Many MySpace Memes On A Monday (long!)

This one's from Charlie at MySpace, Charles Jensen, one of my blog buddies and one of the top poets on my list of Best Po' Bloggers I discovered in 2005.


What did the year of 2006 entail for you?

1.) Where did you ring in 2006?
Home. (I'm a bloody hermit.) I may have taken a hike. I hope so. I probably drank Belgian monks' cherry beer -- the only occasion I have one or two glasses, and it's always festive cherry beer, Krieg. I was celebrating this year as my new book, DRIVE came out on January 1. And, kissing at midnight. I'm superstitious that way. I like to say, as they say on Isla Mujeres: "I hope your next year is better than the last."

2.) What was your status by Valentine's Day?
Married.

3.) Were you in school (anytime this year)?
Teaching @ CU - Boulder

4.) How did you earn your keep?
Teaching & giving readings & lectures (anyone want to book one? I come cheap, sometimes even free or at cost for the community.) Selling books. Want to buy one, signed? Click on my Amazon pay system link at the bottom of page.

5.) Did you ever have to go to the hospital?
Not this year. (Charlie's answer)

6.) Did you ever encounter the police?
Yes. My kid called 911 as a prank, or, threatened to after drinking water that came out of a lysol spray bottle. He thought he was calling to go to the hospital (nothing but water in the bottle, trust me) and I told him not to, that the police would come instead as they have to whenever someone calls -- so he did. They came. I was pissed, and trying not to show it.

7.) Where did you go on vacation?
San Francisco. San Francisco. San Francisco. My brother's in Freedom.

8.) What did you purchase that was over $300?
iPod stuff - Bose port. Xbox 360. iPod. PsP. ?? for my son's birthday

9.) Did you know anybody who got married?
My little brother, Luz de Verano and Shellie. Barbara Reyes, whom I only *know* as an ace po' blogger buddy who married another poet from another coast, Oscar Bermeo -- I love their story

10.) Did you know anybody who passed away?
Yes. sigh.

11.) Have you run into anybody you graduated high school with?
Yes. My beloved sister-in-law, Janet.

12.) Did you move anywhere?
No. Not like 2003 when I moved 4 times -- all unplanned.

13.) What sporting events did you go to?
Bed.

14.) What concerts did you go to?
Hijole, let's see... Los Lobos. Chucho Valdez. Otis Taylor. Jimmy Vaughan at memorial for Antone at Antone's in Austin. Susan Tedeschi. My big brother, Steve "Esteban" Cervantes playing with Dr. Loco's Rocking Jalapeno Band. A new local "SoBo" Festival that was really cool, genuinely crosscultural (put on with the help of an African drum & dance studio), really great music. Santana? And all the others I forget right now. I need live music -- that's one reason I'm on MySpace.

15.) Are you registered to vote?
'course.

16.) If so, did you do your patriotic duty on Nov. 7?
'course. And, asked for a paper ballot. Go to www.vote.org for the real democratic act - Real Democracy Now. The Indigenous Way.

17.) Where do you live now?
Boulder

18.) Describe your birthday.
I read with one of my dear old buddies, Maurice Kenny, at an all-skins reading at the Intersection for the Arts in San Francisco & ran into another dear old friend at the airport, Alfred Arteaga.

19.) What's the one thing you thought you would never do but did in 2006?
None of your business. (my grandma's favorite answer to everything to everyone.)

20.) What is one thing you regretted this year?
None of your business. (related to the above) Actually, I regret nothing.

21.) What's something you learned about yourself?
I always seem to have the word "heart" in all of my poems -- on purpose.

22.) Any new additions to your family?
No. Too many dead plants.

23.) What was your best month?
August. Hands down.

24.) What from pop culture will you remember 2006 by?
Not much into pop culture. Maybe the disappointment from Kramer (the comic not my friend, the astrologer Kramer) who I used to like a lot. (Clever Dorks Unite - no racists aloud allowed)

25.) How would you rate this year with a scale from 1 (shitty) to 10 (the shit)?
6 - 8 (only because my book came out this year -- yea!)


And another from Charlie:

1. Which bands/artist do you own the most albums by?
1.) Memphis Minnie 2.) Santana 3. Van Morrison 4. Beach Boys/ Brian Wilson 5. Billie Holliday 6. Joni Mitchell 7. Dougie Maclean 8...???! Los Lobos

2. What was the last song you listened to?
"Wheel," John Mayer

3. What's in your CD player (on your record player) right now?
"Wheel" on loop - from a playlist of 233 of bummer love songs I've been collecting which I've been listening to continuously for the past month or so. All on iPod. Macs rock.

4. What was the last show you attended?
Jimmy Vaughan (Stevie Ray's big brother). Before that, my big brother playing with Dr. Loco's Rocking Jalapeno Band.

5. What was the greatest show you've ever been to?
Santana -- all, especially all the Be-Ins and happenings at San Jose State stadium in the 60s & early 70s. But, absolutely, Santana playing in the baseball field of Watsonville, CA after the major earthquake which was at ground zero there -- Santana, solo, surrounded by demolished and crooked Victorians in the barrio. An impromptu fundraiser concert, packed and holy. Almost no one but locals and raza and die-hard Santana fans. INcreíble!

6. What's the worst show you've ever been to?
nSync -- first row, slight left center. A gift to my 6 year old music fanatic son who stood at the stage the entire time. He was stoked. Then. But will be absolutely mortified when he finds this on my blog. Hey! I'll say. You were only 6! They'll understand. besides. They were the top pop band then. And I do actually like one of their songs. I'm hoarding the cds in my room now, as if he found them (they're his) he'd destroy the evidence. (He wants to go to the Fray, as of today's request. I'm planning to buy him tickets to Eric Clapton in spring for Xmas, his favorite. (He's always had excellent taste.) At 6 months he could coo Santana's opening to "Oye Como Va?" in perfect pitch; it was scary.

7. What's the most musically involved you have ever been?
In band, and especially choir in junior high school under the direction of my homeroom teacher, Dr. Alfonse Lewis (he was an actual Phd, and a concert composer, but, black in 1967 and could only get a job in a poor junior high in the barrio in California) Changed my life. We were really good, won a state prize, and it gave me the first in a seris of true aesthetic experiences. Especially when he founded the "cosmopolites" club which took poor kids like me in that school to SF for all sorts of art experiences. He once slipped me a five for food at the Hippopotamus Hamburgers, a famous place on Geary that served burgers as big as your head and real malts. My first restaurant meal. I am eternally grateful. I wish some miracle would happen and I could thank him in person.

9. What was your first concert?
Another one of my muses, Tracy Nelson, little sister to Willie Nelson, straight ahead blues singer with an incomparable voice and PASSION; a person of integrity which is why you've probably never heard of her. I owe my sense of poetic performance to her; when she was singing my favorite song, written by her, she hit and sustained this one note, really listening to what she was singing, that could not only shatter glass it made her nipples stand up noticeably through her shirt. It seemed the entire audience held its breath. I mean, even now, it's the test of a work. I mean, if it ain't making your nipples go erect, it ain't "It". I heard her open for the Doobie Brothers when I was 15 and won front row tickets from the radio when I was first person to have the right answer to some question, about Jimi Hendrix I think, who I hand-looped back then on my old phonograph. Funny thing was, DB were hot then, and I was sitting on the lawn outside the SU at San Jose State and the long haired main musician for the band walked by, stopped, and actually tried to pick me up. (!) It was pretty exciting, and he was CUTE, (that hair! I've always been a sucker for long hair) But, hey, I was 15. (What's up with that? I probably looked 12, but like a buck-skinned hippy.) I pretended I didn't know who he was, knowing I had a front row ticket in the back pocket of my jeans. Then he got real mad, and walked away, knowing he'd have a passel of fifteen year olds in his arms after the show. I don't remember if he saw me or we exchanged looks as I was still totally under the spell of a blown mind from Tracy.

10. What is your favorite band shirt?
Hard to say. I'd say tie among my first Dr. Loco' Rocking Jalapeno Band shirt (which had "Boogie" Band in the title then), a recently purchased Los lobos T with calaveras and "Peace Out" on the front, and my Selena shirt -- besides my brother's shirt, which I never wear because it's precious, which has a section of the mural JuanaAlicia painted in San Jose of us in an indigenous valley setting. But, the shirt I wear and wash the most is a black T with red print from The Mollys, a killer Celtic Chicana band with hella talented and eclectic musicians -- good dance music. It has some kind of really clever slogan that I'm forgetting right now and it's probably in the wash right now. Stomp the Floor. Or, something like that.

11. What musicians would you like to hang out with for a day?
Dead: Kid "Elizabeth" Douglas: "Memphis Minnie". I've written a full length movie about her: "PIGMEAT: The Life and Times of Memphis Minnie" which spans the years 1907-1973 and her 50 year career. (Any leads to Oprah? It's Oprah or bust for me when it comes to this property.) It's based on radio interviews of her that I found when I was a 17 year old fanatic.

Living: Carlos Santana. I'd like to talk to him about chaya and my idea to raise funds for hurricane relief for poor indigenous communities on Isla Mujeres and Quintana Roo. I'd also like to talk with him about rearranging molecules via sound and a certain African chord progression that resolves in such a way it makes magic as described by Kid Douglas in the interviews with her. She said her uncle, an African freeman who had returned from Liberia where he had opted to go and minister taught it to her. She taught it to Lonnie Johnson, whom she babysat for along with many other well-known bluesmen, and he may have taught it Dylan in the early 60's. And, anything else he wants to talk about. I'm from the Mission in San Francisco and I'd like to do something for the Milagro Foundation involving youth, literacy, nutrition and ART wherever we make it, whatever it is - it's all good, and, a saving grace. Yeah. that'd be way cool. He may have met my father and Susan. He wrote the preface to their mural book which is coming out soon about the Precita Eyes Muralists. So, as someone said, "It can happen." Dream On.

12. Who is one musician or group you wish would make a comeback?
Tracy Nelson. My brother, although he's never been about commercialism (it runs in the family.) Maybe one of his first bands that used to win all the Battle of the Bands and opened for the Grateful Dead, The Autumn People. I'm an old Leonard Cohen fan, another muse; I think he's making a comeback. Man, is that man the epitome of COOL. Dope. He'd be another MySpace if he'd only answer his mail and visit his site. But you can go to it and listen to and add four songs to your site.

13. Who is one band/artist you've never seen live but always wanted to?
Eric Clapton.

14. Name 4 or MORE flawless albums.
Sheesh, I feel I'm out of my league here. Or, these kinds of questions always seem to me like, name your favorite child. I love all that I love and interact with them at different times, so love them desperately at different times. Let's see, off the top of my head: Joni Mitchell's Blue, Miles Davis's Sketches of Spain. Jefferson Airplane: Surrealistic Pillow, or whichever album that's on. Any Beatles - Abbey Road, the White Album, (insert your favorite here). Rumors by (major space-out here). Duh, Fleetwood Mac. Any Van Morrison. Maybe Beach Boys Pet Sounds/ Smile ... ? Maybe anything Brian Wilson has a hand in. Los Lobos' Will the Wolf Survive? Patti Smith's first self-named. Any Santana - talk about choosing among your kids! Eric Clapton, oops, another major space-out, the one that won the Grammy after his son died. Stevie Wonder, Sounds in the Key of ... oops. Airto and Flora Purim - but I forget the name of the album; same with an album by Jaco Pastorious; Milton Nacimiento, I think the one with just his name -- I've always been surrounded by musicians so someone else always did the djaying. All oldies because they stand the test of time, and there are too many to consider right now otherwise. Of the new stuff, Mana, Amor es Revolucion and the first one, Mana. I'm really loving the latest. I bought it on the second day it came out, Amar es Combatir. And one of my students just gave me Esperanza by Manu Chao which I really like alot. It makes me happy, even when it makes me think of sad stuff, and what more can you ask for from an album?

15. How many music related videos/DVDs do you own?
Lots. Billie Holiday from a TV show. Several Conjunto Festival tapes. Stevie Ray Vaughan at Red Rocks. Eric Clapton. Maná. Grito Serpentino (my taping). ? ?

16. How many concerts/shows have you been to?
[A bajillion. I can't even remember all of them.] I'll go with Charles' answer. A bajillion.

17. What band have you seen the most live?
Los Lobos.

18. What is your favourite movie soundtrack?
I'm stumped. Visit me later after I've grown a few leaves. I know there's one.

19. What was your last musical "phase" before you wisened up?
I don't feel that about any of my musical loves. I take my musical soundtracks very seriously; maybe as a poet. There was a time I don't usually talk about when I was living at the Provincetown Work Center for nine months and went dancing a lot to canned disco. I really got into the song, Rock Lobster. I like Lady Marmalade and Chaka Kahn. But that was then, and there, and it was what it was and it was fun; it made me happy with my intelligent friends. I listen to black banjo music and love banjo music in general. I've been to old timey music festivals with my first love, the only mocha there, but dancing. I saw a lot of Jerry Garcia back then at these festivals. I admit to being maybe the world's only Xicanindia Beach Boys fan. I like Tuva throat singing. I like mariachi music and ballads and reels in Scotch Gaellic. Growing up with my brother and coming of age to KPFA and KTAO radio, I wised up early. (I do hate opera, though. And, no, you can't convince me otherwise; it's a matter of early conditioning.)

20. What's your "guilty pleasure" that you hate to admit to liking?
See the above. Maybe early Madonna, 'kay, this one makes me blush, her song "Starshine": "You must be my lucky star...". I always listen to oldies stations, especially vintage Motown, before a reading and dance -- it's my ritual. If that song comes on and I dance to it, it's magical, a portent, a major good omen. Hmmm, this last reading the exception now that I've been obsessed with my iPod (it changed my life) and have new portable speakers for it.


This one comes from Brissa from my hometown, San Jose:

I've Done 110 out of 150 Stupid Things (!) (111 including take this stupid test)

Level 1
(x) Smoked A Cigarette
(x) Smoked A Cigar
(x) Kissed A Member Of The Same Sex
(x) Drank Alcohol
So far: 4

Level 2
(x) Are / Been In Love…
(x) Been Dumped
(x) Shoplifted
( ) Been Fired
(x) Been In A Fist Fight
So far: 8

Level 3
(x) Snuck Out Of A Parent's House
(x!!!) Had Feelings For Someone Who Didn't Have Them Back
(X) Been Arrested (- 10 times, all for nonviolent civil disobedience, mostly anti-nuclear activity)
(x) Made Out With A Stranger
(x) Gone Out On A Blind Date
So far: 13

Level 4
(X) Had A Crush On An Older Person (in my relative old age, never when I was young - oh, wait, my junior high summer school Engish teacher)
(x) Skipped School
( ) Fooled Around With A Co-worker
(X) Seen Someone/ Something Die (why is that stupid?)
So far: 16

Level 5
(X) Have A Crush On One Of Your MYSPACE Friends (had - maybe it never goes away) (and, would have...ha! Maybe you?)
( ) Been To Paris
(X) Been To Spain (this is stupid?)
(x) Been on a Plane (yesterday)
(x) Thrown Up From Drinking (in my stupid youth) (most of these are)
So far: 20

Level 6
(x) Eaten Sushi (every day if I could)
( ) Been Snowboarding
( ) Met Someone BECAUSE Of Myspace (not yet)
(x) Been Mosh Pitting
So far:22

Level 7
(x) Been In A Mentally Or Physically Abusive Relationship (definitely stupid)
(x) Taken Pain Killers (prescription only, and only a few a few times when absolutely necessary) (I avoid all drugs and totally into natural and homeopathic healing.)
(x) Liked Someone Who You Can't Have
(x) Laid On Your Back And Watched Cloud Shapes Go By (this is stupid?)
(x) Made A Snow Angel
So far: 27

Level 8
(x) Had A Tea Party (this is stupid? Or, am I missing something?) (hmm, for my dressed up cats -- see poem in DRIVE -- so I guess that counts)
(x) Flown A Kite
(x) Built A Sand Castle
( ) Gone muddin (offroading)
(x) Played Dress Up
So far: 31

Level 9
(x) Jumped Into A Pile Of Leaves
(x) Gone Sledding
( ) Cheated While Playing A Game
(x) Been Lonely
( ) Fallen Asleep At Work / School (nodded plenty of times)
So far: 34

Level 10
(x) Used A Fake / Someone Else's ID
(x) Watched The Sun Set (this is stupid?! D. Addiss, where are you?)
(x) Felt An Earthquake
( ) Killed A Snake (never!)
So far: 37

Level 11
(x) Been Tickled
(x) Been Robbed / Vandalized
(x) Misunderstood someone
(x) Been Misunderstood
So far: 41

Level 12
(x) Won A Contest (why is this stupid? I'm proud.)
( ) Been Suspended From School
(x) Had Detention
( ) Been in a car/motorcycle accident
So far: 43

Level 13
( ) Had / Have Braces
(x) Eaten a whole pint of ice cream in one night
(x) Danced in the moonlight (naked)
So far: 45

Level 14
(x) Hated The Way You Look
(x) Witnessed A Crime
( ) Pole danced
( ) Questioned Your Heart
(x) Been obsessed with post-it-notes…
So far: 48

Level 15
(x) Squished Barefoot Through The Mud
(x) Been Lost
( ) Been To The Opposite Side Of The World
(x) Swam In The Ocean
(x) Felt Like You Were Dying
So far: 52

Level 16
(x) Cried Yourself To Sleep
(x) Played Cops And Robbers
( ) Recently Colored With Crayons / Colored Pencils / Markers (I wish)
( ) sang Karaoke
(x) Paid For A Meal With Only Coins
So far: 55

Level 17
(x) Done Something You Told Yourself You Wouldn't
(x) Made Prank Phone Calls
(x) Laughed Until Some Kind Of Beverage Came Out Of Your Nose.
(x) Kissed In The Rain (this is stupid?)
So far: 59

Level 18
( ) Written A Letter To Santa Claus… (cynic from the get-go)
(x) Been Kissed Under A Mistletoe
(x) Watched the sun set with someone you care/cared about (this is stupid?)
(x) Blown Bubbles
(x) Made A Bonfire On The Beach
So far: 63

Level 19
(x) Crashed A Party
(x) Have Traveled More Than 5 Days With A Car Full Of People
(x) Gone Rollerskating / Blading
(x) Had A Wish Come True
(x) Been Humped By A Monkey (actually)
So far: 68

Level 20
(x) Worn Pearls
( ) Jumped Off A Bridge
( ) Screamed "Penis" In Class (but I once got thrown out of geometry mid-term for saying, "fxxx!" when I realized I had made an early mistake in a proof, and got a "D" in the class because of it.)
(x) Swam With Dolphins
So far: 70

Level 22
(x) Got Your Tongue Stuck To A Pole/ Freezer/ Ice Cube
(x) Kissed A Fish (yes, actually; around the time I was humped by a monkey -- I wonder if there's a connection)
(x) Worn The Opposite Sex's Clothes
(x) Sat On A Roof Top
So far: 74

Level 23
(x) Screamed At The Top Of Your Lungs
( ) Done / Attempted A One-Handed Cartwheel
(x) Talked On The Phone For More Than 6 Hours
(x) Stayed Up All Night
So far: 77

level 24
(x) Picked And Ate An Apple Right Off The Tree
(x) Climbed A Tree (even had a pet one)
(x) Had / Been In A Tree House
(x) Been scared To Watch Scary Movies Alone…
So far: 81

Level 25
(x) Believe(d) In Ghosts
( ) Have had More Than 30 Pairs Of Shoes At One Time
(x) Gone Streaking
(x) field trip (huh?)
So far: 84

Level 26
( ) Played Chicken (I am a chicken, for all my bravery in the face of fright. I'm just not self-destructive -- too many real-time enemies about.
(x) Been Pushed Into A Pool With All Your Clothes On
(x) Been Told You're Hot By A Complete Stranger
(x) Broken A Bone
(x) Been Easily Amused (this is stupid?) (yes, I'm taking this stupid survey)
So far: 88

Level 27
(x) Caught A Fish Then Ate It Later
(x) Caught A Butterfly
(x) Laughed So Hard You Cried
(x) Cried So Hard You Laughed
So far: 92

Level 28
(x) Had Someone Moon / Flash You
( ) Cheated On A Test
(x) Forgotten Someone's Name
(x) Slept Naked (every night ever since I was 8, and ever since I was 11 and into yoga - it's healthier; and, sexier)
(x) French Braided Someones Hair… (this is stupid?)
(x) Gone Skinny Dipping
( ) Been Kicked Out Of Your House
So far: 97

Level 29
(x) Rode A Roller Coaster
(x) Went Scuba-Diving / Snorkeling
(x) Had A Cavity
( ) Black-Mailed Someone
(x) Been Black Mailed
So far: 101

Level 31
(x) Been Used
(x) Fell Going Up The Stairs
(x) licked a cat (haha, a "take that, cat!" moment and a bonding ritual. haha. Don't ask.)
(x) Bitten Someone (I was in 3rd grade and imagined myself a vicious beaver. Don't ask.)
(x) Licked Someone
So far: 106

Level 32
(x) Been Shot at/or at Gunpoint (terrifying, not stupid)
(x) Had sex in the rain
( ) Flattened someone's tires
(x) Rode your car/truck until the gas light came on (void question for me, I'll say say yes to both these last as I'm sure I would if I ever drove a car -- I don't. I've been in cars with partners who experienced both these questions)
(x) Got five dollars or less worth of gas
So far: 110

Repost Your Results Like This...
I've Done (110) Out Of 150 Stupid Things -- I'm sure it'd be a higher score if I were richer and could go to Paris or the other side of the world or own 30 pairs of shoes and not have to empty the gas tank or pay for my meals with pennies in a neighborhood where people pull guns on you.


This one's from Nicole out in the land of one my muses, artist Joseph Beuys in Dusseldorf:

You Are Surrealism

Dreamy and idealistic, you've created a world that is all your own. It's very likely that you've either dabbled in drugs or are naturally trippy. You are always trying to push beyond the boundaries of your culture and society. You believe that art, love, and freedom can change the world.

What Art Movement Are You?

Ha! I always said this stuff is spooky.


This one and others are from Jessica Smith who dreams her cat was a cricket and she was trying to eat him so she woke up and turned to MySpace. Jessica is another top poet high on my 2006 list of Best Po' Bloggers discovered this year. I think Jessica and I share a lot of similarities despite the obvious differences. I'm hoping to connect in real time with her at the AWP in Feb - March. (I'll be presenting on a panel on "What Does Poetry Make Happen?" or something like that.) I've been meaning to respond to a call she put out to do a group reading. I'd love to help host a free and open marathon reading & meet & greet for po' bloggers like I had planned to do last year except that I got sick and it conflicted with other readings. I'd spring for the food & publicity. We could play spin-the-bottle for a poem per person.


Q. Do you still talk to the person you lost your virginity to?
A: No -- thank the goddesses, I was attacked as a child. And no to the real one I lost my "virginity" to in a real way, although I wouldn't mind if if I did.

Q: What would you do with 1000 plastic spoons?
A: Keep stuffing them in my kitchen cabinet which is what I do now (left over from events and classes at my house) and taking them out when all the dishes are dirty -- which they are now. Otherwise, mourn their unrecycled selves. Maybe have some kind of event where a thousand people could eat, then listen to poetry and spoken word (not that there's any difference, I'm just trying to get the hits off the words). That would be cool.

Q: What kind of music did you listen to in elementary school?
A: "The Legend of Davy Crocket" "DAVY, Davy Crocket, king of the old frontier..." I can still sing it, though I don't sing it into a hairbrush in front of a mirror any more. Ironic, huh? Maybe that's where it comes, my comfort with the trope. Mitch Miller show, just about all of it starting with the Lennon Sisters, and Grand Ole Opry, Minnie Pearl and the black guy who played the harmonica. I loved Hank Williams. And the guy who sang "18 Tons and what do you get?" Peter, Paul and Mary and Sonny and Cher. My earliest favorite song, I don't remember the name of, it came in a box of hand me down stuff that somebody gave us because we were poor. It went, "Mama, look a booboo! They shout. They mother told them, "Shut up your mouth! That is your daddy!" "Oh no! My daddy don't look ugly so!" I still love it. Somebody did a cover recently. I can still sing it and often do. It has a Calypso beat and strange raced connotations, even to my ear at that age. We're talking kindergarten. Same with a song about all the meals on the days of the week called "Eatchy Peachy Pie": "Monday: meat loaf. Tuesday: Roast Beef. Wednesday: string beans... Is everybody happy? Well, I should say!" I think Sunday was eatchy peachy pie day. This makes me happy. My little red portable phonograph was always my most prized possession. I tell you, I take my soundtracks seriously.

Q: What is the best thing about your current job?
A: Teaching. I get inspired when my students write a better poem then the last. It appeals to my Chicana indigenous nature, I know I'm helping people; they get better.

Q: Do you wish cellphone etiquette was a required class upon purchasing one?
A: [I don't really care about this kind of stuff} I'll go with Jessica's answer.

Q: Are you against gay marriage?
A: no

Q: What's the most messed up food combination that you've had that was actually good?
A: not sure. I fancy myself something of a gourmand and a cross-cultural one at that, so nothing on my table seems to me to be a messed up combination.. For a while I was juicing every day, half a raw purple cabbage (which helped to heal my ulcer) along with turnip juice, watermelon, ten tomatoes (bad for my ulcer), 12 carrots, chaya leaves when I could get them from Isla, spinach, sweet onions, acai, blueberries, strawberries, etc. It was all in the balance and it actually tasted good. I ought to clean out my juicer.

Q: Have you been on a date in the past week?
A: No. Hey, T, we need to talk...

Q: Where are you going on your next vacation?
A: Where else? San Francisco, place of my birth. "I'm going away to where I'm from..." (line from my poem, On Touring Her Home Town) And, hopefully, back to Isla. My son wants to do a doc on Isla street dogs.

Q: Are most of your friends new or old?
A: new and few in the present flesh, many old friends back home and in Po'ville - hmmm, even my "new" friendships, I realize, are 16 years old, as opposed to 30-year friendships with people I don't see often enough, sadly. (I'm a bloody hermit.) I guess I tend to have few but fast friendships, mostly because, at core, I'm kinda shy and socially inept. I appreciate people who can make friends easily, like my friend, Alfred.

Q: What's one of your most random pet peeves (something that annoys you)?
A: dishonesty and unethical behavior; power-trips; and people who combine the two, like profs who think it's a fringe benefit of the job to bed students -- yeah, definitely a pet peeve

Q: Do you own any furniture from the IKEA furniture store?
A: of course not

Q: What do you wish someone would buy you?
A: Bose headphones, then maybe a Bose cd/radio sound system. I LOVE my Bose iPod dock. Otherwise, I wish someone would buy my book directly from me.

Q: What do you think of vintage shopping?
A: I think of Sandra Cisnero's bed sheets and the vintage gowns on the Oscars. Otherwise, I guess I'd be a vintage shopper if i could afford it and I weren't such an anti-materialist. I love segundas, the serendipity of it gets me every time. And the recycling.

Q: What are you wearing right now?
A: Robert karimi's T-shirt, black, "politically sexy. culturally mixed." and with "kaotic good" on the back - go to www.kaoticgood.com to order yours now. I love it. Couldn't wait to wear it. If I had this back when maybe I would have gotten more dates. Cuts through a lot of bull, ya know? A long flouncy black skirt with a purple stripe around it, then a wide stripe of yellow orange or gold checked patterns, then a thin one of white patterns, then more yellow checks at the final flounce, followed by a wider stripe of some kind of trippy pattern in white, then another thin purple stripe, then a pretty blue, turqouise, yellow gold blotchy pattern like an abstract expressionist painting that looks like a torn strip of painted paper ending with another stripe of the same pattern, but with more yellow orange and red in a rainbowish pattern. It's pretty, mostly black with the strong color at the hem. And a jaguar patterned silk slip over black velvet pants underneath (hey, it's cold in colorado right now!) And, barefoot.

Q: When is the last time you had Mom's home cookin'?
A: Sigh. She passed in November of '82, murdered around the time of what is now a national day of awareness of violence against women and Take Back the Night night -- which I never go to, because. She was a really good cook.

Q: Do you like your parents?
A: I liked my father, a lot. My mother had major problems.

Q: Do you ever paint your toenails?
A: yes, once.

Q: What state are you from?
A: Califas

Q: Do you ever wish you were gay?
A: [this is a very strange question...] [said andrew and i agree.] said Jennifer and I agree. A lot of good it would do me, or anyone else for that matter.

Q: Tell us about the last conversation you had.
A: talked to T about my trip to Amherst to receive the award and how I hope I can go back to work with gang girls in Holyoke, and this blog entry I'm writing in my head about what happens to you when you die -- as a friend asked me what i thought happens an the sad news that Kari Edwards died, and about how I'm coming down hard with this flu everybody had. Oops, that's not the last conversation. I just talked to my son before he went to bed about an 8th grade counselor asking him about whether or not his friends were actually in a gang and trying to get him to do "gang activites" without his knowledge. He's in sixth grade. (!) He was shocked and stunned into silence. He didn't know how to answer. I told him I thought it was a racist thing to ask him as his new and few friends are almost all the few kids of color in the richy school. I told him he should tell him that he can't be in a gang because his mother won't allow him to kill a fly and he has to take all the yellow jackets out of the house in a glass. "Tell him you can't be in a gang because we're Buddhists." We laughed. Hard. True enough, although, at heart, I'm a bloody born heathen - it's just not the native way, 'buey. I told my son I want to talk to this counselor (his eyes got big). I'm a lifelong ethical peacenik, maybe because I'm a former gang-girl who saved herself with books and who has pretty much devoted her life to anti-gang literacy advocate work. (look out for this mother!)

Q: Where do you see yourself in one month?
A: Here. Where ever I am I'm here.

Q: What is your favorite smell?
A: My father's house which is mostly a linseed oil smell mixed with corn tortilla smelling incense, sage and copal.

Q: What do people label you as?
A: [weird.] I'll go with Jessica's answer, realistically. Although I hope people realize I'm also quite goofy. Goofy and deep, I'd say.

Q: Do you consider yourself bipolar?
A: [No, that is one problem I don't have.] I'll go with Jessica's answer.

Q: What is the outside temperature at the moment?
A: I don't know. Hella cold for this California girl. I'll confess to cranking the heat up to 73 -- hey, I don't drive and my office is the coldest room in the house.

Q: Are you missing anyone right now?
A: yes, quite

Q: What does your MySpace quote mean?
A: [do i have one? i dunno.] I'll go with Jessica's answer.

Q: Elaborate on your primary photo (MySpace).
A: My publisher, Bryce Milligan took it after my first debut reading in San Antonio on October 11 (?) of last year. I'm yukking it up with old buddies so look real relaxed, and I don't know Bryce is taking pictures, so it's uncharacteristically flattering. What I always tell photographers: "If you're going to steal my spirit, at least make it flattering!" I hate fotos of me, it's the worst part of this business. I thought it was mean in a review when *some woman* commented on the 3 photos in the book; I thought it was a personal breakthrough. My last book for Arte Publico before that didn't have a single author photo -- at my request. And, the two inside pics go with a poem and one serves as a book cover for HARD DRIVE.

Q: Who introduced MySpace to you?
A: Super cool Didi Menendez of MiPo radio, CafeCafe at blogspot, Ocho magazine, et al.

Q: How many comments do you have?
A. [i don't know] Me neither.

Q: What's your current problem?
A: an unethical power-monger

Q: What are you doing right now?
A: [filling out this survey] I'll go with Jessica's answer

Q: What's one type of person that (sic) really bothers you?
A: unethical power mongers. And, liars: an unethical power-mongering liar.

Q: What's one type of person that you enjoy being around?
A: nice politically aware crosscultural extremely witty genius types who make lot of friends, like Alfred

Q: What random things make you happy?
A: the Flatirons outside my windows.

Q: If you could go back and change something, what would it be?
A: been there the night my mother was killed

Q: If you could be any animal or creature for one day, what would it be?
A: [a bird. a big one like a hawk.] haha, faked you out. One would think I'd go with Jessica's answer, after all, I *am* La Bird. But, no. An oyster. People never believe me when I tell them my totem animal is an oyster. (mmm, raw with lemon and a spot of Phil Chan's secret sauce) I think hanging in the bosom of Yemaya for one day making pearls would be heavenly.

Q: Ever had a near death experience?
A: not that I know of

Q: Name one obvious quality you have?
A: [i'm pretty smart.] I'll go with Jessica's answer.

Q: What's the name of a song that's stuck in your head right now?
A: John Mayer's "Wheel" "You can't love too much one part of it..." (repeat) (which is actually playing right this minute) was stuck in my head all this past trip so i looped it in the shuttle from the airport on the iPod last night, then have been looping it on my computer all day today, it's at about 140 repeats so far. I'll probably double that by the time I'm through. "And you won't be the first, no you won't be the first, to love me." As it ends with the line, "I believe/ my life's gonna to see/ the love I give/ returned to me."

Q: Are you happy today?
A: sort of - still way up from the great reading at Amherst with a great audience of students of color from the five campuses, but, sad, too: Oaxaca, the Phillipines, Kari, the war, and things that are none of your business.

Q: Do you believe in Heaven?
A: [imagine there's no heaven...it's easy if you try...] [said andrew and i agree.] said Jessica and I agree. It's all a matrix of love. You hold it all in the trace of your loving words and deeds, that's the weave "whatever we imagine" as some poem of mine says. See the amazing account of Thomas Benedict's near-death experience if you want to know about multiple heavens and matrices of love for the wonderful beautiful beings of light and creation that we be.

Q: Who will copy and paste and fill this out first?
A: [i am curious to find out...] [said andrew and i agree] said Jessica and I agree


And, Survey 2 from Jessica, also via fellow insomniac, Andrew:

DO YOU SNORE?:
Yes. And everyone who knows me and knows will laugh when they read this as they laugh, loud, whenever I bring it up.

LOVER OR A FIGHTER?
LOVER! And I'll fight for it.

WHAT'S YOUR WORST FEAR?
my fear for my child

AS A KID, WERE YOU A LEGO BUILDER?
oh no, way too poor - but I am now. I always build whatever first with my son, then he takes over by making whole new cool things out of the about a million Legos he has. I've been to Legoland.

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF "REALITY TV"?
[I don't care] I'll go with Jessica's answer. Although, I was sociologically fascinated with The Swan. And I got into watching the first Joe Millionaire show because I had a strange connection to the woman who "won" the fake millionaire. I liked the class issues it brought up. I knew she would win as soon as I heard her faceless voice in the first few minutes of the first episode say in answer to completing the sentence: "The man I marry... will have a heart of gold!" Then, she turned out to be from Boulder, the poor daughter of the Tarot reader who once read my cards years ago when I first came to Boulder. I was watching those stupid shows because they were on in my house and knew that by the end of Joe Millionaire I'd leave my cheating hubby.

DO YOU CHEW ON YOUR STRAWS?:
no

WERE YOU A CUTE BABY?
yes (what happened?)

HOW IS THE SINGLE LIFE FOR YOU?
Just fine, but maybe awkward at my age. But, I never seem to be long without a partner, for all my need for solitude.

WHAT COLOR IS YOUR KEYBOARD?
white

DO YOU SING IN THE SHOWER?
No, I sing, loud, while riding my bike, though it's been a while. I sing washing dishing. I don't sing so much any more at home with my sarcastic preteen, but I do like to make up goofy relevant songs to make him laugh. Maybe that's why the dishes are always dirty now. I like to soak in the tub daily and read the paper, Oprah's O magazine, foodie mags or write.

HAVE YOU EVER BUNGEE JUMPED?
Of course not. I don't engage in any re-creation that requires falling down.

ANY SECRET TALENTS?
wanna check?

WHAT'S YOUR IDEAL VACATION SPOT?
Isla Mujeres. An empty beach cove, like the wee "office" I had there.

HAVE YOU EATEN SUSHI?
yes

HAVE YOU SEEN THE MOVIE "DONNIE DARKO"?
No, though it's on our movie shelf.

DO YOU GIVE A DARN ABOUT THE OZONE?
of course, I've been worrying about it for three decades now: lifetime nondriver

HOW MANY LICKS DOES IT TAKE TO GET TO THE CENTER OF A TOOTSIE POP?
about forty sucks before I bite

CAN YOU SING THE ALPHABET BACKWARDS?
no, sounds boring

HAVE YOU EVER BEEN ON AN AIRPLANE?
yes, I'm pert'near on first name basis with the Boulder airporter shuttle clerk

ARE SPEEDO'S HOT?
[it depends on who's wearing it. and i assume you mean on men? speedo makes suits for women as well. you stupid sexist survey-maker.] I'll go with Jessica's answer. "Intelligence is the Greatest Aphrodesiac."

WHAT'S YOUR STAND ON HUNTING?
See my poem in From the Cables of Genocide: Poems on Love and Hunger titled "Shooting the Wren." I was once with a hunter. When I left him I let him stay in my house free of rent, and he took my five cats into a field and shot them. I like hanging with fishermen, though. Me, kill nothing, especially Spirit.

IS MARRIAGE IN YOUR FUTURE?
I'm married but I hope so.

DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING?
weird question

WHAT ARE YOU ALLERGIC TO?
as an indigenous American person living in the age of industrial food hell probably hella things: wheat gluten like my son, cow milk, sulfites, GMO corn anything (quitting "vegetable oil" and movie popcorn helped my ulcer), and my poor sweet kitty who has to live in the garage although I bring her in daily for sneezy cuddling. The better I eat, the less I remember my allergies.

WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU SAID, "I LOVE YOU"?
today, to my son.

IS TUPAC STILL ALIVE?
no

DO YOU CRY AT WEDDINGS?
no, I have to admit, I've never been into weddings, including my own - I've never had one, 'though I don't know how I feel about that now

HOW DO YOU LIKE YOUR EGGS?
over hard and in any kind of fritata or "Spanish tortilla"

ARE BLONDES DUMB?
[again with the stupid sexist survey-maker] I'll go with Jessica's answer

WHERE DOES THE OTHER SOCK END UP?
[i have never had this problem.] I'll go with Jessica's answer

WHAT TIME IS IT?
time to go to bed (nearly Jessica's answer

DO YOU HAVE A NICKNAME?
yes, "Bird" since I was young, but nobody calls me that now. My friend Osa got people to start calling me "Hobbit." It fit and stuck. And, "Lorna Beans Cerveza" which is funny.

IS MCDONALD'S DISGUSTING?
[yes. oh, yes. yes. all factory farming is disgusting though.] I'll go with Jessica's answer. And add just one word, prions.

WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU WERE IN A CAR?
Today. A friend took me to the bank before it closed. Usually I walk.

DO YOU PREFER BATHS OR SHOWERS?
baths, long hot ones that boil my potatoes

IS SANTA CLAUSE REAL?
no, he's an invention of Coca Cola, the original drug peddling terrorists in the Americas

ARE YOU AFRAID OF THE DARK?
[i am a nocturnal creature...] [said andrew and i agree] said Jessica and I agree

WHAT ARE YOU ADDICTED TO?
maybe sugar, unless I'm in denial about it, and coffee, which may have given me my bleeding ulcer, though I've kicked it with yerba mate tea.

CRUNCHY OR CREAMY PEANUT BUTTER?
used to be crunchy, but I've been grinding my teeth in my sleep down to eating creamy

HAVE YOU EVER RIDDEN IN AN AMBULANCE?:
yes

HOW MANY TIMES HAVE YOU BRUSHED YOUR TEETH TODAY?
3 times

IS DRUG FREE THE WAY TO BE?
[that's dumb] I'll go with Jessica's answer. DUH. Natch.

ARE YOU WEARING SOCKS?
no

HAVE YOU EVER HITCH HIKED?
yes. it was scary. I had a bad experience and would always talk people, especially women, out of it. But, it had it's moments of awe, choice and chance.

WHAT COLOR ARE YOUR EYES?
almost black, I would say black

WHEN'S THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED?
yesterday, or, rather, the day before -- looking at the time

DO YOU LIKE YOUR LIFE?
yes

WHOSE LIFE IS BETTER?
[i don't know. i like mine.] I'll go with Jessica's answer

ARE YOU PSYCHIC?
yes. usually after trauma, like as a defense mechanism that kicks in. I play, "who's calling on the phone?" to about 98 % success

HAVE YOU READ "CATCHER IN THE RYE"?
of course. I adore Salinger, even though he wrote about upper class twits. I've read everything at least a dozen times. I *was* Esme.

DO YOU PLAY ANY INSTRUMENTS?
I used to. I'd like to start playing the guitar again. When I'm sixty I plan to take up the sax. I've been planing it for decades.

CAN YOU SKATEBOARD?
yes. used to. Chicano's invented skateboarding, ya know. Same Chicanos who invented surfing on old doors. What else to do with all those mismatched and broken skates you were handed down? I made one. I think. Or maybe made one with my brother.

DO YOU LIKE CAMPING?:
yes! It's why I'm here although I've never ended up with a partner who'd actually take me -- one thing that's kind of hard to do alone without a car or a ride to get there and back.

DO U SNORT WHEN U LAUGH?
no, but I have a distinctive and hardy (hearty) one

DO YOU BELIEVE IN MAGIC?
sort of, after all, I'm a bloody heathen from the Age of Discovery who believes in mind over matter: mind is matter, matter is mind.

IS A DOG A MAN'S BEST FRIEND?
[yes (isn't this thing over yet?)] I'll go with Jessica's answer

YOU BELIEVE IN DIVORCE?
yes

CAN YOU DO THE MOONWALK?
[yes, actually.] I'll go with Jessica's answer

DOES YOUR MOM KNOW YOU HAVE A MYSPACE?
she's dead, I doubt she'd care

WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE?
organic greek salad with carrots and broccoli added<-- remembering to take a bite

DO YOU WEAR NAILPOLISH?
no [(stupid sexist...)] but I'll go with this part of Jessica's answer

DO YOU LIKE SOMEONE RIGHT NOW?
I like Jessica's answer.

WHAT'S THE MOST ANNOYING TV COMMERCIAL?
the Nazi car commercials - what's up with that? And the car wreck ones. And, especially, those racist cave man ones -- what's up with that? I can't even figure out what they're selling. But, I think the caveman's hot.

DO YOU SHOP AT AMERICAN EAGLE?
Ages ago, gifts for the hunter guy which should be on that stupid things survey.

FAVORITE BAND AT THE MOMENT?
Maná. No, Los Lobos. No, my brother's band. No, .....


This one's from Eric who does it only because Kimberly does:

LAYER ONE:
Spell your name with bands/artists.
L: Los Lobos
O: Ozomatli
R: Ray Charles
N: Natalie Cole
A: Art Pepper

LAYER TWO:
-- Name: Lorna Doone Cervantes (really)
-- Birth date: Hiroshima Day
-- Nickname: Bird or Lorna Dee
-- Current Location: beneath the shadow of the Flatirons
-- Eye Color: black
-- Hair Color: black (salt & pepper, still mostly pepper) (Eric's answer, but for the black walnut shell coloring, my bow to vanity
-- Righty or Lefty: Righty
-- Zodiac Sign: Leo and Yellow Sun, Ahau


LAYER THREE:
-- Black boots for walking in the snow
-- Your perfect pizza: one that my ulcer could tolerate, spelt crust, hold the tomatoes and garlic (ulcer triggers). As my grandma used to say, "I like it but it doesn't like me." Story of my life."


LAYER FOUR:
-- Your best physical feature: [my peepee] haha, had to leave that in as it made me laugh. I've answered this before: my healthy sexuality
-- Most missed memory: If it's a memory how can it be missed?

Hmmm, I think I've already done this one with some slight variation in the opening, so, ZAP.


That's all, folks. Can't find these surveys on the sites? Well, that's because you have to be a friend and get all these cool bulletins, notices and news from your friends as well.

I do it for distraction. I've been writing a blog post in my head late last night, when I got home from the reading & award at Amherst which I dedicated to Pedro Pietri ("without whom I would not be here right now") and all day today called "What Happens When You Die? Kari, Phillipines, Will, AIDS, Someone's Son Soltero...You" which posts a link to this AMAZING and true story of Thomas Benedict's near-death experience. The link is right above my astrologer, Kramer's link under "Allá" on the sidelinks. Read it. Print it out -- it's about 15 pages. Think about it. Love. It will all come back to you in the end -- and the beginning.

Now, do you. Send me a link. I'm nosy.

And, visit me at MySpace, my casual corner which hosts my poetry blog, "The Poems. The Whole Poem. And Nothing But the Poem."