Welcome back mi gente!!
A few new development are in the works and there is lots to celebrate!! Read on!!
FIRST, the TEASE -
LIBROTRAFICANTE EVENT in CALI!!!
So, Tony "EL LIBROTRAFICANTE" Diaz and I get to meet up and share some words with other librotraficantes in San Francisco tomorrow night!. We get to take part in an event of poetry and literature with the LIBROTRAFICANTE BAY AREA and other artists in the Mission District - this should be really awesome. I've only been to San Pacho one other time and had tons of fun, so I am hoping to do a repeat here!! If I read any of the posts on el Feis (Facebook) correctly, we will also be joined by bad ass poet, playwright, and performer Paul Flores.
I have never been to the MISSION CULTURAL CENTER for LATINO ARTS (MCCLA), but am totally humbled that they were willing to host the reading. Major thanks to the leader of the Librotraficante Bay Area, Naomi Quiñonez and our contact Pedro Reyes there at MCCLA for helping get it all together (I am probably missing some really important people, and for that I apologize :) ).
If you want to find out more about MISSION CULTURAL CENTER for LATINO ARTS, then just click on the name.
Here are the details for the event:
MCCLA & Libro Traficante present:
A Night of Mind Altering Pros
Thursday, June 27, 2013 / 7:00pm /
$15 General, $12 Youth and Seniors With ID / Theatre
Join Librotraficante Bay Area for an evening of readings from books banned under Arizona’s racist House Bill 2281, which effectively outlawed ethnic studies in publicly funded schools of all levels. HB2281 was approved in the wake of Arizona’s draconian anti-immigrant bill SB 1070. In solidarity with the struggle to defend ethnic studies in Arizona and beyond, Librotraficante founder Tony Diaz will join with Bay Area poets and writers, who will read from their own works as well as books banned under HB 2281.
Featuring:
~ Novelist Tony Diaz, El Librotraficante, leader of The Librotraficante Movement.
~ Poet Librotraficante Lips Mendez, aka Lupe Mendez, one of the original five founders of Librotraficante.
~ Poet Naomi Quiñonez, leader of the Bay Area Librotraficantes
~ Co-founder of Presente.org Roberto Lovato, with original prose.
And more to be announced!
Sponsored by: Librotraficante Bay Area, Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts, Center for Political Education, Flash Points, Nuestra Palabra: Latino Writers Having Their Say.
MCCLA - 2868 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94110
If you are in the San Francisco area, I hope you can make it to this event!
PUBLIC POETRY IS A MONTHLY THING!!!
HEADS UP!! At the beginning of each month PUBLIC POETRY puts on a reading with some of the Houston area's brightest poets. over 20 poets are chosen to read TWICE a year. From what I have been able to see, the poets on this year's selection were well thought out and the events are a true delight. Here are the poets coming up on JULY 6th (you better go!!!) :
I am a big fan of Christopher Carmona and Digh Veluthukaran, so I can't wait to see them and hear their work, along with the other two gentlemen. Its always good to broaden your poetic horizons and get a feel for as many words as possible. If you want more information about the reading or any more info on PUBLIC POETRY, then click HERE.
YOU NEED TO MAKE A CHOICE, ESTE SABADO!!!
Mira gente, a veces hay eventos en la cuidad al mismo tiempo y desafortunadamente, te tienes que perder algo. So I beseech you to choose wisely. Saturday should be magnificent for poetry all around. You get seperate events with completely different themes:
1) HOUSTON VIP SLAM -
This happens pretty regularly at Boomtown Coffee and it is pretty bad ass - hosted by either Outspoken Bean or Marcell Murphy (if I missed another host, I am sorry!!!) is a damn treat if you ask me! First you get a chance to workshop with other poets from 7 to 8pm and then you get a dose of slam poetry. I have attended and it is always a creatively good time. You should go if you are in the Heights.
Time:
7pm - on (workshop @7, slam @ 8)
Location:
Boomtown Coffee
242 W 19th St Houston, TX 77008
(713) 862-7018
Price:
$5
2) POETIC JUSTICE PERFORMANCE FEST
This is event is a totally different vibe than the workshop/slam at Boomtown - this event is themed. Thanks to the work of Kenan Ince and T.E.J.A.S., (click HERE to get more info on T.E.J.A.S.) they have been able to organize a reading to spotlight and support grassroots community efforts led by East End district citizens who care concerned about the environment (especially since they live so close to some high levels of pollution). Here are the details from the facebook event page itself:
"Poetry is not a luxury," said Audre Lorde in 1984. Her words couldn't be more true of performance art today. We at Texas Environmental Justice Advocacy Services (TEJAS) are tired of those who claim that art and politics should not mix, or those who claim that political poetry is always heavy-handed and cliché. We offer into evidence an impassioned, grassroots poetics that acknowledges political realities and is more affecting for it. We focus particularly on the structures that lead communities of color in Houston's toxic East End to bear the brunt of environmental destruction. - Bryan Parras (way to go Bryan!!)
Featuring:
Scott Chalupa
Christine Gerbode
Sidney Hebert
Billie Hill
Kenan Ince
Lupe Mendez
Adam Lopez
Kris Smith
Quantum Potato
Anthony Sutton
Stalina Villarreal
and more!
This is an event more about the message and the meaning of the theme than the actual work of the poets. It has to be. There are times when the work of poetry must find a way to broadcast not the singular voice of the poet and his/her own plight or poetic view, but act as commentary, as pinnacle, as symbol, as sounding board, as megaphone for issues of the day. It should be a real treat and very refreshing as I don't think I have heard most of the poets in this line up.
Details:
Time:
7 - 9pm
Where:
Bohemeo's Art House -
708 Telephone Rd
Houston, Texas 77023
Ok mi gente, I gotta get going. Still have to pack and board a flight by 1:30pm!! Read up and share!!!
And now for the tease:
