Spillway Sonata - what it was

2007 SLINGSHOT ORGANIZERS now on sale in FW

2007 Slingshot Organizer mixed colours, 1/4 size, paperback, 160 pages (6 oz) - $6.00
2007 Slingshot Organizer, large size (10 oz) - mixed colors, 1/2 size, glossy cover, spiral bound - $10.00

Geez, you don't have one of these yet?!?! It's a handy calendar and day planner, a zinester's best friend! Plan your days, one at a time, with plenty of room to scrawl notes on a calendar that will fit in your pocket. Includes space to write your phone numbers, a contact list of radical leftist groups around the globe, a menstrual calendar, info on police repression, extra note pages, and much more.

Not only is it the coolest thing to carry around in your tote bag, but it's also an informative guide to the People's History of the World. Includes popular activist and alternative cultural holidays and important protests as well as historical landmarks.

This organizer is sold as a fundraiser for SLINGSHOT, the radical newspaper from Berkeley. A small percentage of all sales here in FW will go towards supporting the 1919 Hemphill Community Space.

WHERE can you buy your 2007 SLINGSHOT ORGANIZER?!?!

1. At the SPIRAL DINER, the popular vegan eatery on Magnolia Street,

or just

2. Phone Cri ('Cree") at 817.966.0669, and he'll make sure one gets to you.

It'll make a NIFTY Chinese New Year's giftie. Cash only, please.

Call for submissions: UNDER WHAT BANDERA? (2nd edition)

Red CalacArts Publications is seeking poetry submissions about experiences and encounters with migration and crossing borders for their second edition of the chapbook UNDER WHAT BANDERA?

This San Diego-based publication is a literary project of the Red CalacArts Collective (RCAC). This collective, a project of Calaca Press, is a not-for-profit multidisciplinary arts and activist organization that focuses on creating, publishing, producing, and presenting Chicano, Latin American and indigenous related art focusing on issues dealing with human rights and social justice.

We are asking interested writers to please submit a maximum of 2 poems, limited to 2 pages total, by January 3, 2007. We are looking for original work, which has not been previously published in a book. Material which has been posted on the internet is acceptable.

Email your piece(s) and a short biography of yourself (third person, 100 word max) within the text message to ofrendas@cox.net. (Email attachments in any form will not be read.)

Poets whose work is chosen for the chapbook will retain copyright after publication and will receive ten free copies of the final product. Some selected poems will also be posted on the Red CalacArts Collective website.

The previous chapbook, UNDER WHAT BANDERA? ANTI-WAR OFRENDAS FROM MINNESOTA Y CALIFAS, was a response from a tragically-affected Latino community to the illegal occupation of Iraq by U.S. forces. This project was a collaboration between the RCAC and the Minnesota-based Palabrer@s. Ten poets were featured in this award-winning chapbook (Bookstore of the Americas Book of the Year, 2003), which was edited by Emmanuel Ortiz, Olga A. García, and Lorena E. Duarte Q.

For more information about the Red CalacArts Collective, their publications and events, go here or email them at RedCalacArts@cox.net.

MY FORT WORTH: Alternative Holiday Bazaar in FW - Saturday & Sunday ONLY!

[If you have to shop, this is the way to do it without losing your soul. This bazaar features alot of "crafts and merchandise" that you won't be able to find easily anywhere else. You don't have to get mauled at the mall when you can spend your money in an environment that is laidback and human-scale. Recommended.]


15th Annual Alternative Holiday Bazaar
DECEMBER 2nd and 3rd - Saturday & Sunday only!

Where: First Jefferson Universalist Unitarian Church
1959 Sandy Lane, 76112 (mapsco 66-Y)

Time: 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday AND 12 noon to 3 p.m. Sunday

Enjoy good food, good drink and good conversation with progressive-minded folks.

SPONSORS:
Tarrant Area Community of Churches
Peace Action Tarrant County
Fort Worth Friends Meeting (Quakers)
Fort Worth Vegetarian Society

VENDORS:
Heifer Project
Colores del Pueblo
Tx Cure
Miracles in Action
Peace Farm
Educate the Children
Refugee Services of Texas, Inc.
Iraq Vets for Peace
Code Pink
Unitarian World service
Sierra Club
Amnesty International
Tarrant Coalition for Environmental Awareness
Crawford Peace House
First Jefferson Craft Guild

(For sale will also be offered crafts by artisans of South America and the Pacific Rim, the Middle East, Africa and Vietnam.)

***All proceeeds go to organizations & projects that support human dignity and care for the earth.***

Get out of the car

Last Monday, I stepped off the porch steps and onto the sidewalk to chill with my cat in the morning sunlight. Immediately enthralled by the touch of the early breezes, I inhaled the possibility of doing something so unlikely as this: running errands by walking. I needed to go downtown for a coupla different things, and I prefer to bunch up my chores so I only have to run the car in one general direction and accomplish multi-things at a time. What's that permaculture aphorism? Protracted thought leads to minimized labor and energy waste. (Actually, since I took the time to look it up, it's this: "...protracted and thoughtful observation rather than protracted and thoughtless labor...")

So, anyway, I had a handful of things to accomplish downtown and had about five hours to get 'em done. Why not walk today, I asked myself.

I started out from my hood (Fairmount neighborhood) and headed north, arriving downtown (City Hall) in about 45 minutes. The temperature was perfect and the only discomfort I felt was some slight pain in my lower back and right foot (broken toe). Overall, I was buoyant. I felt like walking the distance it would have taken me 8 minutes to drive and accomplishing the chores in 2 hours rather than 30 minutes did not deplete me or compromise my schedule. With a conscious choice, I opted to slow down my day--and yes, I didn't get as much done as on a typical day--and gained so much the improved attitude and overall depth charge that I had long needed.

It's gorgeous today, give it a go. Give your feet the green light. Let the car rest for a minute.

I'm heading out now to cruise the neighborhood with my friend Carol. Feet a-walking, mouths a-talking.

In case you need information to get inspiration....

SUNDAY: "The Other Side" screens after FINAL performance of BOXCAR in FW

If you haven't seen BOXCAR (written by Silvia Gonzalez S. and directed by FW-er Rob Bosquez), you have only ONE weekend left to do so.

"Inspired by the 1987 tragedy in which 18 bodies and one survivor were found in a sealed boxcar in Texas, Gonzalez's play tells the story of six Mexican men and a teen from El Salvador as they try to cross the border looking for a better life in the U.S."

SPECIAL to the FINAL SUNDAY MATINEE PERFORMANCE:

F * R * E * E Screening of an experimental film by Lubbock-born
filmmaker Bill Brown, which focuses on the land & politics of the U.S./Mexico border.


“The Other Side” by Bill Brown
43 min., 16mm print



EVEN if you cannot make it to see BOXCAR, come to this free screening of "The Other Side"!



SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 19 - 4PM - ROSE MARINE THEATER
1440 N. Main St., Fort Worth

“The desert that marks the border between the U.S. and Mexico is the subject of Bill Brown’s deeply personal reflection on and exposé of the challenges surrounding Mexican immigration. Pensive, raw, and luminous images construct a montage of a land where immigrants leave traces of their struggles and hopes. Traveling along these same paths, Brown shows us “where the idea of America is up for grabs” and explores the vicissitudes of the politics and activism behind U.S. immigration policies. We ride in the cars of activists protecting the rights of migrants, set up water stations, listen to the tales of crossing attempts, learn the history of the land, and watch the shadows creep across the fixtures of life isolated in the desert.”
–Harlie Dover, Brooklyn Underground Film Festival

Bill Brown makes movies about ghosts that masquerade as movies about landscapes–or maybe it’s the other way around. His films include Roswell, Hub City, Confederation Park, Buffalo Common, Mountain State, and The Other Side. In 2003, the Museum of Modern Art screened a retrospective of his work as part of its MediaScope series.

un SPLASH de ARTE con tu shot of tequila...?

I'll be showcasing a crazy new piece onstage...
with guest performers Wendy y Miguel..surprise, surprise!

payday this wednesday...

"There's no money in poetry,
but there's no poetry in money, either."
-Robert Graves


The Poor Poet by Carl Spitzweg (1839)

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."

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Free and open to the public.