Papers of la Gloria Anzaldua -- Opening and Commemoration

[Thanks to fellow Macondista Jackie Cuevas for sending along this reminder about Anzaldua's papers being acquired by the Benson Latin American Collection at UT-Austin. It's great that Anzaldua's collected writings/scholarly work is going to stay in Tejas, her birthland.]

The public is cordially invited to attend a program and exhibit commemorating the opening of the Gloria Anzaldúa Papers, recently acquired by the Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection (at the University of Texas at Austin).

Thursday, November 2, 2006, 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. at the Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection. (Next to the LBJ Library on UT-campus.) A reception will follow.
Please call 512-495-4521 if you plan to attend, or email your RSVP to: ma.rodriguez@mail.utexas.edu.

You can find more info about the Gloria Anzaldúa Papers online.

Gloria Anzaldúa! Presente!

after ofrenda night for Devin

[from Wendy - October 11th, 2006]

Hey Tammy,
How were things at Hemphill Mon? I seriously couldn't believe it. I never look at my bulletins and I happened to see the bulletin that you had posted, but for some reason I thought it wasn't literal. This week has been so emotionally insane.

I went to all the sites that you listed and smiled at her smiles along with tears.
I went and got some seeds to plant around the front yard in honor of her. They are Icelandic Poppies. Since I couldn't make it to the Hemphill memorial, I decided I'd do my own.

What happened, if you don't mind me asking? How? I'm so confused.
Well, I just wanted you to know that I sent loving memories that way.
Hope all is well with you, Tammy.

I love you,
Wendy

I'm teaching an all-day poetry intensive on Sat., October 21st - Dallas

UNLEASHING YOUR POETRY FOR THE MIC
Performance & Poetry Intensive with Tammy Gomez


Yes, you now have the opportunity to sign up for an all-day workshop with spoken word artist Tammy Gomez. Sponsored by the Writer's Garret--a literary arts organization based in Dallas--, this workshop will allow Tammy to share the strategies and exercises that have helped her more confidently and successfully present her original poetry onstage.

Each participant in this poetry intensive will be asked to bring selected pieces of their original writing, which will then be adapted for a performative presentation. Video documentation, vocal and editing exercises, and demonstrations of award-winning spoken word artists (on cd and dvd) will be included as part of the workshop.

Taking your poetry from the page to the stage can be fun, but it can also help your work gain a new audience in venues beyond the coffeehouse circuit.


WHAT: PERFORMANCE AND POETRY INTENSIVE WITH TAMMY GOMEZ

WHEN: Saturday, Oct. 21, 2006 - 10 am - 4 pm

WHERE: Upstairs at Paperbacks Plus Bookstore - 6115 La Vista Drive - Dallas, 75214

COST: $90 Members / $105 Others ($15 Early Bird Discount extended.)

WHO TO CONTACT: Grace Kenney of the The Writer's Garret

BY EMAIL: gen@writersgarret.org
BY PHONE: 214-828-1715
ON THE WEB: www.writersgarret.org

TAMMY GOMEZ is an award-winning performance poet and writer, whose essays and poetry have been anthologized in many publications including TERRA FIRMA (Agave Noir Press), CONJUNCTIONS (Bard College, NY), CANTOS AL SEXTO SOL (Wings Press), and the forthcoming HECHO EN TEJAS (University of New Mexico Press). She is profiled in LAS TEJANAS: 300 YEARS OF HISTORY (University of Texas Press) and received the Austin Chronicle Critics' Choice distinction as the "Best In-Your-Face Poet" in 1994.

As founder/publisher of Tejana Tongue Press, Tammy has published two anthologies: YONIVERSE: In a Loud Kitchen (Austin, 1998) and NORTH TEXAS NERUDA LOVE: poems, testimonios, tributes in honor of Pablo Neruda (2006).

She has performed in over twenty U.S. cities, including Madison, Denver, San Jose, Berkeley, and Laredo. At times, she has performed with musicians and other artists in collaborative contexts that has established her work as cutting edge, provocative, and unforgettable.

Tammy currently works with youth in an afterschool arts program, and is happy to announce that she has recently been awarded a 2006-2007 NALAC (National Association of Latino Arts & Culture) Artist Production Grant--in support of her spoken word theater production of "SHE: Bike/Spoke/Love", an original script.

"Art creates new thought structures" or so says Jerry Saltz

Interesting recent article in the Village Voice, brought to my attention by Cinque Hicks at BARE AND BITTER SLEEP...

Here's one of the best quotes from this Jerry Saltz article, which you can read in its entirety here:

Imagine calling two pets, one a dog, the other a cat. Asking a dog to do something is an amazing experience. You say, "Come here, Fido," and Fido looks up, pads over, puts his head in your lap, and wags his tail. You've had a direct communication with another species; you and Fido are sharing a common, fairly literal language. Now imagine saying, "Come here, Snowflake" to the cat. Snowflake might glance over, walk to a nearby table, rub it, lie down, and look at you. There's nothing direct about this. Yet something gigantic and very much like art has happened. The cat has placed a third object between you and itself. In order to understand the cat you have to be able to grasp this nonlinear, indirect, holistic, circuitous communication. In short, art is a cat.

CELEBRATE the life & times of Devin "Autonomy Star" Adams - today!!

On Monday, October 9th, many of us will be celebrating the life and memory
of Devin Adams at 1919 Hemphill. It's a potluck performance
art painting party and commemoration. We're inviting folks to share:
food/drink, songs, poetry, art, candles, flowers, and whatever else reminds
you lovingly of our special friend.

WHEN: MONDAY, OCTOBER 9th

WHERE: 1919 HEMPHILL ST. (you may park across the street in the
laundromat parking lot)

WHAT TIME: 4pm - seedpaper-making (handmade paper with seeds
embedded in it, which can then be inscribed with messages
to honor Devin, and later planted anywhere you like.

5pm - altar-building (bring candles, flowers, art, handmade
decorations, colorful fabric, etc., with which to decorate this
tribute altar for Devin).

7pm - potluck (bring food/drink!), screening of video of Devin
in performance, and communal celebration of her life with song,
poetry, storytelling, and art.

QUESTIONS: Please phone Cri at 817.966.0669. Ramsey at 682.556.0553.
Tammy at 817.924.9188.



___Folks are paying Devin tribute online at:___

http://www.myspace.com/for_devin

http://1919hemphill.org/devinadams

http://www.flaycreechphotography.com/Devin.html

http://xxcommunicator.blogspot.com



please spread the word to anyone who knew Devin Adams--
she truly was our
Fort Worth, Texas;
Lincoln, Nebraska;
Keene, Texas;
and California
"AUTONOMY STAR"!!

Tonight: Friday, Oct. 6th - events & happenings

Translator, poet, sometime singer, and sweet soul Gabriela L sent word about the second Velton Hayworth-organized art show and pachanga, to be held at his studio tonight from 5-11pm. Last year's inaugural "Fall Showcase" was pretty happening with downtempo dj music, cash bar, professional salon styling of models' hair (performance art?), and great work by regional artists in a multitude of formats and dimensions. (Last year's artistic highlights included work by Maria Patino and Elizabeth Amaro.)

This year's event will feature a live set (at 6pm!) by SLEEPLAB, who could be dubbed Fort Worth's answer to the musicians of the BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB but that's a kinda lazy comparison, cuz the SLEEPLAB is definitely a multi-flavor.

Okay, summing it up: THE 2nd Annual Fall Showcase (art opening and music party), 5-11pm. Located in a warehouse on a quiet, dark back street: 2800 Shamrock Ave. Suite G. Admission cost raises funds that will go to MEALS ON WHEELS. For more information (and some nice color repros of the art to be shown) click here.

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Okay, here's the freebie in town tonight. The Hispanic Women's Network of Texas--Fort Worth Chapter is hosting a Latina art exhibit, which opens at the Rose Marine Theater art gallery (Galeria de la Rosa) from 6-9pm.

Local Latina artists' work will be displayed, reception refreshments will be served, and a silent auction will ensue. (Proceeds from the silent auction will go to the Hispanic Women’s Network-Fort Worth Scholarship Fund.

The short-and-sweet:
HWNT Celebrates Latina Art 2006.
6-9pm. FREE.
1440 N. Main St. - Rose Marine Theater - Galeria de la Rosa

For even more info: HISPANIC WOMEN'S NETWORK OF TEXAS-FW.

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In my world, I can only justify PLAY if i've completed at least a little WORK. And in the activist realm, our impact and progress is directly proportional to the amount of PLAY we can mix in WITH the WORK. Employing humor and festive antics to speak a message and direct an action can do wonders for social justice revolutionary momentum, not to mention the good it can do for committed activistas. I think bitter, bile-infested activists (regardless of where they live on the political continuum) are BORING and TOXIC.

Speaking of TOXIC, there's some unbreathable air in these parts--North Texas is what i mean. The upstarts addressing this big concern are the DOWNWINDERS, a regional activist group with designs on raking gubernatorial incumbent Rick Perry over the coals (pun intended) because of his continuing love affair with polluting energy industries.

So, tonight, at 6pm, in downtown Dallas (near Houston & Young, not even a block from the TRE train stop), you can see the DOWNWINDERS' huge 3-d caricature of Governor Rick Perry affectionately smooching a smoke stack. It's mounted on a hay trailer directly from Midlothian. It's big. It's funny. And Perry the Pollution Lover might actually see himself in effigy tonight as he is scheduled to debate the other three major gubernatorial candidates at the Channel 8 studios at 606 Young Street--next door to the Dallas Morning News building.

That's only part of the story. After Friday, the DOWNWINDERS are taking "Smoke Stack Ricky" on the road, shadowing Gov. Perry on the campaign trail from now until Election Day. (And if you're interested in helping them keep "Smoke Stack Ricky" hot on Perry's campaign trail, the Downwinders need volunteers asap.)

Here's what the DOWNWINDERS have to say about Perry on clean air: "Time and again, Governor Perry has gone out of his way to protect the oldest, dirtiest smoke stacks in DFW - the circa 1960 "wet kilns" of the the Midlothian cement plants. Now, with a new clean air plan being written by Perry appointees for DFW, it's important that these industrial clunkers either be modernized or replaced. No more special treatment, no more grandfathering, no more exemptions. Yet, Perry seems determined to keep them up and running as they are - with only the rudimentary pollution controls they had when they first opened decades ago. And remember--four of these wet kilns still burn hazardous waste at TXI."

You can reach the DOWNWINDERS by phone at 214/912-2093 and 806/787-6567 or read more at the DFW AIR PLAN website.

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Identify your GOALS, Make your PLAN, Strategize with ALLIES, Work 'til it WORKS, then PARTY your LOVE !

i'm hearing your pain, your curiosity...

...and will be offering updates concerning Devin, our dear & beloved friend and magical artist of light and sound. A mutual friend, Machete, will be going through alot of Devin's journals and other creative musings, and--rest assured--i will encourage Machete to make some of these available to you so you may know Devin's words and work.

I myself had the fortune and destiny to be able to collaborate with Devin in performance a number of times, and because i am now learning the value of documentation of improvisational work and art, i actually VIDEOtaped some of our/her recent shows. In these videos, Devin is singing, dancing, whirling/twirling and more.

At this moment, there is also an ofrenda (spanish for "altar" or "table of tribute") on my front porch. Folks here locally have been adding offerings to it, with poems, photos, flowers, red shoes, all adding to the mix. If you want to mail something to add to this altar, just let me know and i'll email you my address. Of course, i'll need your personal email address.

More soon!

love&blessings,
Tammy

- Devin Adams - que descansas en paz -

(oh, friend, the day was not quite what i told you it would be.)

I got the tragic news that another friend, a very young (early 20s)woman, performer & singing musician, died. Devin Adams was a friend and collaborator who lived & played here in FW. I got the news at 5:30pm yesterday. After teaching the kids.

I cried outloud in a parking lot and looked to the sky for answers. Devin was in San Francisco when she was in some sort of bicycle accident. Her email name was ==> AUTONYMY STAR. Very fitting. A bright light for many of us.

I went to the Tejano Democrats thing and drank beer and kept to myself, and then went to a poetry open mic (the car seemed to drive itself....and i had the blues station on REALLY loud--"Whiskey, Take Me Home Tonight"--and the breeze was mysteriously cold.

I saw the sliver moon and dedicated it to my beloved friend. At the open mic, I was the first to speak. I actually sang my song "My Final Resting Place" and spoke of sliver moons and Devin and beauty.

Other poets in the room remembered Devin, and shared their reminiscences.

I will start an ofrenda to Devin on Saturday on my front porch.


I
release my
white knuckled
hands from the throat
of my day and giggle
and squirm as sunrise and
I begin foreplay. Seducing me
slowly she tickles my toes, her
light kisses the small of my
back and my mind's garden grows
while shivers they creep up my spine
and I drink in the air like a fine French wine.
I breathe in like I'm drowning in my bellies deep
deep sea like it's my last chance my last breath to be free

and I smile
and moan with delicious
delight as life penetrates me
magical magentas, bequesting blues, grappling greens
it's a passionate scene, me out of breath, raptured sweaty limbs
intertwined into every space of time because each imperfectly perfect moment
is the bed I will lay
as I make love to each and every day.

- a poem by Devin Adams

Texas documentary on undocumented immigration - airs Tuesday, September 26th, on KERA - Channel 13 @ 9pm

" L E T T E R S F R O M T H E O T H E R S I D E "

---Documentary reveals impact of undocumented immigration on Mexican families on both sides of the border---

September 14, 2006, a U.S. Homeland Security official watches a videotaped message from Laura, a Mexican woman whose husband died in 2003 along with 18 others in the worst immigant smuggling case in United States history.

"How many more deaths does it takek for the U.S. government to do something?" Laura asks.

The videotaped message is one in a series of video letters carried across the U.S.-Mexico border by Heather Courtney, director of LETTERS FROM THE OTHER SIDE, a one-hour public television documentary premiering this month on KERA-TV, channel 13, in the Metroplex of Texas.

The documentary will be aired on Tuesday, September 26th, at 9pm as part of KERA's Hispanic Heritage Month programming. (A free advance public screening of LETTERS--with director Heather Courtney inroducing the film--took place on Sunday, September 24th at the Ice House Cultural Center in South Dallas.)

LETTERS FROM THE OTHER SIDE is a co-production of Front Porch Films and KERA-Dallas/Fort Worth in asssociation with the Independent Television Service (ITVS).

As the immigration debate heats up during this election year, Courtney's documentary draws on those video letters to offer a fresh perspective: an intimate look at the lives of the people most affected by today's immigration and trade policies. Over two years in the state of Guanajuato, Mexico, Courtney followed the lives of four Mexican women and their families, interweaving their stories with cross-border video letters between loved ones and strangers.

MY FORT WORTH: Permaculture study group offers FREE lecture this week

I was suffering a miserable break-up with someone in Boulder. It was around 1989, i guess. I was looking for a way or reason to catapult myself out of that geography of tears and regret, and so I ended up in front of the community notices board at the Boulder Public Library one evening. There was a flyer for an Intro Design Course in something I had never heard of before: Permaculture. "Permanent Culture." An approach to living symbiotically with the land, in your bioregion, that focuses on observing and studying what already exists before employing a shovel, bulldozer, or concrete mixer to change it. I had a growing interest in sustainability and so I signed up for the 2-week course, which took place on a small high-elevation organic farm in Basalt, Colorado. Sounded like a great way to heal a broken heart and start over with something new in mind.


"PERMACULTURE...
...is a practical concept applicable from a balcony to the farm, from the city to the wilderness, enabling us to establish productive environments providing our food, energy, shelter, material and non-material needs, as well as the social and economic infrastructures that will support them.
...is a synthesis of ecology, geography, observation & design.
...encompasses all aspects of human environments and culture, urban and rural, and their local and global impact. It involves ethics of earth care because the sustainable use of land cannot be separated from lifestyle and philosophical issues.
...encourages the restoration of balance to our environments through the practical application of ecological principles. In the broadest sense, Permaculture refers to land-use systems and lifestyle options which utilise resources in a sustainable way."


A new local group, URBAN SMALLHOLDING, has surfaced in Fort Worth, with an eye towards bringing Permaculture principles and methodology to inner-city folks. Here's what they say about themselves:

"Urban Smallholding is a community of people in the Tarrant County area dedicated to learning and implementing permaculture principles in our own homes, neighborhoods. Subject to natural law, we work with what we have and where we are (whether it is a city lot, apartment or rural homestead), to integrate people, land, water, plants, animals, and technologies towards a more regenerative culture and sustainable life and livelihood. Hopefully, we'll have some fun along the way. We have monthly meetings, bi-monthly speakers as well as projects."

Their next public event - a lecture in E. Fort Worth:

PERMACULTURE BASICS
presented by Wayne Weiseman

Wednesday, September 27th - 7:00 - 9:00 PM

Meadowbrook United Methodist Church - 3900 Meadowbrook Dr. - Fort Worth, TX

Talk Outline:
Basic Permaculture Methodologies and Ethics
Edible, medicinal, culinary, and utility landscapes and food forests
Land Restoration
Long-term food preservation
Practical Homesteading Skills
Basic Renewable Energy Systems
Ecological Building construction Methods

For more information contact Kirsten at urbansmallhold@aol.com or phone at 817.915.1392.

You may prefer to join their Yahoo group, via this link.

By the way, I completed the Intro Course and was given a piece of paper certifying me as a Permaculture Introductory Design Trainee. As an urbanite, I've not had too much of a chance to do rainwater catchment or set up a goose pond, but many of the design principles of Permaculture have stayed with me and manifest in my life style choices, decrease in consumption, and resolve to live as low-impact (on the land) as possible. Plus, I now know the difference between a gabion and a wiggle-waggle--both design elements used to prevent land erosion. I've also grown fond of cattails. And the heartbreak? I got past that and found someone new.

Hiroshi Sugimoto chooses favorite films for Modern screenings

Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth Presents
Films Selected by Hiroshi Sugimoto

October 7 - November 25
This film series is presented in conjunction with the special exhibition Hiroshi Sugimoto: End of Time; on view to the public at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth from September 17, 2006, through January 21, 2007. Tickets are $7.50; $5.50 for Modern members

HIROSHI SUGIMOTO Film Series

Enjoy this rare opportunity to see seven Japanese films carefully selected by Mr. Sugimoto to be shown in conjunction with the exhibition Hiroshi Sugimoto: End of Time. Organized and first presented at the Japan Society in New York in the fall of 2005, it is with their cooperation and approval that the Modern Art Museum proudly offer this unique series here in FW.

Mr. Sugimoto comments: "The Japanese films I have chosen are less cinema verité, more theatrical. The synergy of the artifice of photography and of the theater generate a three-dimensional fiction. The more outrageous the fiction the more credible it becomes. No doubt this is how ancient myths were born."

THE FILMS:

The World of Geisha (1973)
Saturday, October 7, 2 pm
With this film—based on an original tale by Kafu Nagai that was banned for its sexual explicitness—Tatsumi Kumashiro, the leading director of the "Nikkatsu Roman Porno" genre, brilliantly succeeds in bringing the art of the Japanese erotic woodblock print to life.
72 minutes

Due to sexual content, this film is recommended for adults only.


Ten Dark Women (1961)
Saturday, October 14, 2 pm
Filmed in high-contrast black and white and set amidst the background of Japan's explosive economic growth, this film depicts a philandering playboy whose wife and nine mistresses seek vengeance on him.
105 minutes


The Water Magician (1933)
Saturday, November 4, 12:30 pm
This Kenji Mizoguchi masterpiece from the silent era portrays the ethos of a country on the cusp of modern nationhood.
110 minutes


The Face of Another (1966)
Saturday, November 4, 2:30 pm
A man who has lost his face in an accident acquires another man's face and a double life through the ministrations of a plastic surgeon/psychiatrist. The artists who collaborated on this film were pioneers of Japanese literature, music, art, and architecture in the 1960s.
124 minutes


Blind Beast (1969)
Saturday, November 11, 1 pm
A blind sculptor imprisons a perfectly proportioned woman in a quest for the world's first "Sensory Art."
Due to sexual content, this film is recommended for adults only.
86 minutes


Tokyo Drifter (1966)
Saturday, November 11, 3 pm
Director Seijun Suzuki explodes the yakuza film genre with his overtly colorful sets, costumes, and dramatic lighting in this visionary experimental film.
82 minutes


Tokyo Kid (1950)
Saturday, November 25, 2 pm
Set amidst postwar ruins, this beautiful, tragic musical stars Hibari Misora as an orphan surrounded by the eccentric tenants of a low-rent tenement building.
81 minutes


(Film descriptions are excerpted from the Japan Society brochure for Hiroshi Sugimoto Film Series: The Moving Image of Modern Art.)

Reprise performance of SPILLWAY SONATA - Friday, September 15th at 1919 Hemphill in FW

Photo by Stola Subrogo.

SPILLWAY SONATA is a ritual movement work which commemorates those who suffered and survived hurricane Katrina.

This work was created by Tammy Gomez, with Natalia Dominguez and Rachel Loera, and will be performed on FRIDAY, September 15th, at 1919 Hemphill. This work will be performed outdoors in the 1919 Hemphill parking lot.

Performed to the music of avant-garde vocalist Meredith Monk, SPILLWAY SONATA is created in the style of Butoh, a Japanese dance/performance innovation which evolved in the confusion and aftermath of the bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Butoh is sometimes referred to as the "dance of darkness" and is often described as enigmatic and mysterious.

Tammy Gomez studied Butoh with Doranne Crable, professor of Performance Studies at Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. Crable has practiced and performed Butoh for over twenty years, and she herself was taught by Kazuo Ohno, one of the founding fathers of this unique modern dance form.

To Crable, Butoh involves "stripping away the protective masks that humans wear as performers" in order to come into the "vulnerable and gentle part of the human heart."

+++++++++++

Free and open to the public.

Applied Theater workshop - Friday, September 15th - 1-3pm - in Fort Worth

Photo by John Sullivan.

SOUND CULTURE PRESENTS

Improving Health and Environment for Toda la Gente

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 15th - Fort Worth, Texas

AFTERNOON EVENT: PLATICA/WORKSHOP

1pm -3pm
Rose Marine Theater GALLERY - 1440 N. Main St.

FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC - however, donations will be gratefully accepted.

Focus of the platica/presentation: Introduction to Augusto Boal’s "Theater of the Oppressed" theories and techniques to help families learn about health and environmental issues--towards the goal of finding solutions to the public health challenges in their communities.

John Sullivan and Bryan Parras actively use theater performance for public health education purposes in the south Texas region, but have recently become integrally involved in doing assessments of the post-Katrina environmental health crisis in the Gulf Coast region.

Bryan Parras is a performer with EL TEATRO LUCHA DE SALUD DEL BARRIO in Houston and is active with TEJAS (Texas Environmental Justice Advocacy Services).

John Sullivan is a theater artist who co-directs the Public Forum & Toxics Assistance division of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Center at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. He previously directed two theater companies: Theater Degree Zero (Tucson, Ariz.) and the Theater of Liberation/Seattle Public Theater (Washington).

This will be a hands-on interactive workshop.

FW downtown parade - September 9th, 2006

I was downtown on Saturday (September 9th) to hang out with Ed Smith, the new artistic director of the Jubilee Theater. I walked right past him and he had no idea, cuz I blended in with the group of students I was talking to. They were on their way to stake some pavement for an optimal view of the annual Diez y Seis parade, which was about to commence. What drew me to this group of people is that one of the young women was wearing a South Hills High School t-shirt. I called to her and asked her what she thought about the young kid (male teenager) who had been shot by armed p.d. the day before. She seemed to think that the kid brought it on himself by "acting up" and getting in a fight with another male teen on the South Hills campus. No blaming of the cop, no apparent distress about the situation. At least that was this her take on the incident.

Retracing my steps, I joined Ed on a cast-iron bench set back from the sidewalk and we both contentedly surveyed the downtown happenings. We spoke of jazz music and radio (we both have done live broadcasting), we discussed Dewey Redman's recent passing and his connection to Fort Worth. Ed asked me where I would like to call home, where I would live if I could live anywhere. Not surprisingly, I heard myself respond "Durango. Durango, Colorado, in the 4 Corners region." A sacred geography, with numerous Native American tribes ("first world" is Ed's preferred term) living there. I mentioned that a scientist friend, Ray in Albuquerque, told me that the four corners region (where New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, and Colorado all come together) is a unique geographical location physic-ally, in that it was immune to all the natural "acts of god"--tornados, hurricanes, earthquakes, and the like. As Ray put it, the 4 Corners region was probably one of the safest places to live in all of the U.S. I've camped, mountain biked, and hiked in Durango, and I loved it there. Fort Lewis College is also there--a place where I could probably get into Native Studies (history, literature, and environmental studies). Ed took this all in, marveling at the fact that no one had ever mentioned that part of the Southwest in conversation with him. Never before. All I could say was, "Fort Worth is where the West begins." A trite aphorism, but nonetheless true, in that we as Texans seem to pose our gaze westward. A direction that yields so much mythology and history, a place of vastness and visionary expansion.

And then Chuck showed up, the UTA student slam poet who is so much more than a "slam poet". He intrigues me, but I am patient to learn more about him--as he quietly reveals the layers of himself as the philosopher poet from Stop 6. The three of us--Ed, Chuck, and I--walked to the Corner Bakery for coffee and cheerily parked ourselves at a sidewalk table to watch the Diez y Seis parade. I, as Chicana with two African-American males, offered parade commentary, as the participants waved and pelted us with candy and other freebies.

"...as long as the women's hearts are still high."

The 9/12/01 message below is from Jean Reddeman. Jean is of the Stockbridge Munsee Bank of the Mohican Nation. Her Indian name is Wasaki Emani Wi, which means Strong Walking Woman. She is known by her people as a seer.


"Yesterday's incident seems to be what our elders had predicted a long time ago. It was predicted that there will be a Massive Spiritual Exodus of very advanced Souls in order to really change the value system in the world. This Exodus could have been avoided if the nation would have worked towards peace and spiritual values. This Massive Exodus is sad because it needed so many sacrifices of human lives to allow the global awareness to raise to new levels.

Our elders had predicted that Great Good will come after this tragedy, especially if people recognized the teachings of the event and if they honored those that sacrificed their lives. We have to thank and elevate these souls that died during the tragedy. They will still be around us for 9 days. We need to feast them, honor them and recognize their love for all of us. We have to listen to their teachings as they are very evolved souls that will be helping the major shift that the world so sorely needs. We are to honor them and ask them what we must do to change our world. They came into this lifetime to give us this gift, the gift of their lives and of their love, so that the world changes to a better place. We must honor them, we must go forward. We must listen to their messages from the Heavens.

There is much work to be done, particularly for women. Why women? It comes from an old Indian Proverb: "A nation is not lost as long as the women's hearts are still high. Only when the women's hearts are on the ground - then all is finished, and the nation dies. The women are the life carriers." Women need to reach inside and tap into their own female powerful energy. The world needs much nurturing right now, more than ever. From this female energy, men will gain their original strength. Not the strength that economic, political and military power gives, but true spiritual strength from where all lives truly flourish. We need to cultivate the receptive, docile and nurturing energy. We cannot go on with wars, we will all die, if we do.

We have to see in the middle of the pain and chaos the greater lessons. But, most of all, let us not miss the precious moment that we have in the next 9 days to talk to these souls that have left their bodies for our sake, for our salvation and true freedom. We must thank them from the bottom of our hearts, with incredible love, for they are great people. We have to share this moment so that together we can go to this new consciousness, the female energy that is so much needed at this time."

remnants of SONATA - day after the premiere

[what i sent to my friend Andrea about
SPILLWAY SONATA]

"got caught up with the prep and step
of doing the show. plus, a diez y seis
parade happened on saturday morning,
and it was gallery night that evening.
alot of hubbub in the city.

our show (2 performances): has left
me completely physically exhausted. here
i type, the day after, all muscle achy and
on the border of cranky cuz i'm so tired.
it's a completely consuming immersion, this
SPILLWAY SONATA. 20 minutes long of
continuous slow-slow movement, where every
muscle of your body is engaged, and torqued
and clenched, depending on the gesture
or position you're taking. as my friend
said, "you were wearing the experience"
of being in Katrina. and it was true, we
were buffeted by strong winds, pummeled
by unforgiving rain, and wading through
waist-deep toxic floodwaters.....in our
minds, we were there and our bodies evoked
what we were thinking.

feedback from audience:
"you looked like dead souls"
"it reminded me of purgatory"
"i cried when you picked up the trashbags"
"people were wiping their eyes"
"i really felt like i was there"
"beautiful"

so, all in all, i am pleased. we will perform
this work one more time, next friday, when
i host some events having to do with environmental
health impact of Katrina (workshop on using
Boal's theater of the oppressed techniques
to start dialogue with gente of Houston about
environmental toxics in their communities PLUS
a screening of a new doc video on Katrina
environmental damage). another busy week
coming up.

"After the Wind, Child, After the Water's Gone"

DOCUMENTARY FILM SCREENING - Friday, September 15th - 7pm
LOCATION: 1919 Hemphill St.

TEXAS FILMMAKERS’ KATRINA WORK TO BE SCREENED AT 1919 HEMPHILL COMMUNITY CENTER ON FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 15th IN FORT WORTH

Just weeks after Hurricane Katrina struck, John Sullivan of the Sealy Center for Public Health and Medicine and Bryan Parras of Texas Environmental Justice Advocacy Services (TEJAS) were sent to Louisiana to meet with community leaders to find out how the National Institute for Environmental Health (NIEH) could collaborate with local groups. Their fact-finding journey took them from Baton Rouge, through Orleans, St. Bernard, Jefferson, Lafourche, and Terrebonne parishes, and to the city of New Iberia.

Their “day job,” asking about the damage sustained, the significant threat to human health in the area, and what environmental health projects are thought most important, ended with a report presented to the NIEH director’s conference in November.

However, Sullivan says, “The flood of fact and feeling we got back from our collaborators refused to stay inside the neat little box of our original purpose. From the moment we arrived in Baton Rouge we realized that the magnitude of the human and ecological damage demanded something more intimate and less formal, something grounded in fact but which also opened a window into how it really feels to live in the middle of an eco-catastrophe.”

So Sullivan and Parras took the videos of their interviews and pieced them together with music, still pictures, and color commentary from locals, into a film entitled ". . . after the wind, child, after the waters gone. . ."

Sullivan says the people in the film hope to promote “understanding and empathy with the plight of coastal Louisiana, home of so much of our energy industry infrastructure, a nexus of ongoing struggles by African-American, Houma, and Cajun communities for basic environmental, social and cultural justice, the most bountiful and endangered estuarine fishery in the Lower 48, way-station for innumerable species of migratory birds, and the cradle of so much of our national culture.”

The film will be shown on Friday, September 15th, at 1919 Hemphill Community Center, at 7pm. This screening will be open to the public with a suggested donation of $5--however, no one will be turned away for lack of funds.

To read John Sullivan's essay about the experience of making this documentary go here.

For more information about the film screening in Fort Worth, please call 817-924-9188 or email sound_culture@hotmail.com.

SPILLWAY SONATA - Gallery Night, Saturday, September 9th in FW

SPILLWAY SONATA is a ritual movement work which commemorates those who suffered and survived hurricane Katrina.

This work was created by Tammy Gomez, with Natalia Dominguez and Rachel Loera, and will be performed twice on Saturday, September 9th--as part of Fall Gallery Night 2006.

SPILLWAY SONATA will be performed in the Plaza at Rose Marine Theater (1440 N. Main St.) at 6:30pm.

The work will also be performed at 8pm at Arts Fifth Avenue (1628 Fifth Avenue) in the indoor studio.

Performed to the music of avant-garde vocalist Meredith Monk, SPILLWAY SONATA is created in the style of Butoh, a Japanese dance/performance innovation which evolved in the confusion and aftermath of the bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Butoh is sometimes referred to as the "dance of darkness" and is often described as enigmatic and mysterious.

Tammy Gomez studied Butoh with Doranne Crable, professor of Performance Studies at Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. Crable has practiced and performed Butoh for over twenty years, and she herself was taught by Kazuo Ohno, one of the founding fathers of this unique modern dance form.

To Crable, Butoh involves "stripping away the protective masks that humans wear as performers" in order to come into the "vulnerable and gentle part of the human heart."

+++++++++++

SPILLWAY SONATA
Gallery Night premiere

Rose Marine Theater - 6:30pm - outdoors in the Plaza
Arts Fifth Avenue - 8:00 pm - indoors in the studio

Free and open to the public.

waterway

Letter i emailed to Maria Limon, committed biciclista, writer, and activist. Great Austin compa:

Dear Maria:

I am well. Trying to get some labor done on labor day--a writer's work is never done, right?

Thanks so much for kindly sending me your Kwan Yin fotos. They are awesome: i love the color scheme and textures in each of them. Very cool....

The one of exposed roots looks so much like running water. I am SO into water right now.

Thinking of it in so many metaphorical ways.

With 3 other Chicana performers, I am co-creating a work of movement ritual to COMMEMORATE the people who suffered/survived Katrina. Water as flood, oppressor, is a deep thing (no pun intended), as we also dearly depend on water for sustenance.

I sit here and let these different tributaries of thought combine into a stream of parallel constructs. Theory as waterfall.

flood of memories
if it rains
if it rain
oh black water
chance/of rain
watermarked
waterstain
high waters
drippin/drained
water, rose water
down/pour
tanto lluvia
water retention
no one, not even the rain
water/damage
poco de gracia
No ark
post-diluvian
es regnet
a deep thing
overflow
running stream
spillway

Speaking of water, we got rain. Last night, all night. I just let it happen without getting attached, or celebrating too much. I just ate my dinner and continued doing my thang at home.

bliss is mellow sometimes.


TODAY is also CRITICAL MASS day, aqui en Fort Worth. Go ride your bike together with other local pedalers.

Wishing you a happy rainy bicycle path.

World premiere: adaptation of poem MARTIN by Cara Mia Theatre in Dallas

Dallas' CARA MÍA THEATRE COMPANY kicks off the 10th Anniversary Season with an unforgettable weekend. MARTÍN by poet/screenwriter JIMMY SANTIAGO BACA opens this Friday, September 1st.

JIMMY SANTIAGO BACA will be in attendance on Friday, signing his books before the show. Also on Friday, THE UNITED LOWRIDERS ASSOCIATION will exhibit lowrider cars in the parking lot. Enjoy a Tex-Mex buffet after the show, courtesy of ROSITA'S RESTAURANT.

Performed in English with some Spanish, MARTÍN is the story of a man, born part Chicano and Apache, abandoned as a child and thrust upon the streets of Albuquerque. Caught between Indio-Mejicano roots and English-speaking society, he searches for his identity while traveling the southwestern United States. During his quest, he experiences a spiritual renewal as he connects to his native roots and realizes his dream of family, love, and a home.

MARTÍN runs Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, September 1-17, at the Rosewood Center for Family Arts (5938 Skillman, Dallas 75231). Showtimes are 8:15 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays and 2:30 p.m. on Sundays. Tickets are $25 for the Opening Night performance with lowrider car show and reception with food and drinks. Tickets are $10-$12 all other days. Discounts and group sales available. Buy tickets online at the CARA MIA THEATRE website or by calling 214.946.9499.

About Jimmy Santiago Baca

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Born in New Mexico of Chicano and Apache descent, Jimmy Santiago Baca was raised first by his grandmother and was later sent to an orphanage. A runaway at age thirteen, he began to turn his life around after he was sentenced to five years in a maximum security prison at the age of twenty-one. In prison, he learned to read and write and found his passion for poetry.
He is the winner of the Pushcart Prize, the American Book Award, the National Poetry Award, the International Hispanic Heritage Award, and the prestigious International Award. His books include A Place to Stand, Healing Earthquakes, C- Train & Thirteen Mexicans, Black Mesa Poems, Martín & Meditations on the South Valley, and Immigrants in Our Own Land. Movie scripts include Bound by Honor (Blood In, Blood Out) produced by Hollywood Pictures/Disney and The Lone Wolf – The Story of Pancho Gonzalez produced by HBO Productions.