a holiday tree in the State Capitol. How's that for a poet who doesn't do much visual art?

Will show the results when I'm finished working on it.

Sometimes family just has to come first...

...which is why i spent a coupla weeks putting together this new photo blog for my nephew, who just turned one year old today. Channel 4 News' daily morning show has a feature wherein photos of children (5 years and younger) can be emailed in for brief broadcast on the kid's birthday. I emailed in a jpg of Lucas and it was shown on the telly twice this a.m.! While the photos were being displayed, there was a technical problem that happened right when Lucas' picture was on the screen, and so it was "stuck" for all to see for at least 30 seconds. Pretty funny.


Happy First Birthday, baby Lucas!

Dia de los muertos - commemorated around the U.S.

All you have to do to get an idea of how prevalent and culturally-relevant that celebrations of Day of the Dead have become on this side of the border is visit the NALAC website. Click on October's special Dia de los Muertos newsletter/calendar and check out the multitude of events, gallery shows, and performances scheduled for this special commemoration of the dead.

Here in FW on Friday evening, the Dia de Los Muertos event at the Rose Marine Theater/Gallery/plaza drew an estimated 400 attendees and participants. That's awesome. Today (Sunday, Nov. 1st), the Arts Fifth Avenue homegrown community arts space in the historic Fairmount neighborhood of Fort Worth will host its annual Day of the Dead shindig (featuring tamale-making, papel picado workshop, live adolescent mariachis from JP Elder Middle School), and more).

Also today in Dallas, the LCC (Latino Cultural Center) will host their Dia de Los Muertos pachanga with visual art, ofrendas (tribute altars for the dead), and two performances by the wonderful Teatro Flor Candela of the stage adaptation of the classic Mexican story "Guajolote hasta la muerte" - based on the movie "Macario". I saw the Flor Candela show at TCU this past Wednesday, and though there were some technical snags, I thought the work (less than one hour in length) was delightfully visual and engaging. The costumes, choreography, and acting were a big attraction for me, specifically. Great casting choices, Patricia (Urbina--the artistic director of Teatro Flor Candela). Oh, I also love love loved the tiny shiny calaca string puppet--with red hair! The two performances at the LCC are at 5pm and 7pm. The LCC is located at 2600 Live Oak in Dallas - just a little east of downtown.


Whatever you do, don't forget to enjoy LIFE as you never deny the eventuality of change, transition, and the ultimate step towards death.

Hope to see you out & about today and tomorrow (All Saints' Day and All Souls" Day) for DDLM 2009 festivities!

San Antonio oral history project: Stories of the Uninsured

Writers In Communities, a program of GEMINI INK seeks Stories of the Uninsured

from the latest Gemini Ink e-newsletter:
"According to the American Medical Association, 46 million Americans are uninsured due to the high costs of insurance, or have limited access to health plans and benefits for various reasons including being self-employed, between jobs, or having a pre-existing medical condition. It’s essential that we document our stories for history’s sake, for future generations, for ourselves."

The Writers In Communities program of Gemini Ink wants you to share your story about how not having health insurance has affected your life and well-being. Send a brief narrative of your experience to:

wic@geminiink.org

or

mail it to their offices at

513 S. Presa, San Antonio, TX 78205 (ATTN: WIC).

Twenty stories will be recorded and transcribed in this oral history project between Gemini Ink and Methodist Healthcare Ministries.

(No deadline was mentioned in any materials I came across about this, but figure that interested folks should submit their narratives sooner than later.)

ADDENDUM: As per the comment below, Gemini Ink plans to interview people throughout the month of November 2009. Again, please contact the Writers in Communities program at wic@geminiink.org if you are interested in participating. Thank you.

Today is the deadline for proposals for 2010 Out of the Loop Fringe Fest - Dallas

This almost bypassed my attention; download the app via the Water Tower Theatre website asap -- postmark deadline is today!

"They fear us because we are not afraid."

Honduran women stand up in resistance to military forces which oppress the people, abuse the women.

[Thanks to Frieda Werden for sharing this link via Facebook. Kudos to the women of FIRE--Feminist International Radio Endeavour!]

Eulogy for Grace: an appreciation-in-progress

THANKS and MUCH APPRECIATION for all the generous expressions of love, sympathy, and kindness that have been extended to me via Facebook, Myspace, phone calls, email, and person-to-person moments. Without you, my beautiful tribe and family of friends, I would be nowhere and nothing...
____________________

Quite suddenly, I lost my young little Grace,
a cat who chose me about five years ago. It was
one unmemorable day that she showed up at my front door,
eager and trusting--
with one ear partly clipped to show that she'd been
a recipient of the "catch, neuter, release" program
of the neighborhood association. We took to one
another with the greatest of ease.

She grew to be very memorable.

She was smart and full of vitality, and today
she is gone. The vet said that she died of
an allergic reaction, which made her throat close
and she could not breathe.

I am devastated.

I truly valued this little animal friend who showed
such an affinity for my homebody writer lifestyle,
and didn't seem to like it when I had to leave for
appointments. Indeed, she had recently started brave
attempts at following me to the bus stop as I rushed to
work.

I had just bought a collar/harness for her in hopes of
working with her comfort level to be able to someday
take long walks together. And take her to Spiral Diner
or another street cafe nearby.

A brilliant, fun cat, she took to tree- and roof-climbing
as well as sidewalk rolling with equal gusto. I admired
her keen insights and instincts; cats have these in general,
I know. But Grace was particularly dog-like, coming to
me when I called and even bringing her little puffball
toys to my feet--in exchange for Whisker Lickin treats.

I could go on, but you get the idea. She was very special
to me, and I am going to revere and miss her forever.


Sometimes Grace would squint her eyes as she lay in bed,
seemingly wanting to ask: "It's way past midnight and you're
still on that computer. Can't you at least dim the lights?"
One night, I got up from the desk and gently placed my
sunglasses over her eyes. She seemed to appreciate that.


Thanks for listening, dear friends and family.
Thoughts of our kinship are helping to keep me comforted.

Love,

Tammy


Extra note:

As i recall, these are the pet names/nicknames i used for Grace in all the time we were together:

Grace - Kitty - Pookety - Ani (short for Animal) - Ahn-i-mahl - Kitty of the City (pronounced "kittay of the citay") -
Autonomy Cat - Pookety of the City -
and Sunshine Cat (when i would find her, mostly in the mornings, luxuriating in the patches of sunlight beaming through
the eastside windows onto the floor)

Goodbye and good life, Grace (Sept. 14, 2009)

My heart is broken...

How i've labored since i was 15 years old

However you commemorate Labor Day, I hope that you consider the protesting, stalwart activists who made sure that legislative and institutional changes were made to ensure and protect laborers in this country--young and old, male and female, white and otherwise. Cheers for labor unionists, labor organizers, and we the workers ourselves. More protections and considerations need to be brought to eventuality in terms of our comrades and counterparts from and in other countries. And lastly, I would ask that we remember that when we purchase goods manufactured by the hands of exploited laborers we are supporting bad/unfair/often illegal labor practices. Let's do the better thing, as often as we can.

And now, a list. I thought it would be--here on Labor Day 2009--an interesting exercise to list all the jobs i could remember ever having worked. So here it is, from my fast-food inaugural work experience to my current job. For what it was worth...


Wendy's - Fort Worth - front counter, food prep, dining room cleaning, drive-up window

General Cinema - Seminary South Theater - Fort Worth - concessions, ticket sale, popcorn maker

Texas Grain & Feed Association - Fort Worth - general office assistant

Minyard's Grocery Store - Fort Worth - bakery clerk

Black-Eyed Pea Restaurant - Fort Worth - waitress/host

Goucher College - Towson, Maryland - Office of Public Relations - work-study position

Gander's Restaurant - downtown Baltimore - waitress

Southwestern Petroleum Co. - Fort Worth - clerk/typist, data entry

Union Equity Cooperative Grain Exchange - Fort Worth - general office assistant, data entry

Goucher College - Towson, Maryland - Office of Dance-Movement Therapy - work-study position

University of Texas-Austin - Journalism Department - phone survey - data collection

University of Texas-Austin - General Libraries - Administrative office - receptionist/office clerk

University of Texas-Austin - University Inter-scholastic League (UIL) - Administrative office - assistant to three directors

Tarrant County Mental Health Mental Retardation Services - mental health therapist tech and manager of three-quarter-way facility for chronically mentally ill adults

Boys and Girls Club - Eastside branch, Fort Worth - Cultural Enrichment Director

Chinese restaurant - downtown Fort Worth

Warehouse - Boulder, Colorado - shipping/receiving assistant

Frying Pan - Basalt, Colorado - waitress (one day only)

Live-in nanny on Buttermilk Mountain - Aspen, Colorado - cooking, cleaning, childcare, food shopping

Poetry consultant (for musician Jimmy Ibbotsen) - Aspen, Colorado - one-shot thing

Tesuque Village Market - Tesuque, New Mexico - cashier/waitress

Tia's Tex-Mex restaurant - Fort Worth - waitress

Nokoa-The Observer - African-American Progressive weekly newspaper - Austin, TX - office assistant, reporter

Boys and Girls Club - Montopolis (adjacent to Austin) - summer instructor

University of Texas-Austin - Natural Fibers Research & Information Center - research assistant

Website development consultant - Fort Worth

Booker T. Sparks Performing Arts Program - Fort Worth - afterschool arts educator

University of North Texas Health Science Center - Lewis Medical Library - Fort Worth - library assistant

Latin Arts Association (Artes de la Rosa) - Fort Worth - afterschool arts educator

Veterans for Peace - 2005 National Convention - Irving, Texas - convention coordinator

Fort Worth Independent School District - substitute teacher - middle school and high school levels


(Plus various temp job assignments through temporary employment agencies
and
commissioned art assignments (performing, teaching, mentoring youth, and writing)
and
paid artist residencies in Nebraska, California, Massachusetts, Wisconsin, and Texas.)


Volunteer positions - the following list is about 15% complete
(Women as volunteers contribute most of the world's unpaid labor, which is not considered as part of the gdp (gross domestic product).

St. Andrew's Catholic Church - Fort Worth - youth lector, liturgical performing artist/director
ACLU - Fort Worth - student intern
Texas Civil Liberties Project - Austin, TX - free legal clinic - administrative assistant
The Other Screen - founder/director and coordinator of this monthly independent film/video series in 1980s Fort Worth
Rocky Mountain Permaculture Institute (and organic farm) - Basalt, Colorado - intern
KO.OP (91.7 FM) Radio - Austin, TX - producer/programmer, outreach coordinator, and elected member of the Community Board

My Life According to Martin Espada (a fun literary exercise or total waste of time, depending...)

My Life According to [fill in the name of a poet you like)

Thanks to Sesshu Foster for the following meme. And to Lorna Dee Cervantes whose inspired answers, using Pablo Neruda poem titles, totally made me want to try this. Spread it around!

Using only POEM titles from ONE POET, answer these questions. Pass it on to 12 (or a million) people you like. You can't use the poet I used. Do not repeat a title. Repost as "My Life According to (POET)."

[I decided on Martin Espada, who was my favorite poet in the late 1990s, because I own about 6 of his books--hence more poem titles from which to choose. Also, i liked so many titles that i listed more than one--at times. That's just me...]


MY LIFE ACCORDING TO MARTIN ESPADA
_______________

Are you a male or female?

"The River Will Not Testify"
"Blackballed by the Rainbow Girls"
"Watch Me Swing"


Describe yourself:

"The Toolmaker Unemployed"
"Who Burns for the Perfection of Paper"


How do you feel?

"Job Search Got Us Down"


Describe where you currently live:

"Where the Disappeared Would Dance"
"From an Island You Cannot Name"


If you could go anywhere, where would you go?

"Transient Hotel Sky at the Hour of Sleep"
"Latin Night at the Pawnshop"


Your favorite form of transportation:

"Sleeping on the Bus"


What's the weather like?

"Ashes and Donuts"
"Rain Delay: Toledo Mud Hens, July 8, 1994"


Favorite time of day:

"When Songs Become Water"
"Cada Puerco Tiene Su Sabado"


Your relationships:

"I Apologize for Giving You Poison Ivy (by Smacking You in the Eye with the Crayfish at the End of My Fishing Line)"


Your fear:

"The New Bathroom Policy at English High School"
"Tires Stacked in the Hallways of Civilization"
"The Chota and the Patron"
"Tiburon"
"Rednecks"
"Thieves of Light"


What is the best advice you have to give?

"Sing in the Voice of a God Even Atheists Can Hear"
"We Live by What We See at Night"


If you could change your name, you would change it to:

"Beloved Spic"
"Transient Hotel Werewolf"


My soul's present condition:

"Preciosa Like a Last Cup of Coffee"

A Woman's World - pictorial mosaic

[Thanks to Tamitha Curiel for suggesting this link. Enjoy!]

"A Woman's World" - Readers submitted photographs that illustrate the theme of women's empowerment.

In accordance with this theme, the NYT is also promoting an online competition that helps put a spotlight on projects and agencies/groups that empower women across the world. For more info, go here. Contest deadline is September 23rd, by the way.

Coming up this Saturday, August 29th afternoon in Fort Worth

[please click on flyer to see larger version]

Coming up next Saturday, August 29th - free workshop for women

[for no-squint viewing, click on the flyer]

Let me know if you need more info!
Please spread the word. Ages 17 and up.

50 years ago today: a classic is born ==> "Kind of Blue" by Miles Davis

45:08 (minutes, seconds) of smoldering genius.

i just want to eat my fist, i am so blown away by this amazing music...i'm gonna lay back and listen to this on audiocassette* tonight, sipping on chilled savignon blanc.

here's one blurb about the album via MOG.COM:

"Kind of Blue was both a radical stylistic experiment and an album parents could put on after dinner without waking the kids. It's a manifesto, a meeting of musical minds, and it's moved millions of copies to remain the bestselling jazz record of all time. Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue," released in August 1959, featured what might be the finest group in jazz history; it virtually founded a new musical style -- called modalism -- but it also marked the beginning of the end of the genre's mass popularity."

more info on Miles and "Kind of Blue"here and here.

lastly, i want to challenge all of you to consider my idea that this nation needs to update its national anthem to reflect the changing times and tenor. twenty years ago, on the 30th anniversary of the release of "Kind of Blue", i suggested that one song off that legendary lp--"All Blues"--would be an amazing choice for national anthem. a soulful instrumental (no lyrics) to play at Olympics award ceremonies, on national holidays, and for other honoring ceremonial purposes.

and, oh yeah, i know that Miles had a history of abusive behavior with Cicely Tyson, but i'm knowingly choosing to give props to the music--but certainly not that aspect of the man.


* the very audiocassette i carried w/ me in the Sony Walkman while bouncing around on the streets of Oaxaca, Oaxaca, in 1990. i cannot now ever hear this album without having flashbacks to those amazing weeks in Mexico.