[The following are excerpts from a journal kept by Susan F. Franks, PhD, which were written about her experiences volunteering with the Hurricane Katrina survivors over the weekend. Dr. Franks is an associate professor in the Departments of Family Medicine and Psychology at the University of North Texas Health Sciences Center in Fort Worth.]
Written at 1am.
Wow. I am exhausted. I just got home about 15 minutes ago; worked until midnight at 2 different convention center shelters. One was huge, tense, and more chaotic than the other. Outside the arena, people are milling around looking for people. Police and National Guard everywhere. Camera crews, news reporters. It took me 30 minutes just to get through to a place to park once I got there.
At the larger convention center, there aren't enough cots or blankets. People have to use towels. Some of the bathrooms don't work, and there is no shower facility. A fight broke out inside while I was there; police took someone away in handcuffs.
There are so many people. Many of them don't trust anyone because of what happened in New Orleans, and so won't even leave their cots or belongings to go get medical help, so most of what I did was convince people to get medical care. Lots of foot problems from walking so much and in contaminated water.
People get distressed when one of their family members stays gone a little longer than it seems they should. Some people got inadvertently separated. I worked with one 14 year old who is 6 months pregnant, who got separated from her family while she was at the hospital today for spotting. Her family got housing, and when she came back they were gone with all her belongings. No one could find where they went; mess-ups with the sign-in/sign-out sheets. We finally managed to locate them; I couldn't believe it. She was so relieved, but didn't want me to leave her until someone came to pick her up to take her to her family. Another 32 year old who keeps wandering around as she tries to deal with her grief over having lost everything and then holding her grandmother in her arms as she died; too frail to make it; and then her own 11 year old daughter is starting to have problems because she is concerned about what her mother is going through.
I go back tomorrow at noon, and then again on Monday at 8am. We work in 4 hour shifts, but I did 8 hours tonight. I'm tired now, and think I can go to sleep.
There are just so many people.
Susan
Sunday, Sept. 4
I was so tired last night, and surprised that I had trouble falling asleep. It was probably after 3 a.m. before I finally fell asleep. I'm tired today, but ready to go back. They need so much help. There's just not enough mental health workers volunteering.
People won't generally just start talking. I have to start by asking them if I can get them anything, then follow through on what I said I'd do, and then they will start opening up. Usually, it's not even until much later in the conversation that I'd find out that they had something physically wrong that needed attending to. Then, they are hesitant to go over to the medical section to get help. They don't want to leave their family members or their belongings.
One man spent all day at the hospital getting his blood pressure meds, and pain meds for a kidney stone. He got back to the shelter, and then left his cot to go to the bathroom. When he came back, someone had taken his cot, all his belongings, and his medications. The papers with the diagnosis and prescriptions were in with his belongings. His blood pressure was over 220, and he was so upset, angry, and agitated. He said he lost his business and everything he owned. He kept saying that just when he thought it couldn't get any worse, it does. What little tiny bit he had managed to salvage was taken. Yet, he didn't want to leave the shelter. I had to convince him to go to back to the hospital.
Their problems keep getting compounded. It's very sad.
Susan
Monday, Sept. 5
Yesterday, I thought maybe things were settling out. When I arrived around noon, there was so much less activity outside the arenas. But, it must be a function of the time of day, because when I left around 5 p.m., it was very crowded again with families and people’s belongings stacked on the sidewalk in trash bags. Yesterday, however, things were a bit more organized outside the Dallas Convention Center. Rather than have everyone entering at the same place, evacuees come and go in one entrance, volunteers line up to get registered at another entrance, and medical teams all enter at another. They wouldn't let people in without an official tag, but they ran out of these early, which created complications throughout the day.
Inside, things seemed a bit more calm, a function of people settling in to some sort of routine. However, now that people are starting to get registered for services there were extremely loud announcements calling for various persons to come here or there. These happen quite often, and when they do they are so loud that you can't even hear the person standing next to you. The overall noise level is still quite high. The clothing has not been organized and just really started coming in yesterday, so people still don't have shoes and other things here. Their feet are so swollen and sore.
It is so different between the Dallas Convention Center and Reunion Arena. Our job at the Convention Center is to walk the floor and try to identify people in need of mental health services; particularly those that need meds. Yesterday, I found a mentally retarded man who had been living semi-independently with his brother overseeing his care. His brother left early and he chose to stay, but had to be evacuated from his home by boat when the water got about chest high. He is clearly traumatized by his experience, and what he subsequently went through and saw at the Superdome. He managed to make it to Dallas with the help of some neighbors. But, at the shelter here, he just sits. He is not independent enough to go seek out shoes, clothing, food, or other items; and had no idea about getting registered for housing or services that he will need. He wonders how he can get his money, and hopes that the bank he uses still has it; that it didn't get flooded and the money ruined. He has limited understanding of how to live independently, and has no other family. He is so well-behaved and looks so pleasant that I wouldn't have identified him as someone who needed my assistance. I discovered him because I saw he needed help to open a small snack bag of Teddy Grahams. We started talking and it became obvious to me that he was mentally challenged. Today is his birthday; he turns 48.
People want to be touched. They want the human contact of reassurance and compassion. It is an overarching theme; that combined with not wanting to be abandoned. Several people I saw the day before came and found me as I worked. Some people sent others to find me if I didn't return quickly enough from whatever information I was trying to find for them. I never found the man from the day before that wanted me to come back and talk with him. He has MS. I kept going back to where I thought his bed was, and he was never there. There wasn't a very good organized accounting the day before of people coming and going. I'll try again the next time I'm scheduled to work there. I hope he is okay.
People want to be touched. It's such a simple thing.
And yesterday the infectious disease specialist told us that it looks like we are starting to see cases of diarrhea at the Convention Center. We are to stop touching people if it is not necessary. But, it is necessary, isn't it?
I'm at Reunion Arena today.
Susan
Sept. 5
I worked at Reunion Arena today. The contrast between there and the Convention Center is still so striking to me. Most of the people in need of psychiatric medication have been identified at Reunion, so they are stable but just need to be monitored and assisted. This probably changed today, since they were reportedly bringing in about 200 more people. I understand from the night shift that people are waking up screaming from time to time. One older gentleman became confused and disoriented last night. I suspect that he is demented, but I never had the opportunity to see him though I stayed an hour later than my shift waiting for him. No one knew where he had gone.
We now have the extra task of attending to the volunteers as well. We are to walk around the break areas and see how they are doing. Today, a National Guardsman broke down crying during his break. It is an emotionally intense time for everyone. It doesn't help much that the procedures change day by day. When you arrive for a new shift, none of the routines are the same as the day before. Understandable, but some added stress to have to re-learn how everything is supposed to work. We finally have a managable system in place to keep more consistent track of people, their diagnosis/situation, and how it is being managed.
You meet inspiring people from time to time; I'm amazed at the resilience that some can have in the face of such adversity. I spoke with a 91- year- old woman as I helped her fold the blanket for her cot. (She's particular about how blankets are to be folded; there's a right way to do it I learned.) It's also encouraging to hear the bits of tangible progress being made by our efforts. A child was able to climb the steps to get to the bathroom area today, with minimal assistance. She has been afraid and unable to climb steps since the stairs in her home washed out from underneath her feet during the evacuation. The police have assisted us in desensitizing a young man to police presence in the shelter.
Still, other problems are more subtle. Some seem not able to psychologically grasp that there is nothing left to go back to. Today, a schizophrenic woman tried to insist that I contact her pharmacy to find out about her prescriptions. She got separated from her son in the evacuation, and her stability seems tenuous without him by her side. I worked with a gentleman who previously worked on Bourbon Street as a saxophone player. He is holding out on leaving the shelter, thinking there may be some work for him in New Orleans and he will be able to return soon. His wife and severely mentally retarded brother are here in the shelter with him. They will probably get an offer for housing very soon. I believe that he is too anxious to leave the security and support of the shelter. He is almost constantly speaking with a volunteer, just to keep distracted. He will need help to transition out.
There are some who may have needed services before leaving New Orleans. I worked with a woman who suffered brain damage years ago in a car wreck. I'm not certain she was functioning successfully before all this. She was so happy she was being helped at all she hugged me and kissed me on the cheek.
The outpouring of gratitude from these people is humbling. We are constantly being hugged, kissed, and thanked.
Thanked for being decent to another human being.
That says a lot.
Susan
Tuesday, September 06, 2005
Saturday, September 03, 2005
MoveOn.org initiates Katrina survivor housing assistance service too!
For those of us in the South who can offer free housing (temporary and transitional) to Katrina survivors, here is another great site that facilitates the connection of those who have a spare room, extra apartment, couch or floorspace to offer with those who desperately need a roof over their heads as soon as possible:
Hurricane Housing.org is a new "civic action" initiative by the Democracy in Action folks at MoveOn.org.
Last time I checked, over 1100 people had posted an offer of free housing in the N. Texas region within 100 miles of Dallas. Way to go, D/FW! I also noticed that quite a few folks offering housing admitted to being low-income and, often, single moms with limited means.
It really seems that there is a major outpouring of support by those who have little for those who themselves had very little before Katrina.
Hurricane Housing.org is a new "civic action" initiative by the Democracy in Action folks at MoveOn.org.
Last time I checked, over 1100 people had posted an offer of free housing in the N. Texas region within 100 miles of Dallas. Way to go, D/FW! I also noticed that quite a few folks offering housing admitted to being low-income and, often, single moms with limited means.
It really seems that there is a major outpouring of support by those who have little for those who themselves had very little before Katrina.
Katrina evacuees can connect with folks offering housing opportunities
[Thanks to Zkot Pen , world traveler and poet, for this useful lead.]
The Open House Project was created this week in order to help Gulf Coast region evacuees who were forced to leave their homes or lost their homes in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
Hurricane Katrina struck the US Gulf Coast on Monday 8/05/05, leaving thousands dead. President Bush is calling the storm "one of the worst natural disasters in the nation's history". Hurricane Katrina is "the worst disaster in the 120-year history of the American Red Cross", its CEO and president said today. Federal disaster declarations cover 90,000 square miles along the U.S. Gulf Coast, an area roughly the size of Britain. As many as 400,000 people have been forced to leave their homes.
The concept of The Open House Project is simply to provide one thing: a meeting place for people who have extra space in their homes (or rental properties) who are also able to lend that space to those in need during a time of crisis, such as Hurricane Katrina.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims of Hurricane Katrina.
The Open House Project was created this week in order to help Gulf Coast region evacuees who were forced to leave their homes or lost their homes in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
Hurricane Katrina struck the US Gulf Coast on Monday 8/05/05, leaving thousands dead. President Bush is calling the storm "one of the worst natural disasters in the nation's history". Hurricane Katrina is "the worst disaster in the 120-year history of the American Red Cross", its CEO and president said today. Federal disaster declarations cover 90,000 square miles along the U.S. Gulf Coast, an area roughly the size of Britain. As many as 400,000 people have been forced to leave their homes.
The concept of The Open House Project is simply to provide one thing: a meeting place for people who have extra space in their homes (or rental properties) who are also able to lend that space to those in need during a time of crisis, such as Hurricane Katrina.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims of Hurricane Katrina.
Friday, September 02, 2005
Friday evening at Wilkerson-Greines Activity Center
i sit here at some public-acess computers (thanks to Dell!) at a FWISD athletic center in southeast Fort Worth (Wilkerson-Greines Activity Center) where an estimated 600 evacuees from NOLA (New Orleans, LA) are scheduled to arrive, and, i'd say, about 300-400 are already here. meals have been distributed, people are setting up tents, spreading sleeping bags on the main floor, and quietly regaining some equillibrium.
throngs of Fort Worthians, bless their souls, are dropping off bags and boxes of dry goods (toiletries to clothing to bottled water).
a woman, who i'm assuming is the volunteer coordinator, is shouting commands and suggestions to a flurry of newly-arrived folks who want to offer a hand. we show up to make a donation and then we don't want to leave; that's the spirit, eh? Black Baptist church communities, some in matching t-shirts, bustle about with a sense of reassuring familiarity and hearty laughs. i see "official volunteers" with badges hanging from their necks, representing the City of Fort Worth, the FW Independent School District, the Red Cross, and other agencies.
i see people walking around with heaping plates of hot food and drinks, perhaps the first hot complete meal they've had in days. a person overseeing the buffet line shouts out to other volunteers standing around, wanting to be of service: "extend a hand, start a conversation, welcome these people to Texas!"
everyone here wants to give just a little bit, well, actually, we want to give a lot...but we don't want to be pushy or invasive.
i decided one thing i could help do was hang out near the computers (all have high-speed internet connections) and offer assistance if folks need to search for information.
i created the FAVORITES lists on each computer here, adding websites which i think might be relevant to these evacuees: housing, jobs, news...
whether young or old, everyone seems calm and surprisingly content. i notice the sharp smell of aftershave and other aromatic body products, as folks emerge from the showers, walking around in fresh clothes. they must feel so much better now.
i am enjoying the company of young 14-year old Kevin, who sits at the computer to my left. he is happily occupied with an anime tv series website, downloading dozens of images and printing them on the HP printer, and he is nonstop describing each series character and detailing the narrative of this mythological tale. he has the biggest smile, as he describes the one MRE (meals-ready-to-eat) he received just earlier today. i keep prodding him to eat something more substantial, a little fresher, on the tables just three yards behind us. i ask about his family, and he indicates that his mother and brother are elsewhere in the center; he seems not to be worried about them or anything else, as his gaze remains fixed on the Japanese drawings on the screen.
he is in his own reverie of survival, even as slices of dinner pizza cool at his side....
[The Wilkerson-Greines Activity Center is located at 5101 C.A. Roberson, Fort Worth TX 76119. This facility is located in southeast Fort Worth at IH-20 and Wichita Street (east of IH-35W).]
throngs of Fort Worthians, bless their souls, are dropping off bags and boxes of dry goods (toiletries to clothing to bottled water).
a woman, who i'm assuming is the volunteer coordinator, is shouting commands and suggestions to a flurry of newly-arrived folks who want to offer a hand. we show up to make a donation and then we don't want to leave; that's the spirit, eh? Black Baptist church communities, some in matching t-shirts, bustle about with a sense of reassuring familiarity and hearty laughs. i see "official volunteers" with badges hanging from their necks, representing the City of Fort Worth, the FW Independent School District, the Red Cross, and other agencies.
i see people walking around with heaping plates of hot food and drinks, perhaps the first hot complete meal they've had in days. a person overseeing the buffet line shouts out to other volunteers standing around, wanting to be of service: "extend a hand, start a conversation, welcome these people to Texas!"
everyone here wants to give just a little bit, well, actually, we want to give a lot...but we don't want to be pushy or invasive.
i decided one thing i could help do was hang out near the computers (all have high-speed internet connections) and offer assistance if folks need to search for information.
i created the FAVORITES lists on each computer here, adding websites which i think might be relevant to these evacuees: housing, jobs, news...
whether young or old, everyone seems calm and surprisingly content. i notice the sharp smell of aftershave and other aromatic body products, as folks emerge from the showers, walking around in fresh clothes. they must feel so much better now.
i am enjoying the company of young 14-year old Kevin, who sits at the computer to my left. he is happily occupied with an anime tv series website, downloading dozens of images and printing them on the HP printer, and he is nonstop describing each series character and detailing the narrative of this mythological tale. he has the biggest smile, as he describes the one MRE (meals-ready-to-eat) he received just earlier today. i keep prodding him to eat something more substantial, a little fresher, on the tables just three yards behind us. i ask about his family, and he indicates that his mother and brother are elsewhere in the center; he seems not to be worried about them or anything else, as his gaze remains fixed on the Japanese drawings on the screen.
he is in his own reverie of survival, even as slices of dinner pizza cool at his side....
[The Wilkerson-Greines Activity Center is located at 5101 C.A. Roberson, Fort Worth TX 76119. This facility is located in southeast Fort Worth at IH-20 and Wichita Street (east of IH-35W).]
Thursday, September 01, 2005
Halliburton, redeem thyself
Dear Halliburton:
You have reaped the benefits as war profiteers in Iraq. We have witnessed your gluttonous grab of U.S. contracts
for the "rebuilding of Iraq", in a no-bid situation. Yeah, we have also read about Cheney's ties to your favored positioning
in these post-911 years of "fighting terrorism." Okay, these connections, such blatant cronyism, are certainly no secret
and of course are not above reproach.
However, inasmuch as our outrage--about your exploitation of the U.S. occupation of Iraq-- continues to seethe, we have a small favor to ask.
Your subsidiary, KBR, could be of great service to those suffering in New Orleans and the surrounding Gulf Coast region
right at this moment. According to your website: "KBR provides a wide range of engineering, construction, operations and maintenance, logistics and project management services to three markets: upstream, downstream and government & infrastructure."
KBR even has documented experience--mostly in Asia--working on projects to "deliver clean water, flood protection and other essential infrastructure to millions of people."
Wow, what credentials. I'm impressed.
But, how about impressing me even more. What is stopping you from considering the gift you could capably offer
by providing services to the Katrina-devastated areas of OUR OWN COUNTRY? Pro bono. Free of charge.
I took a glimpse at a very informative resource online and it is pretty obvious to me that your coffers of profit aren't doing too badly this millennium.
So, how about a leg up for the people of New Orleans and surrounding communities? How about sending a KBR response team down there to help save Americans on U.S. soil? How about making a sober effort at showing us taxpayers that you can
play Good Samaritan in a moment of crisis for your fellow countrymen and women and children?
I recommend you act swiftly. Your reputation could use some damage control itself.
Halliburton, redeem thyself.
Sincerely,
Tammy Gomez
You have reaped the benefits as war profiteers in Iraq. We have witnessed your gluttonous grab of U.S. contracts
for the "rebuilding of Iraq", in a no-bid situation. Yeah, we have also read about Cheney's ties to your favored positioning
in these post-911 years of "fighting terrorism." Okay, these connections, such blatant cronyism, are certainly no secret
and of course are not above reproach.
However, inasmuch as our outrage--about your exploitation of the U.S. occupation of Iraq-- continues to seethe, we have a small favor to ask.
Your subsidiary, KBR, could be of great service to those suffering in New Orleans and the surrounding Gulf Coast region
right at this moment. According to your website: "KBR provides a wide range of engineering, construction, operations and maintenance, logistics and project management services to three markets: upstream, downstream and government & infrastructure."
KBR even has documented experience--mostly in Asia--working on projects to "deliver clean water, flood protection and other essential infrastructure to millions of people."
Wow, what credentials. I'm impressed.
But, how about impressing me even more. What is stopping you from considering the gift you could capably offer
by providing services to the Katrina-devastated areas of OUR OWN COUNTRY? Pro bono. Free of charge.
I took a glimpse at a very informative resource online and it is pretty obvious to me that your coffers of profit aren't doing too badly this millennium.
So, how about a leg up for the people of New Orleans and surrounding communities? How about sending a KBR response team down there to help save Americans on U.S. soil? How about making a sober effort at showing us taxpayers that you can
play Good Samaritan in a moment of crisis for your fellow countrymen and women and children?
I recommend you act swiftly. Your reputation could use some damage control itself.
Halliburton, redeem thyself.
Sincerely,
Tammy Gomez
Thursday, July 28, 2005
Say no to CAFTA - Central America Free Trade Agreement
If passed, CAFTA would advance the passing of the FTAA (Free Trade Area of the Americas).
Can we stop U.S. domination of Latin America? Do we want blood on our hands, the blood of exploited labor, in our consumer products of convenience?
Wednesday, July 27, 2005
"Parents Magazine" apparently cool w/ kids ingesting toxins
The following is excerpted from the newsletter "ORGANIC BYTES" (#62, published by Organic Consumers Association):
"PARENTING ADVICE: EAT YOUR PESTICIDES
"Parents Magazine", one of the most influential parenting publications in the U.S., advised parents not to worry about pesticide residues in children's food in its recent August 2005 issue. In an article titled "Food Under Fire," the magazine belittles the benefits of organic foods as a myth, and endorses pesticides in foods as safe, stating: "there's no evidence that these chemicals, used at the low levels found in our food supply, are harmful to children." The author of the piece based his research on the opinion of a single "expert," never mentioning three decades of scientific evidence from academic, government and industry sources that states otherwise. The magazine serves as a "parenting guide" to more than 14 million subscribers....write a quick letter to their editor here: mailbag@parentsmagazine.com."
____________________________________
What follows is my quick letter to the PARENTS MAGAZINE editor:
"Any parent knows that infants and children are generally more vulnerable to toxic substances. For PARENTS MAGAZINE to disregard years of research findings and to conclude ("Food Under Fire", August 2005) that toxins such as pesticides are somehow to be tolerated in our children's early life diet is blatant irresponsibility. At first meal, at second ingestion, perhaps a child appears to have experienced no harm. But reared on a consistent diet of foods heavily-laden with known toxic ingredients, some level of cumulative harm is inevitable for even the most robust of children. It concerns me that PARENTS MAGAZINE has chosen to relax its standards of acceptability of toxins in our world.
Sincerely,
Tammy Gomez
Fort Worth, Texas"
******************************** Subscribe to "Organice Bytes" here:
http://www.organicconsumers.org/organicbytes.htm
"PARENTING ADVICE: EAT YOUR PESTICIDES
"Parents Magazine", one of the most influential parenting publications in the U.S., advised parents not to worry about pesticide residues in children's food in its recent August 2005 issue. In an article titled "Food Under Fire," the magazine belittles the benefits of organic foods as a myth, and endorses pesticides in foods as safe, stating: "there's no evidence that these chemicals, used at the low levels found in our food supply, are harmful to children." The author of the piece based his research on the opinion of a single "expert," never mentioning three decades of scientific evidence from academic, government and industry sources that states otherwise. The magazine serves as a "parenting guide" to more than 14 million subscribers....write a quick letter to their editor here: mailbag@parentsmagazine.com."
____________________________________
What follows is my quick letter to the PARENTS MAGAZINE editor:
"Any parent knows that infants and children are generally more vulnerable to toxic substances. For PARENTS MAGAZINE to disregard years of research findings and to conclude ("Food Under Fire", August 2005) that toxins such as pesticides are somehow to be tolerated in our children's early life diet is blatant irresponsibility. At first meal, at second ingestion, perhaps a child appears to have experienced no harm. But reared on a consistent diet of foods heavily-laden with known toxic ingredients, some level of cumulative harm is inevitable for even the most robust of children. It concerns me that PARENTS MAGAZINE has chosen to relax its standards of acceptability of toxins in our world.
Sincerely,
Tammy Gomez
Fort Worth, Texas"
******************************** Subscribe to "Organice Bytes" here:
http://www.organicconsumers.org/organicbytes.htm
Tuesday, July 26, 2005
My Multicultural Moment for Today
I had just dropped my niece off at her Summer Theater Camp session, and I was turning the corner onto Magnolia St.
I blinked to make sure I was seeing right: a rather large group of Asians (Japanese tourists? a family out for a cholesterol-heavy homestylee lunch?) were streaming out of the legendary Paris Coffee Shop--which is nothing to do with Paris, Parisian cuisine, French style and has everything to do with sustaining the downhome Texas cafe tradition of fresh fruit pies (by the slice!), chicken fried steak, and Whites at the tables/Blacks in the kitchen. Haven't eaten there in years, though I pass it daily, scorning its cheesy, misdirected (unfortunately) exterior mural and seeing people of color only when it's staff (kitchen crew) hanging out by the back door having a smoke.
ANYway--I imagined what those Asian folks might have thought of the place.
Fort Worth wants to break out of a too-tight Bible belt chokehold on ethnic diversity and inclusivity in all public realms.
Let's see it happen.
I said it before and it'll be on a t-shirt before long: Fort Worthwhile: Let's Make It!
I blinked to make sure I was seeing right: a rather large group of Asians (Japanese tourists? a family out for a cholesterol-heavy homestylee lunch?) were streaming out of the legendary Paris Coffee Shop--which is nothing to do with Paris, Parisian cuisine, French style and has everything to do with sustaining the downhome Texas cafe tradition of fresh fruit pies (by the slice!), chicken fried steak, and Whites at the tables/Blacks in the kitchen. Haven't eaten there in years, though I pass it daily, scorning its cheesy, misdirected (unfortunately) exterior mural and seeing people of color only when it's staff (kitchen crew) hanging out by the back door having a smoke.
ANYway--I imagined what those Asian folks might have thought of the place.
Fort Worth wants to break out of a too-tight Bible belt chokehold on ethnic diversity and inclusivity in all public realms.
Let's see it happen.
I said it before and it'll be on a t-shirt before long: Fort Worthwhile: Let's Make It!
Monday, July 25, 2005
Hectic pace makes perfect - convening a convention
Been doing email non-stop for days, trying to put finishing touches on a National Convention program and programme. The big annual gathering of VETERANS FOR PEACE is happening in less than two weeks, and we got bucketloads of work yet to do, things to arrange.
I've been telling folks to spread the word and to download the entire contents of the 2005 CONVENTION PROGRAMME from the VETERANS FOR PEACE website, in order to ascertain what events, workshops, concerts they might like to attend.
The convention's offering words, music, inspiring truth-talk from the likes of these folks: Jim Hightower, Dahr Jamail, conscientious objector Camilo Mejia, singer James McMurtry, whistleblower Coleen Rowley (who's now running for Congress), and David Rovics (activist singer-songwriter).
Film screenings will happen Thursday through Saturday (August 4th-6th) in the evenings at 10pm in the Big Tent (air-conditioned, by the way). The TEXAS PREMIERE of "Sir! No Sir!", a 90-minute film
that just received its WORLD premiere in Los Angeles last month, is described herewith:
"In the 1960s an anti-war movement emerged that altered the course of history. It emerged in army stockades, navy brigs and in the dingy towns that surround military bases. It penetrated elite military colleges like West Point and spread throughout the battlefields of Vietnam. Hundreds went to prison and thousands into exile. "Sir! No Sir!" by David Zeiger tells the little known story of this GI movement against the war in Vietnam."
LATE NIGHT VIDEO SERIES - 10pm - in the Big Tent on-campus at the University of Dallas at Irving - Donations accepted
Thursday: The Cost of War (57 mins.)
Friday: Sir! No Sir! (90 mins.)
Saturday: Voices in Wartime (90 mins.)
Veterans For Peace: Waging Peace for 20 Years!
I've been telling folks to spread the word and to download the entire contents of the 2005 CONVENTION PROGRAMME from the VETERANS FOR PEACE website, in order to ascertain what events, workshops, concerts they might like to attend.
The convention's offering words, music, inspiring truth-talk from the likes of these folks: Jim Hightower, Dahr Jamail, conscientious objector Camilo Mejia, singer James McMurtry, whistleblower Coleen Rowley (who's now running for Congress), and David Rovics (activist singer-songwriter).
Film screenings will happen Thursday through Saturday (August 4th-6th) in the evenings at 10pm in the Big Tent (air-conditioned, by the way). The TEXAS PREMIERE of "Sir! No Sir!", a 90-minute film
that just received its WORLD premiere in Los Angeles last month, is described herewith:
"In the 1960s an anti-war movement emerged that altered the course of history. It emerged in army stockades, navy brigs and in the dingy towns that surround military bases. It penetrated elite military colleges like West Point and spread throughout the battlefields of Vietnam. Hundreds went to prison and thousands into exile. "Sir! No Sir!" by David Zeiger tells the little known story of this GI movement against the war in Vietnam."
LATE NIGHT VIDEO SERIES - 10pm - in the Big Tent on-campus at the University of Dallas at Irving - Donations accepted
Thursday: The Cost of War (57 mins.)
Friday: Sir! No Sir! (90 mins.)
Saturday: Voices in Wartime (90 mins.)
Veterans For Peace: Waging Peace for 20 Years!
Saturday, July 23, 2005
The official Veterans For Peace 2005 Convention Programme Booklet
You can download it (it's a pdf) to your desktop and peruse its thoroughly-detailed contents (about convention workshops, keynote speakers, performance schedules, and more). Just go to the Veterans For Peace website and scroll down a bit to the DOWNLOADS section. Click on "Download Program Booklet PDF" and it's all yours.
Feel free to print/distribute copies (or sections thereof) to anyone who you think might be interested in attending the Convention. I also have PRE-SALE Saturday, August 6th Banquet Program (Jim Hightower is the keynote speaker) tickets for sale.
Thanks for your help in getting the word out!
Feel free to print/distribute copies (or sections thereof) to anyone who you think might be interested in attending the Convention. I also have PRE-SALE Saturday, August 6th Banquet Program (Jim Hightower is the keynote speaker) tickets for sale.
Thanks for your help in getting the word out!
Friday, July 22, 2005
Emma Tenayuca in convention booklet
I am so excited! Yesterday, while proofreading the final draft of the 2005 National Convention Veterans For Peace programme booklet--all 60 pages of it--I noticed that the editor had put in a few pages of information under the heading "Texas Women in History" or something similar to that. In this section, there were brief bios, along with notable quotes, on such Texas famous femmes as Barbara Jordan, Ann Richards, and Molly Ivins. Hmmm, I thought, that's cool to have a section devoted to this kind of thing. But second thought: wait, how 'bout a Chicana notable? How 'bout Emma Tenayuca? You cannot leave out somebody like Emma Tenayuca? So, I sent a suggestion to the editor, along with a url for info on Tenayuca, right away. A print deadline loomed.
And so, today, when I went to check my email, I found a message from the editor. She wrote that she'd booted Molly Ivins from the programme booklet and put in some historical info about Emma Tenayuca instead. Yay, victory! I helped make a tiny difference...I am letting folks have a chance to learn about the pecan shellers' strike of 1938 and about the beloved San Antonio labor leader, Tenayuca, who helped bring about movement towards labor justice. Awesome!
Every little bit helps, every tiniest act can make a ripple in someone's consciousness, and growth can happen from even a tiny effort at watering a seed....
Yes!
And so, today, when I went to check my email, I found a message from the editor. She wrote that she'd booted Molly Ivins from the programme booklet and put in some historical info about Emma Tenayuca instead. Yay, victory! I helped make a tiny difference...I am letting folks have a chance to learn about the pecan shellers' strike of 1938 and about the beloved San Antonio labor leader, Tenayuca, who helped bring about movement towards labor justice. Awesome!
Every little bit helps, every tiniest act can make a ripple in someone's consciousness, and growth can happen from even a tiny effort at watering a seed....
Yes!
Sunday, July 17, 2005
Look who's listed...
I happened to be looking up something in google and decided to check on new results for my own name. (Why not? It's one efficient way to find press reviews and blog notices about my work, which i can then include on updates of my bio, etc.) So, what do i find? Apparently, on the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) website, my name is listed as "cast member" for Rick Linklater's first (pre-Slacker) full-length feature film. What?!! I was not believing that i would ever actually be listed as an actor in this film, even though--once i'd read the premise of the film, which is titled "It's Impossible to Learn to Plow by Reading Books"--i'd had my suspicions about some of my ideas possibly being included in Rick's first long project. You see,
back in the day (being actually the mid-to-late 1980s), i'd hung around with Rick and some of his go-see-films-during-the-day-at-the-Texas-Union-and-go-to-hear-bands-at-night vintage slacker buddies. These folks were, at the time, wanna-be filmmakers, who were doing experimental shorts (super 8, 16mm) around town in unlikely unconstructed scenarios and locations. I had alot of interest in these guys, cuz their reading/film/music tastes pretty closely aligned with mine. For instance, we were similarly drawn to writers J.G. Ballard and Philip K. Dick and punk-industrial sounds like SPK, Throbbing Gristle, Butthole Surfers, Scratch Acid and others.
Rick and his housemates also launched the Austin Film Society the year after I graduated from college, so I was an early film series fan--going to the Dobie Theater for midnight screenings, sometimes offering a flower freshly-picked from the UT-Austin campus flowerbeds as admission payment. Who knows what the guys thought of me: resident film groupie? literary somnambulist? wanna-be scenester? I just remember that the films they screened were so amazing and diverse, and their following grew quickly over the years. (The Austin Film Society is now a mainstay, a veritable institution, known not only to Austinites but to cineastes nationwide.)
Anyway, on to my point, to the present: I remember hanging out with Rick at the house ('round the corner from Les Amis, which is also now-defunct), and being a little wound-up cuz i'd just left my modern dance class across the street. I started dancing around, full of crazy energy, and talking jibberish about my day. Typical 22-year old, I guess. Rick, always a good listener, seemed amused and drawn to my stories. At one point, after i'd detailed a particularly emotional concern of the moment, an outpouring that had moved me to tears, Rick perked up, as if with sudden concern. He merely asked, "Is it okay if i set up my camera--a beta video camera on a low tripod)--and shoot you saying again what you just said. Over there, by the window...just like before....." Happy to go along with this distraction from my own verbalized musings, I shifted into performer mode. It kinda pleased me that Rick had taken an interest in what i had to say. After all, i was only talking about boyfriends and an audio cassette recording that i'd recorded and mailed to an ex-boyfriend, only to get it mailed back to me at a time when i was experiencing a new heartache. The recycle value of my own recorded spoken encouragements was what i was so intrigued by. The concept of comforting yourself with a tape you recorded being mailed back to you was almost poignant, a little pathetic. I guess Rick recognized the pathos in this and wanted to document it for further study, for consideration later. Or perhaps i just looked a little visually interesting standing at the window. Whatever. I agreed to pose and reiterate for the camera what i'd just casually shared with Rick.
And now, years and years later, I'm seeing that my name is on the credits list for his 1988 film "It's Impossible....." Okay, i think i have to check this out further. More soon.
back in the day (being actually the mid-to-late 1980s), i'd hung around with Rick and some of his go-see-films-during-the-day-at-the-Texas-Union-and-go-to-hear-bands-at-night vintage slacker buddies. These folks were, at the time, wanna-be filmmakers, who were doing experimental shorts (super 8, 16mm) around town in unlikely unconstructed scenarios and locations. I had alot of interest in these guys, cuz their reading/film/music tastes pretty closely aligned with mine. For instance, we were similarly drawn to writers J.G. Ballard and Philip K. Dick and punk-industrial sounds like SPK, Throbbing Gristle, Butthole Surfers, Scratch Acid and others.
Rick and his housemates also launched the Austin Film Society the year after I graduated from college, so I was an early film series fan--going to the Dobie Theater for midnight screenings, sometimes offering a flower freshly-picked from the UT-Austin campus flowerbeds as admission payment. Who knows what the guys thought of me: resident film groupie? literary somnambulist? wanna-be scenester? I just remember that the films they screened were so amazing and diverse, and their following grew quickly over the years. (The Austin Film Society is now a mainstay, a veritable institution, known not only to Austinites but to cineastes nationwide.)
Anyway, on to my point, to the present: I remember hanging out with Rick at the house ('round the corner from Les Amis, which is also now-defunct), and being a little wound-up cuz i'd just left my modern dance class across the street. I started dancing around, full of crazy energy, and talking jibberish about my day. Typical 22-year old, I guess. Rick, always a good listener, seemed amused and drawn to my stories. At one point, after i'd detailed a particularly emotional concern of the moment, an outpouring that had moved me to tears, Rick perked up, as if with sudden concern. He merely asked, "Is it okay if i set up my camera--a beta video camera on a low tripod)--and shoot you saying again what you just said. Over there, by the window...just like before....." Happy to go along with this distraction from my own verbalized musings, I shifted into performer mode. It kinda pleased me that Rick had taken an interest in what i had to say. After all, i was only talking about boyfriends and an audio cassette recording that i'd recorded and mailed to an ex-boyfriend, only to get it mailed back to me at a time when i was experiencing a new heartache. The recycle value of my own recorded spoken encouragements was what i was so intrigued by. The concept of comforting yourself with a tape you recorded being mailed back to you was almost poignant, a little pathetic. I guess Rick recognized the pathos in this and wanted to document it for further study, for consideration later. Or perhaps i just looked a little visually interesting standing at the window. Whatever. I agreed to pose and reiterate for the camera what i'd just casually shared with Rick.
And now, years and years later, I'm seeing that my name is on the credits list for his 1988 film "It's Impossible....." Okay, i think i have to check this out further. More soon.
Thursday, July 14, 2005
Bridge Center search bridges me to David Nakabayashi
I had written down the words "Bridge Center - El Paso" on a tiny scrap of paper, and had forgotten why, so I decided to google the term to see what popped up. Of course, when you google, you add your own oomph to the search, knowing that you approach such a moment with your own built-in filters and preferences. I knew that I didn't want to see results about bridge construction, the game of bridge, or some civic center administration webpage. I wanted "Bridge Center - El Paso" to be about a Center for art, a Center for literature, a Bridge for people, a cultural relevance for Latinos on the border....
The best result I found had to do with a guy named David Nakabayashi who'd had a show at the Bridge Center for Contemporary Arts in El Paso. Reading some of David's writing compelled me to check out some of his art from the series of retablos he made last year--the series was on "Consumption." You've got to see this work online. It made me so happy, elated, contenta. His colors are brilliant, his subject matter well-considered, and the evocation of themes very personal. I love the Prayer to the Cow and the Prayer to his Alcoholic Friend(?).
When mass media wants me to be fascinated by Tom Cruise & Paris Hilton romances, I am so relieved to be reminded of the beauty that can be accessed--ever so non-viscerally, of course, if it's on the web--at my fingertips, as I wind down from a long day, cold Tecate at my side.
Makes me wanna say a prayer.
Friday, July 08, 2005
BlogHer Conference on July 30th, 2005
It's a SINGLE DAY DEAL--starting at 8:30am (take an espresso, depth charge!) and ending by 6pm--but this first-of-its-kind blogger meet for girls (and boys, as 20% of the pre-registered are of the XY chromosome) promises to be a frenetically-paced conference.
Taking place at a joint called TechMart in Santa Clara, California, the programming for the day includes a friendly debate ("Does Today's Link-based Power Structure Hurt Women Bloggers? Should We Care?") and plenty of sessions which are thematically all over the map: Mommyblogging, feminist hip-hop bloggers, podcasting/vlogs, and the bidness side of blogging.
Don't miss the catchy-titled LUNCH SPECIAL: "Flame, Blame, and Shame: What happens when women write for an audience of men and women who can write—and bite—back? Moderator Liza Sabater leads a panel including online security expert Ellen Spertus and Debi Jones." There's even a Blogher Global Panel, featuring blogging women from India and Portugal. They're thorough with this confab, que no?
I can't be there, but maybe we'll get a Blogher t-shirt for the Cowtown girls sweating out their August thoughts for online viewing. Here's where to go for more Blogher Conference INFO.
Taking place at a joint called TechMart in Santa Clara, California, the programming for the day includes a friendly debate ("Does Today's Link-based Power Structure Hurt Women Bloggers? Should We Care?") and plenty of sessions which are thematically all over the map: Mommyblogging, feminist hip-hop bloggers, podcasting/vlogs, and the bidness side of blogging.
Don't miss the catchy-titled LUNCH SPECIAL: "Flame, Blame, and Shame: What happens when women write for an audience of men and women who can write—and bite—back? Moderator Liza Sabater leads a panel including online security expert Ellen Spertus and Debi Jones." There's even a Blogher Global Panel, featuring blogging women from India and Portugal. They're thorough with this confab, que no?
I can't be there, but maybe we'll get a Blogher t-shirt for the Cowtown girls sweating out their August thoughts for online viewing. Here's where to go for more Blogher Conference INFO.
Tuesday, July 05, 2005
Lorenzo Thomas leaves us to our own soundtrack
This in yesterday's HOUSTON CHRONICLE: Lorenzo Thomas, a much-respected fixture on Houston's literary scene and a poet who married bluesy lyricism with a social conscience, died Monday. He was 60.
I hate getting word of my friends' passing via email; it really sucks. My friend Amanda in Austin has trumpeted at least two different announcements such-like via her mass email network. And then today, casual like an invitation to a workshop, I get a notice from the Writer's Garret's Thea Temple: Lorenzo Thomas has passed away.
Why didn't I hear this w/ music, a clash of radio station soliloquies hitting it hard on the funk or soul at the intersection of dayjob and evening happy hour? Or couldn't this news have breathed into my heart via a nighttime dream, replete with horn section and poetry? I don't want nobody else to tell me that another of my goddamn kindred friend and awesome contemporary Texas poet chums has died--not this year, and definitely not on email.
Anyway, Lorenzo, thanks for the words and the kind brown eyes of "getting it"--connecting with a sister who respected you como si fueras mi papa. Un maestro for our times, the guy who played Robert Johnson records during a class on the Poetics of Blues at Naropa Institute that summer I met you. Boulder, Colorado, maybe it was 1988.
Here's a bit of info, the kind people like to read so they learn what they missed in a man they never got to meet: Lorenzo Thomas, assistant professor of English at the University of Houston-Downtown, was a member of the legendary Umbra workshop in the 1960's. This workshop drew young writers to the Lower East Side of New York City in search of their artistic voices. Reflecting on those years in a 1978 Callaloo essay, Thomas observes, "cultural black nationalism of our moment did not spring forth from inspiration of the New York Times or the Late News," but was the result of cultural transmissions from the griots of the folk tradition to these young writers.
If you want to read more, check HERE.
Lorenzo, in 1967, wrote his poem "Onion Bucket." One line from this one reads: "All silence says music will follow." In the silence of his departure, there is bound to be music. Just be still and hear it.
Good thoughts, Lorenzo, all good thoughts.
I hate getting word of my friends' passing via email; it really sucks. My friend Amanda in Austin has trumpeted at least two different announcements such-like via her mass email network. And then today, casual like an invitation to a workshop, I get a notice from the Writer's Garret's Thea Temple: Lorenzo Thomas has passed away.
Why didn't I hear this w/ music, a clash of radio station soliloquies hitting it hard on the funk or soul at the intersection of dayjob and evening happy hour? Or couldn't this news have breathed into my heart via a nighttime dream, replete with horn section and poetry? I don't want nobody else to tell me that another of my goddamn kindred friend and awesome contemporary Texas poet chums has died--not this year, and definitely not on email.
Anyway, Lorenzo, thanks for the words and the kind brown eyes of "getting it"--connecting with a sister who respected you como si fueras mi papa. Un maestro for our times, the guy who played Robert Johnson records during a class on the Poetics of Blues at Naropa Institute that summer I met you. Boulder, Colorado, maybe it was 1988.
Here's a bit of info, the kind people like to read so they learn what they missed in a man they never got to meet: Lorenzo Thomas, assistant professor of English at the University of Houston-Downtown, was a member of the legendary Umbra workshop in the 1960's. This workshop drew young writers to the Lower East Side of New York City in search of their artistic voices. Reflecting on those years in a 1978 Callaloo essay, Thomas observes, "cultural black nationalism of our moment did not spring forth from inspiration of the New York Times or the Late News," but was the result of cultural transmissions from the griots of the folk tradition to these young writers.
If you want to read more, check HERE.
Lorenzo, in 1967, wrote his poem "Onion Bucket." One line from this one reads: "All silence says music will follow." In the silence of his departure, there is bound to be music. Just be still and hear it.
Good thoughts, Lorenzo, all good thoughts.
Saturday, July 02, 2005
Who's Getting O'Conner's Vacated Seat on the Supreme Court?
This is from the MOVE ON website: Sandra Day O’Connor, a widely respected and moderate justice, has resigned from the Supreme Court. Now, in anywhere from a few hours to a few days President Bush will nominate a replacement—and what happens next will either destroy or protect our most basic rights for decades to come. This is an absolutely critical moment for our senators to hear directly from the people—and our message is clear: PROTECT OUR RIGHTS!
Take a moment to sign the online petition at the website indicated above.
And now, precisely now, a CHRIS CHANDLER quote comes to mind: "Until then, if you pray, I ask for your prayers. If not, I ask for your kind wishes. If you don't pray or wish, I ask for your caring thoughts. If you don't pray or wish or think, don't bother anybody."
Take a moment to sign the online petition at the website indicated above.
And now, precisely now, a CHRIS CHANDLER quote comes to mind: "Until then, if you pray, I ask for your prayers. If not, I ask for your kind wishes. If you don't pray or wish, I ask for your caring thoughts. If you don't pray or wish or think, don't bother anybody."
Wednesday, June 29, 2005
I save the detritus...
...of all my meanderings. I used to be worse at this. In Austin, I would pick up every free weekly, handmade zine, printed template for madness, and cultural event hand-out (y'know, the flyers that MOTORBLADE--the rollerblading late 20th century version of Mercury, thrusting his body through central Austin environs, armed with a power stapler and a backpack of 8 and a half by 11 announcements for punk shows, underground theater cabarets, and stencil art revues--posted up on every community-friendly public bulletin board. (I used to stand and stare at the overwhelmingly thumbtacked bulletin boards outside Wheatsville Coop on Guadalupe for minutes and minutes, eventually forgetting what I had come to buy at the store. But I love information, what can I say?)
Anyway, freebie lit is such a cool thing, so I have come to be an unoffical collector of underground press product--in other words, a packrat with discriminating taste.
I'm only writing this today, because I happened to take notice of my cluttered worktable with newly-rested non-deadline-blurred eyes, and see that I have some stacks of stuff to attend to--sorted by city or recent destination. I have the Chicago-Urbana-Champaign tour STACK (museum passes, indie zines, Chicano/a art opening postcards, and the like); I have the TeatroFest-visit-to-SanAnto detritus STACK (handbills, gallery brochures, etc.).
But right now, it seems quite urgent to find somebody who can use my leftover CTA TRANSIT CARD, which expires on July 1st. Do I have time to send it, via 1st class mail, to my performance art/videographer colleague Sheelah Murthy in Chicago? How can I throw away this card when it still has some credit on it?
Such things as this transit card and tiny stickers with webzine URLs on them hold promise. The promise of conveyance: a sidetrip to a new musuem show via inner city bus line or a mindtrip through a cool new zine website, featuring artwork by artpeople I have never met. I guess what I'm saying is that the detritus on my desk holds promise of potential, and if I just relegate it all to the dustbin without a pause to consider...well, it's like hanging up on a friend, mistaking him for an electronic telemarketer.
My friend, Ginger, might just tell me I have "scarcity" issues.
One broken promise: I picked up a little scrap of a promo announcing a "TCU Student Journal of the Arts" called "eleven40seven" which apparently only resides in memory cuz the URL didn't take me anywhere this morning when I tried to connect to it. Promises, promises. At least I can feel alright throwing away the little 1 inch by 4 inch promo scrap now.
Hmmm. I just noticed that the CTA TRANSIT CARD doesn't expire 'til July 1st, ***2006***!! That means I have more time to get this card to somebody who can use it. That means one more thing to stockpile and hoard for future use. That means one less thing that gets thrown away.
Now on to other piles and scraps. And promises of promise.
Anyway, freebie lit is such a cool thing, so I have come to be an unoffical collector of underground press product--in other words, a packrat with discriminating taste.
I'm only writing this today, because I happened to take notice of my cluttered worktable with newly-rested non-deadline-blurred eyes, and see that I have some stacks of stuff to attend to--sorted by city or recent destination. I have the Chicago-Urbana-Champaign tour STACK (museum passes, indie zines, Chicano/a art opening postcards, and the like); I have the TeatroFest-visit-to-SanAnto detritus STACK (handbills, gallery brochures, etc.).
But right now, it seems quite urgent to find somebody who can use my leftover CTA TRANSIT CARD, which expires on July 1st. Do I have time to send it, via 1st class mail, to my performance art/videographer colleague Sheelah Murthy in Chicago? How can I throw away this card when it still has some credit on it?
Such things as this transit card and tiny stickers with webzine URLs on them hold promise. The promise of conveyance: a sidetrip to a new musuem show via inner city bus line or a mindtrip through a cool new zine website, featuring artwork by artpeople I have never met. I guess what I'm saying is that the detritus on my desk holds promise of potential, and if I just relegate it all to the dustbin without a pause to consider...well, it's like hanging up on a friend, mistaking him for an electronic telemarketer.
My friend, Ginger, might just tell me I have "scarcity" issues.
One broken promise: I picked up a little scrap of a promo announcing a "TCU Student Journal of the Arts" called "eleven40seven" which apparently only resides in memory cuz the URL didn't take me anywhere this morning when I tried to connect to it. Promises, promises. At least I can feel alright throwing away the little 1 inch by 4 inch promo scrap now.
Hmmm. I just noticed that the CTA TRANSIT CARD doesn't expire 'til July 1st, ***2006***!! That means I have more time to get this card to somebody who can use it. That means one more thing to stockpile and hoard for future use. That means one less thing that gets thrown away.
Now on to other piles and scraps. And promises of promise.
Call for Proposals/Call for Poems to Commemorate Ken Saro-Wiwa
Deadline is June 30th to submit ideas for a LIVING MEMORIAL, which will, according to the REMEMBER KEN SARO-WIWA website, be Britain's first deliberately mobile memorial. It will have the ability to be toured to as many as six locations in London during 2006-07. The competition is open to everyone, people from the arts, design, and architecture, as well as those from non-arts backgrounds. Go to the website for the guidelines and more info.
Deadline is also June 30th for submitting original tribute poems to be included in the anthology to be titled DANCE THE GUNS TO SILENCE: 100 POEMS INSPIRED BY KEN SARO-WIWA (forthcoming, November 10, 2005).
Send poetry submissions to: kensarowiwa@flippedeye.net. More information at this link from the main website.
For those who do not know of Saro-Wiwa, his execution in Nigeria which left "blood" on the hands of Shell Oil, and Saro-Wiwa's lasting legacy of struggle for self-determination and resistance against devastation of his people, the Ogoni, this is the year to catch up and know. This coming November (2005) will mark the 10th anniversary of Saro-Wiwa's execution (by hanging) for crimes he did not commit.
Scholar Anthony Guneratne, Professor at the National University of Singapore has offered a well-written essay about Saro-Wiwa's legacy titled "The Death of Ken Saro-Wiwa and The Persistence of Colonialisms."
Guneratne begins his essay by re-stating a question posed by an impatient colleague: "When does the state of postcoloniality end?...I answered my progressive friend as succinctly as I could: 'When we stop putting ropes around the necks of our writers so that their oil pipelines are kept clear.' This was shortly after the hanging of Ken Saro-Wiwa, who was put to death for having led the protests of the Ogoni people against the exploitation of their lands by Western petroleum companies."
Read this essay in its entirety here. And don't forget to submit your ideas for the LIVING MEMORIAL and poems for the anthology publication as soon as possible.
!Saro-Wiwa! !Presente!
Deadline is also June 30th for submitting original tribute poems to be included in the anthology to be titled DANCE THE GUNS TO SILENCE: 100 POEMS INSPIRED BY KEN SARO-WIWA (forthcoming, November 10, 2005).
Send poetry submissions to: kensarowiwa@flippedeye.net. More information at this link from the main website.
For those who do not know of Saro-Wiwa, his execution in Nigeria which left "blood" on the hands of Shell Oil, and Saro-Wiwa's lasting legacy of struggle for self-determination and resistance against devastation of his people, the Ogoni, this is the year to catch up and know. This coming November (2005) will mark the 10th anniversary of Saro-Wiwa's execution (by hanging) for crimes he did not commit.
Scholar Anthony Guneratne, Professor at the National University of Singapore has offered a well-written essay about Saro-Wiwa's legacy titled "The Death of Ken Saro-Wiwa and The Persistence of Colonialisms."
Guneratne begins his essay by re-stating a question posed by an impatient colleague: "When does the state of postcoloniality end?...I answered my progressive friend as succinctly as I could: 'When we stop putting ropes around the necks of our writers so that their oil pipelines are kept clear.' This was shortly after the hanging of Ken Saro-Wiwa, who was put to death for having led the protests of the Ogoni people against the exploitation of their lands by Western petroleum companies."
Read this essay in its entirety here. And don't forget to submit your ideas for the LIVING MEMORIAL and poems for the anthology publication as soon as possible.
!Saro-Wiwa! !Presente!
Tuesday, June 28, 2005
Lingering thoughts of TEATROFest
Things went well in San Anto. TEATROFEST was pretty cool. I am so glad (and the tech crew at GCAC was as well) that i chose to perform a short-n-sweet performance work (Sueno Despierta), which has a running time of about 17 minutes. No one got burnt out on my work. No one walked out during it either, to my knowledge.
Folks, however, did get tested by some of the other works presented during the FEST--in terms of content, aesthetics, "stage-readiness", and length of certain pieces. Oh well, at least I tried to be patient and did see all of the works presented during my time in San Anto. (Which is more than i can say for certain teatristas who might be of the "came to perform, didn't come to be an audience" camp.....que lastima.)
The platica on Saturday could have been facilitated a little (okay, a LOT) better than it was in order to steer us to more focused conversation about future of Chicano/a theater and performance. Instead, we seemed to digress into topics like lack of funding (without letting people speak about REAL POTENTIAL that is out there) and politics in art (wherein the younger vatos--mostly from Brownsville--eagerly weighed in despite their relative LACK OF EXPERIENCE from which to speak). Alas, the platica left me more hungry than the lonche (which was down to offerings of tostadas and one flauta, by the time i got to the food line).....
All in all, I made the time and the weekend and the FEST work for me, as I engaged young and old, newbies and veteranos, men and women. Writers, performers, media makers, tech staff---I had awesome conversations (over beer, tequila, popcorn, and bbq) with all of these and more in locales from GCAC, the Holiday Inn lobby, the Jump-Start, to Lisa Suarez' driveway. By the way, I also had a pleasant first-time interaction with Paul Bonin-Rodriguez--unexpected surprise.
I got to talk about loteria cards (interpretation, symbolic meaning, color-coordination, etc.) with Linus Streckfus, who lived in Austin when I was living there, and was running sound for the TEATROFEST showcases. I got to see other artistas who I hadn't crossed paths with in ages: David Zamora Casas (who was disarmingly sweet in Saturday night's "Cara Mia Carpa"); Rupert Reyes (director of Austin's Teatro Vivo); Trino Sanchez (whose partner and wife, Regina, regaled us with amazing stories of her movimiento family history--somebody pair her up with a scriptwriter!); and many others.
Hopefully, I'll be back in San Antonio soon. There is a plan to get me to San Anto for a one-night reading event at an art show opening at the MEDUSA LOUNGE in mid-July (at the invitation of Rosie Gonzalez and Robert Tatum). Am still awaiting confirmation of travel arrangments. I think it'll be on July 21-22 that I'll be there. A quickie. Can't wait.
Folks, however, did get tested by some of the other works presented during the FEST--in terms of content, aesthetics, "stage-readiness", and length of certain pieces. Oh well, at least I tried to be patient and did see all of the works presented during my time in San Anto. (Which is more than i can say for certain teatristas who might be of the "came to perform, didn't come to be an audience" camp.....que lastima.)
The platica on Saturday could have been facilitated a little (okay, a LOT) better than it was in order to steer us to more focused conversation about future of Chicano/a theater and performance. Instead, we seemed to digress into topics like lack of funding (without letting people speak about REAL POTENTIAL that is out there) and politics in art (wherein the younger vatos--mostly from Brownsville--eagerly weighed in despite their relative LACK OF EXPERIENCE from which to speak). Alas, the platica left me more hungry than the lonche (which was down to offerings of tostadas and one flauta, by the time i got to the food line).....
All in all, I made the time and the weekend and the FEST work for me, as I engaged young and old, newbies and veteranos, men and women. Writers, performers, media makers, tech staff---I had awesome conversations (over beer, tequila, popcorn, and bbq) with all of these and more in locales from GCAC, the Holiday Inn lobby, the Jump-Start, to Lisa Suarez' driveway. By the way, I also had a pleasant first-time interaction with Paul Bonin-Rodriguez--unexpected surprise.
I got to talk about loteria cards (interpretation, symbolic meaning, color-coordination, etc.) with Linus Streckfus, who lived in Austin when I was living there, and was running sound for the TEATROFEST showcases. I got to see other artistas who I hadn't crossed paths with in ages: David Zamora Casas (who was disarmingly sweet in Saturday night's "Cara Mia Carpa"); Rupert Reyes (director of Austin's Teatro Vivo); Trino Sanchez (whose partner and wife, Regina, regaled us with amazing stories of her movimiento family history--somebody pair her up with a scriptwriter!); and many others.
Hopefully, I'll be back in San Antonio soon. There is a plan to get me to San Anto for a one-night reading event at an art show opening at the MEDUSA LOUNGE in mid-July (at the invitation of Rosie Gonzalez and Robert Tatum). Am still awaiting confirmation of travel arrangments. I think it'll be on July 21-22 that I'll be there. A quickie. Can't wait.
Monday, June 27, 2005
Elia Arce: "I am trying to present work that has a little deeper dialogue about war"
I had heard of Elia Arce and know several artist-friends who have worked alongside her, in collaborative efforts. My good buddy, Robert Karimi, shared a stage with Arce at La Pena in Berkeley. And my friends Paul Flores (of Los Delicados) and Jime Salcedo-Malo worked with Arce on a community-based performance work titled "The Fruitvale Project". So, when I heard that Elia was going to be performing a new work at the Jump-Start Theater in San Anto--while I also happened to be in town--I was pretty excited. Beyond that, I had also just been given her cell number by a Veterans for Peace coordinator, who told me to call Elia, make contact, and find out more about this new work, THE FIFTH COMMANDMENT.
Here's a media/promo blurb about her piece/her chronology of performance:
"THE FIFTH COMMANDMENT is a timely multi-media piece exploring the many complicated issues including defense, fear, patriotism, sacrifice and survival that face the U.S. military community. Through a collage of images, sound scapes, text, movement and interviews with former and current soldiers, Arce brings us into the hearts and minds of military personnel who are dealing with their ethics and spiritual beliefs about the act of killing, amongst other thorny subjects.
Elia Arce, a dual citizen of Costa Rica and the United States, is an artist working in multi-disciplinary theatre. She is the recipient of the J. Paul Getty Individual Artist Award, grants from The Rockefeller Foundation and National Endowment for the Arts. Her work has been presented internationally and most recently at the International Theatre Festival (Los Angeles) and Teatral International Latino Theatre Festival (Cuba)."
And that's the short version of her history of work.
I really enjoyed THE FIFTH COMMANDMENT, if you can say that you enjoy feeling deeply moved, a little uncomfortably challenged, and definitely a bit saddened. You don't know how much ELIA ARCE's work THE FIFTH COMMANDMENT would fit into the VETERANS FOR PEACE national conference setting, as Elia so strongly suggested we try to arrange. (I'm working as a co-coordinator to organize and promote this national meeting, which is scheduled to happen in Irving, Texas, this coming August.) Of course, being a performer myself and having heard such glowing reports of Elia's integrity and reputation, I was honored to be in her audience at the final matinee presentation on Sunday at Jump-Start.
The show: It was incredibly poignant, respectful, yet challenging. Two military soldiers (not sure if they were on leave, discharged, or what) participated in the performance with a recitation of the list of fallen U.S. soldiers who lost their lives in Iraq. A woman at the opposite side of the stage, also read a list, presumably of the Iraqis who have also lost their lives in this current war. My friend, Gertrude Baker, a Vietnam vet (nurse), participated in the flag-folding ceremony during the performance. One of the most jarring moments of the work was at the beginning of the show, as a toy soldier made its way around the platform where Elia stood, with a staccato rhythmic thumping on the stage that was very haunting. It was with small, almost nondescript props, that Elia was able to suggest myth, emotion, and history. This eloquence was highly appropriate given that so much of the war experience (and attitudes about war) are so difficult to convey with spoken language.
To hear an interview with Elia Arce speaking about THE FIFTH COMMANDMENT, which she plans to develop and expand, visit this site.
U.S. military fatalities through June 23, 2005: 1728
Iraqi civilian fatalities through June 23, 2005: 22,434 – 25,426 (est.)
Source: http://www.iraqbodycount.net/
Here's a media/promo blurb about her piece/her chronology of performance:
"THE FIFTH COMMANDMENT is a timely multi-media piece exploring the many complicated issues including defense, fear, patriotism, sacrifice and survival that face the U.S. military community. Through a collage of images, sound scapes, text, movement and interviews with former and current soldiers, Arce brings us into the hearts and minds of military personnel who are dealing with their ethics and spiritual beliefs about the act of killing, amongst other thorny subjects.
Elia Arce, a dual citizen of Costa Rica and the United States, is an artist working in multi-disciplinary theatre. She is the recipient of the J. Paul Getty Individual Artist Award, grants from The Rockefeller Foundation and National Endowment for the Arts. Her work has been presented internationally and most recently at the International Theatre Festival (Los Angeles) and Teatral International Latino Theatre Festival (Cuba)."
And that's the short version of her history of work.
I really enjoyed THE FIFTH COMMANDMENT, if you can say that you enjoy feeling deeply moved, a little uncomfortably challenged, and definitely a bit saddened. You don't know how much ELIA ARCE's work THE FIFTH COMMANDMENT would fit into the VETERANS FOR PEACE national conference setting, as Elia so strongly suggested we try to arrange. (I'm working as a co-coordinator to organize and promote this national meeting, which is scheduled to happen in Irving, Texas, this coming August.) Of course, being a performer myself and having heard such glowing reports of Elia's integrity and reputation, I was honored to be in her audience at the final matinee presentation on Sunday at Jump-Start.
The show: It was incredibly poignant, respectful, yet challenging. Two military soldiers (not sure if they were on leave, discharged, or what) participated in the performance with a recitation of the list of fallen U.S. soldiers who lost their lives in Iraq. A woman at the opposite side of the stage, also read a list, presumably of the Iraqis who have also lost their lives in this current war. My friend, Gertrude Baker, a Vietnam vet (nurse), participated in the flag-folding ceremony during the performance. One of the most jarring moments of the work was at the beginning of the show, as a toy soldier made its way around the platform where Elia stood, with a staccato rhythmic thumping on the stage that was very haunting. It was with small, almost nondescript props, that Elia was able to suggest myth, emotion, and history. This eloquence was highly appropriate given that so much of the war experience (and attitudes about war) are so difficult to convey with spoken language.
To hear an interview with Elia Arce speaking about THE FIFTH COMMANDMENT, which she plans to develop and expand, visit this site.
U.S. military fatalities through June 23, 2005: 1728
Iraqi civilian fatalities through June 23, 2005: 22,434 – 25,426 (est.)
Source: http://www.iraqbodycount.net/
Sunday, June 26, 2005
Ginger tries to save my adrenals
My herbalist amiga in Austin, Ginger, just suggested a little tonic for a multi-tasking, overcommitted summer 05 lifestyle--like mine. I haven't tried it yet, but I'm eager to give it a go. Lately, I've been down on eating--it's just too hot and digesting is such a draining bodily activity. I'm in the mood to fast and actually tried to fast in preparation for my "Sueno Despierta" performance at TEATROFest; I guess I wanted to put myself in a little bit of an altered state so my performance mindset would be similar to the hypnopompic state (immediately post-sleep) of consciousness which I love so much.
I didn't eat on Monday at all--except for an organic juice blend--but I did nibble on Tuesday and Wednesday. Through TEATROFEST, I think I drank more than I ate. I'd say my daily caloric intake averaged between 800-1500 calories, which gave me the satisfaction of feeling lighter and less exhausted.
Okay, here's Ginger's recommendation for stressed-out American bodies:
"licorice is great for adrenal exhaustion, in combo with milky oat tops tincture. Some company besides my own, available in fort worth, is bound to have such a tincture combo. Take the whole bottle, start to finish, for a week or two, however long it takes."
Just fyi, Ginger's company is Texas Medicinals.
I didn't eat on Monday at all--except for an organic juice blend--but I did nibble on Tuesday and Wednesday. Through TEATROFEST, I think I drank more than I ate. I'd say my daily caloric intake averaged between 800-1500 calories, which gave me the satisfaction of feeling lighter and less exhausted.
Okay, here's Ginger's recommendation for stressed-out American bodies:
"licorice is great for adrenal exhaustion, in combo with milky oat tops tincture. Some company besides my own, available in fort worth, is bound to have such a tincture combo. Take the whole bottle, start to finish, for a week or two, however long it takes."
Just fyi, Ginger's company is Texas Medicinals.
Full day of Teatro in San Anto
Teatrista/videomaker Haldun referred to it as SAN ANTONTO, but there were plenty of brilliant creative minds sharing the Cesar Chavez building salon for the morning "lonche y platica" on Saturday, June 25th. By the time I arrived, only half an hour late thanks to Adrian Villegas (Adrian, thanks for the ride, but sorry you kept driving in the wrong direction), the comida offerings were pretty much reduced to veggie frijole tostadas and bargain brand sodas. No worry, cuz the conversacion is what held the greater attraction for me anyway. The salon was full, presumably with performers here for TEATROFEST, but also with a few mentors/veteranos from the Chicano/a theater community. Marisela Barrera, theater director of the Guadalupe Theater, opened things up with a welcome and brief intro and backhistory to this first annual TEATROFEST. She then intro'ed maestro Jorge Pina, currently the artistic director for TALENTO BILINGUE DE HOUSTON (and a former director for the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center). He gave a brief, though passionate, talk about the Chicano/a theater movement and about the purpose of our work. "We have to be a machete of intelligence, with our humor AND our tragedy...we can solve our problems with our art...our prisons are full, the drop-out rate is high, and we have to deal with these idiots in Goliad with the Minutemen..." He got so emotional at one point, that he had to slow his speech in order to compose himself. I could feel that most every person in that salon in that moment--even if they had never met Jorge or had chance to know his work--were impacted by his "call to teatro".
After Jorge addressed us, the floor was opened up for discussion and many different people spoke--folks from Cara Mia Theater (Dallas), the Royal Mexican Players (Houston), a nurse from Brownsville, and even me. I had to respond to an ill-conceived recommendation that a young man from Brownsville made, exhorting Chicano/a teatristas to "leave the political out" and just do "cultural" theater so that more mainstream "politicians" wouldn't be alienated by our work to the point of defunding or refusing to fund said work. This young person spoke with such a matter-of-face, take-it-or-leave-it sense of authority--without even, apparently, recognizing to whom he spoke (folks with a vast range of experiential knowledge and years of navigating bureaucratic channels of the arts world)--that many of us veteranos exchanged quick glances of "quien es este chavo?" and rolled our eyes como "chihuahua, porque tenemos que sufrir este mierda....?"
When i took the floor, I was pretty wrought with passion and fire, and the words pretty much shot out of me. I must've made my points (defending the right and duty of the artista to share her work without overriding concern for who might be displeased by its message; discussing privilege and "affirmative action"; etc.) pretty well, cuz I got a few hugs and exclamations of "Thank you, Tammy."
Okay.
After Jorge addressed us, the floor was opened up for discussion and many different people spoke--folks from Cara Mia Theater (Dallas), the Royal Mexican Players (Houston), a nurse from Brownsville, and even me. I had to respond to an ill-conceived recommendation that a young man from Brownsville made, exhorting Chicano/a teatristas to "leave the political out" and just do "cultural" theater so that more mainstream "politicians" wouldn't be alienated by our work to the point of defunding or refusing to fund said work. This young person spoke with such a matter-of-face, take-it-or-leave-it sense of authority--without even, apparently, recognizing to whom he spoke (folks with a vast range of experiential knowledge and years of navigating bureaucratic channels of the arts world)--that many of us veteranos exchanged quick glances of "quien es este chavo?" and rolled our eyes como "chihuahua, porque tenemos que sufrir este mierda....?"
When i took the floor, I was pretty wrought with passion and fire, and the words pretty much shot out of me. I must've made my points (defending the right and duty of the artista to share her work without overriding concern for who might be displeased by its message; discussing privilege and "affirmative action"; etc.) pretty well, cuz I got a few hugs and exclamations of "Thank you, Tammy."
Okay.
Saturday, June 25, 2005
Should you find yourself thirsty and alone...
...in San Anto, my friend, you must thrust yourselves into the empty booth at the crazy-popular bar BAR AMERICA, face the door and watch the local luminaries drizzle in as you swoon over the conversant artistes to your left and right. and if you're lucky, you'll be across the table from RUBYNELDA PEREZ--Chicana actress extraordinaire--AND a few people over from slam poet ANTHONY FLORES, and then you'll spot HALDUN (videomaker, educator, Youth Liberation Network organzier) hustling in to roust a spot at a booth, as the CARA MIA DALLAS crewe rolls in, post-rehearsal, for a round of chicharrones and Lone Star longnecks. if you're really lucky, Michael of the San Anto band COYOTE DREAMS will recognize you and give you the biggest hug since bears. and you'll feel that if CHEERS had been filmed in a Chicano/a bar in the heart of San Anto, you would have been a permanent extra, happy to earn less than union wage. if only for the firme company, conversation, and endless liquor-lubricated tejano onda spirit of familia.
that's my place. and that's where i found myself.
again, tonight.
that's my place. and that's where i found myself.
again, tonight.
Friday, June 24, 2005
Arriving in San Anto last night...
...was a little bit of a fritz, cuz we knew we were headed into a chaotic churn-spew. after all, the NBA championship finals game was headlong into the fourth quarter as the Amtrak I was on was surging towards the 210. the conductor or some subordinate on the p.a. kept periodically announcing the score, so we could adjust ourselves emotionally. knowing that our train, if on time, would arrive in San Anto minutes after the pivotal game, i resigned myself to a long wait at the station and to a hyper-exuberant city-mood of victory--should the Spurs win, as indeed they did.
and yes, it was crazy. screaming hordes of curfew-exempt teens and adults streamed through the intersections--some on foot, some on the hoods of cars, expecting to defy gravity as they yelped shirtless and crescendo.
i was happy to witness such citywide late-night excitement, but not so thrilled with the stupidity of people fender-bending and defying traffic laws. my friends Elaine and Michael braved the traffic snarls to pick me up and take me to their cool loft apartment in the downtown area, after we'd successfully circumnavigated the worst of the traffic congestion.
this morning, though, Elaine had something unpleasant to share. she as arts editor of the weekly publication--the San Antonio Current--was grappling with deadline pressure and worse, the unfortunate overnight loss of a major local luminary, Ram Ayala, the rock-n-roll club purveyor, tequila shot sharer, and all-time big hero of upstart young punkers trying to get a gig in the town of San Antonio. Ram's infamous lounge-cum-legendary rock joint, TACOLAND, has been host to many a snarly punk band and up-and-coming original music outfit. Ram is gone, dead in a bloody robbery heist. tonight, we heard, there was a tribute memorial service at Tacoland, with bands and San Anto dedicated joining together for a final send-off to the man.
what a pity. what a loss. my friend, painter and alterna-gallery owner Robt. Tatum told me that even CNN covered the story of Ram's death. and Tacoland, what will become of Tacoland? said Tatum: it is no more. it will be no more. the end of an era. no more of this beloved venue. all on the night of the Spurs victory.
consider that, my friend.
and yes, it was crazy. screaming hordes of curfew-exempt teens and adults streamed through the intersections--some on foot, some on the hoods of cars, expecting to defy gravity as they yelped shirtless and crescendo.
i was happy to witness such citywide late-night excitement, but not so thrilled with the stupidity of people fender-bending and defying traffic laws. my friends Elaine and Michael braved the traffic snarls to pick me up and take me to their cool loft apartment in the downtown area, after we'd successfully circumnavigated the worst of the traffic congestion.
this morning, though, Elaine had something unpleasant to share. she as arts editor of the weekly publication--the San Antonio Current--was grappling with deadline pressure and worse, the unfortunate overnight loss of a major local luminary, Ram Ayala, the rock-n-roll club purveyor, tequila shot sharer, and all-time big hero of upstart young punkers trying to get a gig in the town of San Antonio. Ram's infamous lounge-cum-legendary rock joint, TACOLAND, has been host to many a snarly punk band and up-and-coming original music outfit. Ram is gone, dead in a bloody robbery heist. tonight, we heard, there was a tribute memorial service at Tacoland, with bands and San Anto dedicated joining together for a final send-off to the man.
what a pity. what a loss. my friend, painter and alterna-gallery owner Robt. Tatum told me that even CNN covered the story of Ram's death. and Tacoland, what will become of Tacoland? said Tatum: it is no more. it will be no more. the end of an era. no more of this beloved venue. all on the night of the Spurs victory.
consider that, my friend.
Thursday, June 23, 2005
What to do if you find yourself in San Antonio this weekend
San Anto's the place to be this weekend. First, for the first-ever TEATROFEST at the GCAC, and secondly, for ELIA ARCE's newest performance piece, "The Fifth Commandment."
I'll be performing a spoken word soliloquy on dreams titled "Sueno Despierta" on Friday night. Other awesome groups, including MADMEDIA and CARA MIA, will perform showcases throughout the weekend. And I'm really looking forward to the lonche/platica on Saturday wherein all assembled will discuss the state and art of Chicana/o theater in Texas and beyond.
For more info, go here.
AND--if that wasn't enough, there's also the new one-woman show by L.A.-based Elia Arce, which opens at the Jump-Start Theater (also in San Antonio) on Friday night, June 24th.
*********************
from the San Antonio Express-News:
"Performance artist Elia Arce brings her solo show "The Fifth Commandment" to Jump-Start Theater Friday through June 26. The show, which she based on interviews with military personnel, explores the personal ethics of soldiers during wartime. Arce will perform at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and at 3 p.m. June 26 at the theater, Building B of the Blue Star Arts Complex, 1400 S. Alamo St. Tickets cost $12 general admission. Call (210) 227-5867 for reservations."
Teatristas reign in the city of the Alamo this weekend, boi.
I'll be performing a spoken word soliloquy on dreams titled "Sueno Despierta" on Friday night. Other awesome groups, including MADMEDIA and CARA MIA, will perform showcases throughout the weekend. And I'm really looking forward to the lonche/platica on Saturday wherein all assembled will discuss the state and art of Chicana/o theater in Texas and beyond.
For more info, go here.
AND--if that wasn't enough, there's also the new one-woman show by L.A.-based Elia Arce, which opens at the Jump-Start Theater (also in San Antonio) on Friday night, June 24th.
*********************
from the San Antonio Express-News:
"Performance artist Elia Arce brings her solo show "The Fifth Commandment" to Jump-Start Theater Friday through June 26. The show, which she based on interviews with military personnel, explores the personal ethics of soldiers during wartime. Arce will perform at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and at 3 p.m. June 26 at the theater, Building B of the Blue Star Arts Complex, 1400 S. Alamo St. Tickets cost $12 general admission. Call (210) 227-5867 for reservations."
Teatristas reign in the city of the Alamo this weekend, boi.
Monday, June 20, 2005
July writing workshop: Writing in the Natural World - San Antonio
Gemini Ink, the non-profit writing org based in San Anto, offers some pretty great educational workshops and they're often quite affordable.
Here's the next one--sign up at info@geminiink.org.
Summer Literary Festival
Purple Mountain Majesties: Writing in the Natural World
July 8-24, 2005
Don't wait any longer to sign up for one or more of our courses! They're filling up fast! This summer's festival features classes with Pattiann Rogers, Ken Waldman, Pat Mora, Jan Jarboe Russell and many others. Don't forget our writing camps for children and young people or our summer festival readings every Friday in July. Visit our website to see our course listings or come by the office to pick up a few catalogues!
Here's the next one--sign up at info@geminiink.org.
Summer Literary Festival
Purple Mountain Majesties: Writing in the Natural World
July 8-24, 2005
Don't wait any longer to sign up for one or more of our courses! They're filling up fast! This summer's festival features classes with Pattiann Rogers, Ken Waldman, Pat Mora, Jan Jarboe Russell and many others. Don't forget our writing camps for children and young people or our summer festival readings every Friday in July. Visit our website to see our course listings or come by the office to pick up a few catalogues!
Friday, June 17, 2005
Looking out the window of the Junsuree Thai House...
...where I'd just indulged in an amazing Thai buffet lunch, I saw not one, not two, not three, but FOUR bicyclists (not together, not connected in any romantic or familial way) pass to and fro before my eyes in the sudden span of about EIGHT SECONDS. On Magnolia "bicycle highway" Avenue.
Does this mean, could this possibly hopefully mean that Fort Worth now has a genuine BICYCLE CULTURE?
I was incredulous as I walked to my car to drive the seven blocks distance from the Thai House to my home. Wishing all the while that I'd bicycled instead.
Reminds me of the time that I was bicycling downtown, a few years ago, on a paved sidewalk. I was just about to turn a corner, northward, I believe, when another bicyclist, headed southward, just about careened into me. Fortunately, I was moving pretty slowly and he had quick instincts, as we both squeezed the handbrakes on our respective bicycles and made eye contact for the first and (maybe) last time in our lives.
I chuckled and he uttered something like a laugh or snort of surprise. "Whoa," I exclaimed, "we almost created the FIRST EVER BICYCLE HEAD-ON COLLISION IN THE HISTORY OF FORT WORTH!"
Does this mean, could this possibly hopefully mean that Fort Worth now has a genuine BICYCLE CULTURE?
I was incredulous as I walked to my car to drive the seven blocks distance from the Thai House to my home. Wishing all the while that I'd bicycled instead.
Reminds me of the time that I was bicycling downtown, a few years ago, on a paved sidewalk. I was just about to turn a corner, northward, I believe, when another bicyclist, headed southward, just about careened into me. Fortunately, I was moving pretty slowly and he had quick instincts, as we both squeezed the handbrakes on our respective bicycles and made eye contact for the first and (maybe) last time in our lives.
I chuckled and he uttered something like a laugh or snort of surprise. "Whoa," I exclaimed, "we almost created the FIRST EVER BICYCLE HEAD-ON COLLISION IN THE HISTORY OF FORT WORTH!"
Thursday, June 16, 2005
National Convention of "Hispanic" Journalists in FW
Okay! It's gonna be a great time to walk downtown in Fort Worth this weekend. Why? Because it's gonna be Latino/a time in Sundance Square, vato/vata! With over 1,000 conferees expected for the annual convention of the NAHJ (National Association of Hispanic Journalists), you can't stay home this weekend.
Trot/drive/lowride downtown to hang out and schmooze some Latino/a journalists and give 'em a mouthful of your mind; certainly it can't hurt to encourage them to cover stories that are under-reported about Tejas.
Los Angeles mayor-elect Antonio Villaraigosa opened the convention with a discussion about his victory and its significance for the Latino community. (Villaraigosa is the first Latino mayor to be elected in Los Angeles in more than 130 years.) Other notable speakers at the convention will include actor John Leguizamo, Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, and "Democracy Now" radio producer Amy Goodman. But my favorite journalists in attendance will be Patrisia Gonzalez (Fort Worth native) and Roberto Rodriguez, who co-write the weekly COLUMN OF THE AMERICAS.
For more information about all the hoopla, check out this spot or the NAHJ website.
Oh, the conference lasts from June 15th through June 19th, so pace yourself well. See you on the streets, pen and notepad in hand, eh?
Trot/drive/lowride downtown to hang out and schmooze some Latino/a journalists and give 'em a mouthful of your mind; certainly it can't hurt to encourage them to cover stories that are under-reported about Tejas.
Los Angeles mayor-elect Antonio Villaraigosa opened the convention with a discussion about his victory and its significance for the Latino community. (Villaraigosa is the first Latino mayor to be elected in Los Angeles in more than 130 years.) Other notable speakers at the convention will include actor John Leguizamo, Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, and "Democracy Now" radio producer Amy Goodman. But my favorite journalists in attendance will be Patrisia Gonzalez (Fort Worth native) and Roberto Rodriguez, who co-write the weekly COLUMN OF THE AMERICAS.
For more information about all the hoopla, check out this spot or the NAHJ website.
Oh, the conference lasts from June 15th through June 19th, so pace yourself well. See you on the streets, pen and notepad in hand, eh?
Wednesday, June 15, 2005
Just by the skin o' my neck am I...
....gonna make all three deadlines in the first part of this month. I made (!) the NALAC Fund for the Arts deadline on Friday, June 10th. I proposed my "bicycle love story", a multimedia spoken word opera. [See brief description of this project below.]
Then, I hustled to submit an app to the Vermont Studio Center, "an international creative community" in the Green Mountains, where I would absolutely LOVE to spend a four-week residency in Autumn '06. Writing, reading, and enjoying the cool clean air of Vermont would be the best way to follow up a hot Texas summer.
And now, I am rushing to finesse an essay, two excerpts from Monsoon in Nepal--my other blog--and three poems, for submission to a forthcoming travel/guide tentatively titled: FROM ASIA WITH LOVE. The book will include writings from folks who've traveled or lived in Nepal, Bhutan, and Tibet. Cool, I absolutely love writing about my 1999 trip to Nepal. Anyway, the deadline is tonight, midnight, so off I go to finish my submisssions.
And a big by the way: I have been hosting an enormously pleasant and conscious poet from Flagstaff, AZ--Logan Phillips--in the midst of this flurry of writerly activity. So I've been making and taking some quality time to share MY funkytown 817 onda with him, introducing him to folks of like mind and craze. And accompanying him to some local slams, etc. SO---You cannot tell me that I am a lazy Tejana poet. Sweaty, maybe. Exhausted, maybe. Poetically-challenged, maybe. But lazy-------never!
Here's the project I'm hoping to stage next year ('06):
She: Bike/Spoke/Love would be adapted for a multimedia stage performance, including the participation of local artists, musicians, youth poets, low rider bicyclists, and others. I would seek to present excerpts from this project as part of the annual Hispanic Playwright’s Festival (July06)of Fort Worth, as well as Texas Unbound Festival at the annual TEXAS UNBOUND Literary Festival (Aug06) in Dallas (I have performed at both festivals in previous years.) However, the full-length performance would take place in August-September06. I would reach my audience by soliciting the promotional support of the Latin Arts Association, Writer's Garret, Texas Book Festival, WordSpace, and local bicycling networks. I am part of a poetry community which spans the nation and would provide resources. I would work with the Boys and Girls Clubs, as well as youth art groups, to facilitate participation by their constituents.
Then, I hustled to submit an app to the Vermont Studio Center, "an international creative community" in the Green Mountains, where I would absolutely LOVE to spend a four-week residency in Autumn '06. Writing, reading, and enjoying the cool clean air of Vermont would be the best way to follow up a hot Texas summer.
And now, I am rushing to finesse an essay, two excerpts from Monsoon in Nepal--my other blog--and three poems, for submission to a forthcoming travel/guide tentatively titled: FROM ASIA WITH LOVE. The book will include writings from folks who've traveled or lived in Nepal, Bhutan, and Tibet. Cool, I absolutely love writing about my 1999 trip to Nepal. Anyway, the deadline is tonight, midnight, so off I go to finish my submisssions.
And a big by the way: I have been hosting an enormously pleasant and conscious poet from Flagstaff, AZ--Logan Phillips--in the midst of this flurry of writerly activity. So I've been making and taking some quality time to share MY funkytown 817 onda with him, introducing him to folks of like mind and craze. And accompanying him to some local slams, etc. SO---You cannot tell me that I am a lazy Tejana poet. Sweaty, maybe. Exhausted, maybe. Poetically-challenged, maybe. But lazy-------never!
Here's the project I'm hoping to stage next year ('06):
She: Bike/Spoke/Love would be adapted for a multimedia stage performance, including the participation of local artists, musicians, youth poets, low rider bicyclists, and others. I would seek to present excerpts from this project as part of the annual Hispanic Playwright’s Festival (July06)of Fort Worth, as well as Texas Unbound Festival at the annual TEXAS UNBOUND Literary Festival (Aug06) in Dallas (I have performed at both festivals in previous years.) However, the full-length performance would take place in August-September06. I would reach my audience by soliciting the promotional support of the Latin Arts Association, Writer's Garret, Texas Book Festival, WordSpace, and local bicycling networks. I am part of a poetry community which spans the nation and would provide resources. I would work with the Boys and Girls Clubs, as well as youth art groups, to facilitate participation by their constituents.
Saturday, June 11, 2005
Really i do
You know I want to post a detailed, fact-filled new entry here. You know I really didn't want to fall behind in sharing, really sharing all the stupendously wonderful expressions and experiences of my onda, your onda.
Just also please know that I am having a blast and collecting ideas and words to eventually, and hopefully more thoroughly, convey to you, my dearies.
luv,luv.
Just also please know that I am having a blast and collecting ideas and words to eventually, and hopefully more thoroughly, convey to you, my dearies.
luv,luv.
Wednesday, May 25, 2005
Australian-Scottish-Renegade Beat-Trash Fashion-Peace
Things are revving up for the summer, yet I spent this afternoon watching the Australian film RABBIT-PROOF FENCE as if I had nothing else to do. Actually, I felt like I deserved a break, after all the hedge-trimming, lawn raking, and sidewalk sweeping I did this morning. And where is the rain, o where is that confounded highly-forecast rain?
+++
Now, at the night job, I'm reading snippets from an anthology of contemporary Scottish writings. Fiction by Irvine Welsh (Trainspotting) and James Kelman (post-colonial working class winner of the Booker Prize)whom I once had lunch with on the Drag, when he was in Austin teaching fiction writing as writer-in-residence. My friend and fellow poet, Nailah Sankofa, had snagged me on-campus, urging me to "Come have lunch with us--Kelman likes Black Americans and he wants me to introduce him to interesting people." I regret now that I wasn't more familiar with his work, his oevre, his reputation at that time.
+++
I got a phone call yesterday from my old ranchera-crooning, cowboy boot-wearing, beat poet friend Kell Robertson aka Wild Dog of Poetry. He's almost 75, living in a tiny shack outside of Santa Fe. He made the craziest collage once, with photographs of burqua-clad Afghani women juxtaposed with porn mag pullout poses. He's just that complex and unpredictable. A rascal in love with Lydia Mendoza's songs. There's a European writer doing research on underground Texas musicians, and apparently, while interviewing her, he told Mendoza that a grey-haired old white guy (Kell) loves her more than anything and she broadly announced, "Well, bring him over. I want to meet him."
Kell's coming to FW next week (gigs at Black Dog and at Fred's Cafe), and it's gonna be wild. He writes book reviews for the Santa Fe New Mexican (periodical), and his book A HORSE CALLED DESPERATION is probably on my top 10 list (of books by poet-friends).
+++
And I'm getting ready for my next performance: TRASHIN' FASHION. My friend Machete and I have created original anti-fashion garments made entirely of recycled materials (trash), household items, etc. We sprung this on the public last year (for Buy Nothing Day) and we'll do it again on Saturday, June 4th. Butt-ugly, hoot-silly, make-you-blink get-ups you'd never find on the red carpets of Hollywood. The show's at the Firehouse Gallery on Meadowbrook (E. Fort Worth), around 7pm.
+++
I'm also starting a temporary position as co-coordinator of the upcoming NATIONAL CONVENTION of the VETERANS FOR PEACE. The convention is happening at the U of Dallas (Irving) in early August, coinciding (ironically) with the 60th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I heard that two survivors of those bombings may be joining us at the convention--all the way from Japan. Should be intensely poignant.
+++
Busy, flutter, busy.
+++
Now, at the night job, I'm reading snippets from an anthology of contemporary Scottish writings. Fiction by Irvine Welsh (Trainspotting) and James Kelman (post-colonial working class winner of the Booker Prize)whom I once had lunch with on the Drag, when he was in Austin teaching fiction writing as writer-in-residence. My friend and fellow poet, Nailah Sankofa, had snagged me on-campus, urging me to "Come have lunch with us--Kelman likes Black Americans and he wants me to introduce him to interesting people." I regret now that I wasn't more familiar with his work, his oevre, his reputation at that time.
+++
I got a phone call yesterday from my old ranchera-crooning, cowboy boot-wearing, beat poet friend Kell Robertson aka Wild Dog of Poetry. He's almost 75, living in a tiny shack outside of Santa Fe. He made the craziest collage once, with photographs of burqua-clad Afghani women juxtaposed with porn mag pullout poses. He's just that complex and unpredictable. A rascal in love with Lydia Mendoza's songs. There's a European writer doing research on underground Texas musicians, and apparently, while interviewing her, he told Mendoza that a grey-haired old white guy (Kell) loves her more than anything and she broadly announced, "Well, bring him over. I want to meet him."
Kell's coming to FW next week (gigs at Black Dog and at Fred's Cafe), and it's gonna be wild. He writes book reviews for the Santa Fe New Mexican (periodical), and his book A HORSE CALLED DESPERATION is probably on my top 10 list (of books by poet-friends).
+++
And I'm getting ready for my next performance: TRASHIN' FASHION. My friend Machete and I have created original anti-fashion garments made entirely of recycled materials (trash), household items, etc. We sprung this on the public last year (for Buy Nothing Day) and we'll do it again on Saturday, June 4th. Butt-ugly, hoot-silly, make-you-blink get-ups you'd never find on the red carpets of Hollywood. The show's at the Firehouse Gallery on Meadowbrook (E. Fort Worth), around 7pm.
+++
I'm also starting a temporary position as co-coordinator of the upcoming NATIONAL CONVENTION of the VETERANS FOR PEACE. The convention is happening at the U of Dallas (Irving) in early August, coinciding (ironically) with the 60th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I heard that two survivors of those bombings may be joining us at the convention--all the way from Japan. Should be intensely poignant.
+++
Busy, flutter, busy.
Tuesday, May 24, 2005
Austin nonprofit org seeks EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
ALLGO (Austin Latina/o Lesbian/Gay/Transgendered Organization) --- a queer people of color organization
Job Announcement
To apply please submit a letter of interest, resume and three professional and two personal references to:
ALLGO
ATTN: Board Co-Chairs, 701 Tillery Street Box 4 Austin, Texas 78702.
Position will remain open until filled.
Executive Director –
Scope: Provide primary administrative, fiscal and programmatic leadership working closely with the Board of Directors and Staff to ensure the fullfillment of the organization's mission. Build local and national relationships to increase visibility of the organization, garner support, stay at the forefront of organizing related to the organization's mission and maximize the organization's reach and efforts. Duties and Responsibilities:
Ensure effective and efficient stewardship of the organization's resources.
Supervise Project Directors and fiscal and administrative personnel.
Ensure implementation of agency policies and procedures.
Develop performance measures for each position and ensure they are met through established supervisory processes.
Provide programmatic oversight of all program planning, implementation, measurement & evaluation, and documentation of progress in these areas.
Oversee the development of grassroots community organizing, coalition building and community action.
Oversee development and implementation of multi-tiered fundraising strategies to support organizational mission and growth.
Oversee implementation of health programming within a social justice framework and in compliance with agency standards of care.
Oversee implementation of cultural arts programming as central to social justice organizing.
Oversee management of agency contracts and ensure fulfillment of all contract requirements and timely reporting.
Provide increased visibility and serve as a spokesperson for ALLGO locally, nationally and internationally.
Serve as liaison between the Board of Directors and Staff of the Organization
Work closely with the Board of Directors and Board Committees.
Provide monthly reports to Board of Directors to include financial statements, cash flow projections, status of upcoming funding, and status of all programs.
Provide fiscal oversight of accounting, bookkeeping and auditing for the agency.
Ensure fulfillment of legal and ethical requirements related to maintaining non-profit status.
Perform other duties as required.
Qualifications, Skills and Experience for position:
Bilingual (English-Spanish) prefered.
Bachelor's Degree in related field required.
Master's Degree in related field preferred, may be substituted by experience.
Strong oral/written communication, and organizational skills.
Strong management and program development skills.
Personal computer experience required (Word, Excel, E-mail, Internet)
Excellent supervisory skills required; 5 years supervision experience preferred.
Experience working with queer communities of color.
Experience in fundraising, including development of individual donors, monthly donors, capital campaign, fundraising events, and proposal writing.
Proven success in fundraising efforts preferred.
Experience in community cultural arts programming.
Experience in community health programming, including health areas such as HIV/AIDS, Breast Cancer, and Domestic Violence.
Experience in grass roots community organizing and coalition building.
Proven success providing fiscal oversight for organizational and program budgets.
Experience in management & implementation of government contracts preferred.
Experience with compliance of standards of care, ethical and legal requirements related to social work and health care provision to people with HIV/AIDS preferred.
Supervisory relationships:
The Executive Director is directly supervised by ALLGO's Board of Directors, with evaluations provided through its Personnel Committee.
Amount of travel and any other special conditions or requirements:
Position requires local and national travel, as well as evening and weekend duties.
Salary range: $40,000/year, plus benefits
Hours per day or week: Exempt employee: 40-plus hours a week including weekends.
Job Announcement
To apply please submit a letter of interest, resume and three professional and two personal references to:
ALLGO
ATTN: Board Co-Chairs, 701 Tillery Street Box 4 Austin, Texas 78702.
Position will remain open until filled.
Executive Director –
Scope: Provide primary administrative, fiscal and programmatic leadership working closely with the Board of Directors and Staff to ensure the fullfillment of the organization's mission. Build local and national relationships to increase visibility of the organization, garner support, stay at the forefront of organizing related to the organization's mission and maximize the organization's reach and efforts. Duties and Responsibilities:
Ensure effective and efficient stewardship of the organization's resources.
Supervise Project Directors and fiscal and administrative personnel.
Ensure implementation of agency policies and procedures.
Develop performance measures for each position and ensure they are met through established supervisory processes.
Provide programmatic oversight of all program planning, implementation, measurement & evaluation, and documentation of progress in these areas.
Oversee the development of grassroots community organizing, coalition building and community action.
Oversee development and implementation of multi-tiered fundraising strategies to support organizational mission and growth.
Oversee implementation of health programming within a social justice framework and in compliance with agency standards of care.
Oversee implementation of cultural arts programming as central to social justice organizing.
Oversee management of agency contracts and ensure fulfillment of all contract requirements and timely reporting.
Provide increased visibility and serve as a spokesperson for ALLGO locally, nationally and internationally.
Serve as liaison between the Board of Directors and Staff of the Organization
Work closely with the Board of Directors and Board Committees.
Provide monthly reports to Board of Directors to include financial statements, cash flow projections, status of upcoming funding, and status of all programs.
Provide fiscal oversight of accounting, bookkeeping and auditing for the agency.
Ensure fulfillment of legal and ethical requirements related to maintaining non-profit status.
Perform other duties as required.
Qualifications, Skills and Experience for position:
Bilingual (English-Spanish) prefered.
Bachelor's Degree in related field required.
Master's Degree in related field preferred, may be substituted by experience.
Strong oral/written communication, and organizational skills.
Strong management and program development skills.
Personal computer experience required (Word, Excel, E-mail, Internet)
Excellent supervisory skills required; 5 years supervision experience preferred.
Experience working with queer communities of color.
Experience in fundraising, including development of individual donors, monthly donors, capital campaign, fundraising events, and proposal writing.
Proven success in fundraising efforts preferred.
Experience in community cultural arts programming.
Experience in community health programming, including health areas such as HIV/AIDS, Breast Cancer, and Domestic Violence.
Experience in grass roots community organizing and coalition building.
Proven success providing fiscal oversight for organizational and program budgets.
Experience in management & implementation of government contracts preferred.
Experience with compliance of standards of care, ethical and legal requirements related to social work and health care provision to people with HIV/AIDS preferred.
Supervisory relationships:
The Executive Director is directly supervised by ALLGO's Board of Directors, with evaluations provided through its Personnel Committee.
Amount of travel and any other special conditions or requirements:
Position requires local and national travel, as well as evening and weekend duties.
Salary range: $40,000/year, plus benefits
Hours per day or week: Exempt employee: 40-plus hours a week including weekends.
Friday, May 20, 2005
FREE Summer Theatre Camp for Youth - act now!
[Eliberto Gonzalez, co-founder of Cara Mia Theatre Company in Dallas, passed along the following info. ]
Still have some spaces left in our FREE Summer Theatre Camp
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Cara Mía Theatre Company will continue to serve the Latino theater-loving community and its families with this summer's FREE theater camp for youth. In existence since 1997, the Chicano Academy for Summer Theatre (CAST) will take on Carpa (Tent) Theatre - Mexican vaudeville - with kids aged 9 to 13 for a six-week summer session that culminates in an entirely youth-produced performance. CAST: Carpa Theatre for Youth will be from June 6 to July 15, 2005 at the Ice House Cultural Center. Daily weekday sessions are from 9 a.m. to noon.
Cara Mía's artists will assist the youth in reflecting on their lives to find material for their own "actos". Participants will write, design and perform original scenes in the style of traditional Carpa Theatre. Participants will also learn about elements that are commonly used in Cara Mía's own professional productions - the theatre clown, Mexican folk theatre and masks.
Limited number of spaces available. Applications being taken now. Please contact 214.946.9499 or info@caramiatheatre.net for an application or additional information.
Here's the Cara Mia website.
Note: The Camp takes place at the Ice House Cultural Center in Oak Cliff (South) Dallas.
Still have some spaces left in our FREE Summer Theatre Camp
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Cara Mía Theatre Company will continue to serve the Latino theater-loving community and its families with this summer's FREE theater camp for youth. In existence since 1997, the Chicano Academy for Summer Theatre (CAST) will take on Carpa (Tent) Theatre - Mexican vaudeville - with kids aged 9 to 13 for a six-week summer session that culminates in an entirely youth-produced performance. CAST: Carpa Theatre for Youth will be from June 6 to July 15, 2005 at the Ice House Cultural Center. Daily weekday sessions are from 9 a.m. to noon.
Cara Mía's artists will assist the youth in reflecting on their lives to find material for their own "actos". Participants will write, design and perform original scenes in the style of traditional Carpa Theatre. Participants will also learn about elements that are commonly used in Cara Mía's own professional productions - the theatre clown, Mexican folk theatre and masks.
Limited number of spaces available. Applications being taken now. Please contact 214.946.9499 or info@caramiatheatre.net for an application or additional information.
Here's the Cara Mia website.
Note: The Camp takes place at the Ice House Cultural Center in Oak Cliff (South) Dallas.
Thursday, May 19, 2005
Halliburton protest in FW happened yesterday, May 18
[Thanks to Diane Wood for allowing me to share her report. ]
"The wind turned our umbrellas inside and out, untied our ribbons, flapped our banners, ruined our hair, and blew our literature. The fifteen of us (men and women), mighty warriors that we are, withstood the elements and obstacles at the Fort Worth Halliburton protest on May 18th. Blanca was awesome on the bullhorn!
The security guard came out and told us we couldn't be there, "Because, even if it seemed like it, the sidewalk is private property and therefore not public property." We had to call the police to help us out, which they did, and stationed a friendly policewoman with us the entire
time!!
I tried to go up to the 11th floor to deliver documents, but was told by the security guard that that was not possible. The policewoman said I would be arrested if did that, since they didn't want us on their property (quite definitely obvious).
Lots of people now know where Halliburton is in Fort Worth and what they do. Lots of traffic on 7th street - we got lots of "honks". Got a new member for our Peaceful Vocations group.
The media was noticeably absent, even after the Star Telegram said they would send someone. Halliburton is powerful! (so are we) I did interview with Amber Brown, the Metroplex News, and with the LaVida News, even though they didn't come.
We decided to change the courthouse vigils to Halliburton, at 7th and Main, from 4 to 7 PM each Wednesday for a while. See you next Wednesday WITH MIGHT & GUSTO."
[BTW--Peaceful Vocations has a meeting scheduled for this coming Saturday, May 21st, at 1pm, at 1919 Hemphill St. ]
"The wind turned our umbrellas inside and out, untied our ribbons, flapped our banners, ruined our hair, and blew our literature. The fifteen of us (men and women), mighty warriors that we are, withstood the elements and obstacles at the Fort Worth Halliburton protest on May 18th. Blanca was awesome on the bullhorn!
The security guard came out and told us we couldn't be there, "Because, even if it seemed like it, the sidewalk is private property and therefore not public property." We had to call the police to help us out, which they did, and stationed a friendly policewoman with us the entire
time!!
I tried to go up to the 11th floor to deliver documents, but was told by the security guard that that was not possible. The policewoman said I would be arrested if did that, since they didn't want us on their property (quite definitely obvious).
Lots of people now know where Halliburton is in Fort Worth and what they do. Lots of traffic on 7th street - we got lots of "honks". Got a new member for our Peaceful Vocations group.
The media was noticeably absent, even after the Star Telegram said they would send someone. Halliburton is powerful! (so are we) I did interview with Amber Brown, the Metroplex News, and with the LaVida News, even though they didn't come.
We decided to change the courthouse vigils to Halliburton, at 7th and Main, from 4 to 7 PM each Wednesday for a while. See you next Wednesday WITH MIGHT & GUSTO."
[BTW--Peaceful Vocations has a meeting scheduled for this coming Saturday, May 21st, at 1pm, at 1919 Hemphill St. ]
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
Write about the new Latino mayor of L.A., if you want
[Thanks to Daniel Olivas for the following announcement, a publishing opportunity.]
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
From Daniel's website:
"I am editing an anthology of short fiction by Latinos/as in which the City of Los Angeles plays an integral role. I am interested in provocative stories on virtually any subject by both established and new writers. Stories may range from social realism to cuentos de fantasma and anything in between. Los Angeles may be a major "character" or merely lurking in the background. I'd like to see characters who represent diverse backgrounds in terms of ethnicity, profession, age, sexual orientation, etc.
Please e-mail your story, using standard submission formatting, as a Word document to olivasdan@aol.com. In the e-mail, include your contact information, list of previous publications (if any), and the ethnicity(ies) with which you identify. Feel free to visit my website at: www.danielolivas.com."
DEADLINE: September 1, 2005.
Daniel's site also features an extensive lista of literature-related websites and blogs, including some of my favorites (Maud Newton and Boing Boing).
++++
And now, for more on that L.A. mayoral election, just read this.
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
From Daniel's website:
"I am editing an anthology of short fiction by Latinos/as in which the City of Los Angeles plays an integral role. I am interested in provocative stories on virtually any subject by both established and new writers. Stories may range from social realism to cuentos de fantasma and anything in between. Los Angeles may be a major "character" or merely lurking in the background. I'd like to see characters who represent diverse backgrounds in terms of ethnicity, profession, age, sexual orientation, etc.
Please e-mail your story, using standard submission formatting, as a Word document to olivasdan@aol.com. In the e-mail, include your contact information, list of previous publications (if any), and the ethnicity(ies) with which you identify. Feel free to visit my website at: www.danielolivas.com."
DEADLINE: September 1, 2005.
Daniel's site also features an extensive lista of literature-related websites and blogs, including some of my favorites (Maud Newton and Boing Boing).
++++
And now, for more on that L.A. mayoral election, just read this.
Tuesday, May 17, 2005
What the BLEEP kinda name is "What the BLEEP Do We Know?" ?
For all you bleeping bleepers who loved the BLEEP of all metaphysical, mind-twisting, gut-instinct-affirming film experiences otherwise known as the film "What the Bleep Do We Know?", there's a conference with your bleeping name on it:
May 30–June 3, 2005 ------- in Austin, Texas
"What the BLEEP?" Conference: Experience the Possibilities...
Based on the sleeper hit movie, "What The Bleep Do We Know?," The Crossings presents this unique event bringing together innovators in film, biochemistry, and physics to share seeds of inspiration and create a community of open-minded thinkers.
Join us to explore how science and spirituality meet in this groundbreaking conference bridging quantum physics and human consciousness. Experience for yourself the workings of these astounding revelations in small group sessions. Evenings offer Q & A with the experts, as well as ample opportunity for community co-creation and fun. See this website for more info.
Sounds bleeping cool........
Reminder: don't cuss at your drinking water.
May 30–June 3, 2005 ------- in Austin, Texas
"What the BLEEP?" Conference: Experience the Possibilities...
Based on the sleeper hit movie, "What The Bleep Do We Know?," The Crossings presents this unique event bringing together innovators in film, biochemistry, and physics to share seeds of inspiration and create a community of open-minded thinkers.
Join us to explore how science and spirituality meet in this groundbreaking conference bridging quantum physics and human consciousness. Experience for yourself the workings of these astounding revelations in small group sessions. Evenings offer Q & A with the experts, as well as ample opportunity for community co-creation and fun. See this website for more info.
Sounds bleeping cool........
Reminder: don't cuss at your drinking water.
Monday, May 16, 2005
Youth Liberation Network to host 4th Annual Media Youth Camp
Great opportunity!!!!! ----there's going to be a Summer Media Camp for h.s. students from June 13-19th, 2005 - in Austin. It's FREE (free meals, free lodging in the dorms at the University of Texas)! I know the organizers of this Camp and they are amazing people. The focus is on gathering youth of color (Latino, African-American, etc.) to make videos, radio, murals, teatro projects together. Here's the website: www.youthliberation.net. Deadline to apply is looming near (end of May), so get on this now, folks.
If you have a sibling or friend who is also interested, maybe you can carpool together or take the Greyhound Bus, Amtrak Train, or something like that. My friend, Haldun, who is in charge of video for the Camp told me that you just have to get there. It's a great chance to try your hand at audio production, making videos, learning about theater, and more. Young people from all over Central Texas attend this Camp, so you can meet cool kids and work on projects together.
Anyway, I really hope you consider this, as it's a rare opportunity to do something really cool with MEDIA PRODUCTION in Texas, and it's FREE!! For more information go here.
Please send completed applications to: Youth Liberation Network
c/o Bianca Flores
5307 Martin Ave
Austin, TX 78751
To request an application by email : call 512-293-6582 or email youth_lib_net@yahoo.com
If you have a sibling or friend who is also interested, maybe you can carpool together or take the Greyhound Bus, Amtrak Train, or something like that. My friend, Haldun, who is in charge of video for the Camp told me that you just have to get there. It's a great chance to try your hand at audio production, making videos, learning about theater, and more. Young people from all over Central Texas attend this Camp, so you can meet cool kids and work on projects together.
Anyway, I really hope you consider this, as it's a rare opportunity to do something really cool with MEDIA PRODUCTION in Texas, and it's FREE!! For more information go here.
Please send completed applications to: Youth Liberation Network
c/o Bianca Flores
5307 Martin Ave
Austin, TX 78751
To request an application by email : call 512-293-6582 or email youth_lib_net@yahoo.com
Sunday, May 15, 2005
Let's NOT legislate homophobia in the Lone Star state
[Thanks to Amanda in Austin for sending the following information.]
KEEP THE PRESSURE ON! WE NEED YOUR HELP!
Please take action to stop HJR 6 which would deny thousands of gay and lesbian Texans the ability to protect their families from harm. There's no question that many Texans disagree about marriage for gay and lesbian couples, but those disagreements do not belong in our Constitution.
We need your help to show the Senate State Affairs Committee that Texans oppose writing discrimination into our Constitution. Please:
1. Call your own State Senator AND the members of the Senate State Affairs Committee RIGHT NOW! Let them know you OPPOSE HJR6.
2. Fax the Senate. The Texas Senate has the power to stop unequal treatment from being written into our Constitution. As of Tuesday, May 17th you have helped send over 30,000 faxes in opposition to HJR6! But, we need more! We have reset the counter, so you can send again. Go to this website. Click the "Fax the Senate" link.
3. Come to the Capitol on Thursday, May 19th at 5:00 pm to sign a Witness Affirmation Form. There is absolutely NO EXCUSE for Austinites not to come to the Capitol and fill out a Witness Affirmation Form against HJR 6. It's incredibly powerful and it
takes 5 minutes to fill out. COME AFTER WORK - AS LONG AS THE HEARING IS IN PROGRESS (AND WE WANT IT TO BE LONG EVENING)YOU CAN FILL OUT A WITNESS AFFIRMATION FORM!
3. Testify against HJR 6. Sign up to speak against HJR6! ALL testimony must be submitted in person. For talking points, please visit our HJR 6 Fact Sheet below.
Call the Senate State Affairs Committee
Let them know you OPPOSE HJR 6, the Anti-Gay Texas Marriage Amendment
Chairman Robert Duncan (512) 463-0128
Vice-Chairman Tommy Williams (512) 463-0104
Sen. Ken Armbrister (512) 463-0118
Sen. Rodney Ellis (512) 463-0113
Sen. Troy Fraser (512) 463-0124
Sen. Chris Harris (512) 463-0109
Sen. Mike Jackson (512) 463-0111
Sen. Eddie Lucio, Jr. (512) 463-0127
Sen. Frank Madla (512) 463-0119
FACT SHEET on HJR 6
The Anti-Gay Texas Marriage Amendment
Bill Number: House Joint Resolution 6
Unofficial Name: Anti-Gay Texas Marriage Amendment
Bill Author: Representative Warren Chisum (R-Pampa)
Bill Sponsor: Senator Todd Staples is the Senate sponsor of HJR 6.
Joint Authors: Representatives Chuck Hopson, Charlie Howard, and Jim McReynolds
Co-Authors: Representatives Allen (Ray), Berman, Bohac, Bonnen, Branch, Brown (Betty), Callegari, Campbell, Casteel, Cook (Byron), Cook (Robby), Crabb, Davis (John), Delisi, Denny, Driver, Eissler, Flynn, Gattis, Geren, Goodman, Hamilton, Hardcastle, Harper-Brown, Hegar, Hope, Hughes, Isett, Jackson (jim) Jones (Delwin), Keffer (Jim), King (Phil), Kolkhosrt, Krusee, Laubenberg, Nixon, Orr, Otto, Paxton, Smith (Todd), Smith (Wayne), Solomons, Talton, Taylor, Truitt, van Arsdale, West (George), Zedler
Short description: HJR 6 would write unequal treatment for gay and lesbian Texans into our Constitution by banning marriage for gay and lesbian couples.
Committee Assignment: House Committee on State Affairs
QUICK FACTS
The Texas Marriage Amendment hurts Texas families. It would deny thousands of families access to healthcare, fair inheritance and survivor rights, and the ability to make life-saving medical decisions for loved ones.
Our Constitution should be used to protect people, not hurt them. But that is just what the Texas Marriage Amendment would do. Our Constitution is for protecting our most basic and important rights. It should never be used to settle partisan, religious or ideological disputes. There is no question that many Texans disagree about marriage for gay and lesbian couples, but those disagreements do not belong in our Constitution.
Changing the Constitution is never simple. There are over 1000 protections, rights and responsibilities that go along with civil marriage. Many, like immigration rights and veterans death benefits, cannot be covered by contracts or legal planning. The Texas Marriage Amendment would permanently deny access to each of these family protections to gay and lesbian couples and their families.
This bill DOES NOT "reinforce" heterosexual marriages. The typical reason legislators give for supporting this legislation is that it reinforces traditional marriages. However, they have provided no reasoning to support the idea that barring same-sex marriages in any way contributes positively to heterosexual marriages, or that recognition of same-sex marriages threatens existing opposite-sex marriages. It seems the real motivation behind such legislation is homophobia.
KEEP THE PRESSURE ON! WE NEED YOUR HELP!
Please take action to stop HJR 6 which would deny thousands of gay and lesbian Texans the ability to protect their families from harm. There's no question that many Texans disagree about marriage for gay and lesbian couples, but those disagreements do not belong in our Constitution.
We need your help to show the Senate State Affairs Committee that Texans oppose writing discrimination into our Constitution. Please:
1. Call your own State Senator AND the members of the Senate State Affairs Committee RIGHT NOW! Let them know you OPPOSE HJR6.
2. Fax the Senate. The Texas Senate has the power to stop unequal treatment from being written into our Constitution. As of Tuesday, May 17th you have helped send over 30,000 faxes in opposition to HJR6! But, we need more! We have reset the counter, so you can send again. Go to this website. Click the "Fax the Senate" link.
3. Come to the Capitol on Thursday, May 19th at 5:00 pm to sign a Witness Affirmation Form. There is absolutely NO EXCUSE for Austinites not to come to the Capitol and fill out a Witness Affirmation Form against HJR 6. It's incredibly powerful and it
takes 5 minutes to fill out. COME AFTER WORK - AS LONG AS THE HEARING IS IN PROGRESS (AND WE WANT IT TO BE LONG EVENING)YOU CAN FILL OUT A WITNESS AFFIRMATION FORM!
3. Testify against HJR 6. Sign up to speak against HJR6! ALL testimony must be submitted in person. For talking points, please visit our HJR 6 Fact Sheet below.
Call the Senate State Affairs Committee
Let them know you OPPOSE HJR 6, the Anti-Gay Texas Marriage Amendment
Chairman Robert Duncan (512) 463-0128
Vice-Chairman Tommy Williams (512) 463-0104
Sen. Ken Armbrister (512) 463-0118
Sen. Rodney Ellis (512) 463-0113
Sen. Troy Fraser (512) 463-0124
Sen. Chris Harris (512) 463-0109
Sen. Mike Jackson (512) 463-0111
Sen. Eddie Lucio, Jr. (512) 463-0127
Sen. Frank Madla (512) 463-0119
FACT SHEET on HJR 6
The Anti-Gay Texas Marriage Amendment
Bill Number: House Joint Resolution 6
Unofficial Name: Anti-Gay Texas Marriage Amendment
Bill Author: Representative Warren Chisum (R-Pampa)
Bill Sponsor: Senator Todd Staples is the Senate sponsor of HJR 6.
Joint Authors: Representatives Chuck Hopson, Charlie Howard, and Jim McReynolds
Co-Authors: Representatives Allen (Ray), Berman, Bohac, Bonnen, Branch, Brown (Betty), Callegari, Campbell, Casteel, Cook (Byron), Cook (Robby), Crabb, Davis (John), Delisi, Denny, Driver, Eissler, Flynn, Gattis, Geren, Goodman, Hamilton, Hardcastle, Harper-Brown, Hegar, Hope, Hughes, Isett, Jackson (jim) Jones (Delwin), Keffer (Jim), King (Phil), Kolkhosrt, Krusee, Laubenberg, Nixon, Orr, Otto, Paxton, Smith (Todd), Smith (Wayne), Solomons, Talton, Taylor, Truitt, van Arsdale, West (George), Zedler
Short description: HJR 6 would write unequal treatment for gay and lesbian Texans into our Constitution by banning marriage for gay and lesbian couples.
Committee Assignment: House Committee on State Affairs
QUICK FACTS
The Texas Marriage Amendment hurts Texas families. It would deny thousands of families access to healthcare, fair inheritance and survivor rights, and the ability to make life-saving medical decisions for loved ones.
Our Constitution should be used to protect people, not hurt them. But that is just what the Texas Marriage Amendment would do. Our Constitution is for protecting our most basic and important rights. It should never be used to settle partisan, religious or ideological disputes. There is no question that many Texans disagree about marriage for gay and lesbian couples, but those disagreements do not belong in our Constitution.
Changing the Constitution is never simple. There are over 1000 protections, rights and responsibilities that go along with civil marriage. Many, like immigration rights and veterans death benefits, cannot be covered by contracts or legal planning. The Texas Marriage Amendment would permanently deny access to each of these family protections to gay and lesbian couples and their families.
This bill DOES NOT "reinforce" heterosexual marriages. The typical reason legislators give for supporting this legislation is that it reinforces traditional marriages. However, they have provided no reasoning to support the idea that barring same-sex marriages in any way contributes positively to heterosexual marriages, or that recognition of same-sex marriages threatens existing opposite-sex marriages. It seems the real motivation behind such legislation is homophobia.
Friday, May 13, 2005
"The Oil Factor: Behind the War on Terror" - screens on Sunday, May 15th
As part of the "Fasci$t Watch" film series at 1919 Hemphill, the 90-minute documentary "The Oil Factor: Behind the War on Terror" will screen at 7pm. Open and free to all.
The following descriptive blurb is from the "Oil Factor"website:
According to O.E.C.D. data, the Middle-East holds 70% of the world oil reserves while North America and Europe will run out of oil in 2010 at their current rate of production. Emerging technologies might provide alternatives to oil used for energy but these innovations will do nothing to remedy the need for oil used in plastics which accounts for about half of oil's uses.
In the wake of Vice-President Dick Cheney's 2001 Energy Task Force, is it a coincidence if George Bush targeted Iraq in its so called "war-on-terror", a country known to possess the second largest oil reserves in the world?
Is it another coincidence if U.S. forces in Afghanistan and Central Asia are based near Central Asian oil and natural gas?
Was invading Iraq and Afghanistan really meant to reduce terrorist threats against the United States or was it a ploy to guarantee that the average American can continue consuming 4 times more energy than the average European or 32 times more energy than the average African?
After a year and a half of investigation and a three month trip covering Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan, THE OIL FACTOR looks at both the human cost and the greater geo-strategic picture of George Bush's "war-on-terror". Along with solid facts & figures, clear, illustrative maps and graphics and original footage shot on location, THE OIL FACTOR features such personalities as Zbigniew Brzezinski, Noam Chomsky, The Project for the New American Century Director Gary Schmitt, best-seller "Taliban" author Ahmed Rashid and the Pentagon's Karen Kwiatkowski.
The following descriptive blurb is from the "Oil Factor"website:
According to O.E.C.D. data, the Middle-East holds 70% of the world oil reserves while North America and Europe will run out of oil in 2010 at their current rate of production. Emerging technologies might provide alternatives to oil used for energy but these innovations will do nothing to remedy the need for oil used in plastics which accounts for about half of oil's uses.
In the wake of Vice-President Dick Cheney's 2001 Energy Task Force, is it a coincidence if George Bush targeted Iraq in its so called "war-on-terror", a country known to possess the second largest oil reserves in the world?
Is it another coincidence if U.S. forces in Afghanistan and Central Asia are based near Central Asian oil and natural gas?
Was invading Iraq and Afghanistan really meant to reduce terrorist threats against the United States or was it a ploy to guarantee that the average American can continue consuming 4 times more energy than the average European or 32 times more energy than the average African?
After a year and a half of investigation and a three month trip covering Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan, THE OIL FACTOR looks at both the human cost and the greater geo-strategic picture of George Bush's "war-on-terror". Along with solid facts & figures, clear, illustrative maps and graphics and original footage shot on location, THE OIL FACTOR features such personalities as Zbigniew Brzezinski, Noam Chomsky, The Project for the New American Century Director Gary Schmitt, best-seller "Taliban" author Ahmed Rashid and the Pentagon's Karen Kwiatkowski.
Thursday, May 12, 2005
"The Art of War" in FW Weekly
This article, just released yesterday, May 11th, is a pretty good encapsulation (as an alt-weekly cover story) of the myriad threads in an ever-growing network of progressive activism in my original hood, Fort Worth, Texas.
Reading this might answer the questions: "Why is Tammy still in Fort Worth" and "Why kind of comunidad is she finding/creating there?"
As poet Sekou Sundiata says, "People be talking revolution in these hard times..." Let's keep (wo)manifesting a liberation movement here in "Funkytown 817", my friends.
Reading this might answer the questions: "Why is Tammy still in Fort Worth" and "Why kind of comunidad is she finding/creating there?"
As poet Sekou Sundiata says, "People be talking revolution in these hard times..." Let's keep (wo)manifesting a liberation movement here in "Funkytown 817", my friends.
Wednesday, May 11, 2005
Blood for Oil? Blood for Money? No!
You can join the masses who are going to converge on Houston to protest the Wednesday morning, May 18th, Halliburton Annual Shareholders Meeting. Many North Texans will be traveling to Houston on Tuesday to join others for a scheduled march and rally. These actions will draw attention to Halliburton’s shameful actions in Iraq and demand that the company cease operations there. For more information, please go here or here.
Stop the war profiteers! Who wants blood on their money?
Stop the war profiteers! Who wants blood on their money?
Tuesday, May 10, 2005
And XX Communicator makes 8,000,001
During the first weekend of May, Nashville, Tennessee, was host to a Bloggers Conference attended by more than 300 bloggers or "Internet-based writers without rules".
According to Bob Cox, Media Bloggers Association president, as quoted in this article, over 8 million writers are blogging.
Thanks for reading.
According to Bob Cox, Media Bloggers Association president, as quoted in this article, over 8 million writers are blogging.
Thanks for reading.
Saturday, May 07, 2005
Guess what today's theme is?
Due to a last-minute cancellation (because of foreboding weather forecasts) of a highly-anticipated camping trip, I was in a temporary funk this morning trying to come up with an unusual consolation activity for the first part of the day. And then, somehow, some way (can't remember now), I found out that today was being celebrated as FREE COMIC BOOK DAY--not only in Fort Worth, but everywhere!
Of course, I ended up leaving this for the last minute, as I went off to see an afternoon matinee screening of "CRASH" (thumbs up, more on this later, maybe); did some Mother's Day gift-shopping; and hung out with my brother for a while. Thanks to the hardcore of the comic bookstores, Y2Komics, which stayed open beyond the posted "Closes at 8pm", I was able to waltz in and partake of the free comic bookness. You couldn't just grab anything from the shelves as your freebie; no, there was a designated table strewn with an assortment of styles and sub-genres to choose from. Extending the range of the stretch that my being in a comic book shop already presented, I opted for a copy of a BETTY AND VERONICA (Archie comics, remember them?) and an issue of SHOJO BEAT, a manga magazine.
Speaking of comics, I am the unlikely fan of FANBOY RADIO, a locally-produced (TCU's KTCU-FM) program which is so infectiously fun and informative. Even the FORT WORTH WEEKLY appreciates the show, which maintains a website with program information as well as downloadable audio files of archived shows.
Earlier this week, new New Yorker Randy Gentile was interviewed on FANBOY RADIO, talking about his new project NYComics, a series of black-and-white comics which detail very simple but striking characteristics and situations which Gentile is experiencing as a newbie in the Big Apple. It's pretty obvious that he is greatly influenced by comic book writer Harvey Pekar, and Gentile admitted this during the radio interview. I'm always excited when somebody in comics cares about the writing (the story, the poetry of a moment) as much as the drawing.
Lastly, to close this very-extended treatise on a theme: I recently heard a great episode of FRESH AIR, wherein Terry Gross interviewed the 2005 Pulitzer Prize winner for political cartooning, Nick Anderson, whose prize-winning portfolio is very amusing and smartly-rendered. My favorite quote from the radio interview: “..there’s nothing more American than dissent, in my opinion.” Anderson has been drawing political cartoons for the Louisville Courier-Journal in Kentucky since 1991.
Okay, I've more than exhausted this theme.
Of course, I ended up leaving this for the last minute, as I went off to see an afternoon matinee screening of "CRASH" (thumbs up, more on this later, maybe); did some Mother's Day gift-shopping; and hung out with my brother for a while. Thanks to the hardcore of the comic bookstores, Y2Komics, which stayed open beyond the posted "Closes at 8pm", I was able to waltz in and partake of the free comic bookness. You couldn't just grab anything from the shelves as your freebie; no, there was a designated table strewn with an assortment of styles and sub-genres to choose from. Extending the range of the stretch that my being in a comic book shop already presented, I opted for a copy of a BETTY AND VERONICA (Archie comics, remember them?) and an issue of SHOJO BEAT, a manga magazine.
Speaking of comics, I am the unlikely fan of FANBOY RADIO, a locally-produced (TCU's KTCU-FM) program which is so infectiously fun and informative. Even the FORT WORTH WEEKLY appreciates the show, which maintains a website with program information as well as downloadable audio files of archived shows.
Earlier this week, new New Yorker Randy Gentile was interviewed on FANBOY RADIO, talking about his new project NYComics, a series of black-and-white comics which detail very simple but striking characteristics and situations which Gentile is experiencing as a newbie in the Big Apple. It's pretty obvious that he is greatly influenced by comic book writer Harvey Pekar, and Gentile admitted this during the radio interview. I'm always excited when somebody in comics cares about the writing (the story, the poetry of a moment) as much as the drawing.
Lastly, to close this very-extended treatise on a theme: I recently heard a great episode of FRESH AIR, wherein Terry Gross interviewed the 2005 Pulitzer Prize winner for political cartooning, Nick Anderson, whose prize-winning portfolio is very amusing and smartly-rendered. My favorite quote from the radio interview: “..there’s nothing more American than dissent, in my opinion.” Anderson has been drawing political cartoons for the Louisville Courier-Journal in Kentucky since 1991.
Okay, I've more than exhausted this theme.
Friday, May 06, 2005
Visual artists, take note: Cover Art Contest
Vistas Film Festival Program Cover Art Contest
Each year, the festival's organizers host an art contest for the cover of the official program of the Vistas Film Festival. A call for cover art designs has just been announced for this year's festival, which will happen in September.
Submissions are being accepted through July 26th. The winner will receive two All-Events festival passes, a congratulatory ad in the program and will be introduced at Opening Night of the festival. For more information or to obtain a submission form and guidelines, contact César J. García at cgarcia@vistasfilmfestival.org or visit the Vistas website here.
The Vistas Film Festival, which takes place in Dallas, is dedicated to highlighting Latino culture and involvement in the film arts by providing public exposure for Latino artists and their work.
Each year, the festival's organizers host an art contest for the cover of the official program of the Vistas Film Festival. A call for cover art designs has just been announced for this year's festival, which will happen in September.
Submissions are being accepted through July 26th. The winner will receive two All-Events festival passes, a congratulatory ad in the program and will be introduced at Opening Night of the festival. For more information or to obtain a submission form and guidelines, contact César J. García at cgarcia@vistasfilmfestival.org or visit the Vistas website here.
The Vistas Film Festival, which takes place in Dallas, is dedicated to highlighting Latino culture and involvement in the film arts by providing public exposure for Latino artists and their work.
Thursday, May 05, 2005
Big Noise Film "Zapatista!" to be screened on Sunday, May 8th
It's almost the end of another Cinco de Mayo day. And what's left to say, in the few minutes before the clock strikes twelve and it becomes seis de Mayo? How 'bout this? Mexico may have defeated France in 1862, or whenever that was, but indigenous Mexico is still struggling against the big monster of neo-liberalism and corporate globalism.
On Sunday, May 8th, at 7pm, you can check out Big Noise Productions' 1998 film "Zapatista", which gives a discerning view of NAFTA's impact on the peasant/campesino class of Mexico.
Here's a short blurb from a promotional website:
"ZAPATISTA! is an inspiring first-hand account of a struggle that will challenge the way you think about the world. Armed with sticks and words against a First World military, eight thousand Zapatistas have fought 75,000 Federal troops to a stand-still. Ignored by a mainstream press that cannot and will not cover them, the Zapatistas have used poems and children's stories smuggled on horseback and distributed on the internet, to permanently transform the political imagination of a nation. ZAPATISTA! offers us a new way of thinking about political struggle and about what it means to live as a human being."
w/ Darryl Hannah, Edward James Olmos, Rage Against the Machine, and Mumia Abu-Jamal. Highly recommended.
"Zapatista!" screens on Sunday, May 8th, 7pm, at 1919 Hemphill. Open to all--Free admission. FMI: 817.920.9665
On Sunday, May 8th, at 7pm, you can check out Big Noise Productions' 1998 film "Zapatista", which gives a discerning view of NAFTA's impact on the peasant/campesino class of Mexico.
Here's a short blurb from a promotional website:
"ZAPATISTA! is an inspiring first-hand account of a struggle that will challenge the way you think about the world. Armed with sticks and words against a First World military, eight thousand Zapatistas have fought 75,000 Federal troops to a stand-still. Ignored by a mainstream press that cannot and will not cover them, the Zapatistas have used poems and children's stories smuggled on horseback and distributed on the internet, to permanently transform the political imagination of a nation. ZAPATISTA! offers us a new way of thinking about political struggle and about what it means to live as a human being."
w/ Darryl Hannah, Edward James Olmos, Rage Against the Machine, and Mumia Abu-Jamal. Highly recommended.
"Zapatista!" screens on Sunday, May 8th, 7pm, at 1919 Hemphill. Open to all--Free admission. FMI: 817.920.9665
Gemini Ink in San Anto offers a seminar w/ Sandra Cisneros
This is the message that I got from Gemini Ink offices, down in San Antonio:
"Our final offering this spring is A House of Her Own: Advice to Young Latina Writers, a seminar/discussion presented by novelist and poet Sandra Cisneros. Although the discussion will focus on the Latina/o experience, anyone interested is more than welcome to attend. Date: Saturday, May 14, 2-4 pm. Registration Deadline: May 10."
Gemini Ink - A Center for Literary Arts and Ideas.
513 S. Presa
San Antonio, TX 78205
210.734.WORD (9673)
fax: 210.737.0688
toll-free: 877.734.WORD (9673)
email: info@geminiink.org
web: www.geminiink.org
"Our final offering this spring is A House of Her Own: Advice to Young Latina Writers, a seminar/discussion presented by novelist and poet Sandra Cisneros. Although the discussion will focus on the Latina/o experience, anyone interested is more than welcome to attend. Date: Saturday, May 14, 2-4 pm. Registration Deadline: May 10."
Gemini Ink - A Center for Literary Arts and Ideas.
513 S. Presa
San Antonio, TX 78205
210.734.WORD (9673)
fax: 210.737.0688
toll-free: 877.734.WORD (9673)
email: info@geminiink.org
web: www.geminiink.org
Inventing a new character for my bicycle love story
Inventing a new character for my bicycle love story was so easy, as I sat behind the wheel of my car, listening to a really good interview on "Fan Boy Radio" (locally-produced show about comic books/characters/authors/inkers/letterers, etc.) while parked in my driveway this morning. The light was just perfect and the windshield so clear--as happens right after a nice rainfall--so I was enjoying the view. A particularly loud little bird--I could hear him over the radio--was twittering and teetering on a high thin branch, and it seemed indecisive. It clung to the branch and to a bit of white yarn or straw (I couldn't quite tell which) within its beak, and I tried to ascertain its plotting. Through the windshield, I also saw a neighborhood stray cat, whom I've dubbed "Make-Up Cat" pounce onto the hood of the car, as if from nowhere. And a few seconds later, another pounce, this time by Grace--my own pet stray cat--as she landed on top of the recycling bin to the right of the car.
I imagined that a custom-tailored drive-in movie was unfolding especially for me, and I started wishing that I had a camcorder on me to document this stunning visual display. In perfect light. After a rain.
So then, it occurred to me that I should create a character--for my play about bicycle love--a character who spends way too much time allured by the views through his/her car windshield. This character would reminisce loquaciously about bygone days of drive-in movies and would only interact with people who would join him/her in the front seat of the car. Upon doing so, they begin to see the most splendorous visions--sharing the mindset and perspective of the forever-fascinated front seat freak. The windshield would not be rose-colored, but it would offer glimpses of the mundane made unforgettable.
I got so caught up with my character development process, that I neglected to wonder what my neighbors might think about me sitting in the car in my driveway for five minutes. They probably wouldn't have guessed that I was watching a movie, the one of my imagination. It was a simple, happy moment, after the rain this morning.
I imagined that a custom-tailored drive-in movie was unfolding especially for me, and I started wishing that I had a camcorder on me to document this stunning visual display. In perfect light. After a rain.
So then, it occurred to me that I should create a character--for my play about bicycle love--a character who spends way too much time allured by the views through his/her car windshield. This character would reminisce loquaciously about bygone days of drive-in movies and would only interact with people who would join him/her in the front seat of the car. Upon doing so, they begin to see the most splendorous visions--sharing the mindset and perspective of the forever-fascinated front seat freak. The windshield would not be rose-colored, but it would offer glimpses of the mundane made unforgettable.
I got so caught up with my character development process, that I neglected to wonder what my neighbors might think about me sitting in the car in my driveway for five minutes. They probably wouldn't have guessed that I was watching a movie, the one of my imagination. It was a simple, happy moment, after the rain this morning.
Wednesday, May 04, 2005
Home Girls, Make Some Noise! - Call for submissions to a hip hop anthology
[Thanks to Kym Keeton for passing along the following anuncio. Girlfriends, fire up those pens and laptops!]
Call For Submissions --- Submission Deadline: July 30, 2005
Feminism, rap music, and Hip Hop culture, at first glance, do not appear to be likely cohorts. In the male-driven, testosterone filled world of Hip Hop culture and rap music labeling oneself a feminist is not a political stance easily taken. Thus, many women involved with Hip Hop culture do not take on the label of feminist even as their actions imply feminist beliefs and leanings. Much of the strong criticisms of rap music have been about the music's sexism and misogyny. And much of the attention focused on sex and gender have been in terms of constructions of Black masculinity, and rap music as a vehicle for Black male posturing. A lot of attention has been paid to the impact rap music and the masculine space of Hip Hop culture has on the development of Black male identities.
In this volume, the editors strive to understand constructions of Hip Hop feminism, gender, and sexuality in Hip Hop culture, rap music and these in transnational contexts.
We take the stance that Hip Hop is a cultural phenomenon that expands farther than rap music. Hip Hop has been defined by many as a way of life that encompasses everything from way of dress to manner of speech. Hip Hop as a culture originally included graffiti writing, d-jaying, break dancing, and rap music. It has recently expanded to include genres such as film, spoken word, autobiographies, literature, journalism, and activism. It has also expanded enough to include its own brand of feminism. The work of Hip Hop feminist writers such as Ayana Byrd, Denise Cooper, Eisa Davis, Eisa Nefertari Ulen, shani jamilla, dream hampton, Joan Morgan, Tara Roberts, Kristal Brent-Zook, and Angela Ards is expanding black feminist theory and black women 's intellectual traditions in fascinating ways. What started out as a few young black feminist women who loved Hip Hop and who tried to mesh that love with their feminist/womanist consciousness is now a rich body of articles, essays, poetry, and creative non-fiction.
We seek to complicate understandings of Hip Hop as a male space by including and identifying the women who were always involved with the culture and offering Hip Hop feminist critiques of the music and the culture. We seek to explore Hip Hop as a worldview, as an epistemology grounded in the experiences of communities of color under advanced capitalism, as a cultural site for rearticulating identity and sexual politics. We are particularly interested in seeing submissions of critical essays and cultural critiques, interviews, creative non-fiction and personal narratives, fiction, poetry, and artwork. We also encourage submissions from women working within the Hip Hop sphere, Hip Hop feminists and activists "on the ground," as well as scholars, writers, and journalists. We do not wish to reify the scholar/activist dichotomy, but we want to encourage as broad a discussion of the possibilities of Hip Hop Feminism as possible and we want to be sure multiple voices and perspectives are represented in the anthology. All work submitted must be original and should not have been published elsewhere.
Word Count/Page Limits:
Critical Essays and Cultural Critiques - 25 pages (including bibliography) 6500 words
Interviews - 10 pages/2500 words
Creative Non-Fiction and Personal Narratives - 20 pages/5000 words
Fiction - 20 pages/5000 words
Poetry/Rhymes - No more than 3 pages per poem/rhyme and 3 poems per poet/mc
Artwork - Up to three pieces per artist
Editors:
Gwendolyn Pough is an Associate Professor of Women's Studies, Writing, and Rhetoric at Syracuse University and the author of Check It While I Wreck It; Black Womanhood, Hip- Hop Culture and the Public Sphere, Northeastern University Press 2004.
Elaine Richardson is an Associate Professor of English at Penn State University and the author of African American Literacies (2003) and the forthcoming Hip Hop Literacies both from Routledge Press.
Rachel Raimist is a Hip Hop feminist filmmaker, scholar and activist. Her film credits include the award-winning feature length documentaries Freestyle, Nobody Knows My Name, and Garbage, Gangsters, and Greed. She is a doctoral student in Feminist Studies at the University of Minnesota- Twin Cities.
Aisha S. Durham is an essayist and Editorial Assistant for several cultural studies journals, including Qualitative Inquiry where her performance work is featured. Durham's dissertation research examining Hip Hop feminism will be featured in an upcoming anthology and documentary about Hip Hop culture. She is a doctoral candidate in the Institute of Communications Research at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Additional themes to be explored:
· Has Hip Hop feminism moved beyond the conflicted stance of loving Hip Hop, being a feminist, and meshing the two? What is next? What should Hip Hop feminism be doing? · Now that we have at least two generations of women who identify as Hip Hop feminist, can we talk about multiple Hip Hop feminism(s), multiple Hip Hop feminist agendas? · On that generational note, how then does the Hip Hop feminist agenda mesh with the Black feminist agenda or womanist agenda of our predecessors and contemporaries who do not claim a Hip Hop sensibility?
· We know that there are dedicated educators out there who are working in the trenches with no institutional support to bring feminist education and issues of sexuality, sexual health, and emotional well-being to our youth, but how can Hip Hop feminists work to ensure that feminist education is centered in the curricula of America's schools, elementary through college for both male and female students? · What are the defining contours of Hip Hop Feminism? If we are of the understanding that a Hip Hop feminist is more than just a woman who loves Hip Hop and feels conflicted about it, what does a Hip Hop feminism look like?
· The continued sexual labor of women of color in a global market place now depending on virtual "mass mediated" sex labor (e.g. music video and pornography) as well as other forms of sex and gendered labor performed by women of color still policed. · Is Hip Hop feminism simply a US phenomenon? Should Hip Hop feminism have a global agenda? And how should Hip Hop feminism participate in the agendas of transnational feminism(s)? · What roles can Hip Hop feminism play in combating growing rate of incarcerated woman of color and the expanding prison industrial complex?
Please send four copies of the submission by July 30, 2005 to:
Gwendolyn D. Pough, Associate Professor of Women's Studies and Writing Syracuse University Women's Studies Program Syracuse University 208 Bowne Hall Syracuse, New York 13244
For more info: http://www.gwendolyndpough.com
Hip Hop Feminism Anthology:
Elaine Richardson
Associate Professor of English, Penn State University
email: ebr2@psu.edu
The Hip-Hop Association:
Rolando Brown
Director of Brand Development
email: rolando@hiphopassociation.org
Call For Submissions --- Submission Deadline: July 30, 2005
Feminism, rap music, and Hip Hop culture, at first glance, do not appear to be likely cohorts. In the male-driven, testosterone filled world of Hip Hop culture and rap music labeling oneself a feminist is not a political stance easily taken. Thus, many women involved with Hip Hop culture do not take on the label of feminist even as their actions imply feminist beliefs and leanings. Much of the strong criticisms of rap music have been about the music's sexism and misogyny. And much of the attention focused on sex and gender have been in terms of constructions of Black masculinity, and rap music as a vehicle for Black male posturing. A lot of attention has been paid to the impact rap music and the masculine space of Hip Hop culture has on the development of Black male identities.
In this volume, the editors strive to understand constructions of Hip Hop feminism, gender, and sexuality in Hip Hop culture, rap music and these in transnational contexts.
We take the stance that Hip Hop is a cultural phenomenon that expands farther than rap music. Hip Hop has been defined by many as a way of life that encompasses everything from way of dress to manner of speech. Hip Hop as a culture originally included graffiti writing, d-jaying, break dancing, and rap music. It has recently expanded to include genres such as film, spoken word, autobiographies, literature, journalism, and activism. It has also expanded enough to include its own brand of feminism. The work of Hip Hop feminist writers such as Ayana Byrd, Denise Cooper, Eisa Davis, Eisa Nefertari Ulen, shani jamilla, dream hampton, Joan Morgan, Tara Roberts, Kristal Brent-Zook, and Angela Ards is expanding black feminist theory and black women 's intellectual traditions in fascinating ways. What started out as a few young black feminist women who loved Hip Hop and who tried to mesh that love with their feminist/womanist consciousness is now a rich body of articles, essays, poetry, and creative non-fiction.
We seek to complicate understandings of Hip Hop as a male space by including and identifying the women who were always involved with the culture and offering Hip Hop feminist critiques of the music and the culture. We seek to explore Hip Hop as a worldview, as an epistemology grounded in the experiences of communities of color under advanced capitalism, as a cultural site for rearticulating identity and sexual politics. We are particularly interested in seeing submissions of critical essays and cultural critiques, interviews, creative non-fiction and personal narratives, fiction, poetry, and artwork. We also encourage submissions from women working within the Hip Hop sphere, Hip Hop feminists and activists "on the ground," as well as scholars, writers, and journalists. We do not wish to reify the scholar/activist dichotomy, but we want to encourage as broad a discussion of the possibilities of Hip Hop Feminism as possible and we want to be sure multiple voices and perspectives are represented in the anthology. All work submitted must be original and should not have been published elsewhere.
Word Count/Page Limits:
Critical Essays and Cultural Critiques - 25 pages (including bibliography) 6500 words
Interviews - 10 pages/2500 words
Creative Non-Fiction and Personal Narratives - 20 pages/5000 words
Fiction - 20 pages/5000 words
Poetry/Rhymes - No more than 3 pages per poem/rhyme and 3 poems per poet/mc
Artwork - Up to three pieces per artist
Editors:
Gwendolyn Pough is an Associate Professor of Women's Studies, Writing, and Rhetoric at Syracuse University and the author of Check It While I Wreck It; Black Womanhood, Hip- Hop Culture and the Public Sphere, Northeastern University Press 2004.
Elaine Richardson is an Associate Professor of English at Penn State University and the author of African American Literacies (2003) and the forthcoming Hip Hop Literacies both from Routledge Press.
Rachel Raimist is a Hip Hop feminist filmmaker, scholar and activist. Her film credits include the award-winning feature length documentaries Freestyle, Nobody Knows My Name, and Garbage, Gangsters, and Greed. She is a doctoral student in Feminist Studies at the University of Minnesota- Twin Cities.
Aisha S. Durham is an essayist and Editorial Assistant for several cultural studies journals, including Qualitative Inquiry where her performance work is featured. Durham's dissertation research examining Hip Hop feminism will be featured in an upcoming anthology and documentary about Hip Hop culture. She is a doctoral candidate in the Institute of Communications Research at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Additional themes to be explored:
· Has Hip Hop feminism moved beyond the conflicted stance of loving Hip Hop, being a feminist, and meshing the two? What is next? What should Hip Hop feminism be doing? · Now that we have at least two generations of women who identify as Hip Hop feminist, can we talk about multiple Hip Hop feminism(s), multiple Hip Hop feminist agendas? · On that generational note, how then does the Hip Hop feminist agenda mesh with the Black feminist agenda or womanist agenda of our predecessors and contemporaries who do not claim a Hip Hop sensibility?
· We know that there are dedicated educators out there who are working in the trenches with no institutional support to bring feminist education and issues of sexuality, sexual health, and emotional well-being to our youth, but how can Hip Hop feminists work to ensure that feminist education is centered in the curricula of America's schools, elementary through college for both male and female students? · What are the defining contours of Hip Hop Feminism? If we are of the understanding that a Hip Hop feminist is more than just a woman who loves Hip Hop and feels conflicted about it, what does a Hip Hop feminism look like?
· The continued sexual labor of women of color in a global market place now depending on virtual "mass mediated" sex labor (e.g. music video and pornography) as well as other forms of sex and gendered labor performed by women of color still policed. · Is Hip Hop feminism simply a US phenomenon? Should Hip Hop feminism have a global agenda? And how should Hip Hop feminism participate in the agendas of transnational feminism(s)? · What roles can Hip Hop feminism play in combating growing rate of incarcerated woman of color and the expanding prison industrial complex?
Please send four copies of the submission by July 30, 2005 to:
Gwendolyn D. Pough, Associate Professor of Women's Studies and Writing Syracuse University Women's Studies Program Syracuse University 208 Bowne Hall Syracuse, New York 13244
For more info: http://www.gwendolyndpough.com
Hip Hop Feminism Anthology:
Elaine Richardson
Associate Professor of English, Penn State University
email: ebr2@psu.edu
The Hip-Hop Association:
Rolando Brown
Director of Brand Development
email: rolando@hiphopassociation.org
Tuesday, May 03, 2005
Mamas wanna rock and roll
[Thanks to Connie Kallenberg for sharing the following info!]
MOTHER'S DAY
Mamapalooza Dallas!
SUNDAY, MAY 8
1 PM - 5 PM
FREE!
Bring your mom, the kids and a picnic for a nice day in the park. Enjoy music, a craft fair, crafts for the kids, Pilates demos and more!
with
Frump: The All-Mom Garage Band - loud, mom-centric rock
The Ackermans - Texas Originals
Annie Benjamin - Irreverent, poignant and homespun
The Velvet Sirens - Passionate and playful guitar and vocal duo
Lisa Mickelsen & Drake Rogers - Harmonies and heartfelt vocals
@ The Magnolia Lounge at Fair Park
1121 First Ave.
Inside Fair Park, DALLAS
Directions may be found at www.magnolialounge.net
Thanks to the Video Association of Dallas!
for more information contact: Suzie Riddle, szriddle@airmail.net
You can check out the Dallas Mamapalooza website or to learn about this mammoth mama movement, go to the national organizing website. Dallas is the only city in Texas doing Mamapalooza this year.
Speaking of rock and roll mothers, there's a community of punk rock moms in Austin too. My friend, Diana Garcia, is a bilingual ed teacher, and her rad daughter Lulu is a fearless and amazing kid. Diana has played with bands Coz the Shroom and the Girl Robots, hangs out with other punk rock moms, and is one of Texas' major purveyors of mail art.
Love your mama extra-special this Sunday!
MOTHER'S DAY
Mamapalooza Dallas!
SUNDAY, MAY 8
1 PM - 5 PM
FREE!
Bring your mom, the kids and a picnic for a nice day in the park. Enjoy music, a craft fair, crafts for the kids, Pilates demos and more!
with
Frump: The All-Mom Garage Band - loud, mom-centric rock
The Ackermans - Texas Originals
Annie Benjamin - Irreverent, poignant and homespun
The Velvet Sirens - Passionate and playful guitar and vocal duo
Lisa Mickelsen & Drake Rogers - Harmonies and heartfelt vocals
@ The Magnolia Lounge at Fair Park
1121 First Ave.
Inside Fair Park, DALLAS
Directions may be found at www.magnolialounge.net
Thanks to the Video Association of Dallas!
for more information contact: Suzie Riddle, szriddle@airmail.net
You can check out the Dallas Mamapalooza website or to learn about this mammoth mama movement, go to the national organizing website. Dallas is the only city in Texas doing Mamapalooza this year.
Speaking of rock and roll mothers, there's a community of punk rock moms in Austin too. My friend, Diana Garcia, is a bilingual ed teacher, and her rad daughter Lulu is a fearless and amazing kid. Diana has played with bands Coz the Shroom and the Girl Robots, hangs out with other punk rock moms, and is one of Texas' major purveyors of mail art.
Love your mama extra-special this Sunday!
Monday, May 02, 2005
Yesterday was May Day
I was so busy NOT working yesterday, May 1st, which is commemorated worldwide as the "International Day of Worker's Struggle," that I didn't bother to come online to remind you about it.
Okay, it's the day after, but why not: here's the link to Rosa Luxemburg's spirited essay "The Idea of May Day on the March." One line from this piece (circa 1913) bears highlighting, given our current world situation:
"In this moment of armament lunacy and war orgies, only the resolute will to struggle of the working masses, their capacity and readiness for powerful mass actions, can maintain world peace and push away the menacing world conflagration."
Okay, it's the day after, but why not: here's the link to Rosa Luxemburg's spirited essay "The Idea of May Day on the March." One line from this piece (circa 1913) bears highlighting, given our current world situation:
"In this moment of armament lunacy and war orgies, only the resolute will to struggle of the working masses, their capacity and readiness for powerful mass actions, can maintain world peace and push away the menacing world conflagration."
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