Sarah Browning

GUANTÁNAMO DETAINEES TO GET THEIR DAY IN COURT

2008-05-22T20:54:00.000-04:00

Witness Against Torture Activists to "Represent" Detainees in Trial, May 27

WASHINGTON, DC – Detainees at the U.S. Military Prison in Guantánamo will finally get their day in court on May 27 – Superior Court, in Washington DC.

That is when 35 Americans from cities and towns across the country will go on trial for a protest at the U.S. Supreme Court on January 11, 2008. They face charges of either "unlawful free speech" or "causing a harangue" or both. Each count carries a maximum penalty of 60 days in jail, as well as fines and court fees.

In a new twist on traditional protest, the 35 activists will enter their names as those of actual Guantánamo inmates. On January 11th, they were arrested without their own identification and were taken into custody under the name of a Guantánamo prisoner. This act symbolically grants the Guantánamo prisoners their day in court-- which the Pentagon has denied them for years.

Father Bill Pickard, a Catholic priest from Scranton, PA, is one of the defendants. But he will be tried "as" Faruq Ali Ahmed, a Guantánamo detainee. "I went to the Supreme Court to make a simple plea that the inhumane treatment and actual torture of inmates at Guantánamo Bay stop," says Fr. Pickard. "I went to bring the name and the humanity of Faruq Ali Ahmed — who claims he traveled to Afghanistan in 2001 simply to teach the Koran to children and that he has no affiliation with the Taliban or Al Qaeda — before the law. He cannot do it himself, so I am called by my faith, my respect for the rule of law and my conscience to do it for him." Among the defendants is a hog farmer from Grinnell, Iowa, a social worker from Saratoga Springs, New York, and a legal secretary from Baltimore.

Representing themselves, the defendants plan on justifying their acts as upholding U.S. law and international human rights and will call witnesses to document the abuses at Guantánamo.

Witness Against Torture will hold two events related to the trial on May 27:

At 7:45 am, dressed in orange jumpsuits and black hoods, those facing trial will carry their Guantánamo inmates' names from the U.S. Supreme Court (Maryland Avenue and First Street) to the D.C. Superior Court (Carl Moultrie Court House, 500 Indiana, Ave NW), where their cases will be heard.

At 8:30 am, Witness Against Torture will hold a press conference outside the Superior Court. Defendants and witnesses will address the media. They will also hold a ceremony of justice, expressing their demand that the rights and humanity of the detainees be respected by placing placards bearing the detainees' names alongside copies of the U.S. Constitution, the Geneva Convention, and the sacred texts of various religious traditions.

The trial will begin at 9:30 am. Press is invited to attend all the proceedings.

The January 11 protest was organized by Witness Against Torture (http://www.witnesstorture.org/), which was formed in 2005 when 25 Americans walked from Cuba to the U.S. detention facility at Guantánamo. Please visit the website for more information, media contacts and to make a contribution to support our work. ###

This is the statement read inside the Supreme Court on January 11, 2008-- the date that marked six years of torture and abuse at the U.S. detention center at Guantánamo Bay.

Why are we here today at the Supreme Court? January 11, 2008

We come to the Supreme Court today because it is the sixth anniversary of the opening of Guantánamo prison as a place where men, given the devious label "enemy combatant" have been held in indefinite detention, inhuman conditions, isolation and torture. We are here to bring their plight and the plight of all prisoners from this current war, to the "highest court in the land." We are here to make their suffering visible, to make their voices heard, to make their humanity felt.

Lawyers from the Center for Constitutional Rights and other organizations are working hard to bring the cases of the prisoners into the courts. But the lawyers can only do so much, because these prisoners--who have been illegally detained, and tortured, abused and kept from their families for years--are not even able to communicate openly with their lawyers. And so, after years of despair, many prisoners have lost what confidence they might have had in the legal process. More, highly competent lawyers who have patiently devoted their time and skills at great personal cost, are understandably frustrated because they are unable to conduct what a reasonable person would consider a reasonable defense.

The men at Guantánamo may seem very far from us; they not only have different names and cultures, but they have been relentlessly demonized and dehumanized by government officials who knew all along that almost all of them are innocent of any crime. We come here to bring their stories and assert their humanity, because for six years, men such as Sami al Haji from Sudan and Sabir Lahmar from Algeria have been denied the basic right to come here to present their own defense. We are here to tell these stories.

So we come to the Supreme Court on this January 11th to let the nine justices--who hold so much power over these men-- know that we care about the prisoners, that we are watching, that we expect and demand justice. Some of the recent Supreme Court rulings on the Guantánamo prisoners appear to be reasonable, but so far they have proven ineffective in securing even the most basic rights which accused persons should have--rights guaranteed by the fundamental laws and practices of U.S. society and by civilized nations all over the world. Again and again, an intimidated Congress--even the Democratic Congress elected with a mandate to reverse the Administration's abuses--has lacked the will to restore basic rights which everyone deserves.

We are here today to appeal to the Supreme Court Justices to stand up now to assert decisively an end to torture; to assert decisively the abolition of secret prisons supposedly outside the realm of law; and above all, to assert decisively the right of habeas corpus, the most crucial protection of any democratic society. Although the justices don't always have the empire's poor and marginalized as their first concern, we appeal to them as people of conscience and humanity to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly.

To learn more about the trial, the defendants and the movement to shut down Guantánamo, visit http://www.witnesstorture.org/

Alix Olson teaching in Fresno this summer

2008-05-21T10:48:00.000-04:00

Spoken Word Performance: Writing and Performing Prose and Poetry
CSU Summer Arts (Fresno, CA) – June 29 to July 12, 2008
APPLY NOW! (scholarships and college credit available)
Application date has been extended!
http://www.summerarts.org/

In this incredible Summer Arts program you will:
- Speak up and stand out!
- Make a bigger impact on an audience using the voice, the word, and the body.
- Work on your writing and performance skills with the close assistance of stellar guest artists.
- Hear your own work, see it recorded, and critique it in a community of peers and mentors who share your passion for connecting the personal and the political, the individual and the community.

Guest artists and instructors include Alix Olson, Kimberly Dark, Taylor Mali, Jack McCarthy, Violet Juno and Sonya Renee.

Apply now at the Summer Arts website! http://www.csusummerarts.org/

Email coordinator Professor Kimberly Dark for more info. kimberly@kimberlydark.com

Helen Takes the Stage by Kathi Wolfe reviewed by Mary F. Morris

2008-05-21T09:46:00.000-04:00

Here is Helen [Keller] as individual. Wolfe paints masterly with words, brilliant canvasses of poetry, witty and graceful, tight and sensuous.

HELEN TAKES THE STAGE: THE HELEN KELLER POEMS by Kathi Wolfe reviewed byMary F. Morris

http://www.themontserratreview.com/bookreviews/helenTakesTheStage.html

Indian Guest Workers from Gulf Coast stage Hunger Strike in DC

2008-05-21T09:14:00.000-04:00

From the marvelous Anu Yadav:

Hello everyone,

Last night I did a short performance, a monologue of a civil rights leader, Unita Blackwell, recalling her days in the movement. At the end of the piece, her voice breaks into song, "Will you die for your freedom? Certainly, Lord, certainly, certainly, certainly, Lord." It left the audience completely quiet, after which they broke into loud strong applause.

The piece was in honor of the Indian guest workers currently on hunger strike here in DC as I write this. Over one hundred workers walked off their jobs in March, in protest of the essentially forced labor camps they were subjected to upon reaching the US under the very controversial H-2B guest worker program. They marched from New Orleans and arrived here, demanding, among other things, a case investigation by Congress.

http://nolaworkerscenter.wordpress.com/

You can help by simply stopping by to say hello if you live in DC.

They love visitors, it boosts their morale. That's what I did on Monday. It left me humbled and inspired. You can also help by spreading the word to folks you know in the media, students, church groups, anyone and everyone.

Below are details about their case, their current schedule and what you can do to help out if you so choose.

Thanks for reading and be well,
Anu

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

SCHEDULE
Rally: Weds, May 21st
Noon
Capitol Reflecting Pool
(3rd St between Maryland and Pennsylvania Ave, NW) A second wave of workers will join the hunger strike, and allies will join in a solidarity fast.

Community-wide Meeting with the Alliance of Guestworkers for Dignity Thursday, May 22nd 7-9pm All Soul's Unitarian Church 1500 Harvard St, NW
Interfaith Worker Justice Prayer Circle

Friday, May 23rd:
Noon
Capitol Reflecting Pool, 3rd St between Maryland and Pennsylvania Ave, NW
There will be another major action on Wed, May 28th.
============

DONATIONS CURRENTLY NEEDED
List of items:
Blankets (10)
Pillows (15)
Hats (for the cold, 10)
Umbrellas (10)
Sleeping bags
Jackets
Woolen cloth
Groceries (bags of rice, spices, water etc.) Rice cooker Bed/mattress

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: SAALT
Date: Thu, May 15, 2008 at 1:34 PM
Subject: Support Indian Workers from Gulf Coast in May

Community Alert:

Support Indian Guest Workers from Gulf Coast in May - Show Your Support by Donating, Volunteering, or Participating in Solidarity Actions

At 10am on May 14th, Indian guest workers, who are victims of trafficking and workplace exploitation on the US Gulf Coast, began a series of actions in Washington DC, including a hunger strike across from the White House. Over 500 Indian guest workers paid up to $20,000 each to US and Indian recruiters who promised them green cards and visas for their families. Once they arrived in the US, workers found that these promises were false. Their employer, Signal International, held the workers in forced labor camps and subjected them to humiliating treatment, racial slurs, and threats of deportation. In March 2008, over 100 workers broke the trafficking chain by walking off their jobs, reporting Signal to the Department of Justice, and filing a class action lawsuit.

The workers' demands include the right to stay in the US to participate in the investigation of their case; Congressional hearings on the abuses of the guest worker visa program in the US Gulf Coast; and action from the Indian government to protect Indian guest workers and their families in the future.

There are a number of ways that people around the country can show support for the workers, including:

1. DONATING- the workers need financial support to continue their journey to justice. Please consider donating - even the cost of your meals for one week - to:
National Immigration Law Center (3435 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 2850, Los Angeles, CA 90010). Please include NOWCRJ/IWC on the subject line http://www.neworleansworkerjustice.org/contribute.htm

2. ASK CONGRESS TO TAKE ACTION - Click here to send a message to your senators and representative demanding Congress to hold hearings on the trafficking of workers on the US Gulf Coast and the actions of their employers; and to urge government agencies to investigate the workers'claims quickly and thoroughly.

3. For those living in the Washington DC Area:
OBSERVE or MONITOR during the hunger strike (no legal experience necessary, training will be provided on-site). If you are interested, please email saalt@saalt.org with your name, cell phone number, and days and hours you are available (either 9am-1pm or 1pm-5pm shifts).
Visit the workers and offer your support and encouragement (see below for a schedule of where the workers will be) IDENTIFY FAITH-BASED or COMMUNITY LEADERS who can visit with the workers to provide moral support.

Donate Malayalam, Tamil, or Hindi books, magazines or newspapers Drop off in-kind donations (cases of water, folding chairs, bedding, kitchen items or rain gear such as ponchos, umbrellas and tarp) Please contact SAALT at 301-270-1855 or saalt@saalt.org if you would like to drop off donations to the SAALT office (6930 Carroll Avenue, Suite 506, Takoma Park, MD 20912).
The workers will be at the following locations from 9am - 5pm throughout the month of May:
May 15th - May 16th: Lafayette Park -the White House May 17th - May 19th: Gandhi Statue - Indian Embassy Chancery Office May 20th - May 25th: Capitol Reflecting Pool May 26th - onwards: Please contact SAALT for updated information

4. For those around the country:
You can show your support for the workers through local solidarity events in May and June in order to raise awareness about the issues the workers have faced and the guest worker program in the United States. You can host these discussions on your campus, place of worship, or cultural/professional organization. SAALT can provide articles and materials for discussion. Email saalt@saalt.org or call301.270.1855 for more information.

To learn more about the workers' campaign, visit the New Orleans Workers' Center for Racial Justice blog. You can also read a recent article on the workers and the implications of trafficking written by Svati Shah featured in SAMAR Magazine.

South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT) is an ally of the Alliance of Guest Workers for Dignity, a project of the New Orleans Workers' Center for Racial Justice.
South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT) 6930 Carroll Avenue, Suite 506 Takoma Park MD 20912

New DC area reading series: Plan B Press presents...

2008-05-20T15:08:00.001-04:00

"Plan B Press presents...." , a new series featuring some known DC area poets as well as others from the Mid-Atlantic region, will begin June 10, 2008 at St. Elmo's Coffee Pub, 2300 Mt. Vernon Ave. in Alexandria, VA. 7-9PM. Tentatively scheduled for June are two poets from the NYC area and YOU!!!!

July 8 will feature Mary Ann Larkin (with Patric Pepper) and C L Bledsoe (editor of ghoti magazine), from Baltimore.

Please visit our blog, http://planbpress.blogspot.com/, for continuous updates and happenings.

best,
stevenallenmay
http://www.planbpress.com/

Mother's Day, Poetry, and War on Lehrer News Hour Tonight

2008-05-09T11:49:00.001-04:00

*MOTHER'S DAY POETRY

May 9, 2008

(In DC area, the show airs 7-8 pm on Ch 26, with poetry programming usually in the second half. Many thanks to Yvette Neisser Moreno for this news.)

As part of our ongoing NewsHour Poetry Series, tonight we look at (poet) Frances Richey.

The Iraq War has divided many Americans including Frances and Ben Richey. Ben, a graduate of West Point, is a 33-year-old Green Beret who has served two tours of duty in Iraq. His mother, Frances, opposed the war, creating a rift in what was a close relationship between a single mother and her only child. But in response, Frances wrote poems about and for her son, collected in a new book, The Warrior. The poetry has helped bring mother and son closer together again.

Frances and Ben Richey sat down with Senior Correspondent Jeffrey Brown earlier this week.

For online coverage of the Poetry Series, visit the Online NewsHour at http://www.pbs.org/newshour/indepth_coverage/entertainment/poetry/.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Segments highlighted on the NewsHour Poetry Series Alert are scheduled to air but subject to change. Due to late breaking news and time constraints, poetry segments aren't scheduled until the day they air. The NewsHour sends its alerts as early as possible, but the lineup often isn't finalized until late in the day. If you have missed any of our poetry segments, please visit the Online NewsHour for streaming video, audio, and transcripts of our entire Poetry Series.

Jenny Uglow, Winner of 2007 National Award for Arts Writing, to Give Reading May 19

2008-05-08T13:26:00.001-04:00

Monday, May 19 at 7:00 pm

Public reading by Jenny Uglow, author of Nature's Engraver: A Life of Thomas Bewick, winner of the National Award for Arts Writing, one of the largest monetary prizes in the US for a single book, given in recognition of excellence in writing about the arts for a broad audience, sponsored annually by the Arts Club of Washington.

Free Admission
The Arts Club of Washington, 2017 I Street NW, Washington, DC. (202) 331-7282, ext. 15. Foggy Bottom or Farragut North Metro stop.
For more information: 202-331-7282 x 15, award@artsclubofwashington.org

Made possible in part by a grant from the Humanities Council of Washington.

Nature's Engraver recounts the life and achievements of the man who produced, in early 19th century Britain, the first Field Guide to birds for ordinary people, illustrated with woodcuts of remarkable accuracy and beauty. These woodcuts, in turn, influenced book illustration for all time. Living and working at a time of rapid social change and industrialization, Bewick was a fascinating man: working class, liberal (even radical in some of his politics), and amazingly talented. His evocations of birds helped to widen appreciation for the natural world, and the preservation of land, among people of all classes.

The judges wrote, “Nature’s Engraver is engaging, subtle and instructive. Uglow’s plain, richly elegant sentences present a career that, fascinating in itself, becomes a way of thinking about all art: the tools, the materials, the personality and the surroundings, all interacting with the artist’s craving to make a new reality. Uglow’s insightful treatments of material like the life of apprentices, the nature of early children’s books, the fashion for 'peasant poets' make this vivid biography a work of cultural history as well.”

Jenny Uglow is an editor at Chatto & Windus and lives in Canterbury, England. Her book The Lunar Men: The Friends who Made the Future 1730–1810 won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for biography in 2002 and the Hessell-Tiltman Prize for history from International PEN in 2003. Her biographies Elizabeth Gaskell: A Habit of Stories and Hogarth: A Life and a World were both finalists for the Whitbread Prize for biography. She comes to the Arts Club having just been presented with the Order of the British Empire by the Queen of England on May 16.

How to help in Burma

2008-05-08T09:39:00.000-04:00

AVAAZ.org, the progressive international online organization, is collecting money that will go directly to the Burmese people. Here's their information, and a link to the site where you can give.

The cyclone that ripped through Burma left tens of thousands dead and a million homeless--a natural disaster made much worse by the failure of the military junta to warn or evacuate its people.

Now, the government has slowed the urgent process of providing humanitarian relief--so Avaaz is raising funds for the International Burmese Monks Organization and related groups, which will transmit funds directly to monasteries in affected areas.

In many of the worst-hit areas, the monasteries are the only source of shelter and food for Burma's poorest people. They have been on the front lines of the aid effort since the storm struck. Other forms of aid could be delayed, diverted or manipulated by the Burmese government--but the monks are the most trusted and reliable institution in the country.

Donate here: https://secure.avaaz.org/en/burma_cyclone/77.php

Postcard from...Sarajevo

2008-05-05T19:55:00.000-04:00

During the nearly four-year siege of Sarajevo, the inhabitants of the Bosnian capital received thousands of cans of food from the international community. The shipments helped keep the city alive. So it is perhaps not surprising that Bosnian artist Nebojsa Seric Soba would construct a Monument to the International Community in the form of a huge, round tin of canned beef.

But this homage to Andy Warhol’s Pop Art cans of soup, which was erected last year along the river that cuts through Sarajevo, is no simple monument. It doesn’t perform the monument’s conventional function of celebrating the person or object on the pedestal. The cans of food sent to Bosnia were often long past their expiration date. The contents tasted terrible. “It was like pet food, except the dogs and the cats would not even eat it,” says Bosnian curator Dunja Blazevic. Food poisoning was not uncommon.

Read the rest of John Feffer's terrific Postcard from Sarajevo on Foreign Policy in Focus here: http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/5197

Reading tonight in Brooklyn

2008-05-02T08:56:00.000-04:00

My first New York reading for the book, Whiskey in the Garden of Eden, May 2. With two other fabulous poets. Hope to see you there!

love,
Sarah
**

Poetry at PS29 Literary Series May 2: Edwin Frank, Susan Kaplan, Sarah Browning

Poets Edwin Frank, Susan Kaplan, and Sarah Browning will read from their work on May 2 at 7:00 P.M., the last evening of the 2008 PS 29 Literary Salon reading series in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, one of New York’s hottest literary neighborhoods. The events showcase fiction, non-fiction, and poetry by new and established authors from Brooklyn and beyond. The $5 admission includes babysitting and refreshments. Discussion and booksales by local book seller, Bookcourt, follow.

Edwin Frank is the author of two chapbooks, Stack and The Further Adventures of Pinocchio, and his work has been published in Agni, Bomb, Epiphany, The New York Review of Books, and Threepenny Review. He is the editor of the New York Review Books Classic series.

Susan Kaplan is an award-winning poet and an attorney. Her work has appeared in Poetry, Pegasus, Boulevard, Another Chicago Magazine, and The New Orleans Review, among others. She has won awards from the American Academy of Poets and the Poetry Society of America.

Sarah Browning is the director of Split This Rock Poetry Festival: Poems of Provocation and Witness. She’s the author of Whiskey in the Garden of Eden, and coeditor of D.C. Poets Against the War: An Anthology. A recipient of an artist fellowship from the D.C. Commission on the Arts & Humanities and a Creative Communities Initiative grant, Browning hosts the Sunday Kind of Love poetry series in Washington, D.C.

PS 29 is at 425 Henry Street, Brooklyn, NY. (Between Baltic and Kane Streets); F train to Bergen Street. Exit at Smith, walk three blocks West to Henry. Left to Baltic.
Editors contact Julia Lichtblau, 917-547-4721 jlichtblau@aol.com

Gatsby's Chapter 4 - The most boring?

2008-04-29T20:07:00.001-04:00

Kim Roberts claims I'm going to be reading the most boring chapter of The Great Gatsby at Chapter's marathon reading. There is a certain amount of drunken malingering in the chapter -- not to mention some choice racism and anti-Semitism. But there's some amazingly beautiful stuff, too. Come on down and listen to the book over the next several days. It's all part of the big Big Read DC.

Tea with Gatsby: A Marathon Teatime Reading

From Chapters Literary Bookstore:

The Great Gatsby

We are delighted to again be a partner for the BIG READ DC, presented by the Humanities Council of WDC, the DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities, and of course, the National Endowment for the Arts. As we did last year, we are hosting a marathon reading of this year's selection, The Great Gatsby, for nine consecutive weekdays, reading a chapter a day, and discussing it afterwards.

Our Tea with Gatsby Guest Readers are as follows:

Mon. 4/28: Patrick Hyde, author of The Only Pure Thing and President of our nonprofit Chapters Literary Arts Center Board.

Tues. 4/29: David Kipen, NEA Director of Literature.
Wed. 4/30:TBA
Thur. 5/1: Sarah Browning, Poet, activist, coordinator, and author of Whiskey in the Garden of Eden.
Fri. 5/2: TBA
Mon. 5/5: Josephine Reed, Program Director Sonic Theatre, XM Satellite Radio.
Tues. 5/6: NEA Chairman Dana Gioia, the very mastermind behind THE BIG READ.
Wed. 5/7: Arnold Orza, U. Conn Professor Emeritus and Board Member of Chapters Literary Arts Center.
Thur. 5/8: Maureen Corrigan, NPR/Fresh Air's ever popular reviewer.

Just the sort of illustrious company Jay Gatsby would invite to tea...

We'll be encamped for the marathon (and savoring Salty Oats cookies) at Teaism Penn Quarter, lower level, at 400 8th St. NW. (Metro: Navy Memorial/Archives or Gallery Place.) Do join us!

http://chaptersliterary.com/

WPFW Sterling A. Brown Active Culture Series

2008-04-29T20:06:00.000-04:00

Thursday, May 1, 7-10 pm
801 K Street, NW - the Carnegie BuildingMt. Vernon Square/Convention Center Metro

Come one come all to the Sterling A. Brown Active Culture Series presented by WPFW in partnership with the Historic Society of Washington. Hosted by Askia Muhammad, and Sophie's Parlor diva Elise Bryant, the series will showcase art as a vehicle for political and social transformation.

The inaugural event will be held on Thursday, May 1, from 7-10 pm, with doors at 6pm, and will be broadcast live over the airwaves of WPFW. The evening, which will commemorate the workers' day of international struggle, or Mayday, will include performances by the DC Labor Chorus, Opus Akoben, Pam Parker, Fred Joiner, Sarah Browning, Thomas Stanley, Luci Murphy, in process, and a host of Washington's finest poets and performers.

Though this event is free to the community, seating is limited, so please arrive early. Also, as this is a benefit for WPFW, donations are urged. Again, we invite you to be a part of something new and exciting at WPFW- the Sterling A. Brown active cultutre series at the Historical Society of Washington - Thursday, May 1, from 7-10 pm.

For further information, please call 202.588.0999 or email stitt_katea@wpfw.org.

Expanding Her Vision - The Helen Keller poems of Kathi Wolfe in The Blade

2008-04-28T16:53:00.000-04:00

For Kathi Wolfe, a local poet, freelance journalist and contributor to the Washington Blade, her recently published chapbook, “Helen Takes the Stage: The Helen Keller Poems,” is the next step on what has been a life-long relationship with the famed deaf and blind activist. Wolfe, a lesbian who has been legally blind since birth, wrote the poems in the book after her initial impressions of Keller began to change.

Read the Washington Blade piece here: http://www.washblade.com/2008/4-11/arts/books/12388.cfm

Kathi will be reading from Helen Takes the Stage at Sunday Kind of Love in July. Stay tuned for details.

Patricia Smith to Judge the 2009 Kore Press First Book Competition

2008-04-27T11:03:00.000-04:00

Deadline for submissions is July 31, 2008

Chicago native Patricia Smith is the author of four books of poetry, including Teahouse of the Almighty, a 2005 National Poetry Series selection, winner of the 2007 Hurston-Wright Legacy Award and the 2007 Paterson Poetry Prize. Teahouse was also voted the Best Poetry Book of 2006 by About.com. Blood Dazzler, a book of poems chronicling the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina, will be published by Coffee House Press in 2008. Her work has appeared in Poetry, The Paris Review, TriQuarterly and many other journals.

She is also the author of the groundbreaking history Africans in America and the children's book Janna and the Kings, winner of a Lee & Low Books New Voices Award. In addition, she is a Pushcart Prize winner, a Cave Canem faculty member and a four-time individual champion of the National Poetry Slam. In 2006, during a ceremony at the Gwendolyn Brooks Center of Chicago State University, she was voted into the National Literary Hall of Fame for Writers of African Descent.

Click here for submission guidelines

Pilgrimage Press

2008-04-27T10:47:00.000-04:00

New to me, a journal called Pilgrimage out of Colorado, that is:

~a small magazine living the big questions
~a community-in-print serving an eclectic fellowship of readers, writers, artists, naturalists, contemplatives, activists, seekers, adventurers, and other kindred spirits
~a place to tell the stories that matter
~an invitation to inward and outward exploration
~and an appreciation of the way home

Upcoming themes include The 60s (July 1 deadline) and Deep Democracy (October 1 deadline).

Check them out here: http://pilgrimagepress.org/index.html

Grace Paley, from Fidelity

2008-04-27T10:14:00.002-04:00

Tom bought me Paley's posthumous collection of poems, Fidelity, at Split This Rock and I spent some time this morning reading them. As with all of Paley's work, they are funny, tender, clear-eyed. With her as my model, I fear growing old much less.

Here's a poem I love, untitled:

freedom has overtaken me I

had run ahead of it for years

along an interesting but

narrow road obeyed at least

half the rules imposed by

lovers children a house a

political position now out

of breath probably I'm stuck

freedom has hold of my jacket

won't let go I am alone

Alix Olson on the power of the word, and Split This Rock

2008-04-25T14:34:00.000-04:00

Alix wrote a terrific posting on her MySpace page after the festival. Here's an excerpt:

The United States was not founded upon its espoused principles of liberty, freedom, and equality. And so, we artists are faced not with the task of reclaiming those "original ethos", but of fighting to instill them: layer by layer, decade by decade, citizen by citizen, poet by poet. We are fighting to Constitute a new America.

This Administration has waged a war on words. Their commitment to pre-emptive and perpetual war has claimed the dominant narrative. "Spin media" is in full effect: twirling us like little tops until we are dizzy, disoriented, disaffected, and ultimately disorganized.

Poets are determined to win words back. After all, words offer us the ability to reclaim the transformative power of the imagination: the freedom to imagine a new world, one where air, water, and love are free. Words should afford us communication, explanation, and empowerment. Instead, they are being manipulated to denigrate, debilitate, target, terrorize, and propagandize us into obedience.

This week forced me to remember that it is disobedience that affords progress.

Read the whole posting here: http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=39192770&blogID=369848011

Nature's Engraver by Jenny Uglow wins 2007 National Award for Arts Writing

2008-04-25T13:09:00.000-04:00

The Arts Club of Washington has announced the winner of the second annual National Award for Arts Writing. The winning book, published in the previous year, must be about the arts and written for a general audience. The prize of $15,000 is one of the largest monetary prizes in the U.S. for a single book. Intended to help increase access to the arts, the prize is given in recognition of excellence in writing about the arts for a broad audience, and celebrates prose that is lucid, luminous, clear, and inspiring.

The honors go to Jenny Uglow for Nature's Engraver: A Life of Thomas Bewick, published by Farrar, Straus, and Giroux. The book describes the life and achievements of the man who produced the first Field Guide to birds for ordinary people, illustrated with woodcuts of remarkable accuracy and beauty. These woodcuts, in turn, influenced book illustration for the next century.

The book was unanimously chosen by three prestigious judges: former U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky, award-winning novelist Jamaica Kincaid, and America's favorite librarian Nancy Pearl. The judges write: “Uglow’s plain, richly elegant sentences present a career that, fascinating in itself, becomes a way of thinking about all art: the tools, the materials, the personality and the surroundings, all interacting with the artist’s craving to make a new reality.”

Jenny Uglow is an editor at Chatto & Windus and lives in Canterbury, England. Her book The Lunar Men: The Friends who Made the Future 1730–1810 won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for biography in 2002, and the Hessell-Tiltman Prize for history from International PEN in 2003. Her biographies Elizabeth Gaskell: A Habit of Stories and Hogarth: A Life and a World were both finalists for the Whitbread Prize for biography. She will be presented with the Order of the British Empire by the Queen of England this May 16.

Ms. Uglow will give a public reading from Nature's Engraver at the Arts Club of Washington, 2017 I Street, NW, Washington, DC, on Monday, May 19 at 7:00 pm.

Split This Rock - It was something else

2008-04-16T19:57:00.000-04:00

These are the incomparable Patricia Smith and Alix Olson each reading a line as part of the group poem we created, a Cento, in front of the White House on Easter Day, March 23, 2008.

It's been almost a month, and I'm still digesting everything that went down. On Sunday 134 people created this poem. It followed a magnificent reading by Galway Kinnell and Naomi Ayala. In researching Kinnell so I could introduce him, I learned that one of his earliest jobs was in the Civil Rights movement, working for CORE, the Congress of Racial Equality. The shoulders on which we build this work.

I have been trying to overcome exhaustion and then the worst cold that ever knocked me upside the head, and so I can't write much here - yet. But I will.

In the meantime, check out http://www.splitthisrock.org/ to see some other great photos by Jill Norton and for links to some of the great press coverage and blog reports. We'll be getting a lot more of the same up on the site over the next couple of weeks, so keep checking.

Benefit for Jack Agüeros, March 18

2008-03-09T23:19:00.002-04:00

Martín Espada forwarded the following letter from Rich Villar about a fundraiser for the poet Jack Agüeros, who is struggling with Alzheimer's Disease. My thoughts go out to his family and the wide poetic family that cherishes his work and his life. If you're in NYC, you can attend this important event. And if not, you can still contribute to support Agüeros' care. Scroll to the end for information on where to send donations.
**

Lord,
on 8th Street
between 6th Avenue and Broadway
there are enough shoe stores
with enough shoes
to make me wonder
why there are shoeless people
on the earth.

Lord,
You have to fire the Angel
in charge of distribution.

--"Psalm For Distribution"
by Jack Agüeros
(from LORD, IS THIS A PSALM?, Hanging Loose Press 2002)

Dear friends and colleagues:

I'm writing to you about a friend of ours: Jack Agüeros.

I say "friend," not because I have known Jack for decades (I haven't), but
because of what Jack's work has meant to the writers, artists, and activists
here in New York City's Puerto Rican communities. In these decades, through his
work as a poet, translator, fiction writer, and community organizer, Jack
Agüeros has spoken to us with clarity, humility, intensity, and dignity about
our shared experiences as Puerto Ricans.

As a community activist, he worked with the Henry Street Settlement, the Puerto
Rican Community Development Project, and various city agencies. As a journalist
and essayist, he has written about the alliances between Chicano and Puerto
Rican activists, and about his own life as a Puerto Rican in New York. As an
invaluable historian, he has translated and researched the work of Jose Martí
and Julia de Burgos. Through his ingenious use of the sonnet and psalm forms,
he has perfected the very human art of advocacy, conveying our struggles with
unflinching imagery and a smart comedic sensibility. As a cultural worker,
Agüeros brought art, music and a Three Kings’ Day parade (with real camels) to
East Harlem through his stewardship of El Museo del Barrio.

Jack Agüeros has committed his life to the educational and social wellbeing of
his people. Now is our chance to contribute to his wellbeing.

For quite a while now, Jack and his family have been dealing with the onset of
his Alzheimer's Disease. It's been a difficult time, but the family has always
been able to count on the support of friends and loved ones. That support will
be made palpable on Tuesday, March 18th, when Jack's friends and family will
come together for a benefit reading at Taller Boricua, in the Julia de Burgos
Center, in the heart of Jack's birthplace, East Harlem. The location—1680
Lexington Avenue at the corner of 106th Street--is particularly appropriate,
since the Center is named for the famous Puerto Rican poet whose work Jack
translated, and is also the former home of P.S. 107, where Jack attended grammar
school.

Scheduled to appear that night will be fellow poets, fiction writers, and
kindred spirits who know and love Jack, many of whom are longtime friends of
his: Martín Espada, Sandra Maria Esteves, Naomi Ayala, Aracelis Girmay, Lidia
Torres, Robert Hershon, Donna Brook, Hettie Jones, Lynne Procope, Rich Villar, Tara Betts, Rachel Eliza Griffiths, Julio Marzán, and Edgardo Vega Yunqué. His
children, Kadi, Natalia, and Marcel Agüeros, will also be on hand.

The event starts at 7pm with a special performance by the young students of
Taller Boricua's Tuesday dance class, who were gracious enough to move their
gathering in order to accomodate this event.

The authors will have books for sale, the proceeds for which will go toward
Jack's care. Signed copies of Jack's books, including DOMINOES, SONNETS FOR THE
PUERTO RICAN, and LORD, IS THIS A PSALM? will also be available, courtesy of
Hanging Loose Press and Curbstone Press. In addition, Sandra Maria Esteves has
graciously donated one of her prints, which will be bid upon in a silent auction
that night.

A $10 suggested donation will be collected at the door. No one will be turned
away.

If you cannot make it to the fundraiser, but would still like to make a
contribution toward Jack's care, you can send along a check payable to Marcel
Agüeros at the following address:

Marcel Agüeros
Columbia Astrophysics Laboratory
Mail Code 5247
550 W. 120th Street
New York, NY 10027

This is our chance to pay tribute to a true giant of Puerto Rican, Latino, and
U.S. literature. Please distribute this letter far and wide, to as many as
possible. We hope to see you all in East Harlem on March 18th, 7pm sharp.

Pa'lante,
Rich Villar.

*****************************************************
Tuesday, March 18th @ 7pm
A Reading and Benefit for Jack Agüeros
Scheduled readers include Martín Espada, Sandra Maria Esteves, Naomi Ayala,
Aracelis Girmay, Lidia Torres, Robert Hershon, Donna Brook, Hettie Jones, Lynne
Procope, Rich Villar, Tara Betts, Rachel Eliza Griffiths, Julio Marzán, and
Edgardo Vega Yunqué.

Taller Boricua @ The Julia de Burgos Cultural Center
1680 Lexington Avenue (corner of 106th St.)
6 Train to 103rd Street, two blocks north on Lex.
Hosted by Rich Villar of Acentos Bronx Poetry Showcase
Suggested Donation: $10 (no one will be turned away)
For further inquiries or questions, please call 845-598-8654 or email
rich@louderarts.com.

Fred Joiner is the Man

2008-03-02T14:03:00.000-05:00

It’s Wednesday night and Fred Joiner is getting ready to bring one of his passions to Good Hope Road. It’s Anacostia, in southeast Washington, D.C., that he dreams of filling with poetry.

“I believe art can raise quality of life of any people,” Joiner said.

He is host and curator of the “Intersections” poetry reading sessions in D.C., organized with the American Poetry Museum...

Anacostia is the poorest neighborhood in the nation’s capital and its first historical suburb. According to the Brookings Institution, in 2000, one-fourth of D.C.’s poor — most of them black — lived in “extreme poverty” neighborhoods, east of the Anacostia River. Two-fifths of the people in these neighborhoods lived below the federal poverty line.

Read the article, in which Fred kindly mentions Ethelbert Miller, Kim Roberts, and me as active in the local poetry scene, here: http://americanobserver.net/2008/02/27/poetry-anacostia/

A Solemn Anniversary: Sam Hamill on these five years (and the last century) of madness

2008-02-29T08:07:00.000-05:00

Poets Against War founder/director and Split This Rock featured poet Sam Hamill on the fifth anniversary of the war in Iraq and poets' activism:

Only in the United States have I been told that “poetry doesn’t matter any more,” that “poetry is useless.” Only in the United States have I been asked by journalists, “Why can’t you poets just leave the politics out of it?” What a remarkably, stunningly illiterate question. The answer to the latter: “Because we are citizens of this country and of the world, and we are all in this world together.” The answer to the former declaration: “Because poetry has the ability to open people’s eyes and hearts, to change lives one life at a time.”

Read his piece in the Winter PAW newsletter here: http://poetsagainstwar.net/solemn_anniversary.asp

What's HIS problem?

2008-02-29T05:17:00.001-05:00

Comrade, friend, wild man, brilliant poet, partner in crime Regie Cabico makes the City Paper this week.

Jet lag, train lag, and bus lag. Cabico says that he logs up to 18 travel hours a week, including serious Chinatown bus time. “Now, if I smell pee, it smells like home,” Cabico says.

Read the "What's Your Problem?" feature here: http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/display.php?id=34635

Split This Rock on WOMR.org tomorrow and next Thursday, 12:45 pm

2008-02-27T17:45:00.000-05:00

We’re pleased to announce that Split This Rock will be featured on “Poet's Corner with Joe Gouveia” on WOMR/Provincetown and you can listen online! Just go to http://www.womr.org/ at the appointed hour and click on “Listen now” in the left margin. Here’s the schedule, beginning tomorrow:

Thursday, February 28, 12:45 pm – Interview with Festival Director Sarah Browning
Thursday, March 6, 12:45 pm – Interview with Assistant Director Melissa Tuckey

(April 3 and April 10 Joe will feature us reading our own poems, so come back after the festival, too.)

Joe’s a wonderful interviewer, so we know after you listen, you’ll be inspired to register! Remember, rates go up March 10, so register today: http://splitthisrock.org/registration.html

See you next month in DC!

On thinking big

2008-02-22T06:23:00.000-05:00

Looking for something on my desk (really, it's an excavation, requiring a major grant for archeological research from the federal government...) I came upon a quote I had saved from, of all places, Publisher's Weekly.

Herbert Kohl, a teacher and education writer, was interviewed about his new book, Painting Chinese, which describes his experience taking a Chinese landscape painting class as a 60-year-old surrounded by kindergarteners:

It's wonderful accepting that your goals will never be completed if they're big enough, and that it's worth making them so big that you leave some unfinished so that other people can pick them up after you.

Right on.